“T”aking Turns

I know it’s a concept that most of us learn when we’re young in regards to sharing toys and games and time on Mom’s lap, which is no fun for anyone.

But the idea of taking turns with household chores, and special attention to one another is one that’s been on my mind all weekend.

To make a long story, short, this weekend was busy.

busy, Busy, BUSY.

Friday night was supposed to be “date night in” with meatloaf and potatoes.

Instead, I found out at about 3:00 that we were headed to a fancy benefit dinner for a charity awards banquet. Wyatt got two free tickets courtesy of his job.

It was a super fancy dinner. I felt like a real grown up that night. A fancy grown up in the big, fancy, grown-up city. Did I mention it was fancy?

We had cocktails at the open bar, some pretty delicious dinner and a super delicious dessert, and sat back to watch the awards and speeches.

Getting all dressed up was certainly no how we planned to spend the night, but it was fun!

We spent the night with some friends from Hubs’ work and had a great time.

Saturday morning at 5:00am, I woke up feeling pretty sick (and no, it wasn’t from the open bar the night before…)

So at 9:00, we headed to the doctor and got a prescription. Suddenly the weekend went from super fun and busy to a little harder to manage.

So we changed gears a little bit and I spent more time on the couch trying to feel better while Hubs got things ready for the rest of the day.

There wasn’t time to really rest up, thought, because we had an indoor soccer game around noon, and tickets to the Royals game that night.

Yup, that's me, in a Royals shirt. Living in KC is certainly proving to be an interesting experience!

They lost, which is a bit of a bummer, but we had a good time and enjoyed the sunshine and ballpark hotdogs. We ended up leaving early because I was tired and ready for bed.

Sunday I woke up feeling much better than the previous 24 hours, but still not great. We got to sleep  a little later, but had to get on the road to Springfield to catch the minor league cardinals game we were planning to enjoy with my sister, brother-in-law, grandpa and cousins.

The trip was great, the game was fun, and the day was overall, a fun Sunday.

(I LOVE having my weekends off. I’m on the job hunt again after quitting Job#2, but I’m happy to be free to enjoy days off together.)

Sorry no pictures of the game, but we did get to see the Cardinals’ World Series trophy that was on display at the stadium for the weekend.

Sorry about the random people in the photo, I didn't want to wait in line to see it up close.

We made it home at a good time since it was an afternoon game, but there wasn’t time for a grocery trip run (it was supposed to be Friday night after the meatloaf…but that didn’t happen, clearly.) so we had pizza.

And we did some house-hunting. And just chilled out on the coach until bed.

This morning I woke up feeling better again, but still not 100 percent well, and I’m thankful Job#3 is only three days a week and that I finished most work for Job#1 on Friday.

That means I have all day today to rest, clean up our messy home after our weekend craziness, and keep recovering.

Throughout the weekend,  I was reminded of just how much taking turns has a place in marriage. It was Hubs’ turn to do more laundry, do more kitchen-clean up, and do more taking care of me.

He’s quick to hold my hand, help make me to feel better, no matter how much I dislike the medicine or whatever I need to do…and take out the trash.

And the best part about marriage is that I don’t have to feel guilty for soaking up his attention and care, because the next time he’s sick, it will be my turn to take care of him.

Sharing isn’t so bad after all.

 

It’s time…

Have any of you seen the commercial that starts out with these women saying things like, “It’s time to get real about what happens in the bathroom.”?

No? Just me? Well, nevermind then, but it is time, you see, for an honest, real-to-life post about our bathroom.

Let me preface this by saying that for my whole life, I’ve never shared a bathroom with a boy. My sister and I had the upstairs bathroom to ourselves, and at college I lived in a co-ed dorm, but we had our own bathroom in our suite so it wasn’t an issue.

But when I got married, that changed, obviously.

Now, our apartment is small, a one-bedroom, so we only have 1 bathroom. And I love our little apartment, I really do. It’s just that I’ve learned some things about sharing a bathroom. With a boy.

1. He really hates to have my stuff all over the counter. We are lucky to have double sinks so I try to keep on “my side,” but my side also includes the middle, of course. He only has a few things anyway, so he doesn’t need that much room, right? But he did laughingly point out that I sometimes start to migrate over to his side, leaving things on “his sink.” Seriously though, this one is simple, but it leads nicely into the next one, which is…

2. He hates when I put his stuff away in “his drawer.” I don’t do this that often, only when I tidy up in there. So there’s always several days (mostly during the week when we’re busier) that I leave everything out. When I put my stuff away, though, I also tend to put his stuff away. And he doesn’t appreciate that effort. He doesn’t understand why, to me, “clean” means “hiding all our stuff so I can’t get to it.” (Those are his words.)

I agree, sort of. That’s why I don’t put it away every day. But sometimes, I just like to start fresh and put it all away. It isn’t like he doesn’t know where it goes. He has “his drawer,” after all, right?

3. His drawer is more than big enough for all his stuff, but I don’t dare start to “take it over.” See lesson number one for why that wouldn’t go over well. Especially because we agreed when I first moved in that we’d share the top drawer, (Qtips, nail clippers, etc. but my nail polish and face washing cloths are also in there…) he’d have the second drawer, and the bottom two were mine.

I have more stuff. It’s only fair. And he’s right, if I have more stuff than will fit in my drawers, I have too much stuff. So I respect his drawer boundaries…for now.

4. Sharing a shower isn’t all that easy. Not to give too many details, but sometimes, when we’re in a hurry, we’ve tried the multi-tasking route. Even with a big tub and shower area, there’s still only one shower head, so one of us tends to be standing out of the water, cold, getting splashed with water from the other one. Not so fun…

5. Sharing a toilet is okay. Luckily, we haven’t had a ton of moments yet when we both NEED in the bathroom at the same time. So we do fine at sharing. And yes, there are some unpleasant moments that can come from sharing a bathroom, but overall, it’s just life and we are getting used to it. Plus, a little air freshener never hurt anyone, right. We do keep things pretty separate, though. We want to respect each other’s privacy that way, even if we are in a hurry.

6. He dislikes things “for show.” So he hates that I keep the toothbrushes in their cup on my side of the sink instead of in the middle because it’s less out in the open over there. But the towels and the giant egg timer go in the middle! (We don’t use the timer for anything important, but it’s super cool, and we both like it, so it ended up in there.) He recently switched the toothbrushes and the timer because he says the timer is in the way in the middle and we both use the toothbrushes so it only “makes sense.” I haven’t switched it back, yet. But the change didn’t go unnoticed.

7. The same rule of my stuff creeping over to his side of the sink applies to our respective shelves in the shower. I do what I can, but I think we’re slowly moving to an “all shelves are fair game” sort of policy in there.

8. It’s nice that Hubs has already learned my “routine” when we’re getting ready for bed. If you’re a faithful reader, you know that I tend to be less sleepy at night than he is, so, sometimes when he wants to “hurry me to bed,” he’ll go in and get me started by turning on the hot water and then getting my toothbrush ready for me. (Yes, I know it’s wasteful to let the water run, but if I want to use hot water to wash my face, I have to let it run for a bit.) He’s sweet that way, even if he has ulterior motives, like sleep. Reason #55 that husband roommates are the best.

Thanks for reading about what happens in our bathroom. Care to share what happens in yours?

Whose toothbrush is it anyway?

Remember yesterday when I promised I’d show you pictures of our beautiful tree and our apartment all dolled up for the holidays?

Well, I will, but first I want to tell you a story.

One time last week, when Hubs and I were getting ready for bed, I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I got there first so I selected my toothbrush out of the container and added the toothpaste and started brushing.  At least, I thought I selected my toothbrush…until I went to hand Hubs the pink one and we both looked down at that brush and then up at the blue brush that was currently hanging out of my open mouth.

Oops.

Then I started laughing, and a minor choking incident may have occurred. Remember a long time ago, when I wrote about that happening in this post?

And you know what else? I made a quick decision, shrugged, and just kept brushing while Wyatt rolled his eyes and grabbed the pink one. At that point, it didn’t really matter I suppose. And in all reality, we’ve certainly shared enough spit in other ways for this to not really gross us out. But kissing is different than a toothbrush, right?

Either way, it made me think of this, starting at 2:55 and going until 3:52, but watch the whole thing, really:

Anyway, sorry for this random interlude, I just needed to share.

Hope you enjoyed the laughs!

(Oh, and check back for Christmas photos! I promise!)

Inspiration from Psalm 145

Last night before bed I had some time alone in the bed while Wyatt was finishing up playing his new game (see my tweets from yesterday for more on that…) and while I was reading, I came across Psalm 145 and a devotional that went along with it in my bible. The main purpose of the little devotional was to present the idea that we don’t brag about what God has done for us the way we brag about what our family and friends, or even what we accomplish. But the words that really struck me were this:

“It’s easy to complain about inefficient checkout clerks, dangerous drivers and ungrateful relatives. It’s natural to tell our stories of financial hardship and illness and slights from friends. It’s great to have funny stories to tell about what has happened to us. But it’s so much sweeter and deeper to bless others with stories about the good things, the true things, the beautiful and enduring things we’ve experienced with God.”

So, I have to be honest and admit that this convicted me a bit. I don’t always tell you guys the way I’m blessed by my Heavenly Father. A few weeks ago, I began this page of blessings and happy things. It’s a start to sharing my joy, but I could do more.

So here’s the plan, I’ll start with sharing my thoughts from last week. And I’ll work on adding more of these “God moments” with you guys in the future. I’m not going to stop laughing at myself (and the thing Hubs says in his sleep) or worrying about getting lost in the city or eaten by a spider in our apartment, but I am going to do better about sharing my everyday blessings with you guys.

You know why? Well, that leads me right back to last night.

“One generation will commend your works to another…” (Psalm 145:4)

It’s so important to me to be a godly example to my future children. Hubs and I were both blessed with godly families that taught us to love and trust in a Father who was stronger and bigger than we could imagine. And we were blessed with parents, grandparents, and families that truly love each other, which of course, is because they know the source of true love, the One who wrote the book on love. Yes, we come from different denominations (He’s Catholic, I’m Baptist) but we have a heart for a having a Godly family. I want to show this newlywed blog to my kids someday (I hadn’t planned on it, but I decided recently) because I want them to know our story. I think it’s so important for kids to see their parents as a couple that’s in love instead of just “mom and dad.” I want them to know how hard we work on our relationship. I want to teach them to be thankful for love and to value it the way God does.

“…the Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.” (verse 13)

Yes, I don’t have a job. Yes, Wyatt and I sometimes fight and we have issues I doubt we’ll ever fully learn to get around, yes, we don’t have a house yet, or newer, nicer cars…but you know what we do have? The faith that God is sovereign and in control. He promises to take care of his children. And since we fall into that category, we’re good to go.

Ok, so maybe it isn’t as simple as all that.

Or maybe it is. We might think things are more complicated when we’re paying bills and trying to plan for the future, but sometimes it helps to just sit back and trust in the simplicity of the fact that He is in control.

Sounds like a plan to me.