Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pet Peeves

All right, let's admit it. As wonderful and great as our husbands are, there are probably a few things that bother us, too. We aren't perfect and the things that probably annoy us aren't moral issues or matters of conviction, but rather irritating or thoughtless actions by others. The ones that can really get on our nerves are those things done frequently by those who are closest to us. So, here is my proposition: pick one pet peeve that your husband does and make it your goal to get over it and decide to live with it and don't let it irritate you anymore. Your marriage will be that much sweeter and life a little happier if we can knock off some of these silly things that can disrupt our peace and unity. Try not to mention the issue to you husband again, don't roll your eyes when it happens and (we all know this) NEVER nag! Smile and get over it!

Yes, yes, easier said than done. Let me give you an example from my sister. (By your leave, Denise and Jonathan. :) Her husband will come in from his hunting or what not, forget to take his boots off and sometimes leave tracks in their carpet. Now, we all might get irritated at this, but she had a better perspective. Her husband gets deployed for months at a time and also he is sent on smaller assignments where he can be gone for weeks. She told me she decided she was just glad he was home to make the tracks in the carpet! Imagine his surprise (if he noticed) of seeing his wife cheerfully cleaning up the mess he accidentally made and not being "reprimanded".

Another case in point: something that bothered me was when my husband would leave his socks inside out and I'd have to turn them the right way to wash them. As much as I adore my husband, I didn't relish the idea of sticking my hand in his work-worn socks every time I did laundry. Now, I mentioned it to him a couple times and he tried to remember to turn them right-side out. It was a sweet gesture, but after a day of his kind of work he would be exhausted and forget. I realized I didn't want to add any more "burdens" to his day. I wanted him to come home and feel like he could relax and not be treated like another child or even an "equal" member of the house. After all he worked to put food on the table, so to speak, the least I could do was turn his socks right-side out! I learned to do it and do it with a smile because I was grateful for the hard work that went behind the dirty, inside-out socks!

6 comments:

Denise said...

I still need to be reminded to do this!!! Thank you for the fresh reminder! :)

Actually, I have made a point to try to overlook it. But I can't say I've 100% won.

I was bending over two days ago to pick up his shoes, and was sore from my kettlebell workout. I groaned and he looked at me and said, "I was going to pick those up!" How ashamed I was! I quickly told him I was groaning from an ache, and not because I cared about his shoes! But it was a reminder than I have done it too much in the past, that he is anticipating it!!!!

Dana said...

Ha! This is so true and so hilarious! My husband loves to rearrange furniture and clean out closets and stuff. However, he will clean out the closet, make it emmaculate and leave all the trash and stuff that doesn't have a home lying in the floor. IT will stay there until I find a place for it. He also does the same thing when cleaning. He will sweep the whole house( our house is all tile) and then he will leave the dirt pile in the middle of the floor. This urks me to no end. Still, I do at least have the dirt in one spot and an emmaculate closet soooo, I guess keeping quiet and using my poker face isn't such a hard thing to do.

lislynn said...

I totally agree! If women all over the world could just do this ONE THING, I bet we'd see a marked drop in the divorce rate. Seriously. I can't imagine anything worse as a man than to spend the whole day working in an environment where he is respected and in authority and then come home to relax and rest in the bosom of his family and be met by a nagging wife. That's NOT the kind of comparisons I want my husband to be making...

Seth and Karen's blog said...

Oh, I know what you mean about feeling convicted of your faults just by someone's reaction. When Katrina spills or drops something, she quickly apologizes in a very scared voice like she is afraid I will be angry or discipline her. I feel so badly that I've done that so much in the past that her reaction is fear! It hurts me every time!

By the way, I'm so glad you're enjoying your kettlebells. If you check my other blog under the lists of blogs I follow there is one about kettlebells and the recent entry was about a free 5 minute workout on youtube by Lauren Brooks. Haven't tried it yet, but looks good!

Dana,
That is very funny I must say, but it's nice to have a helpful husband, too. (I know, because Seth is extremely helpful around the house!)

Lisi,
Wow, you said it all right there. Can I copy it and post it as a blog itself? I'll give you full credit! :)

lislynn said...

Sure :) You can copy me any time. lol.

Susannah Forshey said...

I'm with Denise on this. Before Ben deployed the first time, there was always a pile of "not dirty but not clean" clothing that lay upon our upholstered bench in our bedroom. When Ben left for Iraq, how I longed to see the pile of clothes at the foot of our bed again! After longing for them for 15 months, they finally appeared, and God showed me so clearly that I needed to be grateful for them, using "reverse psychology" on myself to battle my flesh which was prone to sigh loudly as I picked them up and folded them. Now, the pile of his clothing at the foot of our bed is like a pile of stones from the old testament, unforgettably representative of what I am SUPPOSED to be focusing on as Wife and Helpmeet. Just loving his presence, and cheerfully "placing my hand under his foot in token of which duty, if he please, my hand is ready. May it do him ease."