Tips for Dealing with Renovations and Marriage

Here are some tips to help you deal with renovations and keep your marriage intact. Understand sometimes men and women look at things differently. More often he is not going to worry about living with the mess. He’s not going to care about trying to cook dinner in a kitchen that isn’t functional or how to bathe kids when the bathroom is not operational. If you can make arrangements with a relative or friend or neighbor to use their bathroom for a day or so it might be an easier option. If you do, be sure to be considerate of … Continue reading

Relieving Stress

Sometimes what you need in a marriage is to relieve the stress. Stress can be caused by illness and health concerns, financial worries, family issues, work situations or whatever they may be. Today I felt very much in need of stress relief. Quite simply I hate seeing Mick sick. This morning I needed to get out of the house for a little while and take out my frustration on a few tennis balls. It makes a lot of sense when stress builds up for whatever reason to find a way of dealing with it so it does not affect your … Continue reading

Part 2 of Things to Discuss before Marriage

Yesterday we looked at things to discuss before marriage. Here are some more things on the checklist of things that should be discussed. Attitudes towards work and family life. The person, who is a workaholic or a professional student always wanting to gain new skills, can have a detrimental effect on marriage. They may have trouble making time and making it a priority to nurture their marriage and family relationships. Finances and whether you will have separate bank accounts or a joint account. Even if there is a joint account, will each person have their own spending money that they … Continue reading

Simple Tips for Hosting a Christmas Party

A Christmas party at home can be fun or it can be stressful for you and your spouse. It all depends on the way you approach it. The first thing is to decide on a date with your spouse. There’s no point setting aside a date only to find out your spouse has important meetings that day and will come home tired or will not be around or has something else planned. So communicate on the date first. Next decide together what sort of party you want. Unless you and your spouse are both at ease with the big sit … Continue reading

Christmas Parties and Marriage

It’s that time of year. Christmas parties are in full swing. We’ve been to two in the last two nights. Other people I know are faced with the dilemma of two parties on the same night and having to make a choice. Now I love to have a good time, whether it’s at a party or anywhere else, but in the festive season we need to be a little more careful – careful when it comes to our marriages. Some people come over all kissy kissy at Christmas parties, especially when they have a little bit of alcohol on board. … Continue reading

New to Food Blog but Years in the Kitchen

I’ve been cooking since I was around seven or eight years old and let me tell you that’s too many years ago to want to count them. I had a mother who encouraged me in the kitchen. Back then I cooked mostly cakes and sweet things but by my early teens, I regularly cooked meals for the family. So I guess by now I ought to have found out a bit about food to pass on. I will be writing 6 food blogs per month. For those who don’t know me, I might be new to the food blog but … Continue reading

Stress and Teens

Teenagers are under a lot of stress. I’m more than a decade out of my teens and can still remember worrying about grades, going off to college, choosing a major, keeping in touch with my friends, leaving home, and a hundred other things. Kids and adults share a lot of the same sources of stress — moving, the death of a family member, family financial problems, dealing with peers. But teens also have some unique sources of stress, including: Changes in their bodies The transition between childhood and adulthood Overloading on extra-curricular activities Figuring out what comes after high school … Continue reading

Is Your Marriage Being Overrun by Weeds?

Are there weeds in your marriage? Weeds that you really know you should do something about but which are, or have been, allowed to grow and spread? They can look attractive at first, but later turn out to be destructive. In our garden we have what I consider a pretty vine that gets amazing blue flowers. Mick’s attitude to it is very different and with good reason. When I look at the vine all I see it’s the vibrant blue of the flower. The problem is let go the vine takes over and tends to run riot, choking everything else. … Continue reading

More Tips for Dealing with Stress in Marriage

Here are some more tips to help you deal with stress in your marriage and your life. Spend time each day deliberately not thinking about the negatives and what is wrong with your marriage or life, but look for 1-3 positives each day in your marriage and in your life. When you start looking for positives I’m sure you’ll find some. A gratitude journal is a good idea for keeping an eye on the positives on your life. Listening to music soothes our soul as one of our local choir songs reminds me. Sing along. Who cares what it sounds … Continue reading

Tips for Dealing with Stress in Marriage

We’d all like life to be great all the time but the reality is, at times, life is stressful. It’s how we deal with stress that matters. Yesterday, we looked at the effects excess alcohol can cause in a marriage. But the reason a spouse usually drinks to excess, could be because they are trying to find a way to deal with stress. Stress is something that affects all marriages at time, whether it is financial stress, illness, job related, death of a loved one, or family issues – the list is endless. Alcohol never solves problems but actually can … Continue reading