Occasionally we get comments like “I don’t know how you spend all day together without fighting.” While I appreciate the assumption that we have some flawless, all-smiles marriage – we fight. We get upset with each other… and Clara… and even Burger. I’m not saying we have Real Housewives-worthy throwdowns (our table flipping count is still at zero) but like any normal couple we argue. Sometimes in a healthy, I-fight-because-I-care way. Sometimes in a probably less-than-healthy Sherry yells and I give her the silent treatment way. But the point is – yes, we fight (skip to about 11:45 on this old blogiversary Q&A video for a brief mention on the subject).
As upfront as we’re willing to be about the fact that we argue, we try not to air the specifics of our dirty laundry. And that’s not just to you guys here in blog land, we make a conscious decision not to gossip to our friends or family about what’s frustrating us about the other person. It’s not that we’re trying to “keep up appearances”, we just don’t want to complicate our messes by entangling others in them. And we’re usually over things pretty quickly (there’s always another project to do or post to write) so I don’t want my venting to discolor someone else’s opinion of my loving and beautiful wife – because, at the end of the day, that’s how I see her.
Today, however, we’re putting that aside momentarily to indulge you with the story of a home-improvement related fight that we had a little while back (jackpot: it’s actually sort of related to DIY/house stuff, so since we can laugh about it now, we thought it was worth sharing). And yes, it was over a bathroom shelf. Specifically, the one on the left of this old picture:
Let’s rewind to this post about painting our bathroom, which involved removing a glass shelf and towel bar on the wall first (we inherited them with the house when we bought it a year and a half ago). When they came down, both went into a box on our bathroom sink to be dealt with later. “To be dealt with later” were not the actual words we used. The actual words are actually the source of the argument. Sherry’s version of the transcript includes her saying “Don’t donate these, I want to craigslist the towel bar because it’s from Restoration Hardware and I might want to reuse the shelf by hanging it in the bath for our shampoo and stuff.” My version of the transcript is pretty much blank as I don’t really remember anything being said at all.
Fast forward a few days. The room is painted. Art is hung. The un-dealt-with shelves are still taking up space next to our bathroom sink.
One evening I get the “I’m fed up with this clutter around the house” bug and I go on a brief but intense cleaning spree while Sherry readies the post for the next morning. In other words: she’s sitting in the office glued to the laptop and isn’t paying any attention to what I’m up to. My spree includes loading a bag full of old clothes, the old bathroom light fixture and – here’s the beginning of my crime – the old shelf and towel bars into the car so that I can drop them off at Goodwill. I didn’t bother to tell Sherry more than “I’m gonna run a bunch of errands” as Clara and I headed out the door the next morning.
Skip ahead to that afternoon (yes, literally that very afternoon) and this conversation happens:
SHERRY: Oh hey, I was thinking over Clara’s nap we should swap out the towel bar in the shower for that old shelf we took down. That way we can actually put our shampoo and stuff on a shelf.
JOHN: Wait, what old shelf?
SHERRY: The one that used to be on the wall. It was sitting by the sink in our bedroom the last time I saw it.
JOHN: You mean the one I donated this morning?
SHERRY: You WHAT?! John! I said I wanted to Craigslist the towel bar and possibly reuse that shelf!
JOHN: Sorry, I figured they’d just been sitting there making a mess so I’d help take care of them.
SHERRY: Why didn’t you tell me?? You snuck out without a word about it! I could have stopped you and explained if you just told me what you were doing!
JOHN: Am I supposed to tell you every errand that I run?
You can probably guess where this was headed. Sherry got increasingly frustrated with me. I grew more and more indignant. Sherry informed me that I had “ruined her plan” for adding a free shelf to our shower. I couldn’t believe I “was being yelled at for cleaning” and Sherry was angry that I had also “donated a $75 Restoration Hardware towel bar” that she could’ve craigslisted for at least ten bucks. I threatened that if she didn’t like me voluntarily running errands while watching Clara, then “maybe I just wouldn’t do it anymore.” Mature, I know.
I knew I had messed up, but I wanted credit for my good intentions. I also wanted to make it right. Which is why I sped over to the scene of the crime (Goodwill) and kindly begged for them to dig out the bag I had donated that morning.
No dice. It was gone-zo. But they did sympathize with my husband-in-the-doghouse story and politely took my number and a description of the item. But now several silent weeks later, we’re considering it a lost cause. Hence the Plan B suction cup solution you’ve since seen in our bathroom. They’ve actually been great so far, although they weren’t free or built-in. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.
This particular tiff is obviously settled and behind us. There were apologies, concessions that it wasn’t a big deal, and promises to be more communicative. Though with as much time as we spend together and as many projects as we tackle as a pair, I’m sure our next bump is lurking just down the road. We just try to remember we’re on the same team with the same end goal. We wanna whip this house into shape and have as much fun as possible (specifically without killing each other) along the way. So now if you’re one of those folks who wondered if we ever fight, you cay say “oh yeah, there was the Towel Bar Incident Of 2012” (or feel free to recall it as “oh yeah, there was that towel bar incident where John was totally right.”)
Now you’re up. Care to commiserate about a DIY-related miscommunication? Feel free to put the blogging equivalent of a blurred face and altered voice on your comment if you want to protect the innocent (or perhaps the guilty).
Psst- For a more detailed post on actually resolving decorating-related disputes, click here.
Megan says
The hubster and I have been renovating our 1960’s home for the last two years. EArlier this year, we were *almost* finished the tiling in the bathroom. Well, he had forgotten who to do caulking, cut the hole too large in the tube and proceeded with caulking….. all 8 areas. So, he didn’t just do one wall wrong, he did them ALL. Fast forward 10 minutes while we are both in the bathtub, attempting to wash off calking before it sets.
“WHY would you not just try ONE wall, instead of ALL the walls”??
“If you thought you could do it better, why didn’t you step in?!?”
We can laugh about it now. :)
Megan says
Oh gracious. I can’t spell. He forgot ‘how’ to do the caulking.
katalina says
I cannot wrap my head around that a guy would actually declutter and make the trip to goodwill by himself.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I know. I should be thankful. Haha.
xo,
s
Janelle D says
Love this post, Sherry & John! I feel like we’ve all been given more of a glimpse into your relationship. Not in a creepy way, more in a relateable way. My live-in boyfriend and I don’t fight very often, but when we do I’m almost guaranteed to give the silent treatment at some point. I do it because I don’t think before I speak. That way I can avoid foot-in-mouth. Also, loving the stories in the comments!
Prashanti says
My husband and I are computer scientists. He hordes old computer cables, speaker wires, phone chargers and stuff that will never be used again. He doesn’t let me throw anything away. My strategy is to hide one cable at a time for a couple of months and if he doesn’t ask for it or miss it in that time, I throw it out.
I threw away a new GPS charger during one of those sprees. Boy, did it hurt when I had to order the damn cable from amazon for 21 bucks :(
Riva says
YES This happened to us too. We hoard all kinds of old cords and adapters in boxes everywhere. I was cleaning these out a while ago and specifically asked what a particular adapter went to and my husband said he didn’t know so I could get rid of it. Well, the trash got taken the next day, which is also the day we switched internet providers and learned that the mysterious adapter was actually needed for the modem for the new internet provider… I couldn’t believe how mad my husband was at me considering HE told ME I could pitch it!
Meagan {Green Motherhood} says
Ha! Funny that I can totally “see” this happening to you two!
Hubs and I just celebrated 5 years in May and it seems as though the fights get easier, last less time and are forgiven much more quickly. Maybe we’re getting too tired and old to fight, or maybe we’re starting to figure it out.
Most of our fights stem from cleaning. Yes, cleaning. He’s a mess and I’m not. I get so mad when he spills things all over his clothes and doesn’t tell me about it until I notice them when they come out of the dryer. ugh! Getting worked up just thinking about it!
Thanks for sharing!
Ammie says
Just this weekend I bought a pretty new globe for aceiling fan in our new house. I had it wrapped a bunch of times and repeated probably 30 times to my husband to be careful and he insisted that we was and that I was overreacting. Sure enough, about 3 feet from the back door, it shattered into 4 million pieces because he didn’t want to make more than 1 trip from the car to the house. So frustrating!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no!
xo,
s
Sarah S says
My hubby has the same recall abilities – “I didn’t think you said anything about it…” – or lack thereof. He also LOVES to move my stuff around and John moving the box (to Goodwill, yikes!) reminded me of my repeated questions as to where things have gone. I’m sure you know EXACTLY where the towel bar and shelf were – even if it was next to the bathroom sink! If I leave something on the dining room table, I KNOW it’s there and I’ll be back for it… eventually ;-)
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
We miscommunicate and argue about almost everything related to decor and DIY. I love this and he hates it and vice-versa. We usually have to compromise on just about everything.
Bree says
It’s so nice to hear. truly. We just moved into a new house so there’s LOTS that needs to be done. We ended up in some ridiculous argument over shelf paper. shelf. paper. I’m like “what guy cares about that kind of thing?” and he’s all “I would like to be included in everything”. Sigh. I’m sure there’s more coming. We already disagree on couch legs (why is it the small stuff?!).
Do your visions for a space usually match? How do you compromise without feeling like you’ve totally given in to the other?
YoungHouseLove says
Check out the post linked to at the end of this post for that info. It seems to help us see eye to eye!
xo,
s
Melody Strayer says
Wait, so I have you to thank for that steal of a deal I got on a towel bar at Goodwill? ;)
I can totally relate! Our house was originally an ice cream factory back in the 40’s and went under many transformations before we bought it two years ago. Among a lot of the junk that was left here, there was a really neat old set of vintage cabinets. I told my husband that I wanted to keep them, paint them and use them in the mud room. He even responded, “Oh, really? Ok. Sounds good.” Next I saw them, they were in 9498405 pieces in the dumpster in the driveway. He (honestly) never even remembered the conversation. :/
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man!
xo
s
Anne Marie Laney says
you aren’t doing marriage right if there isn’t any miscommunication lol!
April says
My in-laws are still glued at the hip even after 38 years of marriage but there is one story my FIL tells about their early years of marriage that takes the cake. He used to work in a store that sold the Archie comic books WAY back in the day. He bought all of them and put them up in storage. They were the original Archie comic books. One day my MIL decided to clean out some things and threw out all of those old comic books. He was so upset and this was before they even knew that they would be worth a ton of $$ now. He always tells that story and my poor MIL just sits through it every. single. time. LOL
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, that’s rough!
xo,
s
Steph says
I loved the ‘and Burger’ comment. My dog is currently crying at me next to the trash can because I brushed him and threw out his old FUR. I’m sorry, Sergio, but were you planning on DOING something with it?! Growing it out long, perhaps? Well, at least dogs don’t know English :)
For the record, I didn’t think you guys never fought, just didn’t air it all out for everyone to see! I’m the same way and so is my boyfriend. I’m very cautious with talking about fights and arguments (unless they are really silly and stupid, which is most of them, haha) because I don’t want to say something out of anger that could cause anyone to judge one of us a certain way! I think it’s smart that you guys don’t post about every little disagreement on here!
A says
I am about to cry with laughter at this comment about your dog. I think it’s the combination of his name and the long hair. Reminds me of a dog who might look like Fabio. So funny!
Emily says
This is good to hear! Our DIY projects sometimes end up with some miscommunication. The latest: DH doesn’t want me to paint our high-quality-but-dated oak cabinets white. Last week he announced he’s pulling out my favorite flowering tree because it interferes with other landscaping. (He though I would agree and I don’t.) My response: Then I’m painting the cabinets white. Neither one has actually happened yet. But if the tree comes out, the cabinets get painted! (Yikes, I make it sound like we’re a tit-for-tat couple. We’re really not!)
janetl says
When I was a little girl my parents took down my holly hobby wall paper and painted my room white. I was not pleased. ;)
J says
Yay! I’m happy to know you guys are human- these posts are honestly some of my favorites!
Since my fiance and I only have an apartment for now, the biggest fights on the home front tend to be about me having too many kitchen utensils.
But since we are finishing all of the details for our backyard wedding (many, many details!) we have come across more than our fair share of battles! Especially because I am the hyper-organized one, and he is more of the it-will-get-done-eventually mentality (even though that usually means I do it myself)!!!
Krystal says
I remember the first time my step-dad decided to cook dinner for my mom and I (he was babysat by a Mexican family growing up and learned all about their authentic cooking, which just happens to be one of our favorite kinds of cuisine). He sent my mom to the store to buy some stuff he had forgotten, she returned and sat in the living room with me while he cooked, and no 2 seconds later did he walk into the room holding a green leafy herb with a look of death on his face. The brief, expletive-free version went something like this:
Dad: What is this?!
Mom: Cilantro? That’s what you wanted isn’t it?
Dad: Cilantro?! Does this look like cilantro?!?!?! It’s PARSLEY!!!!!!!
Mom: I’m sorry? I’ve never had to buy it before and they are right nex-
Dad: If you want anything done right, you have to do it yourself!
Then he stomped back into the kitchen and later we awkwardly sat through a very silent dinner sans pico de gallo…strangest argument they’ve had to date.
Bethany says
So, I clicked on your post in facebook and it only showed the picture of the donation drop off. But I thought it was a picture of a hospital drop off for some reason. I was thinking you take your towel bar fights REAL serious.
YoungHouseLove says
Thankfully no one was harmed in the making of this post!
xo,
s
Katie says
I thought it was a picture of the hospital drop off too!
Erika says
Haha!! So funny to read stories like that when they don’t involve you :) thanks for sharing.
Sarah says
Heh..
In my house I’m the Declutter-er. I have definitely been there before! Oops. :)
I have to make piles now:
“Can I throw all of this away?”
“I cleaned out your sock drawer – all these have holes, trash, right?”
But, lucky accident – I LOVE your suction cup shelves! Like getting in my car to go buy some right now, LOVE!
Heather Gearhart says
My husband and I just recently had this similar type of argument but it was more along the lines of me wanting to paint a chair purple and him not paying attention. I had given him options of chair colors about a week before I committed to purple. He looked at them all and rolled his eyes, so I said they will be dark purple then and he never said no. After I had bought my purple paint with him standing next to me and painted the chair purple, he decides to tell me he never wanted the chair painted in the first place… So from here on out we have a pact to discuss every change I plan on making before its done and let him have the option to choose colors of everything or have the input on the decision. Lesson learned.
cheep3r5 says
I will still hold onto my illusion and self-deception of your idyllic marriage. Gives me hope and let’s me know that it really is better for some people.
Stacy says
During our first year of marriage we atempted to hang wallpaper in a teeny tiny bathroom in an old ver “unsquare” house. After two hours we decided not to ever do that again! 18 years later we are still happily married but no more wallpaper EVER!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny!
xo,
s
Cara says
Ha! I actually did the same thing, but with something much more valuable to my spouse. And, to be really, really honest, I did it purposely (and what’s more, despite my denial, my husband knew that I did it purposely)! My husband had some super-special, framed 8×11 Cal Ripken Jr. signed picture, that apparently, he had since he was a child. (Though in my defense, I really question how important this thing was since I had never heard about this picture until my father-in-law randomly brought it up north with him on a business trip.) Thankfully, my husband (claimed that he) didn’t want it anymore. But, he told me that he wanted to give it to a friend’s child, who likes whatever team Cal Ripken Jr played for. Well, of course that picture sat out – in various spots of my incredibly small, already-prone-to-clutter rowhouse – for probably close to six months. I even put it away myself once, but was then chided by husband that he wouldn’t remember to give it away if it wasn’t left out in the open. So, the picture came back out again, finding itself in various spots like my dining room table, living room bookshelf or on the seat of my kitchen banquette. Cut to the end of my infamous Cal-Ripken-Jr.-is-the-bane-of-my existence story, I absolutely lost it one weekend while the husband was away, went on a decluttering spree, and walked the picture down to Goodwill. It took weeks for my husband to finally realize it was gone. Despite my claims that I “thought” he had told me I could finally donate it, he saw right through me. He didn’t talk to me for an entire weekend. Oops.
gen says
Haven’t seen you mention it but you guys are in the NYT home section dated last thursday (6/21).
gen
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes thanks! That was a surprise!
xo,
s
Jenn @therebelchick says
While the story is pretty funny, I know exactly what you mean by not airing your dirty laundry on the internet – or with friends and family for that matter! It doesn’t help anyone to make your spouse look bad in the heat of the moment.
And I would have totally bought that Restoration Hardware towel bar for $10. Our store closed down earlier this year! :(
Megan says
My husband and I are full of ’em… so are my parents, who have built and remodeled multiple houses (that’s my dad’s job) and they don’t see eye on eye on everything. Both my relationship and my parents’ relationship are still going strong though… however, my husband and I are disagreeing on the future progress of our house due to finances. Ahh, finances… they always ruin things! But like everything, we tackle things as we can and save up for the rest. His thing recently (after I’ve repainted various rooms of the house, decorated and so on) is that the outside (well, back yard mainly) is his area and the house is mine. He knows I won’t make everything super girly (no lace in this house!) and I know he won’t go crazy outside. I will let him design our future deck as it’ll be mainly for him and his grill, not to mention it’ll be mainly him building it. I’ll just throw some pots with pretty flowere on it and maybe a bird feeder or two. :)
Ally says
Your Goodwill has a TWO LANE DRIVE THRU??? WOW! That’s impressive! Must be handy for all the men who have to race back to find wedding dresses, family heirlooms, and R.H. towel bars? I’ll have Cafe Mocha and a towel bar, please :)
(And why is that dude standing ON TOP of his white van? Wonder if he threw out his wife’s engagement ring? :)
In our relationship, I am by far handier than Darryl. I asked him to hang a simple clock. This one:
http://www.eq3.com/SelectProd.do?prodId=24411
There was no template provided. And I turned the boy loose….what was I thinking…
I eventually had to hang a 40″ x 40″ art canvas to cover the mess. Years from now, someone will find nothing more than a #12 and a #4 behind that canvas :)
xox
Michelle says
So, when you got the 6 million comments about the suction cups on the wire baskets not holding up for some readers, who wanted to scream more…you or John? ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, thankfully ours are holding steady! Our tile is sort of rough like travertine, so maybe it helps that it’s not glossy.
xo,
s
Jeanne says
This didn’t happen to me, but it happened to a friend of mine. She was having all her bedrooms/hallway professionally painted. She put ALL of her shoes in a black plastic garbage bag and tossed them in the bottom of a closet. You can guess what happened. One of her sons put the garbage bag out with the garbage! ALL her shoes/boots were GONE. It’s like a female nightmare! LOL
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no!!! Such a nightmare!
xo,
s
Skittle says
The biggest fight my husband & I have ever had in almost 5 years began over him throwing away a couple of food containers from KFC. They were small plastic bowls with lids. I had put them in the sink to wash & planned to put paper clips & such in them in our office drawer. And I had told him my intention to re-use them. But these 2 tiny bowls were in his way when he needed to use the sink, so in the trash they went. And when I saw them there, WWIII began. We normally aren’t “fighters”. We don’t yell at each other or usually even get very angry. But somehow that day & that situation began our most heated argument ever.
In the end, I found the containers washed & dried waiting for me on the desk. :) But it is funny how sometimes the silliest things are the ones that can set you off. Like trash.
Natalie says
Me: Do you care how we decorate the bathroom?
Husband: Nope.
Me: Good, let’s do it in black and white.
Husband: Nooo…
Me: Yellow?
H:No…
Me: Blue?
H: No…
Me: Green?
H: No…
Me: Well what color scheme?
H: I dunno.
lol. Every. Single. Time.
Heather says
Oooooh, I hate this one. It happens more with birthdays/Christmas, but is now popping up with our new house. I finally told him he isn’t allowed to say “no” — if he disagrees he has to include a counteroffer for what he would like better. There’s often a time limit (anywhere from 24 hours to a week) after which time it defaults to his consent if he hasn’t been able to come up with an alternative. What’s funny is that during the waiting period I’ll often come up with a new idea that both of us like better!
Kim S says
This is the most frustrating thing for me as well. In fact, it happened today while I was trying to plan out the dinners I was going to cook for the rest of the week. “So tonight we’ll have enchiladas…” “I don’t feel like enchiladas” “Chicken alfredo” “Eehhhhh…(while wrinkling his nose and shaking his head)” “A new recipe for chicken drumsticks?” “I don’t want something new, I’ll grill the drumsticks this weekend.” And on. And on. And on. Until I cried out of frustration (dramatic, I know), and we went to Pei Wei for dinner haha.
CC says
Our fights are usually because Husband can’t see my “vision.” Our most recent disagreement was over some lamps. I fell in love with these pharmacy style lamps that were 50% off (holla!) & knew they would be perfect for our nightstands. Husband did not love the lamps at first glance. At all.
Let’s just say, the fight ended with me saying, “Let me have my weird things every now and then!”
He did and the lamps grew on him. He just made a comment about how the lamps really do work with the room as a whole. He just didn’t like them on their own.
He is learning to trust me more and I’m learning to value his input more. But I won this round! LOL!
CC says
For the record, it is not Husband’s fault he can’t see my vision. I’m terrible at explaining things and we haven’t mastered the Vulcan mind meld. Yet.
Jennifer D. says
This is funny…..like the one time I bought a fun vintage dresser from a yard sale for $10 on the same day we were moving from one house to another. (You get it, right? You’re on your way back from your new house, learning the routes, and then you spot a garage sale and have to stop.)My hubs, thinking it had been living in the garage for who-knows-how-long, decided we didn’t need “that old piece of junk” and proceeded to give it to the neighbors down the street at our old house. Imagine my dismay when, a couple of weeks down the road, I finally have some time to work on sanding and repairing it. :*(
Amanda says
It’s so nice to see that your arguments are mostly home-related. lol They could be worse, so much worse, (i.e. cheating, ignoring the kids, etc, etc.) You two got it made!
Ann says
I am the thrower-awayer in our house. In fact, I think my DH has an issue with throwing away ANYTHING. He leaves dead batteries on the counters around the house. We had a discussion about a soy sauce bottle he emptied on Sunday night. Keep or recycle? I said recycle. He put it on the counter and I had to recycle it the following morning. If he has misplaced something he figures I either put it away, threw it away or gave it away. Mostly he accuses me of throwing away. This all started back in the 80’s when I threw away what I thought was an empty envelope. Turns out it had birthday money from his sister in it. Whoops!
We’ve been together for 32 years and married for 29 so somehow we have made it work!
Preethi says
Reading this post was like reading all the normal everyday school stuff in Harry Potter about what they eat, where they go and what school life is really like! It’s not all ‘we take on (DIY) evil and triumph’!
Senora H-B says
At the risk of sounding like a psycho, I love y’all! I often wonder if my husband and I are the only ones that argue about RIDICULOUS things. And then, because I’m crazy (see above, re: psycho), I think, ‘We’re getting divorced! We’re going to get divorced over a misplaced key!’
Anyway, I think our biggest dumb argument was over a DIY project. Our last name starts with a ‘B’, so I bought one of those 24-inch cardboard letters at JoAnn. I left it kraft brown for ages, then got an itch to add some color to our living room. I painted it turquoise without doing any consultation with my husband. Well, it turns out that turquoise is the only color that he absolutely cannot stand. We had a humongous fight about it until we both got the giggles and realized it was stupid. In the end, I painted it bronze and it looks a lot better.
We’ve only been together for four years, so we’re definitely still working out the kinks of communication. I do know to make decisions about color choices by myself now!
Senora H-B says
DANG IT! I mean, I do know NOT to make decisions about color choices by myself now!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love that fight. Hilarious.
xo,
s
Jessica says
Story of my life … there are have been PLENTY of arguments in Home Depot, Lowe’s, the front yard etc. One of my favorites was when my husband was up in the attic putting in some lighting/electrical work so we’d have build in lighting in the living room below. Anytime I hear, “Jess can you help me with this” I let out a big sigh because I know we’re about to fight. So I get called over show my hand up some hole and feel for like a stick thing that I think had wires attached to it (I’m sure that sounds dangerous but I’m fairly certain that nothing was actually hooked up) … anyhow, so I can’t find the fish stick thing, my husband assures me he can see it near my hard and we’re yelling back and forth, but I can’t really hear him and he can’t really hear me because he’s in the attic and I’m 1 floor down. So instead of realizing this, we just keep yelling louder and louder to the point where we’re both pissed that we can’t hear each other and about to get divorced over the fact that I can’t find this stupid fish stick thing but he says it’s right next to my hand which is 1/2 way up a hole in the damn wall. We finally call it quits and then realize we own walkie-talkies and that we can communicate much better that way without yelling. Those damn walkie-talkies have really saved our marriage ;)
Melissa says
I love to de-clutter while my husband likes to “squirrel” aka hide things away that i think are useless. In our years of living together, I have discovered two by fours hidden under the couch, shot glasses in his closet, bottle caps in the night stand, bricks in the computer desk, etc. Some of the things he hides from me are just baffling and we use to fight about it, but now its pretty hilarous. Each time I find something wierd hidden away, i just yell “squirrel!” at him.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny!
xo
s
Casey says
I am in LOVE with this post… not because of the argument of course… but because of your stance on not airing your dirty couple laundry. That was the best advice my mom gave when I got married, and to this day (nearly 8 years later) my husband and I both stick to it. I think her words were, “once you get married, your first loyalities are to each other, forever.” I want everyone to think he’s as awesome as I do (99% of the time), and vice versa—and neither of us would ever want to tarnish anyone’s opinion of the other. Way to go Petersiks, broadcasting such a great marriage policy to all of the internet! :)
Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says
My hubby and I caught ourselves in a heated debate as to which way the wind blows and hence where you should drive should there be a nuclear bomb…north or north east. Oh and did I mention this was over a romantic dinner for our anniversary. Good part is we caught ourselves mid discussion and started laughing.
Okay – back to you:
1) Love the honesty! – everyone fights and it is easy to loose track that you guys are as human as the rest of us when we see such B-E-A-UTIFUL diy projects (such as your head board – yes I am still drooling over that and no one can blame me) :-)
2) LOVE your term “gone-zo” – that is a keeper!
Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says
Just had to add – don’t ask how we got on that topic….I couldn’t even tell ya. ;-)
Brooke says
We argue over colors. My husband is very willing to be bold and go nuts with color. I’m a lot more conservative. At one point, he wanted to paint a wall grey. I said no way. There wasn’t any way grey could fit into our home and go with our furnishings, and he wanted a DARK grey. Just… no. It was kind of a “thing” for a while because he was so confident in it and I was so sure it was wrong for us. Well, I went out of town for a weekend and came home to… drumroll… a grey wall! And guess what? I loved it, and still do love it. It’s the perfect backdrop for our gallery wall. I still fight him on almost every bold color choice, and pretty much every time, he’s right.
Meg says
I am on team Jon for this one only because this same thing happened to my husband after our garage sale two weekends ago. Instead of a towel rack we fought over all the unsold baby stuff that I promised to donate and instead I lugged it back inside with intentions of giving it to friends who are preggers. Now all that stuff is piled up in the unfinished bathroom in the basement and we can’t start working on said bathroom because of all the stuff! The extra stuff stresses my husband out and it isn’t worth it… That said, I am sure I will be on team Sherri after I give the baby stuff to girl friends and they squeal with delight at all the sweet baby clothes!
Jessica A says
Ohhh, I can totally relate. When we bought our house, an ugly, ugly, U-G-L-Y (you ain’t got no alibi) dresser was left behind. I finally decided I would give it some lovin’ & put in in our laundry room for extra storage/prep space. I had plans to repaint it, take out the bottom, larger drawers, add some plywood to the bottom to create a place for laundry baskets and leave the upper drawers for storage. I buy the paint, get the main part primed and painted and go to paint the upper drawers…and they were gone. The hubs selectively heard my plans to get rid of the bottom drawers and took ALL the drawers out to our burn pile and burned them. All of them. The dresser is still in my laundry room-painted and drawerless. I still don’t know what to do with it. Oh well, all is forgiven now :)
Patricialynn says
We bought two different colors of paint, painters tape and all the rollers and stuff to repaint our bathroom back in February. When I was clearing out the bathroom I noticed that there were a couple of divots missing in the drywall and told hubby I needed some stuff to fill the divots. He said “No problem; I’ll get it.”
A month goes by. Hubby comes to me one morning in a foul mood and yells about how I’m procrastinating on the painting job. Seriously, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise for about five minutes! Then he finally asks “So what is your reason for not painting the bathroom?” and I calmly replied “Because you haven’t bought the drywall putty yet.”
Took him about four seconds to process that statement. Then he turned bright red and walked away. I got a full apology later, which included a night out, so it was well worth it – especially as he only has a foul mood once or twice a year.
BTW, that argument was in March….I’m STILL waiting for the drywall putty!
Hannah says
This was so funny to watch! I have to know what’s up with John’s shirts in the video? Is he sponsoring sodas? Was this shot in a period of a few days – because Sherry looks the same through the whole thing!!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh it was just playing on the fact that my wardrobe seemed to only be made up of soda shirts. Folks kept calling me on it so I thought I’d put them all on display. I think we explained this in the original post with the video, but I can see who it’s kinda weird now looking back at it!
-John
Lauren@FilingJointly says
My husband’s and my most ridiculous fight came when he was helping me paint my first apartment out of college. I had picked a bright cheery yellow for the kitchen and had just opened the paint can when he came down the hallway, stepped on the paint lid (which was covered in yellow paint) and continued on his way down the hall, leaving a trail of bright cheery yellow footprints behind him.
My kitchen did not get painted that day. My carpet did get cleaned though. I scrubbed the paint out of it for hours while my then boyfriend painted the bedroom and occaisonally shouted things to me like “I’m sorry” and “You’re pretty.”
Lisa@Cozy Condo Living says
Oh John. I feel your pain. I often go through our house getting rid of “junk” that’s been laying around forever and am in the dog house for awhile. Luckily my husband usually rolls his eyes at me and calls me a purgaholic. I think he secretly likes that I clear the clutter.
Kait says
Last fall we moved into a 60’s tri-level that had not been updated since then :) The traverse curtain rods were gold-colored, but high quality so I got some ORB spray paint and they looked great, only to discover my hubby had tossed all the hardware to attach them back to the wall! We looked everywhere for something that would work, but since they were old traverse rods, nothing fit them :( That cleaning spree cost us about $100 in new curtain rods so he was even more upset than I was.