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.
Rosa says
I love hearing this because although we’re not as much DIY’ers as I’d like to be, I do like a good bargain and a nice home.
I see a lot of similarities in Sherry and I. I think it’s because we’re women and we like to save money and a nice home… sometimes I tell my husband your stories so he can see that I’m not crazy.
This situation is something my husband and I would totally ‘argue’ about and then laugh about later. Love you guys!
Sarah says
Good for you guys!!! We also try to live by this philosophy of not sharing our “problems” with others. It’s not respectful, it brings a sense of negativity into the relationship, and I feel it can draw out arguments that would otherwise be over quickly. Occasionally when both of us are participating in a conversation with friends a spat will come up which the both of us actually find amusing and can laugh about… otherwise it is no ones business but our own. What really blows my mind are the couples who have their arguments in a public way (for instance arguing with their spouse via Facebook) Seriously what are people thinking?!?!
Andrea Ferree says
My husband refuses to get rid of anything! For example, he still has his old college text books (he’s 29..) and his degree is in computer engineering! So it’s not even relevant anymore! Le sigh.
Chris says
Not a DIY story, but a Goodwill story nonetheless. I had bin of clothing to be donated that sat in our spare bedroom for MONTHS. One random sunny day, while trying to avoid housework, hubby “volunteered” to take the bins to Goodwill. Little did I know, he’d also snuck his golf clubs out, and had eyes on playing a few holes before coming back home (leaving me with a toddler and newborn, trying to do our chores alone).
He ended up getting in a fender-bender at the entrance to the golf course! No golf for him, hundreds of dollars in car repairs, AND he got busted for shirking on me.
Mona says
Loved this post.
mp says
My late husband was a cheap, cheap man and I let him have his way when we added a handicapped-equipped bathroom to our home for his benefit, but when the cut-rate fixtures started to fail and damage the bathroom’s structure, I stepped in and bought high-quality replacements AND paid a contractor, rather than an incompetent acquaintance of his, to do the work. He accused me of wasting money, but I reminded him that the funds were mine, not his or money we shared. And the contractor not only did a great job, but told my husband when he complained: You may do things that way, but I have a reputation to keep, as well as my contractor’s license.
HannahJo says
I think I bought your towel bar at that Goodwill…
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- no way!
xo,
s
Yulia says
Oh Sherry, I’m mad at John just reading about this! My husband does this kind of stuff all the time. Mostly it’s with leftovers. I plan to eat them for lunch, while he throws perfectly good food into the trash in the name of “cleaning up.” Other times, he starts a “cleaning session” by erasing all the old messages on the answering machine or worse yet by deleting all the old emails! Mind you the house could be a disaster and he starts by deleting electronic data! I can’t tell you how many important phone numbers and emails I’ve lost.
sallie says
my husband accidentally donated my favorite pair of shorts to goodwill one time! i had a trash bag full of clothes ready for goodwill that had been sitting in our room forever. my husband got the bug to clean up one day and decided to take the bag off to goodwill. apparently, i had tossed my shorts in the same corner as the bag (it was a small room) that morning and so the hubs thought they were to go, too. NOOO!! i was so mad at him. how could he not know that i still wore those shorts all the freaking time?! how dare he clean up without my approval. haha! i also went to goodwill to hunt them down but they were gone. :(
Audrey P says
I can really appreciate this. My husband and I got married and promptly moved across the country, away from our families and longtime friends. Because of this, I made it a point not to share my frustrations with anyone back home: since they don’t see us regularly, people back home might put too much stock in my momentary frustrations. I’ve felt really good about this and I think it’s been a great move for our relationship. It makes it a lot easier anyway to laugh things off if everyone I know doesn’t have to know I “ate crow.” (Let’s be honest: half the fights are our own doing!)
Sloan Chang says
This sounds oddly familiar. My brother and I inherited our childhood home. We’re both young, so we’re both exercising our sibling sharing skills and we’re sort of taking turns utilizing it during life transitions. Well, there was a little overlap when I recently moved in and my brother was waiting for his new lease to start. When I moved in, I wanted to capitalize on the fresh burst of organizational energy you have when you first move to a new place, so naturally I was purging some of the junk we also inherited. And in the midst of what I assumed was a superfluous cup/mug collection was a souvenir from my brother’s travels. So off it went to Goodwill. When my brother got home, he looked at what I thought was progress and was so angry at what I had done. So, like John I tried to right my wrong immediately. But what the heck! Goodwill must move their inventory like new iPhone releases.
Our family has adopted the same dispute resolution tactics as John, because my bro gave me the silent treatment for days. But alas material possessions are trivial in comparison to the people that we love.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t hate their dumbfaces every now and then.
carly says
http://www.thehousethatbuiltusstory.blogspot.com/2010/10/demo-man.html
My future husband ended up ripping out a vanity in our bathroom because I said it was ugly…right before our house warming party that had over 80 people! That was back in September 2010…our bathroom is still like that today…
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man! That’s a good one. Love all the stories you guys are sharing!
xo,
s
Laura says
Too funny! Glad to hear you’re not the Stepford-DIYers, though. Thanks for that!
Our first home renovation as a couple was to paint a kitchen, living room, and entryway. As we both worked full time, I assumed we could jump on it on our next day off. (New hubby wasn’t/isn’t a DIY kinda dude.) My Type A self wants it done now, done right (= my way) and not stop until it’s done.
I should mention that “Day Off” to him means relaxing with a microbrew and catching the game if at all possible. We compromised. I bought a nice six pack for him–some fancy shmancy beer and he’d not complain…too much. Fast forward–really smooth/good beer, entire six pack gone and husband asleep on the floor. It took EVERY SINGLE OUNCE of will-power for me to NOT roll that fully loaded paint roller from his ears to his toes!
Lesson learned though. Beer=reward after NOT during!
Emily V. says
So sweet of John to go back to Goodwill for it.
YoungHouseLove says
Thank you!
-John
A Wife and her Carpenter says
So, my husband is a carpenter by trade and I consider myself a designer-in-the-making. :) Either way, I tend look at things with an eye for detail and aesthetics where my darling husband, while keeping those things in mind, is always looking at things from the perspective of, well, a carpenter. Meaning he places things based on stuff like the wall studs and I place things based on how it looks.
One day while we were working on our bedroom, I noticed something I didn’t like. He had placed a light switch too “out in the open” and I wanted it closer to the trim so that it would blend in more. Man did a huge argument ensue. It is funny to look back on it now, but man was my husband confused.
He had no idea that I would care about the placement of a light switch and never did I consider that I would need to be concerned about the placement of a light switch :) Oh the trivial things in life!
Amanda says
This sounds so familiar to me.
I’m one of those “remembers everything” types. My husband needs reminders, to have things labeled, etc. So, it helps if I put things that I will be using in one place and things that need to be discarded in another place.
Kate S. says
My husband and I are actually in the minority on this topic. We have often wondered aloud why so many married couples say they start fighting when they spend too much time together–we’re very thankful that doesn’t happen to us.
However, we had a recent memorable argument. One of maybe three total in several years together. My husband can sometimes be a bit careless with the things we own and it’s no secret that he’s broken or ruined more than his fair share of our belongings. Last week, while mowing the lawn, he failed to move our (very long, very expensive 100% natural rubber, food-safe, special-ordered-three-weeks-ago and used twice) garden hose out of his way and mowed over it, putting a six-inch long gash in it. Unfortunately, he chose not to tell me right away and it coincided with me needing the hose to fertilize our garden . . . so when I found it, I was not pleased at all. I yelled and I may have even cried about it, haha.
In the end, he was able to repair the hose perfectly using a $5 tool/kit from the local hardware store and in the future he’ll definitely remember to put it away before mowing. Now I think I made too much of a fuss about it, but boy, was I upset at the time!
Ryan says
That is a funny story! So sorry about the shelf : /
Lately ours have gone like this: We pick out the project together – yes we like this paint color. We buy the supplies – paint brushed check. The supplies sit around for months and months – collecting dust. I decide to do the project – painting all weekend while you are gone! Then other party is upset I proceeded without him. LOL.
verucaamish says
Sounds like you took that baby to the market but forgot to carry it home. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Bwahahahaha!
-John
Anita says
I bought a vintage green vinyl Thonet chair at the NC state surplus warehouse for $3. I came home and washed it and oiled the wood legs. In the process of moving it around, the Thonet label came off. (The glue was dry underneath. The glue and the chair were at least 40 years old!) I left the label lying on the desk in front of our computer, thinking I would reattach it later with spray adhesive. My husband got home later and was Skypeing with someone. After he left the computer, I noticed a little stack of ripped red paper on the desk. In a fog of shock and hatred, I realized he had ripped it into a million little pieces as he sat there chatting online. I was mortified. He had no idea what it was or why I meant to keep it. I admit, I cried. It wasn’t pretty.
Kelly says
LOVE this post! Thank you so much for sharing! My husband and I do DIY projects together all the time too and this is exactly how things go with us sometimes. I usually feel like ‘Sherry and John would never be having this argument!’ haha so this makes me feel LOADS better :)
Yay for husband and wife DIY teams and for getting through the ‘bumps’. Thanks again! Love your blog!
E.Lefebvre says
Hehe… We had a huge (read: now funniest) fight over a trash can. I walked in and my (then new) hubby was washing it in the kitchen sink. I got upset that he was cleaning the bathroom trash where we keep our dishes. He was upset that I didn’t appreciate him taking initiative and cleaning… It’s a classic. He doesn’t wash trash cans in the kitchen anymore, but still claims that it isn’t a big deal (with a wink, of course). And yes, usually I yell and he gives me the silent treatment.
Samm Spangler says
HA! This totally happens to me and my husband too… except I would be in John’s shoes… I have 0.5% worth of patience so when something is left out of place, I consider it my “duty” to get rid of/donate it
Bethany says
you guys crack me up! I am not going into specifics, suffice it to say when we first bought our mega- fixer- upper- dream- house, those first three months when we had to actually LIVE there while trying to make each room livable was the hardest three months of our marriage. Physical chaos takes one heck of a phychological toll. Ironically, looking back on that time and remembering being covered in paint and spackle and wondering whether we would make it thru; all makes me feel pretty dang proud.
Thanks for your keeping it real post!
Pamela Heller says
My husband & I definitely have disagreements when either he does some project without consulting me or simply does something I asked incorrectly. He hates it when I ask him to run an errand, and instead of me being pleased that he brought home the wrong thing, I get annoyed. I have learned to say things like “thanks so much for doing x, I really appreciate it, I know it was a pain” and that goes a long way to him accepting it when I then say “everything needs to go back.” haha.
Lisa D. says
My mom always says that when you assume you make as “ass” out of “u” and “me.” So, naturally my husband and I assume many things with our DIY projects and later discover the miscommunication. Classic case: to paint or NOT to paint the quarter round toe molding on our hallway trim. I assumed you wouldn’t paint it (because it’s not painted anywhere else in the house) and my husband naturally assumed the opposite. After the initial stink eye and “why would you do/not do that” in a voice that makes our dog hide we laughed it off and made the look uniform… even if doing it his way results in us having to paint all the toe molding throughout the house now. No good deed goes unpunished.
Suesan says
I still recall fondly the argument of 1990 in which I mentioned to the Hubs that I wanted to open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Since we were in the process of remodeling, Hubs decided to go ahead and do it the very next day without getting more information from me about what I had in mind. He took the wall down to counter-height. The problem was, I wanted the wall at bar height. He very sweetly rebuilt the wall for me, but he learned he needed to get more information from me before tackling any more big projects. :D
Nicole Lindquist says
I think this might be one of your funniest posts to date! Cracked me up. My favorite marriage advice: “Don’t go to bed mad……..stay up and fight!” Haha!
Shannon says
We’re in the final stages of a complete kitchen reno. I’ve searched the world to find the perfect backsplash tile – 1” x 2” Carrera in a herringbone pattern. Beaut! I’ve left a sketch & labeled the sample showing an “up” arrow to ensure proper installation and off I go to the office. I return home to find the entire backsplash installed running vertically. WHAT??!! Who doesn’t know what herringbone/chevron pattern looks like?? I literally almost cried. And then my husband admitted he was checking progress that morning – the tile guy had installed the 1st square and asked him if everything look correct and he had replied “yes”. I could have STRANGLED him. Instead, I immediately went out for a stiff margarita and tried to convince myself that the vertical installation was actually nice and made the distance between the counter & upper cabinets look taller. It’s been a year now and still stings a little, but I know one day it will be a funny story – right?
Katie L. says
I think places like Home Depot should have marriage counselors on staff. It seems there’s nothing like a house project to make couples fight. My husband and I recently fought it out over different shades of grey paint. The poor guy at the paint counter didn’t know what to do with us.
Ashley says
When my boyfriend and I fight (not often- but hey, it happens), I’m the one that goes silent while the BF let’s it all come out. A few months ago, we were fighting in the kitchen about something pointless and I continued making dinner silently which made him even more mad. I got so fed up with being yelled at that whipped around and I threw an onion in his direction. (I feel so white trash just typing that sentence) It didn’t hit him, but it was close. Needless to say, that was a low point, but we both laugh now about how ridiculous it was!
Haha don’t report me for domestic abuse ;)
Taffee says
I just have to laugh at all these arguments and share our biggest one. Many years ago I had gotten a Honey Baked Ham for Thanksgiving. When I got home I asked my husband to take it out to the garage and put it in the extra refrigerator. A few days later I was making all the side dishes and asked him to bring in the ham. He comes back in the house and says, “There is no ham in the refrigerator.” What???? You are kidding me right? Well, he wasn’t. Turns out he wasn’t really listening and thought it was trash and had thrown it away and the trash had gone out. UGH!! I was furious. Twenty five years later I still remind him of that when he needs to put something in the extra refrigerator. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him. Just kidding!
Candice says
My sister/roomie Alice and I have been “arguing” over selecting a new area rug for our living room. Our cats have barfed on the old rug at least 10 times and it no longer matches our color scheme, we still cannot agree on which rug to purchase. Maybe we should just get rid of the existing rug and let the cats barf on the hardwood floor. It would be easier to clean up.
Emily says
LOVE it. Thank you for your honesty… and an afternoon laugh!
Kadra says
And that my friends is how you can score stuff from great stores like restoration hardware for cheapo at stores like goodwill!
Casey says
It’s so funny how men and women are from different planets sometimes. I totally saw Sherry’s point of view as I was reading that, but I know for a FACT my husband would have reacted the same way John did. Ha ha, you men :)
jenn says
Not actually mine – mine are still too bitter to talk about. :) My best friend and her husband (boyfriend at the time) completely re-did a small town-owned firehouse into a small house. During the bathroom installation there was a weeks-long argument about bathroom hardware. Unwisely, I actually took sides with my BFF, and we got “our” way on the harder to find, more expensive bathroom faucet handles. To be fair, 10 years later, they still look awesome in the bathroom, and I make a point of it to comment on them at least once a year, guaranteeing that argument will never be forgotten. Doesn’t that make you want to be my best friend?
cappy says
Ahhh thank you for keeping it real! John I love the “Mature-I know” part!!!! I can totally relate to that as a wife! I hate to say this but I think ever since your blog-we have had some increased disagreements. We have been trying to make our home a home for the last 10 years. It was so bad I think sheep ran threw it during our walk through. Fast forward-we skimped by with little knowledge on how to do things and made it livable. Well until your blog gave me a passion to make it look great and a place to be proud of. Of course, convincing my already tired hubby to do MORE projects has been a bit of a sore spot but the end results are SO worth the little upsets. We are now in the process of painting our oak cabinets (that my husband first sanded and restained from when we moved in)and I could not be happier!!! Happy wife=happy life :0) Your blog has be so instrumental in how to create a great look! Instead of a so so fix! Thank you!
YoungHouseLove says
No worries, Cappy – I’m used to apologizing to husbands because our blog has increased the length of their to-do list. :)
-John
Shirley says
omg, these stories are totally making my day. i can totally see this being my other half and me.
Marlene says
Totally love the headboard. Well done.
Stacie says
The most recent tiff between my husband and I was about watering the garden. I’m a play by the rules kind of girl who wants the plants watered first thing in the early morning or in the evening. This in spite of the fact that I’m very forgetful about watering period. Our plants have enough trouble surviving me so I don’t want the leaves burned off on top of that. We argued in our outside fighting voices which are quieter than our inside fighting (neighbors on their porch.)It ended with him saying “Fine you do it from now on, and we’ll see if anything survives.” He was back on plant duty the next day :)
emily says
We have little scuffles like this from time to time, too. One of them happened when we were moving in together and I had a BIG chair that was coming to the new apartment. We were carrying it in together and everything was going fine, but my boyfriend started to lower the chair without communicating that to me, and it slipped and the corner landed on his toe. He was SO angry with me because he was convinced it was so obvious what he was doing that I should have just *known*, while I was frustrated that I’d hurt him and that he didn’t vocalize what the plan of attack would be. Luckily his toe is fine now, and in any moving we’ve done since, we’re excessively communicative about every single step (“Okay, I’m going to start walking now.”) so that we avoid any more injuries.
Jess says
I saw this awesome “before and after” on design*sponge: a couch made from old doors. Um, yes, OF COURSE that is a great idea, especially since our couch was 7 years old and had moved across the country with us twice (Florida to Illinois, Illinois to Virginia), and to 5 different homes.
My husband thought the door idea was awesome too, so he snagged some solid, 5 panel doors from ages ago for 50% off at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and got to work. It took him forever to strip the old paint off the doors. It took him forever to stain and repaint them. It took him forever to mount the two doors on top of some old pallets that he sanded and painted. He now can’t go any further because the arms need to be an appropriate height in relation to the cushions. The problem is those cushions are stupid expensive ($300 minimum for the bottom cushion. I was going to DIY the back with some regular bed pillows, but that’s still going to be at least $50, probably more– it’s always more).
So, after all of this time (he started this right before Thanksgiving) I get frustrated and say…….. “We should just go buy a couch”. Well. Then followed an argument the likes of which we don’t really see around here. It was way more than a tiff. Horrible!! I don’t even feel like I have to fill in the details: the argument is pretty clear. I’m tired of it taking so long and being more expensive than I wanted, and he’s committed to it because he’s put hours of work into it.
So we’re just, uh, taking a break from the couch for awhile. =D
Ginny @ goofymonkeys says
Has there ever been a DIY related argument/tiff/disagreement/miscommunication? Bwahahahahah!! Has there ever been a project without one of the above??? Anywhere on earth?
Usually it goes like this: I initiate project by stating what needs to change. Husband looks at me like I’m nuts. I stand firm. Husband starts work (reluctantly). I check progress and declare that it’s “all wrong”. Husband declares that “my way” would be impossible/impractical/expensive. I decide he’s an idiot. He’s still sure I’m crazy. Then somehow we come to an agreement for how it should go. My original plan shifts, he sees the light and the result is great! It usually takes twice the original timeline and 30% more than anticipated :)
Lauren says
My husband got confused with bags when we were moving house and threw away the bags containing ALL of our bedlinen – I mean ALL of it. The pillow slips, the covers, the comforters. We realised after the truck turned out of the street and it was gone. ARRGGHHH!
heather says
Haha, I’m like you guys. We definitely argue but I wouldn’t want someone to judge my husband based on me being annoyed. It’s just not fair. That said, we’re laughing about this one because honestly – who fights about it.
I’ve actually been fighting *against* having a second floor bathroom, particularly, a separate master bathroom. My husband looked at me totally bewildered because I might be the only person ever who isn’t a huge fan of bedroom bathrooms. Long story short, we moved our bedroom into this tiny room in our house and we actually love it, but the room is slated to be something else. Today he informed me that essentially we will have FOUR of these bedrooms in our new bedroom. I conceded to the bathroom for the sake of getting old and wanting one, not wanting such a huge master bedroom, thinking about teenagers taking over the other one in the future, and resell. haha. Mark this day in history.
Callie says
Ah, some of these stories make me laugh! Sooo classic. In our house, I can admit it, *I* am the fanatical neatnik and my husband (who really is a tidy person) has to make sure his stuff doesn’t disappear. I don’t donate it but I put it away somewhere and then he doesn’t know where. *_* We’ve worked it out so that if I don’t know where it goes I either remember carefully where I put it or I put it by his desk and try to blank out that bit of clutter from my brain. So now if he can’t find something he jokes like this: “I can’t find my gym shoes. Did you clean them up somewhere?” When we first renovated our house we came home from vacation and this conversation happened:
me: “Ahhh. clean house.”
Husband: “hmm. looks like a hotel.”
me: “It does!! Isn’t it great!? no clutter!”
Husband: “actually, I was thinking we should hang some pictures or something.” Haha.
Jayme says
Reading this post was a little like seeing a teacher outside of school. I realize you two are normal, but actually reading about it is so strange.
I am constantly amazed at how you seem to be an effortless team and actually tried to convince my husband the other day that if we did more DIY projects together we’d obviously be happier, since it works for YHL. For some reason he didn’t think adding a glue gun would spice up our relationship.
And I really liked what you said about how you don’t like to talk about your problems with everyone. I see friends on Facebook and Twitter who constantly air their dirty laundry and I just can’t help but think they’d have less to complain about if they respected themselves and their partner enough not to talk about it all the time.
Anastasia says
Great post. And fun video. From the photos – it seems like Clara is a perfect blend of the two of you. With her light features it’s easy to immediatly go with her looking like John but I see Sherry’s eyes, nose and smile in her. All in all – a seemingly nice family. Thanks for keeping a positive outlook but keeping it real. Thanks!
katie says
Living in a tiny NYC apartment – we don’t have too many DIY projects to fight about but our biggest “disagreement” is over the refrigerator. My fiance is somewhat of a germ-a-phobe and also has never cooked anything other than peanut butter toast. He is convinced that everything in our fridge has gone bad 24 hours after it enters. I have come home to him throwing out all of the groceries I bought 2 days before! He also has been caught throwing out uncooked pasta in the pantry because he thought it had “gone bad”. Love him and can’t wait to marry him, just need to train him a little better :)