My Husband Rocks! Friday 8/1/2008

At the wedding shower my aunts Ola and Dot hostessed for me, all the attendees wrote advice on little pieces of paper for me. My aunts collected them and put them in a little book with each person's photograph from the shower next to their advice. I love this little book of wisdom from my family and friends, and I re-read it often. Doing this post each Friday reminds me of the advice my mother wrote, "Tell only the good, and forget the rest. No one needs to hear the bad." Or something similar, but that was the gist of the message. I don't have a perfect marriage or a perfect husband, but writing this post each week (even though I've only written one twice), helps me focus on the good things.

Last week, I told you all that he cleans, but I didn't tell you that he cooks, too. And not just grilling, he loves to make pasta dishes, homemade pizzas, different kinds of garlic bread, and soups, just to name a few. He's a whiz with grilling and barbecue, too.

In the last few weeks, he's been cooking a lot while I apply for jobs or take a nap or get a pedicure, and it's been great. He made a blackened chicken pasta with sun-dried tomato garlic bread that he saw Guy Fieri make on the Food Network, a seafood chicken alfredo that he dreamed up and a sour-cream/chive/garlic bread. He's discovered a love for basil, and has been mixing it into our salads--yum! Most of what he makes is just flying by the seat of his pants, tossing whatever he finds in the cupboard, fridge, or freezer together, and cooking it all up. It usually turns out to be delicious! He's not one for measuring or precision, but his kind of cooking is nice and fun for him and my tummy. It's nice to know that if I ever break both my arms, he can keep us fed without relying on Domino's, Taco Bell, McDonalds, and the Big Chicken!

So, my husband rocks for many reasons, one of which is that he cooks!

My Husband Rocks! Friday

I know I missed it last week, but we were up to our eyeballs in house-hunting. We did find one, but it's not quite a done deal yet, so I'll wait until it is to share. Plus, today is about MSH and another reason why he rocks.

The photos in this post have nothing to do with the post other than MSH is in them, and I love the way he interacts with our nephew, Richard, in these pictures. MSH had fallen asleep on the couch at my brother's house, and Richard, upon hearing him snore, had to go and investigate. So, he crawled into MSH's lap, waking him in the process, and they hung out for a little while.

On to why MSH rocks! He really helps me with so much. We both work, full time, so it only make sense that we divide the housework, too. It's not exactly always 50/50, but it's close, and there are days when he does more than I. I really started thinking about this earlier this week.

I mentioned something about him putting groceries away to one of my co-workers, and her response was, "You let him put the groceries away?" My response was, "Of course, he's perfectly capable of putting items into the refrigerator." This wasn't the first time we'd had an exchange like this. Then it sort of hit me, there are all these women out there who don't get help around the house, either because their husband's just don't do it or because they don't trust their husbands to do a good job.

MSH is an intelligent person, and he cares about our home being clean. Is it spotless all the time? Of course not, but we don't live in filth, and I don't spend all my spare time cleaning. Is everything done exactly the way I want it? No, but it's not all done the way he wants it either.

I mentioned to my mom a while back that I wanted to stop using the disposable Clorox wipes to clean the counters, so I had to get MSH to start using a dishrag on the nights that he cleans the kitchen. She told me that if I had a husband who would wipe down the counters, I should let him use what ever he wants. It just reminded me how lucky I am. (We did stop using the wipes, though, and he didn't mind at all.)

I recently started a new cleaning schedule where I do a little each day, Monday through Friday, and have nothing left but the dishes on the weekends. He's jumped on the bandwagon and never looked back. I've always appreciated how much he does at home and even brag on him every chance I get.

My husband rocks for many reasons, one of which is that he cleans!

My Husband Rocks! Friday

I've joined the My Husband Rocks! Friday over at Katie Lin's blog The Great Adventure. So here's the first installment and a big announcement.

My husband rocks because he got a new job in Marietta, GA. This means that we're moving back to the real south August 15th! I'm so excited. This is the something I promised to tell you about a few weeks ago when I told that I was trying to keep MSH from climbing the walls and chewing his fingers to nubs. It's another government job, and the government moves so slowly. The main reason for my lack of posts lately is that the anxiety about this has been drinking all of my creative juices. That, and this is the only thing I wanted to write about, but couldn't lest some one in my office found out before it was official. I know he just took a new job a couple of months ago, and it really pained him to have to tell them that he's leaving so soon, but this is what we've been working for since we moved away in 2004.

So we will now be about 2 hours from our families. We will be able to buy a house with a yard maybe even one with a pool or on a lake. We will be able to send our future child(ren) to daycare if necessary for a reasonable amount of money. We may even be able to afford for me to stay home with our future child(ren) in a few years.

We're hoping to take a house-hunting trip next weekend, and that it all goes well because we will have less than 30 days to find, buy, and close on a house. So my excitement is tinged with a lot of apprehension and stress, but balanced with so much happiness and relief. Now, I just have to tell my boss.

So, my husband rocks for many reasons, one of which is that he's bringing me home.