Talk to me...

My husband and I; Fall 2009

So I have been stewing.

My husband and I have an awesome relationship.

We rarely argue...and when we do, it's only for a minute or two.

We have never been a really BIG fight.

We've both been irritated with one another of that I am sure, but we get over it quickly.

That said I have been stewing.

For months.

About laundry.

See the thing is, my husband is a huge help around the house...even though he is rarely home these days, he still helps out more than can be expected.

The laundry is just a small part of what he does.

He washes and dries a load of laundry every night before bed and brings it up in the morning before he leaves to work.

I then sort it out for the kids, and fold ours...and usually put them away.

There are days when this gets done before he gets home, and there are days it doesn't.

On the days it doesn't...he comes home and I can be completely swamped with something, and he puts his clothes away and leaves mine.

I always think "what the heck?" and then stew over it while I put my clothes away after I finish whatever I'm working on.

It's been REALLY bugging me.

Finally last night, I was done.

I confronted him.

"Why do you just put your stuff away, and never mine?"

I was expecting him to come back with, "I don't want to mess up your system" or some other lame excuse, but instead he surprised me.

He said, "I'm sorry. I felt bad you have to put my stuff away every day, so I just grab mine trying to help you. I didn't realize I was coming off as mean, I was just trying to make it easier for you."

All this time I think he's being mean-and he thinks he's doing me a favor, which technically he is. It's been our understanding that he washes and dries and I fold and put away.

It's worked for us.

Well I felt dumb.

I have been bugged for months and all I had to do was have a 30 second conversation with him.

Have you ever done that? Stewed over something and then realized it was all you? What do you need to have a 30 second conversation about?

Let's be friends!

DIY Cheeky Spare Key Holder

My husband always is working on some car.

Whether it's a junker he's picked up off of Craigslist for a project...somebody who needs a timing belt done in the neighborhood...changing a body over...cleaning a motor...whatever.

He loves it.

I hate it.

I don't like the junkyard that accumulates in our yard...and how long it takes to get the junkers out of our yard once they make their way in.

I also don't like the pile of keys that always seem to end up in my kitchen...he hangs them up or puts them in a drawer...but ugh.

We kind of butt heads on this...a lot.

So I decided to stop being a nag about it...well at least try to bite my tongue a lot more.

I love my husband and have decided to support him in his "hobby" and try to 'cuten' it up as much as I can.

I went to Michaels and picked up a wood scrapbook frame, it will hold a 12x12 piece of art. I also picked up some pegs.

I picked out this cheeky little tile vinyl from ten23 that says, "Still Plays With Cars."

And I attached it to a 12x12 piece of cork board that I had on hand (you can pick up a 4 pack of these for pretty cheap at Wal-Mart).

Using the fabulous Gorilla Wood Glue I added a dab of glue to each peg before sticking it in the hole. Some of those key chains get pretty heavy. I let it dry for a bit and then (I forgot to take a picture of this step) used a small 1 1/4 inch DISCHanger on the back and let that dry.

It's hanging up in our garage now, and my hubby loves it.

He laughed when he saw it and realized I was making an effort to 'fix' our little on-going back and forth about the car situation, so it made him super happy. I got the keys out of my kitchen and he has a gets a reminder of how much I love him every time he hangs up another set of keys of the latest project he's working on. :)

This tutorial can be found in full over at the DIY Club

Be sure to go over and join the party-the prize packages are hard to beat! :)

Let's be friends!