Pretty much everyone knows about the 'Honey Do' list, but how do you actually get your husband to get anything on that list done? To be honest, there really isn't a whole lot you can do that will make him do it. In fact, trying to make  him do anything will almost always backfire. So how do you persuade him to get things done without wanting to kill him? Like I've said a hundred times, I'm no expert, but this is what I have been using and have seen good results with:

Ok, so this is primarily aimed at the ladies, but this goes for men as well. HAve you found that as you start your family and you and your spouse spend more and more time together, sharing the same space, sharing the same experiences, that you two have increasingly little to talk about? This actually is a much more common issue than people might think, especially if you're married to an emotional introvert.

So how do you strike up interesting conversation or make the most of the time you get to spend together without just sitting at home staring at each other?  Families that play together stay together, right? You have to have shared enjoyable experiences to garner feelings of closeness and a desire to be around each other, and enjoyable conversation is one of the ways you can accomplish that...

Ok, so a lot of people think that marriage is some sort of fairytale or Hollywood story where you just know the right things to say, and you always agree on everything, and if you dont eventually come over to the other person's line of thought you are able to convince them that your way is better...But that just isnt the way things work put here in the real world. There are going to be some things that you two just simply dont agree on, and probably will never agree on. So what do you do?

So I said in the third paragraph of the last post that '...I cannot stress enough how important it is for you as a wife to make sure you’re tending to your husband’s sexual needs. It is absolutely vital to a happy marriage. You have to teach yourself to want it. You have to teach yourself how to get in the mood. Does this mean its all on you to have a happy sex life? Yes and no. Your husband has much the same responsibilities to help guarantee your sexual happiness, his job is just a smidge easier because guys, in general, want sex quite often. Women have to work at it. Men have to work at being more courteous and considerate in the way they initiate and the way they handle 'rejection' of their offer/request. That's just the way it is.'

I would like to expound on this a little:
'Does this mean its all on you to have a happy sex life? Yes and no.'...

You, personally, have to decide what you will, and will not, tolerate in your marriage and what the consequence for a violation of those ground rules will be. Your spouse also has a right to to do the same and there should be an open, honest and frank discussion of what those rules are and how to handle the violations. Lets be honest, you're going to mess up at some point and the situation will be easier to bear if you already know the consequences. However, it is important to determine if your rules are reasonable and can actually be complied with. If they are unreasonable then no one will be able to measure up, even if they are someone you could be happy with if your expectations were just a little more realistic. But you also have to make sure your rules are not too lax, as this can result in living in a marriage that you cannot be happy in without giving up everything that makes you who you are. No one deserves that...

So our little family recently went back to Az to see our extended family. While we were there we had some bickering, like what usually happens when you go on vacation. He wants to do this, I want to do that, we both want to do this but we are running out of time, we both don’t want to do that but we have to…etc. It happens. But something that is vitally important to men is sex. Don’t be embarrassed. Its true. Its normal. Its natural. And for women it is normal and natural to not want it as much when confronted with various stressors, such as being on a busy vacation. Now for some reason being on vacation actually makes my husband want it more. I’m not sure if that goes for all men, but I would imagine this is pretty common...