Archive for February, 2011

Is Dad Only Good for Playing?

Posted in Housework, Parenting, tagged on February 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Very little is sexier than watching a dad be totally engrossed in play with his child. So it comes as no surprise that a new study, published in Developmental Psychology, shows that couples experience a stronger bond when fathers spend more time playing with their children. Previous studies from a number of institutions have shown more »

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Quoted: Jim Collins

Posted in Books & Culture on February 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“The ultimate definition of success in life is that your spouse likes and respects you ever more as the years go by.” – Jim Collins, from the introduction to Good to Great.

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12 years, 4 fights: Fight #2 – The One that Wasn’t about Faith After All

Posted in Communication, Fighting, tagged on February 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Check any list of topics you must discuss before marriage, and you’ll find spirituality in the top ten – probably top five. We did discuss spirituality, and faith, and religion, and … well, virtually every other topic related to God, humanity, and their interaction. And we came to basically the same conclusion: it’s important to more »

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Well, Duh.

Posted in Advice & Tips, Housework, Sex on February 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

If you pay attention to the world of marriage writing, then you’ve heard of the new book Spousonomics, which was published this week. One of the writers, Paula Szuchman, is a WSJ blogger, and she knows how to work the major media scene. In honor of Valentine’s Day, Szuchman published her short list of marriage more »

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Darwin on Marriage

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on February 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin Cliff and I celebrated the 10th anniversary of our engagement the other day, and to mark the occasion I read some of the things he wrote to me more »

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Hopeful: the Future of Marriage

Posted in Divorce on February 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m sending out a message of hope. Sure, we’ve all heard the statistics: divorce rates hover somewhere around 50%. That means half of all marriages are failing. Nobody likes those odds: who wants to head into surgery knowing that there’s a 50/50 shot things won’t go well? Despite being frequently more »

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Nickled and Dimed

Posted in Fighting, Money on February 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Money – no matter who does the research, money is always among the top 3 things couples fight about. Cliff and I have fairly similar financial attitudes, and our conversations about cash can still surprise us with their level of tension. I’ve been impressed with a recent Slate series on money and marriage by Jessica more »

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12 years, 4 fights: Fight #1 – The One about the Ceramic Snowman

Posted in Fighting, tagged on February 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Long drives with your spouse have one of two inevitable results: they either end with you needing couples therapy, or with you feeling like you’ve just been through 8 hours of therapy while traversing Interstate 80. It’s not surprising, then, that on our most recent road trip the talked turned to fighting. Notice I didn’t more »

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Marriage as a Road Trip

Posted in Uncategorized on February 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

My wife is writing a blog. Now it’s one thing when your spouse begins writing a blog about the drug war or astrology or Julia Child, but my wife has started a marriage blog. That hits a bit closer to home. Were I to share this little fact with married men at the local pub, more »

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