• Date Night

    20 Winter Dates for 20 Bucks

    I’ve got 20 easy, FUN, and cheap date ideas for winter! All under $20. Just try one. Capiche? Make cookies. You can go homemade or buy a mix. ...and give them away. Package them up in Ziploc bags and deliver them to neighbors or retirement homes near you. Have a kitchen showdown! Challenge each other to a cook-off – you can split the $20 at the grocery store however you’d like, but each person must whip up as full a meal as possible with what they’ve got. This is my Chicken Marsala – do not and I repeat – DO NOT – challenge me to a cook-off. 4. Put together a…

  • Relationship Advice

    Hey, Get a Room

    “Hey, get a room”. These words have been said to me and my husband, Bobby, literally dozens of times over the years. I’m a modest woman. I don’t dress or speak provocatively in front of others, and we have never crossed any line beyond a quick kiss on the lips in public. So what prompts this consistent and common response from people? I don’t know. I’m always a little surprised. So I did what I always do when I don’t know something. I asked my husband. He didn’t know either. So, I’ve been mulling it over, and here’s what I think. Most people don’t speak sweetly to each other after…

  • Relationship Advice

    It’s Harder to Receive Than to Give

    I almost dropped a Hail Mary pass this week. I know, I’ve never caught a football in my life! But it’s the perfect metaphor for what happened with my husband this week. I ran smack into the realization that it’s harder to receive than to give. In a 1975 playoff game, the Dallas Cowboys were down 14 to 10 against the Minnesota Vikings. With only twenty-four seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter, Cowboys’ quarterback Roger Staubach threw a winning, miracle pass to wide receiver Drew Pearson. Staubach said that when he threw the ball to Pearson, “I closed my eyes and said a Hail Mary.” This play…

  • Communication in Marriage

    How To Show Appreciation To the Love of Your Life

    Growing up, my family had the best tradition at Thanksgiving. Gathered around the table, we would each take our turn and share what we were most thankful for that year. My brother was always funny, as he’d take the opportunity to poke fun at everyone for things that happened throughout the year. But then, right at the end, he’d hit us with the sentimental zinger that always made me and Mom cry. Dad and Mom always said they were thankful for the same thing every year: Family. I don’t remember what I said, but I recall how those words of appreciation reminded us that were weren’t just four people existing…