Ahem. Let’s try that again.

With so many restrictions on what I can and can’t eat and basically losing nearly all my comfort food (both unhealthy and healthy), my recent way of dealing with stress is talking to my husband more. (The poor man.)

We were out having Greek the other night (thankfully I can still eat most of the yummy food they have on offer) and I was talking about how everything was going.

After telling him how much weight I’ve lost so far, etc, I said, “The most difficult part of this whole thing is the eating every three hours. Sometimes I just plain don’t want to eat.”

He thought about it a moment. “Well, you could always eat smaller things. Even a half or a quarter of a banana is still eating.”

“I already make my portions smaller. Sometimes I’m just not hungry anyway and sometimes it’s a mental thing – I don’t want to see, smell or even think about food.”

“You could skip a meal. Spread the rest out a bit.”

“No, I can’t, really,” I said, picking at my food with a bit of irritation. “I need to stick with what she says, at least for the six weeks. The whole point of eating so often is to steady out my blood sugar.”

At that point he opened his mouth to make another suggestion but stopped and just grinned. “This is another one of those Mars and Venus things. I want to fix the problem and – ”

“And I just want to complain a bit,” I said and then laughed.

There is a lot to be said for seeing something for what it is rather than simply reacting based on emotions.

On Saturday, the man and I were both pretty tired after a hard week of work, so we decided to heck with it and took an afternoon nap. It was wonderful to have the time to rest as well as well as cuddle a bit and just be with each other.

I woke up a bit before he did, though, and I got to thinking about our lives and how nice it was that we could just take an afternoon nap. While it wasn’t a new experience for me, by any means, it was one of life’s little moments that I have come to so appreciate.

After a while of just blissing off, the thought occurred to me that if we had a child, random afternoon naps would steadily go from ‘whenever’ to ‘never’.

While I sometimes feel down about not having a child and starting a family just yet, it’s times like these that I feel good about not rushing things. The maternal instincts are steadily growing stronger but so is the appreciation for the quiet times I spend with my husband.

I recently got to talking to someone who wanted links to all the sites I write at. I’m usually a bit shy about these things - especially to people I know in person - but he seemed quite eager to read, so I shared the links with him.

Thinking about that, I began looking back through all I have written here on Long Relationships and found quite a few posts that I like. So, for anyone who is new here or hasn’t been here since I’ve started writing here, I present you with links to some of my favourite posts (up through April of this year).

Enjoy.

*Family Matters - A post that explores the surface of parental influences on our relationships.

*When You Know It’s Love… - When did you know it was love?

*Stress and Your Spouse - Three quick tips for helping your partner relax.

*Series on Stalking - Stalking, Cyberstalking, Prevent Becoming a Victim, If You’re a Victim

*Series on Sex - Sex, Talking About Sex, No Sex Spouse, No Sex Spouse Part Two, T13 - The Sex Talk Edition

*A Kid’s View on Marriage - Cute marriage Q&A session with kids.

*Paying For Sex - My thoughts on a news story about a woman paying for sex.

*The Bubble Bath - On the importance of ‘me’ time.

*Relationships and Dieting - The Couple on a Diet, Weighty Relationships, Thirteen Things To Do/Not Do When Your Partner Is Dieting

*Kiss and Tell - How much do you share with other people?

*Dealing With Judgmental People

*Not Your Momma’s Relationship

So thank you to Jenera! Blog awards are fun. They’re like mail (real mail, not junk or bills) – sending and receiving are both fun.

And now I get to award some people as well… I can’t really award Jenera (because she awarded me) and she’s awarded Randi, so that makes two people I would award, but can’t. So, I’m thinking of you! I didn’t want you to feel left out or anything.

With that being said, on to awarding people!

Oh, wait… I should mention…

Shannon has a lot of great input here on LR, so if she had a blog, I would no doubt give her this award. I just thought I would mention…

I’d like to give this award to:

*Aud from the Short Sweet Love Poems blog. She provides us with the fun weekly Love Questions meme.

*Katrinastonoff from Stone Soup. She gives away books pretty much every single Monday just because she can. How awesome is that?

*Susan at West of Mars. An all-in-all cool lady to know who blogs often about the fictional world and characters she has created.

*Toni at Wifely Steps. I’m pretty much a complete lurker at her blog, but I enjoy it a lot and she’s the one who came up with the Weekend Soiree (known on this site as the Friday Free-for-All). She blogs about food, marriage and more.

So there you have it. Ladies, I hope you enjoy your awards.

And now for this week’s question from Short Sweet Love Poems.

Usually, in the early days of a relationship or marriage, buying each other gifts especially on certain occasions is a must. We take the trouble and the time to shop for a gift to make it really special.

So, for Love Q #17, let me pose this: Do you think buying gifts is important in a relationship? And do you expect a gift from your partner now and then?

Oh, this one should get some interesting responses.

I don’t think gift buying in a relationship is as important as simply showing you care. If you show you care by buying gifts, then so be it, but that’s not the only thing you can do. We place a lot of importance on material things these days, so it’s certainly not surprising that gift giving has been moved out of the ‘ways to show you care’ into its own category.

I definitely don’t expect gifts from my partner, except for maybe on Christmas. Otherwise, not at all. Heck, I even forgot about my birthday a couple weeks ago until my husband mentioned that he need to do some ‘by himself’ shopping.

He’s bought me things, brought home flowers, etc, but to be honest, I’m more impressed and happy when he cooks dinner or runs me a hot bath. It doesn’t cost a thing but it shows he’s thinking about me and cares.

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As you know, I’m running a little behind on things, so this question is actually from last week. It’s an interesting question, though, and I would like to take the time to answer it.

Love Question 16:

These days, for every marriage almost half ends in divorce. People no longer treat marriage as a ’till-death-do-us-part’ arrangement unlike the past. Instead when things get rough, divorce is a very viable option because a divorcee no longer faces any social stigmas associated with a failed marriage.

So, for Love Q #16: Is the idea of marriage outdated?

How to begin this one…

It’s my opinion that the news, newspapers, etc play up the sad and dramatic stories because they know that’s what will draw people in. In many places, crime has gone down and yet people are more afraid to go out of their homes than ever. That’s because crime gets reported; people (like cops) doing their jobs well doesn’t get reported.

So while the world is certainly changing and marriage isn’t quite the concrete building it used to be, I don’t think it has yet passed into the realm of ‘outdated’. Marriage is more than just ‘sticking with someone’ no matter what. It’s commitment, bonding, a declaration of love, and so much more (if you want it to be).

The idea that marriage is meant to keep you together forever? Yeah, perhaps that is becoming ignored, if not outdated. Marriage, the whole thing and all its meanings, outdated? Not quite yet.

So I’ll do as I like on my blogs, yes?

As you may have noticed, I took a small break from this (and my other) sites. I needed to take some time away from the computer for not only a mental break but to rearrange furniture and clean. The man and I now have little office spaces set up in the lounge and I’m finally writing at a desk again!

I’ll catch up with the Love Questions and we’ll have another Friday Free-for-All. Now that you’ve been warned, you have to stop by and say hello to your fellow LR readers.

I recently (as in, a few hours ago) got into a little discussion about relationships with a significant age gap between the two partners. He (the friend) will actually be interviewing my husband and me later this week on the subject.

Age gaps in relationships is a topic I would like to explore here, but before I do that, I’d like to know if any of the readers here have a significant age gap in your relationships. If you do, I’d love to hear from you. Either email me or leave a comment here if you’d like to talk.

Also, I’m looking for people to cover for me with guest posts while I’m away in the beginning of October. (The way things are looking at the moment, I’ll never get ahead enough to write posts to cover those days.) If you are interested in helping me out – even if you don’t have any post ideas, you can still email me and let me know.

What’s in it for you? Well, I will link all your posts to your website(s) so people will know where to find more of your writing.

I also might just have a little gift of appreciation for all guest posters as well…

That’s it for today. I hope you all have an excellent start of the week.

First you post the rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks you possess.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

So on to my six quirky things…

1. When I (used to) eat M&Ms, I eat them in twos.
2. I have a tamagotchi. Yep, that’s right. It’s all mine, not passed on from someone, bought as a present for me. I’m a kid at heart.
3. I don’t think tattoos are especially quirky, but I have two – one on each wrist – and I’m planning on getting more.
4. Before I came to Australia, I hated broccoli, mushrooms, pumpkin, sweet potato, all sorts of things… Now I love them. I think it’s my husband’s cooking.
5. I absolutely love strategy/planning/’god’ computer games. Sim City especially. Building cities and civilizations and watching them flourish? I love it.
6. I love, love, love office supplies. Pens, papers, notebooks, etc. Mmmm.

Haha. Now you know more about me than you ever wanted to know now.

I am going to do what Jenera did and invite everyone to participate in the tag. Either leave a comment with your answers or leave a link to your answers on your blog.

I was later cruising around the net looking at love and relationships articles when I found this article: Is Money the Real Reason for Most Divorces?

In the article, the author states: “I believe that the real reason that most divorces happen is due to the fact that we don’t know how to communicate with each other about money. We don’t know how to talk about money to our spouses and loved ones. It is like a secret behind close doors to talk about money. We are afraid to share that we spent more then we should have to our spouses. We are afraid to share our true feelings about money.”

That got me thinking… And I halfway agree with her.

The article was short and to the point, which was nice, but as is the case with just saying ‘money causes most divorces’, I think the author still oversimplified the matter.

My husband and I are by no means afraid to talk about money. In fact, we talk about it often because we’d like to buy a house, have children, etc in the future. With bills and the housing market here, it’s hard not to talk about money. But does that mean we’re free and clear of stress just because we can talk about it?

Of course not. Not being able to do what we dream for lack of money is hard and can get upsetting, which leaves us both feeling less than happy.

Have you ever fought over money? Does money put (ever put) a strain on your marriage? Do you think that money causes divorces or a lack of communication about money?

Thank you to everyone who wished me a good birthday. I had a great time and a lot of fun.

The morning started out with kisses and presents in bed after a nice sleep in. My husband got me an absolutely gorgeous ring (I’ll have to see if I can take a nice picture of it) as well as a cute little toy that I have been after. I always wanted one as a kid and I don’t see why something as silly as age should keep me from having fun.

That was followed by a bit of a lazy morning before we headed off to a wonderful lunch. Because of my current diet restrictions I couldn’t have cake or anything like that, but I still enjoyed myself with the yummy healthy food that was on offer.

We planned to go see a movie, but we had a little time before we needed to be there, so we went for a nice, leisurely drive around the area – something I absolutely love doing because there are so many gorgeous sights around here (and around all of Australia) – and then came back home for a little bit. (To play a few moves on our games of scrabble.)

Then it was off to see Hancock, which we both enjoyed. Again, no movie treats, but I didn’t get stopped for bringing in non-theatre stuff (it was from just downstairs) so everything was fine. (I am supposed to eat every few hours, so it was necessary to bring something.)

After that, back home to more scrabble, a movie, and a wonderful night.

What a lovely day. I hope you all had an excellent weekend.