Are you curious yet? Read on.
1. Just because something is cheaper to buy in bulk does not mean you should buy it in bulk. And when I say "bulk" I'm not even talking about case lots of cereal or giant bags of flour - I'm talking about four packs of cream cheese, two dozen eggs, or a buy two get one free sale on oatmeal. J comes from a large family (he is #4 of 6), and I come from a family where I make up 33.3% of the population, but even though we had very different grocery shopping experiences growing up, we have both struggled with buying too much food! We go grocery shopping together (with me, "everything is a date") and for the first six months of living together, we found ourselves with too much food and not enough room to store it all. Eventually we realized that we needed to buy smaller portions - even it was only a few more cents to buy a bigger version.
2. The kitchen table is not an extension of my desk. I always thought it would be cool to have a roll top desk, and when someone donated such a desk to the apartment complex where we have been living, I knew my dreams were coming true. However, despite all the drawers, cubby holes, and places to store my office and craft supplies, I found that my desk was not big enough to complete my projects upon. I pounced upon the next available area - the kitchen table. However, J was not amused by having to move paper, fabrics, tape, and half-finished craft projects every time he wanted to eat lunch or dinner. After much discussion, we decided that we each had our sides of the table, and his side had to be cleaned off by the time he came home from school. (I guess I should rename this point, "The entire kitchen table is not an extension of my desk.")
3. Cleaning times/days are important. Some people, like my mother, clean a little every day. They cannot stand to leave dishes in the sink and would be horrified at the thought of moldy food in the refrigerator. Other people, like myself, prefer to do all the cleaning on one day of the week. I don't think it really matters as long as it gets done in the end...
4. I really wish there was some kind of food sharing service. Going back to to my comment about buying in bulk, I really wish there was some kind of neighborhood app where you could opt to share your extra food with your neighbors. For example, a bag of grapes is too much for two people to consume in a week - but if you could offer to split the cost with your next-door neighbor who also cannot eat an entire bag of grapes in a week, then both of you could have grapes, they would pay you $1-2, and you wouldn't have to feel guilty about not wanting to let your shriveled fruit transform into raisins.
5. Compromise is part of sharing. John grew up with his two brothers as roommates and also had a couple different roommates in college. I, however, have shared anything* (#onlychildproblems) and was excited about the prospect of having a roommate, particularly since mine came with free cuddles and frequently bought me chocolates. I soon discovered that sharing a space has its occasional difficulties - such as the Kitchen Table War, Bluetooth Battles (a.k.a. who gets to choose the music), and The-Laundry-Basket-Is-Not-A-Basketball-Hoop-So-Please-Don't-Throw-Your-Laundry-Into-It-Because-You-Always-Seem-To-Miss. However, eventually I realized that compromise is just part of life, particularly life together, and as long as the dirty laundry is in the general vicinity of the basket, that's fine with me.
*In case there is confusion, please know that I am - shocker - being sarcastic.
6. Casseroles are immortal. This one we learned pretty early on - we made a casserole that my mom makes, but discovered with only two of us eating it for lunch and dinner, it lasted foreeeeever. (Well, not literally, but it seemed like it...) Tragically enough, we made the same mistake not long afterwards when I made enchiladas to use up one of our packs of aforementioned cream cheese. We froze the enchiladas, but that just prolonged the suffering of eating enchiladas for weeks.
7. It's okay to do your own thing. J and I were long distance for the majority of our relationship, so when he came home to visit, we would do pretty much everything together. Mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, errands, dentist appointments...basically everything except for using the bathroom and sleeping. Once we got married, not much changed; when we lived with my parents for the first part of our marriage, we had very different work schedules, so any time we could spend together we would. After we started living on our own, however, we discovered that sometimes we were not as talkative or not as cuddly (the not wanting to cuddle is definitely me - J is always up for snuggles). Sometimes we wanted to be in the same room and other times we did not. Although we still do most things together, we also have our alone time. And not only is that 100% okay, it's also healthy.
8. If you don't go to the movies very often, you will never go to the movies. J and I used to see lots of films because our local theater had $5 Movie Tuesdays, and it was also a great way for us to spend time together before we were married. After we moved to Chicago, we were on a much tighter budget so we hardly ever saw films. Since we weren't going to the theater and therefore seeing trailers of films, we had no idea what films were being released. We realized that we didn't care, either!
9. Thrift stores are my bff's. Okay, so I already knew this one. But when we first moved here, we didn't have Netflix, a lot of friends, or a job for me... so thrift store DVD's were the best thing ever.
10. Even though sometimes it's complicated, being together is 100%worth it. I mean, this isn't really something new - I knew this when we said, "I do." But usually these types of posts end with some sappy thing, so here it is. No matter how petty, frustrating, or weird things get, I will always be thankful I got to marry my best friend. And now you must excuse me, because I have to clear off the kitchen table before he gets home. ;)
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