Hungry Woman Dinner

It’s official, I’m changing the name. Hungry Woman has more punch than Hungry Man Dinner anyway. I don’t know how many of you look forward to eating TV dinners, but I do, tantalizing little pockets of mashed potatoes, beans, and beef along with the delightfully rich mini brownie. All in a tidy package you simply open up and throw in the oven.

We don’t have them often, a couple of times a year, but I was looking forward to having them on the weekend. No cooking, yay! But the rascals were missing. How could I loose TV dinners? I know I told Matt there’s some chicken in the freezer for work, if you want it, but don’t take the TV dinners we are having them for supper.

When he arrived home, he confirmed I said “Take the TV dinners to work.” Normally communication is not a problem in our relationship (ha ha) but this situation called for some intervention. So I looked up several websites devoted to helping couples overcome serious communication issues. The “love them into better communication” suggestions didn’t appeal to my sense of urgency. We needed some specific principles to help us prevent future dilemmas like a starving, unhappy wife.  

So here goes:

1.      Pick a good time to talk.

Be free of distractions and when your heart is not above 90 beats per minute.

2.      Do not attack or blame yet feel free to share complaints or issues.

Hard to do if you are hungry!

3.      Speak for yourself and not the other person

                 Begin your statements with “I ” not “you”. E.g. I feel sad when ….

4.      Give the other person a chance to respond.

Using the above rules of course.

5.       Listen to each other with your eyes, ears, mind, and heart.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 ESV) 

Have a great couple of weeks!

Matt and I will be busy practicing our communication skills on holiday.

 

Fool’s Notion:  Week 2     Goal  32     Actual 25     

Info gleaned from: TwoOfUs.org (A Game Plan for Effective Communication) and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy1277