Some Great Tips From Couple of the Month – Ron and Courtney


Meet the Couple – Ron and Courtney Schilckenmeyer

Date of Your Marriage – 03/04/2007

How Long Did You Date Before Getting Married?
Two years, but engaged after 6 months

How Did You Meet?
I met Ron on MySpace. He was the only one I added to my page that I didn’t already know. I was working at an amusement park and we all had MySpace to keep in touch and to contact each other for shift changes and things like that. For some reason he asked to join my page and I allowed it, but he never said a word to me. One day I posted a sassy quote about boys and he wrote “Well you haven’t met me yet…” That peaked my interest and we started talking from there. I was so nervous about meeting someone online and totally against it but we talked on the phone for hours on end each day getting to Read more [...]

Husband vs. Vegetable Garden Box

 

I have always wanted a vegetable garden. For some reason, I have this intense desire to plant a seed and watch it blossom into something beautiful and plentiful.   Maybe it is my mothering instincts that foster the need to nurture something to maturity. I am not sure.

To be honest I don’t have a green thumb at all and I have a green thumb envy of people who do. Regardless of my lack of gardening skills, I try anyway.

Year after year, as soon as spring rolls around, I find myself filled with hope, outside with the kids, tilling a small patch of dirt and planting seeds. I have always loved this time of year. It is good bonding for the kids and I and there is something magical about planting a seed and watching it sprout.

Once the seeds are planted I find myself heading to Read more [...]

Navigating the In-Laws

 

Do you struggle with your In-Laws? Just thought I would share these helpful tips to help you navigate the challenges that the In-Laws can bring.  Check out the article found on a great website HopeAfterDivorce.org.   It offers some practical advice to help you with what to do with some of the difficulties you may be facing.

http://hopeafterdivorce.org/the-community/407-navigating-the-in-laws.

By the way, If you are interested in having your love story shared on Married and Naked visit the “Share Your Story” link above and let us get to know you and your spouse.  I would love to highlight you and your marriage on an upcoming post!

In the meantime,

Get Naked!!

Tammy Read more [...]

What I Didn’t Know About Marriage


I recently read a blog that asked the question, “What didn’t you know about marriage before you got married?”  I thought that was such and interesting question.

What didn’t I know?  What have I learned about marriage since being married? What lessons about marriage have I gained?

Here are my answers to that question.

Before I got married I didn’t know:

-A Happy Marriage is hard work.
-A man could own more shoes than me.
-I could fall out of love with my husband.
-I could fall back in love with my husband over and over again.
-Hair shavings in the sink could drive me to near insanity.
-How easy it is to hurt someone you love.
-How hard apologies can be to give.
-How important sincere apologies are.
-That “Til Death Do Us Part” is no small feat.
-How miserable marriage Read more [...]

Meet the Couple of the Month – Jaron and Melissa


Here at Married And Naked I believe strongly in the power of learning from each other’s experiences.  I believe that we all have so much to share!

I have decided to make it a tradition to share other people’s stories, as well as my own.  I feel that it could be helpful to hear what strategies other married couples have learned to help keep their marriage strong and happy.

I would love to hear from you too.  If you want to be considered for “Couple of the Month” please click here or click on the “Share Your Story” button in the menu bar.

So let us meet our first Couple of the Month! Meet Jaron and Melissa Duke, Married on May 7th, 2011.  Here is their answers to the “Share Your Story” questionnaire.

How Long Did You Date Before Getting Married?
11 years

How Did You Meet?
We Read more [...]

Meet the Longest Married Couple

 

 
I am not a news junkie.  In fact, I avoid the news at all costs.  I have decided that I would rather live my life in blissful ignorance, than fill it with negativity and fear. There are so few positive stories shared these days.

Despite my avoidance of the news, I recently, saw a post on Twitter that had me heading to the Associated Press.  It said, “Meet the Longest Married Couple.” I was hooked.  I couldn’t wait to meet them.

Last month, John and Ann Betar celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary and were declared the US’s Longest Married Couple.  Since then, it seems that other couples have come forth to claim the label for themselves, but that is beyond the point here.

The Twitter feed linked to a video of the couple being interviewed.  I couldn’t wait to Read more [...]

Many Ways to Say “I Love You”

No long post here today.  I just wanted to share an idea that I came across somewhere on Pinterest.  Of course now that I want to share it with you, I can’t find the post again.  But, regardless, this idea was posted from a Mom who did this for her kids.

Everyday, from February 1st to February 14th, she put a new heart on their bedroom door and wrote on it one reason why she loved them.  I thought this was such a sweet idea.  We don’t really have any Valentine’s Day traditions in our house.  Always on the lookout for bringing  tradition to our family, I thought this could be the answer to a new Valentine’s tradition.

But why make it just for the kids?  Hubby needs to hear all of the reasons why I love him too.

So, starting on the first of February, and every day since, I have Read more [...]

You Can Be Right (or you can be married)

That is the title of the book that is currently sitting on my nightstand.

I recently had a small epiphany.  I realized that I talk a lot about my marriage and I spend a lot of time and energy working to make it the best that I can, but I have been missing something. Books!  I had not read one single book on the subject.

Now, I do realize that just because it is written in a book certainly doesn’t mean that it is fact, but there is definitely something to be said about learning what the “experts”, or non-experts for that matter, are saying on the topic.

So I hit the local Barnes and Noble and started my hunt for my first book on “marriage.”  Since I didn’t know what I was looking for, I simply looked for titles that caught my eye.  After a few minutes of searching I came across Read more [...]

How to Make a Marriage Last!

“How to Make a Marriage Last”

That was the title of a small article in the February edition of Redbook magazine.  Of course it caught my eye.  How do you make a marriage last?

This little article was simply a handful of tips from couples that have been together since they were teenagers.  Hubby and I have been together, exclusively, since we were 14 years old.  I couldn’t wait to hear what these other couples, with stories similar to mine, had to offer about the secret of a lasting marriage.

There were two pieces of advice that I really liked that I wanted to share with you.  They are lessons I have learned in my own marriage.

The first was from a couple that had been together since they were 17 years old.  They said, “Prioritize time for yourselves. My husband’s hobby Read more [...]

Jingle Bells Kicked My Ass

Excuse my language, but it is the truth.  The holidays took a definite toll.

Truthfully, I can’t blame the holidays.  I am the one to blame.  I just took on too much.  So much that it took away from the joy that you are supposed to find during the season.

Frankly, I was excited for it to be over. Sad, I know.  And the second that it was I came down with a horrific cold that I am still battling today.   I literally ran myself into the ground and my body was pissed about it.

Why did I do that to myself? Why do we all tend to do that to ourselves?

A large part of it, I have come to realize, is my incessant need to make sure everyone around me is happy.  Even if it makes me miserable.

I am blessed to have two children, but not so blessed to have both of their birthdays Read more [...]