ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

one of my very worst qualities, or biggest struggles, or whatever you want to call it? i'm terrible at prioritizing, i get distracted easily, and quite frankly i like doing things that i like doing. the only problem is that being a grown up means you have to do things you don't like sometimes, too. and sometimes you have to do more stuff you don't like than stuff you do like. if i get to doing too many chores in a row i end up feeling like my head might explode if i don't sit down and write, or design, or browse etsy, or scroll through instagram, or do something uplifting or fun. you could call me lazy, you could call me a dreamer, but what i'm not is "on top of things." and when i say "things", i mean the house, mostly. it's what my husband cares about most, and really it's his love language. if the house is messy when he walks in the door, i haven't loved him well that day. which is terrible because i'm worst at that ...

yep. laundry. the endless hamster-wheel and revolving door of laundry. it keeps turning and just when we feel like we've conquered it, there's more. it will never end. [yet we buy more clothes, the epitome of irony, right?] my husband's grandma once told me that she stayed somewhat on top of the laundry by switching it every morning, first thing... and every night, last thing. somewhere in the day she'd fold and put away the one she took out in the morning. now, she also hung up what needed ironing, and carved out an entire day at a friend's house to iron it all, but i'm not quite there yet. sounds fun, but i'm not there yet. i've had friends tell me that they just commit to one load. every day. and that seems to keep it under control. so i'm going to implement a little rule like this for myself until it becomes as normal as brushing my teeth, drinking coffee, all those things that i just do out of habit?  because thing about being ...

[photo credit] have you read The Five Love Languages ? well, neither my husband nor i have actually read it, but we know the five languages, and we refer to them all the time when we  argue  discuss things  [it's actually pretty comical, now that i think about it, since we've never read the book].  he thinks that mine is "quality time", and i think that his is "acts of service". and that's pretty right on. we've recently also discussed the fact that my language is changing. i still want the quality time, for sure, but i also need "words of affirmation" right now. his, however, has remained "acts of service"... mostly in the form of my keeping the house clean. i don't know why it took me almost six years to figure this out, but he really really appreciates a clean house. not just clean , but neat too. all the time. for almost six years of marriage, this has been our number one argument. i'm messy, he's neat. for so man...