OTT: Kitchen Upgrades and Acts of Love

As most of you know by now, Husband and I are on a quest to make our townhouse – once considered our “temporary abode” but which has evolved into just our “long-time abode” thanks to Wall Street’s recent shenanigans– liveable. Well, the saga continues.

We’ve installed a new patio with new outdoor furniture, completed major reorganization of our garage, repainted just about everything, and invested in our own professional carpet steam cleaner. But, this summer? Well, we’ve embarked on a kitchen renovation.

The experts say that three things test a marriage the most – finances, sex and home renovation.

They were right.

But, it was worth it.

We went from this:

To this:

In just under two weeks. And, this is because Husband loves me more than he hates home renovation.

I am a huge proponent of the theories espoused by the book, The Five Languages of Love by Gary Chapman. In this book, you will discover your “love language” – those things your partner does that you make you feel loved. You also will be given insight into your partner’s love language (if you are reading it right). As the author points out, frequently, your love language and your spouse’s are often very different. And, this is where the trouble begins. But, if you know what your partner’s love language is, all can be better.

Thanks to this book, I now know that when I go flying with Husband in his tuna fish can Cessna 152 it speaks love to him. In fact, it is equal to him giving me diamonds. And, he now knows that if he would only whisper sweet nothings in my ear while kissing my neck, he basically could own me (or, for that matter, anyone else who does could, too). Simply put, our love languages are dead opposite. But, other than wishing he (or I) would express themselves differently, just knowing the other person’s love language can be helpful, too.

So, note to all singles everywhere: “buyer beware” when ordering a spouse. Make sure they understand your love language, and understand it early. Then, you can do what I did. For three days. Standing in the middle of a completely torn apart kitchen with no water. You get to see this is how Husband says “I love you.”

Husband should have been packing for a 10 day camping trip to Wisconsin to go to one of his favorite places in the world – the EAA’s Air Venture show (10,000 airplanes, more than 500,000 aviation enthusiasts). Rather,  he spent two weeks – literally up to the day he left – making sure I had this:

Instead of this:

Whoever inherits this townhouse will not only get a castle, but maybe, just maybe, they will see the acts of love behind the granite.