TURNING UP THE HEAT (12/07)

I told someone recently that my husband has always had a habit of leaving things lying around the house. As long as they are not causing him actual discomfort, they might stay where he dropped them indefinitely. Nagging only makes things worse. The one trick I have found is to just shift the items to a spot that does make him uncomfortable - in front of his computer, in his favorite chair, tossed into his closet, etc. Do that, and the pile of shoes or mail or dirty clothes will be dealt with in no time! I'm not sure if he even realizes that I'm being somewhat manipulative. I think that in his world, that stuff on the floor isn't even a blip on his radar, and when I shift it so that it does appear on his screen, he probably just stares in confusion, wondering how on earth all that mail ended up in his underwear drawer.

If I do decide to move on up to Wimberley ahead of John, I will suddenly make his situation in Houston seem much more "uncomfortable." He always hated Mondays when I was off and he had to work. The first week after they switched my schedule around so that I could attend the Monday managers' meetings, John leaped out of bed gleefully, threw his arms in the air and crowed "WELCOME TO MONDAYS!" That was the only time in 32 years that I ever saw him leap out of bed. Just as he hated those Mondays when I was off work, he will probably be much more unhappy with working in Houston, knowing that I am in Wimberley. Well, who knows? Perhaps it will motivate him to get extricated from his job sooner, rather than later.