Appreciating Housework

Caffection.com

It's true, you can find fun ways to keep your relationship vibrant. Soon you'll enjoy making the mudane household tasks interesting with these simple ideas. Next time you're putting the laundry away leave a shmily note in a sock or in a coffee cup when unloading the dishwasher. The anticipation of their expression when it's found, makes it worth the wait. Making the ordinary, extraordinary with a smiley-faced breakfast or fixing their favorite meal for no reason at all.
Imagine making housework fun or even sexy! iVillage recently released a survey with results which reveal how sharing chores can build a relationship. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged. Alisa Bowman has a very clever thought, make housework a new kind of foreplay
to encourage chore-sharing. Finding new ways to show appreciative loving is just a google away. Coming up 7th (in over 4 million sites) marriage suite 101 brings us these insights from author Genna Cockerham.

Fun in Your Great Long-Term Relationship

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Coming to your wedding in comfy shoes is a great start to any marriage. Life's too short to get married in tight shoes. Find fun ways to celebrate your love every single day. Just like Tracey & Conrad, (the couple in the shoes above) and Jill & Kevin, (check out their wedding dance (video) realize, life's not a dress rehearsal; it's the real thing. Our friends at What Happy Couples Do discuss the value of creating distinct rituals only the two of you share, and we whole-heartedly agree. We frequently blog on the importance of the bonding aspect of your relationship.

Though this seems intuitive, many people don't routinely do what we've come to call "Appreciative Loving". We've found when we take the time to appreciate and acknowledge the small things we do for each other, our relationship blooms. The more you give, the more you receive. It's very cool, it's fun, and it will enrich your relationship.
As Denise Quinlan notes in her recent article, "Positive relationships support development and learning, and they make us happy in the long-term." Building your relationship based on love, respect and trust will assure you a life-long, strong bond.
We've also enjoyed finding friends who share our appreciative loving concept. Couples who support this idea are positive people who enjoy building each other up. They surround themselves with other couples who do this as well, thus creating a circle of friends of Caffection.

Appreciation

Caffection.com

Find a new way to appreciate each other everyday. You never know when a fun note may show up in your lunch bag or your sock. Go on walks together, skip or even lop. Compliment each other, smile, do a favor. It keeps your love alive and well. And ACK... always choose kind.

The Marriage Pavlov, Reinforce the Good

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Being a happy couple is part of life, when you choose it. We choose a positive outlook on life every single day and with that comes the choice to be married to our best friend. We say it over and over, both in actions and in words. "I love you." "Thank you for being mine." "Thank you for being so good to me." "I love being with you." The list goes on and on. We understand the value of focusing on the good things, and we know what we focus on expands.
An amazing thing occurred once we began the ritual of "catching" each other enriching our caffection, we started complimenting each other often. This had a snowball effect, the more we gave, the more we received. The marriage Pavlov on steroids, positive enforcement of a wonderful thing: Caffection! Try it. You'll be surprised how quickly being positive becomes the rule, not the exception. You'll enjoy a new dynamic in your relationship just by paying each other compliments.
Soon you'll have a positive outlook on life and you'll be so proud of it!

Love, Commitment and Caffection

CAFFECTION.com

We attended a beautiful wedding last weekend. Two people who are obviously caffected, in every sense of the word. There's nothing they wouldn't do for each other and it shows. We understand this feeling of commitment, concern and love. It's an appreciation for one another that grows deeper everyday and can last a lifetime if nurtured properly.
We routinely send cards (now you can even send e-cards), leave each other notes, look up fun & romantic places to travel. We do simple things, such read and make meals together (and clean up the kitchen). Just knowing the other is there to help or lend a hand adds value to our relationship.
What do you do to build your bond?

Create a Reading Ritual

Caffection.com

Book reading groups are a great way to bind us in marriage. It's intuitive that, when two people spend time together doing intimate things, they tend to require more of that experience. Reading together is a fairly intimate way to spend time, given that one purpose of reading something is to share it with someone. Plus, if we can learn a lot from the subject matter someone reads, it stands to reason that a mate's choice of books gives us an intimate look at who they are. These days, too, with the rising cost of doing anything, or going anywhere, and the limits placed on our pocketbooks, a reading group just makes sense. They are, after all, free. There are a number of these on-line reading groups available, with names like Shelfari, and GoodReads, ReadingGroupChoices etc. These groups offer all sorts of interesting, engaging ideas for married couples. My wife and I are enrolled at GoodReads, for instance. GoodReads has a dazzling display of book offerings, from literally thousands of books to read, commentary about most of them, some from expert reviewers, some from novices such as us, and a five star rating system. The site has a newsletter, a portal that allows us to track the books we've read, and another to finally record those we've always wanted to read but keep forgetting, even while we're standing in the library surrounded by books.
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Good Reads

Caffection.com

One of our favorite pastimes is reading. We recently became reacquainted with a website which helps us track the books we've read. A friend recommended Goodreads to us last year. Now instead of saying, "We really should write down the books we've read." We say, "Did you put that on "Goodreads?" If you're readers like we are, you'll enjoy it too. Let us know what you're reading, or better yet add Caffection as a Goodread friend. See you there.

The Caffection Continues

CAFFECTION.COM

One year ago today the Caffection website resource commenced. In those 12 months we've met many wonderful couples interested in celebrating their relationship while building a stronger bond. It's an exciting time of growth here at Caffection as we develop new ideas suggested by Caffected couples around the world. Couples like you! This year we'll be encouraging couples to spread the word about how wonderful a Caffected relationship is.
Thanks for a great first year!

Below is the blog message of October 3, 2008:
CAFFECTION.COM is a real live website! YES! After several months, and long, tedious, tender tendering, our caffected couples website is up and running. It’s very much like sending one’s child out into the world. Take a peek at Caffection.com and you’re bound to find something there of interest to you, to help celebrate your caffected relationship.
We feel compelled to reiterate here on our launch announcement just what our mission statement is:
Our mission is to energize relationships, and celebrate an elite status--Married Best Friends. Caffection is the brand for married friendship. We believe in marriage. We believe those who choose to marry should be married to their best friend. Con't.

HAPPY OCTOBER!

Caffection.com

A chill in the air and leaves dropping off the trees signals it's time to get ready for winter. Fall is a good time to work together to get the many items done to prepare the house & yard for the oncoming winter. The tasks at hand tend to be routine and sometimes burdensome, however creating a new ritual out of it can lighten the load and make fall something to look forward to each year. This year we're discussing what color to paint the house in the spring, be sure to let us know if you have any suggestions.
And send along any fall rituals you look forward to as well.