Message in a Bottle

7 - Notes & Texting & IM

One tiny crazy little note can make someone feel special all day.  My DH taught me this a long long time ago; I have a box of them.  They would be passed to me from other people, I'd find them in my daily planners (which I carried everywhere), on a pizza box left in my car on days I worked late, mailed to my dorm room, stuck to the mirror / the fridge / the coffee maker, but it is much easier now a days...

The old-fashioned note is still sweet and endearing but occasional witty texts are wonderful and so simple.  Texting is life-changing and practical for orchestrating busy lives or who will pick up dinner/the carpool but it is just fun to send quick messages during the day (or even when together but at different ends of a party).  They don't need to be long or deep or symbolic.  It doesn't need to be a hundred times a day, just an occasional reminder that you are thinking of them:

• Level 1:  "Meeting go okay? love you"
• Level 2:  "You feeling better?  You looked bushed!  Stay strong!  Relaxing night ahead!"
• Level 3: "Can't wait!  You, me, our couch, a glass of wine, and Castle tonight!" 
• Advanced:  if you really are gifted, you can turn anything into a funny flirty text, "Nah, don't worry about it, your BP is high but you are sexy as hell"

Another easy way to incorporate effective notes into a regular routine is by adding happy tasks to the to do lists and calendars.  Personally, I've found that happy weekend to do lists get done much faster than evil to do lists (even for myself).  I also tend to combine our lists so that we all cross stuff off and feel like a team.  It may just be us, but it has been working for years:

Sample Weekend Family To Do List:

• straighten bedrooms & all laundry down the shoot
• pick up $1 coffees at McDonalds
• Costco - milk / yogurt / almonds / rotisserie chicken
• Walmart - bread / beer / cereal / shaving cream
• Pete's Fresh Market - bananas / apples / onions / peppers / chicken / jambalaya makings?
• DH schedule golf with bros 
• SS write new blog draft & read more of Divergent ;0)
• water plants & empty dishwasher (kiddos?)
• sweep kitchen floor (it is so gross!  There is an actual potato down there!)
• clean fridge & make pancakes for the week
• garbage & recycling out (including those dried up paint cans)
• change laundry load (make sure comfy pants go in)
• vacuum the stairs & clean toilets
• kiss your wife (with gusto)
• fix the light in the front closet
• clean-out  kids school folders & finish homework
• get to basketball on time
• date night with Monk Season 3 (he is hot)

I'm not a huge fan of public FB shout-outs... but it works for some couples... Notes, Texts, & IMs are easy, a good way to communicate, and make your partner feel special.... and making your partner feel special leads to intimacy....

See you tomorrow at 6am!!

Message in a Bottle / Send out an SOS - The Police


PS - just so nobody panics and thinks I've lost my marbles... I still do my own enormous planner / to do list / spreadsheet, but this is the list that the family needs to do.  We all add stuff to it (well, I don't think the kids have EVER thought something practical needed adding), but this one sits on the counter all week so that we don't forget the stuff that needs attention when we finally have free time.

For a regularly updated and concise list of all of the mini blog series on love:  refer to the Intro / Love is all You Need