This week we are in the Living Room/Family Room/Den. Don't forget to do your DCS as well!
How To Be A Good Wife I copied this from my HSM4Christ forum with permission. I really think it says volumes, and I try to accomplish this list every day! Get your work done. Plan tasks with an eye on the clock. Finish or interrupt them an hour before your husband is expected home. Your anguished cry "are you home already?" is not exactly a warm welcome. "She...worketh willingly with her hands." Proverbs 31:13 Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time. This is a way of letting him know you have been thinking of him and are concerned for his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed. "...She bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens." Proverbs 31:14,15 Prepare yourself. Take 15 min. to rest so that you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift. "She maketh herself covering of tapestry; he clothing is silk and purple. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come." Proverbs 31:22,25 Clear away the children. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, then run a dust cloth over the tables. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order and it will give you a lift too. "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:27 Prepare the children. Take just a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair and if necessary change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed..." Proverbs 31:28 Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate noise of washer dryer, dishwasher, vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. "And that ye study to be quiet..." I Thessalonians 4:11 Be happy to see him. Greet him with a smile and act glad to see him. "...Her husband also, and he praiseth her." Proverbs 31:28 Some don'ts, don't greet him with a problem or complaint. Don't complain if he's late for dinner. Count this minor compared with what he might have gone through during the day. "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her..." Proverbs 31:11 Make him feel comfortable. Have him lean back into a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillows and offer to massage his neck and shoulders and take off his shoes. Speak in a soft, soothing, pleasant voice. Allow him to relax to unwind. "Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." Proverbs 31:29 Listen to him. You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Proverbs 31:26 Make the evening his. Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax. "Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:31 The goal, try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit. "She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." Proverbs 31:12 | ||||
The Guest Room
The Office
NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe men had it right all along: It doesn't take long to satisfy a woman in bed.
A survey of sex therapists concluded the optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes. The findings, to be published in the May issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, strike at the notion that endurance is the key to a great sex life.
If that sounds like good news to you, don't cheer too loudly. The time does not count foreplay, and the therapists did rate sexual intercourse that lasts from 1 to 2 minutes as "too short."
Researcher Eric Corty said he hoped to ease the minds of those who believe that "more of something good is better, and if you really want to satisfy your partner, you should last forever."
The questions were not gender-specific, said Corty (who, it must be noted, is male). But he said prior research has shown that both men and women want foreplay and sexual intercourse to last longer.
Dr. Irwin Goldstein, editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, cited a four-week study of 1,500 couples in 2005 that found the median time for sexual intercourse was 7.3 minutes. (Women were armed with stopwatches.)
It's difficult for both older men and young men to make sexual intercourse last much longer, said Marianne Brandon, a clinical psychologist and director of Wellminds Wellbodies in Annapolis, Md.
"There are so many myths in our culture of what other people are doing sexually," Brandon said. "Most people's sex lives are not as exciting as other people think they are."
Fifty members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research in the U.S. and Canada were surveyed by Corty, an associate professor of psychology at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and student Jenay Guardiani. Thirty-four members, or 68 percent, responded, although some said the optimal time depended on the couple.
Corty said he hoped to give an idea of what therapists find to be normal and satisfactory among the couples they see.
"People who read this will say, 'I last five minutes or my partner lasts 8 minutes,' and say, 'That's OK,'" he said. "They will relax a little bit."
