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How to make your relationship last: Stop being offended by everything

17/08/2014 by Charlotte Leave a Comment
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He didn’t want to talk to me because he was playing FIFA.

“Hiya!” I said when he picked up the phone.

“Hi.” he said, distractedly.

I know that tone. It’s the one he uses when he’s playing on the X-Box and I have had the audacity to call mid-game.

It’s amazing how somebody can say so much by saying so little. What he really meant was: “I don’t understand why you are phoning me. If you’re not in danger, please can we talk about it later?” but in the interests of brevity, he stuck with “Hi” and I figured out the rest on my own. I just laughed, asked if we had any peanut M&Ms left in the cupboard (which was the real reason for my call) and said I’d be home in 20 minutes (to eat them).

Now, you might think this is a post about how rude it was of my husband to put the X-Box before me or about my outrage at the fact that he wasn’t just sitting at home waiting for me to return and tell him about the exceptionally well-priced fish and chips I had for my dinner (seriously though, they were just so reasonable) but that’s not the case. I wasn’t offended at all. And that’s because I’d have done exactly the same thing to him if he’d called whilst I was participating in my own hobbies – i.e. watching Coronation Street or singing along to the Bee Gees whilst loading the dishwasher (‘Now you can tell by the way I wash my fork, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk’ is the lyric I’m probably most proud of.)

If you are going to stay together, it has to be OK that sometimes (assuming the other person is indeed safe, well and not deprived of purse-friendly fried goods) you need to have a bit of time to yourself. Not everything you do is about the other person, sometimes it’s just about doing what you want – be it kicking an imaginary ball into an imaginary goal, or single-handedly improving popular music through the use of cutlery-based puns – whatever you need, that time is yours.

The alternative is to spend your entire relationship being offended by the other person’s actions. In a long term relationship, it’s not possible to keep up the perfection of the early days. People don’t always text back within five minutes because they have jobs and travelling and Sudoku to do. They don’t always want to hold your hand when you’re walking along the road because sometimes it’s boiling hot and a sweaty hand sandwich is not everybody’s cup of tea. You’ll also find that sleep is a lot more comfortable when everybody keeps to their own side of the bed. It doesn’t mean they don’t love you, it just means that lying like a starfish will always be more comfortable than spooning, I don’t care what anybody says.

It’s best just to not get cross about any of this stuff because it doesn’t mean anything. Actually, that’s not entirely true – it does mean that you’re comfortable, which is nice, and that you’re clear on your collective view about whose side of the bed is whose, which is pretty much as important as it gets.

With comfort and trust comes that lovely moment when you can both just chill the hell out. He can prioritise the performance of 11 little footballers for a while and I can see what’s been kicking off in Weatherfield without anybody getting offended.

That is, of course, until he calls me into the lounge to ask me to watch a replay of a goal one of his electronic men has scored. I always say they’re ‘great’ but I know he doesn’t believe I care.

It’s amazing how somebody can say so much by saying so little.

Posted in: ON RELATIONSHIPS Tagged: being offended, living together, men, relationship advice, relationships, sex, women

10 things that should not happen during your first three months of marriage

17/11/2013 by Charlotte Leave a Comment

10 things that should not happen during your first three months of marriage1. You get a sore throat that makes your voice deeper than his.

2. You get new blinds. Because when people ask what’s new with you, the answer is that you got new blinds. Nobody cares about your blinds.

3. You discover that one of the walls in your flat is riddled with damp and that you’re going to have to rip out your entire kitchen to fix it. Some of the dust might get on the blinds.

4. You find a wall of mould behind your wardrobe, that all your clothes are covered in mould and that if you’d just opened the chuffing window every once in a while this never would have happened.

5. You discuss the damp and mould situation over email and text message. I understand some people are into sexting; the only photographs we’ve sent each other recently are of dehumidifiers.

6. You spend more time speaking to British Gas about your temperamental boiler than to each other.

7. You fail to notice that your prescription for The Pill is running out, have to spend a week without it, and turn into an, albeit short-term, psychopath.

8. You develop a daily craving for boiled eggs and soldiers and start every post-work conversation with an update on the gooey-ness of that morning’s breakfast. He is not interested.

9. You get a water bill. Nobody deserves a water bill.

10. You’re forced to say “Well, thank goodness the wedding is over!” when you discover how much cash you have to spend on all of the above. Eggs don’t come cheap, you know.

Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: being a woman, damp, growing up, living together, marriage, mould, sex, wedding

Four things I will not miss about being single

01/09/2013 by Charlotte 4 Comments

Four things I will not miss about being singleWith just six sleeps and five episodes of Coronation Street standing between me marriage, I thought now was the time to bid a formal adieu to my single days with a countdown of the top four things I will miss the least about being Miss Reeve…

1. Texting
Will he reply? Won’t he reply? Did he realise that the comment I made about the level of time I spend in my pyjamas was definitely a joke and not evidence that I have mental health problems? Does he think my use of emoticons is excessive? Should I take his lacks of kisses as a sign that he despises me? Does the inclusion of two kisses mean he’s totally interested? Was that text message really meant for me? Am I leaving big enough gaps between my replies? If I use ellipses is he automatically going to assume that I’m up for it? What does ‘What are you up to?’ even mean? How specific should I be? ‘Just rustling up a pasta, sauce and cheese dinner’ seems a bit dull but that is literally what I’m up to…

Marrying a man who only ever sends me texts to ask if we need anything from the supermarket or if he’s free on an upcoming Saturday as he’d really like to go and watch some very dull-sounding rugby, will make the whole texting business a much simpler affair.

2. Ballads
Sinead O’Connor, The Honeyz, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, nineties boy band album tracks… they were all the soundtrack to years of sobbing into a pillow whenever the proverbial love train was taken out of service:

“Hello? Is it me you’re looking for? WHY NOT I’M EXCELLENT AT CONVERSATION!”

“I know what the Backstreet Boys mean, I want it that way too! TELL ME WHY!”

“Please! [enter name of boy/man who decided his life would be less irritating without me] THINK TWICE, FOR THE SAKE OF OUR LOVE, FOR THE MEMORIES!”

“I go out every night and sleep all day, since you took your love away (although to be fair I am a student so I’d probably have been doing that anyway).”

Now I can just listen to these songs as they were supposed to be listened to: whilst dusting the coffee table of a Sunday morning and marvelling at my ability to hold the final TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE in Think Twice all the way through (with only three short breathing breaks).

3. Fashion faux pas
I’m not going to get married and then instantly stop shaving my legs, washing my face or changing my underwear (we’ve already been together eight years so that all stopped ages ago, right ladies?! HEY-O) but I am going to enjoy chilling-the-chuff-out about my wardrobe choices.

I spent years with my stomach in knots as I realised that of course all the other girls knew that this was clearly a tops and jeans event when I had decided to wear a psychedelic nylon dress, or that obviously fancy dress is an opportunity for girls to attempt to look sexy and not just wear pyjamas and claim to be the boy from The Snowman.

Surely once I’m married I can just wear what I want, where I want. And by what I mean my dressing gown and by where I mean EVERYWHERE.

4. Base chat
Nobody ever forgets being called the dreaded F word (which in this case is frigid, although fat, frumpy and freakishly tall are also rather nasty ones), especially when it’s said by a person so unappealing that the world would be better off just coming to an end than using him to repopulate the earth. And so it comes as something of a relief to get married and move into the category of people whose love lives NOBODY wants to hear about.

As I have written before, there is nothing more awful or disgusting than the thought of people who are in a relationship – let alone married – partaking in bedroom-based activities. It is wrong and weird and enough to make a person vomit up their Monster Munch. I can do it or I cannot do it (or I can wait ’til all the housework is done to my satisfaction before even thinking about doing it like any normal person) and nobody need ever know.

Well, what a lovely note to end on! Blog fans, please note that I am taking a month off writing silly words for the purposes of having a wedding, a honeymoon and at least 30 days of marriage where I don’t publicly mock my new husband for still being unable to switch the bathroom light off… 

See you in October!

Posted in: ON RELATIONSHIPS, ON WEDDINGS Tagged: bride, clothes, growing up, marriage, relationships, sex, wedding

HELLO, I’M CHARLOTTE

About me

Welcome to Nothing good rhymes with Charlotte. This blog is full of honest words about parenting, relationships, confidence and friendship. I'm here to help us all feel less alone and to make you laugh when I can, too. Want to hire me to write for you or just fancy a chat? Get in touch: nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte@gmail.com

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I just took my child to Clarks to buy her first pa I just took my child to Clarks to buy her first pair of school shoes. I am officially a grown up.
It's happened. We've reached the stage where I can It's happened. We've reached the stage where I can take Isla to a café and she'll do some drawing while I do some writing. Only a little bit of course and with plenty of breaks for me to attempt to sketch unicorns (which to be clear I very much enjoyed) but it's a start. How nice to suddenly find ourselves here. ❤️
All of a sudden our Joe-Joe is 1 🎂💖🎂💖 All of a sudden our Joe-Joe is 1 🎂💖🎂💖
I took this picture to remind me of what's been on I took this picture to remind me of what's been one of my absolute favourite parts of maternity leave, with both babies - killing time in the late afternoon watching episodes of Friends I've seen 4 billion times. ❤️

I'm experiencing all of the feelings at the moment because maternity leave is coming to an end for me very soon and Joseph is about to turn 1. I've attempted to process all this by writing what is essentially a diary entry about it. You can read it at nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte.com

Any tips/(kind) views/words of wisdom/large tubs of biscuits very welcome. 

Much love 💛
First holiday joy 💙☀️💙☀️ First holiday joy 💙☀️💙☀️
❤️ ❤️
Back together for the first time in forever ❤️ Back together for the first time in forever ❤️
Thank you Margate 💙💛💖 Thank you Margate 💙💛💖
I had an idea a few months ago to write something I had an idea a few months ago to write something about all the thoughts and feelings I have about having two children. Like a diary entry I can look back on and even show Isla and Joseph in years to come. Of course the main thing to say is: You don't get a lot of free time when you have two small people to look after. So it's taken me a while to get this done. But now that I have my sense of achievement is HIGH  so I'm here to share it. You can read it if you wish at nothinggoodrhymeswithcharlotte.com
Much love x

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Greenwich girls, guys, good times 💙 Greenwich girls, guys, good times 💙
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