How to Know That Your Husband is Faithful to You

Relationships and dating trends seem to be ever changing, but there are certain key things that always remain constant; the need for love, security, and trust.  If you suspect that your husband is being unfaithful, it’s time to find out for sure.

It is not uncommon in an otherwise successful marriage for one partner to become suspicious of the other at times, especially when the relationship seems to be struggling or when stress or financial worries begin to wear you both down.  A lack of energy or sexual interest does not mean that your husband is cheating or that you should immediately withdraw your trust in him.  It does not mean that he doesn’t love you either.  If you want to know for sure whether your man is true, use some easily attainable resources to find out.

Where does your husband spend most of his time?  At work, at home, or hanging out with friends?  Does he seem happy to see you and eager to come home to you at the end of the day?  Sometimes men just need a break.  This is not indicative of dissatisfaction with a relationship.  Men, not unlike women, often discover the need to tap into their emotional wild child that makes them feel young and crazy again.  Sometimes that involves playing organized sports, or hunting, or fishing.  Other guys prefer to drink some cold beers with their buddies and talk about guy things.  These things should be allowed and should not be considered threats to women.  It’s comparable to women hanging out and talking to each other over a glass of wine or going out shopping with the girls.  Sometimes both sexes just need to retreat to their respective corners for a breather.  This should not be how either of you spend the majority of your time, though.  That would indicate a problem.

There should be no secrecy in your marriage with the exception of maybe a surprise for each other here and there.  If your man is being secretive about something and you don’t receive a surprise in the near future, this should throw a red flag.  Full disclosure should prevail in a marriage and husbands and wives should not prevent each other from reading emails, checking phone records, looking at bank statements, or even borrowing each other’s mobile phones.  If this does not sound like the type of relationship that you share with your husband, then you should ask yourself why not?

Do not immediately go on jealous rampage and totally freak him out if you are suspicious because if you’re wrong, you will cause hurt his feelings, make him angry and instigate a huge unwarranted fight.  Instead, warm him up to the idea of being open and transparent with each other.  Send him an email with a picture of you wearing something pretty.  When he is at his computer, ask if he received it and encourage him to view it.  If he acts weird and doesn’t want you to see his email over-his-shoulder, you should wonder why.  When you’re out in public, leave your mobile phone in the car and ask him when you are far away from it if you can borrow his phone.  Again, watch his reaction closely.  Does he hesitate or look uncomfortable?  Offer to help pay the bills if you don’t already.  Study the phone bill and the credit card bills.  Look for strange phone numbers.  If you find some, call them from a phone that doesn’t belong to you and see who it is or search for the number online.  Don’t pick a fight with the person on the other line because the contact could be innocent.  You’d hate to chew out a florist and then have them deliver flowers to your door.  If you see strange transactions on the credit cards, tell him that you are worried that your account may have been compromised and ask him if he knows about the charges.

Whatever you do, don’t just assume that your man is cheating.  We live in an age where paper and electronic trails drag quietly behind us each day.  Infidelity is not impossible to hide, but it is challenging for a husband to share everything, including the majority of his time and money with his wife and still indulge another woman on the side.  Give him the benefit of the doubt, but if he does incriminate himself and things go badly, please don’t tell him who tipped you off.  If you are uncomfortable with searching for these things yourself, then hiring a private investigator may not be a bad idea.

How to Handle the Death of a Pet

The passing of a beloved pet, whether expected or not, can be a very difficult time for a family. Often when it happens, people are distraught and unsure of what to do.

When a pet passes away, the first thing to consider are the feelings and emotions of the family. Young children should be told what has happened, but they do not need to see the deceased animal being handled or taken away. First move children and grieving spouses to another part of the house, away from the area where the pet is. Another good idea is to have the family leave and go to the park or to get ice cream; something positive and distracting. Second, if there are other pets in the home or yard isolate them from the deceased animal.

Decide how to handle burying or removing the pet from the premises. Different sized pets may be handled in different ways. Goldfish may be given a proper burial at sea (ie: flushed) or they may be buried in the yard. Small pets, like hamsters and parakeets may be buried, but beware if there is a dog cohabiting the yard, they may be tempted to dig up the remains.

If the deceased pet is of a medium to large size, call the veterinarian's office where you normally took the pet for checkups. Many will handle disposing of your pet for you.  It is a good idea not to bury a large animal in the yard for a number of reasons. First, kids and animals have a tendency to dig in the dirt and you don't want them to unearth a dead pet. Second, as a pet's body decays, it may leave a void in the yard that could collapse if someone steps in the wrong spot.

Use care when handling the body of your deceased pet. If you are overcome with emotions and unable to handle removing the pet from the premises, call a friend or another family member to help you.

Calling Friends and Family Over the Internet: A Magic Jack Review

Several years have passed since my family made the decision to begin exclusive use of mobile phones and abandon the traditional land line telephone to which we had grown so accustomed.  After countless interruptions by telemarketers and wrong numbers, it was nice to finally silence the land line phone in our home.  While we haven’t missed paying the monthly phone bill for that phone, we have begun to miss the convenience of the secondary line.  Many companies offering VOIP services emerged in the years since our conversion, including our cable/Internet provider, but the costs associated with installing an Internet-based phone have kept us at-bay.  Then we discovered the Magic Jack, or to give credit where it is due, we were introduced to it by a friend who simply adores it.

The Magic Jack is a small device that strongly resembles a USB flash drive, although it is slightly larger.  Using this device, one can make calls to any domestic or international, mobile or land line phone for only $19.95 per year at the time of writing.  The Magic Jack has a USB connection on one end and an RJ11 connection on the other.  The USB side connects to the computer and the RJ11 side accepts the phone cord that connects to your new desk phone.  We purchased a corded AT&T phone with caller ID separately to use with the device.  There is a clear window on one side of the Magic Jack that displays the internal circuits.  When it is plugged into the computer, a blue LED illuminates from within and gives the device a pleasant glow.  The total price that we paid was $39.95, which includes the first year of service for free, and the company will currently ship one or more device at no charge and allow you to try the service risk-free for a full thirty days before charging your credit card.  If you prefer buying products from a retail store, we discovered that it is available at the same price from Wal-Mart.

All necessary software is stored within the device and it prompts the user for permission to install when plugged-in.  The computer that we connected the Magic Jack to is running the Windows 7 Professional operating system.  Installation was very simple and quick, with the exception of advertisements for add-on services.  These prompts, which offered decisions like extending the number of years of service with a locked-in rate or ordering another device for friends and family, became a little tedious, but the final result was well worth the hassle.

At one point during the installation, you are prompted to choose the area code for the phone number that will be assigned to your Internet-connected phone.  It is possible to choose an area code for almost any part of the United States.  You technically could live in Florida and have a California phone number if you so choose.  We tried to find the area code that we are most comfortable with, but the closest was a neighboring county, which is fine because most people around here are familiar with it.  If you choose to pay extra, you can attempt to create a unique telephone number as long as it is available, otherwise one will be automatically selected for free.

Once the installation and configuration is complete, you are free to begin calling anyone in the world.  We completed several calls to our mobile phones and the sound quality was excellent.  Over the next few days the Magic Jack-connected phone was used to call several family members and even participate in a few company conference calls.   Each call was a pleasant experience.  One thing that we noticed, though, is that the computer must be logged-in to maintain an active dial tone.  If the computer is shut down or logged-off, the phone goes silent.  We found a solution to this problem that works for us.  The Windows feature that allows the computer to switch between users will deliver the user to the Windows log on screen and keep the phone active.  Also the screen saver feature that requires a log on upon resume will allow the computer to stay protected while leaving the phone active.

Overall our experience with the Magic Jack has been great.  We read all of the available reviews before purchasing the device and there are some people who are not satisfied.  A few in particular experienced problems while using a cordless phone, but we certainly have had no complaints using our corded one.  My family has given warm “welcome back” compliments to our familiar old trusty house phone; that is until telemarketers and political activists learn the number.