MY HUSBAND IS ANNOYING™

First of all, I want to thank you all so, so much for your amazing responses through the comments and mostly through emails. I was expecting a small smattering of “meh, whatever” kind of replies but the support I feel from this community is overwhelming. I have been (and continue to be) surprised at how many people love this blog and the amount of emails I got was unbelievable. (I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to respond to any of you personally; I really want to but it would take a very long time!)

So, general consensus is that you would all love the blog to continue in some form but you would understand if I choose not to since I need to do what’s best for myself and my family. I’m definitely leaning toward keeping it going but I would really like to have it be more of a community site where you all can contribute your experiences to go along with my ongoing saga of my very own annoying husband. I’d love to be able to do a forum type website but since I’m not even close to being tech savvy and have no idea how to set this up, I guess the best way to do this is to have you guys email me your stories and pictures and I’ll post them. Sound good? Good! Send ‘em all my way to: myhusbandisannoying@live.com

Again, thanks so much for all your kind words and wonderful support. You have reminded me that there are many more awesome people out there than there are trolls…the trolls just tend to be louder and more obnoxious!

When I started this blog almost 2 years ago, I fully expected that no more than 5 people would ever read it. And when it started to get some media attention, I was sort of overwhelmed at the response. Believe me, I never courted the media or tried to publicize the blog in any way. I still don’t have advertising on it and  have never made a single cent off of it. I’ve continued the blog (albeit less and less frequently as the demands of working motherhood have taken over my life and if I have a rare free few minutes lately, I will always choose to spend it playing with my daughter over writing a post complaining about my husband) because it’s been truly gratifying to hear from women -and some men- all over the world tell me that it’s made them feel less alone or given them a laugh when they were having a crappy day. (That, and the fact that my husband truly does get a kick out of it.)

And in the beginning, there were trolls. Oh, so many trolls. After we appeared on the CBS Early Show and The Tyra Banks show, I got so many nasty comments – mostly from men - that there were days I cried at the things they said to me and contemplated shutting the blog down.

Well, the media attention waned and most of the trolls went away, leaving only the people who were truly interested in the blog. The ones who saw the humor in it and got that it was not to be taken too seriously. The ones who didn’t feel the need to call me a “c**t” or “b**ch*” or wish me dead. Y’know, the not crazy people. (At first I was adamant that I let all comments get published; as a huge believer in free speech, I felt wrong censoring anybody. And then I got over it and decided that just because people have the right to call me horrible things and hope for me to “get hit by a bus and die a slow, painful death” doesn’t mean that I have to allow that on my own blog. So I started moderating comments and deleting the ones that were hateful. I’ll still publish the ones that disagree with me or take exception with the things that I write, just as long as it’s done in a respectful way.) And when I did get the occasional disgusting comment, it didn’t really bother in the way that it did in the beginning.

But lately, the trolls seem to have returned in full force and more hateful than ever. Why? I’m not really sure. I don’t know where they’re coming from or how they find this site. But I do know that it’s starting to bother me again. Maybe it’s the fact that I have a daughter now and I feel fiercely protective of her and even though the comments are directed at me (and sometimes my husband), I don’t want her associated with it even a little bit. Plus, the crude, misogynistic things these people say about me and women in general just make me feel slightly ill, especially when I think of anyone ever saying these things around or to my daughter.

So, I’m at a crossroads now…struggling with whether I should continue this blog or not. I’d like to hear from you so email me your thoughts: continue on or shut it down? And would you be willing to send in your stories and make this more of a community-oriented place rather than just all about my annoying husband? You all get to share your stories on this site – send in your pictures; tell us about the things your partner does that drive you up a wall even though you love them like crazy. Show these trolls that most people actually have a sense of humor…email me:  myhusbandisannoying@live.com.

I’ve come up with a new game!  It’s called, “Let’s see where my husband’s smelly, dirty socks have ended up today!” 

Here’s the clue:

Guesses? 

Well, if  you said the baby’s changing table, you got it right!  (Seriously, is it just me or is that really gross?  I mean, my daughter’s bare butt goes on that table.)

Sorry, no prizes will be awarded for correct answers.  We’re not made of money, ya know.  (And if we do come into some money, much of it will have to be spent buying my husband new socks so maybe he can finally start putting his dirty ones in the hamper.)