The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life

by Melanie Shankle

Overview

Welcome to the story of a real marriage.

Marriage is simultaneously the biggest blessing and the greatest challenge two people can ever take on. It is the joy of knowing there is someone to share in your joys and sorrows, and the challenge of living with someone who thinks it’s a good idea to hang a giant antelope head on your living room wall.

In The Antelope in the Living Room, New York Times best-selling author and blogger Melanie Shankle does for marriage what Sparkly Green Earrings did for motherhood—makes us laugh out loud and smile through tears as she shares the holy and the hilarity of that magical and mysterious union called marriage.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781414385549
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	02/04/2014
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	631,591
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Melanie Shankle writes daily on her blog, Big Mama. She is a graduate of Texas A&M and loves writing, shopping at Target, checking to see what's on sale at Anthropologie, and trying to find the funny in every situation.

Most of all, she loves being the mother of Caroline and the wife of her husband, Perry. The three of them live in San Antonio, Texas.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Being Antelope: A Prologue xi

Introduction: Erring on the Side of Love xv

Chapter 1 Warm Heart, Cold Salad Bowl 1

Chapter 2 The Art of Kissing Frogs 13

Chapter 3 White Lace and Promises and Cake 21

Chapter 4 The Day After 31

Chapter 5 Young Love and Old Love and a Rat 41

Chapter 6 The Great House Search 51

Chapter 7 We Make Dave Ramsey Sad 55

Chapter 8 Home Improvement 63

Chapter 9 In Sickness and in Health 73

Chapter 10 Nilla Wafers Aren't a Food Group 87

Chapter 11 That Time I Almost Went on Judge Judy 95

Chapter 12 Root, Root, Root for the Home Team 101

Chapter 13 The Couple That Shops Together Has My Sympathies 109

Chapter 14 And Baby Makes Three 117

Chapter 15 I Would Do Anything for Love, but I Won't Shoot That 125

Chapter 16 Don't Stop Till You Get Enough or the Feds Show Up 135

Chapter 17 The Twisted Gift of the Magi 145

Chapter 18 Frigidaire Will Be So Envious 151

Chapter 19 Because Innuendo Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery 161

Chapter 20 In-Laws and Outlaws 167

Chapter 21 Skeletons and Grace 177

Chapter 22 Deck the Halls 183

Chapter 23 The Antelope in the Living Room 191

Chapter 24 Coming Home 197

Acknowledgments 203

About the Author 205

Editorial Reviews

Marriage . . . you gotta laugh.

They say that marriage is a lot like insanity, in that they both require commitment. I so get that.

When you’re in those first giddy stages of dating, you have no idea what life is going to throw your way. You’re just two bright-eyed kids full of optimism, convinced you’re going to be the happiest married couple ever.

Y’all. Trust me. Saying, “I do” is easy. It’s the next fifty years or so that can get a little tricky.

There are days you feel like you’ve never loved each other more. But there are also days filled with disappointment and silence that never seem to end because you just can’t seem to find the words to make it right.

Marriage can be the biggest blessing and the most significant challenge two people ever take on. It’s the joy of knowing there’s someone to share in your sorrows and triumphs, and the challenge of living with someone who thinks it’s a good idea to hang a giant antelope head on your living room wall.

And yet we are in this thing together. For the rest of our lives. Not just for better or for worse, but for better AND for worse.

That’s what this book is about. The times that brought us together and the times we were falling apart. The days we wouldn’t trade for anything in the world, and that time he hung an antelope on my wall.

Welcome to the story of a real marriage.

Melanie (aka Big Mama)

From the Publisher