A popular country music song, "Startin' With Me," by Jake Owen features this chorus.

"If I had a dime for half the things I did

That didn't make no sense at all

I'd be livin' a little higher on the hog"

My boyfriend and I were in agreement with this song one Saturday as we were driving around running errands. Our relationship has been a rocky one, especially this past year. With God's grace we have both changed a lot and are on a long, but promising road to recovery.

Yet, even the best couples have their issues. We still tend to nag at each other about things that don't really matter. This is an old habit that is hard to break. After this particular song played, I had an idea to help us out with this issue.

Going with the theme of the song, I told Josh, "What if when the other person is doing something annoying, instead of getting in fight about it, we hand the other person a dime, and that's their cue to stop."

Josh smiled. "I like that idea," he replied.

It wasn't very long before we were able to practice it.

We were going to look at houses at Homestead Housing. When we pulled into the parking lot, Josh immediately commented that he wanted to look at what must have been the re-po section; several older fixer-uppers on the corner of the lot. We had already made plans to pull a used house onto our land and fix it up, but thought getting financed for a new house would save us a lot of trouble and possibly money. However, he was convinced before we even set foot in the office door, that there was no way we would be able to get a new house.

My frustration immediately showed in response to this mindset. If he was going to be stubborn, then so was I. I bulled up as I often do when I don't get my way. "Why don't you just go in and see," I said. "You always do this…"

I was silenced by Josh digging in his pocket and handing me a dime.

I smiled sarcastically at him, but took it, keeping my mouth shut.

So we went into the office, grabbed a clipboard with a map of the houses on the lot and ensued on a house-finding adventure.

It was actually quite fun, walking into beautiful houses, decorated fully with furniture and wall hangings, as if someone already lived there. Each one we looked at fueled our excitement as we scribbled notes about what we liked and didn't like.

At the end of our trip, we had our hearts set on one particular house. We waited patiently for our turn in the office and listened intently about our financing options. The outlook was possible, maybe even good.

As we walked out of the office toward the car, I tried hard not to smile at the fact that I knew I was right. All Josh had to do was give it a chance. Without turning around, he said, "Go ahead, say it."

"Want your dime back?" I asked, digging in my pocket and handing it to him.

"I'll just hold onto it," he replied.