The 30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge for Wives

Hello again! Last time I wrote, I was talking about FlyLady, and my 28 days of baby steps to develop good routines and a neat and tidy home. Things have been going great, I have been following the morning, afternoon, and evening routines and it has made life so much more pleasant! The one thing that has made the most different is shining my sink...trying to keep a clean sink with all dirty dishes washed as soon as possible. It was rough for about a week to make sure the dinner dishes were done before I went to bed, but it is getting easier and I LOVE waking up to a clean kitchen and having all clean dishes when I go to make Mark breakfast! I'm about halfway through the 28 days and I couldn't be happier with the results. In fact, yesterday Mark stopped by the house with someone he works with out of the blue and I didn't freak out because I wasn't ready for company or because the house wasn't tidy, I was happy to have company and it felt great! So, in light of how great FlyLady is working, I heard about a new challenge. The 30 Day Husband Encouragement Challenge from www.reviveourhearts.com/challenge/ the rules are that for the next 30 days: - You can't say anything negative about your husband..to your husband...or to anyone else, about your husband. - Say something you admire or appreciate about your husband...to your husband..and to someone else, about your husband! In addition to those two main guidelines, everyday you receive an email with a special task for the day to encourage your husband. It makes me think of Proverbs 31:11-12 "The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he has no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." That is really my heart's desire, and I am hoping that I can use these next 30 days (and even after that) to really work on encouraging my husband! :) Wish me luck....I started today and I have 29 days left! Oh boy...

FLYlady!!!!

I do not consider myself bad housekeeper, I try to pick up and clean some everyday, but this summer I found myself chickening out of my housework. It is hot outside, I have no friends around to hang out with, and so I found myself just doing the bare minimum around the house and then spending the rest of the day on something crafty and watching Netflix. Oh how I love Netflix!! (I am currently watching Prison Break, and have to really watch myself. The show is so exciting that it sucks you in and before you know it you've already watched 5 episodes and the day is almost over! Yikes!) I have been convicted about slipping into lazy summer habits, and decided to try FLYlady. Now, a year ago it was recommended to me by two different friends who couldn't say enough good about it, and their houses spoke for themselves, always tidy and clean. I remembered their good advice this last week as I was trying to figure out how to get myself back in line. So, I got online, signed up for the emails and read about how to get started. 28 baby steps to Finally Loving Yourself (FLYing)! I am about 5 days into the 28 day challenge and I cannot believe how awesome it is! Check out the website http://www.flylady.com/ it can't hurt, and I know you will have great success if you commit to doing the challenge! 23 days left for me, I'll let you know how it goes! :)

My How Time Flies!

I cannot believe how the months have flown by! Between cooking, cleaning, working around the house and having fun doing crafty projects, time has flown by and it has been a very pleasant summer so far. It is getting quite hot here, but I am happy to hole up in the house with the a/c and do some summer reading and experiment with some new recipes for the hot weather! Here is a salad I invented that like to call: Hope's El Centro Summer Salad 1 red pepper, diced 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped 2 handfuls grape tomatoes cut up 1 avocado, diced the juice of 6 key limes splash or two of olive oil salt to taste 2 dashes of Tabasco (or more depending on your liking) Just mix and chill. I love to eat this for lunch when its too hot to cook outside! :) Mark loved it and thought diced shrimp would be a nice addition... I picked up a copy of Peter Pan at our little bookstore when Mark took me out on a date, and have been loving it! I grew up watching the Disney version of Peter Pan as a girl, and I am loving the book even more! I can't wait until I have a little boy or girl of my own that I can read this book to, it is truly a gem! Here are some fun quotes from as far as I have read: "You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the very first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." "Even Michael already half asleep, knew that she was perturbed, and he asked "Can anything harm us, mother after the night-lights are lit?" "Nothing, precious," she said; "they are the eyes a mother leaves behind her to guard her children." "Tink was not all bad: or, rather, she was all bad just now, but, on the other hand, sometimes she was all good. Fairies have to be one thing or the other because being so small they unfortunately have room for one feeling at a time." Happy 4th of July! I hope you have a great day celebrating the freedom that we are so blessed to enjoy!