The Blog Exhibit

31 Days of Love - Day 11

2011-10-11T20:03:00.000-05:00

I'm just finally jumping in to the challenge here at Day 11...Titus2sDay will resume after this series is over. I have the button for Time-Warp Wife at the end of the post if you'd like to check out Darlene's website for yourself. I highly recommend it! Anyway here goes with Day 11 of 31 Days of Love...

Just ask him. Just ask him?

I hear this a lot on the radio programs I listen to. Just ask your husband what you can do to be a better wife to him...just ask him what it is that makes him feel loved...just ask him what it is that makes him feel good.

It's not that I mind asking it's that I'm totally afraid of the part of the answers that might come like 'When you do this I don't feel good' or 'If you don't do this I don't feel loved...'

But asking has to be a lot easier than living out the rest of our lives with that pit in our stomachs!

There's also I believe the right time and way to ask and I don't think walking in the living room and turning off the tv to ask is really a good idea. So I'll wait - but I really do want to ask!

Dishwasher Detergents

2011-09-24T17:33:00.001-05:00

Last week I was so excited to finally get the 4 pack of Cascade pacs for just .9¢! And then I got a copy of the October 11, 2011 issue of Consumer Reports so I knew I had to blog about dishwasher soap!

I never take what a study from any group without analyzing the data myself. There was just a couple problems I had with this study...

The article recommends using a rinse agent if you have to have spot free glasses but doesn't talk about the extra cost involved in that or the environmental impact of all those little plastic bottles that you buy - even though the article starts out talking about eco-friendly phosphate-free detergents.
The study rating dishwasher detergents doesn't say anything about what kind of dishwasher they used to test the products with. I have found with my dishwasher and my water supply that the pacs work best, powder is ok but the liquid is a total no-go.

So my frugal friends, here is the top 9 rated dishwasher detergents according to Consumer Reports, but I am listing them from lowest to highest price. I didn't bother listing any other than the top 9 in their list because all the other ones rated only fair or poor on dishes.

Finish Gelpacs
Finish Powerball Tabs (rated #2 in overall score)
Cascade with Dawn ActionPacs
Method Smarty Dish
Biokleen
Cascade Complete All In 1 Action Pacs (rated #3 in overall score)
Finish Quantum (highest overall score as well)
Citra Dish
Finish Qunatumatic

Something else that caught my attention was that 365 - the Whole Foods brand - was actually the least expensive! Who would have thought that the LOWEST cost product could be found at Whole Paycheck, sorry I mean Whole Foods a-hem. It also received the worst rating from Consumer Reports though. When I look at the study it's obvious that there is a little bit of you get what you pay for ringing true here. For me I've found that the best brand is Finish but I wind up getting Cascade most of the time because I can get it for around .15¢ and I feel like that's a reasonable price of a a dishwasher detergent that performs well. I think that's what those pacs come to on some good Amazon subscribe and save deals so I keep my eyes peeled for those!

Let me know your thoughts or suggestions please and leave a comment.

Pharyngitis - Not Called Fun-gitis For A Reason!

2011-09-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

I am grateful to not have strep throat. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's true but I keep saying that hoping that it will eventually feel true.
I have been sick for about a week and a half but I can only do the rest and push fluids thing for so long. Plus I had a lot of exciting things to do like do Children's Ministry, my worship service meet with a Pastor about the other ways that I can serve...and I still tried to keep up with the housework. Yesterday I was at home actually trying to rest because I felt so bad but I had to run to the doctor when my throat hurt so bad I really couldn't stand it. The good news IS that I don't have strep throat but I still have to do days of voice-rest, rest-rest, ibuprofen, antihistamine and lots of liquids.
I'm going to miss out on a bunch more stuff this weekend but I am determined to come back from this better than ever. What I'm really bummed out about is that I don't really enjoy my quiet time because I can't really focus enough to read or study :(
Any encouragement you have for me or wisdom I would really appreciate it!

Sorry if I sound whiny I sure don't want to sound like that! I have friends with very serious health problems right now so I definitely have a good perspective on things. It's just to blog about what's going on in my life right now.

Midday at Midweek : Surviving Storms and Christopher Yuan

2011-09-14T10:36:00.001-05:00

A new series has begun with Midday Connection called Surviving The Storms of Life.

Click HERE for the webpage.

And today they will talk with author, speaker and teacher Christopher Yuan.

Today for my Midday Connection Fan Club I'd like to start something I'm calling Midday at Midweek. By Wednesday I've heard so many great things on Moody Radio and am looking forward to what else I might hear so it's the perfect time to stop and share a little bit of that with you. If you are blogging about Midday Connection please e-mail and let me know. helenshabitat@hotmail.com I would love to visit your blog and link to you on my Midday Connection Fan Club page!

So this most recent series called Surviving The Storms of Life with Ray Kane has begun and you may be in a storm and will really appreciate some of this message. If you are NOT in a storm I want to encourage you to listen anyway because it's so much easier to weather a storm when you've prepared ahead of time isn't it?

Over the summer we had a lot of heavy rain here in Illinois. Having to fumble around for what we needed at the last minute was discouraging. If you are going to step out in a big rain storm what do you need? Maybe just a couple of things like an umbrella, maybe some rain-proof shoes or a raincoat. For sure there will be storms of stress ahead in our lives. What are just a couple of things you will need for that kind of a storm? One of the best things I've pulled out of this program to tuck away for a rainy day is this phrase "do you want to be made better or do you want to be made bitter"? And what's your eternal perspective? What were you able to pull out of the program to help you with the storm you are in now or to save for a rainy day? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us!

Romans 8:28
"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."
Romans 8:28

Attentiveness While He Is Talking

2011-09-13T15:08:00.001-05:00

So if you watch 19 Kids and Counting you've probably noticed Mrs. Duggar or Mrs. Bates looking at their husbands and listening to what they are saying when they are talking to them or to other people. I mean they are turning their faces towards their husband and nodding and looking sweetly at them! When I first noticed that I thought 'this seems easy at first but how do you do that when you have been married for a long time and you've heard something 5 gazillion times' and I honestly thought they must be doing that just to be an example to their kids to listen to Daddy.
You can see some examples in this video...

So since noticing that and having some time to prayerfully consider what that is all about, I've been maturing in faith, learning and practicing the things to make me the wife that God wants me to be...and I learned a lot. Here's a few points of what I learned about my paying attention to my husband while he is talking.

My husband needs my attentiveness while he is talking.

When I look admiringly at my husband when he talks it inspires others to respect him.

(I learned those 2 points from the "Seven Basic Needs of a Husband")

It's a refreshing change for him after a day at work to not have problems communicating with people or in general feeling as if he hasn't been heard.

It helps charge him up for a great evening with the family and for the next work day.

If I talk over him, roll my eyes or don't give him my attention he will be discouraged, hurt and equally uninterested in what I need to get done or to communicate.

As Christians we are not commanded to act kindly only as long as we find it interesting, it's the first time we've heard something or we are going to get something out of it. Also when I got married we agreed that we understood that we wouldn't always feel love-dovey but that we wanted to make a commitment to act loving towards each other regardless of how we felt.

If I'm too tired or busy to be attentive than I need to change my priorities so that I can meet his needs.

My husband is not a believer. He can learn a lot from my behavior about how he can treat me.

What's your experience been with this in your marriage? Please share and leave a comment for us!

Hebrews 2:1

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it."

Hebrews 2:1

{TITUS 2}SDAYS : How To Make People Feel Loved

2011-08-16T15:28:00.000-05:00

I've been a housewife for almost a year now. Most of that time I've had problems with pain to the point where I was able to just do the basic things at home if that. Now that I can manage the problems I have with my feet and my back I'm asking...

What more can I do for my husband and what can I do better?
How can I be a good friend?
How much time is ok to spend away from the home with activities and friends?

I'm able to write this out simply now but this has all been something I've really been struggling with. In the same way that people struggle with how they are overscheduled I'm like ok how do I go from 0? And July and August is prime allergy/migraine season for me and it totally caught me off guard so I've been struggling with some things while I've been in a fog. For some reason this year it took me a long time to figure out that it was just that and once I started actng accordingly - buh-bye fog!

Anyway I prayed about it all including something like - God there is so much going on in my head and big things going on in our lives and so much I want to do...you know my heart can you please help me out with some clarity and grace? And the answer came most notably online one day.

In a blog post by Kelly Bates - http://gilbatesfamily.com/2011/08/08/visiting-friends/ she says "this example taught us a valuable lesson about making others feel loved and appreciated" and you can see pictures of how people went out of their way to do special things for them. I thought what am I doing to make others feel loved and appreciated and how can I do that?

So I was starting to treat myself for the allergies and migraines and then just started asking myself all the time how can I make others feel loved and appreciated and that's really it. Everything else just falls into place. And you know what? I can just check in with my husband and see how he feels about how much time I might spend away from home or if I'm doing enough for him or what I can do differently.

Amen?