SISTER WISDOM : build a better life

...I am initiating a challenge and hoping you'll join me.

It's the Build a Better Marriage challenge.

In a nutshell:

• a post every day for the next 30 days focusing on how we can build better marriages
• a 5-minute marriage check & 5-minute action point at the end of each post
• a once-weekly "round-up" to comment/discuss what we've learned - this is totally optional. The last thing I want to do is add MORE to our already packed schedules. If you want to participate in the round-up, you are welcome, but please don't compromise on family time or responsibilities for it.
• That's it!
• Click the link above for more details and/or to sign up with our friendly mr linky.
• Pssst. You don't even really have to sign up, it just makes me feel good. If you want to just read along, please feel free. The point isn't me feeling good but us all being encouraged to be happy joyful peaceful wives and have blissful fun strong marriages and honor our God!
• Okay I'm done talking now. I just like bullet points and it's hard for me to quit... Seriously. Stopping now.

Obstacles Welcome: Turn Adversity to Advantage in Business and Life

by Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

4 out of 5 stars

How does a book about being a successful business executive translate into something helpful for a Mom, writer, and homemaker? Read the rest of this entry »

This post is part of the 30-Minute Blogging Challenge at Steady Mom.

I just started a pot of coffee brewing, and since my coffee maker needs to be cleaned out yet again (darn hard water) and takes about 30 minutes to brew a pot, that's my automatic timer. I'm taking this 30-minute posting challenge because I have that feeling, the one of a pesky little guilt peering over my shoulder, whispering in my ear, "You're on the computer agaaaain?" It's hard to hear the whisper sometimes because of the kids hollering in the background... Read the rest of this entry »

I'm linked up with OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday. You should be,too.

Sometimes, when it comes to food, the simplest is the best.

Let's talk about soup.

I love soup. Soup is my friend, except in summer when I'm in a state of perpetual sweatiness. Then the only soup I'm into is gazpacho, ice-cold, but during the other three blessed seasons of the year, me and soup, we're tight. We're buds. We're close.

I could happily eat soup every night, but I don't because 1) sometimes I'm lazy and I like just throwing chicken breasts in the baking dish and voila! dinner; and 2) my husband likes soup, but not quite as much as I do, so I try to be nice and make stuff besides soup too; and 3) a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 year old eating soup every night is too hard on my kitchen, and the cleanliness thereof. I don't like wiping soup off the floor every evening. (Did you catch that "sometimes I'm lazy" bit, above? That comes into play again here.) Read the rest of this entry »

I'm working on improving the quality of sound... and getting some of those cute little intro instrumental humdingers... working on it. Till then, here it is, bare bones podcasting from Sister Wisdom. I'd love to hear some feedback, so let me know if you love it, hate it, think my voice sounds like a herd of Himalayan mountain goats, wish I would talk slower, detect a hint of a Southern accent, or hate podcasts and wish I hadn't published one. (On second thought, don't let me know if you hate podcasts because that's just so discouraging...)

Without further ado:

[display_podcast]

Thanks for listening!

Oh, and here's that giant heart I was talking about:

You know what I'm tired of, right now? Whining women. Seriously. What is wrong with us?

Halfway across the world, a Haitian woman digs through the rubble looking for her baby's body.
Halfway across the county, a single mom counts food stamps to see if she has enough for her groceries.
Halfway across the living room, a man sits who has loved you and worked to keep you happy, fed, clothed, and satisfied to the best of his abilities. He isn't perfect. He does stupid, annoying stuff that makes you want to scream. But there he is.

And there you are, in a warm home with every material blessing you need for a happy life. There's no practical concern stopping you from being happy, but you go back to whining. So do I. It's pointless and selfish. It's pure poison.

Whining women get on my nerves.

How did we get this way? Why do we listen to the stereotypes pushed around by our culture? Why do we make stupid jokes and snide little remarks about our men? Why do we not defend them, encourage them, support them, back them up, and find a way to see in them the best they can be? That is our job. Read the rest of this entry »

From the feed reader...

• Abby at New Urban Habitat, Frugal isn't cheap: "But frugality can be more fun than the mindless consuming many of us got in the habit of doing in the previous decade, because we end up spending money on what we really want."
• Rachel at Small Notebook, My Real-Life, Practical Daily Routine: "Instead of having a schedule that would be ignored day after day in real life, I follow a daily routine of touchstones — key elements to mark a successful day.
• Philip Brewer at Wise Bread, What I've Been Trying to Say: "You can't go back and change decisions that have already been made, but that doesn't mean that the design for the rest of your life is immutable.  Start today to design the life that you want to be living."

From the bookshelf...

• Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn By Living

Read my full review here.

Mini Review: Practical advice for personal growth and a successful life, from the era before self-improvement was the big market share it is now. Roosevelt is easy to read and understand but profound. Her advice is practical, with personal examples, and I found myself copying lots of quotes and wanting to paste them all over the walls in my bedroom.
Find it on Amazon.

• Mindy Stearns Clark, The House That Cleans Itself

Mini Review: If you're not a natural housekeeping/organizing goddess, you will love this book. The concept is that instead of fighting our naturally slobbish tendencies (or those of family members), we should identify them and create systems that work for us instead of against us. Brilliant! I love this! I always feel like housekeeping is a battle, and I've already used some of her ideas and seen some of the most irritating problems get much, much better. I'm going to be tackling more of my house this year and Clark's book is my guide.
Find it on Amazon.

What's your recommended reading this week?
Join in by linking up your post, or simply share in the comments below.

Edit: This was supposed to be posted last night, but I had some intense disagreements with my computer. My husband had to mediate, and we finally came to a happy, working agreement this morning... So:

Heads Up! Recommended Reading coming today!

Here's the deal: I love reading. I love reading great blogs and articles online, and I adore (as in, extreme twitterpation and heart palpitation) a great book.
On the other hand, I despise wasting my time on sub-par writing of any kind. I find, however, it's sometimes hard to put your finger on that great article or post or book or magazine you're wanting, when you're ready for your next great read.

Thus Recommended Reading is born.

Every Friday I'll be posting a list of what I've read lately that (I think) is worth reading: books, blogs, and otherwise which I can whole-heartedly recommend to you.

I'm hoping some of you smart women will join with me and either put up a post or leave a comment with your own recommended reading, because, see, this is all kind of self-serving. I get kind of, uh, tense (hyperventilating, spasms, hives, stuff like that), when I don't know what I'm going to read next. So if I can get some great recommendations, I can keep myself from those ugly little episodes.
I will thank you.
My whole family will thank you.

Tune in tomorrow later today for the first issue of Recommended Reading! I'll include a Mr Linky so you can link up if you've written a post. And here's a bloggie icon you can use to link back if you'd like.

Happy Reading! See you tomorrow.

The most potent influence for good that the world knows is a whole minded Christian home.
In such a home the life of the parents expresses their convictions rather than their frailties and their instruction of the children in the truths of the Christian faith is easy and natural, for it is but an explanation of the motives which actually determine the behavior which the children see and the conditions of life which they share.
Such a home is quiet, unhurried, without strain and stress.

The feelings and emotions inducted within the children by the contagion of sympathy are unhectic, sound, and wholesome.
The suggestions of such a home are in right directions, its unconscious models worthy of imitation.
Its authority is reasonable, its spirit that of mutual affection, its members are friends and comrades who stick together in work and in play.

In such a home the kingdom of God begins to come on earth,

that Kingdom which will come fully when all men realize that they have one Father and are brethren.
To such a home many of us can look back, and we thank God that it imparted its spirit, not just by precept or instruction, but by the uncounted, unintended vital influences of its atmosphere.
Text from " The Training of Children in the Christian Home" by Luther Allan Weigle.