Modern Translation: The Awesome Wife's Guide (Rule #18)

* A good wife always knows her place. 

Oh I know my place alright. At least I do now. My place is beside my husband. 

The last couple of months have been stressful for my family. My husband and I are both dealing with unrelated but simultaneous health issues. As a result, I haven't been able to blog as much as I would have or wanted to. I have been feeling guilty for each week that went by with few and, I admit, weak posts. Behind the scenes, I've also felt guilty about not having the energy to keep the house clean and not having cooked a real meal in over a month now. 

The other morning I woke up and, as per usual, started running through the list of things that needed accomplished that day, then the list of things I could have accomplished a couple months ago, and finally the list of what I though I could maybe get accomplished that day- if I was having a good day. I finally gave myself permission to not blog last week and that really helped. But now that I've done some thinking and reminded myself of my priorities, I need to give myself permission to not feel guilty about not blogging. 


I've read a number of blog posts about finding a balance in one's life between work, home and blogging. It seems every blogger reaches a point at least once over their career where they need to give themselves a hearty dose of reality about in which order those three things fall on the priority scale. I didn't think my wake up call would be coming so soon!


Don't get me wrong- I love blogging, I am not burnt out on it and I soooo plan to continue blogging. Right now, however, I need to put my money where my mouth is and truly place all my focus and energy on getting myself, my husband and our home back into shape.This rule couldn't have come at a better time because I truly needed to remind myself where my place is. I love my blog life, but my place is first and foremost beside my husband, as the best and healthiest wife/person I can be. 


So, I am taking the month of September off. I don't want to do too many things not very well. I want to get back to where I can feel proud of myself and say that I am tackling every venture of my life the best I possibly can. I will be spending the month bringing "healthy" back into mine & my husbands lives, finding my blogging inspiration and stockpiling some awesome posts for October, and putting all the pieces of the puzzle back to where they need to be. 


I don't want to worry anyone- neither of us is dealing with a serious illness. We are just learning to live with some minor health issues that haven't let either of us feel like ourselves lately. 

I appreciate your understanding and the best support anyone can give us is to stick around- don't go anywhere because I will be back and (fingers crossed) better than ever with some BIG SURPRISES!

We Have A Winner! UPrinting.com Giveaway

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Drum roll please.....

The Winner of the UPrinting.com Brochure Giveaway is....

#2: I follow your blog! (Zoe).

YAY! Congratulations Zoe! Be sure to come back & let us know how you use your brochures!

You will be getting an email from me & UPrinting.com very soon. Enjoy your prize and thanks for being a new follower!

Thank you also to all who entered and continue to read The 2010's Housewife!

Celebrate with Upromise!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do u Upromise yet? If not, you should! 

Upromise is an online college savings account that allows you to save up for your childrens education through a variety of different means: by shopping online, using eCoupons at the grocery store and even by recycling ink cartridges. What makes this program even better is that extended family can jump on board too and help make your kids educational dreams come true! To date, members have received over $600 million in money towards college through Upromise rewards programs! 

Upromise is celebrate their 10th Anniversary by giving away $20,000 to users who share a story about how a parent has supported a child's dream! 

 

All you have to do to earn your chance to win is submit a story via the Upromise to Dream Wall www.upromisetodream.com. You can also participate by reading and "liking" other people's dreams. 

If you happen to come across my dream, I'd love for you to "like" it! Here is my submission, titled The Children who Changed their Dreams... daily!

My parents were incredible to my brother and I growing up. We were the kind of kids who had lots of dreams, ever changing and developing. Fortunately, we were blessed enough to have two parents to support each and every one of our dreams, no matter how temporary. My parents encourage, supported, built equipment for, bought supplies for, and served as assistants for all of our various adventures- from music to fighting for animal rights, to journalism and motorsports, from baking to pottery and photography, and everything in between!

That probably isn't worthy of the $10,000 Grand Prize, but I'd be MORE than happy with one of ten $1,000 prizes! 

I'd love to hear what your dream is! Submitted a comment below to share and please enter it as well on the Dream Wall (you do want $10,000, dont you??) www.upromisetodream.com

Be sure to check out the dream wall official rules before submitting. I can't wait to hear about your dreams- Good Luck!

How to Clean a Broom

I'm getting ready to share with you, once again, another embarrassing household secret of mine: my dirty, dirty broom.

Eww!


Ewwww! Ewwww! Ewww!


There are no excuses, but I will say that we have a dark kitchen floor... which shows EVERYTHING! So this broom gets used probably daily. On top of that, we have a very hairy black cat that sheds hairball tumble weeds on a daily basis as well. With that said, this broom is almost 2 years old and has never been properly cleaned. Eww again.


I found this tutorial online courtesy ehow.com, Cleaning a Plastic Broom, which I followed, sort of.

Step #1: Beat the s@*#& out of it on the side of the front porch to knock off furballs.

Step #2: Vacuum

Step #3: Rinse under hot water

Step #4: Soak in a bath of soap, bleach and water. Ehow said to use dish soap but I dropped in a couple dishwasher detergent packets. I thought the bubbling effect might help break up the dirty particles. I also didn't follow the ratios they gave. I filled up the tube I had with hot water until the broom was covered, added 2 cups of bleach and 2 dish soap packets.

I soaked it for about 20 minutes. Now, I'm not exactly sure that I didn't create some sort of toxic fumage in my bathroom with this mixture so I opened all the windows in the house and turned on the exhaust fan. Let that be a warning/disclaimer to all. I don't want to be held accountable for lost brain cells. 

Step #5: Rinse out all the soap with hot water.

Step #6: Second soak in hot water and 2 cups bleach.

Step #7: Sit out to dry in the sun. Because my mother said so. 

I know, something looks a little off. As it turns out, the bristles on the broom have split at the ends. Just like my hair in middle school. I was going to cut them off so it looks nicer (because I feel like it is clean now but still looks dirty) but my husband said that it probably picks up better like that so I kept that as is. 

Modern Translation: The Awesome Wife's Guide (Rule #17)

(This is the 17th post of this series. Click here to read the entire series.) 
 
* Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember,  he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. 

Humm... let's discuss what we don't like about this rule. "Master of the House" - I'm not sure how I feel about that. My husband does technically own our house (it came with the husband) but I am the one who keeps it running. Granted, he is responsible for fixing anything that breaks and anything that involves a ladder and the roof. Oh, who am I kidding? Our cat rules this house! Have you ever seen those signs that read, "This is the cats house and he just lets us live here"? That's pretty much true with our beast. 

"You have no right to question him"- <cough, bullshit, cough>  

I do trust my husband. I respect him. I have faith in his judgment and integrity. I am glad that I don't make the decisions around here alone and have defaulted to his judgment quite a lot actually. I believe him to be a fair and trusthworthy man. With that said... he has his moments and you better believe I will call him out when those moments present themselves.  

I really do believe that trust is one of the most important, if not THE most important, element of a relationship. I've seen many a relationships fall apart because trust just wasn't there. I've also watched relationships fall apart because one partner didn't trust the other... even though they had absolutely no reason to NOT truth in him/her. If we are being completely honest here, I've seen the stereotyped jealous/untrusting woman part played out waaaaay to often. 

This rule makes me think of bachelor parties. My husband was the fourth guy in his group of friends to get married. All four of them had bachelor parties and for all four parties the guys adhered to a strict "no photography" policy. As a woman, I should probably be disgusted by this policy but I actually think it is really, REALLY smart.  

I didn't ask my husband any questions before or after his bachelor party. (Though when he came home with two skinned knees I did ask if he had any other injuries that might require medical attention.) I know how my brain works. If I thought about it, or asked questions, or saw any evidence of what happened my mind would start racing directly towards the worst possible scenarios. Instead, I chose to not let myself wander away from trusting a perfectly proven truthworthy man. 

With that said, and once again, if he stayed out all night he would be walking into the Pennsylvania Inquisition the next morning!  

Dear 1950's Housewife, 
There is a big difference between being trusting and being blind. For some people this is a very fine line. You are right- as wives we need to trust our husbands. But we do also need to be smart and trust our own judgment. Learning how to do this well can take a lifetime. Hopefully, we all have partners who are worth it!
Have a pleasant day, 
The 2010s Housewife

We Have A Winner! My Memories Giveaway

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Drum roll please.....

The Winner of the My Memories Digital Scrapbook Suite is....

#24: I have liked My Memories on Facebook (Andrea Hamilton).

YAY! Congratulations Andrea! I hope you love it as much as I do!

You will be getting an email from me & My Memories.com very soon. Enjoy your prize and thanks for being a new follower!

Thank you also to all who entered and continue to read The 2010's Housewife! 

Don't forget to enter the Uprinting.com Giveaway too!

GIVEAWAY: UPrinting.com

As promised, I am giving away yet another awesome prize this week to thank my readers for sticking by me over the last few light posting weeks.

This prize comes courtesy of Uprinting.com
& comes with a value of $55!

The winner of the Uprinting.com Giveaway will get:

50 pcs Brochure printing for One (1) Winner

8.5" x 11"

100lb Paper Gloss

With Folding (Half Fold, Trifold/Letterfold, Z-Fold, Roll Fold, Accordion Fold),

Outside and Inside Printing

2 Business Days Turnaround

*Free shipping

(Restriction: Limited to *US residents 18 years old and above only)

As a blogger I could totally use promotional brochures, but just in case you aren't addicted to oversharing on the blogsphere too here are a few other ideas for how to use this valuable prize:

Promote your Etsy Shop

Create a Grocery Shopping Checklist

Send year-in-reviews w/ family photos for the quickly approaching Holiday season

Create a weekly planning card with a to-do list, important dates & shopping list

Share your prize with a local non-profit

... if you have any other ideas or suggestions, feel free to share them with a post comment below! With Uprinting.com's free downloadable brochure templates it's easy to create whatever you can think up! 

How you can enter:

Remember to complete the form below for each entry to maximize your chances! (Post comments will not be counted, only form entries)

Mandatory Entries

1) Be or become a follower of The 2010's Housewife & let me know how you follow. 

2) Visit Uprinting.com & tell me on the entry form how you plan to use the print brochures if you win.

Optional Entries

After you have completed the two mandatory entries above, you can earn additional entries by doing the following: 

3) "Like" The 2010's Housewife on Facebook & feel free to leave me a comment while you are there. 

4) "Like" UPrinting on Facebook

5) Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter or your blog (1 entry for each, please provide a link in your entry)

The winner will be announced on Friday, August 26th. I will contact the winner by email with further instructions. The winner will have 24 hours to respond before another winner is chosen. 

GOOD LUCK!!!

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting and I will receive brochure printing services for hosting. Visit UPrinting.com for more information about brochures and available brochure templates.