February Recap

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

As a point of accountability I want to update you on my progress on my February goals. (Side note: Does anyone use say "Feb - ru - ary" in their head every time they write it? Just me? Ok, moving on.)

Starting a podcast

My motivation for my February goals here was to do some brainstorming and research to set up my podcast as well as continue posting more regularly on this blog.

• Write 4 blog entries ✅
• This is my 4th post. I didn't quite keep the schedule I wanted because of some personal stuff that happened, but I did get the posts in.
• Create a "focus group" and survey ✅
• If anyone is interested, I have a survey I can send with some questions to help me make some decisions on my podcast. 
• Go through podcast guide ✅
• I have a guide that works me through setting up a podcast with quite a bit of detail. I'll still have to use it as I continue the process, but it was helpful in thinking through some of the early details.

Personal Growth

I focused on my non-fiction reading goal. I finished three which I'm pretty happy with. That means I've read 5/15 towards my goal! I also got a fiction book in as well. Below are links to some of the books and also to some of my Goodreads reviews.

• Non-fiction
• Rhythms of Rest: Finding the Spirit of Sabbath in a Busy World (review)
• If You Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free (review)
• What Is a Healthy Church? (review)

• Fiction
• Keturah (The Sugar Baron's Daughters) (review)

• Kids books
• Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure! (I read a few of these with Callie. We've been slowly going through chapter books before she goes to bed.)
• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1) (These are also chapter books I've read with Callie. She really likes them and we've read 3 so far.)

Heath & Fitness

I've been working on getting back into the routine of working out as well as continuing to incorporate healthy meals into our weekly rotation. I even got to work out outside one day which was amazing! And the addition of Graze snacks have helped me during the afternoon slump at work. I still need some work in these areas, but I'm definitely seeing improvement.

Connection

Each of the girls got some one-on-one time this month. Letty went with me to Starbucks and then to Target to go shoe shopping. Callie went with my mom and I to Savoy to eat lunch and have tea. Sophia stayed with me one morning while Lee took the older girls out. She got to play with all the toys and dance to all the songs. I've also been working on connecting more with Lee. Here is my post on our first time to do Datebox and other things we try to do at home. Finally we've been blessed to be able to start a community group in our home. I'm really enjoying getting to spend time with other people at church while diving into the Word.

Other

God has blessed us in being able to save some financially towards a few of our goals. And it's getting closer to time to plant our garden. I know it's silly, but I'm a bit nervous about it for some reason. Thankfully my mom has volunteered to help after tax season is over!

How about you? How are you progressing towards your 2018 goals?

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

Datebox Review (And Other Ways to Date Your Spouse at Home)

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

So, I write this post not because I have it all figured out, but because I need help. (It took us an entire week to finally have our Valentine's Day date). We all know that it's important to "date your spouse." I think we also all know that there are some seasons where this is harder than others. Like when you have three small kids at home. Nevertheless, my word for this year is "intentional," and one of the ways I want to be more intentional is by building up my relationship with Lee. One of my goals is to take a short trip with just Lee and I, and I think we'll be able to pull that off. But in the meantime, what are ways we can strengthen our relationship now? Below are some of the things we do to go on "dates" at home and some of the things we'd like to do.

Datebox:
I've been wanting to try the Datebox subscription service for a few months now because I like the idea of doing creative stuff together at home. Normally when we're at home we end up watching a movie or tv show. While this is okay on occasion, I don't think it does much to really bring us closer together. I was hoping this would be a way to change things up a bit.
What was in the box - In our box we got items to make puppy chow, a You+Me book and writing utensils to fill it out (pens, colored pencils and invisible ink pen), as well as a link to a Spotify playlist.

Our thoughts - Lee thought he didn't like puppy chow. It turns out he was thinking of white trash. He still didn't eat a lot of it, but he did help me make it. I honestly think I would have liked something a bit more complex to make. Something we could have worked together more on. As for the book, we enjoyed it a lot more than we thought we would. Some of the pages were funny and fun to talk about like inside jokes we share, what our team name and mascot would be, etc. Some were more serious such as what our ideal life would look like, and when we felt closest to each other. And there were some we couldn't come up with good answers to and decided we'd "come back to them later." I will admit to you that I had to let go of some of my perfectionism because Lee's handwriting is, well, like most guys' and his drawing skills are slightly better than Callie's. But we both got to be involved and most importantly, it got us really talking. 
The verdict - I enjoyed this box, but the problem I have is deciding whether or not it was worth the price. The puppy chow doesn't require crazy ingredients so I could have bought them in normal sizes and saved money. I already have pens and colored pencils. The book was unique, and it's not something I probably would have spent money on otherwise so that (and the invisible ink pen of course) were the most worthwhile investments. I plan on getting another box next month to see if this is something we'd like to continue. If nothing else, it at least got us to be intentional about how we spent our time...and we didn't have to pay for a babysitter. There are other date kit boxes out there as well so that's something we may try out in the future. (P.S. If you want to try out Datebox for yourself, click here and you can get $10 off your first box!)

Dating Divas:
The Dating Divas site has a ton of great resources that they've compiled from around the interwebs. A lot of them are totally free! Some are good for dating, engaged or married couples, and others I would definitely recommend for married couples only. I made Lee play the Newlywed Game with me the other night, and even though he claims he won, I think we're both winners when we get to spend quality time together and learn new things about each other even after eight years!

"Couch Time":
I heard this idea from a God Centered Mom podcast. She and her husband are intentional to sit on the couch together after the kids are in bed for at least 10 minutes every night with no distractions and just talk. Lee and I tried to do this, but we're not as consistent as we should be. The neat part about it is that often times, 10 minutes turns into 30 or 60 which is way better than watching tv or just looking at our phones at opposite ends of the couch.

Tips:
All of these tips are centered around spending time together. Dates. But we know dating involves more than that. Holding hands, writing love notes (or texts), serving each other, etc. All of these are important too. If you're struggling to find time, even at home, to date your spouse, then here are some tips. I'm making notes of these myself.

• Put date night on the calendar, even if it's at home. 
• Turn off your phones!
• Take turns planning.
• On occasion, take the time to get ready. Since some women, ahem, take more time to get ready this may mean husbands need to make sure they have that time by cleaning up the house, taking care of the kids, etc.
• If you want to go out and finding a babysitter can get expensive, offer taking turns babysitting with another family.

So, what do you do to continue dating your spouse? Have you tried Datebox or another subscription service? Use another resource? Let me know, seriously, because we can use all the help we can get!

More resources on the importance of dating your spouse:

• Date Your Wife: Six Suggestions for Leading with Love (desiringGod)
• Dating Your Spouse (Focus on the Family)
• How a Strong Marriage Empowers You to be Strong Parents (ERLC podcast)

Keturah by Lisa Tawn Bergren - fiction review

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.


Keturah's father has passed away and in order to provide for herself and her sisters they have decided to travel to the island of Nevis to try and save their father's struggling sugar plantation. The man Keturah loved as a child is also going to make his mark as a plantation owner but because of Keturah's previous abusive relationship with her deceased husband she declares she'll never rely on a man again. The sisters experience many trials as female plantation owners, and they have to really find their own strength in order to succeed against all odds.

The good: The description of life at the time seemed pretty accurate and I liked the evolution of the characters from stuck up society people to real-life humans trying to survive and figure out who they are. The writing was well done and I often felt like I was really there at times.

The bad: I felt like I was there at times. While slavery is not something that can be avoided in this story (the author discusses this in the historical notes at the end), I would almost rather not read the story than read about characters that participate in the moral atrocity that is slavery. The Banning sisters were kind to their slaves, but that doesn't detract from the fact that they in fact thought it was okay to own people. Keturah survived a horribly abusive marriage but in the end, her own comfort and the success of her plantation was more important to her than the lives of people she saw as beneath her. I don't need or want my characters to be perfect. And maybe the future books will see the hearts of these characters changed, but I couldn't get past this detail in order to connect with the main characters. The other issue I had was that the representation of Christianity was weak. It was so unimportant and uninspiring that I would have rather it had been left out completely. I don't need preaching in my fiction but I want there to be genuineness to their faith.

All in all I was disappointed with this book. Which makes me sad because I LOVE some of Bergren's other books (like her River of Time Series). I might read the next book just to see what she does with the slavery issue, but we'll see.

I received this book for free from Bethany House for my honest review.

Some of the links in the post above are Amazon referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.

How do I find time (and money) to read?

Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links. That means I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. Please read my full disclosure here.

Reading has always been a large part of my life. There were times (like in college) when I couldn't always read as much, but usually it's a big priority for me. I think this is for two reasons. The first is that reading fiction is one of the main ways I unwind. Self-care is kind of a hip thing now, and for me, reading is one way I take care of myself. The other reason I make reading a priority is because I love learning. One of the most obvious ways to learn is by reading. I know not everyone likes to read, and as strange as those people may be, hopefully they've found other ways to take care of themselves and to learn. For those who do enjoy reading, I thought I'd give you a little insight into how I make time to read, and how I afford my reading habit.

Finding Time to Read
Ebooks:
Some would maybe say I'm not a true book lover because, for the most part, I'm not particularly attached to physical books. I LOVE reading ebooks. There are some books that I like to have the actual copy of, but it's not like I'm over there sniffing them or anything. I usually read using apps on my phone (like the FREE Kindle Reading App), but eReaders (Kindle, Nook, etc) and tablets are great as well. How this helps me read more is that it's so much more portable. I can read in the doctor's waiting room, during my lunch break, and it was great for when I was up nursing a baby in the middle of the night. It's a great way to find tiny pockets of time to get some reading done instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media (which let's be honest, I also do).

Audio books:
Along with ebooks, audio books are a great way to get more "reading" in. I mostly listen to podcasts in my car but sometimes I'll listen to an audio book instead. It's also nice when I'm doing things around the house like laundry or the dishes. Bluetooth headphones make that a lot easier, and it makes the chore go by faster. This isn't necessarily my favorite way of reading because if I'm not paying attention I'll sometimes miss important parts of the book, but it's nice to mix things up every now and then.

Multiple books at once:
I usually have one fiction book and one non-fiction book going at the same time. This is because sometimes I'm in the mood for fiction and it's easy for me to read through that quickly. And other times I want to read something a little deeper and I can pick up my non-fiction to fill that need. I try not to have too much more than that going on other than maybe an audio book otherwise I'm not as likely to actually finish the book.

Set goals and find accountability:
If you have something or someone pushing you to read because you've made it a priority then hopefully you'll find yourself more motivated to accomplish what you're striving for. To add on to this, give yourself some kind of reward when you've reached a milestone. Maybe you spend a bit more money than you normally would on that book you've been wanting because you read half your yearly goal. Or you allow yourself to watch the movie after you've read the book. As important as intrinsic motivation is to being a mature human, an external reward is helpful sometimes too. I've set a goal of reading 15 non-fiction books this year and I'm posting about each one on Instagram as accountability with a bit of a pat on the back built in.


Finding Money to Read
As much as I love books, I don't really love spending money on books. If it's something I really want, I will sometimes allow myself to buy a book. But that's actually pretty rare. Here are some of the ways I get books for cheap or free.

The library:
This one is fairly obvious. I don't actually make it to the local library much anymore, but I do take advantage of their ebook and audio book collections. I've even started letting Callie pick out some ebooks to read on the tablet after the younger girls are in bed. 

Kindle Unlimited:
Kindle Unlimited isn't free, but I pay a monthly fee and can read a lot of books for that one price. The selection is limited, but I can usually find some decent books on here, and if I'm lucky, an entire series will be on there so I don't have to hope my library has all of them or pay a ton of money to read them. Also, some books will have free narration so I can go from reading it on my phone to listening to it in my car!

My Reader Rewards:
I'm sure there are rewards clubs for other publishers, but My Reader Rewards is for Tyndale House Publishers. I just occasionally go on and fill out surveys and review some of their books, and I can get points to use towards free books. There's not a huge collection, but I've found several books on there for me and the kids. (And if you click here to sign up you can start off with 25 points.)

Review Programs:
Sometimes you can sign up and receive free books in exchange for honest reviews on a blog and/or a retailer website. I've been a part of the Bethany House Review Program for a while now and have received some really good books to review.

Free eBooks:
There are a ton of free eBooks on Amazon, B&N, etc. The problem with this is that most of these books aren't great quality, but every now and then you can find a good one. Usually this book is the first in a series and they're trying to hook you into reading the rest or they'll have a special promotion before a new book comes out. If you don't want to comb through a million books to find what you want you can get daily emails from sites like BookGorilla, BookBub and others which will show you a list of free/cheap books based on your preferences.

Swagbucks:
There are a lot of ways to earn Amazon giftcards these days, but one I've been using for a while is Swagbucks. Sometimes I'm all in and I fill out surveys and do searches and stuff to get me closer to that giftcard. Sometimes I'm feeling lazy and the only way I earn is by printing off and using grocery coupons from their site. How quickly you work towards earning a reward is up to you.

Google Opinion Rewards and Play Books:
I just recently had the idea that I could use the money I earn filling out short surveys in the Google Opinion Rewards app to buy books in the Play Store. I use the Play Books app to read the books on my phone or tablet. Technically you can use your rewards from the Rewards app to buy all kinds of things like apps, movies, etc, but since reading is a goal of mine I'm planning on buying ebooks and audio books. I believe you can use the Rewards app on iOS devices as well and the money gets sent to your paypal account. There are probably other options similar to this out there.

Others:
There's a whole host of ways to get free or discounted books to read. If audio books is your thing, you could always sign up for an Audible subscription. I did this for a while and really liked it, but I don't listen to as many audio books now. There's also a whole host of apps which will reward you with Amazon gift cards. Grocery apps like Ibotta and Fetch Rewards (use referral code YU9MU to get 1500 points when you sign up and scan your first receipt) will get you Amazon giftcards. I always send my money to my Paypal account and back into my bank account to use on groceries, but to each his own.

Do you want to read more books? Do you already read a lot of books? How do you motivate yourself to read more and how do you get your books?






Some of the links in the post above are referral links. I may receive money or products from them, but it's at no cost to you.