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In preparation for our Husband Project 21 Day Challenge in October, I am going to be giving away five copies of the book this week. (If you already have a copy of the book, this would be a great opportunity to win one for a friend to do the Project with!)

So today, please let us all know one thing you really LIKE about your husband – yes, I know that you LOVE your husband because he is kind and loves God, but let’s be a bit more superficial – what do you LIKE about your husband.

• The way he can BBQ the chicken without drying it out.
  
• The fact that he will watch a chick movie with you.
  
• His Jim Carrey impression.
  
• The way he looks in his jeans.
  

(Just so you know, Roger qualifies for three out of four of those listed. And he doesn’t do any impressions…)

Leave your comment here and let me know why you like your husband and you will be entered into the drawing to win the book. Check in tomorrow to see if you won and if you didn’t, you will have a chance to win tomorrow.

If you have not received your prize, it’s my fault.

I was trying to be nice and include a little extra gift for all the winners. Unfortunately, it made the package too “lumpy” (for some of them) and I’ve now had two returned. If you have not received your prize, please e-mail me and I’ll be quick to get another one right out. Sorry! I hope it’s worth waiting for.

Thanks for the grace!

Kathi

Order at:

• Amazon.com
• Barnes and Noble
• Borders
• Books-a-Million 

OK – Monday was majorly enlightening. I had to go to the mall to pick up some See’s candy (the downside? It was a gift for someone else.) and help Roger pick out some new glasses. (I have a total Danny Gokey of American Idol fixation when it came to glasses, and Roger and I have an agreement about picking out frames. As we are the people who have to look at our husband/wife the most, we get to help with the buying decision.)

I had some time to kill, and money burning a hole in my pocket. This happens about as often as I wake up and say to myself, “Wow, this feels like a great morning for a hike.”

You see, my good friend and amazing speaker, Cheri Gregory gave me a sweet gift: $150 in Visa gift cards. Nice friend, huh? I spent $50 taking Roger out to dinner (before the 30 day challenge), but the other $100 was right there, in my wallet, waiting to be spent.

Now I could have spent it at Target on the light bulbs we needed, or a new shower curtain for the kid’s bathroom, but really? I wanted to spend it just on me.

So I wandered the mall, and tried to think of something that I really, really wanted.

Nothing.

I have to tell you, that is so not like me.

Usually at the end of a chaotic work day, I feel like I deserve to go out to dinner. And, if we happen to be at the mall, then I can always find a reason to hit Macys or Bare Essentials or something.

But Monday? I had spent the day working, yes, but also reading all of your great comments, and taking very good care of myself. I spent time in the morning praying, watering my garden, reading and such. I took lots of breaks from work to read your posts, and looking forward to seeing some friends that evening.

And that was enough. Retail therapy not required.

Part of this 30 Day challenge is to find out what enough is for me. Yes, some of that has been making sure that I work hard to be able to continue to do what I love. But part of it is the realization that I don’t need to reward myself with a dinner out 4x a week. What if my daily life was reward enough? What if, doing what I believe God has designed me to do, serving others, learning to love Him, working to love my family better, being a part of a community, was enough?

I want to be more purposeful in my living – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and part of that is slowing down and taking very good care of myself.

So here are 10 things I am doing this week to do just that:

1. Planning a week of healthy menus that also taste amazing (fingers crossed)
2. Reading an excerpt of Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore
3. Reading a book for 20 minutes that has nothing to do with my work. (This week’s book? Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell)
4. Walking to the lake and back
5. Praying at 1:00 (I have a timer on my cell phone that reminds me to stop and pray)
6. Slicing up a flat of strawberries
7. Sending the See’s candy to a friend of mine in Atlanta (yes, this does make me happy.)
8. Taking my computer out to our back patio to write
9. Researching herb gardens online
10. Talking with my friend Angela

I used to think that I didn’t have any time to take care of myself, but everything I have listed here (excluding writing on the back patio – which is part of my workday,) takes less time than an episode of couple episodes of Oprah.

I know most of you would (like me,) will have a hard time coming up with 10 things, soooo…

Here is my question for you: What is ONE thing you are going to do to take care of yourself today? Commit it here – commit it loud and allow us to hold you accountable.

We have been doing the dating challenge this month and when I asked you for your top reasons why you don’t date – time was at the top of the list.

The irony? Some of the first people who answered were my friends on Facebook – one of my biggest time suckers if I’m not careful. (Anyone else? Or am I alone in this?)

I know you are going to expect me to say things like “Give up 30 minutes of TV,” and for some of us, that may be required, but I also know that your 60 minutes of Glee may be the only real downtime that you have. (And by downtime, I mean watching Glee, folding laundry, paying bills on your laptop and packing kids school lunches in the next room…)

So here are a few things that have been working for me lately. (As technology changes, so does my list of how to save time.)

1. Getting Groceries Delivered  When I’m on deadline for writing a book, and showering suddenly becomes optional, I go to my saved list on Safeway.com and have my groceries delivered to me. Sometimes I get coupons in my e-mail for free delivery, and sometimes it costs me around $7. But, if $7 can be traded for a shower, I’m on board. Another variation on this is to swap off with a neighbor for that mid-week Oh no we are out of milk and peanut butter. Be sure to give detailed lists so it doesn’t create more problems than it’s worth.
2. Making the Kids Do It  OK, if your child is 18 months, skip this tip. Wait – no! Read it! Be planning in advance when your kids can take over certain chores – dishes, garbage, vacuuming, sweeping and mopping. Training ‘em early, train ‘em young, train ‘em often…
3. Limit Computer Time  I am now trying to give myself a two hour window each night where I don’t get on the computer for work, play or Facebook.  When 90% of your job is on your HP laptop, that can be a challenge, but I have found that if I know I am going to have a definite end to my work day, I tend to get more things finished than if I fool myself into believing I have all night.
4. Make an Appointment with Your TV  Remember when we were growing up and we knew we had to be home on Thursday nights because that was the night that The Cosby Show was on (OK, maybe it was just me who had a thing for Heathcliff…)? Now I never know what night anything is on because our TIVO is recording something, every moment of the day. How great – I can watch anytime I want. The problem? I can watch anytime I want. I am setting aside some time to watch the shows I really love (Modern Family, Kell on Earth, 30 Rock etc.) and shutting off the TV so I don’t watch hours of Dateline on ID. (OK, if I am sick in bed with a cold I will have an ID marathon…)
5. Nighttime Routines Setting the coffee the night before, putting out my walk-the-dog tennies, packing up my bag to put by the front door the night before, all of these little items not only get me out the door faster in the morning, but they let me sleep better the night before as I don’t wake up every three minutes thinking to myself “Wait, did I remember to…?”

Q4U – What is the best time-saving tip you have been using lately? Please share your wisdom in the comments below. I would love to put together a resource of all the best ideas – won’t you contribute your brilliance?

I now have a new blog that I love. (And no, it’s not just because she wrote a fun, kickin’ review of The Husband Project.)

She is giving away a copy of The Husband Project to a reader so go check it out at: Marla’s Blog

Which, may I say, is just in time. Because we are doing The Husband Project as a big ‘ol group right here on the blog. So head on over there to win.

But, if you don’t win, don’t worry. We are having a special here so that for the purposes of The Husband Project Blog Challenge, you can purchase the book for just $10. (When I go to speak at events, I call this the Accountability Discount. Tell me you are doing the Project with a friend and save $3.00. Since you will be doing it on the blog, I know you will be doing it with a friend – me!)

Even if you have already done The Project, join us here and do a little tune up – husband-wise.

We will do the prep week of the Project starting on November 2^nd, and start on the 21 days of the 9^th.

It has been a wild and wooly week around the Lipp household. Not only was the For Women Only Conference this Saturday, (which besides me speaking at, Roger was producing,) but we have also made multiple trips to the ER for my youngest, Kimber. We have finally got it nailed down (bad, nasty strep) and now we are hunkering down with a bunch of girl movies and Jamba Juice smoothies….

So, to catch up on all of you fab winners, I went over to random.com to figure out the winners for all of the giveaways. But don’t worry, if you didn’t win, I have MORE giveaways this week.

Frozen Gourmet
Sandie Allan

The All About Us Series
ckhuggins

Women of Confidence
Kathryn Bechen

For Women Only and The Husband Project
Karen Q

So Long Status Quo
North

If you did win, send me an e-mail at info at kathilipp.com with your address and we will get it right out to you.

More tomorrow.

Hugs, kisses and lots of penicillin,

Kathi

We have a winner.

OK the sad news is I don’t know his/her name, but I do know that this beauty belongs to Kathy Cully.

Kathy, I will let Erin over at Puppy Love By Erin know that you are the big winner.

For all of the rest of you, keep checking in because I will be featuring your pooches in an upcoming post, and we will have another give away sponsored by Erin and my cat Zorro in the next month.

And some other Winners:

The winner of Generation Next Marriage is Jessica!

And the winner of Julie and Julia is Stephanie

Send me an e-mail at blog@kathilipp.com with your address and we will get these in the mail!

Announcement for October!

I am so excited to announce that for the month of October, it is going to be a month dedicated to making him feel like a rock star.

We will be doing an online group of The Husband Project – a few days to ramp up, and then 21 Days of Loving Your Man – On Purpose and with a Plan. So even if you have done it as a group, or if this is your first time, you can pop in at any point.

Also, for the 21 days of the Project, we will be giving away a prize a day, and you will be able to purchase the book at a great price starting next week.

So make it on your calendars, FB your friends and dust off your Victoria’s Secret purchases. We’re doing the Project~

Here are the winners from last week!

Mary

August 31, 2009 at 8:17 pm

Ann K.

September 1, 2009 at 4:54 am

Camille

September 3, 2009 at 3:09 pm

Please send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I will get your Frozen Gourmet Cookbook in the mail to you right away!

Congratulations to Stephanie, our project manager who won this week’s prize, Camy Tang’s book “Only Uni” by submitting the following comment regarding Project 5: Text or Email Some Sweet Nothings. Click here to read more Project 5 comments.

Stephanie says:

My most successful project so far has been– believe it or not– the text messaging. It never occurred to me to send a text message to my own husband! (Then again, I don’t text anyone really… but I digress.) So it really struck my hubby as something out of the ordinary. Not only that, it was a rather long one that included prayer for him in his work & spiritual life; and he was duly impressed with the amount of time and thought I put into it. I felt so good for having blessed him. The bonus came a few weeks later. He had just left for an international business trip & knew that our week would be a tough one at home (3 wee ones). When he arrived at his destination, he sent me a text message (a long one!), letting me know he was safe & wishing us a “successful” time back home. That really blessed my socks off!

To Stephanie: Please contact us at kathi@thehusbandproject.org, so we can send the book, “Only Uni” to you right away.

To all Project Managers: Remember to submit your comments. Other project managers enjoy reading comments to get ideas and see how other hubbies are responding. Your comment can be short and sweet, or you can provide as many details as you like. With each entry your name is entered into our weekly drawing.

New Prize for This Week:

Be sure to enter a comment and have a chance to win this week’s prize: a $10 Bath and Body Works gift card. Click here to leave a comment and get entered today.

Keep up the blessings for your guy!

Kathi