31 Days to Build a Better Home - Days 9-31

I haven't totally forgotten about the 31 Days to Build a Better Home series over at Today's Housewife - honest! It has been a fun month in our house and I have been richly blessed to participate. I will be totally honest and admit that I have not done the suggested task every day, and some tasks I have done out of order. I find that it's not so much about following every single guideline with blog challenges - it's about gleaning ideas and inspiration to improve your life. And that, dear friends, I have done! A few highlights:

Day 30 - Start a Bucket List:
There are so many things I'd like to put on my list, most of them dealing with travel. A few places I'd like to visit with my amazing family - the Pacific NW, Colorado, the New England coastline.

Day 29 - Count Your Blessings:
I try to take a moment every day to thank God for my amazing family, our dear friends, and for the life we live. We are richly blessed and I never want to get complacent in that.

Day 19 - Start a New Book:I am currently reading "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper - WOW!! And, in preparing for our final vacation of the year, I have reserved several books at the local library.

Day 15 - Try a New Recipe:
One of my goals is to try at least one new recipe a week. It may not be something totally new - I often take a recipe we enjoyed and will tweak it the 2nd or 3rd time I prepare it.

Thank you to the team at Today's Housewife for inspiring me! What a great way to wrap up the summer and refocus on our home and our family.

Days 5-8 - 31 Days to Build a Better Home

Have you joined in the 31 Days to Build A Better Home Challenge? It's not to late to jump in!

Day 5: Get Rid of Some Paper Clutter
~ While cleaning off the back stairs on Day 4, I generated quite a lot of paper that needed to be shredded. Tonight is the night our trash goes out, so all those itty bitty pieces of info are heading out!

Day 6: Plan Some Family Game Time for the Weekend
~ DH and little man are big gamers in our home - they love the Wii and all games associated with the Lego product line. Occasionally, I will convince them to put away their games in favor of a sports game that I enjoy. We had a blazing HOT weekend here, so some indoor time was a must. We enjoyed bowling, Frisbee golf, and regular golf.

Day 7: Flirt with Your Husband All Day Long
~ Done! And oodles of fun, by the way :)

Day 8: Bless Your Parents and Your In Laws
~ We are very blessed to live close to our parents. My parents live less than 10 minutes away and DH's parents are about an hour. It's a Monday night tradition that little man and I eat dinner with my parents while DH has band practice at church. Today, I cut up some fresh peaches and added a bit of brown sugar. I plan to take those and some angel food cake tomorrow night as a healthy(ish) dessert for all of us.

GO visit the ladies at Today's Housewife and join in!

Days 3 & 4 - 31 Days to Build a Better Home

I am absolutely loving this challenge over at Today's Housewife! A few moments a day really is all it takes to get something done. The challenge for day 3 was to teach your child(ren) to help in a new way. This is not exactly a totally new thing for us, but it's always a struggle - donating toys! We spent some time yesterday sorting and he did pretty well:The carton above will go to his new preschool in a few weeks. I am hoping to add much more to it before school starts.

The challenge for day 4 - today - is to clean a spot that no one sees. For us, it's our stairs leading up to the bonus room. Very few people see this spot - including me since there's a door I usually keep closed. It's far too easy to let things pile up on the stairs thinking "I'll take that up next time I go."

Well, I haven't been up there in several days. And on my last few trips, I have simply walked right past the piles. So, today was the day! And it only took 20 minutes - sheesh!! Why did I wait so long?It's not too late to join in!!

Day 2 - 31 Days to Build a Better Home

I spent the most wonderful day today down at the coast visiting with a dear friend from high school. Her son is just a few months older than our little man and the boys have such fun digging in the sand, chasing waves, playing in the ocean, and attempting to boogie board. This trip has been planned for several weeks - we try to get together once a month or so.

Imagine my delight when I came home and checked in over at Today's Housewife to see that today's task in the 31 Days to Build a Better Home challenge is to "catch up with an old friend." Not a problem for me - today was full of laughter and fellowship.

Two days down, 29 to go - we're off to a great start here!

Day 1 - 31 Days to Build a Better Home

Today's challenge is to plan a menu for the week. You all know that I love doing that anyway, so today is a nice way to ease into the 31 Day Challenge for me! Little man starts back to preschool this week, we have a day trip planning to visit friends, and I am trying to minimize our grocery expense this week.

Sunday:
Roasted Chicken, mashed potatoes, and Honey Ginger Carrots

Prep for Week - make banana pudding, Hummus, and put chicken carcass into slow cooker overnight to make stock

Weeknight Meals:

• Homemade chicken noodle soup with Buttery Breadsticks
• Spaghetti with homemade sauce, green salad, and remaining breadsticks
• Taco salad with lettuce, garden tomatoes, homemade pico de gallo, and homemade chips
• Parmesan Chicken Sticks, mac & cheese, green beans

Grocery list for the week:

• Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Red onion
• Vanilla pudding mix
• Vanilla wafers
• Coffee creamer
• Green beans (farm stand)
• Tomatoes & jalapenos (mom & dad's garden)
  

Visit Today's Housewife to join in the 31 Day Challenge and to be inspired this month!