Good reminders for married couples :)

Good reminders for married couples :)

1.* Start each day with a kiss.
2.* Wear your wedding ring at all times.
3.* Date once a week.
4.* Accept differences.
5.* Be polite.
6.* Be gentle.
7.* Give gifts.
8.* Smile often.
9.* Touch.
10.* Talk about dreams.
11.* Select a song that can be "our Song".
12.* Give back rubs.
13.* Laugh together.
14.* Send a card for no reason.
15.* Do what the other person wants before he or she asks.
16.* Listen.
17.* Encourage.
18.* Do it his or her way.
19.* Know his or her needs.
20.* Fix the other person's breakfast.
21.* Compliment twice a day.
22.* Call during the day.
23.* Slow down.
24.* Cuddle.
25.* Ask for each other's opinion.
26.* Show respect.
27.* Welcome the other person home.
28.* Look your best.
29.* Wink at each other.
30.* Celebrate birthdays in a big way.
31.* Apologize.
32.* Forgive.
33.* Set up a romantic getaway.
34.* Ask, "What can I do to make you happier?".
35.* Be positive.
36.* Be kind.
37.* Be vulnerable.
38.* Respond quickly to the other person's request.
39.* Talk about your love.
40.* Treat each other's friends and relatives with courtesy.
41.* Send flowers every Valentine's Day and anniversary.
42.* Admit when wrong.
43.* Pray for each other daily.
44.* Be sensitive to each other's sexual desires.
45.* Watch sunsets together.
46.* Say "I love you" frequently.
47.* End the day with a hug.
48.* Seek outside help when needed


I just saw this from my aunt's blog and I think it's a great reminder for married couples.
They tend to get so caught up with daily routines that it wears out their marriage unintentionally.

Pointers like these remind them to keep their marriage strong, and why they got married in the first place. Keep the passion going - keep it fresh, in short.

That's why I'm sharing it here :)
Love!

At This Very Moment

At This Very Moment

Ever wondered that every second and every moment has a new dimension to life – our lives? While we enjoy a TV show or relax in our air conditioned home, there are many things that are happening around us that we don’t care to know or don’t want to be part of it, unless of course we become part of this moment ourselves.

While sitting aimlessly on my desktop, I just wondered what could be happening at this time that matters to many, and unknowingly to me too if I really cared. Here are some of my thoughts that wandered and jotted these down to share.

At this very moment:

1. A new baby is born, who would know know why he came into this world and why he would one day go away.
2. Many babies around the world may be standing on their feet for the first time, bringing that heavenly smile on the faces of their parents.
3. Many like me finally putting on their joggers to go out on the jogging track to make an arduous beginning of shedding away pounds of extra flesh we have gained by not doing so earlier. By the way I really put on my joggers today.
4. Someone is thanking a friend for helping him out of his long debt.
5. Someone is taking on his pen for the first time to write his first post, that may one day become a masterpiece of literature.
6. Someone is praying with tears rolling down for the forgiveness of sins he committed all along his life and hurt many a people in the process.
7. A team of doctors is gathered around an operation table to save the life of a person who was run down by a run-away reckless car driver.
8. Young children are smiling, completely oblivious of the dangers haunting the humanity or criminals standing by the next dark corner of the alley.
9. A class-1 student is trying hard to solve a difficult question; the same child that one day may become the president of his country.
10. Many honest people still working hard to safeguard our interests, despite being meagerly paid and have no money to pay for the school fee of their own children or buy a onetime enough meal for their families.
11. Farmers waiting for the rain for the harvest that they sowed.
12. Many volunteers are helping out displaced or calamity hit people without the lust of any reward and award.
13. Many people holding hands in love and beginning a new life for them.
14. Someone just paid more than the bill to a vendor selling cheap snacks to quietly help him out.
15. Many couples around the world celebrating their first, 25^th, 50^th or even 75 wedding anniversaries.
16. Many people are closing their eyes for journey to their final abode, leaving their heirs behind to fight over even as paltry amount as pennies.
17. Someone sincerely forgiving someone who wronged him that harmed him all along his whole life.
18. Someone extending a hand of friendship, while the other retracting his for still not forgiving age old enmity.
19. Someone getting his first ever appointment letter after many rejections and failures.
20. Soldiers marching on into their death knowing full well, only to ensure that others like I sitting here peacefully in my home, writing down these wandering thoughts, continue to live in peace.  
    Posted By : USMAN AWAN

7 Tips to Spice up your Porch

7 Tips to Spice up your Porch Picture/Image

Porches are usually the designated place where house members and guests alike shake off the mud and grime that they’ve gathered from their many urban adventures. And perhaps in the evening, you sit there with a bottle of beer on a rickety old cane chair, surrounding by chipping paint, faded wooden beams and dim lighting. Not a very happy or happening place at all! Well, if you’ve decided it’s about time you did something, use these 7 tips to spice up your porch and raise it from the common to the “oh-my-God-it-looks-gorgeous!”

1. Seating

Why fall back on the ordinary when there’s a host of interesting furniture options that are exclusively designed for patios? And not all of them are “bank-breaking” expensive either. If you find wood to be a bit too chunky, you could bring in wicker, metal, or bamboo furniture. But, no matter what furniture you choose one of the most important tips to spice up your porch is to make sure it’s comfortable, sturdy, and weatherproof. If your patio furniture crumbles under heat and humidity, you aren’t going to enjoy replacing it every other season. In other words, bring in something you won’t have to worry about when a thunderstorm creeps upon you sudden and uninvited.

2. The Flooring

There are two ways to approach the matter of your porch’s flooring. You could go with the original flooring as a base and paint it with deck enamel in a high gloss finish. They look good and they are low maintenance as well. Alternatively, stenciling a pattern on to the wood as you paint it is a great option for those who are slightly more innovative. You could go with the classic white and black pattern or opt for geometric or floral patterns as well.

3. Protect your Porch

Sitting outside can be great fun when the weather’s great. But, what do you do when the sun is beating down mercilessly on the porch and the glare is driving you almost blind? Use this tip to spice up your porch and turn it into an all-weather retreat… put up roll up shades available in canvas, bamboo or cotton. You could also use curtains hung on drapery rods suspended from the porch overhang. These are really easy to install and give you greater control over the amount of sun you want to soak in sitting, not to mention a certain amount of privacy if you wish to get cozy with someone special!

4. Lighting

When it comes to outdoor lighting options you will be quite dazzled by the options available to you in the market. From string lights and Tiki torches to outdoor wall scones and solar powered fixtures that can be mounted on the ground – there are about a hundred different kinds of lighting fixtures beckoning to you from the aisles in supermarkets. The toughest thing, of course, is making up your mind.

5. Hanging Baskets

Baskets thick with the brightest blooms of spring in varying shades of pink, orange, purple, red and blue hanging from the beams of the porch are one of the easiest, cheapest and most hassle-free tips to spice up your porch. You could have flowering plants, non-flowering plants, and trailing plants hanging from plastic or wire baskets. Except make sure that the trailing ones are positioned in the corners so they don’t irritate you constantly as you come and go.

6. Add the Element of Sound

Wind chimes and waterfalls add a whole new quality to your experience of sitting in the porch. The intermittent tinkle of the chimes and the rhythmic gurgle of the waterfall – even the most perfectly organized orchestra couldn’t match the experience of these natural melodies. And with a number of affordable options available to you, budget is the last thing that will keep you away from this heavenly symphony.

7. Accessories

There are several accessories you can use to spice up your porch. In addition to the hanging baskets we discussed previously, you could bring in more plants since it’s one of the most natural decorative items one associates with the outdoors. However, in place of the usual planters, try using some unusual ones, such as watering cans, old leather boots, watering cans, kitchenware, clay pots, and even a small wheelbarrow! In addition, you could strategically place some bird baths and bird feeders around the porch as well.

Don’t allow these 7 tips to spice up your porch to limit your imagination. Use them as guidelines instead – a sort of a platform to launch your own your creativity. Base it on your personal likes and preferences and discuss with don’t forget to take loads of suggestions from your family as well. After all, what’s a porch if it isn’t reflective of your personality and that of your loved ones

How to Choose a Right House?

How to Choose a Right House?

The biggest purchase one makes is buying or building a new house. Purchasing a new house is an exhilarating procedure; you need to choose a functional floor plan that must be relaxed and suitable for your standard of living and other members of your family. Also take into account natural landscape and building lot. One important thing to consider while buying a new house is, whether it will be saleable to upcoming buyers in an incident that you want to advertise the home at some point in your life.

Before you purchase, build, remodel, upgrade or repair a property you must first consult a real estate house inspection organization of real estate inspectors. This organization will send a right home inspector who can inspect the conditions of the house at present. Home inspector will not guarantee you prospect condition, life expectation or effectiveness of the components or system. A practiced eye may catch important flaws that you could ignored.

 Home Buying Parameters
Each and every person has different taste, requirements, wants dreams and hopes for a new house. In the following paragraphs different home buying parameters are listed so that you can easily select right or unique home for yourself:

Locality & Vicinity- Choose the location that suits best with your lifestyle. Urban areas are usually closer to many workers, have more facilities like small distance to institution, hospitals and restaurants but are often noisier, have higher offense rates and are usually more expensive. Some of the suitable cities for homes are Birmingham, Troy, Rochester Hills, Sterling Hts and Bloomfield Hills. In Rural areas houses are usually less expensive, less noisy and are often new. In rural areas you have fewer facilities.
 

How to Choose a Right House?

Type of Home - Choose the right type of home. If you are looking for a home with more privacy and with the opportunity for gardens you can buy a single family house. But single family houses are more expensive then condos. If you are going to buy Condos these will be lees expensive then single family houses, but have less privacy then single family houses.
 
Number of Stories –Single story house will be more suitable for the disable persons because they can easily access wheelchair and one can easily clean his/her house but more of the lot will be captivated by the residence.
A house having more then one stories will be more comfortable as it will separate the noise at the lower level from the upper level. But a house with more then one stories will be expensive as you have to heat up both upper and lower level. 
A house with split levels is often less expensive if its lower level is incomplete and have less storage place.
 
Interior Stipulation – Generally a house having three bedrooms is preferred. You can choose a house with more rooms according to your needs.Your house must have more then one bathrooms. If your house has enough space to add new bath rooms then do not buy a two bath house because it will cost you more then adding a new bath room.

Once you have purchased a right home for you it will keep you relax throughout your life.

Does A Minimalist Lifestyle Breed Laziness?

Does A Minimalist Lifestyle Breed Laziness?

I have been thinking a lot recently about what baggage I am carrying around in my life, physical and mental. The lure of the completely minimalist lifestyle calls out to me and sounds like a nice way to be. No hassle, no worries, just me, myself and I, doesn’t it sound wonderfully fulfilling (and mildly selfish)? I have been growing towards a more minimalist approach to life for a few years now so I am getting there one lighter step at a time.
But minimalism is a big step….
After canceling all your extra expenses, getting rid of all your possessions and pretty much emptying your life of stuff that was consuming time, money or brainpower, what are you actually going to do with all that found time and money and headspace? Why bother doing anything? Hell, why not cut back to minimal/no work too and just spend more time relaxing and doing nothing?
These thought processes enter my head when thinking about minimalism. Sure I want some nice savings, I want to be debt free and I want a few nice things but once I have all that what is the point of working my ass off for no real objective, nothing big to buy or own. No aspirations to fill my life with pointless mental clutter either! That’s the minimalist’s objective , right?

Is minimalism just laziness?

I’m thinking that working hard to be minimal may well lay the foundations for me to become a very lazy person. For this reason total minimalism isn’t really an ideal place for me to end up. I need something to head for, some struggle of some sort to keep me on my toes and to keep my eyes open.
I love the ideals but like most ideals I probably should strive to fall just short of them. As an eternal wannabe minimalist rather than a fully enlightened minimalist I will have the fire to keep me running and moving and stop lethargy from settling in…..  
It’s not the destination, it’s the journey that matters?
So are true minimalists just lazy, quitting on a life that is supposed to be hard? Could it even be considered lazy if you worked so hard to get there?

What is your take in minimalism?