Another completely cliche challenge. I mean, Spring cleaning for the first month of Spring?

I know I’m not re-inventing the wheel or anything, but can most of you deny that this is something you need in your lives?

Behold, the corner of crap.

I hate this corner in our office, and I’m ready to have all this stuff we aren’t using out of the house so I can create myself a pretty little desk area and start using my sewing machine. By the end of March, I vow to have this corner completely empty. Who’s with me?

The criteria for this month:

1. You must give away at least one item to Goodwill or a similar salvation-army type store.

2. Take a before and after picture (please do this one, it’s fun for us all to see before and after shots, and it will encourage you to be more dramatic with your changes).

To sign up all you have to do is comment below. Remember, you have to sign up for each challenge separately by commenting on the appropriate post. I will add you to a weekly reminder email list, unless you specificy otherwise in your comment. The last week of the month I ask that you email me your photos (and maybe a description) to share with everyone else.

The Lifestyle challenge for February was to think of three things and do them for someone you love. Since my three things were for That Husband, I’m not going to tell you what they are (annoying I know). I don’t want to list them here because I worry that when he reads them he will wonder if I did those things because of the blog, because I wanted to impress all of you or something, not because I really want to make changes and serve him more. One of them has even become a little bit of a habit now. And I didn’t even have to do it 21 times!

But I did my three things. Mrs. H-B, Kate, and Jenny all finished the challenge.

Visit Bean’s blog to read about what she did!

Brandy has me thinking that maybe breakfast in bed would be a good idea for a Saturday morning treat for my hard working husband.

Breakfast in bed.  Done!  Stuffed french toast with strawberries and fresh orange juice on Valentine’s Day.  I will do it again tomorrow morning.  He really loves this- the way to his heart is through his stomach!

For me to stop nagging him as soon as I get home from work.  I have the bad habit of nagging about the messiness of the house as soon as I come home from work.  It is the first word out of my mouth.  Why is your stuff every where?  Didn’t you promise to empty the dishwasher?  I stopped, even though it nearly killed me.  And turns out, I don’t even have to say anything anymore, he’s made a big effort to put his stuff away.  Without me saying a word.

I quit drinking soda to support him in his efforts to quit.  Soda is his addiction while, I have one every other day or so.  But, I quit and kept it out of the house so it would be easier for him to quit.

I love that Rachel focused on the things that her boy had been asking her to do, or things that she knew would really mean a lot to him.

I vowed to listen to actually listen to M asking me to be less stressed and drink more water and have done both. I have also tidied up things without him asking and have tried to be less selfish in relation to the dinners and tastings he has to attend for his job (which are often in the evenings and free and make me irritated). I think I have made an improvement!

I was really touched by the three things one reader chose to do (I’m not going to reveal her name because I think her words are rather personal). These are the things I hope to make happen with some of these challenges. She didn’t do all of them for one person, but I don’t think it really matters, as long as you are doing something for someone.

One of the things we planned to do together is to take time with his older sister who is struggling with alcoholism. We took our week-end to go visit her while she was in the area and made sure we had time just with her to talk. Tell her how much we love her, that we believe she can do it, and that we are there. We want to be there to be supportive and help her out.
The results are only partially positive, well it’s not like she’s going to stop like that, but she started calling my husband more often after that and I know he feels better about her maintaining communication. Like we told her, we’d rather know she’s not ok than not hear from her.

The second thing was to let his younger brother stay at our place more than once. I have at this time no trust in him, no respect and he knows he’ll have to regain this from me after what he has done in the past. He owes us an his family money but I did my best to let it go and let him stay at our place while he was looking for a job. And trust me it has not been easy and I will be happy when he finally moves in his rental. I don’t pray often, but I had to pray for God to give me strength to stand him being there without blowing up. I’ve talked to him like a mother does to their children trying to educate him and give him better values. I’ve done that not for him, but for my husband and his family who have to deal with it too.

And to finish I got my hair cut last month, and I’m sending my cut hair to Locks of Love. I’m so excited that I can give something to a charity that is so much about love and supporting children.

15 of us completed the challenge to make an appointment/visit some kind of health professional in the month of January!

I had 6 visits with the massage therapist/chiropractor with little results. I’ve been suffering from hip/leg pain for several months now, the leg pain is relatively new, but the hip pain has been around for over a year. I have a hard time sitting, standing, and sometimes laying down because I get this aching/pinched feeling in my hip, and shortly after pain and numbness shoot down my leg and wrap around my foot. It’s quite sad.

After the failed chiropracty appoints I’m feeling bummed because a visit with an Orthopedic surgeon led to a reccomendation of 4-6 weeks of physical therapy. I hate phsyical therapy. But I’ve been in pain for about 16 months now, and extending this challenge finally got me to point where I picked up the phone and made an appointment. So that is an accomplishment itself!

Jenny went to the acupuncturist, and sent me a lovely description of the event, but unfortunately I get sick whenever needles are mentioend and I can’t bear to post it here because it made me feel a little naseous. I’m such a baby!

Jayme went to the Dr. Go Jayme!

Meghan is getting married, and so she went for her “marriage prep” visit with the girly doctor. And she is going to the dentist. And she is going to Prague for her honeymoon. I’m feeling a little jealous. She also saw a nutritionist/chiropractor and was given this chart, a chart that looks suspiciously similar to the way I sit. Not good.

Cousin Jeannie went in for her first ever chiropractic appointment, and reports her visit was much more succesful than mine.

Kate blogged about her experience visiting Planned Parenthood for a girly doctor visit.

Rachel is from the UK and so she didn’t just see a Dr, she say a “consultant”. I’m going to start using that word now I think.

GaTiger was having stomach problems, and reports that after seeing the Dr. and getting some medication, she not only lost 5 lbs, but can eat at Chick-Fil-A again. Those are two things I would also be very happy about.

Julia hasn’t been to the eye doctor in 4 years! Actually I don’t think I’ve been for that long either, so I’m not criticizing. I was supposed to go last year but I didn’t, and now I think I have to wait until my contacts run out again.

My cousin Tasha hasn’t been to the dentist in 5 years (don’t let my mom hear that Tash!), but she is going to go now because of this challenge. That makes me feel so happy.

Kelli not only got an appointment, she had to apply for insurance to do it. Bad bad Kelli for living without insurance, but all is forgiven now!

Megan made me laugh with her reply “Got a tetanus booster, had some blood work done and even got a heart echo done. I wanted them to give me printed pictures. Other girls get pictures of their uterus, how come I can’t keep one of my heart?”

Kelly scheuled not one, but TWO appointments.

Tara gets an honorable mention because she is pregnant, and pregnant ladies endure Dr. appointments all the time!

Bean doesn’t think she completed the challenge, but I say taking care of mental health is just as important as visiting the gynecologist or the dentist.

It’s fun to think I had a tiny part in making this happen, and knowing that I was participating with so many of you helped me find the motivation to get this taken care of.

February Lifestyle Challenge is posted if you would like to sign up for another!

Due to a few helpful suggestions, I’ve decided to rename the health challenge to the “Lifestyle” challenge. This shift in focus will allow us to do so much more to improve our life than focus on just our health!

You know why I like Valentines day? Because it’s an out of the ordinary event that lets you take some time to think about who you love and why you love them. Did your mom ever send you ballons at school for valentines day? That was love. Thanks mom!

Now I’m grown up, so it’s time to start thinking about how I can show my love to others on V-day.

The criteria for this month:

1. Think of someone who plays a significant role in your life.
2. Think of 3 things that you know they would appreciate you doing for them. For example, a few posts ago I mentioned that my husband leaves his pajamas on the floor every day when he leaves for work in the morning. He read that, and now he doesn’t do it anymore. That is love.
3. Write down the three things. And do them. Do them for a day, do them for a week, do them for the whole month. I don’t care, just do them.

Did you write your things down yet? No? Get going!

To sign up all you have to do is comment below. Remember, you have to sign up for each challenge separately by commenting on the appropriate post. I will add you to a weekly reminder email list, unless you specificy otherwise in your comment. The last week of the month I ask that you email me your photos (and maybe a description) to share with everyone else.

You’re feeling all warm and gushy inside already, aren’t you?

It’s simple. For this challenge, I urge you to go to the Dr. Get your eyes checked (haven’t done that in 2-3 years), get your teeth cleaned (I think I did that sometime last year), get a physical (are you supposed to do those on a regular basis?), visit a lady doctor (no one wants cervical cancer ladies!), or check up on that ailment that has been plaguing you for months that you keep writing off. I would probably even count a visit to an esthetician  for a facial or a masseuse for a massage, since the goal this month is really about making your body function better in some way.

I will be going to the Dr. to get my hip checked out. Probably a chiropractor because visiting an MD didn’t yield any results previously. I’ve been having hip problems for over a year now, and it’s time for me to stop complaining about it. I’d like to be able to get out of bed in the mornings without doubling over in pain.

To sign up all you have to do is comment below. Remember, you have to sign up for each challenge separately by commenting on the appropriate post. I will add you to a weekly reminder email list, unless you specificy otherwise in your comment. The last week of the month I ask that you email me your photos (and maybe a description) to share with everyone else.

Hopefully this helps some of you other procastinators get things in order (like you, friend Megan).