Try these simple tips next time your man decides to take on a project in the yard.

• Hydrate him: If your man is anything like mine, he will get an idea to do something, and work ALL day at it. He probably won’t think to eat until he’s so hungry that he could pass out and drinking is the last thing on his mind. That is where you come in, by bringing him water. This might seem trivial, but if you want your man functioning the following day or even that evening, you make sure he stays hydrated.
• Feed him: Start thinking about what he would like far before even you are hungry, keep in mind that if he is working physically hard and you are not, he will probably be needing the calories before you even feel hungry. Also try to think of the way he responds to different foods when you are planning his meal. You want him to feel energized and ready to get back to work rather than relaxed and ready to take a nap. Give him notice that you will have lunch ready about 5-10 minutes before so he can start thinking about food and then when the food is ready, he will be too.
• Do not nag: The last thing he will ever want is to feel like you are being a mother to a child rather than a wife to a husband. Men don’t like it when you try to take care of them all the time.  When you come out with your glass of ice water and he says “no thanks”, set the glass down close enough that when he does get thirsty he can easily reach for it instead of ignoring the thirst and carrying on. This way, you are being there for him without nagging him.
• Be willing to be the GoFer: If you have never heard this term before and are planning a working date with your man, be prepared to giggle. He will probably ask you to ‘gofer’ this and ‘gofer that. As well as he tries to plan, he will be working along and run into an obstacle that he just didn’t anticipate. It would be very helpful if you jump and ‘gofer’ what ever he asks, even if it means going to the store for the tenth time that day.
• Be encouraging: Timing is everything. If your man is lifting something extremely heavy or in the middle of something that’s taking a lot of focus and you’re standing on the side lines calling at him “that’s my man, good job honey, keep up the good work…” He isn’t going to take this as positive re enforcement, he is going to be irritated that firstly you’re not helping, and also you’re are being distracting. However, once the job is done, “Wow honey that looks wonderful, you did such a good job.”  He is going to feel very proud of what he did as well as grateful that you noticed all the hard work he put into it.

Men really just want you to be there for them, when you are supportive and encouraging it shows them that you really trust and respect them. These principles not only apply to working in the yard with him, but in all things.

A woman likes to feel cherished, like there is no one else in the world more important to you than her. And she loves when you treat her exactly how she wants to be treated…The problem with this is, even if you directly asked her, she won’t always know what she really needs from you.

Here are a few ideas to help you make her feel loved and adored…

1. Send flowers to the workplace: Flowers are wonderful, but when she receives them at work in front of all the co-workers it’s a bit of a proud moment. What you are really saying is, “I love you so much and want everyone to know!” And do it randomly, so she isn’t expecting it.
2. Kiss her like you mean it: Surprise her every once in a while. When she come in for a good bye kiss on her way to work, pull her in for a real passionate one. The surprise will not only be wonderful, but she will be thinking about it and you all day. She will be wondering what she did to deserve such a wonderful response from you and maybe surprise you herself!
3. Do the laundry: Break up the monotony of her daily routine. When she comes home and sees that you took a little of your time to do something that is usually expected of her, it will warm her heart.
4. Keep your eyes on her: There are a lot of beautiful women out there, and yours should understand that its normal to notice beauty. The key is to notice, not to look and definitely not to stare. Don’t compare her to any other woman and definitely voice your comparisons! Women not only want to feel cherished but also like she is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.
5. Show her chivalry is not dead: Opening car doors, or pulling out chairs are  little ways to let her know you  are thinking about her. If she is taken back at first don’t worry, women like when you think of them(even if they put up a proud front.)

For more tips on not only showing love to your women but also understanding how she thinks, a great book to read is ‘For Men Only”  by Shaunti Feldhahn.

5. Get a savings account

This may seem basic but some people live out of their checking account. So step one is get a savings account. This will actually earn interest (although not much) but every little bit helps.

4. Start a change bowl

Yes, you heard me correctly. Every time you buy something never spend your change, instead always come home and put it in a bowl. Then once it is full go deposit it into your savings account.

3. Use coupons

This goes way beyond clipping things out of newspapers and magazines. It includes…

1. grocery store cards (they all have then now) that offer discounts
2. matinee movies
3. find restaurants that offer specials and visit them on those nights. (Many places in our area offer 1/2 price drinks or buy one meal get a second meal free on certain nights.)
4. buying items on sale

2. Exercise will power

When the urge to spend comes … don’t. Could you skip the Starbucks today? Do you really need that shirt or DVD? Simply using will power can be one of the hugest ways to save.

1. Budget and Plan

If you dont know what you spend or how much you should be spending it is near impossible to know where your money is going and where it could be saved. You dont have to do this every month but take a look at your bank statements for one month and seperate things out to see how much you spend in certain areas. If you never relized you were spending $1000 a month on eating out and food you would never have a reason to change your habbits. Start out light and set a flexible budget on your spending. Then re check your spending after another month and see how you have changed your spending. Budget, track, adjust. Pretty simple.

So how much could these little steps actually end up  saving you??

Lets use a few quick examples to see. Per month for an average family of two:

$7.50 … Change bowl: Lets say you make 15 purchases per month using cash and each time you get 50 cents on average worth of change.

$65.00 … Use Coupons: using all of the examples above could save you even more than this depending on your current spending but this number is being safe.

$70.00 … Exercise will power: Again this number could vary a bit if you skipped eating out a couple times and didnt buy that “thing” you had to have it adds up.

$200.00 … Budget and Plan: I could have gone even higher on this one but am playing it safe. Knowing where you spend money is the most important item to knowing where you can afford to  save.

$342.50 TOTAL PER MONTH.

$4110.00 TOTAL PER YEAR.

Even if your numbers are less than these on a per month basis multiply any savings over time and it will add up.

The best rule of thumb when picking the shape of glasses for your face is to try to stick with opposites. For example, if you have a round face, pick a square or rectangular shaped frame. If you have a square jaw, try to stick with something softer, like an oval.

As far as color goes, keep your personal style in mind. If you are a black suite type of person stay a little more conservative, classics like silver, gold or black  will fit you fine. However if you like to express yourself then go nuts! Again your face is the fist place people are going to look, and you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. Some fun colors that aren’t too over the top are reds and purples. After all, in the optical world, purple is the new black. Otherwise, for a look that is a little trendier, do a plastic frame in white or clear. It sounds a little extreme at first but go ahead and try a pair on, match those colors with the right shape and thickness you will be surprised the amount of compliments you will get!

The final question to ask yourself when picking out a new frame is if you want to be wearing the glasses or if you want the glasses to be wearing you. There are so many options out there now… full frames, half frames, no frames on front. There are choices between different types of plastics and metals and each frame will give you a different look.

But most importantly, if you put frame on your face and when looking in the mirror whisper to yourself “Dang I look awesome.” GET THEM! Confidence is the most beautiful thing!!

Yes all of the above are viable sources to run our vehicles. Below you will find a breakdown of each and how these options could effect our future driving habits.

Hybrid Cars

Specifically A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. We normally see this is the form of Gas and electric but technically it could be other sources as well. The average fuel economy of these vehicles is around 35 - 55 MPG. You can find some hybrid trucks that get even less and some super driving Prius and Civic owners who by changing their driving style can get upwards of 90 - 100 MPG.

Hybrids still suffer form a dependancy on Gas to operate. Even the plug in Hybrids like the Chevy Volt that turn their wheels entirely off electricity rely on a gas burning engine to provide some of that electricity.

Popular Hybrids Vehicles:

• Toyota Prius
• Honda Civic Hybrid
• Ford Fusion Hybrid
• Ford Escape Hybrid

Electric Cars

This type of vehicle is exactly how it sounds. It runs electric motors off of batteries. The battery type varies a bit but all in all the concept is the same. While you would think these are “clean” vehicles it really depends how the electricity was generated to charge the batteries. Most electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels so although you do not see this directly the burning of fuel may still be a factor here. As more and more of our electricity production comes from Wind and Solar and other renewable and less polluting sources these cars are poised to offer no harmful emissions for daily driving. However there is still the matter of the batteries which will need periodical replacement so the question is how harmful are the batteries to the environment and what could the potential of hundreds of thousands of these in landfills ultimately cause?

Popular Electric Vehicles:

• Tesla Roadster
• Tesla Model S
• Aptera

Bio Fuel Cars

From Vegetable Oil to Ethanol produced by algae this category spans a wide range of fuel types. Many fuels in this category offer great MPG’s as well as no sacrifice in power. There are several debates going on over how viable of an alternative bio fuels may be in the future. Many of these fuel types are produced directly from food sources or more recently from non-editable food crops such as corn stalks, wheat stalks, and even wood. An issue here is still what portion of our food producing land to devote to growing these resources. Carbon emmissions, the impact on land and water resources are also active topics in teh bio fuel debate.

Hydrogen Cars

Imagine driving your car and the only thing coming out of your tailpipe is water.. In theory this sounds great but the road to making this a viable fuel for the masses has quite a few speed bumps. From production of the hydrogen to storage to temperature to safety, several hurdles await. Electricity is needed to produce the hydrogen so you are still bound to our current standard burning of coal and other fossil fuel methods to produce the electricity. With electric cars gaining ground even Ford and Nissan have canceled their hydrogen car efforts.

Air Cars

I wanted to save this one for last just because it seems very cool. The concept here is to compress Air and use that to turn a crank in an engine. The main company in this genera is MDI (Motor Development International) www.mdi.lu/english/ The designs are a bit lacking in my opinion but I love the concept. No flammable contents, no emissions, no toxic batteries, and it does get decent range and speed. There is still  the matter that it takes electricity to compress the air so depending on what source you use to get electricity you may still have some harmful effects to the environment, but this option feels like it generates the least amount of pollutants over all.

We seem to think that the way to a mans heart is sex or food, but that simply isn’t the truth. I am here to tell you that all men want from us is our respect.

1. Respect him behind his back… Come on ladies, we all do it. We have this tendency to get together with our girlfriends and instead of building our husbands/boyfriends/significant others up, we talk about how he is doing everything wrong…And whether we think so or not, when we come home, we have an attitude that screams that we disrespect him.
2. Trust that he has the best for you… In all situations, but for example…You had a bad day and want to come home, be able to vent and just have him listen. When he comes back telling you how he thinks you could have handled the ‘Jack’ situation better, instead of getting frustrated or defensive, realize that all he wants is for you not to have this kind of problem again. Men are fix it kind of people, and if he loves you (which he does) he is helping in his own way.
3. Encourage what he does well… We seem to think that men have these big egos and need to be taken down a notch a time or two, but this just isn’t the truth. Men (in general) are more insecure than we are…We think we are being helpful when we tell him he isn’t doing something right, but how would we feel if he said maybe we should think before we eat that cookie…Same thing different perspective.
4. Quit the nagging… Did you ever think that maybe your man has something else on him mind? He is thinking of the 1000 other things that need to be done and repainting the kitchen just isn’t on his priority list. He knows you asked him to do it a week ago, its just not that important to him. When we nag him, he feels like we just don’t trust him.
5. Remember that men and women feel loved differently… Don’t think that because you hugged him this morning and told him he was the most important person in the world to you that he feels loved if in the same breath you are nagging him to take out the trash as well as getting mad at him for saying the wrong thing.

When we try to love our men the way they need to be loved, we will find our relationships will begin to improve because they will start to respond to us differently.

If you would like to read more about respecting your man, a great book to get is “For Women Only” by Shaunti Feldhahn.

Making your own cleaners are an easy and cost efficient way to look out for our planet.

Here are a few to try:

All Purpose Cleaner:

• 1/2 Water
• 1/2 Vinegar
• Squeeze 1/2 to 1 Lemon into mixture to keep it smelling nice

Microwave Cleaner:

• 2 TBSP Baking Soda
• 1 Cup Water
• Boil the mixture in your microwave, the steam and baking soda will break down the build up
• Lastly, wipe away the gunk

Refresh your Carpets:

• Sprinkle baking soda on dry carpet
• Let sit 5-10 min.
• vacuum up the baking soda and it will take the stink with it

You will find that making your own cleaners is actually quite easy. You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen, so try one and see how you like it. Soon enough you could be making all your own cleaners.

There are also a few websites out there with some good tips as well as more at home recipes for a cleaner home.

1. www.ehow.com/how_2104552_make-doityourself-cleaners.html
2. www.sideroad.com/Budgeting/homemade-cleaners.html
3. www.ecollo.com/post/2008/10/DIY-Easy-cleaning-products-to-make-at-home.aspx