~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Romance on a Budget ala Love, Actually

Click here to read about why I started MHR Fridays!

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Good morning, and happy Friday everybody!!! I hope that you have all had a fantabulous week!

Yesterday, if you were able to make it through my long ramblingness you found a link to Love, Actually! The adorable Cher has created a place to help everyone inject a little "romance on a budget" into their relationships! I LOVE it!!! So today, in addition to our "love ya hunny" shout outs to our hunka-hunkas, we're sharing our creative romance ideas!

The Note
One of my favorite, inexpensive ways, to be romantic is the ever-flexible, always appropriate love note.

I especially enjoy utilizing this tool when Austin is going to be away from home on a business trip, or when our schedules conflict so that we do not get to see each other as much as we normally do.

I know that this does not seem especially creative; however, the creativity comes in in the delivery factor. Sometimes, I make up a packet of little envelopes, one for each day, and sneak them into the top of his suitcase for him to find when he arrives at his destination. Sometimes I am even more diabolical and hide little notes in his pants pockets or in his shoes or in-between his toiletries to be little "I'm thinking of you" surprise reminders throughout his trip.

The reason this factors into the budget is it is always (almost) free! If your house is anything like ours, you have tons of random notebooks and pads of paper and note cards in any given drawer or shelf. And even if you want to make them very decorative and unique, you can buy some pretty paper on the cheap almost anywhere (think Dollar Tree, not necessarily Archivers :D).

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Austin had a super rocking moment last night - in a moment where I was showing off my not-so-rocking side, lol!

We purchased a new snowblower/lawn mower machine (I know that there is a much more technical term for this device, I just cannot think of it at the moment) this winter, so last night, since it is getting nice and the grass is growing, Austin was working outside switching it from the snowblowing functionality to the lawn mower persona. And I was putzing around the kitchen doing some dishes, folding some laundry, you know - girl stuff, lol! (j/k) when I discovered that even though I empty my lint trap out regularly like a good homekeeper, there is still a ton of lint that gets trapped inside the little cagey part of my dryer! Try as I might to get it out of there I could find no device small enough to reach down to the bottom and bring back up with it the offending lint.

My knight in shining armor (actually at that point it was slightly on the dirty side t-shirt - he had been laying on the ground working on the lawn mower) chose that opportune moment to be done working outside and come in to rest for the evening. Me being the always-considerate of his time wifey that I am pounced on him the second he was through the door with "How am I supposed to do this?" (imagine a sightly annoyed - yes - even a little whiny tone). At that point he could have said - "Honey, I'm hot and tired and would rather work on that later." But he didn't. He just got out his little drill, took a couple of screws out of the inside of our dryer and proceeded to vacuum out the inside! Not only did he not put me off, he did the job for me! - Isn't he great! :)

(I wanted really bad to take a pic of him with his head inside the dryer, but I thought he might not appreciate the angle too much :D)

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Be sure to check in with the other ladies who are bragging on their rocking hubbies today by clicking on the "My Husband Rocks Participants" button in the left sidebar.

And if you have not had a change to check out Love, Actually yet, scoot on over there and poke around a bit! :)

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If you're not a blogger, but still want the world to know about your amazing husband (or wife, or husband to be, or wife to be, etc.) leave a shout-out in the form of a comment! If you're unable to comment, e-mail me at katylinvw [at] yahoo [dot] com and I'll add your shout out to this post!

As always, on Fridays From*me Tees will refund your shipping on any order of two or more items if you mention the great adventure and ~my husband rocks! Fridays~ in the "how did you hear about us?" section of your order form, so run on over there and check them out, too! Thank you From*me Tees!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday, and a fantastic weekend!

Multitsking post - there's a lot going on people :)

DISCLAIMER: The following post is a long, rambling, and admittedly rather random piece of blogliture. I decided to post it anyway for the following reason: I always have dozens of ideas of topics that I would love to post about. So much so that I have pages and pages of notebook paper, and lined sticky notes from work of "post ideas" that have not ever made it to the screen. And all of the below topics are things that, if I allow myself to procrastinate, may become casualties of my busy-ness. That is not to say that there is anything particularly profound in any of them, they are just things that I am excited about, or need to get off of my chest. So, in addition to a short MHR Inspiration post, I give you - my stream of conciousness. I would like to apologize in advance if it is tremendously difficult to follow. I will make every effort to prevent it from being so

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5:16 Club
I have really fallen off the wagon - big and bad. I love the concept, I love the ladies who are involved, but I also deeply love the sleeping. Oh, how I love the sleeping!

That said, I have decided to put my best foot forward on this one, and give it another try. It has often been said, or read, that any action repeated over a span of 21 days becomes a habit, so, for the next twenty-one days, I am going to endeavor to rise and shine at 5:16 on the nose.

Any prayers and/or accountability in this area would be greatly appreciated.

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Spring Porch/Landscaping Project
Last night after we finished our delicious supper of leftovers :P, Austin and I were in our usual spots (on the couch) enjoying our usual post-supper activity (watching television), when he suddenly got the urge to go tear up our front porch. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was a project we have been putting off for some time, so I joined him and we spent a fun-filled hour or so tearing up dusty outdoor carpet and rotting plywood that covered up older, more-rotted porch boards!


With a gorgeous weekend on the forecast, we are hoping that this weekend will consist of much more porch deconstruction, followed by the even-more-exciting re-construction, as well as (possibly - if we have time) some long-awaited landscaping!

(I am LOVING the hyphen this morning - really, i very-much am, lol)

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American Idol can dance, what!
Hi, my name is Katy, and I'm an addict.

I am totally in love with this season of American Idol and was happy as a clam with last night's results. When it was over, I said to Austin "I think this is the first season that I have ever totally agreed with the order of all of the vote-offs." So, kudos to you America, way to vote!

And that dance number at the beginning! Wowza! (Was I the only one who got the impression that they were lip-synching? No problem if they were because we all know that they can SANG, but it would take a LOT of breath control to dance like that and sing as well as they did, and I'm pretty sure they pre-recorded, but hey, I've been wrong before)

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Gotta Love This Weather
We have moved into that beautiful part of spring where the sun is out and the grass is growing and the tree are budding and the flowers are blooming! (For this weekend at least, I think it is supposed to rain all week next week, but I'll take what I can get at this point!)

You can tell we've been eskimos for too long, because the office starts clearing out at about 2:30 in the afternoon (except for those of us who are paid hourly, of course) and everyone and his brother has their motorcycle out and shined and is out soaking up the sun as quickly as humanly possible.

Our buddy Michael just purchased his first Harley, so we all engaged in a little post-work ride around the lake in the beautiful sunshine last night. I think I made it home in record time (shortened my 4 minute commute to about 2 and 1/2 - it's great when the lights/stop signs/traffic all align, lol!)

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Summer Supper Suggestions
I am starting to work on my meal plan for the month of May. Yes, I am a crazy person and I (loosely) plan our suppers for every evening of the month.

With that said, I am on the lookout for some quick and simple summery supper suggestions (I just love that alliteration :D). Any ideas would be appreciated - we're going for suppers that do not require the use of an oven, contain yumminess, and do not involve the purchasing of exotic (read "expensive") ingredients. Ready . . . GO! :) - Feel free to comment with your brilliantness, or e-mail me at katylinvw(at)yahoo dot com. If I get a lot of great recipes I will dedicate a post to sharing them with everybody! (Like how I threw in a bribe there?)

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MHR Inspiration #14 = Shout Out!!!!
I have made a new bloggy friend!!! Her name is Cher, and she has this brilliant blog Love, Actually Creative Ideas for Romance on a Budget.

It is absolutely adorable, and you must go and check it out as soon as you are able! Here's a blurb from her profile: "I grew up in Montana. Went to college in Utah. Recently moved to Boston, where my husband attends dental school. What began as an occasional hobby to impress my hubs has turned into an endless ambition to create romance on a budget...because every couple needs a little romance-therapy now and then!"

She has a TON of great ideas, and her site really fits in with the whole motivation behind ~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Fridays! :)

As a prompt for this week:

Include in your MHRF post one of your creative ideas for romance on a budget! We can all use a little romance from time to time, and right now is a great time to be sharing those budget ideas!

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Hope this wasn't too ridiculously random! Have a terrific Thursday!