Reading Tai-Bo

This week I read more Sherlock Holmes. And I have finally gotten to the story where Sir Arther Conan Doyle tries to kill him off because he was growing tired of writing about him. You get to meet Holmes’ nemesis Professor Moriarty and everything. But don’t worry, the public wouldn’t stand for it and canceled all of their magazine subscriptions and put up a big fuss and so after a few stubborn years of ignoring them, the harried Sir Doyle cowboyed-up and wrote some more stories about Mr. Holmes. Yeah!

And now to the Non-fiction side of things. I only read non-fiction outside when my boys are playing in the rock pile, riding bikes on the sports court, stomping in the creek, making forts in the bushes…or in the bathroom, as it takes so long to power up my Nook for a short read. And so it takes me awhile to get through a non-fiction book. But I do read several of them a year. Yesterday, I just finished reading “The Marriage Project” by Kathi Lipp. The subtitle is: 21 days to more love and laughter.

I recommend skipping right to page 81 where she begins the actual projects. The 80 pages before this contain a good deal of explaining. There is an author intro and an author’s husband intro and an author’s pastor intro and a how-to chapter and a chapter explaining why and a contract to sign with your spouse and a prep work chapter and a chapter about getting accountability and some more explaining and then a very encouraging chapter from this poor frazzled lady who said: …sort of…that there was no torture this side of Hell that was going to make her Dear Hubby sign some kind of contract and work on their marriage together with another couple for 3 weeks. Then the marvelous advice came out: Do what you can.

And that is what I am going to do. If you enjoy explaining then by all means read the first 80 pages. Otherwise skip right to page 81 and get to the good stuff.

Now The Hunky Hubby is just entering summer camp season. What does this mean for marriage projects and books about those projects? What it means is that from Father’s Day (June 20th) until August 22 he will not have a single day off as far as I can see glancing at his calender. This means that yes he will be working over our 10th Anniversary on August 5th (don’t fret we will celebrate once camp is over) and yes most of those 55 or so straight days of work will start at 7:00am and end around 2:00am. So my very first gift to the hunky hubby will be not making him read anything much less sign a contract.

But this book has lots of Awesome ideas for aiding your marriage in those real live little ways that actually make a difference. Each day has one little thing for you to do. Nothing too difficult, just something that will show your spouse that you are thinking of them. Well, there are dates and things too, but I won’t be doing those. Maybe we will do them in the fall. But every project that I can do on my own to give us a boost over the summer, I will be doing. It is a book full of great ideas and as long as you skip right to those (p. 81) it will be a fun read with loads of practical things to do for your mate to make life together just a little bit better.

Check out the book and the author Kathi Lipp.

Oh, and the cover is really cute too. It shows a wife giving her Hubby a golf club and a husband giving her flowers. This prompted a discussion amongst my boys about what gifts the hunky hubby and I usually give each other: dark chocolate, books on your Nook Momma, super hero movies, board games, flowers, cinnamon rolls. And of course the conversation flowed nicely into the various items that the boys would like to receive themselves. Good times.