The First Trial of Marriage Starts Before Your Wedding Day

When you finally meet ‘the one,' life takes on a whole new meaning. Even the gray days become colorful, and you can’t imagine anything could be better. Then, as though to prove you wrong, he gets down on one knee and confirms that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. You spend a day or two on cloud nine, wrapped in his arms and dreaming about the life you’ll share. Then, reality hits. You have a wedding to plan. A WEDDING! Let’s be honest; it’s no easy task. Before you know it, your bubble of romance is gone. You and your man start spending less time together while you scrabble around and make arrangements. When you do get to see each other, you speak about weddings the whole time.

If the above sounds familiar, know that you aren’t alone. The stress of planning a wedding is extreme, and the lead up isn’t romantic at all. It may well be the happiest day ever, but it feels far from it when things are going wrong. The risk, during those planning stages, is that you and your man drift apart. It makes no sense. You’re planning a day to cement your lovel. But, when you’ve both got your heads somewhere else, it’s easy to neglect what matters most. And, make no qualms about it, your love should be the priority. After all, there won’t be a wedding if that love doesn’t survive.

Image from Wikimedia

So, how can you make sure you keep your love alive through the mayhem? As with anything, it’s important to do things together. There’s an age-old belief that the woman should be the primary wedding planner. We are, by nature, the planners. Of course, that’s not true for every relationship. Your man may be the one with a plan. But, the outcome is the same. One of you does all the work, and the other is left out of the loop. Sharing responsibility could be what you both need. It’s a day for both of you, and working on plans together will keep your connection strong. Plus, it will ease the burden. No one person should have to take on that much work. If you’re worried about letting go of the reins, turn to something like these free wedding invitation templates to show your man what to do. But, make sure not to boss him. You’re in this together. What he wants is as important as what you want. Let him have his say, too.

It’s also important to spend time together away from the wedding prep. Chances are, weddings are all you’ve spoken about for too long. Remember that you fell in love with each other when a wedding wasn’t on the cards. There’s more to your relationship than that. Conversation about other things will help you through. Set aside one night a month or so where you ban all talk of weddings. Go out for a meal and enjoy each other’s company the way you used to.

How to Make Underwhelming Gifts A Thing Of The Past!

Do you ever buy gifts and get the feeling that the receiver was a little underwhelmed? Maybe the receiver was super nice about the gift, but you felt underwhelmed giving it to them because you just couldn’t think of the ‘perfect’ gift. Now you can make underwhelming gifts a thing of the past. Use these tips to buy an amazing gift next time you have a special occasion coming up!

Be Really Thoughtful

Ok, this probably goes without saying, but you should be really thoughtful if you want to make underwhelming gifts a thing of the past. Make a list and brainstorm. Make a list of the receivers hobbies and loves, and then branch out from them with gift ideas that they might like. Use the internet to help you. You could find great gift ideas for men and even awesome gift ideas for fitness fanatics. Then of course you’ll need to take your budget into account, and your relationship to the person. That should help you to find a suitable gift that you feel incredible giving!

Give the Gift of Time

The gift of time is hugely underrated, and should be given more! Why not give your time to the person, rather than a physical gift? You could take them out for the day. Maybe you could have lunch and explore some free museums if money is tight. Maybe you could treat them to a day at the spa. There are so many things that you can do that will allow you to give this person your undivided attention. It’ll feel great to the person that they are so important to you.

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Make the Present More of an Event

If you want to make sure the present gets the attention that it deserves, then you should make it more of an event. Let’s say you plan on taking this person somewhere. Instead of just handing them the tickets and yelling ‘surprise!’, you could spell out what you are going to do with different sized letters, cut them out, and then make them put them back together. This can make the event really fun, but remember not to make it too hard. It’s supposed to be a gift, not brain training.

Do a Little Stalking

When it comes to gifts, there’s no harm doing a little stalking. Most people have a wishlist and favorites on different websites, so if you can manage to find them you’ll have a ready made list of what this person wants! You could also look for clues around their home, look at their social media, or if you really need help, ask a close friend or family member.

Do Something Funny

Why not make giving the gift a humorous event? You could hide the real gift inside of an underwhelming gift. For instance, you could hide a kindle inside of a book that you know the receiver would never read in a million years! You could do the same with a gift card to a book shop. This will make the gift more exciting and surprising, and a simple gift will automatically become more magical. You could place a tiny gift inside of a huge box. Use your imagination to think of something funny you could do with this person’s gift.

Make Something Yourself

How about making something yourself? Taking the time to make things yourself is really thoughtful and meaningful. If this person is sentimental, they’ll likely love a handmade gift from you more than any store bought gift! You could make some jewelry, a key ring, a plaque, a piece of art…the list goes on. There’s a tutorial for absolutely everything online. You can make sure that the gift is perfect for them, and personalize it. Don’t forget to put a little mark on it somewhere, like your initials, so that they know you made it!

Give to a Cause That Matters for Them

If you can’t think of anything because this person really does have everything, then why not give to a cause that matters in their name? You can then present them with the information inside of a card. They should be really happy that their special occasion, whether it be a birthday or a retirement, has helped others.

By putting a little extra thought into gifts, you can make them much more exciting. You don’t even necessarily have to buy different gifts; you can just make opening them more exciting. Do you have any tips of your own that you’d like to share? Leave your comments below!

Going Rural Does Come With Challenges

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You’ll find that you have more problems with a home in the country compared to one in the city. That shouldn’t stop you choosing a beautiful rural home, but you do have to be prepared for the issues present. I’ll give you a quick example, power cuts. If you live in the city, there’s every possibility that you have never had to deal with a power cut in your life. In the country, things are a little different. When the winter weather kicks in, winds blow, snow falls, and power poles get turn down. You can be left in the darkness for hours, even days. It’s a nightmare that you don’t want to have to deal with, but luckily there is a solution.

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First, you can buy an emergency gas heater for your home. This is useful for the winter months if the power does go off because it will allow you and your family to stay warm. But, you may also want to think about an emergency battery for your home too. This will ensure that your home stays lit up and you don’t have to go rummaging around for candles. Backup power supplies for the home are quite expensive. So, if you don’t have the money in your budget for this type of feature, make sure you at least have rechargeable lanterns. This will ensure that you at least have a source of light if the power turns off for whatever reason.

Weather Worries

Of course, a blackout isn’t the only issue bad weather can cause in the country. In the city, you are mainly protected from bad weather. This is because there are a lot of buildings around to shield your home from the worst of the wind. In rural areas, homes are more spread out. On the bright side, this gives families a lot more space to enjoy. But it also means that wind and rain can do more damage to the home. For instance, you might find that the wind actually does quite a lot of damage to your roof. Luckily, there are companies like Mr. Roof. With a business like this, you can guarantee that damage to your roof isn’t a lasting effect that you have to deal with. Instead, you can get it fixed up in no time.

There are changes you can make to your roof as well that are going to be useful. For instance, you can get shutter gutters. Shutter gutters are exactly as they sound. These gutters have plastic covers with gaps in between them. That means that you can still drain the water from the roof without the gutters getting clogged with leaves and anything else that is blowing around.

Bugs And Beasties

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We’re not going to mention the scary report of how far you are from a spider at any given moment, but there is definitely a lot more bugs and beasties in your home if you live in the country. You’ll see them creeping in, hanging from ceilings and running across the floor. If you’re not used to it, you might even think that you have an infestation and yes, the bugs can be bigger. But you just have to remember to use little tricks like anti-bug spray around cracks and crevices where they can get in. And, do make sure that you keep your home as clean as possible. If you have kids, it’s best to avoid letting them eat in their rooms. If they do this, there’s a good chance they are going to drop crumbs everywhere. This will attract interest from little bugs and miscreants.

As much as you might hate spiders, there’s good news if you see a lot hanging around your home. The eight-legged creepy crawlies only set up home in clean properties and will keep your house clear from pesky bugs like gnats.

Colder Out Here

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Yes, it can definitely be colder in the country. Again, it’s due to not having as many building in a smaller space. But, this just means you need to protect your home and your car. If you do feel the temperature starting to drop, put the car in the garage. Do that, and you can make sure that ice or frost doesn’t damage the vehicle. Or, worse, that it doesn’t start when you need to get the kids to school in the morning.

As you can see then, living in the country is definitely going to be different from what you might be used to. But there’s a solution to every problem that you could encounter, and there are plenty of benefits to having a little more space out in the open.

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There are Big Benefits of an Online Degree

Avid readers of my blog will know that I’m a big fan of the homeschool model. I think it presents a number of advantages that simply aren’t present in the typical education system. For instance, by homeschooling a child you can focus on their needs instead of them being neglected in favor of another child with greater issues. But what you may not realize is there are also benefits of home studies at a later stage in life. You can earn your degree online and, if you do this, you’ll gain a few key benefits.

Smaller Classes
Online classes often have a smaller number of students. This means that lecturers and professors have more time to focus on individual students and keep them on the right track. As such, you can get a more rounded education because you are receiving a greater level of attention.

Study Your Way 
Studying online, it’s possible to choose how and when you learn. You’ll still need to put in a set number of hours into your studies. But you’ll find it easier because you won’t have to be in a certain place. Instead, you can work from the comfort of your home without any trouble or issue. Naturally, this is also going to make your education a lot cheaper and easier to manage financially.

No Limitations 
Finally, you might think that by studying online, your higher education will be limited somehow. However, that’s not the case at all. In actual fact, those who study at home can gain the same level of degree as someone attending a prestigious college. You can have a look at an example of this in the following infographic.
 
Infographic by Case Western Reserve University Online Social Work Degree

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