19. Read one parent/self-help book a month for a year. (4/12)

#4 - JULY 2009 - Parenting by THE BOOK by John Rosemond

I had read some great reviews on Rosemond and was very interested in reading this book which is his most popular and most controversial book. I learned so much about the history of child rearing and how up coming generations of children are heading for disaster. One doesn't have to look far to see that children of today are out of control. Just take a trip to the grocery store or the mall! At the end of the book he writes that he's "concerned about the future of America. Functional child rearing strengthens culture, and dysfunctional child rearing weakens it." He drives home the conclusion that part of the problem is the way parents manage their children, not that their children were born to be forever wild. It all starts at home. I really enjoyed this book and got TONS of helpful tips that I know I may need to implement in the future. I especially loved in every chapter his reference to how "grandma use to do things".

"If you depart from God's plan in any area of your life, you will experience more (and more serious) problems than you would have encountered otherwise. America has departed from God's blueprint for child rearing. My intent is to help parents understand and properly align themselves with God's blueprint for child rearing." He clearly reminds the reader that God makes nothing complicated which was such a fresh reminder to everyday life.

35. Don't eat snacks past 9 PM for one month.

I started this on Sunday, July 19, 2009 and ended on Monday, August, 17, 2009.

This task opened my eyes to how much I snack after 9 PM. Once I would get Avie down for bed, I found all this extra time to realize I wanted a snack. This certainly got me on track to watching what I eat. It was hard a few times to stay on track because during that month, I took two one week trips to visit family and friends. I am proud to say that I resisted the urge to snack when everyone else was but it was not easy. *patting myself on the back* Now that this task is over with, I have disciplined myself to really re-think ALL snacking once Avie has gone to bed at 8 PM.

My husband told me many years ago that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I did some research and found out that he really wasn't just making it up. Dr Maxwell Maltz wrote the bestseller Psycho-Cybernetics. Originally a Plastic Surgeon, Maltz noticed that it took 21 days for amputees to cease feeling phantom sensations in the amputated limb. From further observations he found it took 21 days to create a new habit.” Since then the ‘21Day Habit Theory’ has become an accepted part of self-help programs.

*UPDATE* 82. Take her other clothes and put them in the yearly Mom2Mom sale at the Pensacola Fairgrounds.

After doing a lot of purging and cleaning in preparation for our subdivisions annual yard sale, I realized that there are WAY too many plastic tubs in our attic that are full of Avie's clothes that she has out grown. I'm starting to weed through all the tubs, keeping all the designer and really nice outfits so when we do get pregnant again and if it's a girl, I will still have clothes to use. But the out grown clothes situation was getting out of hand. The yearly Mom 2 Mom sale is coming in town this September and I wanted to start selling some of the clothes now to make room in our attic for things that really need to be up there. I registered today online to become a consignor for this upcoming sale so it's a done deal. Now I need to get busy and get these clothes tagged and put on hangers. I have less than 30 days to go!!

UPDATE: It was a successful first time being a consignor. I had a total of 55 pieces and sold 30. After the $10 consignor fee and giving 30% of my makings, Avie walked away with almost $86. Not bad for only 2 hours worth of work!