This is a carnival way past due. This carnival which was meant to be posted at the start of June, has rather been posted at the start of July, and the July episode will follow not far behind, hopefully going live by the end of the week. This blog has been dormant for about a month, for reasons I'll go over in a post in the near future.

Over the next few weeks I hope to get the blog going at full strength again, but at first expect some random posts posted when I'm available, and as we get back into the swing of things, posts should start coming at regular intervals once or twice a week again.

Without further ado, here are some of the best article's submitted for the June Carnival of Guy Stuff!

Blogging

Axel presents Amazing Blogging Skills posted at axel g.

Body

Dan presents Anxiety and Sleep Disorders posted at Battle Anxiety.

Colin Timberlake presents Training Log: The Anvil of Crom - Day 25 posted at colintimberlake.com.

Mikkal Travvis presents How To Survive A Flu Pandemic posted at Bird Flu Pandemic.

Josh Hanagarne presents 10 Essential Strength Books: Part 5 - The Art Of Expressing The Human Body posted at World's Strongest Librarian.

Fit Jerk presents Build Self Confidence In Mere Weeks! The Newbie Self Conscious Drill posted at FlawlessFitness.

Happiness

Victoria presents The Sex Is Bad: Should You Still Get Married? posted at Get Married.

Weddings Affordable presents How To Stay Calm and Plan a Great Wedding posted at Wedding Ideas.

Masculinity

Gin G. presents Barbecue Syndrome posted at sense scribe.

Chris presents Inside Deadliest Warrior’s Combat Simulator posted at Martial Development.

Glowing Face Man presents My Time in Air Force Boot Camp: Zero Week posted at Glowing Face Man: Awaken the Badass Within.

Money

Ben presents Auto Insurance for College Graduates posted at Money Smart Life.

Diego Cervantes presents The Amero Currency: Myths, Facts and 25 Great Resources for Further Research posted at Bankling.

Power

Mikkal Travvis presents American Christians Approve Of Torture? posted at The Last Days.

Jim DeSantis presents How To Stop Road Rage. What I Learned In Driver Friendly Texas! posted at On Line Tribune.

Relationships

Aidil TipsGoda presents How to Create Interesting Conversation Using the Guessing Technique posted at TipsGoda Dot Com-Tips On Dating and Relationship.

Inthon Blog presents The Little Chap Who Follows Me - John Wooden posted at Inthon

Chris presents For Guy Virgins: Basic Things No One Told Me About Sex posted at Dating Groundwork.

michelle crowther presents Relationship Help posted at Relationship Advice.

__________________________________________

In future editions I hope to start having commentary on every submission, but for the moment suffice to say that I've read over the submissions, and approve. Not a bad way to start a blog carnival, though I do wish it could have been on time...

For the moment this is a living article. It will be polished and updated, so all content is subject to change. This notice will be removed upon the completion of the modifications.

I've agreed to host one of this month's Carnival's of Homesteading! This is my first go at hosting a carnival, so if I missed anything feel free to let me know.

The Carnival of Homesteading is a collection of some of the better articles to help you out around the house. From balancing the budget to dealing with spiders, if you live in a house you're really likely to find something that will help you out.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finances

Finances is a section devoted to helping balance your budget and keep you in the black.

To start us off, Jacques Groenewald presents Millionaire Mindset- How to think like a millionare and Make Easy Money On Ebay posted at Monkeyprofit. The first article explains how to think like a millionaire, including outlining five steps to get you on the path towards being a millionaire. Her second article is about making money on ebay, which she asserpts is easy and can be accomplished in seven steps.

Next up, the Silicon Valley Blogger presents Best High Interest Savings Accounts In Online Banking posted at The Digerati Life. In this article we learn how to look for a good savings account, including seven things to look for in a bank account, and a list of some of the better online bank accounts and their interest and minimum balances.

After that, The Smarter Wallet presents Microsoft Money Software Review: A Look At Money Essentials posted at The Smarter Wallet. This is a look at the program "Microsoft Money," which will keep track of any money you still have after Microsoft uses this program to drain your bank account. The end result of the article: Even the reviewer doesn't want to use it.

Miscellaneous

In the section with no real topic, Aparna presents Your hair can get sunburnt too posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming. In this article, Aparna points out the importance of protecting your hair from the sun. You put sun block on your skin, but your hair can get a sun burn too, even if you don't feel it. If you want your hair to look it's best, protect it with her handy guide.

Pest Control

Part of what makes your house a home is the ability to decide who and what gets inside. Lots of little uninvited creatures make their way into your house when you're not looking though, and they can cause some real trouble if you don't keep your guard up and keep them at bay.

Alex presents Ant Killing Spray posted at Home Life Weekly. In this article Alex outlines how to create a cheap, effective, and nontoxic (green) ant killing spray. A helpful tip, as while the article may be about ant killing spray, the spray could actually take care of most little pests that might slip into your house.

Next, Chris Lang presents Dealing with unwelcome guests in your house (part 1) posted at Home I Own. Chris talks in this article about how to deal with spiders invading your home. Good for anyone who isn't fond of spiders, myself included.

Recipes

Now for the section most appealing to people with sweet tooths and big appetites. In this section people share their recipes for some of their favorite foods.

The first person to share a food with us is Heather Levin presenting My Frugal Breakfast: Crockpot Steel-Cut Oats at The Greenest Dollar. This looks more healthy than it does appetizing, but it does describe a good way to feed yourself healthy organic food for cheap.

With something a little more to my personal liking, Rani presents 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake from Indoor Garden Musings. There's no picture, but anything that contains that much chocolate has got to be good.

Yard & Garden

Traveling out to your yard, assuming you have one, the authors in this section share their tips and recommendations for the space around your house.

Mikkal Travvis presents How To Start An Organic Garden posted at Organic Health. The organic garden idea will appeal to anyone who doesn't like the thought of all their food being grown with steroids and pesticides. Mikkal outlines 9 tips for growing your own organic food.

Lastly, Vikki Williams presents A Push Mower for the Lawn posted at Homesteading Basics. In this article Vikki explains the importance of doing things the way you think they should be done. If you want to mow your lawn with a push mower, "don't be intimidated by people who think you're just being cheap." Do things the old fashioned way when you think they should be done the old fashioned way. Whether they have to be done that way or not, doing things the hard way has its own rewards.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you've enjoyed these articles as much as I have. If you enjoyed this edition, don't forget to check out the next edition at Meadowwood Garden on May 18th for more of the best articles about house and home!

Very few people want to think of money as an important factor in their relationship with a significant other. You don't want to bring it up, and they don't want you to bring it up, but the money dynamic of the relationship is something that needs to be thought out and understood by both parties.

Money trouble can put a relationship under some real stress, and have even been known to end relationships from time to time. A big part of the reason that money trouble can end a non-money based relationship, is because the couple never talked about money before it became a problem. Then, once it was a problem, they typically did little but fight about it, rather than actually working together to sort it out. The entire problem may have been avoided if they had simply chosen to have the money talk early in their relationship.

If you decide to have the money talk, there are many, many factors you're going to need to consider. Factors like the income of each person, the spending habits of each person, the savings of each person, the financial expectations of each person, contingency plans, the list goes on and on. For the purposes of this article I'm going to discuss income, savings, spending habits, and contingency plans, but you may want to add to that list if you and your partner decide to have the money talk.

Income

It's important to be clear on whose responsible for generating your income. Early in the relationship both partners often work, and this may lead you to assume you don't need to discuss it. I suggest you discuss it anyway, because if it isn't discussed then down the road things may change, and that can cause a lot of stress if you haven't thought the income factor through.

Whose Responsibility Is It?

The two of you need to decide who's responsibility it is to generate the income, even if you're both generating income right now. Think about way down the road, when you have kids. Which one of you will keep working, and which of you will stay at home with the children? The traditional answer here will be that the wife stays home, but having said it out loud will help to solidify the situation.

That's the most practical and common situation, but there are many other situations as well where having it thought out who needs to be generating the family's income will help smooth the road if only because you both know how you're going to get by.

How Much Do You Need?

Talk through with your partner how much income the two of you need. Don't just talk about now, talk about later too. How much income are you expected to get at your peak? Is your partner going to be disappointed if you don't make it to the top? These questions need to be asked, because while you may succeed far beyond your partner's expectations, it's also possible that your partner is expecting great things from you down the road.

How much do the two of you need to sustain your daily life? What sort of life are you going to be comfortable living? What sort of a home do you plan on living in later? You need to think through your future possible expenses so that the two of you are clear on how much is expected.

Knowing how much you need will help keep either of you from over imagining the potential and becoming disillusioned with the life you actually live. It should also help to stop the primary income earner from throwing themselves into their work and neglecting their family in an effort to provide an ever increasing income stream. This is because once the expected income is reached, they can settle into their job and wait for natural promotions rather than continuing to push for the top so hard.

Savings

Knowing the savings expectations within the relationship will help to give you a plan of action to follow, thus helping to prevent the misuse of saved money. By this, I mean that if the two of you talk out your plan for saving money, you'll find it easier to put the money away, and resist the urge to spend it early.

What Are You Saving For?

You should discuss before hand what it is you're saving money for. You may have accounts for several different purposes, but knowing what those purposes are will help you continue to put money into the pool week after week. Are you saving for your yearly vacation? Your child's education? Retirement? What is it that you're putting this money away for?

You may want to start a savings account in a bank for each thing you're saving for. This will put them out of sight most of the time, but give you a good feel for how much you've saved for each thing when you actually want to know.

How Much Are You Going To Save?

Knowing how much the two of you want to save will help prevent fights. Agree between the two of you how much you're going to save, what you're going to save it for, and when you need to have that much saved will let you know how much you need to put aside each week. This will tell you not only how much you need to put away, but will also allow you to calculate how much money you don't need to put away.

Spending Habits

The two of you need to discuss your spending habits, so that you're both clear with what's acceptable and what's not before anything stressful happens. The two of you should come to an agreement as soon as you move in together, to get it out of the way.

What Are You Going to Spend On?

You should come to a basic agreement about what sort of things the two of you are going to buy. Are you going to pick up expensive food? Will the two of you rent a lot of movies? Talking through what the two of you are going to spend money on so that you both understand it as best you can ahead of time will help prevent the stress of wondering where all the money is going later.

How Much Can Each Of You Spend?

The two of you should make clear how much one of you can spend on your own without discussing it with the other. This is a talk most important once the two of you move in together, but you may want to talk through it beforehand anyway.

Perhaps each of you has a specific amount of money each week that you can spend on your own. Maybe you can buy things that cost less than $50. Whatever the two of you decide on, know how big a purchase has to be to require talking to your partner about it first. This will help prevent situations where one of you decides to buy something, be it a couch a dog or a car, without talking to your partner. It will also help curb impulse spending to a manageable level.

Contingency Plans

Having a contingency plan for some of the most common situations will help alleviate stress in a number of ways. First, having a plan makes you feel more confident that everything is going okay, and feeling like everything is going okay is going to cut down on your stress and fighting. Thinking it out ahead of time will also let you prepare financially.

What Might Happen?

Think about what sorts of things might happen in your life that planning for could help with. Just knowing what might happen can often help you avoid those situations, and keep you from stressing out if they happen.

You might even want to make a chart listing maybe 10 things that might happen where planning could help. Then, beside each one rate it's likelihood, and then how damaging it would be if it happened on a scale of one to ten. Then, add the two numbers together for each item and put them in order from highest to lowest. Then, take the top 5 items on the chart and make them your list of things to prepare for. Maybe your list has on it items like House Fire, Pregnancy, Pandemic, Illness, and Car Trouble. Of course, this is just one example way to decide what to prepare for. The important thing is that you know what might happen, and you prepare for the things before they happen.

What Could You Do if They Happened?

Once you know what could happen, think about what you would do if some of those things happened. Think about what your course of action should be in the event, what sorts of things should be on hand, and how much money it would be good to have set aside in case that did happen.

Think carefully about basic supplies you could buy which by being on hand might help you in the event of those problems you listed? A fire extinguisher might be the difference between one room of the house being scorched and the house burning to the ground. Keeping these items on hand will help decrease the stress and worries around your home. Even if money gets tight later, you'll already have those items on hand to keep the two of you safe.

How much money would you need if something should happen? Create an emergency fund, perhaps one for each of your emergency circumstances, and over time try to fill them all with as much money as you would need in each situation. This will help you deal more easily with the situation when it arises, and will deliver a sense of security to both your life and that of your partner, helping again to ward off the money fights and stress that might happen otherwise.

Having an account with money for each circumstance, will also help prepare you for a situation to cost more than you planned, or if some emergency happens that you didn't plan for and soaks up an unexpected amount of money. Having money set aside for 5 emergencies, will also help make one emergency feel easier to weather, since you're more than ready financially when it happens.

So, Have That Money Talk!

The sooner the two of you talk about your joint financial health, the easier it will be to avoid all the stress and worry that may be looming down the road, just waiting for someone who didn't think things through.

It may feel stressful for you to talk about it, especially if you're more on the dependent end of the situation, or if your partner makes more than you do. Talking about it will help ensure a far greater stress doesn't crop up down the road.

On this first Reader Appreciation Day, I'd like to show my appreciation for Beamer. Beamer is the writer of such blogs as Paid 2 Blog, Earn Money Blogging, and Stumble Rumba. She's something of a talented writer, and has a flare for website design choices.

I've been in contact with her over Twitter, e-mail, and comments. She's shown herself to be actively engaging my writing on this site through private discussion and generous commenting. Thanks Beamer, your readership is appreciated!

A Word of Explanation

I'd like to take a day out of each month from now on to show my appreciation for one of this blog's readers. I'll choose who to show appreciation for each month based on such criteria as number of comments, quality of comments, blog community participation, and other fields as I see fit.

Remember that I absolutely still appreciate the readers who don't comment, it's just that those of you who don't comment are mostly anonymous. Though I still appreciate your readership if you don't comment, I hope you do take this as incentive to comment and participate. As a new blog, community participation from a high percentage of members will help keep this blog active and enjoyable for all parties.

Guest Article by Adrian of 36pounds.com

If you're wondering if it's worth it to start going to the gym I must absolutely say… YES!!! In this article I will tell you from my personal experience how my life changed after I started going to a gym.

1.Increased self-confidence

It is incredibly important for a guy to have a lot of self-confidence. Not arrogance. But just to be comfortable with yourself and know that you are “good enough”, and that you matter in this world. I increased my self-confidence a lot with the help of bodybuilding, I know that I’m doing something to improve my body (I was a skinny guy so I decided to gain muscle) and I can see results in the mirror. Seeing how I changed my body for the better and imagining how much better I will look in the future is huge for me. I can guarantee that it would be great for you too!

2.Increased strength

Well, this one is obvious. Lifting weights improves your physical strength which is important for every man. You want to be the strong guy and have your woman ask you for help around the house when she needs something lifted or opened. You want to be the guy that can defend your girl if needed.

3.Strengthening your will and determination

When you don't really feel like going to the gym but YOU STILL GO, then your will and your determination grow. It’s vital for a man to have these qualities, and you won't achieve anything without them.

Sometimes your results aren’t improving even though you do your best at the gym. When that happens, you've just got to man up, analyze what the problem is and change it. You start seeing gains again. That’s part of life. Failing. It strengthens us as men.

4.Workout is a chance for you to refresh

This might sound stupid to you. All your senses say you go to workout hard and leave the gym physically exhausted. Part of you is also refreshed though. For that hour inside the gym you don’t think about your daily problems, your frustrations. You forget everything else and it’s just the weights, your goals and you. It cleans your head, and refreshes you spiritually! If I go working out in the morning I feel incredibly energized for the rest of the day. I feel happy. It’s an incredible reward I get only from bodybuilding!

5.More respect

The guy that has muscles automatically gets more respect. From everybody – girls, men, and himself. It's strange and in the perfect world it wouldn’t happen, but muscles subconsciously communicate to others that you are fit, successful, and attractive. Muscles help to communicate this great message when leaving a first impression. Furthermore, the truth is that girls are attracted to muscles. Guys love girl's chests, and women love muscles the same way.

Hope these reasons gave you enough motivation to go and start working out as soon as possible! It sure was one of the best decisions I've made so far!

I'm Adrian. A guy who wants to change the World for the better. I love bodybuilding and constantly improving myself physically and mentally. My goal currently is to help Skinny guys all over the world gain muscle with my blog at 36 Pounds. I know what it feels like to be a skinny guy... not fun. I've gained 20 pounds of muscle myself though, and my blog is a start at making the world a better place. So guys, whether you're skinny or just wanting to gain some muscle, if you want some help with bodybuilding just let me know! I'm there for you.

If you're fairly new in the blogging game, then you may have a lot of questions that need to be answered. This is often dealt with by pouring over the articles in the blogs of others. Which articles to read as a new blogger can often be hard to choose. You know you want to be successful, but you don't have time to read every single article that's ever been written on the subject of getting yourself started.

I've learned a lot by pouring over hundreds of articles. As typically happens in this situation, I wrote what I've learned through my reading and personal experience into a sort of beginner's guide. The guide only covers the basics, but the basics they cover are essential to the success of any blog.

The first article you should read is on Basic Rules of Blogging. This will give you an overview of what to do or not to do, based mostly on the year of experience I've accumulated thus far.

The second article I suggest is in effect a series of ways to Boost your Blog Traffic. This will help you get a steady flow of traffic coming in once you're ready.

The third article is on Monetizing your Blog. It discusses the logistics and likelihood of making money blogging, and gives passing suggestions on how to do it.

These three articles aren't all encompassing, but they will give you a good solid base understanding on which to found your future blogging, and help you organize your future research and writing.

I'd like to give a brief response to a couple of the questions every new blogger is likely to be asking:

How Much Money Can You Make Blogging?

While there is no hard and fast rule to this, Larakulpa from Ginko Consulting recently suggested a good rule of thumb during a conversation we had in the ProBlogger 31 Days Forum. She suggested that for every thousand page views your site gets in a month, you can expect to make $2-$4 on each advertisement lasting for that month. You would normally have more than one advertisement, and an article on Nifty Prediction gave a similar rule of thumb, suggesting that for each thousand visitors you make, you should expect to receive between $10-$25 from advertising.

That rule of thumb in mind, it shouldn't be too difficult to make a lot of money blogging, if you can just get a lot of visitors to your site. While that's true, you should bear in mind that to actually get that money, you'll need to find advertisers. You might decide to go with some of the existing programs out there, such as affiliate marketing, referral programs, or an ever expanding parade of other advertising programs looking for sites to advertise on.

You'll make more though if you cut out the middle man by finding your own advertisers. This will take work, luck, and a professional countenance.

While the above rule of thumb is not a hard and fast rule by any stretch of the imagination, it's probably left you feeling both optimistic and a little intimidated. You have, I'm sure, looked at the numbers and realized that if you can just get enough visitors to come to your site, you could make all the money you need. However, I'm sure the other side of your mind is cringing at the logistics of getting that many visitors to visit your site. The scale of the work ahead of you may cause making money blogging to seem very far away.

How Much Are You Likely To Make Blogging?

A survey ProBlogger had his readers take, showed that 29% of all his reader's blogs made less than $10 a month. The reality of it is that most blogs don't go anywhere, and for that reason you should definitely not quit your current job, or rely on your blog for money too soon. You should try not to rely on the money your blog will make you until you've already been making the amount you need for a solid 3 months in a row.

Don't lose hope though, because a quick study of the other side of the chart shows that 20% of his readers made more than $500 a month, and 37% made more than $100 each month. There may be a fair sized portion who fail, and you should be ready for that to happen. However, there is a larger sized portion who make decent spare money, and a workable portion who could live on their blogging income. It should be taken into account though that people who read Problogger are more likely than others to be successful in blogging, so the survey results may be slightly askew. However, if you read ProBlogger too, then the statistics will be accurate for you.

How Long Will It Take For Your Blog To Turn a Profit?

Nifty Prediction suggested a sustained 3-8 hours every week spent working on your blog, and more when you're early in your blog's life span. Some estimates vary, but the generally popular view is that you must put in at least one hour a day on your blog. While you may take days off sometimes, you must put in some time working on it almost every day.

As far as the time span you should expect to work in, you're not likely to profit much from your blog within the first three months. Depending upon how you've gone about setting up your blog, it may actually cost you money during this time period, in hosting, domain registration, advertising, or some combination of those and other costs. You should be ready to absorb all of the costs for your blog during this time period, and perhaps longer.

Depending on the speed of the blog's growth, you should soon find the blog paying for itself, and probably producing a fair level of profit as well. If the blog isn't producing at least some money within the first year you might want to consider whether or not you're willing to blog on the subject simply for your enjoyment without thinking about the prospect of profiting from it. If you don't think you could handle blogging about the subject without the hope of being paid, you might want to consider scrapping it and starting over. I'd like to mention though that the best way to profit from your blog is to love writing about your topic with or without pay.

Bottom Line of Making Money Blogging

The bottom line here is that you can make a living blogging if you get the correct numbers of visitors to your site. To do so, you will need to have some way of attracting that many visitors to your site, and the time and energy to create, maintain, and promote it on a regular basis. Even if you do everything right, your site may not make it, and you need to be ready for that. Do not depend upon your blog until it's already been successful for a while.

Long Story Short: You can succeed in making all the money you need if you work hard, get lucky, and keep at it. But there is no guarantee, and you need to be ready if things don't work out the way you had hoped.