This blog came thisclose to not existing any longer. I had to renew my web hosting this week and the bill, frankly, looked a little big for something I’ve neglected so thoroughly.

But, when it came right down to it, I couldn’t let it go. I figured out the price per month and made the judgment call that, even for a sometimes neglected hobby, it wasn’t TOO much.

So, for those of you sticking around and stopping by every now and again to see if there’s anything new: thanks. This is all for you. (I’m kidding. I’m not that altruistic. It’s also a stubbornness to not let go of something that’s been a huge part of my adult life.)

Anyway, we’ll celebrate another year of Living Unabridged existence with a long links post, sound good?

Learning

• How to Do It All from The Classical Unschooler.
• Homeschooling is Fun: When You Have the Courage to Let it Be from Not So Formulaic.
• Longing for a Simple Homeschool? Embrace it as a Way of Life by Emily Copeland at Not So Formulaic.
• On Baking a Cake: Thoughts on Atmosphere by Caitlin Beauchamp. Lovely and thought-provoking.
• Homeschooling is Lonely by Julie Bogart at Brave Writer. (Related thoughts: Homeschool Troubleshooting – Feeling Alone)

Living

• Find Your Passion is Awful Advice by Olga Khazan at The Atlantic. Antidote: develop a growth mindset.
• Shared this on the Living Unabridged Facebook page last week but I’m sharing it again because I like it: Why Reading Books Should Be Your Priority, According to Science.
• Sometimes God Says Go and Sometimes God Says Stay by Catherine Morgan at TGC. As someone who would identify as a Christian told to “stay”, this resonated with me.
• The Extinction of the Middle Child by Adam Sternbergh for The Cut. Bring back the middle children! Have at least three children: do it for humanity’s sake! (Seriously though, middle children really are awesome.)
• Are Home Renovations Necessary? by Kate Wagner at Curbed.
• Awkward Saint Crazy by Adam Whipple at The Rabbit Room.
• Have We Christians Made Marriage Too Complicated? by Kimberley Kay.
• Quick but profound thoughts about marriage from The Odyssey: The Secret of the Marriage Bed.
• Made me laugh and sigh (again): An Essential Guide for Not Ruining Your Church by Anne Kennedy at Patheos.
• Long, fascinating, thought-provoking (and made me want to dig out some of my vintage cookbooks): The Peckish Patient: Why is Hospital Food so Disgusting? by Kate Washington.
• Fascinating: Here’s How America Uses Its Land from Bloomberg.

Loving

• Long but worth the read: Hiking Toward Koreanness by Rachel Rostad.
• Discovery of 14,000 Year Old Toast Suggest Bread Can be Added to Paleo Diet. (Reader: I laughed.) Eat bread or don’t. But don’t use junk science to justify your exclusion of entire food groups.
• Politics time. All Possible Responses to “They Should Get in Line and Do It The Right Way” by Matt Cameron. Hmm, could it be that immigration in the US is ridiculously complicated and kind of a mess that defies soundbites? (Spoiler alert: yes.)
• Fact check time. This is from Snopes, so I know some will discount it immediately, but this story went around my social media like wildfire and I figured there was some nuance to the story missing: Were an American Couple Killed by ISIS Trying to Prove Humans are Kind? (Karen’s Soap Box: Their deaths are tragic and turning them into some kind of ridiculous click-bait “Gotcha” is a jerk move.)
• More fact checking, specifically on if my kids’ Oatmeal is going to give them cancer: Experts Dismantle EWG’s study and Glyphosate in Cereal: Another Myth.
• Why Forests are Spreading in the Rich World. (Behind a firewall at the Economist, but if you can get past that, it’s an interesting read.)
• UK Heatwave Exposes Ancient Chatsworth House Gardens from the BBC. Sorry about the heatwave, but this is fascinating to me. (Related, sort of: The Duchess of Devonshire)
• How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions. What a story.
• Jane Austen and the Redemption of Gawkiness by Rosa Inocencio Smith in the Atlantic. (Because I have Jane Austen on the brain this summer.) P.S. If you also have Jane Austen on the brain, you can read some of her original manuscript for Persuasion.
• Speaking of manuscripts: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Archives Come Alive.
• Just for fun quiz: Everyone is a Combination of Two Jane Austen Heroines (I’m Emma Woodhouse and Elinor Dashwood which…yeah, I can see that).
• Made me laugh: 30 Best and Worst Google Translate Fails. (possible language and content warning)

From Living Unabridged

Last year: Mystery Series to Binge Read

Two years ago: Tiger Stripes!

Three years ago: The Gift of Time


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