Living Unabridged

Last month I got to tell you about the time my blog broke.

That didn't happen this month. (I guess I'm relieved, if a little disappointed, about that.)

I did get to share some guest posts in February:

• The God Who Answers in His Own Timing at His Mercy is New. This one was about the lessons I learned (and continue to learn) from our multi-year saga of selling a house, moving, renting, buying a house, and moving again.
• No More Mediocre Marriage: 21+ Ways to Revel in Your Marriage at ladydusk. I don't claim to be a marriage expert, but I do adore my husband and the marriage we've built together. Marriage is meant to be so much more than what is portrayed on television or in the movies (which typically end with the wedding anyway). This post was my attempt to share some ways marriage can be enjoyed instead of endured.

And my post 4 Things Your Children Absolutely Don't Need (And What to Give  Them Instead) was shared at For Every Mom (with the new title, new graphic, and just generally spruced up).

Here at Living Unabridged we talked some about homeschooling:

• Homeschool Budget: Burden or Blessing? (with 17 tips to stretch that budget)
• 9 Tips for Raising a History Buff

And we talked about parenting:

• Three Things I Don't Want My Daughters to Be (My favorite post from February)
• Introvert Mom Surrounded By Children: Tips for Maintaining Sanity

Then there were the Words on Wednesday posts:

• Days to Be Seized and Relished
• Historical Amnesia
• Writing is Like Parenting
• Salt of the Earth

Book Reviews in February

I only reviewed one book in February, but what a great book: Make it Happen.

And I shared a huge book list of my favorite books for relationships: Love, Marriage, and Family Reading List.

What happened in February

Big happenings in February included the week where everything was cancelled and it wouldn't stop snowing.

One of my sisters had a health issue that isn't my story to tell. She's doing well now, but if you happen to think of her a prayer would be appreciated.

After that, we celebrated a birthday for this beautiful child:

We had a pretty low-key party but we were thankful for the friends and family who were able to make it despite the fresh round of snow.

Sidekick (our unborn baby boy's nickname) grew and became even more active.

He has definite opinions about how I sit now and he sure does throw his tiny weight around. The only pregnancy side effect that hinders me is the constant fatigue. I mean seriously, I wake up in the morning thinking about when I can take a nap that day.

Another side effect that may be a pregnancy thing or just the weather, is the fact that my skin is dry and itchy a lot more than I remember just a few weeks ago. I'm slathering in lotion all the time and it still seems bad. Any hints, fellow mamas?

Plus, my belly is definitely bigger these days. (And no, there will be no belly shots forthcoming on this blog.) It's starting to be in the way.

And sometimes I forget it's there, which means I do my share of bumping Sidekick around (nothing serious!). I can't believe we're already at 25+ weeks. This one is flying by and I don't have nearly as much done as I want to get done before he comes.

What We've Been Watching:

The Great British Bake Off. We stumbled on the most recent season on PBS and now we're trying to catch up. Love. So much. This may have replaced Chopped as my favorite show about food ever. (We still keep up with the recent episodes of Chopped via internet because we don't have cable)
Another one that we started watching on PBS. Then we got impatient and started ordering the early episodes from the library so we can watch them all. The early seasons have a different style and flavor than the later ones, but I love them both (for different reasons).

We talked about going to the movies during all the snow days, but there just wasn't anything we really wanted to see, especially for the kids.

And I didn't watch one second of the Oscars, although I did look at stories about the dresses the next day. The girls and I had our own Fashion Police thing going on. (Sample dialog: "Does she know that much of her skin is showing?!" and "That might be pretty if I could see less of her skin." And so on...)

My favorite books I finished in February (other than the one I reviewed) were:

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novelby Anthony Doerr. This is an engrossing, lyrical novel that's hard to describe and hard to put down. Highly recommended.
The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcockby Lucy Worsley. Brit mysteries are my favorite fiction reading so I found this non-fiction look at their appeal fascinating.

To see the other books I've finished this year you can check out this page: Books of 2015.

If you'd like to see my favorite posts and articles from around the web, don't forget to check out my Weekend Web Wandering posts.

Now, to seek your opinion on something: My current commonplace book, where I keep a list of books I've read and quotes from what I'm reading, is almost full so I'm shopping for a new one. Here are a few possibilities from Amazon (my other two are roughly this size and also spiral bound and my OCD side really wants them to be similar):

Which would you choose?

So, that's my life via blog this February. What happened in your February?

And, seriously, which one of those adorable notebooks would you choose?