Each day starts with a little thrill of excitement these days: will today be the new baby's birthday? So far, obviously, the answer has been no. But one of these days it will be yes, and until that's the answer the excitement level in our house is rocketing ever higher. (If you'd like to join in on a guessing game about when the baby will come and how much he might weigh, you can on the Living Unabridged Facebook page.)
With the baby question still unsettled, we haven't made many plans for this weekend. What do you have planned for Memorial Day?
On to the links:
Learning
- How to Avoid Homeschool Overwhelm: Become a Curator by Melissa Camara Wilkins for Simple Homeschool. I feel like this is how I've tried to construct our homeschool life, even if I haven't quite described it this way before.
- The Summer 2015 Mother Culture Reading List by Brandy Vencel at Afterthoughts. Lots of great reading inspiration here, whether you're looking for something deep or something diverting. (Or both.)
- Getting Real - Cheating! by Nadene at Practical Pages. Yes, this can be a homeschool issue too.
- Why I Don't Worry About My Homeschoolers' Socialization by Annie Reneau for Simple Homeschool. My husband and I were talking about an aspect of this just the other day. When you meet a strange homeschooled kid (and yes, there are some out there), homeschooling is nearly always blamed. But when you meet a strange public schooled kid (and yes, there are MANY out there), their school situation isn't blamed. That's frustrating for a homeschool family, to say the least.
- The Best Idioms from Around the World, Ranked by Jake Flanagin. My favorite might be "To stand like a watered poodle."
- On Writing Well (5 Big Tips) by Tim Challies. Challies lists some of the best writing advice from William Zinsser. (Zinsser's death was reported about a week ago.)
- Don't Kill That Quote. Another great post from Tim Challies.
Living
- Still Learning to Love What Must Be Done by Jennifer Dow at Expanding Wisdom. Jennifer is talking about the fabulous resource from our friend Mystie Winkler:
- How to Be a Cool Mom (And Why You Should Want to Be One) by Jimmie Lanley. This is the kind of parenting advice I want to keep in mind as my daughters get older. (Things like: Wild hair colors = temporary and OK. Tattoos = not temporary, not OK.)
- When You Feel Like Everyone Else Has Friends...and You Don't by Ruth Schwenk at The Better Mom. Adult friendship has turned out to be a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. It's actually encouraging that other women have found that to be true as well.
- 5 Sure-Fire Ways to Motivate Your Son to Use Pornography by Rick Thomas at TGC. This is actually an older post, but I just stumbled on it this week. Convicting stuff.
- Running From a Bad Church Situation May Hinder Your Spiritual Growth by Trevin Wax. Leaving may look easier, but it's not always the correct choice.
Loving
- A Mistake Doesn't Cancel Everything Else Out by Kristen at The Frugal Girl. Encouraging reminder here.
- Please Don't Regret My Children's Gender by Mary Haseltine. We have children of both genders now, of course, but for a long time we were a girl only family. And the comments about that situation never really got easier to take.
- In Case I Get Arrested Today by Kendra at Catholic All Year. It's so crazy that we have to write things like this now. What happened to "common sense"?
- 10 Things That Happen When You're An Intuitive in a Family of Sensors by Heidi Priebe. Not everyone in my family of origin was an "S", but several of these definitely rang true to me.
- Stuff in the news: Egg Prices Jump as Bird Flu Spreads. (You may have to be subscriber to read this story. I was able to read it earlier this week but not today.) Eggs are a huge staple in our family's diet so this situation is definitely one that could worry me.
- Also in the news: Josh Duggar and the Conservative Infatuation with Fame by Matt K. Lewis. I really don't want to get into a debate about the Duggars and this situation. I've never seen the show. I know some of their relatives and I have friends and family coming down on all sides. The reason I'm linking to this take is because I have often said that the Christian (and/or Conservative) fascination with "our celebrities" has only ever seemed to eventually cause grief.
- On to happier subjects: Postpartum Does Not Mean One Day After the Baby Comes by Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter. In my current situation you can easily see why I loved this post SO MUCH. Leila was on a roll this week. I also enjoyed the reminders in this post: Kitchen-Table Thoughts on Nursing the Newborn Baby.
Here at Living Unabridged I shared a quote and my current reading stack: The Dead Made Living. I also talked about Finishing the Homeschool Year with Strength (When You're Already Tired). Also this week: my mom reviewed a safety product for stairs and she has a discount code too, if you happen to have some stairs around your house or business that are treacherous.
That's all for today. Here's hoping that by next Saturday I'll have a new family member to introduce!
You don't want to miss the Memorial Day Sale at Maestro Classics (you can follow the image link and then click the "Sale" tab to easily find the deals):
If you've been waiting to buy a CD or mp3 from this excellent collection, now is a fantastic time!
