January Reads

I've decided to stick to last year's goal of two books a month and hope to update each month on the blog. I've run into the the very first world problem of what to do with all our books. It would be lovely if I had an unlimited gift card to B&N and an entire wall of built in shelves but until then I'm checking out from the library and hoping to store good quotes and favorite reads here. I think this will work much better than my current method of stacking books in piles along my closet wall like a hermitted english professor. 

Sparkly Green Earrings
by Melanie Shankle
I don't read The Big Mama Blog but this book came highly recommended by several friends. I finished it in a few days. Honestly, I feel like I could have written this book. That is how closely parallelled I felt my life was to the author's--from her career in pharmaceuticals for the "flexible schedule" to the wacky home improvements to the one daughter family. I loved it and found it so funny and relateable. Luckily, she came out with a new one last month. 

The Duck Commander Family
by Willie Robertson
Anyone that knows me at all, knows how much I love to hear other's story. I'm fascinated by how people got where they are, what makes them tick, what drives them, etc. This family is pretty eccentric and has been in the midst of lots of controversy lately, but what I thought was going to be a cheesy was actually really sweet. It's obviously not written beautifully but the story of the Robertson boys growing up is fascinating and I can't not love a family that puts Jesus first and then their family second. I took away a few tidbits and enjoyed it overall.

The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
I read this in about two nights while Bert was out of town this month after almost every 2013 reading list recommended it. Love, love, loved it! It was different and beautiful and the characters were so lovable. Though sad, it didn't leave you feeling weighted. The movie comes out this year which I doubt will do it justice so be sure to read it before then. I'm planning on going down the John Green list and have already picked up Looking for Alaska. I hope he isn't a one hot wonder because I would love another author to follow.

Love and Respect
by Emerson Eggerichs
This book came highly recommended by several people so our Bible study chose to read it this season. Meh. If you have never explored your husband's need for respect, then you might find it interesting but I have read other in depth studies on respect in relationships that I liked better. It brought up good discussion but I hard a hard time focusing on the actual writing and felt like the author used a lot of verbage for what could be a quick point.

February 2013

So far, the overarching theme of 2013 seems to be illness and not much sleep. Another round of colds at the beginning of the month has left little Bug with a cough that just WON"T GO AWAY. Combine the days home from normal activity, cold weather and Bert  going out of town for a week; Loulie and I got lots of quality time together. At the time, I felt like the days were going by slow but now that the month is over, I really don't know what happened to February. 

February 

- The month began with fires and crafts and dress-up, lots of time making Valentine's for family and friends at school.

- Bert went out of town for a week so Loulie and I had a few girls' nights with homemade popcorn and movies, a lunch date with Aunt Meme at Butcher & Bee, and a new addiction to FNL on Netflix.

- Valentine's came and went, beginning the day with a special family breakfast and ending it with a feverish 3 year old. A new princess dress from Lovey made up for the blah weather and feeling bad though. 

- In between sick days, we were able to attend the SEWE festival, a few play dates, a birthday party and catch up with friends on the other side of the world in Mt Pleasant. Bert and I actually went on two dates this month--I think that might be a record for us. 

- And Loulie learned how to spell and write her name!

                 

Now that it's March, I am itching for spring. The appreciation for cold days and long nights with a fire has been replaced with an impatience for daylight savings and sundresses. I am ready for the cold season to be over, both literally and figuratively. And since we're still holding on to this cough, I'd appreciate any prayers you might throw up for my girl--we are going to make one more polite trek back to the doctor if she isn't better by the weekend.