How to recap a month...

I can't believe a month has gone by since I blogged! It's been a busy one, but surely not that busy. Just a normal kind of busy for us!

Let's see...I will hit the highlights: quilting, exercise and health, family and friends, and good books. Because, if I am honest, that's pretty much my life.

In quilting this month, I completed two UFOs, unfinished quilts from years past that I'd abandoned for different reasons. One I finished and mailed to my mom, and another I finished and kept for myself. I also quilted three large client quilts. Finally, I designed, pieced and quilted a special quilt to raffle to benefit Bahamas Habitat. I spent Mondays sewing with my friends in the Sugar Creek Quilters (who meet at my house), and had a couple of fun shopping outings to Goldsboro and little Washington. I ended with the "shop hop" to the stores in Morehead City and New Bern last weekend. Oh, and I bought several new tools and pieces of fabric online this month. Hmmm, all of that deserves a blogpost of its own...I'm going to have to get better at this.

So, we continue to eat nothing except real food, following a Paleo-template, focusing on fresh foods as much as possible. So many delicious meals this month...we shared a couple of them with our children, and I got to cook a few at my in-laws' home while we visited. Traveling presents some challenges, but we just make the best choices available to us as they occur. We are now on week four of P90X3, the "transition week" at the end of phase 1. I love everything about P90X3, but especially the 30 minute time commitment. The big excitement for us this month was being featured at the Whole30 website as a "success story." Our story is still being written...but we have lost 120 pounds without trying that hard, and it's great to say that so others can make simple changes to get big results.

http://whole30.com/2014/02/weight-loss-whole30/

We ended up spending ten days on the road visiting Dennis's parents for the end of January. It was a nice long visit, and because I traveled with my Bernina, even when we were snowed in for three days, I managed to make some quilting progress. We even got to visit his aunt and uncle, which included some mighty fine hamburger steak and sweet potato fries at a little country grocery store grill. We had all the kids over for dinner when we got back, and were surprised to realize that was the first time all seven of us were together since Christmas! Gingersnap turned two this month, but between our colds, Maggie & Matt's flu, and our trip...we didn't all get a real celebration.

As far as books I've read this month...you'd think I was too busy to read. Au contraire! I read C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism for our book club group (but was forced to finish it after our discussion). Excellent thoughts on what makes a good reader and what makes a good book...or even a great book. I confess that I read more than my share of easy books, just for the delight of the story. But I read a few hard books, and some of them are also good. When Dennis and I drove back from south Mississippi, I read Janet Evanovich's Takedown Twenty (the latest of the Stephanie Plum novels) aloud to him as he drove. I have one to go in the Divergent series. I'm saving that one for our next trip. I am rereading a couple of Madeline L'Engle books I treasure, and of course, still journaling my way through the Life Journal reading plan.

I make no promises that I will blog daily...but I am cutting back on my Facebook time during Lent, so as the season approaches, you'll probably see more of me here.

Today, at the Manor, we enjoyed another snow day...