It's April!

It's pretty bad when you go to view you own blog several times a day hoping and expecting to see a new blog post!!!

I've toyed with several post ideas but whenever I start to write my inspiration drains. So it must be time for a catch all post.

It has been raining the last three days and finally not only has the rain stopped but the sky has brightened and it's been warm enough today to open the window and enjoy the fresh air! I'm so glad it's April! Also I can't believe it's going to be Easter on Sunday! Guess I'll have to find something pretty and Spring-ish to wear.

So what have I been up to?

Reading

I've been reading a lot lately, mostly I like to read before bed because it helps to clear my mind of the day's activities.

My biggest achievement has been reading my Bible every single day. For years I've struggled with consistently reading and studying the scriptures. I've always known how important it is for my spiritual growth and encouragement but my past attempts at daily reading have often failed. In February I again made the commitment to read and really inquired of the Lord for help in this area. It's almost two months now reading at least 2 chapters every night (just because it works best for me) and I've seen the Lord really use what I'm reading and the time I spend with Him to grown me and strengthen my walk with Him!

Other books I've been reading and I would recommend:

• His Perfect Faithfulness by Eric & Leslie Ludy - a wonderful God-honoring love story. Highly recommened!
• Let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Elliot - this is challenging and also clarifying my views on femininity, womanhood and marriage.
• Faith of the First Ladies by Jerry MacGregor & Marie Prys - I found this at Goodwill the other day. It doesn't have as much of an insight on the First Ladies' personal beliefs as I'd like but it does have some lovely quotes from some of their letters and short biographies on their lives.

Watching

It's actually quite shocking to me how many period dramas I able to view in a week in between my online Bible courses, housework and other duties. When I'm online I usually have something going on my computer while I blog or e-mail. My family also enjoys period films and enjoy watching movies together in the evenings. Here's some of what I've been enjoying recently:

• Charles Dickens' Bleak House - I recently bought my own copy and re-watched it, I just really enjoy the story and the many interesting characters!
• Agatha Christie's Partners In Crime - An old detective show about husband and wife team investigators. Lots of fun!
• Emily of New Moon, Season 2 - I got this DVD collection for my sister's b-day and we've actually been very disappointed with it. The TV series does not follow the books that my sister really enjoyed reading and the further the series goes the worse it gets! They seemed determined to make it a boiling pot of spiritual and mystical untruths and conjectures.
• Ivanhoe (1982) - after being asked recently if I'd seen Ivanhoe I realized I didn't really know anything about the story. I found an older version on YouTube and quite enjoyed the story of noble knights and maidens in distress.
• Lark Rise to Candleford - After hearing and seeing the series advertised in quite a few places online I decided to check it out. I've really enjoyed it a lot and have just finished watching all 3 series on YouTube! Quite a cast of actors, beautiful costumes and scenes, heartwarming stories and many fun and interesting characters make this a unique television series. It reminds me a bit of Cranford with some of the rural settings of Under The Greenwood Tree thrown it. Lovely!

And now I'm finished with Lark Rise to Candleford I'm not sure what I'll watch next. Maybe I'll re-watch He Knew He Was Right. Any suggestions?

What I do instead of Blogging

There are so many things that distract me from the things I should be doing!

You may have noticed that I've changed the set-up of my blog a bit. I have given my lengthy list of period dramas its own separate page because I just felt they were taking over at bit. I also wanted room to (at some future date) add links for viewing the dramas and also trailers for the films. That's a big project. I also wanted to beautify my blog a bit and will be adding some of my favorite pieces of old-fashioned art work and photos from period dramas. I also want to add links to some favorite blogs and my favorite quotes and verses to the sidebar.

Another project I've been working on is overhauling my site Austen Efforts which has been sadly neglected for a while. I've been changing it's purpose from charting about new Jane Austen adaptations to adding pages about every Jane Austen adaptation. It's been a lot of fun particularly adding photos of the characters from each adaptation. The Home page needs a lot of work still.

So, that's a bit of what I've been up to lately. What have ya'll been up to lately? What have you been watching, reading, listening to?

I pray you're having a lovely first day of April!

God Bless,

Miss Laurie :)