Musing on February, Hailing March

12:16 AM

Greetings from the cave!

Okay, it's time for winter to end. We had our fun in the snow, now it's just miserable. Even my sinuses are telling me it's time for spring to come.

But contrary to popular opinion, I have not been moping this entire time. So what have I been up to this month?

- I received a late birthday present from a friend of mine at church: Kidnapped and Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson. I've never read them before and I'm super excited too!

- I've *finally* finished rearranging my fiction bookshelf. It was an agonizing job, let me tell ya. These really deep shelves really mess with me because I can send books to the back that I don't want out...but then no one else can see them either. I may actually have to....pack books away again in the future. *sobs dramatically*

- In terms of audiobooks, I've been jumping around between a lot of different books. Most have been re-listens, though. Currently trying to slog through Callista by Cardinal John Henry Neumann.

- I've also created some book spine art! As previously mentioned, Lia had given me a print copy of Marcia Schuyler, which is an old novel that I love very dearly. However, the book cover wasn't the best and the spine was blank. I hate blank spines because then it forces me to take the book out to remember what it is. So I fixed that...with a few Sharpie markers.

Not bad....for a first attempt. I'm very proud of my hand lettering, but I'm not sure about that bird that is supposed to be on the bottom. Maybe I should have gone with flowers on the two ends. Oh well.

- I dug into my parent's Prime subscription and began to watch a few things on it. The favorite so far has been the BBC miniseries Lorna Doone. I've enjoyed it so much that I started the audiobook for it (though I have since put it down because of Lent).

- Lia and I had our annual 6th (or is it 7th?) Virtual Valentine's Day Watch Party (well, the first two were in-person, the rest were virtual due to distance). This year, we watched Pride and Prejudice: A New Musical (2020) over chocolate and wine. We both absolutely adored it and are SUPER salty that they haven't released the musical score because Darcy's songs are absolutely HILARIOUS.

- My family has recently acquired A-Team Season 4 and Season 2 of McHale's Navy. I won't be watching them until after Lent, though (sad face).

- My brothers and I went through a brief Captain America kick, in which we watched The First Avenger and Winter Soldier. Seems like a lot of my friends had Marvel kicks this February, lol.

- For Lent, I've been watching some religious movies. I watched Molokai (HIGHLY recommend, it is awesome), and for a YAG event, I watched The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson. Yes. That one. And yes, it was my first time. Yes, I cried a bucketload. Especially over the scenes with Mother Mary. I need to review it on here. Soon. Before Lent is over.

- TWR edits stalled for a couple of weeks. Even though I received some really good help with a sticky part from the alpha/betas, I grew frustrated with it. So, I took a break from it for a couple of weeks and then got back into Chapter 6, the first of the reconstructed ones. It's still slow going though.

The White Rose, Draft 4:

Edited Word Count: 9745

Chapters Edited: 5.5

For Working by Candlelight, I published no posts but drafted two. Upcoming posts will include an introduction to my Opera Dress Project (can't believe that it hasn't been published yet, what have I been doing??) and a post about historical dress and modesty!

For the Rebelling Muse, I published one post: A Fourth Blogoversary Party, in which I have a blast taking a whole bunch of crazy character quizzes. Upcoming posts will include scene evolutions from TWR and a couple of TV/Movie reviews!

For The History Cat and Maidens for Mary, I wrote no posts. Though I hope to change that fate for the former sooner rather than later. At least by April, when I hope to finally publish that Titanic post!

Goal #5: Engage more with Bloggers

Giving up reading blogs for 6 days a week has kicked up my desire to comment on more blogs, I've noticed! Maybe I shall keep this practice...

*remembers astronomical reading list from this afternoon*

Maybe that's not such a good idea.

Now, I do have a quick exit poll for you all. How do you feel about my blog's design right now? What sort of impression do you get from it?

The reason I ask is that I'm thinking of doing a deep "spring clean" aka a redesign. I don't feel like it's professional enough, and I'm getting rather annoyed with the "Popular Posts" gadget. But, I put so much work into this one and I do like the upper portion of it....help?

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine

7 comments

Grace AvenderMarch 1, 2021 at 8:35 AM
Yes I am ready for winter to be over too! Our whole yard was so treacherous to walk on with all the ice we got; it made walking our goats out to pasture quite the experience! Eeep your shelf is so beautiful! I just re-arranged our books to be color coded and it's quite aesthetically pleasing! I have that same collection of Jane Austen's books!
Ahh Lorna Doone is one of my favorites too and I'm so happy you like the P&P Musical!!!!! It's so awesome!!!
I personally like your blog look, it's fresh and springy and bright!
I can't wait to read all your upcoming posts, they sound VERY interesting!
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SamanthaMarch 1, 2021 at 4:06 PM
Ah the pain of really deep bookshelves! I think I have one shelf that has *three* layers of books in it...and do I remember that the books in the back layer exist? Um, no. XD

Ooh, book spine art! Fun!

Hurrah for Captain America! Both of those movies are SO good! (Yeah, I had a Marvel kick this February, too. Only, it was a continuation of my Marvel kick from January. And that one was a continuation of the one from December. XD)

I like your blog's overall design, but I do agree with you that the popular posts widget may need to be honorably retired...
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Helena GeorgeMarch 1, 2021 at 7:48 PM
BBC did a Lorna Doone miniseries???? Is it any good???? I've always loved the book (and actually bought a nice old hardback copy of it in January).
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Mary KateMarch 2, 2021 at 9:51 AM
Ooh Molokai! Its so good!

I think your blog design is very you, though I suppose the popular posts could be sharpened up a bit...But mainly just because the graphics are faded it and it makes it look like they haven't fully loaded, lol.

And I understand what you mean by reading more blogs when you're not allowed to! Its not quite the same thing, but I read so many posts right before I should be joining a class, lol.
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Megan the NutmegMarch 2, 2021 at 12:07 PM
I like your blog design! The pink and gray color scheme is really elegant. From my view, the body text sizing seems a little inconsistent? But overall it's quite nice. No need for a complete overhaul, I should think. Maybe just a few tweaks here and there.

Heehee, I forgot you guys were into The A-Team! Now that I'm an enthusiastic fan, I need to know, who's your favorite character?

Taking a break from WIPs is often a good idea. I hope TWR starts behaving swimmingly for you. We love that girl of yours, you know. <3
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Skye HoffertMarch 3, 2021 at 2:14 PM
I should check out Lorna Doon.

I find your blog design really pretty and elegant.
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Chloe the MovieCriticMarch 18, 2021 at 4:53 PM
Rearranging book and movies on the shelves is a lot of work, but one of my favorite things. XD Are you going to finish your Captain America kick with Civil War? That's one of my favorites! It's one of the saddest because everyone is fighting, but I just really love the motivations for each character. They are so realistic!

Those other movies sound good! I'm going to try to watch Fatima while it's still Lent.
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