What's been going on lately with me:

Can't decide which blog I want to use on a regular basis... right now it looks like I'll just stick with posting on both at random and unpredictable times. (other blog: realhousewifechicago.blogspot.com)

Visited a new church the weekend before last: Park Community Church
And have begun attending a "small group" (aka Bible study) associated with the church community. Only one visit, so far, but it's encouraging by first impressions. I'm still feeling a little frustrated that I have such a hard time connecting with people in a church community -- sometimes I feel like no one but my family truly understands where I'm coming from. It is hard to feel spiritually stranded in your community, but I know there is a reason I have been put in this position, and am feeling a bit like the heroine of a book I just finished. More below...

I completed the excellent novel St. Elmo by Augusta Jane Evans last Tuesday. It was a fascinating novel about a Southern orphan who is adopted into a wealthy lifestyle but encounters in her new home the hard-hearted son of her benefactress. She is utterly devoted to her faith, and her studies, and the novel follows the course of her life as she grows to love the godless man called St. Elmo -- and eventually becomes the inspiration for his salvation. It was such a good book, and I am so glad it came recommended by my mother. I'm seeking out more of Augusta Jane Evans' novels, though they are about as hard to find as would be expected for a now-obscure Southern female author (who was, as it so happens, on the side of the Confederacy). This may lead to a little publication project for me, but more on that later (if it comes to fruition).

Other than that, my life has been a daily hodge-podge of work, cleaning, reading and watching TV (probably more than necessary) -- and more wasted minutes than I care to count.