30 Days of Me: Day 14 - A non-fictional book

Right now, as far as non-fiction goes, I've been reading a lot of preggo/baby books lately for the obvious reasons (duh!).

Although there are 2 books I really like that currently reside in our bathroom.

1) "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff in Love" by Richard and Kristine Carlson
If you're not familiar with the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series, they're little bathroom sized books with chapters/stories about 2-4 pages long that lay out a basic issue we all deal with in every day life and reminds us not to sweat the small stuff, because really, in the big picture of things, it really is small stuff. In the "in Love" book, Richard Carlson co-wrote it with his wife and they share stories and experiences from their own marriage and others they've worked with over the years to help you realize that some of the "small stuff" your partner might do is really just small stuff that's not worth the argument, as well as other little fun suggestions on ways to strengthen your relationship, like just taking time out of your busy day for each other, or be considerate of each other, etc. It's a really good book and I highly recommend it for anyone in a serious committed relationship or a marriage as there's a lot of great advice in this book for both men and women!

2) "Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul"
I LOVE Chicken Soup books and always have to buy the one that corresponds with whatever "big" event I'm going through in life (ie: Chicken Soup for the College Soul, Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul - I'm sure there's one for the new homeowner's soul too!). I got hooked on the Teenage Soul ones when I was in Junior High and just kept up with them. The stories that are submitted are funny, cute, and heart-warming as well as helpful too. And they make for great bathroom reading too as the stories are usually 2-5 pages long and sometimes include little poems, quotes/verses/mantras and amusing cartoon comics throughout. While this one says it's for Expectant Moms, there's an entire section devoted to expectant daddies too! What's neat is that the stories are all submitted/written by real people who share their experiences with the topic and sometimes celebrities will submit some too, so it's kinda neat to be able to relate to some of them (the teen ones always had several celeb submitted stories in each of them which was pretty cool).

It started out years ago as just Chicken Soup for the Soul and had various volumes added to it before they started getting people specific - it's amazing seeing how many there are now! In the bookstore, they used to have them all in the self-help section, but there's gotten to be so many that they just include them in different book areas of the store. You name a type of person, pet or hobby and you can almost guarentee there's a Chicken Soup book for that! I love em!