I had a friend come up a with a great idea she got from a friend.
I have struggled with keeping my blog private but letting friends know when I have updated our blog.
So if you put this web address in your feed reader or blog roll you can still see updates.
http://meyerandfamily.blogspot.com/
This site will just have a post title and a sentence from my post. You will still have to jump over to my private blog, but at least you would know you were going to see something.