Yay! Quick Takes!

---1---

My, it's been a long time since my last post!  I guess the 7 posts in 7 days sort of did me in---even though I did only 5. I've been discovering that the days go really well if I don't sit down at the computer in the mornings.  I can check my mail on my phone, and go about my day Getting Things Done.  But morning is definitely the blogging time, so...

---2---

I enjoyed this post over at CatholicMom.com on overcoming one's Negative Nancy tendencies. Maybe you're not Negative Nancy, but there's probably help for dealing with the whiners in your life there, too.

---3---

I'm excited to start this huge project of The Sock Yarn Blanket thanks to the generosity of fellow knitters who gave me their sock yarn scraps.  It's crazy, like a crazy quilt, and it's big, and you have to take it with you wherever you go as it grows, and I may be the only one who likes it.  But I'm making it.  

---4---

I made a fun discovery on Amazon the other day!  I was looking up a book I'm interested in, and saw a little note that said I could buy the Kindle copy, and then for just 3 easy payments of $29.95a little more money, I could also get the Audible version. They were nice enough to show me a list of books I own on Kindle, which ones have Audible versions, and how much they cost, so I was able to buy 4 of them for only $0.99 each!  All I had to do was download the free Audible app to my phone. Now I'm 1/3 of the way through Chesterton's What's Wrong with the World.

---5---

Speaking of Chesterton, the Weekends with Chesterton haven't been happening much since I a) only blog in the mornings, and b) rarely on weekends.  That and the fact that I'm having a hard time plowing through G.K's work.  There are lots of great quotations in What's Wrong with the World, though, let me tell you!

---6---

My Darling Girl has been visiting this week, and we have had lots of time together. I've gotten to see her more than anyone else, and it's been wonderful.  She helped me paint my kitchen the other day---a long overdue project with its outdated 90's faux finish---which I still loved, but it was time. We sanded, primed, painted, and put everything back together in record time, and....I can't stand it. It's a gorgeous blue color, but it's way too cool a hue for the rest of the great room. I love how it brightens the room when I first walk in, but then I see how it doesn't match or "go" at all, and it makes me crazy. Sigh.  What do you think?

---7---

Beverley, I'm trying really hard to get rid of my "puddles of white" when I type, but it's really, really hard to break the 35 year-old habit of double-spacing after a period, so maybe the answer is to write really, really, long, run-on sentences so that I require fewer periods, what do you think about that?

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Join the fun at Jen's for more 7 Quick Takes!

2nd Day of Lent

Methinks it will be a long Lent if I count each day! It's only the 2nd day and I'm not doing as well as I would like, but I think we're "ready" now.  ;-)  Lent is like Christmas, it comes whether you're ready or not. Thanks to all those dedicated bloggers, I got lots of new (and old) Lenten ideas at the last minute.

So...here's what's up in our house:

I made the annual calendar using Jessica's download.  She's amazing.  It would take me way too many hours to put together all those graphics! And she's super-sweet to share with the world, too. I made my poster re-usable by not putting dates on it, and I didn't permanently glue down St. Patrick's, St. Joseph, and the Annunciation.  Everything else stays the same because Lent always starts on a Wednesday.  That's one good thing about it!

The routine is, usually, to do a Bible reading for the "Jesus Tree" but we haven't gotten there yet.  The box with the foam cutouts is on the table. Waiting. We have decided to pray a whole rosary (instead of just a decade) together after dinner, which we've done twice.  woot!  But I found this really cool method for memorizing scripture via Elizabeth Foss, which we haven't done yet. I simply forgot about it tonight. Maybe tomorrow, but tomorrow is the first Fish Fry....and the plans go awry...but I promise we will get to it because I have wanted my kids to memorize scripture for years and we just haven't been good at it.

The vase is full of ideas to liven up our days if we're weary of the same old sacrifice day in and day out.  There's another great list here, if you still need some ideas.  I think these come in really handy when someone has...say...a birthday party to attend, and that sacrifice of sweets for Lent is suddenly too much to bear.  

I haven't intentionally given up any food for Lent, just for my 50 for 50 Diet.  However, I just realized I have to give up nightshades, too.  I guess that will have to be part of my Lenten fast!

I'm in more of the Do Something for Lent camp, this year. Meg, Pip, and I are listening to the New Testament in the car on the way to school.  I love it.   We will get through far more than the Gospels this year, and we will just start Matthew again when we're done with Revelation. 

I also signed up for the Lenten reflections through Flocknote.  I forgot that I also signed up for Fr. Robert Barron's reflections, too!  So, I'm reflecting a lot, in addition to the spiritual books I want to read. 

It looks as though I have also given up pants for Lent, taking the SkirtUp Challenge.  I enjoy wearing skirts, and I have quite a few, but it may get difficult at some point.  Like when I'm stripping wallpaper off the bathroom walls next week.  I think I need a denim skirt.

Is your Lent off to a good start?  Or have you, like me, bitten off more than you can chew and you're already trying to decide what to keep and what to let go?

Pre-Lent Daybook

FOR TODAY

Outside my window...
It's rainy and chilly after a gloriously warm and sunny Sunday.  I wish it were beautiful again, but I'll keep my complaints to myself since others still have frigid temperatures, snow, and sleet.

I am thinking...
About my weekend and how I failed to finish my 7 posts in 7 days.  I'll count it a success, anyway, since I did post 5 days in a row.  I was up at 5 a.m. and out of the house by 5:40 on Saturday for a trip to Chattanooga for AHG training.  Exhausted when I got back!  And Sunday was... Sunday.  I rarely feel like blogging on my day off.  I try to stay away from the computer as much as possible, then.

I am thankful...
My brother-in-law is home from Afghanistan.  We've been praying for him since early October, and I'm relieved that he is home safely.

From the school table...
My high schooler is in his room re-reading history books and studying for tomorrow's mid-term. My 6th grader is in a puddle on the floor because she doesn't like narrating stories.  So, I'm blogging.

In the kitchen...
A new batch of kombucha today, and no plans for dinner yet.

I am wearing...
A long skirt, because the jeans are all dirty and it's too cold and damp for capris.  I'm considering taking the Skirt Challenge and wearing skirts all through Lent.  What do you think?

What I’m doing with fiber...
I "finished" my Drop in the Ocean, but it still needs a few ends woven in and blocking.  I'm ready to start the 3rd color in my Color Affection, so I really feel like I'm making a lot of progress on that one.  It's time to start thinking about summer knitting!

I am going...
nowhere special this week---just normal errands and schools.

I am reading...I am hearing on my ipod...

Your Personal Paleo Code by Chris Kresser.  Good, but there are a lot of charts and graphs which makes for slow reading when you're listening to the audiobook!

I am hoping and praying...
Oh my, the list grows ever longer...

• Elizabeth DeHority
• Gus
• Natalie - who has been in the hospital since 2/20, and is having surgery today.
• All of our priests
• an end to aborthion

I am looking forward to...
Ash Wednesday being over.  ;-)  It's always a challenge to be hungry and busy.  Getting to Mass on time and feeding everyone dinner at some point is going to be hard.  I'm supposed to sing in the choir, but that might not happen if I can barely get there in time.  I guess if God wants me in the choir, He'll get me there!

Around the house...
It's quiet.  Business as usual.

One of my favorite things...
Finding a book that's so gripping that I can't put it down.  I haven't had one of those in a while. You know, you spend all your spare minutes reading...while waiting for the water to boil in the kitchen...wherever you find spare moment.  Do you know of any like that?

A few plans for the rest of the week...
Finish up the Lenten prep!  It's Tuesday now...I started this Monday, and I finally got the Christmas wreath off the door and put up the Lenten one!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

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