Enter the Lion

Last week, as I wrote on Thursday, was beautiful. Weather in the upper 40’s and even 50’s (Fahrenheit of course), sun shining, maybe a little muddy because of all the melting snow, but even that was a good sign! I honestly thought spring arrived a month early.

Then today happened. I planned on food shopping because I restart working tomorrow, and I still don’t know my schedule beyond tomorrow (I’ll find out Tuesday night). Such great plans. I was going to conquer the world, get everything done, and by 10:30 am Tuesday morning, my living room would be miraculously and meticulously clean, my food shopping and most of my food preparations for the upcoming week would be done, and I’d babysit at my ease. At 1:32 pm today, as I write this blog, I know that not all of that will be done. I look at my “Done” list versus my “To-Do” list, though, and know that more is done than left to be done. I’ve spent about 3 1/2 hours today doing laundry, dishes (from a while ago, shamefully), working on my living room, making my bed, taking out all the trash for trash day tomorrow, and all the other miscellaneous stuff that was overdue from the end of last week or due today. I foresee maybe another 2 1/2 hours before I can think about working on my living room, but I’m not too worried about it. As far as food shopping goes, Hubby has volunteered to take Peanut to school in the morning, so I’m free to leave at 7 am and can quickly do all my running (3 stores once a week) before I have to get home by 10.

Resolutions: Lent is going well, with the exception of writing in my blog daily (skipped Saturday and Sunday due to life getting crazy). It was hard to restart the blog habit, but I’m finding things to say pretty fluently. With the addition of the daily Rosary, Peanut is learning her Hail Mary through repetition of one decade. I have never kept up with the 40 Steps to Easter book as much as I have this year, only missing 2 days so far. I even woke up Saturday, read that I should make it to Confession that day, and did some online digging so I was waiting in the Confession line at a church 1 hour away by 3:35 pm. God really wanted me to get there and made everything go smoothly so I wasn’t discouraged. Fasting is going as well as expected, still hungry most of the time, but haven’t been able to eat more than a few bites of breakfast for a few days. Peanut is still giving up sweets for the most part. Sometimes Hubby will forget and give her a cookie, and I don’t monitor what she eats at school for snack. If it means she gets a Shamrock shake a day early for St. Patrick’s Day, I’m fine with that. By the time she turns 5, she’ll be under my eye all the time, and can do more anyway. I can see what a sacrifice it is for her when Monday comes around and she asks for something sweet.

Habits: I made my bed every day this weekend, and felt a little better because of it. It’s still optional for me on the weekends, though. Saying the Rosary: not so easy. I don’t have a weekend schedule besides Story Hour on Saturdays and Mass on Sundays, so I don’t have an easy slot to put it. I’m taking steps this week to fix that, by making more of a schedule for both those days. It’s easy for me to say to just get to Mass early or stay after to say a Rosary, but 15 extra minutes (on top of the hour I’m already demanding) is hard enough for Peanut, and I don’t want her to hate the Sacraments. I did say a Rosary Sunday night, and I started it Saturday, but I fell asleep in the middle. Electronic Curfew: I’m doing it, but right now don’t see the point because my mind is possibly more active than before. I have to get to the bottom of this soon. I really want to be asleep by 9:45 pm. Eating healthy: between fasting and Paleo, I’m losing weight steadily now, and eat healthy Monday-Saturday, taking a break on Sunday (healthy breakfast, junk & treats for lunch, small and semi-healthy dinner). It’s working for me right now, and probably after Easter my diet will change again. Seasons are important.

How is your Lent going? Thursday of this week is the exact halfway point, and we have quite a few feast days this week as well. St. Thomas Aquinas is on Wednesday, so I’m not fasting on that day, but will eat healthy. St. Frances of Rome, a housewife, is on Friday, and while I continue the Lenten practice on her feast day, I do ask for her guidance in the upcoming year. Her story in the book 40 Saints for Girls by Joan Windham has stuck with me for many years, and a few years ago I started marking her feast day.