Falling down

Well, I did pretty well with blogging everyday until these last few days.  It’s a pity to fall down at the end but there it is.  It was partly due to being busy– I had to prepare for my faith formation class on Wednesday and it took more time than anticipated.  It’s also due to readingThe Hunger Games, which I enjoyed.

My class went well, the kids enjoyed the Seder food (unleavened bread, celery, charoset, hard-boiled eggs, grape juice) and responded well too learning about Passover and the Last Supper.  We followed it with Stations of the Cross, which also went well.  The kids always enjoy that, probably because they get to participate.  They always do better when they can be more active.

I’ve been intrigued by what I’ve heard about the hunger games, so I plowed through the book this week and saw the movie last night with my daughter and one of my friends.  I liked both.  The book isn’t great literature and the ideas are not necessarily anything new but the author did a good job of putting it together and there is some good social commentary in it.  I liked the movie as well, in spite of the violence– I think they did a good job of portraying the brutality.

As for giving up sweets for Lent, well, I’ve fallen down there, too.  Things were going mostly well, but this week I’ve been a bit PMS-y and it was getting herder.  I was also getting crabbier and crabbier.  One of the problems with being peri-menopausal is that I seem to get stuck in a phase of my cycle for weeks.  Right now I’m stuck at the crabby-and-craving-chocolate phase.  (I’ve cheated here and there but have not had chocolate at all. )  Yesterday at work, after dealing with a rude customer, I mentioned to the gang that I was craving chocolate and wanting to kill people.  J. pointed out that, if I couldn’t eat chocolate, that left killing people as my only option, and K. told me to just eat some chocolate already.  So I did, and I’m not going to lie, I feel much better.

I’m hoping to leave it there and finish Holy Week in a good way.  Hopefully…. Philippians 4:13, right?

Cold Again

March is always a fickle month; the proof of this is the weather today, 34 degrees when I woke up.  It’s been cool, cloudy and windy all day. Maybe the cooler weather will keep the grass from growing so fast– I already need to mow my lawn!  I’m putting it off, because once I start, I’ll be mowing until October.  But if I don’t do it in the next day or two, it will be too long for my reel mower…

Right now I’m sitting at the box office at the theatre guild, and sales are not quite non-existent.  Hopefully they will pick up later this week; our little group needs the money from this show badly . Anticipating slow sales, I hauled along my laptop, and I’ve had some uninterrupted time to work on things.  I’ve written my little essay for my scholarship application, which I hope to mail off tomorrow and be done with.  I’ve also worked on my lesson plans and modified Seder for class Wednesday evening, so that’s almost done. I’m working to keep the focus on how the Seder relates to our own Eucharistic Liturgy, while hopefully giving the kids a taste of how the New Covenant proceeds from the Old.  All this while not running too long or boring them.

Rather than the usual pizza snack, I’m having them munch on our little Passover meal while we talk about it.  I spent some time searching for recipes for unleavened bread.  3 years ago, when I first did my much-too-complicated Seder, I found a really nice, tasty recipe for unleavened bread.   I actually used it for the Last Supper scene in Godspell, which our theatre guild was doing at the time.  It’s possible I wrote it down somewhere, but so far I have not been able to find it, though I’ve found a few that look similar.  I also need to get apples and nuts for charoseth, and of course hard-boiled eggs, and grape juice.   Maybe celery for the bitter herbs.  I won’t do the horseradish, last time I did and the kids did NOT like it.  Too hot!

Since I spent so much time on Sunday reading, I was feeling a little stressed and rather behind on things, so having this time to work on stuff has been very nice.  Still, I wouldn’t mind doing a few sales…

Equinox

It’s the first day of spring, but it felt more like summer– temperature in the upper 70′s and sunny.  In spite of having to work I got to enjoy the weather.  I dropped the car off this morning for an oil change so had a longer walk to work than usual.  Then after work I had a long walk to pick it back up.   After I got home I shoved a lamb roast in the oven, got the day’s dishes done (Madeline doesn’t have a lot of time to do them, especially on Tuesdays), then headed outside and spent the better part of an hour on yard work.  I raked enough leaves to fill three big lawn & leaf bags and did some more weeding.  I’ve got at least one bed cleared out, it looks muchbetter.  I’m on my porch now writing.  I love sitting on the porch, especially in the late afternoon/early evening.  It’s my favorite place to unwind after a long day.

One day last week a semi-regular customer came in– he lives out-of-town and comes whenever he’s in town.   He was reading a book and I peaked at the title.  I always do this, or ask right out, it’s fun to see what people are reading and I’ve gotten some suggestions.  He was reading a book called The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas.  He said it was his Lenten reading. I looked it up and it sounded intriguing, so I downloaded it to my Nook.  It has sucked me right in, I quite like it so far.   Next time he comes in I will have to thank him.

I’ve stayed strong with my Lenten fast from sweets, I’ve only broken it twice, once when I had part of a crisp I made for Madeline, and this Sunday when I had a piece of Jacob’s birthday pie– I kept it to one serving each time, which is pretty good for me!  I also have tasted a dessert once or twice at work, mostly because they were new ones and I needed to describe them well to customers.  Other than that, I’m doing well.  Today was torture, though.  The dessert case was empty and the 3 resident bakers were hard at work all morning to fill it. Pies: Lime meringue, chocolate cream, peach, peanut butter; a raspberry cobbler, two kinds of galettes, pavlova– it was incredible and oh, so tempting.  I’m proud to say I stayed strong, except for one small taste of cobbler– it was a new recipe.  Only a few more weeks to go!  I’ve made it this far, and I intend to stay strong.  It has been very, very good for me.

Lent

Ash Wednesday was this week so we are in Lent, and I’ve given up sweets again.  By sweets I mean candy and desserts– I haven’t given up sugar completely.  I still put honey in my yogurt and sugar in my tea.  But I won’t eat cookies and pie and stuff at work, I won’t make them at home, and I have given up chocolate.   I tried to do this last year and made it through 2 or 3 weeks, then backslid.  I tried to get back on it for the rest of Lent but never did.  I’m determined this year, though.

I’m doing it for several reasons, one of the biggest being self-control.  I don’t have a lot of will-power when it comes to sweets, and I’m hoping that gaining control over myself in this area will help me in other areas.  Another reason is health:  my stomach is getting huge, and all those “Lose Belly Fat” ads on Facebook and, well, every other website I go to are starting to make me feel paranoid. (I’m sure as a 48-year-old female I hit the right demographic for that, but I find myself taking it very personally). I’m also offering it up as a prayer, for a specific intention, and focusing on that intention is what will help me do this– it’s something I’ve been praying for, for a while, but I’ve felt called to pray in a deeper and more meaningful way.  I won’t specify the intention, but it’s not for myself.

It will be tough six weeks, but the worst few days are over– Thursday was especially hard, since the cafe had just re-opened and the bakery case was filled with luscious desserts.  I persevered, though, and I will not avail myself to the Sunday exception even though it is technically allowed; that’s what sunk me last year. When the going gets rough, I will focus on my intention, and remember Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”