1. On the allergy front, we learned that Olivia's natural threshhold for fighting food sensitivities was likely lowered by the surgery/anesthesia/antibiotics, and then the hives send chemicals into the bloodstream to cause more hives, so her threshhold for resistance hasn't been able to recover. Which is why she reacts to EVERYTHING. And why her whole body was blooming with hives at the doctor appointment. She'll have bloodwork to determine specific sensitivities, but in the meantime we were instructed to start a daily OTC antihistamine and also ben*adryl for breakthrough hives and work very hard to keep them away. In doing so, she will naturally rebuild her tolerance against the sensitivities and then will only break out in hives during times of great stress, and not because she ate a graham cracker. I'm just overjoyed that she's not, you know, allergic to the sun or anything. Because I was starting to wonder...
2. 'Tis Fat Tuesday, is it not? Therefore, MY plate today consists of Chocolate and Bread. Starting tomorrow, I forgo sweets and grains for the duration of Lent. So I am indulging today. I ate nearly an entire "pizza" of garlic breadsticks for lunch. And I found the candy stash from SIL's wedding a couple of weeks ago. I have decided that cherry M&Ms are the best candy in the world and should be in my Easter basket.
3. This is a very busy week, what with Lent starting and swim lessons starting and basketball ending. We are going somewhere nearly every night. And somewhere in there, Joe and I have a presentation to prepare in which we "sell" a whole bunch of brand new couples on the idea of writing a whole bunch of talks and becoming Engaged Encounter presenting teams. Wheee!
4. Today, I used the internet to look up a recipe for dinner, find a phone number for a meat processing plant five hours from our home, instantly communicate with my husband and also with a friend who lives in Hawaii, and look up the easiest way to quickly ripen avocados. I have become so dependent on my instant source of information and communication that the idea of a "communication fast" once a week kind of terrifies me. How on earth did our parents and grandparents function without cell phones and internet. It baffles me. Nevertheless, I am going to try to turn the computer off one day a week. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lent. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
This Tuesday is so Fat
Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. I feel a little bit like we forgot about Lent altogether this year. I mean, it's March. We should have started this thing by now. Late Easter really throws me off.
My husband just happened to be on business in New Orleans last week, wrapping up on the very first day of the week-long celebration of Mardi Gras. He had the privilege of being in town before the craziness, but just in time to see the first parade and get a taste of the revelry. He brought home some masks, beads and a coin. I suppose we should pose with them and take a picture today. Instead, I will probably just find some sort of recipe to use up the leftover meat in my fridge and eat a little extra tonight.
Most people try to give something up for Lent. This, I think, is problematic. I know too many people who use this season as an excuse to go on a diet, and that's really not the point. The point is to remove something that is in the way of your relationship with Christ...or, alternately, to work on some area of your life that will help you become closer to Christ. While fasting from something does often help to draw our attention back to our relationship with Christ, I have a hard time seeing a fast from chocolate or soft drinks as much of a fast. (Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I've pretty much given up both as a part of this anti-inflammatory diet and don't have much craving for either anyway. Maybe it IS just me.)
As a family, we will likely be abstaining from meat for the duration. Except Sundays. Sundays are exempt as each Sunday is a celebration of Easter. So, meat on Sundays, fish and chick peas the rest of the week. I have a feeling we'll be making/eating a lot of meatless lentil and/or bean soup. After all, we don't want Olivia to starve. She won't eat salad, but she LOVES lentils and beans. Go figure.
On my own, I've decided to avoid the library. That sounds silly, but novels are my escape, sometimes to the neglect of other important chores. I've been reading through the entire collection of Christian novels by Kristen Heitzmann...have you read her? She's excellent. Many of her main characters are Catholic, which appeals to me, but also has a couple series of novels set in the old West. Something about historical novels really appeals to me. I enjoy them immensely.
But, again, the escapism...probably not a good thing. So, I've decided to fill my reading time/need with spiritual reading instead. We have an abundance of stuff in our own personal library...stuff we've collected but haven't necessarily read. I'll start there and see how it goes.
I'm also going to try to fast from the internet on fasting days (tomorrow and all Fridays). That may be a challenge...
I am celebrating Fat Tuesday by indulging in girl scout cookies. I haven't had a cookie in two months, and somehow they don't taste the same. Guess sugar doesn't have a hold on me anymore. Here's hoping that the same can be said for other vices at the end of Lent.
My husband just happened to be on business in New Orleans last week, wrapping up on the very first day of the week-long celebration of Mardi Gras. He had the privilege of being in town before the craziness, but just in time to see the first parade and get a taste of the revelry. He brought home some masks, beads and a coin. I suppose we should pose with them and take a picture today. Instead, I will probably just find some sort of recipe to use up the leftover meat in my fridge and eat a little extra tonight.
Most people try to give something up for Lent. This, I think, is problematic. I know too many people who use this season as an excuse to go on a diet, and that's really not the point. The point is to remove something that is in the way of your relationship with Christ...or, alternately, to work on some area of your life that will help you become closer to Christ. While fasting from something does often help to draw our attention back to our relationship with Christ, I have a hard time seeing a fast from chocolate or soft drinks as much of a fast. (Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I've pretty much given up both as a part of this anti-inflammatory diet and don't have much craving for either anyway. Maybe it IS just me.)
As a family, we will likely be abstaining from meat for the duration. Except Sundays. Sundays are exempt as each Sunday is a celebration of Easter. So, meat on Sundays, fish and chick peas the rest of the week. I have a feeling we'll be making/eating a lot of meatless lentil and/or bean soup. After all, we don't want Olivia to starve. She won't eat salad, but she LOVES lentils and beans. Go figure.
On my own, I've decided to avoid the library. That sounds silly, but novels are my escape, sometimes to the neglect of other important chores. I've been reading through the entire collection of Christian novels by Kristen Heitzmann...have you read her? She's excellent. Many of her main characters are Catholic, which appeals to me, but also has a couple series of novels set in the old West. Something about historical novels really appeals to me. I enjoy them immensely.
But, again, the escapism...probably not a good thing. So, I've decided to fill my reading time/need with spiritual reading instead. We have an abundance of stuff in our own personal library...stuff we've collected but haven't necessarily read. I'll start there and see how it goes.
I'm also going to try to fast from the internet on fasting days (tomorrow and all Fridays). That may be a challenge...
I am celebrating Fat Tuesday by indulging in girl scout cookies. I haven't had a cookie in two months, and somehow they don't taste the same. Guess sugar doesn't have a hold on me anymore. Here's hoping that the same can be said for other vices at the end of Lent.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Nothing gets people in the pews like...
Ash Wednesday. It is a draw, people.
Today is the third consecutive snow day here. Even though the snow stopped falling on Monday and all the main roads are clear, there are apparently several rural school bus routes that are still very slick and treacherous. So the schools are still calling off classes.
We took advantage of the clear main roads and our day "off" to go to a noon Mass for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, and yet Catholics who consistently ignore other holy days (including many Sundays) will bend over backward to make it to Ash Wednesday Mass. This is a celebration that marks the beginning of the season of Lent and during which we reflect on our sinfulness and our need for God in our lives.
So today, standing in the back with about 150 other latecomers in a very large, very crowded Church, I reflected on this phenomenon of attendance at a mid-day, weekday, optional Mass. Why do so many people brave the snow and cold and crowds to get to this Mass?
I think the answer lies in our deep hunger for God's presence in our lives. No matter how people are living or how much they neglect their faith, deep down people KNOW that there's a God-shaped hole in their hearts that needs to be filled, and Ash Wednesday just has a way of calling them back to fill that hole.
During Lent, many people do some sort of penance, or "give something up". The purpose of this is to remove some of the distraction of our lives that gets in the way of our relationship to God so that we may grow closer to Him. Giving up something helps remind us, in a small way, of our dependence on God. Every time we want that thing that we gave up and deny ourselves, we remember that.
Part of my Lenten penance is to stop complaining so much. My life is so blessed that I have really no reason to complain, so I need to stop. I like to use this forum to complain (which is probably why I don't seem to have any readers), so I'm limiting my blog time to once a week. When I do blog, it is likely to be a little more interesting and thoughtful and not so much complaining about the snow. And by the end of Lent, the snow will (please, God!) be gone for the year, so we'll just call this the end of our litany of the evils of snow.
Happy Lent!
Today is the third consecutive snow day here. Even though the snow stopped falling on Monday and all the main roads are clear, there are apparently several rural school bus routes that are still very slick and treacherous. So the schools are still calling off classes.
We took advantage of the clear main roads and our day "off" to go to a noon Mass for Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church, and yet Catholics who consistently ignore other holy days (including many Sundays) will bend over backward to make it to Ash Wednesday Mass. This is a celebration that marks the beginning of the season of Lent and during which we reflect on our sinfulness and our need for God in our lives.
So today, standing in the back with about 150 other latecomers in a very large, very crowded Church, I reflected on this phenomenon of attendance at a mid-day, weekday, optional Mass. Why do so many people brave the snow and cold and crowds to get to this Mass?
I think the answer lies in our deep hunger for God's presence in our lives. No matter how people are living or how much they neglect their faith, deep down people KNOW that there's a God-shaped hole in their hearts that needs to be filled, and Ash Wednesday just has a way of calling them back to fill that hole.
During Lent, many people do some sort of penance, or "give something up". The purpose of this is to remove some of the distraction of our lives that gets in the way of our relationship to God so that we may grow closer to Him. Giving up something helps remind us, in a small way, of our dependence on God. Every time we want that thing that we gave up and deny ourselves, we remember that.
Part of my Lenten penance is to stop complaining so much. My life is so blessed that I have really no reason to complain, so I need to stop. I like to use this forum to complain (which is probably why I don't seem to have any readers), so I'm limiting my blog time to once a week. When I do blog, it is likely to be a little more interesting and thoughtful and not so much complaining about the snow. And by the end of Lent, the snow will (please, God!) be gone for the year, so we'll just call this the end of our litany of the evils of snow.
Happy Lent!
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