As-Quick-as-I-Can-Make-'em Takes

So, well...  I thought I'd have a little more time to be on the computer than I have the last couple of days.    I hadn't planned to have a Lenten computer silence this year, but Life may decide it for me anyway.  At least sometimes.  I may be scarce, but know that I'm trying to get on and post and visit, regardless...  Without any other real media -- or coffee -- for the next 37 days, if I don't have the internet, there is no doubt -- I'll go stark staring! 

Anyway, here's what we have in the works right at the moment for the Lenten season, in seven Quick-as-I-Can-Make-'em Takes

1) We have recently been granted a heavenly blessing in that the little chapel across the meadow resonates almost every day now with the offering of two Masses, one at the rooster's crow and another at 8 a.m. for those of us who don't care for the company of the rooster.  Dan takes first shift, I take second shift with the children (when it's a school Mass day).  This has been a wonderful timely addition to our schedule and one that we hope not to take for granted!

2) We are doing one of these:

Instructions here.

3) Along with the traditional and other miscellaneous voluntary sacrifices we're making for Lent, Paul and Nicole have inspired Dan and me to do the Love Dare.  The "challenge" takes forty days, which is convenient, and Easter precedes our 24th wedding anniversary by about a week, so we thought it might be a beautifully pro-active thing to add to the Lenten mix.  If you've never heard of the Love Dare (or seen the movie Fireproof), it's worth checking out -- We've heard good things about it -- and it can be applied easily to our Catholic understanding and tweaked for our sensibilities. 

Not that ours isn't the perfect marriage!  Mind you, except for Dan's snoring and his lack of molars (poor guy just had to have one pulled yesterday!), he's the perfect husband.  (No, I'm not laughing, that was my chair squeaking.  Really.  ;)  And, heaven knows I'm the perfect wife.  (Snort!)  But there's not  a marriage out there that doesn't need a good heavenward refocusing every once in a while. We're looking forward to this as a "refresher course."

4)  Cathy and I have resolved to give up wearing jeans or slacks (or shorts or culottes, etc.) for Lent, which is not a real biggie for us, because we wear skirts most of the time anyway.  Frankly, we just like them.  I have a multitude of thoughts on the issue of wearing slacks vs. wearing dresses that I posted about some time ago, but suffice it to say, I don't feel a particular conviction toward swearing off the two-legged garment for the rest of my life.  For Lent, however I'm pleased to make the sacrifice.  (Which might be a better sacrifice, I guess, if it bothered me more, huh?) 

Anyway, in that vain, Cathy and I want to show, once and for all that, for all the objections you might hear about the traditional feminine attire, one of them is just not so: plain and simple, there is nothing worth doing that can't be done in a skirt.  Ask our grandmothers.  Ask the Sisters.  While a windy day can throw up some challenges, and while a girl ought to be very careful who's around while climbing a tree, skirts and dresses really aren't as much a hindrance as some think.  Proof of this we hope to share in occasional photo studies we'll just call: Skirts.  Stay tuned.

5) We're just beginning to beef up (har-har) our early Lenten have-on-hand meatless meal stock.  On our list:  hummus and pimiento cheese, which are soooo much better homemade it's not funny.  We like Paula Dean's pimiento cheese recipe and are going to try our favorite Italian blogger, Bia's, hummus recipe, but beause we have been getting requests for it, we'll be making granola first.  Here's the recipe we like, from Hillbilly Housewife -- simple, good, versatile. 

6)  As a Lenten exercise I'm setting up a blog in which to type out a wonderful book I got on loan from Sister K. called Praying While you Work: Devotions for the use of Martha rather than Mary, by Dom Hubert Van Zeller.  I'm half-way through reading it and have found it very helpful and inspiring, and since it's not a terribly long book, I hoped I could share it with other interested mothers.  The counsels are wonderful, but just for the awesome prayers in the back, this is a book well worth having.  As it's out of print, I copied Sister's on my copy machine so I could keep it for myself -- and so I could share it with you.  I'll let you know when the blog is up and running.

7) Last week I got to take another ride on the California Zephyr from Denver home over the beautiul Colorado Rockies.  I've done this several times now, but it's a ride I will never get tired of taking.  So long as I haven't got any pressing engagements within about 48 hours of my trip, that is. 

Get this.  My train was delayed leaving Denver because the conductor, making his early morning rounds somewhere in Nebraska, found a dead guy in one of the cars.  No kidding.  It was the gossip of the train -- and let me tell you, because you wouldn't know unless you'd spent some time with Amtrak -- one of the chief differences between airline and train travel lies in the communication between, amongst, and about travelers.  Ohmyword, is there talktalktalktalktalk on a train!  I'll  download some more "Pictures From the Train Window" -- and fill you in on some of the scoop as soon as I can -- hopefully this weekend.

TTFN, though...

Make sure and run over to Conversion Diaries for lots more (probably quicker)Quick Takes!