Adventures in healthy grocery shopping, Take 1...

Good day, all! Yesterday afternoon I had my first experience of attempting to stock "real foods" in our house for my 10 day real food pledge. How did I do? Read on, dear friend...

I left work around 3 pm, using some comp. time, so that I would have plenty of time to shop and not feel rushed. Those of you with children know what I mean: DIVIDED ATTENTION. It's a wonder I leave the house fully dressed each morning with my kids constantly clamoring for attention when I'm trying to focus on tasks at hand. And in the grocery store, this inevitably means that you get out to your car with the bags and realize you forgot to get 3 crucial ingredients for dinner that very night but you mysteriously have a package of Little Debbie cakes that you know you didn't put in the cart.

So anyway, I was blissfully ALONE with my list and the thoughts running through my own head as I headed into one of the big grocery store chains in this area. This store in known for being fairly "crunchy" in its volume of organic food, so I figured I'd find (most of) the crazy stuff I was looking for there.

*picture me wandering through an aisle muttering "agave nectar?" under my breath*

I can sum up my experience into these simple points. Shopping for non-processed food:

(1) Takes longer. Looking for wheat crackers made with 5 or fewer ingredients? Good luck.

(2) Also takes longer to check out.

"Um..."

"Cilantro."

"Ah, ok."

"Um..."

"Red onion."

"Ok. And, what's..."

(3) More expensive. $9.99 for a tiny container of real maple syrup? Ouch.

(4) Society is working against us. It is not always easy to find even simple things that haven't been processed to the very inch of its life. Ever look at the list of ingredients on a typical loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread? Do it. You will be shocked.

(5) All of the stuff you will read about eating real food will tell you to shop at the periphery of the store. I didn't really put a lot of thought into that, but that is in fact what happened just based on what I was looking for. Fresh produce, meat, fish, and dairy products all line the edges of the store. I've never been particularly adventuresome in this area, but that is now changing:

"Um, excuse me. I'm looking for pork...*consults list* shoulder?"

"Yes, we have some over here."

"Those are all 7 lbs. and up and I need 3-3 and a half pounds. Is there like a...substitution system for pork that I don't know about?"

"We can cut one of these in half for you."

"Really?!"

"Sure, come to the meat counter."

The meat counter. I felt like the next step was to head back to my homestead.

The other things on my list were also fairly close to the edges of the store. Frozen foods, for some vegetables that weren't in season. The baking aisle for spices, bagged tea and honey. The beverage aisle for carbonated water. Cereal aisle for rolled oats. The only time I dipped into the middle of the store was to get shampoo for the kids, and then to the canned food aisle for black beans and pureed pumpkin. Oh, and whole wheat pasta in the ethnic food area.

I was sweating my total, but I did the very best I could to pare back what I got. I selected regular vanilla yogurt to make my overnight oats instead of the Greek that I wanted, and I didn't get any fresh mint, figuring we could grow some this year in our garden and I could experiment with it then in a much cheaper way. My one splurge was pumpkin pie spice ($4.99 for the tiniest container you can imagine) to make Pumpkin Fluff Dessert Dip. My total?

$70.62.

I let out a sigh of relief. I was hoping to come in under $70, but I knew I would certainly be way above $50. I got enough food for 4 dinners (more if you consider leftovers), many breakfasts and some items for lunch that should last about 2 weeks. I was pleased.

When I got home, I had the house to myself for about a half hour. I prepared and put some Spinach and Cheddar Mini Frittatas in the oven, so that I could have those for breakfast on and off for the next several days. I was told that they keep well in the refrigerator. I also brewed iced tea and made the pumpkin dip. I was on fire.

When my family got home, they were very curious about my endeavors. Mike and I were planning to split some leftovers from dinner the past 2 nights. Although the kids ate those two dinners, they weren't overly thrilled about reprising their cooperation. Each child spotted the new bag of apples and asked for one. I was pleased. Then they asked after the frittatas. 

"Eggs and cheese? Oh yes! But what's that green stuff?"

*pause as I consider whether or not to tell them the truth* "Spinach."

I might as well have said that the frittatas were seasoned with Anthrax. They backed away in horror.

"Spinach?! Never mind." 

"It's GOOD, trust me. You can't even taste the spinach in eggs."

They were dubious, but agreed to try a frittata. Next thing I knew, I was sitting down to my leftovers and glanced over at the kids' plates. They were empty. Henry was requesting seconds.

My children ate spinach? Board up your windows everybody, the pestilence must be coming next!!

This, my friends, is a GOOD feeling. We'll see where these 10 days take us, but I'm excited! Tonight, we're having black bean patties with pineapple rice. Mike gave me a look when we realized that we will need to bust out our seldom used food processor for this shindig, but I was not dissuaded. I'm tired of hurriedly throwing together odd-tasting, artificial food during the work week. Next!

This morning, I heated up one of the frittatas and had a piece of toast with, get this, REAL BUTTER! *halo* This is living, people!

I will keep you apprised of how things are going, here in the continuing saga of Life of a Catholic Librarian: The Children Are Forced To Eat Brussels Sprouts.

;-0

Life of the Catholic Librarian, a Monday evening...

Hello all! Reporting in again with antics from my life, for those who care to read such things. Yesterday afternoon my mind was all awhirl with recipes, plans for my upcoming 10 day real food pledge (slated to begin tomorrow), and stuff I had to do around the house. I left work a bit early to do a few errands on my way home. Given that my mind was awhirl (see supra), it wasn't exactly a huge surprise to get out to my car and realize that:

(a) I had forgotten my knitting bag to work on my project at home, despite it being placed atop my desk as a reminder, and

(b) I had forgotten to change from my work shoes back to my boots. I do this twice a day, every day, and yet...I forgot.

My life could be written up in a dissertation entitled: The Aging Brain: A Study in Futility.

First, I stopped at the mall. I had a lovely gift card to Teavana from my birthday, and I wanted to explore some new herbal teas in my quest to eliminate artificial sweeteners. One intense and expensive (thank God for that gift card :0) interaction later, I emerged with a big bag. I am now the proud owner of an infuser teapot for loose tea, and 3 small canisters of herbals to try out, and if you know me at all, dear reader, you would know that these flavors had "Catholic Librarian!" written all over them:

Caramel Almond Amaretti
Chocolate Bananas Foster
CocoCaramel Sea Salt

I mean, did you ever? I'm so thrilled. I can drink these without any sweetening whatsoever. They are already happily ensconced in my office.

I wasn't at the mall nearly as long as I thought, so I had time to pop by JoAnn's on my way home. I needed buttons for Mike's cardigan, because THAT BABY IS OFF THE NEEDLES!!! It is DONE! Well, almost. The pieces are knit and blocked, but they have to be seamed together.

*long suffering sigh*

I hate seaming. But there is light at the end of the tunnel! So, buttons. I needed 5. I had previously asked Mike what color he would like the buttons to be:

"Navy blue."

"Ok Honey, but the sweater IS navy blue. Wouldn't you like a coordinating contrast? Gray? Tan? Maybe go wild and crazy and get, oh I don't know, light brown?"

"Brown?" *look of horror* "Navy blue, please."

And so I stopped at JoAnn's and got the plainest, most boring navy blue buttons you can possibly imagine. They were so bland they cost $1 per 3 button package, the least expensive buttons in the display. For a woman who usually buys handpainted buttons shaped like acorns or alpacas this was difficult to do. I brought them home to show Mike.

"These are PERFECT!"

I knew it.

Mike made dinner, dear soul that he is, mustard chicken with rice, and the children gamely ate some of it amidst cries of "What is *that red thing*? A pepper! GROSS!" Kitchen clean up followed, and then Mike left for an audition to a community play he was interested in. I got the kids ready for bed, and wrangled Anne into her crib, no easy feat these days.

"Mommy read me a story!" "Mommy I need my *pink* blanket!" "Mommy can I sleep with Teddy?" "Mommy, I don't want Ernie in my crib!!"

And finally, the piece de resistance:

"Ok Honey, I'm blowing you a kiss, good night!"

"Mommy, I have to go potty."

*collapses*

Finally, she is taken care of and settled. I grab a shower while Henry watches Regular Show. I get dried off and jammied up, and plead guilty to watching an episode of Regular Show with Henry and enjoying it. It is now Henry's bedtime.

"Ok Honey, go brush your teeth."

"Mommy, my toothbrush is all gross and ready to be replaced. Could you go up and get me the new red lightsaber one I got for Christmas?"

"Why can't you go upstairs and get it?"

"I have to go pee." *halo*

I trudge upstairs, wondering why we don't impose a 6 pm bedtime on days when Mommy is especially tired. :0 As I walk down the darkened hallway to the upstairs bathroom, which lies immediately beside Anne's bedroom, my foot painfully hits something. A swear word passes my lips as I realize I am powerless to stop the subsequent loud BANG! against the adjacent radiator.

Mr. Potato's Books.

 
Has she lost her mind, what is she talking about?! I am referring to this little ritual that Anne has devised. Every day, she insists that she has to leave this pile of hardcover books right in the entryway to the upstairs bathroom "for Mr. Potato." Mr. Potato is a character in the fabulous British cartoon Peppa Pig. She loves him. And she leaves books for him. In the bathroom. I'm not sure if Mr. Potato is supposed to *read* them, or manifest on them, or what. But everyday she makes this pile. And now I have knocked them over, injured my foot, and they have banged loudly against the radiator almost immediately outside Anne's door. I swear again, just for good measure.

I grab Henry's new toothbrush and hurry downstairs. As I'm readying his asthma medicine for the night, I hear it: the sound of a monologue coming from Anne's room. My little escapade in the bathroom woke her up.

WHY HAS GOD ABANDONED ME?!

I hustle Henry upstairs, forcing him to tiptoe up the stairs all crazy the way I do, to avoid the squeaky spots in the floor. I get him in his room and read him the story of St. Patrick as he gets into bed, our nightly saint ritual. He reads an excerpt out of one of his St. Joseph picture books aloud, as is also our custom. He's currently reading about Padre Pio.

As I tiptoe out of Hank's room, I press my ear to Anne's door. All is quiet. God loves me again.

I go downstairs to await Mike's return. As he pulls into the driveway, I am waiting with a big glass of wine. :)

ANDDDDDDD, that was my evening! How was yours?

Real food - a Lenten quest

Happy Monday all! Although not technically part of my Lenten resolutions, I've been thinking a lot lately about self discipline with regard to food. Listening to Fr. Roderick talk about his Lenten pledge to simplify his life in terms of physical and emotional clutter, as well as his eating habits, inspired me. I also recently read a book that I highly recommend, Real Food by Nina Planck. While I don't see us moving to raw milk (maybe ever) or grass fed beef (at least not exclusively) the ideas in the book really motivated me. I don't think the extent to which my family (and Americans generally) relies on processed food ever fully registered with me until I read this book. When I thought "processed foods," I thought about Kraft mac & cheese with the orange powder. I didn't realize that nearly everything we consume is from a box or package of some sort, rather than being a food in its natural form. This was very eye opening for me.

I mentioned sometime recently that I was trying to lose about 6 pounds of final baby/weaning weight (don't laugh, I know my daughter is nearly 3 years old :)), as well as improve my cholesterol. I'm at a healthy weight for my height, it's true, but genetics and, increasingly, age are working against me. I want to make some healthy changes, improve my blood work numbers, and feel fitter and stronger.

And so I've been doing lots of reading and research. In the meantime, I've been working on those pesky 6 pounds, and in a month's time, I've lost 1.8 pounds.

*picture me making the "big whoop" finger circling motion*

I mean, that's still good. I've been making some healthier choices, snacking less, and exercising more. And by exercising I mean fun stuff. I'm not a gym person. I walk, dance, and lift hand weights while listening to podcasts. Nothing hardcore over here. And increased exercise is excellent for your cholesterol numbers.

But I'm ready to take things to the next level. I drew the line in the sand with my kids a few months ago, too. No longer are we making dinner for Mike and I, and "something else" for the two of them that usually involves zapping something in the microwave that came frozen from the store. We all eat the same home cooked meal. There has been lots of complaining, and sometimes no dessert for little ones who do not eat more than a forkful of something "so gross!", but they try things now. And they do not expect separate, inevitably highly processed, meals.

So here is what I am going to do: I signed up for the 10 Day Pledge over at 100 Days of Real Food. I start this Wednesday, March 14th. I'm taking time today and tomorrow to do some recipe planning, shopping, and research. I'm not going to eat processed foods for a full 10 days, and my family will come along for the ride as far as dinners are concerned.

What are we talking about when we say "processed foods?" Generally, you want to avoid:

Refined grains, like white flour and white rice.
Refined sweetners, like corn syrup, cane juice, Splenda (and company), and even sugar (though I'll be honest: I'm not completely cutting out sugar. That doesn't seem realistic to me).
Things out of a box, can or package that have more than 5 ingredients listed on the label.
Deep fried foods.
Fast food.

Here are the rules. I'm going to do my very best. I don't do the majority of the grocery shopping for our house, so I have some challenges there, but I'm making my own shopping trip tomorrow and will otherwise work with what we have.

Here is my shopping list (things we don't already have in our cupboard or freezer):

For Breakfasts:

Rolled oats, pumpkin, yogurt, bananas, and chia seeds to make Pumpkin Overnight Oats. Frozen berries to have on hand.

For Lunches:

Greek yogurt. String cheese. Maybe some crackers (made with 5 ingredients or less) if I can find some. Otherwise, going to be relying on leftovers from dinner, and salads (we always have lettuce, tomatoes and cheese in the house, and I make my own oil-based dressing).

For Dinners:

I'm going to buy the ingredients to make these 3 recipes for certain, and hope that we get more than one meal out of each:

Slow Cooker Sweet Potato and Apple Soup
The Best Pulled Pork in a Crock Pot!
Cuban Black Bean Patties with Pineapple Rice

I also love dishes with eggs, like frittata, which we always have the ingredients for, to pitch hit. 

For Beverages:

Sparkling water. Fresh lemon and lime. Half & half and honey (for tea). Also going to be exploring some herbal teas with my birthday gift card from Teavana. :0 Going to be brewing my own iced tea with this recipe.

One of the things that I'm really happy about is eliminating artificial sweeteners from my diet. I use those a LOT to flavor my tea and coffee, and they're in the Crystal Light type beverages that we tend to whip up. Not good.

I am SUPER excited about all of this, and will naturally document my experience right here on this blog. :) Who wants to join me?! Leave me a comment!

7 Quick Takes {Take 35} Meltage, Lenten failures and fun with colors edition...

-1-"Is that the sun?! Let's go outside and grill!"

We're all enjoying the 40 degree temperatures here today. In western New York, we refer to this as "a warm up!" We get all excited and put on our spring jackets. It's quite sad really. But I'm hoping that some of the snow melts, since the weekend is supposed to go back to being frigid. There is a LOT of snow on the ground right now. I don't hate looking at it, but I'm tired of not being able to see around corners when I drive due to the mountain that has been plowed to the sides of every exit. Next week will also be more seasonable, so here's hoping for that meltage!

An aside: I once heard a radio story about a town somewhere in Scandinavia that lies above the Arctic Circle. They have that white nights/dark days phenomena going on because of their high northern location, and every year in the spring when the days start to become more normal again they hold a festival to celebrate. I will always remember the comment that the town children DRESS UP LIKE THE SUN to celebrate it's appearance in their lives again. I mean, did you ever? All these tiny suns running around celebrating spring and having daylight again. Precious. I suppose we don't have the weather situation nearly so bad, now do we? :)

-2-"Mommy, my blankets aren't working anymore!!"

If any of you can translate this one, message me please. :0 This is what Anne announced to me this morning when I opened her bedroom door. She's battling a cold, and had a rough night of sleep as a result of the coughing. My suspicion is that she felt chilled, maybe? I'm not certain, but she is absolutely adorable, standing there in her sleeper with reindeer feet and very pink cheeks. Broken blankets. If only this was the main thing on my list of worries. :0 Cutie pie. I do feel badly that she's sick, and none of us slept well last night as a result.

Ugh.

-3-#LentFail

 Offering up the sleepless night, which is needed since I'm doing very poorly keeping to my Lenten resolutions. This is not exactly a new phenomenon. :0 I always try, and some Lents go better than others, but never does it go 100% as planned. I've been doing my Morning and Evening Prayer...sometimes. Which is better than never, right? I have maintained my fasting from sweets at lunchtime, that has gone well, and each time I get to the end of my lunch I remember what I gave up and why I'm doing it. That's a good thing. I've been good about starting my rosary each day in the car, but I don't always get to finish all 5 mysteries. I'm doing what I can, and trying to do better.

In his podcast "The Break" this week, Fr. Roderick talked about this very issue, and said that for him, this Lent is about a fresh start. He's been trying to declutter his apartment and give some things away, so that he can live more simply. I really relate to this message. It doesn't have to be anything major. We are just trying to do good things and freshen up our spiritual lives a bit.

-4- Fish fry, baby!

Fish fry on Fridays is *big* in this area, and fasting from meat has never been difficult for me. I almost feel guilty about that. :) We make fish for dinner at home most Fridays in Lent, but 3 times or so per year we seek out a local fish fry. Parishes have them, restaurants do take out, even supermarkets and the *meat market* get in on the action. There are so many Catholics in this area, they really have to or otherwise risk losing a lot of business during Lent. We're getting a fish fry today, and I'm very excited. Although, inevitably every single fish fry comes with coleslaw, and I've never liked that particular side dish. Who's wish me? :) 

-5-Fluorescent orange is a remarkably versatile color for the form of dance that I perform...

I mentioned last week my love of orange and my hunt for a new dance costume. I love orange. It's just such an underappreciated color, don't you think? It needs some love. I adore orange, but I also adore a bargain where dance costumes are concerned. They can be expensive, and I don't have a big budget for them. I often shop used. And I like it if a costume can be worn more than one way, maximizing the use I can get out of them. This works best in Middle Eastern dance with a bra and belt set. You can switch out the skirt color/type, and voila! Looks like a whole new costume with minimal expense.

And so, this week I put an affordably priced new bra and belt set in a neutral color (brown, another underappreciated color that I love :)) on layaway, and ordered a few new skirts. Chocolate, and dun dun dun!!!!!! Bright orange velvet!! I seriously CANNOT.WAIT to wear it. Expect pictures. :0

-6- "What? Oh yes. This is my natural hair color." *look of innocence*

And so we get to my weekend plans. Saturday the big event is my pilgrimmage to the hair salon, which I make every 10 weeks. Kind people have complimented me in the past on my hair, saying "and you don't have any gray!" Welllllllllll. :) I don't have any gray because I dye the gray out of my hair, and I'm going to be honest: I feel 0% guilt about this. Gray hair is lovely, just not on me. :0 I am a natural brunette, and the gray strands stand out very noticeably when they dare to make an appearance. Plus, their texture is SO different from the rest of my hair, it just looks weird. Thus, I am unashamed to admit that I color my hair and I plan to do so for the foreseeable future. I plan to "not have any gray" well into my 80's.

-7- "One, two, Plie three, four..."

Sunday I am attending a dance workshop on combinations set to Middle Eastern pop music. It should be loads of fun, and also a good workout. I have to giggle myself to think about how growing up, I was this very serious ballet dancer, who studiously kept her pink tights spotless and never dared to perform solo, and now I'm almost 40 and I jangle around belly dancing in public. And I couldn't be happier. Life is good! And festival season will soon be upon us. PREPARE FOR AMUSING STORIES. You know you can count on me. ;-)

All right everyone, the countdown to my fish fry has begun. Check out Conversion Diary for more 7 Quick Takes! See you all next week!

My blizzardy life - March edition

A wind whipping snowstorm in mid-March - sounds like perfect Lenten weather, no?! PENANCE and SACRIFICE people, clearly God is trying to communicate with us. :0

This was the scene above my head yesterday. I mean it, it really followed me around. :0

So, yesterday was a bit kooky. I do live in the Northeast, and I do live in Lake Effect storm system territory, in a city known for it's snowfall. HOWEVER. The worst is usually behind us by late February. Do we get snow in March? This is certainly not unheard of. But being under an official blizzard advisory in mid-March? Not so usual. Plus, we really don't get as much snow as everyone thinks.

*sanctimonious tangent alert*

The metro area is nowhere near #1 in the country for average snowfall, let that just be said. South of here, in ski country, is where the larger snowfall numbers come into play. But I digress.

*haughty sniff*

;-)

March is certainly a wet transition month around here, with huge piles of dirty snow plowed up and waiting for the sun to work its magic. Spring is on the horizon, but is not yet in the air. Nevertheless, a blizzard is pretty unwelcome. We have endured the winter and are still standing. We're now ready for a change.

But we knew this one was coming, our weather man warned us. Schools were cancelled, and our happy melting phase wasn't long for this world. Except at the university I work for. Since it is part of the state system, it can only be closed by *the Governor.*

How often does that happen, you ask? Not very often, my friend. He's in Albany. We are not. It makes no sense for him to make the call as to whether or not our campus has to close due to weather. But appeals to reason have not changed this unfortunate policy.

So yesterday morning found me headed into work for the early reference shift. It was already starting to snow, and I was feeling a bit mutinous. As my shift began at 9 am, things were looking swirly outside. I fielded a bunch of phone calls asking if the library was open while keeping an eye on the window. Closer to 10:30 am, things were looking a bit Apocalyptic. I was getting worried about the drive home. Refreshing the home page for the university let me know that "University officials are monitoring the weather conditions."

*eyeroll with a nostril flare*

Them monitoring things while hundreds of people are already on campus to potentially become stranded does not help us at all. When my shift ended at 11 am, I immediately packed up and headed out. I did not want to risk having to *sleep in my office.* You think I'm exaggerating, but that has actually happened to me in the past. :0 And if that ever happens again, prepare yourself for an EPIC BLOG POST relaying all of the gory details. Because I'll have nothing else to do. Assuming I have power and Internet connectivity.

Ugh.

Anyway, it was a bit of a production to chip my car out of its icy and snow coated covering, but I persevered. It took me longer than usual to get home, but I made it. Classes were cancelled as of noon, and the library closed at 1 pm. And the world heaved a collective sigh of relief.

And so, Mike and I were marooned at home for the day, with the kids predictably climbing the walls with boredom. Anne is also cutting a molar, adding to the joy.

But we made it. I did some knitting, and Mike and I attended to the house. Our kitchen ceiling was  repaired this week, let's strike up the Hallelujah chorus. The kitchen needed major TLC as a result from drywall dust, so we took care of that. It was nice to be home.

I'm back at work today, and it's pretty cold, so all of the snow is still with us.

"Hello Snow!" Anne would say.

Tomorrow it will be above freezing, here's hoping for some meltage. (new word: officially coined).

Tomorrow is 7 Quick Takes Friday, and I'll talk about how Lent is going so far, some dance stuff, and my weekend plans. Scintillating stuff, y'all! Was anyone else affected by the storm yesterday? Leave me your story in the comments! :)

Just a night in the life...

My evening yesterday:

Mike is teaching, Tiffany is making dinner for the kids. Henry is playing a video game in our home office, and Anne is watching him.

"Mommy! I go pee!"

I know she isn't in the bathroom.

!

"Mommy, you be so happy!!"

"Ohhhhhh. I'm sure, Sweetie." *weak smile as I transverse the house* "You are such a good girl."

I arrive at the doorway of the office. Anne hands me a bowl full of pee.

"Look Mommy!"

Anne is standing proudly next to her little pink potty, pants around her ankles. The detachable bowl is what she handed me.

"Oh whew, this wasn't nearly so bad as I feared. Good job, Anne! Can you pull your pants up?"

"NO!"

You can't win 'em all.

"Mommy! Can you watch me do this board?"

"Well, my hands are a bit full now, Honey, just give me a minute."

*struggle to pull up Anne's pants while carefully juggling the bowl of urine.

"Mommy I'm hungry!!"

"Yes, I know, dear, I have to clean up first. Hank, not too much longer on the computer."

*a chorus of "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" strikes up behind me as I head to the bathroom to dump out the pee*

So much glamour. :0

A fun dancing recap, amidst some Monday grumpiness...

Hello all! I had a perfectly lovely weekend (about to be detailed), followed by a perfectly mediocre day so far today (I will spare details, but...). I think the following conversation that I had with Mike over Gmail chat sums today up pretty well:

Mike: *makes off color joke* Because he does that very well. :)

CL: *silence*

Mike: "Well, since you're laughing, I do think we should...*gives thoughts on topic we were discussing*

CL: "Sorry Honey, I guess I'm not in a very good mood. I'm not feeling 100% today."

Mike: "Why not come home early then? Why stay and be miserable?"

CL: *silence*

Mike: "How is your leg feeling?" (I strained a calf muscle yesterday)

CL: "A little better. But it's not totally back to normal." *whines* "This is what happens you get older. You get hurt while WALKING."

Clearly, I have my grumpy face on today. But I persevere.

The weekend was really fabulous, though. On Saturday, I spent some time with Mike and the kids in the morning picking out things we needed for the house at Home Depot, and generally focusing on quality time. Anne is really into puzzles right now, and so we've all done the same 4 puzzles with her an uncountable number of times. :0

Later, my friend Amy came to pick me up to drive about an hour south to watch one of our troupemates perform her senior dance project. All of the dance majors at her college have to present a 10 minute piece (either a performance or a choreography; if you perform, you cannot choreograph the piece, and vice versa) prior to graduation, and 3 performances were scheduled for that night. I love watching dance, of any type, and so I was totally excited about this.

Therein followed a full hour of dance chat on the drive down, which was extremely enjoyable. Then we got to the campus and got lost trying to find the theater. But we made it, only to have to wait about a half hour since they were running behind from another show. We paced and gossiped.

Finally, the theater was ready for us. It was a lovely little space with seating in the round, creating a very intimate environment. I excitedly read my program. Of the 3 performances that night, Mackenzie's (my troupemate) was the only one that wasn't modern dance. Hers was a classical Egyptian piece, highly unusual for this senior project.

The first performance was a friend of Mackenzie's, and she was fabulous. Absolutely beautiful dancer, and the music was haunting and emotionally evocative, a gorgeous performance. But can I make a confession? Modern dance: I really don't *get* it. As a child, I studied ballet, tap, and for a shorter time, jazz. I never even heard of modern dance until I was an adult. And to be honest, I really can't fully describe it to you now. :0 It's very, let's see...

Dramatic, to be sure. There is acting ability that needs to be implemented. And this would be one reason that I would be terrible at it, to be sure. You need to be very strong, there are a lot of lifts and leaps. And the dance is clearly trying to "tell a story" with the movements. I didn't always *understand* that story, but alas. There seemed to be some violence and hurt feelings involved, but other than that, I just tried to enjoy the show and not figure anything out. :)

Then Mackenzie came out. She was SUPER FABULOUS! Her piece was divided into three segments: classic, sword balancing, and drum solo. She is always a superb dancer, but Saturday night she brought her A game. It was awesome. And such a beautiful and tasteful demonstration of Middle Eastern dance to an audience that may have never seen it before. My dance teacher is Mackenzie's mom and choreographed her piece. I knew how much it meant to her to see this choreography brought to life, and I teared up at the end, it was just so lovely.

The third piece was choreographed by a graduating student, and so a group of other dancers performed it. It was VERY good. Again, modern dance, so a lot of lost in translation for me, but there was one male dancer who just stole the show, he was that good. It was an excellent piece.

I had SUCH a good time, and I felt very inspired afterward. Watching others dance always has that effect on me. I've been going through my music to plan some future solos, and I'm feeling very happy. Assuming, of course, that my leg starts to feel better. I may whine again.

How was everyone else's weekend? Leave a comment. :)

7 Quick Takes {Take 34}, Lent, pee pee resolutions, real food, and dance costume edition...

Happy first Friday of Lent, everyone! Mike and I have been plotting our fish fry outings, one of our very favorite things to do each year, and I've been examining the ways in which I've already failed at my Lenten resolutions, *sighs*. Let's take a look at my week, shall we?

-1- Prayer. If only I could remember to say some.

I am starting off this Lent feeling a bit spiritually dry. Like anybody else, I have spiritual peaks and valleys. Going into Lent, my prayer life felt uninspired and wilty (I just made this word up ;-)). But hope springs eternal, and I set up my Lenten resolutions to act as a springboard to help me feel spiritually stronger. I LOVE Morning and Evening prayer with Magnificat, as well as the other meditations and saint stories therein. So far, Morning Prayer has been a breeze and a blessing. On the other hand, I have forgotten Evening Prayer every.single.evening. I haven't remembered *once*. My mind...I just miss it SO MUCH.

I need to develop a new habit. In the past, I had a habit of bringing my Magnificat up to bed with me along with the book I was planning to read. I created a little stack to take upstairs with me, pulling the Magnificat out of my purse after I got home from work. Up in bed, I'd read Evening Prayer, and then move on to my book. I remembered every night. I'm going to aim for that again.

-2- The tiniest of our Lenten resolutions: "Uh oh Mommy, I am going to go pee on the rug!"

Henry's Lenten resolution is to read through his children's Bible prior to Easter, which is adorable. It's sitting on his bedside table with a little bookmark sticking out of it. Anne does not yet have Lenten resolutions, but I've made her task to be potty trained by Easter. :0 It's still very up and down, but overall it's gotten a lot better. She still wears a diaper overnight, I can't foresee that changing for quite some time. But during the day, she wears underwear. We're doing A LOT of laundry. She seems to not be responding to her first urge to go and getting herself a bit wet, and THEN asking to use the potty. She will in fact go on the potty, but a full clothing change from the waist down is still in order. She has developed a fondness for:

"I do it MYSELF!"

And so she speeds off to the bathroom, wiggles up onto the toilet all by herself, and thinks that this is great fun. Go to town, I say. The prize is getting to flush when she's finished. It's far from perfected, but we're getting there.

-3- March feast days!

Somewhere in the vicinity of St. Patrick's day each year (read: anytime in March) Mike makes Shepherd's Pie for us. We're having friends over for dinner on Sunday, and so this year that is the big day. I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll pursue some Irish beer for the day itself, we enjoy that sort of thing. :) This year, I'd also like to celebrate St. Joseph's feast day with the kids. Has anybody done this before? What is involved? Is there some sort of St. Joseph bread? I want to say there is a market around here that sells such a thing... I know I could Google this, but if anyone has a personal anecdote, I prefer those so much more. :0

-4- Speaking of food...

As if I need more things to be Type A about, I've been all into reading ingredient lists on packaged food these days. I've been reading Real Food, by Nina Planck, and although I don't necessarily see us switching to raw milk anytime soon, I'm quite fascinated with the concepts in the book. I've been taking a look at what we eat as a family, and we've slowly been trying to implement some changes. I've known for awhile with regard to the kids: they need to eat less processed foods. It gets difficult when they get picky and all you want to do is eat your dinner in peace, but that's simply not a good long term solution for anybody. So we're working on this, and so far so good. I know that I *feel* a lot better, as well. Which leads us to...

-5- "Were there always this many stairs up to my office?!" *pants*

I've been trying to get into better shape. My fitness wasn't poor, I do dance at least weekly, and I try to be active where I can (like taking the stairs rather than the elevator. :)). But I had slacked off with my previous daily walks, and I know that last time I had blood work done, my level of HDL cholesterol (the good kind) is not as high as it should be. Genetics are just NOT on my side with regard to heart disease, and the processed foods thing also plays a large role. Exercise can help with this, and I knew that I needed to get back into a healthy routine with regard to exercise. I've been walking again, and it feels wonderful. It's also almost spring/summer belly dance festival season, which is a fantastic impetus to be feeling my best. I am SO excited about all of the dance events coming up. Some things never change from when I was 5. ;-)

-6- Fun dancing stuff

Speaking of dance, some fun tidbits. Tomorrow, I'm going to see one of my troupemates perform. She will be graduating with a BFA in dance this May, and she is performing her senior project on Saturday. It is the first time in the history of her college that a student has been permitted to present Egyptian dance for this senior project. I'm driving down there with another dance friend, and we're all going out to dinner afterward, should be a lot of fun. I love watching dance in all forms, especially solos. Each and every person brings their own flare and style to it, and it's just a beautiful thing to see.

-7- "Oh. This costume bin is getting a bit *full*..."

And in that spirit, I've been spending a lot of lunch hours poring over dance costumes. :0 I do have several dance costumes, it is true. One is our official troupe costume. I have 3 others that I use when I dance solo or when our troupe decides to be colorful (we do this a lot in the summer, fits the mood) and everyone wears a different colored costume from each other. I'm certainly appreciative of all of them, and I use them plenty. After some time though, you crave something new to add to the repertoire. I always hunt for bargain basement deals on swap meets and such, and save my pennies. And so I've been having a good time with this. I don't have a red costume, and that seems like a lovely color to have. I also have a real affinity for the color orange. Exhibit A:

This is my purse. It hurts your eyes to look at it, and therefore I think it is perfect. :)

I would love, love, love an orange dance costume. Let's see if this dream can become a reality, shall we?

And so that's my week! How was yours?! Leave me a comment! And check out more 7 Quick Takes over at Conversion Diary!

Lenten life with a toddler...

"Anne, can you ____________ {fill in the blank with any request: pick up your toys? eat your dinner? not yell viciously at your brother? hold Mommy's hand while we cross the street? stop breaking all of your crayons in half?}

Answer, 100% of the time:

"No!"

"I knew you were going to say that."

I mean, it *was* her very first word (so sweet?!), so this isn't a huge shock. I'm offering it up. :0

But at the same time, after the priest traced the cross of ashes on her forehead yesterday afternoon, she announced:

"Thank you!!"

I mean...precious.

Ash Wednesday 2014...

Morning all! I hope that you are having a blessed Ash Wednesday. And I *am* having a very nice day, after a lovely evening yesterday. A huge relief after my challenges of the other night.

I am going for ashes at the 4 pm scripture service my parish is holding, this is when I go every year. It's become quite an enjoyable tradition. I used to always take Henry with me, but now that he is in Catholic school, they have Mass with ash distribution during the day, so I just take Anne. This year I think she's going to really get a kick out of the process, since she really enjoys being blessed by the priest in the communion line each week. This past Sunday she even thanked him. :0

I bemoaned recently that next year, my birthday falls on Ash Wednesday, and it's a milestone birthday. Since it's a milestone most women people ;-) decidedly do NOT enjoy, I found this bit of trivia fairly unpleasant. I mean, I've been dreading it for like the past 10 years. :0 However, the other day I was sitting waiting for a meeting to start with a colleague, and something brightening happened. She wished me a happy birthday, and I mentioned this little birthday/Ash Wednesday evil tidbit. I know that this colleague is not Catholic. And do you know what she said?

"Oh, but that will be so nice. You will get a blessing on your birthday."

I mean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How lovely!!! I realized how silly I was being about the whole thing, that I should look at it in a much more positive light. An ancient, beautiful, and meaningful tradition will fall on my birthday. I so appreciate her interpretation of this, which, let's face it, is the most positive interpretation POSSIBLE, ha! But I love it. She also commented that she has passed this age milestone, and that to her, it's a *good* thing.

"You appreciate and enjoy things so much more, without the insecurity we all have when we're younger."

Amen, sister.

I broke out my Magnificat this morning and read Morning Prayer. It is my resolution to keep this up twice daily for all of Lent, and I'm hoping that it sticks even beyond that. Mike is at home with Anne today, and he's planning a meatless dinner for us all, bless him.

It is a *very* cold Ash Wednesday here, especially given that it falls so late this year. A ton of snow still on the ground. But to me, I prefer that the weather still be somewhat wintry when Lent begins. It reminds me that the freshness of spring is still to come, at Easter. That's what we are preparing for now, and we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves.

Tell me about your Ash Wednesday plans! Leave me a comment. :)