Seven Quick Takes Friday

(Seven Quick Takes Friday is hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary.)

I haven't tried this before, but a number of the blogs I read have, so here goes:

1) Spring Forward! PLEASE remember to set your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed tomorrow night (or at 1 AM if you stay up that long.) -- This message brought to you as a public service announcement from somebody who is always blindsided by Daylight Saving Time shifts, especially if they make me lose an hour's sleep.

2) As I mentioned in this post, I gave up a variety of goodies for Lent. I am astounded at how much I seem to have been depending on some kind of sweets after dinner. I wander around the kitchen seeking something I may licitly devour. Guess I needed that!

3) In companion news, I also added a positive discipline. Our family has said Evening Prayer from The Liturgy of the Hours together for almost two decades now. This year I undertook to add Morning Prayer (which Roger has done since we started.) I do it alone -- we're on very different schedules -- sometime before 9 AM. Quite honestly, I thought this would be the harder discipline, since I've given up various foods before. But I'm finding that I like it; it anchors my day, makes it smoother somehow. This one's a post-Lent keeper!

4) Our neighbor is dying. He's had a brain tumor for years, undergone various treatments that helped for a while, but has been definitely failing recently. For the past few days the neighborhood has been full of lots of cars coming and going -- family and friends making sure they get to say goodbye. Please pray for Mark and his family.

5) Our grandson Blaise will be baptized this Sunday. We will be driving down to where Arwen and Bryan live in time for 11:15 mass, with the baptism to follow. Then Rosie and Anthony are hosting a party at their house. Lots of people coming, including the godparents and Maggie, who is on spring break. But I wish it wasn't on spring-forward Sunday!

6) I need a new desk chair. This one sinks and rises unpredictably, and the arms are rarely the same height, despite adjustments. But a new one is not in the budget. Oh, well.

7) Roger and I get an almost-like-being-newlyweds date night tonight. Tommy is playing at the district Band Festival and will be gone for five or six hours. Katie is babysitting for the band director and will be gone even longer. We will enjoy shrimp and brie with wine at home (all bargain purchases, just like when we were newlyweds!) and then go to Barnes and Noble to spend our Christmas gift cards, and probably take advantage of the discount on cheesecake with an espresso purchase. Ah, those were the good old days!

Be sure to click the link above to see other Quick Takes, and I'll see you next week sometime.