Predicament

You know how the other day I let you all know that I was partaking in an ice-cream sandwich. Who cares, right? Well, I am doing the same thing at the same time today and it has caused a little commotion in my little heart.
You see I grew up going to mass like every sweet little Catholic girl and even though I was dreaming of the cute boy in my English class that wore the brown Bucks (remember those, anyone? anyone?) I did go and it will always be ingrained in me no matter what church I attend. I even remember going to the Ash Wednesday service not wanting to wipe the ashes off my forehead as I walked out the door with my family. It was something about the tradition, the routine, the ritual. Usually in those years and on through college I used lent as a season to diet or at least prove to myself that I really could go a few months without an animal cracker. It was more a test of "will" as you can probably relate rather than a sacrifice having to do with my faith. Side note: If you have known me longer than 2 weeks you will know that I am unabashedly the queen of animal crackers. A title I hold very dearly. $1.99 a bag at Kroger and an absurd $2.39 at Publix and the bag size isn't half the size of the one at Wal-Mart for $1.79. I can tell you when Stauffers (the company) changed the branding and where you can find them in "mini","all natural (huh?), and "chocolate-minis." Anyway, I only made it one Lenten season without my quaint obsession and I would never do it again. (By the way - can a lay person say "Lenten?" It seams so pastoral?)

In college one of my roommates was religious about a sacrifice during lent and because I wanted to be just like her I continued to uphold my Catholic-roots. I know other denominations honor the weeks before Easter Sunday in the same fashion but typically if you meet someone in March and they aren't eating chocolate or drinking caffeine it isn't because they are all that disciplined but in my opinion - theyre out to prove(like me) to themselves that they can forego the very thing that will end up consuming their thoughts for the next 40 something days. I know this isn't everyone but a majority.

So here I am - 30 years into "me" and I still can't let Ash Wednesday slip by without hoping by the end of the day that I had accidentally not eaten, watched or listened to one of my terrible vices. With 6 minutes to go until 1pm I can assuredly say that today, this Ash Wednesday is just the same except I blew through any of my usual "sacrifices" within two hours. The boys were up eeeearly...like before 6am....so by 7:30 I had already had two cups of coffee (cross that one off), eaten a Reece's peanut butter cup that was crammed in the corner of the pocket of my bath robe {weird....gotta love being a mom} (cross that one off), eaten a handful of animal crackers for breakfast (check), checked my email and I am sure facebook (check, check), watched the morning news, looked in the mirror, atleast thought a curse word I am sure, and eaten a leftover french fry that I found in the car from yesterday's lunch.....sweet! I tell you no lies {disgusting, I know}. Just when I thought I had one item on my list of things that I crave I look down to find my sweet little ice-cream sandwich (another BOGO opportunity at Publix this week), half-eaten. Can I give up "eating a whole ice-cream sandwich?" meaning I can have half or less for the next several weeks but not the whole thing? Can that count or once again have a I failed before I even started?

I will write a whole different post about the Easter season and how it is my most favorite time of the year because of the redemption that I feel stirring in everything....in me, in the flowers that were slaughtered in the heat last summer but yet still somehow pop through the ground, in the anticipation of the Masters and the G-Day game (hallelujah) and most importantly, in the message of Jesus who is the only thing in my mind that can truly redeem any situation no matter how broken. But today I am talking about the Easter bunny kind of Easter. The one that puts out miniature Cadbury milk chocolate eggs only once a year and it is right at the start of Lent. Oh, and guess what other season is upon us in a comical fashion? GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON! For the love of Somoas! Who ever thought delivering girl scout cookies at the beginning of lent was ever the appropriate thing to do? Even if Lent isn't your thing Spring Break probably is and between the combo of choclatey eggs and crunchy toasted coconut cookies (say that 3 times fast) Spring travel season has no shot at being glamorous.

Do you have any ideas of anything I may not have shoved in my mouth or subjected my mind to that I could use as my Lent sacrifice this year? I'll send my boxes of girl scout cookies to the one with the best suggestion.

Happy Ash Wednesday....and more seriously, thank you God, for this beautiful season and the story of your ultimate sacrifice. What a beautiful time of year!

***
And because I know you were dying to hear about the chicken I'll give you a brief recap in a "score" version.

Chicken - 5 stars - ***** (Certainly better tasting than anything I've ever tried from a grocery store and fairly easy)
Brad - 1 - *
Amos (the dog) - 2 - **
Leftovers - NONE
Me - ZERO

Atleast Brad thought I was June Cleaver for a whole 10 minutes which resulted in aaaa-mazing shoulder rub after the kids were in bed. Once again, our precious fluffy dog takes home the cake or the chicken, literally! I can laugh about this now but I was out of character when I came home from getting my hair cut last night to find that the four legged crook got a hold of the bird and the tin foil that was supposedly protecting the beautiful meal from harm before we were all home to enjoy it together. My stomach was so upset upon seeing this that I couldn't even eat my dinner. Better luck next time, I suppose....