Settled In / Lents' Revenge

In the time since Christmas, life has evened out nicely. The general lack of excitement has been blissful, and Dave and I have managed to work out something resembling a routine. The bookkeeping is almost done, we now know where (almost) everything is, and I'm regularly engaging in my soul-restorative activity, baking.

The baking has been especially handy lately, as I have given up refined sugars for Lent. As some of you may recall, that was what Dave gave up last year; in turn, he is giving up alcohol (which was my choice last year). I expect this Lent to be quite difficult, as David likes booze more than I do, and I like sweets more than he does. But hey, this whole thing is supposed to be an exercise in discipline/self-knowledge, right? In the meantime, we're learning the virtues of molasses and nonalcoholic beer.

Socializing is made tougher by Lent, though, since it's hard not to fall into old habits. Dave's had trouble resisting ordering the "automatic beer," and I've already had a major sugar slip-up. Today a colleague brought in home-baked cookies and I automatically ate two before remembering. :-P It's amazing how sneaky sugar (and booze) can be... it's everywhere!

We even made a point of postponing Lent a bit, so as to avoid being miserable company to our parents. Dave's parents were visiting a few weekends ago, and as usual, their partying skills put ours to shame. Not to be outdone, my dad then shows up, and all of us (foolishly) start trying to out-party each other. On a "school night", no less. Needless to say, the next morning at work was positively brutal. But worth it. ;-)

Besides Easter (the official end of Lent), there are many events I'm looking forward to. I was able to nab floor tickets to the Foo Fighters!! It'll be a great show, and we only have to wait 'til March. That same month, I've also enrolled into a 5K run. And, I've booked us orchestra seats for the travelling Broadway musical, Wicked, which tours in August.

I gotta say, it's so nice to make plans so far in advance. ^_^