Springing Forward

Time changes are always so challenging! The process of adjusting can be a real pain, but there is something so fantastically wonderful about knowing that spring is here* and that it won't be dark so early. I rarely am able to pick a favorite season, but this year I am really looking forward to spring. Rebirth and freshness are kind of a recurring theme in my year, and having that manifested by nature every time I look out my window is uplifting to say the least. There are currently daffodils blooming in out front garden and crocuses have popped up throughout our yard in a multitude of colors. They all look so happy! Soon it will be time to plan our garden, plant tomatoes, and hopefully this year I'll be able to start a small herb bed beside our porch. Bake Sale Season starts at this end of this month and I'm already busy planning a variety of snacks to prepare and sale. I've been stockpiling recipes all winter long and am really looking forward to baking in the upcoming months. I've also been messing around with basic cupcake recipes and adding to them based on various inspirations to create my own recipes. THAT is more fun that I would have imagined and it is gratifying to create something that other people enjoy.

Life in SWVA has been run of the mill. I wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, rinse and repeat. This may SEEM lousy and boring but in all actuality it's pretty much what I need right now. Work has been calm enough that I am able to get most of my paperwork done before I leave the school, which leaves my evenings open for reading and relaxing while I watch TV and chat with the BFFs. I've been fairly successful with my Lent challenge. I've finished four books and I've read at least 30 minutes every single day. I've also only read one reread, which is refreshing. I love to revisit books I've loved, but sometimes in doing that I forget how many amazing books are out there that I haven't taken the time to read.

Television this season has been a little disappointing. We regularly watch American Idol, but so far most of the shows have been too boring to hold my attention and I've read through each episode. ANTM has been wonderful so far this season though. If you've never watched the show I would recommend this season as a fantastic starting point. Tyra has sadly been normal and hasn't attempted ACTING so far this season, but I'm positive that will come about later on. US models in the making are competing against previous contestants from Britain's Next Top Model in Cycle 18. The most recent episode is the makeover episode** which includes all the usual DRAMA about hairstyles and cuts and colors. I find these episodes particularly amusing for multiple reasons. I'm looking forward to the new season of DWTS and the celebrity lineup this year looks MUCH more promising than last years. Urkel! Laura Ingalls Wilder! Gladys Knight! As usual I will livetweet my viewing of DTWS. Occasionally I livetweet Idol, but it hasn't been tweetworthy so far this season.

*Spring has actually been here all winter, truth be told.
**This is always my favorite episode of every season. My goal is to own every single makeover episode of ANTM so that I can watch them on repeat on bad days.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short: Lent Rundown

Apparently I only blog on Sundays, and those blogs are FULL OF LIES!!!!!!!!!*  However, I am HERE today to tell you about my Lenten plans.  For those of you who don't know Lent is a period of fasting that takes place before Easter. For forty days (not including Sundays) Christians used to fast from sun up until sundown. Currently, most people just choose a particular item to give up.**

This year I am once again not eating potatoes. After many years where I gave up Coca~Cola only to substitute it with another caffeinated beverage, I decided to try something different. Potatoes are easily my favorite food, and I usually eat them twice a day, sometimes three times if I have hashbrowns in the morning. Giving up potatoes for any amount of time is harsh. Not only am I not eating potatoes, I am not eating any potato product. Which means no chips, no fries, no nothing. This is not the easiest thing in the world, and I won't lie...my Sundays will be FILLED with potato nomming, but it is something that I feel the need to do.

Last year I added to my potato fasting by also agreeing not to purchase any books. Sundays are an exception, but other than ordering Will Grayson/Will Grayson last year I did not buy a single book during the Lenten season. I am going to do this again this year. I have to admit that it is made somewhat easier by the fact that I have already preordered Huntress by Malindo Lo and City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare on my Nook. However, Barnes and Noble is selling a signed addition of CoFA that I may preorder next Sunday. I also have a trip to Chicago coming up and I will be driving for several hours alone, so I may have to make a midweek purchase of an audiobook so that I am properly entertained for the long haul. I will however keep track of the books that I do read during this period to add to the books I'm allowed to buy under the conditions of the Book Buying Ban.

Do any of you do the Lent thing? Or do you have other fasting seasons that you participate in? It is a difficult, yet rewarding thing to do, and in the long run I'm always glad I have participated.


*Cause, ya know, last time I said I was going to blog more regularly, but I haven't.
**The details here may not be spot on, I am not a theologist. The main point is every year from Ash Wednesday until Easter I don't eat something I love.

In Which Chelle Rambles About Nothing of Importance

Well hello blog! I'm sure you think I've forgotten you, but I assure you I have not. You are always there in the back of my mind. I have been on the longest sabbatical from everything. My tiny town has been hit by three large snow storms back to back since the beginning of February. As I write there is still over a foot of snow on the ground and there are rumors of another storm hitting next week. I love winter! Since I work in the schools, though not with the school system itself, I haven't worked since the end of January. I've still had some paperwork and training, but I've basically been on an (unpaid) vacation for the last three weeks. I think that we will most likely go back to school next week but if the storm that is on its way turns from rain to snow I know that we will be missing more school.

So, what have I done with this break? Absolutely nothing. I have been so lazy it isn't funny. I have had the cousins almost every day. I saw The Lightning Thief (review later I promise) with the Fantastic Four (the four cousins that I usually have, ages 8-13) this week. I read a few books. I played in the snow. I started watching Lost from the beginning because I've not seen it but I am really into it and have to watch it from the very beginning so I understand everything. Well understand as much as you possibly can in regards to Lost. I went on a few shopping trips. My younger cousin got engaged so I partied with his bride-to-be. So even though I haven't been in school things have still been pretty exciting.

Lent began on Wednesday. This is something that I try to observe every year by giving up something that I truly enjoy. I used to try to give up caffeine but the crippling head aches and the mood swings were too much to handle. I gave up candy or chocolate a few years, and I always try to give up swearing. However, last year I gave up all potato products. Let me tell you, I am pretty much a meat and potatoes kind of girl. Potatoes are my comfort food. Bad day? I need french fries. When I'm sick I usually eat baked potatoes or stew with potatoes in it. So, this is really me giving up something that I love and that I eat on a regular basis. I did a really good job last year. It wasn't easy and there were days when I wanted hash browns so bad I could have cried, but I managed to resist the temptation. This year I decided to give up potatoes again. However, I wanted to add something else to the pile as well. My aunt suggested I give up pleasure reading. I laughed. I am well aware that my family believes my obsession with books is more than a little nuts, but none of them are really readers. None of them use books as an escape or as an opportunity to loose themselves in another world. None of them really understand that books are a refuge or that a books can be your friend. So, I politely rejected her suggestion. However, I did think about my TBR pile and about all of the books that I have acquired recently and I realized that I have a lot of books that I have never even picked up to read. When I worked at the library it was because I was so busy reading books that I bought for the YA section so that I could answer patron questions and post reviews in the library or on the blog. Now it has just because I own an overwhelming amount of books. So I decided that along with potato products I would also give up purchasing books for Lent. So over the next thirtysome days I am sure I will post about the various struggles I have with these two things.

So, what about all of you? Have you been snowed in for a long period of time? Do you observe Lent? Do long periods of time when you aren't working/in school make you super lazy? In a way I am ready to go back even though it will not be much fun just so I can get back into a routine of some kind!