Lenten promises...take 2!

As Lent approaches I've been processing more and more the changes I would like to make this year.  I told you about the challenge issued by my sister...remember?  No?  Go catch up.  We'll wait!

For those of you who don't know what Lent is, Wikipedia does a fabulous job of summing it up.  I'd try, but most of you would be asleep by the time I got through rambling.  If you already know what Lent is just skim over the next section for a quick reminder!

Lent in the Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Conventionally, it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the desert before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.
This practice was virtually universal in Christendom until the Protestant Reformation. Some Protestant churches do not observe Lent, but many, such as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Anglicans, do.

Most followers of Western Christianity observe Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday and concluding on Holy Saturday

Back to the challenge...I believe I've thought and prayed long enough and the changes I will be making are far more sweeping than I first declared.  In no particular order:

1.  No reading, other than the Bible, Bible Study materials, and minimal computer usage.  (Which goes to say that I WILL be reading my Bible a LOT more.  I'm a reader, remember?)
2.  No desserts.
3.  No artificial sweeteners.
(This is sounding like a lot of No's...I guess I listed those first!  Now for the yes's!)
4.  One glass of wine per week...on the weekend.  (I'm not a lush and I don't really need to limit this, but since wine is sweet...)
5.  I will set the alarm for 7:30am every weekday (and get up then!).
6.  I will find useful tasks I've been meaning to get done to fill my time...wasting time because I have more due to the lack of recreational reading would be counterproductive!

I am praying that my prayer life, my family life, and my body will be much healthier at the end of the 46 days.

I'm still waiting for y'all to share if you observe Lent and what changes you are planning to make!

Wisconsin and Unions...Oh My!

This will be brief, that's all I have time for.  I'm just a tad bit confused and need your input!

So, what is up with the unions in Wisconsin?  

Why are the teachers going on strike?

And why should we care?

I haven't had time to do my usual research, so I'm depending on all of YOU to fill me in!

Let's hear it!

Just in time for Valentine's...

This was JMonster's first Valentine's!  Notice the "happy" hair!

SO I'm brushing JMonster's teeth tonight, while at the same time he is combing my hair.  

Who needs a girl? :o)

We get finished and he starts brushing his hair.

While staring in the mirror he announces:

"Momma, I'm going to get my first kiss when I am 5."

"You are?"

"Yes, my first kiss."

"Who will you kiss?"

(Cuz inquiring minds want to know what's going on in that 4 year old brain!)

"Nobody."

"Then why do you think you will get your first kiss when you are 5?"

"My fortune cookie said so!"

(Me grinning.)

"But we don't believe in fortunes, do we Momma?"

"No buddy, we don't.  And it is probably a good idea to wait for that first kiss.  At least until you are 6."

(Whew!  Nipped THAT one in the bud!)

Analogies gone bad...

I plagiarized borrowed...quoted, yes that's it!  I quoted this from the Washington Post.  They held a contest asking people to enter the best and worst analogies they could think of.  The following was a 3rd category they had to create...those analogies that were bad, but came close to being real literature.

For your humorous enjoyment:

He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River. (Brian Broadus, Charlottesville)
 
Even in his last years, grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut. (Sandra Hull, Arlington)
 
The door had been forced, as forced as the dialogue during the interview portion of "Jeopardy!" (Jean Sorensen, Herndon)

 
Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do. (Jerry Pannullo, Kensington)
 
He regarded death with hesitant dread, as if he were a commedia dell'arte troupe and death was an audience of pipe-fitters. (Brian Broadus, Charlottesville)
 
The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work. (Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington)


Sixth Runner-Up: The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while. (Malcolm Fleschner, Arlington)
 
Fifth Runner-Up: "Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night. (Bonnie Speary Devore, Gaithersburg)
 
Fourth Runner-Up: He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. (John Kammer, Herndon)

Third-Runner-Up: Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. (Barbara Collier, Garrett Park)

 
Second Runner-Up: She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up. (Susan Reese, Arlington)
 
First Runner-Up: It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before. (Marian Carlsson, Lexington, Va.)
 
And the winner of the Smorked Beef Rectum: The knife was as sharp as the tone used by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) in her first several points of parliamentary procedure made to Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) in the House Judiciary Committee hearings on the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. (J.F. Knowles, Springfield)
 
Honorable Mentions
The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant. (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)
 
The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM. (Paul J. Kocak, Syracuse)

 
The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium. (Ralph Scott, Washington)
 
It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools. (Brian Broadus, Charlottesville)
 
Her lips were red and full, like tubes of blood drawn by an inattentive phlebotomist. (Greg Dobbins, Arlington)
 
He felt like he was being hunted down like a dog, in a place that hunts dogs, I suppose. (Russ Beland, Springfield)
 
The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object. (Nanci Phillips Sharp, Gaithersburg)
 
You know how in "Rocky" he prepares for the fight by punching sides of raw beef? Well, yesterday it was as cold as that meat locker he was in. (Alan S. Jarvis, Fredericksburg)

He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up. (Susan Reese, Arlington)

 
She was as easy as the TV Guide crossword. (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)
 
Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any PH cleanser. (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)
 
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. (Brian Broadus, Charlottesville)
 
Her pants fit her like a glove, well, maybe more like a mitten, actually. (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)
 
She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs. (Jonathan Paul, Garrett Park)
 
It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall. (Brian Broadus, Charlottesville)

 
Her voice had that tense, grating quality, like a first-generation thermal paper fax machine that needed a band tightened. (Sue Lin Chong, Washington)
 
Outside the little snow-covered cabin, a large pile of firewood was stacked like Pamela Anderson. (Meg Sullivan, Potomac)
 
A branch fell from the tree like a trunk falling off an elephant. (Jonathan Paul, Garrett Park)
 
Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a ThighMaster. (Sue Lin Chong, Washington)
 
The painting was very Escher-like, as if Escher had painted an exact copy of an Escher painting. (Joseph Romm, Washington)

Fishing is like waiting for something that does not happen very often. (Jim Seibert, Falls Church)

 
They were as good friends as the people on "Friends." (Katie Buckner, McLean)
 
Her breasts were like two mounds of flesh waiting to be compared to something. Something round. Perhaps some kind of citrus fruit. (Jerry Pannullo, Kensington)
 
He was as bald as one of the Three Stooges, either Curly or Larry, you know, the one who goes woo woo woo. (Bob Sorensen, Herndon)
 
The sardines were packed as tight as the coach section of a 747. (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)
 
Her eyes were shining like two marbles that someone dropped in mucus and then held up to catch the light. (Barbara Collier, Garrett Park)
 
The sunset displayed rich, spectacular hues like a .jpeg file at 10 percent cyan, 10 percent magenta, 60 percent yellow and 10 percent black. (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)

 
And Last: Joe was frustrated, like a man who thought his claim to fame was occasional appearances in a weekly humor contest, but in fact is known to millions as a stupid high school student who writes unintentionally humorous bad analogies. (Joseph Romm, Washington)