7 Quick Takes Friday Part XIV

1. I know that Sister Mary Martha always says not to choose a Lenten penance that has an "and besides. . ." But I think I did so accidentally this year, and in the past week I've heard several times that I look like I've lost weight. It really wasn't the chocolate, I'm almost positive. I became very adept at snacking on potato chips instead, eating Vienna Fingers when I wanted Oreos, and substituting Dulce de Leche for Double Fudge Brownie. (I don't think I'm very good at Lent.) But in order to make sacrificing chocolate a real sacrifice, I have to give up peanut butter, too. You see, while any of the above are very poor alternatives that leave me still craving chocolate, peanut butter by the spoonful is very satisfying in the face of a chocolate craving. Having a tablespoon (or 4) or peanut butter when I want a Twix bar is a completely acceptable alternative to me. What I really think made me lose weight, though I hadn't considered that this was a possibility when I was planning my Lent, was that peanut butter is also one of the only things I ever eat for lunch on workdays. So I skipped a lot of lunches, and ate a lot of oatmeal. I'd have to check, but I'm sure my oatmeal is lower-calorie (and I know it's higher fiber) than my PB&J, and so, voila! I lost 5 pounds. I didn't mean to, I promise!

*******

2. Though I wasn't trying to lose weight during Lent, I'm certainly trying to keep it off during Easter. Now that I'm back to my PB&J and to being dependant on my will-power to say no to mid-afternoon candy bars. . .I don't have high hopes.

*******

3. I am also now back at work after almost a week off. I really do like my job, but all I can say is ICK! I much prefer my free time.

*******

4. I know "following the rules" of Catholicism is relatively rare, but when I'm in DC during the year, it's just me and the internet being Catholic, and so it seems like the most natural thing in the world that I should be at least trying to follow the rules (and believe me, trying is usually the best I can come up with). When I went home, though, it was me and my whole family being Catholic, and I was still the only one trying to follow the rules. I don't want to go into too many details, though I could write several posts on the topic if I did, but the disbelieving, disapproving looks when I didn't eat anything on Good Friday, and the problems caused when no one understood why it might be a conflict to schedule our egg-dying during the last opportunity for Confession before Easter made me feel like I must be some sort of a fundamentalist. More than rejoicing in the Resurrection, Easter at home just made me wish I could be normal. Catholicism really seems so much easier when all it means is church on (most) Sundays, but how do they handle the cognitive dissonance of professing belief in an institution whose teachings they don't believe?

*******

5. I shouldn't think this is funny, but I do: Number of Pirates Killed by Each President

*******

6. On Wednesday, I posted about Twittering the Passion via Blogger's new (to me) "post by e-mail" feature. I think it may have existed in the past, I just never noticed it. I find it very cool, though it's very dangerous that now I can blog from work without looking so much like I'm blogging from work. Uh oh.

*******

7. When I went home for Easter, there was a long-awaited envelope in my mail pile. It was the Civil War records of a man with my great-great-great-grandfather's name, and these records were supposed to tell me whether or not it was my relative who had joined the Union army (and then deserted after 3 days). They did not. The man in these records is very similar to my ancestor in a lot of ways, and very different in others, like being almost 20 years his junior. I find this hugely frustrating!