F5: Bad Habits are my secret vice

1. Have you ever successfully quit a bad habit, or gotten a good habit established? Tell us about how you did it.

I used to bite my fingernails and pull on my toenails, so that they would look ratty and often a bit raw. I started wearing nail polish at all times for a full year. By the time I stopped with the polish, I had gotten out of the nail biting type habit.

2. "If only there were a 12-step program for _________________!"

Freecell addiction.

3. Share one of your healthy "obsessions" with us.

Yup, freecell. Relatively harmless.. sometimes gets in the way of doing work, but does no harm. As Husband would tell you, I'm well and truly obsessed. 11,000 games in a year. And yes, that's an average of 30 games per day.

4. Share the habit of a spouse, friend or loved one that drives you C-R-A-Z-Y.

My mom leaves the milk and butter out on the counter all the time. It drives me up the wall.

5. "I'd love to get into the habit of ___________________."

Not over sleeping. But it's very hard to get up when there's someone warm and snuggly nearby. I did try to kick the habit by giving up the snooze alarm during Lent... but, uh, that failed.

Bonus: What is one small action you might take immediately to make #5 a reality?

Hmm. I think I'll try to go to bed earlier consistently, and shift my sleeping clock.

nervous

The Boss+ is away at Credo effective tomorrow, which means I am in charge for the next week. This is a one-priest show, and I am the very part-time assistant seminarian. And yet, the show must go on, Boss+ or not.

I am so incredibly nervous. I've only been left in charge of Sunday once before, and it was not a raving success, partly because I was trying to keep track of so many things at once. So hopefully this week will go ten times better. Firstly, because I don't want to muck things up, especially as I am coming to the end of my time at the Chaplaincy, and I'd like to end on a good note. And because I just plain don't want to muck things up, for the sake of the Boss+ and his return. Secondly, because I need to learn how to take charge of a situation with many moving parts and keep them working in harmony. My last time out of the gate has left me doubting my own abilities to do this, so I'm hoping to boost my confidence a bit.

So pray for me, friends, that the next week goes well, and that my farewell week does as well -- my last day is Pentecost, and I'll be preaching. Hip hip hooray!

*Oh, and I especially give thanks that this trip did NOT coincide with finals at the Sem. That would have been a bad scene.

RGBP: Friday Five!

1. Mac? or PC?
PC -- not because I don't know that Mac is better, but because I've been around PC's since I was like 3 years old and I just get them. See, that's me!

2. Pizza: Chicago style luscious hearty goodness, or New York floppy and flaccid?
Chicago!

3. Brownies/fudge containing nuts:
a) Good. I like the variation in texture.
b) An abomination unto the Lord. The nuts take up valuable chocolate space.
Or C: I like it both ways!

4. Do you hang your toilet paper so that the "tail" hangs flush with the wall, or over the top of the roll like normal people do? Over the top! And if the spouse has put it the wrong way, I have to move it.

5. Toothpaste: Do you squeeze the tube wantonly in the middle, or squeeze from the bottom and flatten as you go just like the tube instructs?
I'm wanton with my toothpaste, apparently.

small update

You don't know how glad I am to have turned in all my work.

Last night was great -- no worries, and we had my friend Hallie over for dinner. It was lovely. She's moving away soon, maybe, and we decided that she needed to know how to cook something for herself. So we invited her for a cooking lesson, and it was super fun! Steve taught her how to dice onions and shallots, trim green beans, saute chicken, make a pan sauce, cook rice pilaf. I mostly stood around and drank wine and ate some very tasty cheese.

It was all delicious! Sauteed chicken with a pan sauce served over rice pilaf so that the rice soaked up all the tasty juices, with blanched and sauteed green beans tossed with carmelized shallots.

After dinner we made Nutella Cupcakes (recipe), which were absolutely fantastic. Hallie got regalled with stories of my family, which is always entertaining, and she also wanted to see the wedding photographs. And then we noticed that 4 hours had flown by and it was nearly midnight. Ooops!

We're going to do another lesson next week (Stirfry!). And I've decided that cooking lessons for real life might be a good gift to any church fundraiser, silent auction type of thing. And that when we're no longer renting, we're going to have a kitchen where it's easier to cook in tandem. And there will be a bar counter for people to hang out an socialize while others are cooking.

done!

hip hip hooray!

more later... I'm going to savor this evening :)

hungry

for dirt cups.

Maybe someone with kids (miranda?) will take pity on me, and we can make them together and then I'll have an excuse :)

papers proceeding, due tomorrow. yep. nose, meet grindstone. he's your friend.

on another note, it's HI-larious that I was taking a nap at 9 in the morning today.

getting through

papers, papers everywhere..

I am a sonnet!

I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled; Not prone to overstated gushing praise Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled With overstretched opinions to rephrase; But on the other hand, not fond of fools, And thus, not fond of people, on the whole; And holding to the sound and useful rules, Not those that seek unjustified control. I'm balanced, measured, sensible (at least, I think I am, and usually I'm right); And when more ostentatious types have ceased, I'm still around, and doing, still, alright. In short, I'm calm and rational and stable - Or, well, I am, as much as I am able. What Poetry Form Are You?