Lent, No Sweat!

Well folks, Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. The kick-off of the season of Lent for us Catholic types (you can get the Lent for Dummies cliff notes here).

Some of what is required of Catholics is:

1. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of Fasting and Abstinence. That means No meat (abstinence) and no snacking. You may have two small meals and one regular, but light meal.
2. You are to 'give something up'. Housework, homework or dishes don't count.
3. No meat on any Friday during Lent.
   

The point is that every time you feel hunger or crave something that you are denied, you offer it as penance for your sins and remember the sufferings of Christ.

This is not my favorite time of year. I like meat. It's my favorite part of most meals. I can regularly go through a day without meat or snacks and eating minimal amounts without even thinking about it, but the second I'm told that I can't have it and it is forbidden, I can't stand it. It calls to me.

Now you may be asking yourself "I wonder what WeaselMomma has given up for Lent?". I thought about this long and hard. Many of the typical things like chocolate or candy, I can give up without a second thought. I enjoy them, don't get me wrong, but they are not a daily staple for me. They would not be in the spirit of penance. I decided instead to give up beer.

That's right. Go back and read that again. Your eyes are not failing you. WeaselMomma, 40 (46) days, no beer.

This shouldn't really be too much of a problem. Except that, it is a daily staple in my life and now that's it's a forbidden it will be calling to me. The good Lord decided to help me out and make it easy for me to forgo both beer, meat and snacks yesterday. While at the same making sure that I was able to have suffering to offer up as penance for my sins.

"WOW! How he do that?" you must be asking your computer screen right now. I tell you how. I awoke at 2am Ash Wednesday with a migraine. In all of it's throbbing, puking, pulsating, am I having stroke?, glory. I was in too much pain to speak. I was violently sick countless times until about 9am. I dehydrated and was not able to get any water or pain medication to stay down.

Mr. Weasel got the kids out to school, sans smallest. He had a meeting down town for a job prospect that he had to go to. With me being completely unable to function, we had a problem. Our dear friend Patsy stepped up and had smallest spend the day at her house. Yay, for Patsy! She's really awesome and I can't thank her enough. I pulled it together enough to function minimally in time to pick up the kids after school, but we also had 3 different places that the gang had to be. Patsy kept everyone at her house as I chauffeured individual Weasels to and fro. This continued until Mr. Weasel came home and took care of dinner and homework and I went back to bed. I never made it to mass, but that's not a mandatory on Ash Wednesday.

On the positive side, fasting and abstinence were not a problem for me at all yesterday. I didn't even think about beer once all day!!! One day down, 39(45) more to go.