7QTF: Wicked is Coming

Linking up with Jen for another edition of 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. It's no secret that I'm a junkfood-a-holic, but I am trying to change my ways. Marco's Pizza (which is SO GOOD), however, is not making it easy. An email I received yesterday:

They've missed me. Seriously, it's bad when a pizza place emails you to let you know they've missed seeing you.

2. Okay, I don't know about you guys, but one thing that really motivates me to get things done sometimes is my fear that if I don't do it, I'll most likely die in the night and whoever comes to find my body will also see that thing undone. For instance, I got into bed last night and realized the curtain over my closet was open a little. I didn't really want to get up, but then I thought how embarrassed I'd be if someone came to find my dead body and saw that open. Same with leaving the remote control cockeyed on the couch or magazines that are askew. It's the same thing when I put on, let's just say less than attractive underwear. You know what I mean! I have some bigger underwear that are reserved for occasions like when I'm really sick or just got home from dance and took my tights and leotard off. But when I put them on, there is always a voice in the back of my head reminding me that if I die, I will be found in those underwear.

3. I've been keeping up pretty well with my walking/saying the Rosary at lunch time in my office complex. At the end of the hall there is a pediatricians office and through the windows beside the door you can see they have a TV in the waiting room. And they're always showing something awesome like Tangled. You do not know how badly I just want to open the door and ask if I can spend my lunch hour watching Disney with the (other) kids in the waiting room.

4. Snicks is an odd little fella, it's an indisputable fact. He will sometimes lay in the funniest places. For instance:

Who just lays and stares at the wall? It's like he's put himself in time out.

5. Tonight begins the annual Lenten seafood dinners at my church, Our Lady of Fatima. I'm not ashamed to say (although I probably should be) this is my very favorite part of Lent! I can eat food like it's going out of style, so you just give me a plate of fried fish, baked potatoes, hush puppies, coleslaw and whatever else and I'm in heaven!

6. OMG YOU GUYS. OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. Once Upon a Time is FINALLY (finally finally finally) back on after a THREE MONTH hiatus. THREE MONTHS?! It's safe to say Story and I have only been functioning at about 75% since Once started its break in early December. This is clearly a conversation between two freakishly obsessed people:

I know, I know. It's just TV. Or is it? I've seriously never been this way about a show before. If you're not watching it, I can't talk to you. :) You are sooooo missing out. Wicked is coming!

)

7. Did I mention Once Upon a Time is coming back Sunday? ABC, 8 p.m. ET.

Go see Jen for more!

Awesome

Posting today totally got away from me. I have some ideas I've been knocking around, but I want to put the time into writing them. So for Thursday, I leave you with this thought:

Preach it.

PB&J

The neatest thing happened to me this morning. After my post yesterday about giving up the snooze button, my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning and I started to get up. My alarm is set to KLOVE radio, and guess what is literally the FIRST thing I heard when that alarm went off?

Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free
"Amazing Grace" is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King

Awesome, right? Because that's pretty much what Lent is about!

But, Lent, man, not for the weak of heart, right?

My church offered three masses today: 7:30 a.m., 8:50 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. I am already at work by 8:50 and I had a meeting with my professor after work about my upcoming exam, so 7:30 it was!

Here's the thing about wearing ashes around all day (and by "all day" I mean work, my lunch trip to WalMart, my meeting at Starbucks with my professor and a wine bar date with an old college friend I dearly missed) -- it's not that I don't want to talk about God, Lent, Jesus or all of it -- I do! But what I don't like is any sort of extra attention called to myself. I ALWAYS feel this way. Want to ask me about being Catholic? Ask me! But man, I am soooo uncomfortable with any sort of extra attention on myself. I always worry about a wedding (not to worry, no imminent danger!) because ALL THOSE PEOPLE are staring at you!!! I know that's weird for a dancer and someone who doesn't mind public speaking but man, I do not like unnecessary attention!

One great thing I realized today was how much fasting makes you appreciate the food you have. I'm not a champion faster... I subscribe more to the "don't eat more than one full meal" list of rules... but I do try to adhere to not eating more than one full meal on Ash Wednesday and offering up my hunger for the Lord. I had a cereal bar for breakfast (not a full meal I don't think) and for lunch, one peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Not an Anna Lafferre lunch, I can say that.) But as I was eating my one sandwich, I realized how happy I was to have it and how great it tasted. I slowed down, I thought about what I was eating. With each bite I took, I realized how grateful I was for that simple food and how fulfilling it was. And I call that a Lenten success. I'm a humble sinner with so many faults, but I did look at my little sandwich today and think about how much I enjoyed the opportunity and ability I had to eat it. I savored every bite.

So I hope I'm on the right track.

Retiring the Snooze Button - Lents Make it Happen

Tomorrow begins the season of Lent, a tough but also wonderful time of year. When you're a kid you are taught to give something up for Lent and most of us go through the list: sweets, pop, TV. But when you're an adult you learn more that you shouldn't be sacrificing things for sacrifice's sake, it should be something that increases your spiritual well-being and brings you closer to God.

Sometime just before Lent 2013 I read something on the internet (I wish I could remember where and what!) that talked about Lenten sacrifice. I truly remember nothing about the article other than one of the things it suggested was giving up the snooze button. WOW! I would have never thought of that. I am really a slave to the snooze button myself. I am usually on time for every single thing, but I always feel like I'm running late for work in the mornings. Last year I gave up the snooze button, and man, let me tell you, it was HARD. I feel like I really am a slave to that snooze button - "just five more minutes" - and getting up as soon as the alarm goes off definitely assists in learning to be more self-disciplined.

I am going to do it again this year. Starting tomorrow, when that alarm goes off at 6:50 a.m. I'm outta bed like a shot. (Well, actually, tomorrow will be 6:30 a.m. as I hope to make it to the 7:30 a.m. Ash Wednesday mass, but most days will be 6:50.) Shew. Just thinking about it worries me. I don't know why, but it is so HARD. I'm hoping to use these extra 10-15 minutes I will now have to pray a little more seriously in the morning than just a rushed GodhelpmegetthroughthisdayI'mexhausted that I whip out while showering.

Along with giving up the snooze button, I have also decided that I want to focus on not catastrophizing everything. (Isn't that a great word?) I have a tendency to focus on the worst-case scenario of anything I'm worried about. Also when something goes wrong on any given day (I have a bad day at school) I tend to catastrophize the rest of my life (I'm a horrible student, I should never go back to school, I'll hate it, etc.) I feel like this is something I need to quit doing, but really importantly I really need to do it NOW as my big comprehensive exam (the test that determines if I'll get my Master's or not) is this April. I've had hard-core anxiety about it since January (well, really, since I started the program almost four years ago) and I seriously cannot handle this high of a level of anxiety for the next two months. I just can't.

As far as my direct spiritual growth, I'm hoping to continue to read one of my Jesus Today devotionals every night. In addition, my favorite priest Father Jim sent me a great book on Lenten reflections. Both the devotional and reflections are short, which makes them manageable and not overwhelming.

Also -- look what came just in time for Lent?

Yay! I have a great devotion to Venerable Fulton Sheen and am so glad to have these prayers.

I know these sound like little steps, and they are, but I think it's really important for me personally not to make grand plans for Lent (like I'm going to read three chapters of the Bible every night and attend Adoration three times a week) because I'm setting myself up to feel like a major failure, and Lent is really not about me.

I hope you all have a really blessed and fruitful Lenten season! Also, fish dinner Friday -- woot! It's also known as "Anna'a favorite part of Lent." :) Let's be real.

Snow Day

I don't know about where you are, but man it sure snowed where I am last night! We knew the storm was coming, but it's still amazing to see.

Here's what is so sad about snow as an adult -- as a kid, you are praying, wishing and hoping for it to snow every single day so you can get out of school. :) Along with that, snow is just pretty cool to see, right? But, sadly, when you're an adult with a job -- or an adult with a job where your boss has no sort of inclement weather policy -- snow is really just scary and annoying. Should you risk it to drive to work or not? Is it okay to take a personal day? What if your coworkers make it in but you feel like you can't? That's pretty much what I faced today. We've had several really snowy days this winter, but I've always been at work, on time, after driving really slowly and making it in. But today's storm was definitely the worst one we've had all year. The governor shut down all state agencies, the local university closed for the day, the local hospital shut down all of its family medical centers and everyone was being told to stay off the roads. My car was covered in a sheet of ice, the same sheet of ice that coated the ground under all the snow. When I woke up a little before 7 a.m. there were already several inches on the ground... and it was still snowing. I talked to my mom a little bit and finally made the decision to take a personal day. I wish I could say I completely enjoyed my day, but unfortunately, I just spent most of it worrying that I'll be viewed as a wimp or a person that over-exaggerates or is lazy or something along those lines. I wish that wasn't the case, I wish I wasn't such a worrywart, but I am. It would have been nice to be able to enjoy the day guilt-free but since my coworkers braved it in, I feel like I should have too. I feel like it's a lose-lose situation: if you don't go in, then you are a lazy whiner, but if you do go in it's likely you will get in an accident, or have a super-long and dangerous commute where high anxiety is your passenger.

I guess not only am I an over-worrier, but I also have a really, really hard time with rest. I guess I feel like it's okay to work at my full-time job 40 hours a week, and also work at my other full-time job another 20-30 hours a week plus go to graduate school and be involved in various organizations but it is NOT okay to sit for a few hours and read or watch TV. I'm not saying all this for pity but I guess I just wonder if other people feel this way too? Like logically I know that my magazine will not shut down and fail because I am not there for one day. I am not a lazy whiner or a bad employee or a lumpy person. But it's so hard for me not to feel that way. After a day like today I just feel like, well, frankly, a loser. :(

I have tried to tell myself today to enjoy the beautiful snow that we're blessed with getting to see and be thankful for it. I took some photos earlier this morning and again this evening, and it really is pretty out.

Snicks, wanna go outside and play in the snow?!

Around 8 a.m. 

My feet just sinking in. 

Around 6 p.m. - sun setting.

Sun is really pretty on the snow.

Soaking up all the heat. 

An Idealistic Schoolteacher Flies to Italy to Pursue a Shoe Salesman

I was going to end the 7 Posts in 7 Days challenge by writing about something serious that's been on my mind. But the Oscars are on, the weather is getting slowly worse and worse outside (going to be a fab Monday commute!) and thinking has become a bit more challenging. So in honor of tonight's movie celebration, I decided to share something that's not at all serious that caught my attention!

I have Comcast cable. Do you? I don't know how other cable providers do this, but I noticed a couple days ago that Comcast has the most hilarious descriptions of movies on TV. Maybe hilarious is not quite the right word... maybe it's more like if you didn't also see the title of the film along with the description would you actually want to watch this? Like these are films we watch. With our free time.

Here are some real descriptions of movies on Comcast cable.

(via)

1. A Chinese maiden disguises herself as a man so that she can fight invaders in place of her sickly dad.

2. Rebels face off against an evil empire in a climactic battle for the fate of the galaxy while one of the rebel leaders wrestles with the fact that his father is the head of the brutal regime.

3. A lonely boy befriends a homesick alien stranded on earth and attempts to help him find a way home.

4. A Civil War soldier befriends and becomes a member of the Sioux.

5. Unemployed parapsychologists devise a system for neutralizing ghosts when New York City comes under attack from supernatural demons.

6. The tyrant in a 16th-Century portrait wants to return to life by taking over the body of a little child, the son of the art restorer working on the picture.

7. An idealistic schoolteacher flies to Italy to pursue a shoe salesman whom she believes to be her soul mate.

8. Fact-based tale about the course traveled by Jamaica's bobsled team en route to the 1988 Olympics.

(via)

9. A Brooklyn widow, engaged to a mama's boy, falls in love with her fiance's brother.

10. A coming-of-age tale about four 12-year-old boys who hear that there is a dead body in the woods near where they live and proceed to try and find it.

11. During the early days of the French Revolution, an upstanding man imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread is pursued relentlessly by one single-minded police officer.

Any of these sound like something you'd want to devote 2+ hours to watching? Oh, and they're also all legit films everyone has heard of starring actors who are super famous.

***********************************************************

1. Mulan
2. Return of the Jedi
3. ET
4. Dances With Wolves
5. Ghostbusters
6. Ghostbusters II
7. Only You
8. Cool Runnings
9. Moonstruck
10. Stand By Me
11. Les Miserables

A Day in the Life

So it's Saturday -- day 6 of Jen's 7 posts in 7 days challenge. Today I thought it might be fun to show you what it is Snicks' life looks like on any given day. Basically because I'D like to know what his life looks like. He's here alone every day for several hours while I'm at work and doing whatever, so who the heck knows what he does?!

I should add a disclaimer here that today was an odd day at our house. I got it in my head that I just have too much STUFF. Like I am being suffocated by my stuff (more on that later), so I decided to spend the day cleaning out my closets and things. Well, that's how the idea started anyways. Somewhere around 12:30 p.m. "cleaning out my closets" became "rearranging furniture in two rooms, including moving two bookshelves around multiple times and almost breaking my foot." Snicks is not a huge fan of change, but he is also incredibly nosy - I guess the nice word is "curious" - so he doesn't want to be involved in change but he also wants to know what's going on. A conundrum.

Without further ado, I give you Snicks: A Day in Photos

Friday night, 10:10 p.m. - Snicks in one of his favorite spots: under my bed. This is where he sleeps, but also where he sometimes hangs out. I think it's because it's dark, so it's like a burrow to him. Also, sidenote, I know you are probably thinking that looks like helluva mess under there, and you wouldn't be wrong. A couple years back I lost Snicks... and subsequently found him INSIDE my box spring. He had ripped a hole in the lining and climbed up and was hanging out. I only knew this because a little lump was hanging down from the boxspring lining. While this wasn't a PROBLEM per se, I did worry that if there was a fire or something I wouldn't be able to get him out, so I ripped out the lining. Hence, the mess you're viewing.

Friday night, 10:59 p.m. - Definitely one of Snicks other favorite places to hang out. Well, I guess I could say it was at the time. The living room now looks slightly different! :)

Friday night, 11:56 p.m. - ...and he's back.

Saturday morning, 1:01 a.m. - He must visit here hourly.

8:11 a.m. - No this photo is not a mis-print. This is the best shot of this I can get. This is what he does EVERY morning. I get up and open the bedroom door, and he shoots through the door like a bat out of hell. Seriously. Without fail. Every morning. Also, it's funny, you can actually accidentally trick him it's morning time. Heehee. If I go to bed at, say, 11 p.m. then get up at 11:30 to get a drink of water and open the door, he'll shoot out! Then I have to say - no, Snicks, it's not morning. And he'll come back.

9:24 a.m. - This is Snicks' little wonderland. Behind the chair in the living room is his little towel, his best friends (shoeboxes) and some toys he never, ever plays with.

9:29 a.m. - Classic move. This is a shot into the living room from the kitchen. I can almost guarantee that ANYTIME I'm in the kitchen, I can turn around, and there he'll be. He'll never, ever actually come IN the kitchen, he'll just hover at the doorway. Why? Anna in kitchen = treat for Snicks.

9:31 a.m. - ...and he probably thinks that because it's true. Snacking on his apple.

11:19 a.m. - Helping me with the great purge.

11:20 a.m. - Done helping.

12:42 p.m. - Behind the chair again.

1:17 - Nosiness wins. Comes to see what's up.

1:44 p.m. - Comes across a copy of "Finding God's will For Your Life"...

1:46 p.m. - ...loses interest in God's will for his life.

2:07 p.m. - Discovers his own interest in chewing carpet.

3:44 p.m - We call this "meatloaf." It's a certain way he lays. He looks like meatloaf.

5:11 p.m. - No clue. Walked in and found him chilling.

5:45, 5:46, 5:48, 5:50, 5:53, 5:55, 5:56, 5:57, 5:58 and 5:59 p.m. - Repeatedly physically removed from under the chair where he's trying to chew carpet.

 9:17 p.m. - Cheating on his best friend shoebox with his other two bros, lamb and rabbit who is not Snicks.

 9:53 p.m. - ...and we've come full circle. Night!

10:01 p.m. - Just kidding... he heard Ghostbusters was on and just can't say no to that Slimer. (And judging from his eyes, also wants to join the cast.)