happy new lent :|

at my catholic school we were always forced (at gunpoint by the nuns and father flatley) to give something up for lent. it was always chocolate and it was always absolutely agony to do so and i always hated it. but i always did it and kept my word 100% and put every last penny i would have spent at the paper shop into the little cardboard 'save the children' box, which by easter was soooo full of money it was bursting apart at the seams and i could take all the silver coins back out again :)

sigh. my kids don't have bullies in habits and rosary beads shaping them, they have me : and i love chocolate : but i do want them to give something up... just so they know how hard life was for me growing up ;) soooo what to give up? the 99 cent store? all meat...? pizza....? something we don't like so much seems more logical. i have too many el pollo loco bowls in the freezer to give up ALL meat. i neeeeeed things from the 99 cent store that would cost more money elsewhere and surely that would be a no-no. and pizza? i cannot even think about a WEEK without pizza, never mind 5/6/7 weeks... (jeez i can't work out what 40 divided by 7 is :) plus i know if i ban something, even something gross like summer sausage, it will seem more appealing and we will all suddenly crave and have to have it for every meal!! urgh and i know this is exactly what those goody-two-shoes nuns live for...

so i propose to give up...... umm..... hmm.... just red meat, nope - i have lots of steak and hot dogs too and i don't want to be wasteful and it to get all freezer-burnt.... umm, can't give up chocolate, we have a big huge bag of freddo frogs fresh from the UK that would go to waste.... shoes...? hmm, i could probably not buy shoes. but what if i saw a really good deal and couldn't resist? oh gosh, see THIS is why i am not religious - i am just too freaking logical :) off to put my thinking cap on... this is going to be harder than i thought :}