Into the wilderness...

Punxsutawney Phil may have seen his shadow and predicted a late Spring, but Lent comes early this year. It seems like we just had Christmas, and already Ash Wednesday is tomorrow.

Which means I need to decide, quickly, what to do for Lent!

DH, DD and I have decided as a family to give up fast food this year. It's been a bad habit we've gotten into, mainly due to hectic schedules. And we all need to start eating healthier anyway. For my part, I'm giving up sugary drinks. I need to drink more water anyway, and I need to get back in the habit of drinking my tea unsweetened. (We won't talk about the bad soda habit I've picked up the past few months...) I haven't decided about giving up the snooze button again or not, but I think I'm going to move my alarm clock to my dresser away from my nightstand. I've discovered from setting one-shot alarms on my cell phone that if I have to actually get out of bed to turn the alarm off, I'm much more likely to actually stay up.

For Lenten reading this year, I think I'm going to tackle Dante's _Divine Comedy_. I found a good translation by Anthony Esolen, with plenty of reference and notes in the back of each volume. I started _Inferno_ back in November, and found it quite readable - I only put it aside to finish _Fortunate Traveler_, and it's still simmering on the back burner.

On with the journey....