40 days

for this year's lenten season i am choosing to do something a little bit different than the usual give up something you love for forty days.  i made a list of 40 things, wrote them on pretty pink paper, put them in a canister, and will choose one slip of paper each day.  i will honor this slip until the next day when i pull out a new one. 

today i had my traditional paczki, even though i couldn't live it up due to the terrible cold that kept me home from work.  i was so hoping to gorge myself on chocolates and things that aren't good for me, but instead i was laid up on the couch in a dayquil coma.  tomorrow i will fast, abstain from meat, and receive my ashes at mass. 
here is my list of 40 things, one for each day of lent.
1.  pray a chaplet
2.  no flat iron
3.  no TV
4.  no reading except for my daily Bible
5.  no coffee
6.  no tea
7.  no sweets
8.  no ice-cream
9.  pray rosary before work
10.  no meat
11.  no facebook
12.  no blog
13.  no internet
14.  no personal email
15.  no music in car
16.  no complaining
17.  pray for the divorced
18.  pray for peace
19.  no gossip
20.  no shopping
21.  go to confession this week
22.  pray for an enemy
23.  pay it forward
24.  pray for all youths
25.  no chocolate
26.  no second helping at dinner
27.  maintain an hour of silence
28.  pray for an hour
29.  pray to stop abortion
30.  pray before meals
31.  visit the adoration chapel today
32.  pray for my spouse
33.  pray for my family
34.  pray for vocations
35.  pray for a cure for cancer
36.  pray for a cure of AIDS
37.  no nagging
38.  do a random act of kindness
39.  no criticizing/judging others
40.  give money to the poor box after mass this week