"If I'm Crazy Then its True, That its all Because of You, And You Wouldn't Want Me Any Other Way..."

What's up all you ashy headed mofos? Happy Ash Wednesday. I forgot to give our Texas Elvis a shout out yesterday for Fat Tuesday. It is named after him you know? Just kidding Davo, don't cry on your big pillow. Or fly on Southwest for that matter. They be kicking fatty's off their planes left and right. Bastards. Poor KS.
Anyway.

During my daily two hour drive around town yesterday, the topic of religion came up on the radio. Then today, a few people made comments on facebook as well. This had me thinking all day about the big man in the sky. No, that isn't another reference to Kevin Smith. Leave the man alone. I was just wondering if God laughs his/her ass off when he sees the bullshit we do in his name. I think I might have touched on this before so I'll try not to make the same stupid comments. But if I do, so what? It's my blog dammit, I do what I want!

Most of my friends and readers already know my take on organized religion. I'm not an atheist and definitely not as angry as Bill Mahr on the subject. If it's a part of your life, good for you. I just don't get it. I believe in God, but that's about it. I see the Bible as a great novel. A little long and dry in some parts, and kinda preachy (pun intended). But I see it as more of  a book of fictional stories to guide you along the moral path to being a good person, not an instructional manual to life.I don't take its contents as gospel, (again intended).
Anyway.

I was taking my daughter to school this morning, (a Catholic school, I know right, my kid in a Catholic school) when she reminded me it was Ash Wednesday. She then asked me what I was giving up for Lent. To answer her question, nothing. But that's not entirely true. For those of you that don't know, I decided last December that I was going to test my will power in the coming year. You can call it a New Years Resolution if you like, I don't, but you can call it whatever you want. With work and kids  and the economy and blah, blah blah,  I realized that I really don't have any control of shit. So I thought of something that would be solely under my command. Something that isn't effected by the rest of the world. What I cram in my pie whole. That means what I eat Jess, nothing sexual you perv.

Diets come and go, and by looking at me you can tell I really am not in control of that. So this was a little different. I decided that every month this year, I was going to give up something different for the entire month. I wasn't going to do it for weight loss, but that would be nice. I also wasn't going to do it for health reasons either, but I am curious to see if I feel better or worse. I'm doing it to show myself that I'm still in control of something. Tracey jumped on board and we planned our attack. I wanted to do this myself, but quickly realized her involvement makes it easier.

In January, we decided to give up meat. If you know me, that's a big deal! (insert your gay joke here) We weren't going to go Vegan, we still ate cheese and eggs, just no animal flesh including fish. It was hard but we did it. What you realize right away is that this damn near eliminates fast food. That's a plus. Also, you really need to plan ahead. For full time veggie-heads, this is no big deal. But I was raised that every meal revolves around a meat dish. Sure, I would have salads and meatless meals from time to time, but never went that long without. We learned a lot of new recipes. doubt I'll ever eat them again, but learned them just the same.

This month is dairy, sweets, and pop. not too hard except I really like cheese. That sucks! The next few months we're thinking coffee (my hardest), alcohol, breads and pasta, and who knows what else.

So when an armchair Catholic asks if I'm giving anything up for Lent, I'm gonna tell them to suck it!

Peace Bitches!

PS. My friend Laura has started a blog a few weeks ago. It's http://www.lauralieff.blogspot.com/
Check it out. And thanks Laura, you inspire me to write more.