Thoughts for Thursday (MaryAlice)

What am I cooking tonight? We are going out to dinner!

What am I reading? Middlemarch by George Eliot, more New York Times lately, very few blogs

What are my weekend plans? We are at The Farm, so my plans include long walks, running, canoeing on the pond, reading, mass.

What are my prayer intentions for the day? My girls have a fever, and I am praying for patience (for me) and a quick recovery, so this does not spoil too much of their vacation time.

What is one product that is making my life a little easier? Ginger Snaps

What am I grateful for? Old friends.

What have I done for my marriage this week? push-ups

What’s challenging me lately? My temperament.  At the same time that we have been discussing temperaments, I have been reluctantly facing up to the obstacle of mine, which is to obsess and brood.  I need to get better at letting things go, but for now, when I am a situation that I perceive as full of conflict, sometimes it is just better for me to drop out and protect my own peace.

What is one task or project on my agenda for the week? Scrapbooking with my kids.  They have chosen pictures from the last three years (!) and we ordered prints, and now we are working on albums.  We will keep working backwards on this project until we get baby books done.

Something that made me think? Shopping at WalMart.  The low prices make many things so tempting, but one of the things that I bought — yesterday — is already broken, and I just always feel so dirty after the experience of shopping there.  Plus, when I do make the effort to shop independent instead, I have to make more trips to stores that are more difficult with the kids and pay more, so the whole thing is confusing and makes me feel kind of ill.  There are very few shops left on the main street of the small town I am visiting, but what mom can resist 25 cents for a pack of 24 Crayola crayons?  Should she?