lent list.

so since i'm completely and sometimes overly honest up in here, i have to tell you that for the past few years i have really stunk at lent. in the past, i have tried to take on something new, rather than give something up, usually something along the lines of 'read a chapter of the Bible every day.' but the past couple years, i have failed pretty spectacularly at my goal. i would stay on track for the first week or so, and then just lose steam. either that, or i just pretty much just missed it.

lent is a sneaky little bugger: it starts on a different day every year, and it is especially difficult to keep track of since my denomination doesn't technically observe it. but its a good concept, and so this year we are ready for it. (if you are ok with defining 'ready' as 'we talked about it for like 5 minutes last night)

so here's our plan: for lent this year, we are giving up watching tv.

i know, we didnt do so hot during tv-turn-off-week, but we're willing to give it another shot. lately, we have both been realizing that we spend far too many evenings parked in front of the TV, and at the end of the night we don't really feel very good about that.

of course, we have built ourselves in a few exceptions to our rule:
1. we are each allowed to watch one show per week of our choosing. the show can be no longer than 1 hr long. we are not required to watch an hr each week, but we are allowed.
2. this doesn't really apply at other people's houses. we can't and dont want to force anyone else to join us in our tv-fast.
3. movies are a little different. basically, we're not going to watch them by ourselves at our house as a mindless way to pass an evening. but going out with friends or inviting people over to watch a movie are still fair game.

we're hoping that we will be able to use our used-to-be-tv-time for other things like projects, and reading, and exercising, and coming up with some extra-healthy* meal options to mix into our weekly plan.

what's your lent-plan?

*as a part of this attempt to eat healthier, i am also giving up goldfish for lent. i eat way too many of those cheesy little fishes... cuz they're SO delicious!