Unquick Takes ...?

I missed 7 Quick Takes because I am fasting from the internet on Fridays (although I may have checked Facebook in the evening. ahem.), but I had some bite-sized thoughts, so I figured I'd go ahead and post them quick-takes style. There aren't seven of them. But they're kind of chunky, so I guess it balances out. ;)

1. The past two nights Michael has "bonded" with an object or toy at bedtime, which he then refuses to be separated from throughout his nighttime routine. He does have a stuffed monkey that he cuddles with when it's time to sleep, but these have been random things. Two nights ago it was a road sign from a Brio set, which I made the mistake of taking from him when we settled down to nurse. Many tears ensued. Last night it was a baby hairbrush I gave him to play with while I changed his diaper. He held onto it throughout the diaper change and as I got him in his pajamas. He chewed it while Keith read his bedtime stories to him, and used it instead of his fingers to stroke the animals in his touch-and-feel book. I didn't take it from him while he nursed; since he couldn't suck on it at the same time, he decided that it should go in my mouth. We said goodnight to Keith, and then Keith was required to nom it. When we said goodnight to the Blessed Mother statue and picture of the Sacred Heart, instead of patting them like he normally does, he tapped them with his hairbrush. I think he would have snuggled up with it in his crib if I hadn't coaxed it away and replaced it with his monkey.

2. Recently one of the secretaries at the Oratory contacted me asking if I wanted to do some basic data entry work for them. I was just thinking that I'm at a point now where I have time to do something extra (especially since Michael STILL isn't moving around ... we're pretty sure at this point he's going to skip crawling altogether), so it's a great way to bring in a little extra money. More than I expected it to, actually. What a blessing. :)

3. I have all these intentions to write posts about Lent, but never sit down to put effort into writing them. I think it's some combination of laziness and lack of confidence. Which about sums up my writing life of late. I am applying to a fellowship, which is an act of faith for me of sorts. I don't expect to get it (although it would be PERFECT; I really admire Greg Wolfe and his work with Image), but if I did? To be honest, I think my first reaction would be sheer terror. Hehe. Anyway, applying is an action that I am taking, and while I do care about whether or not I get accepted, I see the true point of that action being simply to move, to break free at least a little out of this post-grad-school inertia. (I almost typed post-partum. But you know, I think it has much more to do with just feeling burnt out from academia ... and feeling like I am not as amazing as an MFA was supposed to make me.)

4. I missed the yarn along too, so I'm going to ramble about knitting a bit. I had a spare skein of Malabrigo Sock lying around, so I decided to participate in Malabrigo March. Any opportunity to win yarn is one I'm willing to jump at. ;) I'm knitting Poe from Corrina Ferguson's Seven Sonnets collection. I love pattern collections that are built around a theme or concept, and one that's built around poems? Yes!

I've also signed up for a class on triangular shawl design at Natural Stitches in April. I am pretty excited about this class. It cost a little more than I'd anticipated (I think because it's being taught by a well known designer), but luckily I already have all the supplies I need except graph paper. My only concern is that I won't learn anything that I haven't already from the Craftsy course. We'll see.

5. As part of Lent, I've been keeping careful track of how much we spend on groceries, and how much each meal costs us. I know we can spend less than we do and I'm trying to figure out how to do that. This week, we ate out twice--once for a friend's birthday, and once for brunch on Sunday. I knew that eating out cost more than eating at home of course, but I didn't realize how MUCH more. Yikes. It was pretty amazing having a night off from making dinner, but the cost kind of stressed me out.