Checking in from the trenches, birthday edition. :) And some book club news...

Afternoon all! I am always SO out of sorts when I'm out of routine, which I know is not a big surprise to you. *gentle snort* I took a few days off from work, and  you would think I lost the ability to conceive of the calendar, my days of the week are so turned around. This is especially bad when I skip a usual day of blogging.

But here I am, and another year older, to boot. I have come to terms with these "less than thrilling number" birthdays, because really, what choice do we have? There's no going back, that's for sure. And if you don't enjoy and cherish your life to the fullest in the present moment, you're really missing out. So, that's my current birthday philosophy. We'll talk again next year when I reach a particularly unpleasant milestone AND my birthday falls on Ash Wednesday. I'll obviously be doing penance for all of humanity with that one. You're welcome.

;)

At any rate, I *have* been having a very nice birthday. Last night, Mike took me to our favorite restaurant for dinner.  We lingered over half price martinis at the bar, talking about our kids and the Olympics, while next to us lounged a crew of young adults who couldn't possibly be too far over the legal drinking age. They were rather loudly talking about their dating lives while Mike and I brainstormed ideas for future writing projects.

#oldfogeys

Alas, rather than causing me to long for my "lost youth," it made me all the more grateful that I'm happily past an age where insecurity reigned (at least for me).

#scoreonefortheoldpeople

Since this is a martini bar, the selection was pretty impressive. I was agonizing over a vodka martini versus a specialty one, when I decided to go for broke. It's my birthday. I'm going for the dessert martini, baby!!

Oatmeal cookie martini for everybody!!!

We're talking Bailey's Irish Cream. We're talking butterscotch schnapps. We're talking (unfathomably) Jagermeister and Goldschlager. We're talking chocolately goodness, BUT WITH ALCOHOL.

It just doesn't get any better than that, folks.

After our time at the bar, we headed to a table for dinner over candlelight. Sublime.

I've also gotten some very nice gifts. Handmade bath products in my favorite fragrances. A bag of flavored decaf coffee. Cute new bookends. A promise of a lunch this coming weekend with my parents. All very lovely. I've been doing tons of knitting, reading and watching of the Olympics. It's been a *very* nice long weekend.

So! Speaking of reading, I have some Catholic Book Club news. I'm not really sure that anyone is reading the books along with me :0 so I don't think this will be a disruption to anybody. What I really like about the Catholic Book Club is that it keeps me accountable with spiritual reading. Every month, I will read at least one non-fiction book geared toward strengthening my faith. And people do read the reviews and perhaps it gives them some ideas for their own spiritual reading list. All good.

But sometimes I bite off more than I can chew, and this month is one of those times. I was supposed to be reading The Hidden Face of St. Therese by Ida Gorres. Well. :)

I spent some time this month reading The Mass by Cardinal Wuerl, to review for Image Books. I finished it, and I will write my review here tomorrow, so look for that. But I then was behind schedule on reading The Hidden Face. Undeterred, I quickly downloaded it and started reading. My first inkling that there would be a problem was when I read and read and read and read, and looked down at the little status bar on my Kindle and it indicated that I was at 1% of completion. Oh my.

This is a LONG book, and there is no way I'm going to finish it for next Wednesday, as originally planned. I'm just not up to the task of taking on such a large endeavor this month. So, what I decided to do is review The Mass tomorrow, and switch things up a bit for the coming months. I started reading Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns via a library copy last month. It's been languishing on my shelf, and I'd really like to pick it back up, so I'm going to have that be the official March Catholic Book Club selection. I bumped the other two books I have had on the list, More Catholic Than the Pope, and The Cloistered Heart, to April and May. I still plan to read those two books, and in fact, already own print copies, so I'm all set. The list on the right sidebar is now all up to date as well.

So there! I have shared my Type A, extreme book reading list organization mentality with all of you. :0 I know it's part of the reason you love me so much.

Ok! Back to my children. I'll be checking in with all of you again tomorrow! Lots of exciting stuff to come, including some Lenten plans, and a 7 day blogging challenge. :) Stay tuned!