Seven Quick Takes, Weekend Edition

Linking up late this week! I have semi-decent excuses, though; we've been crazy busy, and I was convinced that Friday was actually Saturday (thank goodness I didn't accidentally serve meat!). I'm taking advantage of my tardiness to kill two birds with one stone, linking up with Jen at ConversionDiary.com for Seven Quick Takes along with Fine Linen and Purple's What I Wore Sunday!

I
Because he works for a university, Matt got a three-day weekend this week for spring break! It's not quite the ten-day span of adventures we enjoyed when we were in college ourselves, but still a welcome chance to relax.

II
Or not relax... We actually spent our "extra Saturday" running all over the place! Little Bear and Daddy held down the fort while I ran to an early morning chiropractor appointment, and I came home for no more than a half hour to eat, feed and change the baby, and get ready to go to...drumroll...our bank to talk with a loan officer!

III
The househunting feels a lot more real now that we have that fancy piece of paper certifying that we are pre-qualified for a home loan. Real in a we could actually have our own house! sense, and at the same time, real in an oh my gosh that's a lot of money sense. We haven't said "we want to buy a house by [date]" yet; we like our apartment, but knowing that our landlords intend to sell next spring, we decided it made sense to start looking around to see if the right house comes along.

IV
So far we have looked at a couple of houses, and learned some good lessons: a)If the ad only shows photos of the interior, there's probably a reason. b)A lot of the homes near us are WAY overpriced. c)Driving through and checking out the neighborhood can help you decide whether to even bother setting up an appointment to view a house. The process has been a little discouraging, comparing the price we feel comfortable paying with the quality of house around Fairbanks, but it's early in the season; we should be seeing many more homes on the market in a month or two.

V
Somebody discovered Cheerios today. I wish I'd gotten a photo! He was so cute. Little Bear hasn't quite mastered the pincer hold yet, so the Cheerios kept getting lost in his gummy little fist as he tried to stuff them into his mouth. It was apparently great fun, and he seems to have actually eaten two of them, because not all of the ones that started out on his tray were hiding in his seat or on the floor afterward.

VI
In his homily today, our pastor mentioned two different theories on what Christ was writing on the ground when he told the scribes and Pharisees that the one who was without sin should cast the first stone at the woman who had committed adultery: their names, or a list of sins (anger, pride, gluttony, etc). The list of sins especially made sense to me; as Scripture says, "the wages of sin is death." By reminding them that all have sinned, Christ extended to them an opportunity to acknowledge their own sinfulness by refraining from punishing this woman just because she was caught, recognizing that their hidden sins made them just as guilty in the eyes of God.

VII
I finally manage to wear purple on a Lenten Sunday, and two-thirds of the congregation are in green. Sigh. St Patrick's Day is being observed liturgically tomorrow, but wouldn't the proper color be red? I thought he was martyred...
UPDATED: Matt corrected me; St Patrick was not martyred. The appropriate liturgical color would be violet.

The outfit:

White button down: thrifted
Purple tee: thrifted
Black wool skirt: thrifted (back in highschool!)
Wool jacket: Sears
Boots: gift from my mom
Glasses: Flexon

Little Bear got called Cinderella by Fr Robert today after he lost his shoe in the vestibule. These shoes, specifically their laces, are apparently enthralling: he was quiet all through mass, sitting still and playing with his shoelaces!