I haven’t updated because I’ve been getting home late from work, exhausted, and needing to zone out. Most of what’s been on my mind lately is work stuff and as I really don’t want to be dooced, my work life is separate from this blog.

So… here’s the scoop on my activities lately.

[+] After having a craptastic week culminating in my glasses breaking that Friday (and having to be duct-taped together so I could drive home from work), I chose to spend last weekend in Great Falls getting my glasses repaired (and replaced thanks to my wonderful in-laws) and hiding from whoever seems to be putting the pins in my voodoo doll of life. It was great to get AWAY from the Hi-Line for a few days and I’m thankful to have family down there with whom I could stay.

[+] I attended worship at Church of the Incarnation last Sunday and enjoyed having a worship service where I could be anonymous and also not be intimately knowledgeable about what was going on. I am truly Episcopal/Anglican at heart and while they used some different musical settings than I remember from my church in San Jose, it was still really wonderful and familiar worship. Kudos also to Rev. Tim who preached one of the better sermons I’ve heard in an Episcopal church and managed to take the week’s passage in a different direction than I’ve heard before with that particular text. The church has a healing/intercessory prayer time at the end of the service and knowing how much I needed it, I went up and participated… and managed NOT to cry. (People laying on hands and praying for me usually reduces me to tears — it’s a testimony to the power of prayer and of what the Spirit is doing in me but it can also be kind of embarrassing.)Â? I kind of wish I could head down there more often because it was such a great experience in terms of worship for me.

[+] I attended my first barrel race last Sunday afternoon.Â? Being a sissified city girl, I’d never seen it and I managed to not look like a complete idiot to those who are knowledgeable about it by looking it up on Wikipedia and also asking some of my Montana relatives about it.Â? So why did I go?Â? Well… one of my co-workers is a barrel racer and I asked if I could come watch.Â? I actually enjoyed myself and it looks incredibly fun though it’s not something I’d ever do.

[+] I discovered a new podcast while trying to find something more wholesome to listen to at work than Lime n’ Violet.Â? (I have no problem with the divas but it’s hard to explain to the people around me that I’m snickering at comments about German man-shaving.)Â? It’s called “Catholic in a Small Town” and it’s about the lives of a Catholic couple in a small town (duh!) in Georgia and how they’re raising their kids, viewing their faith, interacting with media (especially movies).Â? I highly recommend it and I’d link to it if I could find a website of theirs that worked!Â? (Ahem Mac and Katherine…)

[+] On the subject of Catholic things, people who are Catholic/know Catholics/want to be Catholic need to listen to last week’s episode of Speaking of Faith.Â? Seriously, it was brilliant.

[+] Last Saturday, I decided to scout out where Church of the Incarnation was (mostly so I’d know how to get there and where to find parking) and when I saw the neighborhood, I decided to take a walk down the street to the other interesting looking church… which turned out to be St. Ann’s Cathedral.Â? I went in, blessed myself, and knelt in one of the pews to pray the daily prayers I usually say in the car on the way to work as well as some special ones for a co-worker facing surgery.Â? There were others in there praying and I thought this was pretty cool.Â? After I finished and had sat for awhile, I decided to look around (mostly to see if there were any candles that one could light) and saw that people were going into a back room and kneeling in front of a screen.Â? Oh… yeah… Saturday afternoon is when people go for Confession (OK… technically called “Reconciliation” now) so I understood then why the church was so full.Â? As it would probably take a few hours for the priest to hear my confession (mostly because it’s been like 9 years since my last one in the Catholic Church), I decided to leave the nice worshippers to their shriving.