I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday. It's been an exhausting week at work, satisfying but high stress. Wednesday night I did make some progress on the Lopi horse blanket Einstein while watching "Queer Eye" until 11.
Why did I do this when I can catch it in the afternoon this weekend? But it was quality mindless knitting time, the Einstein is coming along - I'm on the first front panel (Einsteinians know the pattern is done bottom, front, back, front, sleeve sleeve.) Stayed up too late, then the dog got me up way too early. Last night I got 8 hours of sleep for the first time in several days. It felt good. I hope to repeat the feat tonight. Nights are finally cool and lovely, and even the dog slept in later this morning.

Murphy went to the groomer yesterday, so he's all soft as a bunny and sweet smelling for maybe the next 48 hours. He really needs a weekly bath and a daily brush, he's lucky if he gets a bi-weekly bath and occasional brush. Just another thing on my list of Shit I Need to Do. But he's a wonderful, lovable, cuddly thing to do, so I should prioritize him. He even loves a bath and blow-dry.

Proof that God does indeed work in mysterious ways - I've been in what I'd call a spiritual dry spell lately, just out of sorts and out of touch and indiffferent - no doubt related to stress, grief, and just having plenty of worldly things pestering me, demanding my time and attention and wearing me out every day. But I still do try to pray, even though my prayers are often a reflection of my exasperation, unfocused and perfunctory. Lately I've had a very hard time motivating myself to go to Mass on Sunday. It bothers me that I feel this way, but not in a guilty OhMyGodI'mGoingToHell way - it bothers me because I've felt the reality of "how it's supposed to be," and I know my life feels better and more satisfying when I'm grounded in my faith. Plus, I am really looking forward to Advent and the Christmas season, it's so beautiful and uplifting.

So anyway, today I had a phone call from God - well, not literally, but in an amusing sense. A friend of mine, a very long-lapsed Catholic, called me quite out of the blue, and asked if I was going to church this weekend (an honest answer, frankly, would be "maybe, maybe not") and if I was, she wanted to go with me. This was particularly surprising and unexpected, because this is the friend who used to meet me after Mass for coffee on Sundays, week after week, and never let on until much later that she had been raised Catholic, and in fact struck me as vaguely suspicious of Catholic Things. Something has happened there, and I'm surprised, touched, and happy. So we made a date to go to Mass together this weekend, and that pretty much settled the "will I find the motivation to get myself together?" issue. Ask God for support and support arrives, sometimes from the least likely direction. I needed a spiritual kick in the butt, a push to focus on my faith again, and here comes my friend, a chick with a huge pickup truck and tattoos and a pierced bellybutton, to give me one. God does work in mysterious and often adorably funny ways. You just gotta love it.