Lenten Resolutions?

Have you decided what you're doing (or not doing) for Lent? It's coming up in just a few days!

A dear priest friend always encouraged us to figure it out beforehand, not waiting until the last minute. Or days and weeks into Lent. I know that I, for one, tend to procrastinate until I'm in the line to receive my ashes and am frantically thinking, Ah! What am I giving up? What have a resolved to do that I haven't been doing?  Or it's just a few weeks until Easter and I realize that I haven't really been doing anything beside not watching as many movies, or eating dessert, or something. That's not the time. Although, something is better than nothing, so don't be discouraged if you forget and get a late start. :)

It's not as though I don't know when Lent is coming for weeks and months beforehand - it's not some surprise fast day that the Church just springs on me out of nowhere: Hey, got' cha! You better start fasting and praying today, OR ELSE! I really have no excuse not to plan in advance. And yet somehow, every year...

Anyway, Christina has some great tips for not overwhelming yourself with penance during Lent. It's a time to do some purging, and establish some good habits, too. But trying to do too much is self-defeating: I find that I just set myself up for disaster: stop eating everything I liked, ever! Read all the spiritual books in the house! Give up all caffeine (and become a total monster to everyone I meet)! Become a hermit! Wear only purple and black! (as a side note, a friend's very devout Mexican grandmother would dress liturgically - as in, only wear purple/grey/black during Lent: it was penance for her to not break out all of her colorful wardrobe. But let me tell you, this lady had it down: purple gloves, purple shoes, the whole nine yards - and somehow she pulled it off! I was amazed.)

Anyway, I have high hopes of using social media less, (hard to go cold turkey when it's the primary way your family communicates), reading one of the Jesus of Nazareth books by Ben XVI, watching less Netflix/TV shows, and hopefully getting in either morning, evening, or night prayer every day. Giving up foods is hard when you're nursing, as sometimes the only calories available are also something sweet or something I really like, but definitely cutting back on the cookie baking binge I've been on since Christmas.

And as Christina notes in her post, Sunday are freebies! The same priest I mentioned confirmed this or me by reminded me that they aren't included in the 40 days, and the solemnities of the Feast of St. Joseph and the Annunciation are free too! Eat meat* and sweets!

*I don't eat meat on Fridays anyway, but don't forget that abstaining from meat on Friday is mandatory during Lent.

So, do you have any tips for staying true to your Lenten resolutions? Any great book selections for spiritual reading? If you're a mom, have you ever persevered through doing an aspect of Liturgy of the Hours? I'm thinking I'll have to get up when Michael leaves at 5 am and do morning prayer then, just to make sure it happens!