Amy Lu's View

I never heard of Fat Tuesday as a kid. The whole Mardi Gras thing way too exotic for my rural Wisconsin German Lutheran world. I think even Lent was a little suspicious because it was so Catholic. Anyway, as I understand it, Fat Tuesday is all about indulging in delights that you are planning on giving up for Lent.

Fat Tuesday has limited appeal for me at this point in my life, because I’m pretty set in the food and alcohol that I’m going to enjoy and in what amounts. By this same logic, Lent doesn’t have much of an impact, as I’m not super motivated to give anything up (the most I aspire to is some indulgence reduction).

But I do like the idea of celebrating the luxuries of life—big and small—and taking some time to be grateful for them.  Not only do I want to be more appreciative of my favorite and well-loved joys, I’m trying to be open to and on the lookout for new decadences, especially those (like massages) that I never thought of as “me.”

(A quick aside about massages—I actually had my first one years ago and loved it, but have yet to make time for massage on a regular basis. I would also love to have more/any pedicures, but running has made my feet a disaster. ((Are double parenthesis a thing….yes, I am indulging in them!…did I mention I finally lost a toenail from running last week?)) ).

So, in no particular order, here are some extravagances, new and old, that I am appreciative of (purposively trying to stay away from food and drink as I feel I’ve covered that pretty throroughly in other posts). And just what is a “luxury”? That’s tricky, because today’s luxury might just be tomorrow’s necessity. I’m also including conveniences that, while in and of themselves are not sensory delights, make life so much easier (I think you will be able to identify those…)

• Temporary tattoos
• Having a paid dog poop scooper come and clean up our yard once a week
• My fuzzy pink bathrobe
• Clothes made out of quality (not your standard Target grade) material
• Our electric matttress pad
• Having groceries delivered from Coborns Delivers
• Dyeing my hair (at-home) every 3 weeks
• Latch hook kits
• Amazon Prime
• Light-up drumsticks
• Our Loot Crate subscriptions
• Any time we get to go to Crooners, especially the Dunsmore room
• Having this blog
• Working from home
• Being in two bands
• Alexa (even though she frequently pisses me off)
• Precut vegetables
• Halo and Dannon Light and Fit Greek yogurt (have to have SOME food things)
• Marathon training (seriously, you have to have an extravagant amount of time for this) and races in general (cost some real cheddar)

So while none of these things are likely to make me fat—without a lot of effort—(that’s what booze and chip/crackers are for) they are pretty phat. (Using seriously outdated slang is another indulgence!)