Ash Wednesday - and other ramblings

I am not Catholic... i didn't grow up Catholic... so when DS1 asked me what the whole deal with 'Fat Tuesday' was i was at a loss for words. I had to really think about things to try and explain it to him. I talked about Mardi Gras, i talked about Martin Luther, and my perception of the influence of the Catholic Church. etc. While i do not 'blame' the Catholic church for things that go on during such things like 'Fat Tuesday' - the Protestant Church(es) really have not done all that much better in influencing such activities, i am aware of how certain 'tolerances' over the ages have led to such things. Each person has an individual mind. We all make our own choices, and yet it is His providence that allows such things. I have a favorite saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". The same can be said about each individual that is brought to the source of Living Water... you can show them, you can teach them, but you have no control over how said individual responds to such exposure. I am not able to predict how anyone responds to the Word of God, nor am i am able to understand how it would be possible to be exposed to Christ and not be changed. Once i am on the other side perhaps i will learn, but for now i am at a loss for how to explain such things as 'Fat Tuesday' beyond describing the obvious. Yesterday my beloved received her first alergy shot. Unfortunately we also learned that there will be a $21 co-pay for each visit, plus a 40+ mile round trip to get it (using another $4+ worth of gas. This has caused her more consternation because it will add $100 to our budget which is getting stretched tighter and tighter each month, and without having a pay raise on over two years, and my 'loss' of income from the Guard "Linner" is becoming more and more common at our house. By God's grace we are not going into debt. He has provided us with enough income to meet all of our bills, but we have not been able to save anything for some time. I told my beloved that i did not care if we started to drain our emergency funds (my mother's life insurance money from when she passed away) because i am tired of her being in pain all the time. She has constant headaches (not migranes) which is causing other issues to flare up as well. I know we are going to have to spend other money to help ease her symptoms (and some in the rest of the family as well) - but ultimately, God has provided us with money and we are able to respond to such things - at least for now. Bethesda Softworks has begun to release downloadable (DLC) content for Fallout 3. "Operation: Anchorage" was the first one, "The Pitt" is scheduled for April right now, to be followed up by "Broken Steel". I haven't even finished the main game yet, but i am interested in adding to the game that i do have. Unfortunately Bethesda Softworks has apparently sold themselves to the 'devil' in that the only way to obtain these files is through Game for Windows LIVE (GFWL). So, even after you purchase the DLC and download it, you must be connected on-line to play the new files. Unfortunately i made the consious choice to load this game on my laptop which will never be connected to the WWW. There are user guidelines on how to transfer the files from a GFWL directory to the Fallout 3 directories, but Bethesda Softworks will not support that (meaning if something goes toes up you are on your own). I understand such marketing strategies, but that does not mean i like it when i am on the receiving end of getting hosed. Well, i have rambled on long enough for now...