You should see my house right now...

Because it's feral!

Gastro came to play at our house this weekend and with so many people living here, you can imagine the carnage. Darling Husband and I took turns nursing children, vomiting and cleaning up all maner of bodily fluids. sometimes it was a mystery as to what belonged to who. The one good thing though, Darling Husband was supposed to be in New Zealand this morning but because of some uncertainty with with JDude's tests, he didn't go, thus, he didn't leave me all alone with three spewing children hooray!

Today is Sunday and we're all feeling better. Again, hooray.

Yesterday was Seb's birthday (Quick recap for those of you only recently playing from home, Seb is from Ethiopa and has been living with us for almost 3 years now), I made her a chocolate cake, covered it in pink icing and Smarties and as is usual, she blushed. We also bought her some gifts which she loved. Honestly, I swear she is the hardest person to buy for so I was glad that she really loved her presents :)

In Ethiopia they don't celebrate birthdays like we do. It's acknowleged but you don't get presents and birthday cake. At best you might get your favorite bread baked for you and you might get some clothes if your parents have money but that's about it. So, when it's Seb's birthday and we celebrate it, she doesn't really know what to do, say, or where to look LOL. Each and every time I can't help but laugh, I've never seen a dark skinned person blush before I met Seb lol.

And yes I did say that I made her a chocolate cake, and no I didn't eat any of it. I had run out of glucose powder so had to use caster sugar. That meant I just couldn't eat any of it so I simply didn't. And to be honest, it really wasn't that hard. Half of the cake is still sitting in the fridge. It will probably get thrown out before it gets finished. That never used to happen in this house!

It's day 22 of no sugar and I can honestly say I'm now feeling no withdrawal symptoms at all. I don't crave it any more, I'm not having my afternoon slumps and I no longer have that foggy, headachy feeling. It's over, done and dusted.

Some people have asked me if I intend to stay off sugar for life or if I will soon begin to have 'just little bits', for a 'treat'. The answer is yes and no. Yes I will be staying off it for life and no I will not be having any of it for a treat.

Sugar to me is like smoking. I was addicted to nicotine and sugar. Both were ruining my health and I had to give them both up. To have a little bit of sugar for a treat now is exactly the same to me as having a 'puff of a cigarette' for a treat. Seriously, who would do that?

I do acknowlege though that it took me many times to fully give up smoking. Twice I gave up for two years, only to fall off the wagon again. Many times I gave up for 4-6 months, again to start up. Actually in the last ten years that I smoked I was off them more than I was on them. It may well be the same with sugar. I may fall off this bandwagon but I promise myself that I will do all I can not to fall off and to clamber aboard quick smart should I find those wagon wheels about to barrel over me!

There are two oposites about sugar v's nicotine though. With nocotine you're a social outcast if you partake yet with sugar you're a sociall outcast if you don't! It's hard celebrating birthdays, when you lovingly make someone a cake, present it to them and then decline a slice. It's hard going to people's houses for dinner, you have to pre arrange no dessert so the host doesn't go to too much trouble all for nothing. Restaurants are hard, the sauces almost always have sugar in them. Many places will cater for allergies, for gluten intolerance but for the sugar addicted diner? No dice. Yes, I could order off the diabetic menu, if there was one but that's as rare as my kids having a clean room for more than a nonosecond.

On Feb 2nd it will have been a calendar month since I gave up sugar. On that day I will weigh myself and see if there has been any weight loss. I don't expect big numbers, I ate an orchard full of fruit every day plus anything that wasn't nailed down during the wost of the withdrawals, and I chugged down a lot of glucose so
the scales might not go my way.

It doesn't matter. I know that eventually, one day they will. All that matters for now is that I have achieved another goal that I set out to do. I have given up sugar and I am over the withdrawals.