my hospitality requires sugar

I’ve never been extreme. I am more of an even, straight line….pretty much the same all the time.  My excited face actually looks a lot like my ‘this is good’ face and my ‘hmm, yeah I like that face”.  I’ll never forget standing next to Chris one evening when we were dating. We were looking at a beautiful sunset. All the sudden, Chris threw up his arms and yelled something about how amazing the sunset was. I remember looking over at him like he was so strange. I mean, of course the sunset was stunning, but who randomly yells stuff like that? In the middle of the dorm lobby? Chris does.

Just a straight line…every now and then there might be a little bump up or down on my line, but mainly a straight line.

I’ll always choose a t-shirt and jeans over the current fad.

I don’t make new year’s resolutions.

I’m just even. Moderation. No extremes in anything really (well, maybe Crossfit now depending on which family member you ask).

All that to say, a few weeks ago I thought I would try to eliminate sugar from my diet. I eat carbs. And dairy. And meat. And just about everything else…just in moderation (I also know many do not have those options, I have many close friends that must walk delicate roads with their diet out of necessity). Anyway, I decided I would see how it felt to eliminate sugar for a bit. I’m pretty attuned to my body, I’m healthier now than I was in high school or college, and I definitely don’t lack energy; it wasn’t a decision based on not feeling good. I just wanted to try it. It seemed like a good idea.

It was a terrible idea – but not for the reasons I expected. I don’t eat tons of sugar anyway, so I didn’t have any horrible cravings and I didn’t feel any different. At all. I did however miss baking. Namely, I missed baking cookies.

Halfway through my time without sugar the boys had friends over. I ALWAYS make chocolate chip cookies when my boys have friends over. It’s my thing. Only I couldn’t make them. I didn’t have the supplies on hand (on purpose). Sure there are no-sugar alternatives, but those aren’t MY cookies. Everything felt wrong.

And I remembered this extreme stuff – no sugar ever business – it is not me. I’m a straight, no extremes line that involves sugar & chocolate chips, especially when my house is full of little boys.

Extra little boys have been back in our house. This time I had my baking supplies stocked. Sugar in the house. All was good in my world again.

The cookies also helped the fact that my water was shut off for about 8 hours. Our friends’ 3 boys are staying with us for a bit. So that means 6 little boys in my house…with no running water. No water. 6 boys. No toilets that flushed. 6 boys. Needless to say, I chose to ditch moderation and eat too much cookie dough.