Forgive me Father for I have sinned...

Justin and I decided to give up sweets for Lent.

My track record with giving stuff up is rather shady. In college I vowed to give up French fries and Texas toast. Obviously I had been hitting up the Guthrie’s way too much. (The 30 or so pounds that I packed on were a startling indication). Of course, that lasted all of a week until I went to Breezeway where I found French fries and Texas toast on my plate.

I am just not a wasteful person.

Anyway.

We went to eat dinner on Saturday night (Day 18 of the Lenten season) with some friends. Lucy cooked up some good ‘old ribs and baked beans, and Lynn made a cake. It looked like something like this: And so, my thought process went like this: “Oh, what a pretty cake. Too bad that I have given up sweets for Lent. I am such a good Christian to give up something I love so much. I will surely be rewarded for my diligence. Wait… is that chocolate ganache on top? Oreos in the middle? How sad that I can’t have a piece. Hold up… Lynn is moving to Montgomery in just a few short months! I will never see a cake like this again! I will never have another chance to EAT a cake like this once she is gone! Oh no... I should really take advantage of having her here… along with her cake. Oh, why am I doing this?? I am not Catholic. I don’t even know what Lent is. I am giving up sweets out of selfish ambition and pure vanity...hoping to lose a few pounds and look like Jessica Biel. I am not replacing dessert time with time in the Word. I am not giving my coke money to the starving children in Africa. And I am pretty sure that this Lent deal requires some of that replacement stuff. Lynn needs me to eat a piece of her cake. It might hurt her feelings if I say no. And if I tell her I am observing Lent, she will laugh, because she, too, is Presbyterian. And we all know Presbyterians don’t observe Lent.”

And that is the story of how I held out for 18 days sans sweets.

I am a very good at rationalization. Always have been, just ask Dusty.

After the piece of cake, I ate three (or four?) of Lucy’s homemade chocolate chip cookies. They were all crunchy and yummy.

And on Sunday night I had six chocolate chip cookies during the Oscars. The break-and-bake kind.

And on Monday I had another six chocolate chip cookies. (They are gone now, don’t worry).

And yesterday I had some chocolate M&M’s AND some cheesecake ice cream with Oreos from Marble Slab.

Jessica would never do that. She’s such a goodie-goodie.