Friday, April 20, 2007

Addicted

$60.
That’s what I pay for the privilege of pimples.
Chocolate doesn't agree with me. The trouble lies in the simple fact that I am a confessed chocoholic. My name is Susan and I need help. If there is any of the divine sweetness in the home I will track it down and sample it. Allowing the creamy smoothness to melt on my tongue like a velvet kiss! Ahhh! So delicious that I will keep going back for more. One taste is never enough. One morsel leads to another and another. Before you know it, it’s all gone and I am left licking the wrapper.
Most of the time I am able to resist the cravings. I rarely buy chocolate. You know how the grocery stores have the racks of bars at the check out? They call to me; I can smell the chocolate through the wrappers. But somehow I resist temptation. It's a struggle, but I can hold my head high when I walk out the door without chocolate amongst my bags of carrots and teabags.
But bring it into the house, where it lures me and calls out until I surrender to the tantalizing euphoria of the divine delicacy. Here I am just recovering from Easter for pity's sake!!! I barely survived the goody binge of the Holy season. I certainly felt the after effects of the Easter Bunny. Rather ... my nose did!

I have fairly good skin on the whole, once you look past the wrinkles that is. I have relatively clear skin. I never suffered with acne or blemishes as a kid. Our neighbour used to call my sister and me, Peaches and Cream. But since my late thirties, I have been getting reactions to chocolate. I will get just one. But look out! I actually almost grow a second head! No word of a lie. You couldn't really call it a zit or a pimple, and to say it was a blemish would be an understatement. This was a boil. Red and swollen. More than an inch across. And of course... right on the end of my nose! My entire nose was swollen. I was cleansing it which just made it worse as now it was shiny too! and then trying to cover it with concealer. I was tempted to call in sick; really I had the phone in my hand. But I just wouldn’t feel right. I refused to let the results of this addiction run my life. It wasn’t going to beat me. So to work I went.
People are funny. Try talking to some one with a cherry on the end of their nose and pretend not to notice! Impossible. Co workers were avoiding eye contact. Polite society does not stare at someone’s disfigurement. It’s very difficult to make eyes contact and not allow your eyes to keep wandering down to the nose. Such a distraction. On my way down the hall, I swear I over heard a small child ask "Mommy look at that lady, she looks funny" And the response "Don't point Jenny, and it’s rude to stare".
Well I survived. It’s been almost 10 days and it’s now down to the size of your average pimple. Give it another week and it will be completely gone.

We had a couple of people pass away at the hospital, and their families brought in gift baskets of goodies in appreciation for the gracious care their ailing family member received. Very nice. But there were the chocolates staring at me yet again. But I resisted. I just had to think of my nose and that would deter me. I’m too busy at work to really have time to listen to the call of the cacao bean anyways. I was proud of myself. So much so, that on my way out the door at the end of my shift, I rewarded my self by taking a chocolate covered caramel out of the box! Just one piece. One chocolate, that’s it. And then I left the building. That’s what I call control. Don’t you admire my strength?
Tonight, my daughter’s girls group gave each girl a $60. case of chocolate bars. It is a fund raiser. The theory is that the chocolates get sold to neighbours and family etc. Somehow that doesn’t happen here. Every year she brings the case home, and every year I over indulge! Last year I paid dearly. My contribution to her chocolate sale was over $20 dollars worth! I can’t help it. I really don’t want it, but when it is in the house, resistance is futile. The case is on the kitchen counter. Beckoning me! And it is for a good cause...
I think I need to call the support hotline!

Does anyone know a good dermatologist?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This post had me in stitches. What a good blog. You have a wonderful weekend.

Unknown said...

And you laughed at me when you saw my nose! :-))

Outhouse Capital of Canada said...

I have a problem also, I take a Mars bar and cut it into ten pieces and it can last me several days, my problem is that the other person in the house finds it and it is devoured.

Deanna said...

Hydrogen peroxide would have been my best friend, then some antibiotic cream. I'm all about the pharmacueticals for better living.

Once again though... we live the same lives.... I had some nose issues this past week, but concealer worked fine for this situation. If you had seen me at home mind you.. I had the fancy antibiotic cream applied.

AND... the Pip brought home chocolate bars this week to sell through out the country. I took them back. I wasn't going to sell them... because the only people we would be selling them to was ourselves...and at 15 grams of fat for 1/2 a bar. I wasn't sold.

sharon said...

LOL, nothing like having the north star on the end of your nose! Been there, done that, not fun!

Penny said...

My name is Penny and I'm a chocoholic. This is a support group, right? Thanks for your words of encouragement. So, your Kayla's aunt. I recognized you from Monica's site. I've been praying for Kayla. What a small world this blogosphere is! It truly was a highlight to meet Ellen. Makes you wonder how many bloggers you might pass in your life and not know because you've never seen their picture.

Vickie said...

I loved this post ---now about this support group, I believe it has such great potential. Is there a ten step program, a 1-800 number---I wonder if there is grants available for a start up for this very much needed group:)

Oh BTW---You would be President as you came up with it.

chosha said...

Ummmm...you let a huge pimple stay on your nose for ten days? Dude, just pop that puppy next time! Facecloth with hot water (wrung out), hold to your face to open the pores and bring it to a head, next morning pop it (mags will tell you that you shouldn't, but ten days with a huge zit? of course you should) and apply some antiseptic cream so it won't become infected. No makeup or concealer on it that day, but a cold cloth to cool it will calm down any redness.

Isn't it just sad that we have to deal with pimples and stuff when we are nowhere near being teenagers any more? It's supposed to be over by now!

chosha said...

I would have added some advice on resisting chocolate, but I don't know anything about that. :)