The End of Chocolate

Sniff. Sniff. I am so sad, but I think it's the end of chocolate for me. Sniff. Over the past week or two, I've been eating a lot of chocolate. Girls camp and chocolate. Anyone who's been there knows. Then, we had 3 days of day camp, and it was run by older (but not old, by any means) women. Um, hello, that also means chocolate. And lots of it. Even at lunch, there were brownies, with a nice thick layer of chocolate on the top. And not frosting, but melted, then re hardened chocolate. Divine! Our family reunion on Saturday, more chocolate. I love the stuff. Most women do.

So, on Sunday, no chocolate. It was all gone. That was fine. I'd had a lot. I didn't really even think about it. Monday is the first day of our Day Camp (that I'm running), and it gets over at 2:00. We're packed up and gone by 2:30, and off to the store to buy the supplies for the next day. By the time I got back home at about 4:00, a massive headache was starting. It was the beginning of the chocolate crash.

When I eat chocolate and then don't have it, I have caffeine withdrawl-like symptoms. I hate it, but it's happened ever since I had Emeline, back in '01. I know it happens, but I keep eating chocolate anyway. The longest I've gone without it is 1 year. Anyway.

So I get home at 4:00, and want to die. The kids and I unload the truck, and I start to make dinner. It's bad. The kids are yelling, which is hurting my head even worse. Finally, I leave Jacob in charge of dinner (refrigerator biscuits in a baking dish, covered with a light layer of spaghetti sauce, then covered with cheese, PIZZA), and go upstairs to go to bed. The dark, cool, quiet of my room was almost tolerable.

I checked on them a few times over the next few hours, just to make sure that everything was ok. The were watching TV, and making a mess, but otherwise, all was well.

Jacob put the 3 little kids to bed at 7pm, then he and Tom went to bed at about 8:30. I'm so glad that I had Jacob to be my big helper! What would I have done without him!

That night, I was up 3 or 4 time puking. Nice. The next morning, I was no better. But, I had to get ready for Day Camp. And get 5 kids ready for Day Camp. I had Brent give me a blessing, and I managed to stumble out the door. I was hurting when I got there, but once Day Camp started, I miraculously felt much better (not perfect, but better)! Must have been that Blessing. Thanks, sweetheart!

We were supposed to leave early, to get the kids to their doctors appointment by 2pm. Well, we got there at 2:35, but they still let us in. I think they were running behind anyway. Jacob and Tom had physicals for school, and I had him check Eme. She was complaining about her ear "not working anymore". It didn't hurt, she told me, it just didn't work. Well, she had an ear infection. Good thing I thought to ask about it! Plus, he looked at her spider bite from a while back, and it was still bruised looking. He said that she should have an epipen to carry around, in case something like this happens again. Better to be safe than sorry.

My headache was starting to get worse all the while. I barely made it home. But I did, and that's what counts, right? Again, Jacob was left to fend for himself. I went upstairs for an hour to relax in the dark, then came down, and somehow managed to cook dinner (chorizo and eggs, hash browns, and toast). I ate mine upstairs in my nice cave :) The kids were having fun watching a movie, and I came down and put them to bed at 7:30. I went to bed at 9pm.

When I woke up this morning at 6am, all was well. Thank goodness. So, after that long story, I think you can see why I'm swearing off chocolate! I have to much going on in my life, and way too many kids to be having "withdrawals" all the time. And I don't want to have to have a little bit of chocolate everyday. Talk about addicted!

So, no more chocolate for me. Goodbye old friend :)