Ming Boggling

As I mentioned in my last entry, we had our annual chili cook-off at work yesterday. We have this event this time of year to raise money for our Christmas families that we provide gifts and food. We had good response and raised over $200 to put into this fund. Last year I participated by bringing in chili and would have done so again this year if the number of entries were down. With other things going, I was glad we had enough cooks. Staff also brings in accompaniments for the chili, as well. Cheese, crackers, sour cream, corn chips, bread and of course there were brownies for dessert. I mean what's chili without all of the goodies that you pile on. What is it? It's added calories and talk about pile on ... yep with me it piles on my hips and thighs. So, yes I participated but my chili stood alone ... I did bring in a veggie tray, so I guess those were my add ons ... but not in the chili, you know what I mean.

After lunch we celebrated a department member's birthday. I wish we would do this activity like I've heard others do and that would be to have a gathering for all those with birthdays in the month on one certain day of the month, but we take turns hosting and today it was up to me. I stopped and got a colorful plant and put up decorations around my fellow employee's door. The night before I made a chocolate cake from a recipe that I found online. It was actually low cal not using any oil or shortening in the cake and the frosting was made with sugar-free pudding. Since Gary now does 98% of the cooking, I struggled making the cake. It wasn't baking or raising the way it should. I think maybe when turning on the timer, I turned off the oven after it was pre-heated. Gary came to my rescue and finally it was done. It looked okay and the toothpicks came out clean so I assumed it wouldn't be half-baked .... mmm, I've heard that description before. Anyway, I had to give a preamble before I served the cake that this was all an experiment and then when I was the only one that didn't take a piece, people wondered ... but said it was good. That's right ... after all the struggles I went through, I didn't have any cake. I didn't feel deprived or anything, it was just my choice. It seems for the past few months, desserts are something I just pass by. Maybe even without any thought. I'm not tempted or crave them. On one of the blogs I read, Leslie wrote a great post and mentioned something about not being able to handle sugar. I took it as sugar addiction but the more I'm thinking about it ... maybe she wasn't talking about it as addiction but just the way the body processes it. Maybe I avoid desserts because of something subconsciously going on. I have never considered myself a person that binges but maybe there is something going on in my head that tells me that dessert isn't the right fit for me right now. This probably doesn't make any sense but I'd like to know more about this sugar thing and what it does to your body. Things with natural sugar like fruit seem to be okay, it just things like cakes, pies, cookies, donuts ... you know. Okay now I'm really confused. I hope Leslie continues on this topic.