I'll spare you that entry, though I will show you this picture:
We are fortunate enough to have a Very Big Closet. I feel like I'm finally getting my due for the tiny closets of my childhood and the "that doesn't even count" closets of my apartment and duplex dwellng days. However. The tenants who lived in our house in '08/'09 BUTCHERED THE CLOSET. And since I'm a Big Fat Procrastinator who married a Bigger Fatter Procrastinator, well, we've done absolutely nothing to rectify the mess they made of it. Yeah, we've lived here 2.5 years. Sigh. Anyhow, this is the absolute cleanest I've ever seen the closet. But I had to get really creative because, while it's pretty big, there is almost zero real clothes storage. That stupid rack is the only one hanging! Which, yes, means even though I have a decent sized closet I still have to get creative with clothes storage. It's a good thing I had a lot of practice with that in my earlier years. Blah.
Now that I've written a paragraph more than I intended on the stupid closet, let's move on . . . to coke!
In the south, or at least in the corner of the south where I grew up, "coke" didn't necessarily refer to Coca-Cola. "Hey, you wanna coke?" could mean anything from Coke to Dr. Pepper to a strawberry Fanta. So, just for sake of anyone else who might've been raised in central Arkansas, when I say 'Coke' in this entry I mean the good stuff: Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola introduced "new" Coke in 1985. I was five-years-old in 1985 but was a seasoned enough Coke drinker at that point that I can remember discussing the merits (there were none) of new Coke with my grandparents. Suffice to say, I've been a life-long Coke drinker. When I was in the hospital after I had Jaidan, a nurse asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I told her a Coke and she asked if a Pepsi would be okay. "Absolutely not!" My mom says that she knew then that I would be okay.
I've tried to give it up at various times. It would be my New Years resolution to ditch it. I gave it up for Lent a couple times. And always, no matter what, I went back to it. Always. I don't like Diet Coke and would try to switch to Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Mountain Dew but all it would take is just one ice cold Coca-Cola Classic and I'd be back to buying 24 packs. I would give myself the excuse of "I'm on vacation" or "it's my birthday" or "this restaurant doesn't serve Diet Dr. Pepper."
I hesitate to say that I've completely kicked the habit -- believe me, there have been times when I thought I kicked it before. But. I have not had a regular Coke since Christmas. And I didn't even make giving them up a New Years Resolution! Christmas was the first Coke I had in a month or more -- and I only had some then because my husband bought a 2-liter and I didn't want it to go to waste. (I know!)
I am so proud of myself! Not only because I've gone a full two months without so much as a drop of Coke but because . . . I don't really even want any! Yeah. If you know me, you can pick your jaw up off the floor. I've managed to write this entire blog without my mouth watering just thinking about a swig of Coke.
I've converted to Coke Zero. Gawwww, I love that stuff! (And, yes, I know that soda of any kind is bad, bad, horrible, and awful for you. I have ONE can a day. ONE. And seeing as it's my only vice, I'm perfectly okay with that). I'm not sure what it was this time that's made me stick with giving up the Cokes . . . I'm not even sure if it's the Coke Zero seeing as I tried it when it first came out and hated it (and I will say this, I firmly believe that everything taste better in a can [best in a glass bottle] and I'm not crazy about the taste of fountain Coke Zero though I would take it over a plain old Pepsi anyday of the week). Maybe it's just that I'm . . . growing up? Giving up the sugary sodas for good? Is that a sign of being . . . grown?
