As I type this I am munching on a piece of chocolate I keep hidden in the freezer behind the frozen veggies. I kid you not. It's pretty darned good too. Better yet is the fact that 2 kids and a Dad are in the play room and another is on the couch in the family room. So I am at my desk in the kitchen munching away on cold, crunchy chocolate. Some of you lock yourselves in the bathroom or sit in your cars at the bottom of your driveways as you inhale pounds of Baskin Robbins peanut butter and chocolate... I only wonder if you picked itt up at the drive-through... I had completely forgotten to ask you!

I've always been a creative type and I have always written. In the olden days before children I would hole up with a pen and paper and write... and smoke. It was the perfect marriage. And then I had to stop that nasty habit. And while every now and then or so I would love to just take one little drag for old time's sake, I know I would gag and hurl and the mere thought sends me running for Rebecca's inhaler... And quitting wasn't so hard because I had a good reason to quit.

My vice lately has been chocolate. Anything sweet, but mainly chocolate. And I can't stop. I really can't. And the holidays don't help. At all. First there's Halloween. We still have some of that in the "Carb Closet" and the Christmas season starts the day after Halloween, or so it seems, and then there is Valentine's Day and Easter. And just as soon as you are done with your black and orange m&ms the red, white and green ones come out, followed by the red, pink and white ones, followed by the pastel ones. It's a never-ending vicious cycle. And no matter how hard I try to get them out of the house (by eating them of course) they come back in full force.

I started blogging nearly two years ago. It was summertime and it was initially a means for me to keep family members up to date on our family through stories and photos. And then it sort of grew and now it is something else entirely. Not that that is a bad thing. But it's all encompassing. And all consuming. And it really, really sucks you in. You want to share all sorts of stuff with your readers who are quickly becoming your friends. You want to tell them about the funny and sad and the rip-roaring-hilarious. You want to show off your wonderful, brilliantly, clever ideas. And you'll share your mess ups. Sometimes you have urge to post photos or urges to write and the words start flowing and they seem not to want to stop. And none of this is bad. Not at all.

In addition to writing you must read blogs. Your friend's blogs, your followers blogs, those who link to you and those who like you. And you do what a good blogger would do and try to leave comments every where. It's the right and kind and polite thing to do in the Blogging World. And there are so many blogs out there. And there are so many really funny blogs and creative blogs and touching blogs. And you want to read all of them. And so your book pile grows on your bedside table. And the dust covers it and soon you are Pledging your books.

And you are Shushing your kids because nothing is possibly as important and entertaining as the blog you are reading. And as soon as you are done reading you get up and play and read and write and create and cook and you are happy to be a good mom again. Until. Until you've done something wonderful or brilliant or creative or hysterical or downright stupid and then you can no longer think about your child clinging to your knee, but your mind drifts as you wonder just how you will post your most recent events... So this blogging thing is really as addicting as coffee and wine and chocolate and cigarettes and like all the aforementioned it leaves you wanting more.

I try (try being the operative word) to save my blogging for when the kids are busy or in bed. Sometimes if Alexander asks for a little TV I will bring the laptop out to the family room and blog while he's watching Little Bill or Phineas and Ferb or Spongebob...

And usually while I am blogging I am noshing. I have tried sipping Diet Coke and tea and coffee, but I need more. I need something else while I am blogging. What I need is chocolate. Any shape or form will do. I could be out pushing the jogger but I'm not. (And this has something to do with the fact that I ran over it last September.) I could be walking on the treadmill. But I'm not. It's in the play room and I am pretty certain that one of the kids has lost the key again... pretty certain as it's been a while since I've been on it. And I could be working out with my wii fit. Instead the board is hiding out under the coffee table up there (in the play room) because it is terrified to death to have me step on it!

So this blogging thing. It's not good. It's forced me to abandon my exercise equipment. It's forced me to sit on my duff. And it's forced me to do so while eating chocolate. Will I quit? Do I want to quit? Do I feel I should quit?

No way!

I'll keep on writing and reading. But after a break. I need some chocolate.

I have it hidden. In the freezer behind the veggies.

And in the fridge behinf the fruit in the crisper.

And in the fridge behind the veggies in the crisper.

And sometimes I will hide a Diet Coke there.

And if I still smoked I'm pretty sure I might hide my cigarettes there too!