Chocolate makes me sneeze. Good chocolate that is. Cheap chocolate does nothing but coat my tongue and make me wonder why I bothered to add pointless calories to my daily intake. There used to be a lot more good chocolate around when I was a kid. Now a days, there are only a few real chocolate makers out there. There may be more, but those are probably high priced top-of-the-food-chain chocolates that I never partake of due to my income. The real chocolates are as follows; Hershey, Tolberone, Cadbury and Hershey. Did I mention Hershey? Reese may have had real chocolate at one time, but they have left it behind in favor of a dark brown sugar substance that makes my stomach churn. M & M’s have some chocolate in them….but I don’t love them so they didn’t make the list. Whenever I eat any of the above mentioned ‘real chocolates’, I sneeze.

I don’t think it is an allergy so much as my bodies way of giving me an excuse for feeling bad after eating something so good. I wouldn’t want to feel ‘guilt’ for eating chocolate, so instead I feel …. sneezes. Wouldn’t it be nice if all our guilt or pain was substituted with another action that was quick and easy and short lived…like a sneeze? It would probably affect our learning curve quite a bit, and not in a good way.

I don’t eat a lot of chocolate. I know it makes me sleepy (after the sneeze) so I try to avoid knocking myself out. I have too much to do, and I’m already tired anyway so adding a sleep aid is not recommended. That being said, I did have a Hershey bar tonight.( It had almonds, so I felt justified by that tiny bit of protein.) I went to the store to pick up a special order (Thorin wanted bagels AND cream cheese…at the same time!) and Chocolate was on sale, buy two get one free. I picked up nine different candy bars and made my way to the check out along with my other ‘awesome deals’ I had gathered from around the store. The check out guy, who NEVER checks me out by the way…., took a moment or five to dutifully read my coupons in depth before informing me that I didn’t get the right candy bars. I should have taken this as a sign, but I still bought three candy bars. (instead of nine so….yay?) The ‘reasoning’ behind me buying any chocolate bars was for them to be rewards to my sweet piano student. I regularly buy her sweets that end up getting eaten by someone else(me). It is a bit frustrating to say the least.

I have found that she does like getting the treats and she even seems to practice more when she knows there is ‘reward’ coming. Aren’t we all like that? I don’t think we like to admit that we are so easily manipulated by ‘prizes’ but it is true. Take my convention for Stampin’ Up! as an example. Going to the convention costs me close to $1k every year but I still go and get totally googoo crazy over the ‘free’ stuff they give us. If I was to think about this rationally, I would see that the ‘free stuff’ is stuff I could buy from my computer at home without having to spend the $1k to go and get it. Yet, I go every year. Of course, there is a lot more to convention than the free ‘stuff.’ I love the creative energy and amazing ideas I see all over at convention. I love mingling with other stampers and seeing old friends. Any time I am at a Stampin’ Event, it makes me inspired in some way.

I went to a Stampin’ Up! meeting just last night with my upline Kimber. I don’t get to see those ladies very often but they always make me feel like I am their favorite person and they miss me when I’m not there. I don’t know what else a girl could ask for….except maybe a bit more chocolate….and sneezes…..cause I said so.

photo credit: http://wordsohmy.wordpress.com/2011/05/