Lent Begins

So, today is Ash Wednesday, which means it's day 1 of my journey of Lent. Each year, my mom gives up sweets in their entirety- no candy, no desserts, no nothin'. I've given up something each year, and most of the time, it works. I remember in high school I gave up gossiping and saying negative thoughts, along with cursing. It was quite challenging when I saw some awful outfits!

I tried giving up sweets last year in their entirety. Ummm... worked for about a week. As Homer Simpson would say, "D'oh!" So, this year, I've decided to try this again. I know I can have self control when God is in the picture. He knows if I'm cheating, so I better not.

Isn't Lent 40 days? Well, for 40 days, I'm cutting the following items from my diet:

-whipped cream
-icing
-cheese
-ice cream
-bread basket/chips basket at restaurants

This will not be easy. No one really understands just how much I adore whipped cream and icing. But, I'm willing to do it because I desperately need to lose a few pounds-- the current pants I'm wearing used to be much looser in graduate school (grrr!).