Hedonists unite!

hedonist |ˈhēdnist|nouna person who believes that the pursuit of pleasure is the most important thing in life; a pleasure-seeker: she was living the life of a committed hedonist.
In which I use way too many parentheses:I am a hedonist.I love food, art, music, theatre, movies, literature and so much more (ah, the sedentary and the caloric). I love European chocolate (Kinder Bueno rocks my world) but way too often I settle for month old Hersheys. Sometimes I get so desperate to indulge that I get crazy and start grabbing fishy crackers, and fruit snack while watching Wild Kratts (No offense Kratt bros., you are some of my favorites, second only to Word Girl ... but I digress) when what I really want is a crusty loaf of good bread, Basil infused olive oil and Mozart.
In which I try reasoning with myself:But the really good stuff is expensive ..... So eat it less often. Your wallet and your waist both win.But I want something now ..... What are you, two? Child #3 has more will power. If you need something now, find something fabulous that does not require settling.But I have no time ..... Wait a sec, if you have time for fishy crackers and Wild Kratts, you have time for the good stuff.But I try to be good, to wait, to only eat what I really want. I do that for an agonizing three days in a row and at the end I still don't look like Julianne Hough ..... Ya think? P.S., if you were really indulging and taking care of yourself, it would not be agonizing. This is about life style, not a temporary fix.
In which I make a list:As I mentioned in a previous post, my cravings often have less to do with food and more to do with taking time to take care of myself. So what can I use to take care of my need to indulge, or to anhialate my cravings with few or no calories. Here are a few that have been successful for me recently:
frozen rasberriesa Better Homes and Garden's "Renovation Style" magazine from the check stand (Honestly, have you ever actually purchased one of those? I hadn't and it was so fun.)a new lipsticka Red Box moviea squeaky clean romance novel or piece of chick-lita mug of herbal tea (a good kind)a great new shirt or jacket from Savers or DI (I'm a hedonist, not a millionaire)no holds barred yard saling good, organic preserves on toastknowing that you are saving up for something really good (a chocolate croissant, a family excursion to Yogo Togo, a date to See's chocolates, etc.)an hour by myself at the library or Barnes and Noblean hour by myself on the internetplay ticketsgood fruit
I would love to hear about what works for you.Okay, time to get out of my kids white chocolate popcorn. Oh boy Halloween is going to be hard.
LBB: Yesterday as I browsed the discount bakery rack at Smith's I found myself doing battle with one dozen cake doughnuts. They made it into my hand twice, but did not make it into my cart.