Thanks to all of you who are participating in the Saving Grace blog tour! I had such an overwhelmingly great response and will be posting the blog tour schedule in the next few days...Stay tuned!
And an equally LARGE shout-out to all who have either emailed me or commented, asking how the Diet Coke ban was going! I see that I am SO not alone in my DC addiction, and that's a huge relief!
I'm proud to say that I am on my seventh day without Diet Coke and - to my great shock & awe - I'm not only surviving, but thriving!
The first three days were really rough. Truly.
Those days made a believer out of me. Diet Coke is truly addictive. No joke.
If I had doubted this truth before these first hours and days of withdrawal changed my way of thinking. A pounding headache plagued me for seventy-two hours straight, with nothing bringing me relief from it.
Before I'd even conquered this malady, I began to physically reach for a cup of Diet Coke that wasn't even there.
You're laughing, aren't you?
But the thing is, I'm serious. I've become so accustomed to having a DC on my desk as I write during the day that, from time to time, I would automatically reach for the ghost cup.
Imagine my shock when my eager fingers closed around - NOTHING! Nuffin' but air, baby...
On Friday night I joined friends for a midnight crop at a local scrapbook store. Now - you have to understand - normally these six hours require vast quantities of caffeine. My chosen form was always Diet Coke, of course.
Trying to stay true to my husband's challenge, I drank bottled water while my friends guzzled my contraband. Just when I thought I might very well crack, lo and behold, it was midnight and everyone was packing up to go home.
And I had made the night without one single, solitary sip of Diet Coke in any form.
The money jar is up $28 dollars thus far. TWENTY-EIGHT BUCKS, folks!
All because I'm not drinking indulging my need for twice-daily Sonic Diet Cokes, in a large cup, with that great you-can-only-get-it-at-Sonic crushed ice...
...oops...I digress.
Now, clearly, I still have a while to go. Twenty-two days, five hours, and 48 minutes, to be exact. (Do you detect a note of eagerness in those stats?)
But I'm feeling a new strength of will and, I have to say, it feels pretty good! To set out to conquer something, even if it's as trivial and unconsequential as my need for Diet Coke, and then actually manage to cage those desires and put them all in proper perspective...well, it's amazing.
Does this mean that I've had my last Diet Coke? Am I reformed, a changed water-loving, Diet Coke-despising chick?
Uh...'fraid not.
I have a deep-gut feeling that I'll be parked at Sonic at 11:59 on September 19th, my finger just itching to push the little red button at the stroke of midnight.
But all the while I'm sipping in those first few gulps of Diet Coke, feeling the familiar, tantalizing burn as it travels down my Diet Coke parched throat, I'll be able to hold my head high.
I will have faced a challenge head-on.
And WON!
Saving Grace
For Such a Time as This
Waking Emma
These Things We Hold
LOVE this, Staci! Wow, to think my Diet Coke was inches from your finger tips. You might have been able to smell it. Yet you refrain! And before that, you even odered for me! You had a diet coke in your grasp... you display excellent restraint. You are a good friend! You make me proud! And after this blog... you make me thirsty!
Posted by: Rochelle | August 28, 2006 at 12:10 PM
ok, I'm seriously proud of you! aaaaand I hate to be the one to break this to you but.... Sonic closes at midnight.
Posted by: Denise | August 28, 2006 at 02:55 PM
Okay, now you are making me want to take a break from Diet Coke! NOT! JK! It really is addictive and I have broken myself of it before just to tame the wild demon:) But, the minute it hit my lips again I was addicted. So tell me, does your head feel clearer??? Or are you just thinking about DC all the time???
Posted by: Dawn | August 28, 2006 at 04:03 PM
NO! SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!! I forgot that Sonic is only open late during summer hours! Okay, I'll simply have to buy it and save it, right?
And Dawn, no, I don't think the head is any clearer. I am past the point of obsessing about DC. I was definitely there last week though!
Especially when Rochelle has me pull through a drive thru and (since I'm the driver) order her (in her own words)"the largest Diet Coke they have."
I didn't tell her then but I was thinking how funny it would be if they came back (we were at a new place that neither of us had been before) and said, "I'm sorry, but we only have Pepsi products here."
But...no such luck.
Posted by: Staci | August 28, 2006 at 04:37 PM
Oh. My. Goodness. That is too funny that you thought that! That thought never even crossed my mind! But you know we would have simply had to find another drive thru! I am NOT a good friend! Sorry!
Posted by: Rochelle | August 28, 2006 at 07:42 PM
It's really strange but down here I have noticed that almost everyone serves coke products and not Pepsi... But I don't really care because I am a Dr Pepper addict... I will drink just about any Dr. Pepper - Diet D.P, Cherry Vanilla, Berries and Cream... Just give me a Dr Pepper!! So I feel for you! I would probably have taken the challenge too though... just to prove that I could do it.
Come to think of it I might have to sacrafice ALL Pop... (hey I'm not completely a Texan) because the sugar and caffiene are really bad for my voice... Pity.
*Sniff* Goodbye Dr. Pepper!! *Sniff*
Posted by: Tsionah | August 30, 2006 at 08:29 AM
Is this something that can still be done? It looks like an awesome book!
Posted by: Carolyn | September 01, 2006 at 05:52 AM
Absolutely, Carolyn! Just email me (email is in the right-hand sidebar) with your snail mail address and I'll get your free book in the mail to you. Then I'll email you all the additional info. After reading the book, if you like it, feel free to host it on your blog! Thanks SO much!
Posted by: Staci | September 01, 2006 at 06:55 AM