…stop eating Werther’s Originals before going to sleep. Tonight I am going to go downstairs, get into bed, write for an hour or two, read, and go to sleep. Each of these steps will not, NOT, be punctuated with a Werther’s Original.

The Werther’s habit started back in August after our wedding. A. and I had teacup and used book centerpieces and inside the teacups I put a handful of Werther’s because I liked the way the gold wrappers looked in the cups. After the wedding, half of the teacups had been emptied, but the other half were still full so we brought them home. Oh, and I may or may not have purchased way too many Werther’s to begin with. So we had a shopping bagful of these gold gems just lying around the house, waiting to be eaten.

Now. To understand how a Werther’s before bed habit started (instead of a Werther’s after morning coffee or Werther’s after dinner habit), you have to understand our other habit: the watch an episode of something (95% of the time, it’s an episode of The Office) on the laptop in bed before passing out (A.) or writing for a couple of hours (me) habit. This habit started back when A. was on paternity leave and we were up every hour or so with Budsie and really didn’t feel any need to sleep during normal people hours. We don’t have a TV in our bedroom, so we propped the laptop up in bed and chilled out in front of 30 minutes of funny times. And when you’re watching TV, it’s nice to have a nibble-y. And we used to have cookies, then it was Toblerone (far too dangerous as I can eat a jumbo Toblerone by myself in ten minutes flat), and then these treats were replaced with the far healthier (ha!) and, at the time free, Werther’s.

So.

Sometime back at the beginning of November, the Werther’s train ran out. And that should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t. A. brought home a bag, and then I brought home a bag and now we find ourselves completely addicted to the damn things. A. is far more sensible than I am – he has one each night, as a post dinner, pre-sleep treat. I, on the other hand, have five or six each night. Do you have any idea how expensive/sugary bad that habit is? It ain’t good that’s for sure.

So no more. Now, some would argue I should wean myself off slowly, but I know better. Back when I was smoking, the only way to stop was altogether. It’s the same with these I figure. One day at a time though. I have to think of the perks: more money in my pocket and less crinkly gold wrappers in my sheets/pockets/make-up case/glasses case/diaper bin. Here goes!