Desperate times call for desperate measures, and last night was definitely a desperate measure. I found myself crawling into M’s bed to sleep with her last night after she kept waking every 15-20 minutes screaming for mommy.

“Tingles” are more powerful than any medicine. The light, soothing, goosebump-giving touches across the back used to be the only thing I craved when feeling under the weather too. In fact, I would take tingles over a massage any day .

I’m thankful we let M jump straight from toddler bed to the spare queen bed we had. More room for those desperate nights.

Sound machines are pretty nifty. Despite sleeping with a kicking toddler, I slept pretty dang well thanks to the sounds of “soothing rain”.

I don’t care how well rested I feel, the day must begin with coffee. Especially on a chilly fall day.

Picturesque, no?

I need to finally find a new pediatrician for Braedon and Makenzie. We had billing issues with our current office after the last appointment. The doctor called Braedon a “she” his entire last check-up. It took over twenty minutes to get through the phone line today to even schedule an appointment for my sick child.

I will give them credit that today’s actual appointment wasn’t terrible. It didn’t take the standard TWO HOURS in office and I liked the doctor we saw today. Too bad the office has gotten so big we can’t be guaranteed to see him and the whole atmosphere is much less personal and caring. I am just over it.

And on a high note, Chelsey knows how to pick a good book.

I just can’t put it down! And I never knew how much I missed reading a real book. Don’t be surprised if I disappear off the face of the blog world for awhile. Wait. Do be surprised if that happens. I guess I should say don’t be surprised if I don’t do laundry all week. Yea. That’s more like it.

• What is the last good book you read?
• What was a special thing your parent did to help you feel better when growing up? Tingles! The tingles!

Morning, friends! You may recall my not super balanced “lunch” of candy corn that I mentioned over the weekend.

Well, when I posted about Peter & I completely owning that bag of candy corn over the course of the weekend, I made light of it. Hey hey! I devoured a boatload of sugar. Whoopee! No biggie. Love me some candy corn goodness. Hip hip hooray!

You get the picture.

Well, when I wrote the post I truly did feel like it was “no biggie” in the grand scheme of things. I would be lying if I said it didn’t get under my skin at first.

The dreaded food guilt.

I know some of my triggers that will lead to the dreaded guilty feeling:

• eating past a comfortable level of full
• eating mindlessly
• eating emotionally

Then, when reading a post last week by Lee on food guilt, something struck me for the first time – food guilt (and exercise guilt too for that matter) hits me hardest when I make unplanned less than healthy decisions.

So, a surprise baggy of candy corn gone in a matter of days equaled a twinge of food guilt. And Chelsey – don’t you dare go feeling friend guilt for my silly food guilt. Do you hear me?! I still love you mad…and the candy corn.

It’s an interesting concept and crazy how I never fully realized that before. At least I can usually recognize food guilt, pinpoint the cause, learn from it, and move on relatively quickly these days. However, I still have things to learn and ways to grow.

I have no qualms eating less than healthy food at times. In fact, I believe it’s a necessary part of my eating habits so I can keep the road of balance and not revert back to how I felt during my first binge and the years that followed.

But perhaps, as Lee posed in her thoughts, food guilt can do good on some level. Perhaps it can positively motivate our eating habits. Or at the very least make us take a closer look. Just don’t take too close a look and bring it from self-aware to self-deprecating. Mmmkay? You (and I) deserve more than that.

• What things set off food guilt for you?
• Do you think some food guilt can be a good thing?