Super Bowl Sunday

I am not watching the Super Bowl. Since Alex started school, I have the perfect excuse of needing to be home to put the kids to bed on time. Impossible then to watch a game that does not start until 6:30 p.m. It it the perfect guise because there is something about my brain that cannot stand the sound of sports on T.V. The announcers. The cheering. The buzzers and bells. I just can't stand it. And because I grew up in a small town with no high school football team and went to a college that never had a decent football team, I don't get football either.

This distaste for the Super Bowl did not stop me from eating nearly an entire bag of chips and a pint of onion dip today - on my own. I could have stopped the train wreck in the grocery store by simply not buying it. I knew Steve would not be here - he actually wants to watch the Super Bowl and found his way to a friend's house to watch it on a T.V. far bigger and more modern than our 20-year-old set. But I could not stop myself and tossed them in among the grapes and yogurt and apples.Worse yet, I bought the bag on my way to yoga, came home after yoga and cracked it open immediately, lightly assuring myself I was just giving Cate a little treat. (Cate covets chips - covets them). And I started delicately with a few chips on a tiny plate and a spoonful of dip. Then I taped the bag, tucked it behind some boxes and shoved the dip to the back of the refrigerator. They were satisfying with green jasmine tea, but not satisfying enough. I washed it all down with some vegetable soup.

Cate and I, left to our own devices, made valentines. But it wasn't long before I dug behind the boxes, carefully removed the tape, tunneled through the refrigerator and was back at it again... still with my little plate. By mid-afternoon, I had abandoned the plate and ate straight from the bag. By late afternoon, as I contemplated where I might get takeout that was not pizza (I knew I would have to wait hours for that), I began washing the heavenly duo down with red wine. By 5, I admitted defeat, congratulated myself for saving the money I would have spent on healthy takeout with a $2 bag of chips and a $1.50 tub of dip, took my last swing of wine and ate a handful of grapes for good measure.

And I guess the game hadn't even started yet?