The power of a good habit

Despite the desperation that might have shown through on this post, Lent has been going fairly well. (What? I always wanted to know if it would work, but never wanted to ruin a batch of cookies finding out. Now I know.) I'm learning to depend on the Holy Spirit for my self-control. Maybe it's because of the "self" part of self-control, but I had always considered that to be something I was supposed to handle, but God is clearly showing me that it works better when he is in control. Although I really do think I should start calling it by it's more traditional name of "temperance" so as not to confuse myself.

I'm also learning the power of a good habit. Mondays are by far the hardest day because the rest of the week, I am out of the habit of eating sugar, it is out of my system and I don't really crave it. Friday night I attended a birthday party where the only things served were chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chocolate cookies, cake and ice cream. People, haven't you ever heard of a thing called a veggie tray? I shouldn't have expected much seeing as it was a husband throwing a surprise party for his wife. Oh, husbands. Regardless, I didn't have a problem saying no. But after even just a day of eating sugar when I want, cravings rear their ugly head again. Had that party been Monday night, I would have been a goner.

The effects of good habits was illustrated to me in another way this week, I finally bought new clothes... after 8 months. When we moved here in August, I realized just how much clothing I had, and I thought I was a little ridiculous. We also moved into a much smaller closet and I only had two little drawers. So even if I liked my other clothes, I never wore them because they were stored under the bed or in the back of the closet. So I decided not to buy anymore clothes until the beginning of the year (for the purpose of this self-imposed clothes fast experiment, anything that you buy in multipacks at wal-mart does not count).

The first month, it was hard. I kept thinking of things I wanted. But after that it was a piece of cake. Whenever I got an urge to buy new clothes, I sorted my closet, donated old stuff I never wore so I could bring some of the older but never seen clothes back into the light where I could appreciate them. I did receive a few tops from my mom every month or so, and she took me on a shopping excursion as my Christmas present where I picked up new shoes and a skirt but even then, I enjoyed the shopping more than the buying. And after January, I knew I "could" buy clothes, but I never thought I needed them. Buying clothes was not my habit anymore and it was liberating.

So what finally got me to purchase something new? Well, it's not even anything exciting. I just needed some new cami's after an unfortunate mold incident. Lets just say it involved orange juice split 5 minutes before we had to leave for work in the morning, a hasty cleanup, and juicy wet towels laying in the bottom of the hamper for a week - yep, it was gross and apparently, mold doesn't really come out of clothing.

And since I wear cami's under like 80% of my shirts, I needed new ones. I'm really excited to get them in the mail. I decided to go with Shade as I have heard such good things about their fit and quality. I was only going to get two but you get a price discount if you buy three, and my old ones were only from old navy and there were at least 4 years old - it was definitely time. Then I saw you if I spent $50 I could get free shipping so I decided to get two more. 5 is not unreasonable amount for something I wear all the time - and it was such a good deal., right? Except that apparently three cami's for $10 a piece and 2 cami's for $9.99 each adds up to $49.98 which does not get you free shipping - a fact I did not notice until Craig pointed it out the next day. Darn you two cents! I need to go back to not buying clothes. I've lost my shopping skills.