What we can’t live without… so we gave up

Well, well, well readers – Lent is here. A time for Catholics (and gluttonous baptists) to offer something up to the Lord until Easter. And while many people use this as the perfect excuse to diet, we at the Colosimo (Junior) household are taking it a step farther. Guys, we gave up weekday drinking.

Okay, so some of you may be like, okay big deal, who drinks that much during the week anyways? Well, we do. We probably have a bottle of wine every night. (Go ahead, either shake your head or drop your jaw… we know, we know). We even buy it by the case now to save 10%.

So, in effort to avoid the negative effects of “cold turkey,” we decided weekday drinking was something our livers’ would appreciate. So, Sunday through Thursday we no longer pair our homecooked meals with a glass of Malbec, or relax in front of the TV with a flute of bubbly. Nope, as of last night we’re drinking straight water with a twist of lemon. Yum.

It was weird. It certainly felt like something was missing. Like, why are we going through all this trouble of working over the stove when we don’t have a stem in our hands? When we finish our meal and settle into the couch, where is our “after-dinner” drink… or as we like to call it, dessert?

I can’t tell you how many times I opened the fridge with an instinctive reach for the Prosecco bottle. I had to tell myself out loud that it wasn’t allowed. You could tell it made Mike a little anxious too. It was like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. In fact, I swear he was pacing a little through the kitchen. This is usually because I am the one cooking, and he’s watching, wine in hand. (And forget using that extra idle time to help with the mound of dishes or piles of crap we accumulate because we don’t have time to clean up, he just paced).

So, after night one of swirling lemon in distilled water, I can predict that this is going to be hard. Devoid even of life’s smallest joy. (okay, it’s not that small for us). But I can tell you, we’ll have more cash to save, more room in our bellies and (hopefully) a few more good years out of our livers. Raise a glass–okay, don’t, that’s just mean. But, either way, wish me luck and have one for both of us… by yourselves, where we can’t see you.

…And just so everyone knows JUST how intense this Lenten season is… I also gave up shopping.