It used to be trail mix for me. Little did I know the high oxalate content of the chocolate and nuts would give me a kidney stone. So, I now try to avoid trail mix, chocolate, nuts & wheat bread.
Any place I’m in for more than about 20 seconds ends up looking like a library. I don’t consider that bad.
I know the feeling. I always had a problem of acquiring books far faster than I could read them. My to-be-read pile is around 30 right now.
Well, make that three people who actually eat candy corn . . .
I confess to loving Xmas fruitcake.
I don’t know where to start, food, sweets, cigarettes, booze, women and current hobbies. At the moment women seem to be my slippery slope. I lost my mate only 2 months ago and I find myself on the look out for similar women who are not really emotionally available. My conscience seems to kick in before I act as I am still grieving but the thought keeps popping up more often. I really don’t want to make the same mistakes I have made in the past. I kind of feel like her ghost is protecting me from myself.
Yup.
I like candy corn. I mix it with peanuts. Also love Christmas fruitcake. But my slippery slope foods are chips (Wavy Lays) and cookies. I can eat a family size bag of chips in an evening. If I want chips, I buy a single bag (the kind meant to put in lunch boxes) and am happy with that. Cookies just don’t come in the house.
Computer games and TV series. I know I’d like Minecraft, but I know it would also be a huge time sink. I’ve kept away from it by resolving to only buy it for a really cheap price, like $10. Never seen it for that price so far!
TV series, if I start a series with several seasons on a streaming service and really like it, I sometimes wind up spending a weekend binge-watching it.
Oh, good one. I steer clear of video games for the same reason.
Is either one a red Swingline, by chance?
Swingline, yes, but they’re both grey and orange. This one and this one, to be precise. Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to set the building on fire.
My grandmother, one of the kindest, most gentle women I’ve ever known, became a vicious, cutthroat player when you put cards in front of her. She taught me how to play, and as a result I inherited all of her mannerisms and instincts.
I am also a card counter. I once called out everybody’s hand during a game of Hearts based on the way they played the first two tricks, and as a result they refused to play with me ever again. I’m the same way with Spades, and blackjack with one or two decks is a trivial exercise.
I mention this because I am absolutely convinced that if I put the time in I could beat the house and make a fortune gambling. There is no doubt in my mind. And then I remember that people far smarter than I am designed the games to give the house an absolute mathematical edge that no amount of skill can overcome in the long run.
So I don’t gamble at casinos. At all. Ever. If I did there is no possibility that I wouldn’t dive into a hole that I could never dig out of. It would be long, prolonged, and painful, just like alcoholism, another issue I have that was Hell on Earth to resolve and still requires no small amount of effort to avoid relapsing. I have a terribly addictive personality. Fortunately, having been through that, I am more attuned to the signs and I’ve learned to let logic win instead of the crazy in my head that tries to convince me that I can do whatever and it will somehow work out in my favor. In my case, the only winning move is not to play. I’ll bet $10 with a friend on a football game or buy a single lottery ticket for the fantasy if it’s high enough, but I live within 45 minutes of a casino and I have never once seen it.
My hat is off to you and your resolve.
There’s another kind of slippery slope that’s not food or shopping related. It’s the slippage in the constant vigilance needed to keep all or parts of the house (or car) from disappearing under a pile of junk mail, shoes and socks, bits of paper and packaging, random pieces of clothing, used cups and glasses, pens and pencils (except when you need one and then they all vanish).
I live by myself, and I’m very good about throwing away bits of paper and packaging, sweet & low wrappers, junk mail. I only get digital subscriptions now, so no more stacks of newspapers and magazines piling up. I put dirty dishes and utensils in the sink, although there are so few, I may not wash them every day. When I cook, I clean up as I go along.
But shoes. I’ll take off a pair of shoes in my bedroom (never in the living room) but then not put them back in the closet. I’ll do this every day for a week. Pretty soon there are at least seven pairs of shoes strewn around the bedroom, probably more, because of rejects during the dressing process. I stumble over them. But I only put them away every couple of weeks when there’s no more room to walk. Why? I guess because I’m a person of bad character.
And the car. I take stuff out to the car but don’t bring it back in. so right now there are three umbrellas in the car, two shawls (very cold in the synagogue on Monday), a couple of pairs of shoes, some flip flops, a lamp that needs rewiring, two sunhats, a coffee cup-- that’s all I can remember. I’m fascinated by people whose cars are always clutter-free. They are good people.
This, so much.
Also, Pringles. I have a weakness for lots of chips, but Pringles, despite the fact that they’re not good chips at all…I open a can and they’re gone the same day (I live alone). I’m not allowed to buy them anymore.
The 3rd beer.
can do and walk away, button the third one is down, I’m off to the races.
Mr.Wrekker loves candy corn. I have it in a candy jar for him. I cannot eat it, 2 and I am in trouble with my sugar. It’s ok, I don’t really like it.
Art supplies are a weakness, I do sell art so I can justify it.
I have way too many pairs of crocs. I wear them all the time around here. My kids have shamed me into not wearing them in public or with socks.
And my biggest obsession is my cats. They have 98 beds and perches and trees. I even have a shelving with nothing on them expressly for cat cruising. The real reason there’s nothing on them is the cats have removed the bric-a-brac. My taste in shit-on-a-shelf doesn’t suit their design sensibilities.
We won’t get in to food and treats for them. I am so far down that hole as to be ridiculous. They have many toys. Nope. Never play with them. They like to steal my stuff to play with. Hair ties are the favorite. It seems.
Ice cream. Especially chocolate or something mixed with chocolate. There was a time when a pint of B-R peanut butter-chocolate was a single serving for me.
I used to buy cartons of Turkey Hill when it went on sale. My husband and I would have a bowl in the evening - but the portions got bigger and bigger. I switched to Klondike bars - one became 2 became 3. I had to quit buying any ice cream product.
And, really, any sweet item around the house is going to be a bad temptation. I’ve managed to break myself of visiting the snack cabinet at the office - I was up to 2 or 3 sugary snacks a day. I now take fruit with me and avoid opening the cabinet when I have to go to in the kitchen. It helps that I’ve dropped a few pounds since changing my ways. 
B-b-b-but… a pint IS one serving size, isn’t it? :eek: I mean they can’t be serious when it says on the carton that a serving size is 1/2 cup? That’s a joke, right??
Slim Jims, and jerky. I eat red meat very sparingly ( only 3 or 4 times a year, but I indulge no-holds barred ) but access to the aforementioned make me lose my better judgement.