Day 31 went well, which is the norm now. I suppose I should start posting if I smoke, because that would be straying from the beaten path at this point. Now I understand why a lot of people who started 'stop smoking' blogs allowed them to turn into 'life' blogs after a few months. It's because we get sick and tired of dwelling on the whole 'stop smoking' part of our lives. For me, this is an outlet to update on my progress and tell a few funny stories now and then. Starting off, it was good for me to write out how I was feeling and what my body was going through, but now, it's just mundane because to me, I've already won this battle. There's no turning back now. =)
Anyway, we're going to the Tulsa Tough bike races this weekend and I am not looking forward to standing by the smokers in the crowd. It's amazing how the smell of cigarette smoke makes me feel now. I used to think that it would make me want to smoke again, but it truly just makes me sick. I'm not talking down on these people because I'm certainly no hypocrit, but it just stinks like no other. And I do think that smokers just don't realize how far-reaching their smoke can be in a crowd of people. I certainly never thought about it. Sure I would walk to the outskirts of the crowd and try to be polite, but I now realize that it was probably to no avail. But you know what........you can't change people. All you can do is your live your life and make positive changes in yourself. Maybe along the way you can be a good influence on someone. If not, that's okay too.
Here's to turning my 'stop smoking' blog into a 'life' blog.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Day 31 - Dreaming
Day 30 went just like day 29.....no smoking....blah blah blah.
Anways, the Chantix dreams are seriously starting to get on my nerves. It's a modge-podge of nonsense and I think it's affecting my sleep quality. For about a week now I have slept through my last alarm and gotten out of bed 10-15 minutes late, which is no big deal, but I have to practically sprint through the house to get ready on time when that happens. Not a fun way to start the day. And I don't really feel rested. I feel sluggish and tired. Some of that may have to do with the fact that until Tuesday, I hadn't ridden my bike in over a week due to being out of town for the holiday weekend (excuses excuses.....I know)! It's hard to tell just what is causing me to be tired. Even if it's not the Chantix, I still don't really appreciate the freaky dreams. They're still not scary, but I can't make sense out of any of them. At first, I would have a dream and it would make sense and it was just really vivid, like watching a movie. But now, in my 6th week on Chantix, it's starting to get downright freaky. Oh yeah, and according to the Chantix website, I've saved $77 by not purchasing cigarettes. Considering that I've spent $138 on each of my 2 Chantix prescriptions, this doesn't exactly make me jump for joy. The important thing is that I'm making an investment in my future that's more important than even my 401K, which sucks right now by the way. Sorry, I'm starting to go off the beaten path a little. Better cut this off before I start ranting about other topics.
Here's to peaceful sleep.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Anways, the Chantix dreams are seriously starting to get on my nerves. It's a modge-podge of nonsense and I think it's affecting my sleep quality. For about a week now I have slept through my last alarm and gotten out of bed 10-15 minutes late, which is no big deal, but I have to practically sprint through the house to get ready on time when that happens. Not a fun way to start the day. And I don't really feel rested. I feel sluggish and tired. Some of that may have to do with the fact that until Tuesday, I hadn't ridden my bike in over a week due to being out of town for the holiday weekend (excuses excuses.....I know)! It's hard to tell just what is causing me to be tired. Even if it's not the Chantix, I still don't really appreciate the freaky dreams. They're still not scary, but I can't make sense out of any of them. At first, I would have a dream and it would make sense and it was just really vivid, like watching a movie. But now, in my 6th week on Chantix, it's starting to get downright freaky. Oh yeah, and according to the Chantix website, I've saved $77 by not purchasing cigarettes. Considering that I've spent $138 on each of my 2 Chantix prescriptions, this doesn't exactly make me jump for joy. The important thing is that I'm making an investment in my future that's more important than even my 401K, which sucks right now by the way. Sorry, I'm starting to go off the beaten path a little. Better cut this off before I start ranting about other topics.
Here's to peaceful sleep.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Day 30 - No more peaceful family rides
Well another successful day yesterday. This is seriously becoming boring. I don't mean to sound all 'holier than thou', but every day is just another day now. Sure, I think about cigarettes now and then, but I don't want one. I've worked too hard and come too far to turn back now. This tells me two things......1) I truly was ready to quit this time, and 2) I have the willpower to do anything in my life because I am in control. That's a great feeling! Sorry if I'm making this sound like it's been a piece of cake. The first two weeks were miserable, but so worth it. The so-called experts are not blowing smoke (no pun intended) when they say that the first few weeks are the worse.
In other news, it seems that our little man has truly outgrown the Trek bike trailer. Not in size, but in mentality. We tried to take him on a nice liesurely 10 mile family ride last night and it started out like normal, but ended with a spanking. He was chillin' in the trailer with his fridge DJ singing his ABC's while we were riding along. Around mile 5 (apparently his new breaking point), he began to thrash around in the trailer. So Daddy calmy told him not to do that and we kept going. Around mile 5.5, he decided that fridge DJ no longer deserved to ride in the bike trailer.......so he looked me straight in the face like "hey Mom, are you watching, because I want to make certain that I get in trouble for this", and he tossed the fridge DJ out of the trailer throug the little mesh screen in the front. I knew he was going to do it, I just couldn't stop it. For this behavior, he was awarded with a swat on the leg and a harsh "we do not throw things out of the bike trailer". This then prompted him to scream bloody murder for all to hear the entire way back to the truck. After repeatedly informing him that we were making our way back to the vehicle to take him home and getting no response (other than the ring-tailed fit that ensued), we decided that once our train came to a stop, he would get a spanking for screaming and throwing a fit. So we did the spanking thing, he cried for a second, and we quietly drove to the house. Upon entering the driveway and shutting off the truck, he decides to make this announcement...."we're home, I not in trouble anymore, I very happy now"! This is the point where I took two deep breaths so as to not run headlong into the fence in order to knock myself out for a few minutes to get some peace and quiet. Knowing that this wasn't an option, I simply marched him inside straight to timeout, where he sat without saying a single word for 3 minutes. After timeout was over and he said he was sorry for acting 'ugly' as we call it, we had a pleasant evening (what was left of it). So in retrospect, we have decided that he is no longer going to ride in the bike trailer, because 6 miles isn't even worth getting dressed for. It was a sad revelation really.
Sorry for the rambling, but it gets old just talking about 'not smoking' all the time.
Here's to my 2 year old making it to his 3rd birthday without me losing my mind!
God Bless,
The Quitter
In other news, it seems that our little man has truly outgrown the Trek bike trailer. Not in size, but in mentality. We tried to take him on a nice liesurely 10 mile family ride last night and it started out like normal, but ended with a spanking. He was chillin' in the trailer with his fridge DJ singing his ABC's while we were riding along. Around mile 5 (apparently his new breaking point), he began to thrash around in the trailer. So Daddy calmy told him not to do that and we kept going. Around mile 5.5, he decided that fridge DJ no longer deserved to ride in the bike trailer.......so he looked me straight in the face like "hey Mom, are you watching, because I want to make certain that I get in trouble for this", and he tossed the fridge DJ out of the trailer throug the little mesh screen in the front. I knew he was going to do it, I just couldn't stop it. For this behavior, he was awarded with a swat on the leg and a harsh "we do not throw things out of the bike trailer". This then prompted him to scream bloody murder for all to hear the entire way back to the truck. After repeatedly informing him that we were making our way back to the vehicle to take him home and getting no response (other than the ring-tailed fit that ensued), we decided that once our train came to a stop, he would get a spanking for screaming and throwing a fit. So we did the spanking thing, he cried for a second, and we quietly drove to the house. Upon entering the driveway and shutting off the truck, he decides to make this announcement...."we're home, I not in trouble anymore, I very happy now"! This is the point where I took two deep breaths so as to not run headlong into the fence in order to knock myself out for a few minutes to get some peace and quiet. Knowing that this wasn't an option, I simply marched him inside straight to timeout, where he sat without saying a single word for 3 minutes. After timeout was over and he said he was sorry for acting 'ugly' as we call it, we had a pleasant evening (what was left of it). So in retrospect, we have decided that he is no longer going to ride in the bike trailer, because 6 miles isn't even worth getting dressed for. It was a sad revelation really.
Sorry for the rambling, but it gets old just talking about 'not smoking' all the time.
Here's to my 2 year old making it to his 3rd birthday without me losing my mind!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Day 29 - A much needed update
Sorry I haven't updated for a whole week. I was out in the country where you can't get cell phone reception, let alone a good internet signal. I suppose I could have posted daily, but the signal strength was terrible and I didn't have the patience to sit and wait on the computer to think for 10 minutes every time I told it to do something. Besides, I was busy running around after a filthy 2 year old at the campground for 4 straight days. But I wouldn't have it any other way. We had a great time!
Anyway, yesterday marked my 4th week of being smoke free. It's crazy that it's already been 4 weeks. In a way, it seems like much longer, which is a good thing. I hardly think about it at all anymore. The Chantix is working out well. I'm having more and more strange and vivid dreams lately. They aren't scary, they're just really weird. It's hard to decipher them sometimes. But all in all, I think the Chantix has been a really good tool for me. If I had it to do over again, I would choose Chantix from the start. Okay, enough already. I'm starting to sound like some sort of spokesperson here.
Here's to Week 5!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Anyway, yesterday marked my 4th week of being smoke free. It's crazy that it's already been 4 weeks. In a way, it seems like much longer, which is a good thing. I hardly think about it at all anymore. The Chantix is working out well. I'm having more and more strange and vivid dreams lately. They aren't scary, they're just really weird. It's hard to decipher them sometimes. But all in all, I think the Chantix has been a really good tool for me. If I had it to do over again, I would choose Chantix from the start. Okay, enough already. I'm starting to sound like some sort of spokesperson here.
Here's to Week 5!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Day 22
Well it's day 22. I made it through yesterday with flying colors. 3 weeks smoke free.
Getting excited about our 4 day camping trip coming up. It's always good to see the extended family over Memorial Day weekend.
I don't really have much to update today. I'm kind of boring, sorry.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Getting excited about our 4 day camping trip coming up. It's always good to see the extended family over Memorial Day weekend.
I don't really have much to update today. I'm kind of boring, sorry.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Monday, May 18, 2009
Day 21 - 3 Week Mark!
Sorry it's been a few days since I updated. I had a very busy weekend. Saturday was the Tour de Cure ride for diabetes (55 miles) and Sunday was catch-up day on housework and laundry (yuck).
Still no smoking and getting easier every day. I actually had to look at my previous post to find out what day I'm on b/c it's becoming less and less important to me. This is a good thing in my opinion b/c at first I was like "3 days....25 minutes.....3 seconds since my last cigarette". That was starting to get annoying.
I've been on Chantix for 4 weeks, which means I have to fill my prescription today. I'm kind of grumpy about spending another $138, but I'm going to do it anyway. I know that it comes out to about the same cost as a month's worth of cigarettes, but I never bought $138 worth of cigarettes at one time, so it seems a little different. Bottom line is that I'll save money in the long run and be a much healthier person.
Congratulations to my Mom for making the decision to quit with Chantix. Good luck Mom and I love you.
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Still no smoking and getting easier every day. I actually had to look at my previous post to find out what day I'm on b/c it's becoming less and less important to me. This is a good thing in my opinion b/c at first I was like "3 days....25 minutes.....3 seconds since my last cigarette". That was starting to get annoying.
I've been on Chantix for 4 weeks, which means I have to fill my prescription today. I'm kind of grumpy about spending another $138, but I'm going to do it anyway. I know that it comes out to about the same cost as a month's worth of cigarettes, but I never bought $138 worth of cigarettes at one time, so it seems a little different. Bottom line is that I'll save money in the long run and be a much healthier person.
Congratulations to my Mom for making the decision to quit with Chantix. Good luck Mom and I love you.
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Day 17 - Glad to be home
Oh my goodness I hate flying. O'Hare is the world's worst airport (at least of the few dozen that I've been too anyway). I didn't have time for lunch yesterday b/c my flight to Richmond was delayed and I had to haul booty down the highway to meet the client on time. And then today, we got on the plane in Chicago to head back to Tulsa 20 minutes after we were supposed to take off. To make matters worse.........well, maybe I should back up a bit here.
My flight from Richmond landed at O'Hare at gate F9. My flight for Tulsa took off from gate B22. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the metropolis that is O'Hare, that's some serious ground to cover. Luckily, I had an hour to do it, but still! Anyway, so when I was finally approaching my gate (which is at the end of concourse B and somewhat secluded), I can hear this one woman's voice above all the rest. She sounded like she was from up north somewhere (I would soon find out she is from New York City). So I look around for somewhere to sit (fat chance) and finally settle on standing near the ticket counter b/c we were going to begin boarding in a few minutes (or so I thought). As I'm standing there, this woman is going on and on to some man sitting next to her, laughing really loud the whole time. Then out of nowhere, she smacks the guy and says "ball-cock-a**hole"! I tried my hardest not to react to this in the normal fashion, but could not help staring open-mouthed at this woman (she's probably around my age). After the initial shock of the blatant profanities streaming from her wide open mouth, I realized that she has tourettes syndrome. Boy did I feel like a butt for staring. Oh well, we all make mistakes right?
So a lady comes out and announces that we will soon begin boarding flight whatever to Tulsa. Apparently the word "Tulsa" triggered something in this woman's head, b/c she went absolutely ballistic. She grabbed her things and came over to stand next to me near the jet-way. Throughout this story, try to keep in mind that she apparenty was not blessed with an inside voice (coming from me....this means she talks frickin' loud people). She gets about two inches from my face (you can imagine my reaction to this) and starts this dialogue:
Her: "Are you going to Tulsa?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Do you live in Tulsa?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "OH MY GOD....DO YOU KNOW HANSON.....I LOVE HANSON......I'M GOING TO TULSA TO SEE THEM......MY MOM AND DAD ARE COMING WITH ME.....MY MOM EVEN HAS THE POSTER THAT I MADE TO SHOW THEM WHEN I GET TO TULSA"
Me: "Good for you" (I really didn't know what else to say)
Her: "So have you ever seen Hanson?"
Me: "No, Tulsa is pretty big"
Her: "My Mom says that Tulsa is small compared to New York City and nasty b/c it's in the middle of the country"
Me: "Oh" (can't wait to meet her Mom at this point)
Her: "ball-cock"
Me: Complete silence - pretending to text message someone on my phone
Apparently something else caught her attention at that point, because she repeated the same conversation with another unfortunate soul standing nearby. Then her parents showed up to stand next to her (probably in their early sixties). They had just come from the bathroom. I know this because her Mom let everyone within earshot know that she had a really bad case of diarrhea and was really scared to get back on a plane. Great! I'm so glad these people are on my flight. Enter the ticket agent to save the day. I got on the plane in the first group of people, thankful that the family from Hades was not in pursuit, which means that they are at the front of the plane as opposed to the back with me. WRONG! After everyone had boarded the plane, these three come skipping down the aisle and plop themselves in row 18 (last row). Yours truly is in row 16. No freakin' way. It's a two hour flight! Someone please tell me this is not happening.
The flight attendant closed the cabin door and we pushed off. She's back there asking what every little noise is (extremely loudly) and saying all sorts of profanities that I can't even repeat on here. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the Mom gets up and yells at the flight attendant (who is in the very front doing the whole 'exits are here' thing) asking her how to open the bathroom door. The flight attendant comes back and politely asks her to please wait until we have reached our cruising altitude to use the facilities. Mom informs her that if she doesn't get to use the bathroom right that instant, she's going to crap all over her seat. The flight attendant let her into the bathroom, and phoned the cockpit to inform the pilots that we would have to wait to take-off. We sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes waiting for this woman to get done crapping while listening to her daughter say "Mom......stop pooping, we have to go to Tulsa to see Hanson". When she was finally done, we had lost our slot on the runway and had to wait another 20 minutes to take-off. We finally take-off, and the Mom starts totally wiggin' out. I mean, like white knuckle "what is that sound" wiggin' out. Every time the plane did anything, she freaked. When the pilot pulled the landing gear up, she screamed bloody murder. Seriously?
So I'm thinking that this flight can't get any worse, but again I was wrong. Between bouts of blurting profanity, the twenty-something lady with tourettes syndrome decided to serenade us with her rendition of 'Mmmmm Bop' repeatedly. Lovely. I didn't particularly enjoy that song when it first came out. I definitely do not like her version with the f-word thrown in for effect.
She kept looking out the window and asking which city we were flying over. Who cares!
Her Mom asked the guy right in front of her if Tulsa is as nasty as everyone says it is. He politely thanked her for insulting everyone on the plane, and then informed her that Tulsa is a lovely city. I happen to agree to him by the way.
Anyway, so the captain turns the fasten seat belt light back on, and the flight attendant informs everyone that we will be making our initial descent into Tulsa (this gets the expected reaction from you know who). So Mom decides that her butt is about to explode once again, and jumps up and goes to the bathroom. The flight attendant comes back and knocks on the door to let her know that she really needs to get back to her seat and fasten her seat belt. Mom tells her she can't b/c she's really sick and will probably be there for awhile. The flight attendant gets on the phone to the cockpit and informs the pilot that we have a crapper.....again. We circled the skies above Tulsa for 15 minutes waiting for poopy pants to finish b/c apparently the ride was going to be really bumpy (it was in fact) going through the clouds on the way down. Un-freakin'-real.
In closing, I would just like to say that I am in no way making fun of tourettes syndrome. I think it is a very unfortunate disease and truly feel for anyone that has been affected by it. But seriously, this was just too good not to share. I mean, you can't make this stuff up.
Oh yeah, and I didn't smoke today either. 17 days!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
My flight from Richmond landed at O'Hare at gate F9. My flight for Tulsa took off from gate B22. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the metropolis that is O'Hare, that's some serious ground to cover. Luckily, I had an hour to do it, but still! Anyway, so when I was finally approaching my gate (which is at the end of concourse B and somewhat secluded), I can hear this one woman's voice above all the rest. She sounded like she was from up north somewhere (I would soon find out she is from New York City). So I look around for somewhere to sit (fat chance) and finally settle on standing near the ticket counter b/c we were going to begin boarding in a few minutes (or so I thought). As I'm standing there, this woman is going on and on to some man sitting next to her, laughing really loud the whole time. Then out of nowhere, she smacks the guy and says "ball-cock-a**hole"! I tried my hardest not to react to this in the normal fashion, but could not help staring open-mouthed at this woman (she's probably around my age). After the initial shock of the blatant profanities streaming from her wide open mouth, I realized that she has tourettes syndrome. Boy did I feel like a butt for staring. Oh well, we all make mistakes right?
So a lady comes out and announces that we will soon begin boarding flight whatever to Tulsa. Apparently the word "Tulsa" triggered something in this woman's head, b/c she went absolutely ballistic. She grabbed her things and came over to stand next to me near the jet-way. Throughout this story, try to keep in mind that she apparenty was not blessed with an inside voice (coming from me....this means she talks frickin' loud people). She gets about two inches from my face (you can imagine my reaction to this) and starts this dialogue:
Her: "Are you going to Tulsa?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Do you live in Tulsa?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "OH MY GOD....DO YOU KNOW HANSON.....I LOVE HANSON......I'M GOING TO TULSA TO SEE THEM......MY MOM AND DAD ARE COMING WITH ME.....MY MOM EVEN HAS THE POSTER THAT I MADE TO SHOW THEM WHEN I GET TO TULSA"
Me: "Good for you" (I really didn't know what else to say)
Her: "So have you ever seen Hanson?"
Me: "No, Tulsa is pretty big"
Her: "My Mom says that Tulsa is small compared to New York City and nasty b/c it's in the middle of the country"
Me: "Oh" (can't wait to meet her Mom at this point)
Her: "ball-cock"
Me: Complete silence - pretending to text message someone on my phone
Apparently something else caught her attention at that point, because she repeated the same conversation with another unfortunate soul standing nearby. Then her parents showed up to stand next to her (probably in their early sixties). They had just come from the bathroom. I know this because her Mom let everyone within earshot know that she had a really bad case of diarrhea and was really scared to get back on a plane. Great! I'm so glad these people are on my flight. Enter the ticket agent to save the day. I got on the plane in the first group of people, thankful that the family from Hades was not in pursuit, which means that they are at the front of the plane as opposed to the back with me. WRONG! After everyone had boarded the plane, these three come skipping down the aisle and plop themselves in row 18 (last row). Yours truly is in row 16. No freakin' way. It's a two hour flight! Someone please tell me this is not happening.
The flight attendant closed the cabin door and we pushed off. She's back there asking what every little noise is (extremely loudly) and saying all sorts of profanities that I can't even repeat on here. Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, the Mom gets up and yells at the flight attendant (who is in the very front doing the whole 'exits are here' thing) asking her how to open the bathroom door. The flight attendant comes back and politely asks her to please wait until we have reached our cruising altitude to use the facilities. Mom informs her that if she doesn't get to use the bathroom right that instant, she's going to crap all over her seat. The flight attendant let her into the bathroom, and phoned the cockpit to inform the pilots that we would have to wait to take-off. We sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes waiting for this woman to get done crapping while listening to her daughter say "Mom......stop pooping, we have to go to Tulsa to see Hanson". When she was finally done, we had lost our slot on the runway and had to wait another 20 minutes to take-off. We finally take-off, and the Mom starts totally wiggin' out. I mean, like white knuckle "what is that sound" wiggin' out. Every time the plane did anything, she freaked. When the pilot pulled the landing gear up, she screamed bloody murder. Seriously?
So I'm thinking that this flight can't get any worse, but again I was wrong. Between bouts of blurting profanity, the twenty-something lady with tourettes syndrome decided to serenade us with her rendition of 'Mmmmm Bop' repeatedly. Lovely. I didn't particularly enjoy that song when it first came out. I definitely do not like her version with the f-word thrown in for effect.
She kept looking out the window and asking which city we were flying over. Who cares!
Her Mom asked the guy right in front of her if Tulsa is as nasty as everyone says it is. He politely thanked her for insulting everyone on the plane, and then informed her that Tulsa is a lovely city. I happen to agree to him by the way.
Anyway, so the captain turns the fasten seat belt light back on, and the flight attendant informs everyone that we will be making our initial descent into Tulsa (this gets the expected reaction from you know who). So Mom decides that her butt is about to explode once again, and jumps up and goes to the bathroom. The flight attendant comes back and knocks on the door to let her know that she really needs to get back to her seat and fasten her seat belt. Mom tells her she can't b/c she's really sick and will probably be there for awhile. The flight attendant gets on the phone to the cockpit and informs the pilot that we have a crapper.....again. We circled the skies above Tulsa for 15 minutes waiting for poopy pants to finish b/c apparently the ride was going to be really bumpy (it was in fact) going through the clouds on the way down. Un-freakin'-real.
In closing, I would just like to say that I am in no way making fun of tourettes syndrome. I think it is a very unfortunate disease and truly feel for anyone that has been affected by it. But seriously, this was just too good not to share. I mean, you can't make this stuff up.
Oh yeah, and I didn't smoke today either. 17 days!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Day 16 - Road Trip
So I'm on a business trip (flight left this morning at 6 o'clock) and I had to drive 4 hours total today. IN A CAR (like what else is there, I know). But seriously, it was difficult at times. When I found myself wanting a cigarette, I turned my iPod on and sang at the top of my lungs. It actually helped. I also noticed during this process that my singing voice from high school is back! I sound much better now than I did two weeks ago.
So I made it through the whole driving to the compressor station and back ordeal, checked into my hotel, and headed out in search of food because I didn't have time for lunch because my flight was delayed in Chicago (no shocker there).
I decided to go to Outback (my favorite)! I got directions to the nearest one, grabbed my book, and off I went in search of a good steak and single dining (bummer).
Here's where I get really mad. Apparently, you can still smoke in restaraunts in freaking Virginia. Granted, they have a non-smoking section (which I sat in even when I did smoke way back when you could smoke in restaraunts in Oklahoma - AKA, God's country)! The problem is that you walk in the front door and you're in the smoking section. The non-smoking section is through another door and in the back. Can anyone tell me how this makes any sense whatsoever? After paying my bill, I decided to walk around the restaraunt (whish is a little different than ours in Tulsa) to see if I had simply walked into an alternate door. Nope! The only door into the place was directly into the smoking section. Seriously!
Enough of my rant. I have made it through another successful day with no cigarettes and no crazy Chantix side effects. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take the oppurtunity to go to bed at a decent time tonight as my husband is busy with dishes, bathtime, and bedtime. HA!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
So I made it through the whole driving to the compressor station and back ordeal, checked into my hotel, and headed out in search of food because I didn't have time for lunch because my flight was delayed in Chicago (no shocker there).
I decided to go to Outback (my favorite)! I got directions to the nearest one, grabbed my book, and off I went in search of a good steak and single dining (bummer).
Here's where I get really mad. Apparently, you can still smoke in restaraunts in freaking Virginia. Granted, they have a non-smoking section (which I sat in even when I did smoke way back when you could smoke in restaraunts in Oklahoma - AKA, God's country)! The problem is that you walk in the front door and you're in the smoking section. The non-smoking section is through another door and in the back. Can anyone tell me how this makes any sense whatsoever? After paying my bill, I decided to walk around the restaraunt (whish is a little different than ours in Tulsa) to see if I had simply walked into an alternate door. Nope! The only door into the place was directly into the smoking section. Seriously!
Enough of my rant. I have made it through another successful day with no cigarettes and no crazy Chantix side effects. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take the oppurtunity to go to bed at a decent time tonight as my husband is busy with dishes, bathtime, and bedtime. HA!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Day 15 - Lack of Nicotine Damaging My Brain
Well another successful day to mark two weeks yesterday. No smoking and I feel good about that.
So on to the explanation of my title for the day. I am flying to Richmond, VA tomorrow for work. I decided I would check-in online so I don't have to go to the ticket counter tomorrow at 5 o'clock in the morning because I won't be checking a bag. So I grab my itinerary and go to continental.com. I enter in my "airline confirmation" listed on the itinerary and get an error message. Okay, I entered it wrong....let's try this again. No dice! Fine stupid computer....I will try the eticket number (enter buzzer sound)........wrong again. Okay....what the heck is going on. I check the numbers again and try both the confirmation and eticket numbers several more times to no avail. At this point, I'm starting to get a little worried that the company travel agent has failed to book me on these flights and that they are just showing up on my itinerary by chance (I dunno). I decide it's time to call the 1-800 number for continental.com support, because surely there must be something going on with the website. So I call and get a live person right away (shocking, I know). This lady is super nice and asks me what she can help me with. I explain my dilemma to her and give her the various numbers. We then get into a back and forth about my destination, whether it's a non-stop flight, what city I am departing from, and what my flight numbers are. As I'm perusing my itinerary for this information, I look down and notice that there is a 'UA' before all of my flight numbers. I think "what in the world does that even mean and why does everything have to be so freakin' difficult at 7 o'clock in the morning"? Then as I scan the rest of the page, the words 'United Airlines' hits me like a ton of bricks. Apparently this has rendered me speechless because the nice lady on the phone has just informed me that she cannot find me in the system anywhere on any flights leaving tomorrow and I have nothing to say to that. I am startled back to life by her voice saying "Mrs. Stewart?....Mrs. Stewart?"
At this point, all I can do is laugh at myself and tell the nice lady on the phone what a bumbling idiot I am. Thankfully she thought I was just simply hilarious and is probably telling all of her co-workers about the moron that called her this morning.
So anyway, I guess my head is a little slow getting out of bed this morning. But no worries, my travel plans are intact. At least I called some stranger at Continental instead of our travel agent, who I will undoubtedly have contact with in the future. Now that would have been embarrassing.
Here's to pulling my head out of my rear!
God Bless,
The Quitter
So on to the explanation of my title for the day. I am flying to Richmond, VA tomorrow for work. I decided I would check-in online so I don't have to go to the ticket counter tomorrow at 5 o'clock in the morning because I won't be checking a bag. So I grab my itinerary and go to continental.com. I enter in my "airline confirmation" listed on the itinerary and get an error message. Okay, I entered it wrong....let's try this again. No dice! Fine stupid computer....I will try the eticket number (enter buzzer sound)........wrong again. Okay....what the heck is going on. I check the numbers again and try both the confirmation and eticket numbers several more times to no avail. At this point, I'm starting to get a little worried that the company travel agent has failed to book me on these flights and that they are just showing up on my itinerary by chance (I dunno). I decide it's time to call the 1-800 number for continental.com support, because surely there must be something going on with the website. So I call and get a live person right away (shocking, I know). This lady is super nice and asks me what she can help me with. I explain my dilemma to her and give her the various numbers. We then get into a back and forth about my destination, whether it's a non-stop flight, what city I am departing from, and what my flight numbers are. As I'm perusing my itinerary for this information, I look down and notice that there is a 'UA' before all of my flight numbers. I think "what in the world does that even mean and why does everything have to be so freakin' difficult at 7 o'clock in the morning"? Then as I scan the rest of the page, the words 'United Airlines' hits me like a ton of bricks. Apparently this has rendered me speechless because the nice lady on the phone has just informed me that she cannot find me in the system anywhere on any flights leaving tomorrow and I have nothing to say to that. I am startled back to life by her voice saying "Mrs. Stewart?....Mrs. Stewart?"
At this point, all I can do is laugh at myself and tell the nice lady on the phone what a bumbling idiot I am. Thankfully she thought I was just simply hilarious and is probably telling all of her co-workers about the moron that called her this morning.
So anyway, I guess my head is a little slow getting out of bed this morning. But no worries, my travel plans are intact. At least I called some stranger at Continental instead of our travel agent, who I will undoubtedly have contact with in the future. Now that would have been embarrassing.
Here's to pulling my head out of my rear!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Monday, May 11, 2009
Day 14 - Good Weekend
So at the end of today I will be smoke free for 2 weeks. That's so awesome!
One thing that has been driving me crazy all weekend is still the fact that it seems like my life revolves around "not smoking". I know that someday it will not take a conscious effort to fight off the urge for a cigarette, because it gets easier each day. But for the time being, it truly is annoying.
I don't really have much to say here. I had a great Mother's Day weekend spending time with family and riding my bike. Nothing much out of the ordinary happened, so it was a good weekend. I have a business trip coming up this week and will be getting really busy at work.
This morning, I almost cried when I dropped little man off before work. It's silly, I know. I haven't felt like crying over that in probably a year. Sometimes I just wish I was independently wealthy and could stay home until my child is in school. HA!
Here's to two more weeks!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
One thing that has been driving me crazy all weekend is still the fact that it seems like my life revolves around "not smoking". I know that someday it will not take a conscious effort to fight off the urge for a cigarette, because it gets easier each day. But for the time being, it truly is annoying.
I don't really have much to say here. I had a great Mother's Day weekend spending time with family and riding my bike. Nothing much out of the ordinary happened, so it was a good weekend. I have a business trip coming up this week and will be getting really busy at work.
This morning, I almost cried when I dropped little man off before work. It's silly, I know. I haven't felt like crying over that in probably a year. Sometimes I just wish I was independently wealthy and could stay home until my child is in school. HA!
Here's to two more weeks!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Day 11 - Looking Forward
I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming summer activities and how hard it will be to not have my nasty little friend with me (no I'm not talking about you honey). Sometimes I wonder if it would have been easier to quit in the winter time since I've never smoked in my house. Oh well, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Unless you're talking about smoking, and if for some reason that doesn't contribute to your death, it certainly does not make you stronger in life. Okay, I'm rambling now. I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though I feel this getting easier with each passing day, I still look to the future and think "I won't be able to have a cigarette at the lake while camping" (a big trigger because there's nothing else to do). But I've come to realize that that's okay. My grandma has told me and several others in my family that you never quite get past the "want" to have a cigarette. And she would know. She's been quit for over 40 years now (I think.....a long time anyway). That statement truly bothers me. I mean, seriously, I'm going to be thinking about the fact that I can't have a cigarette when I'm 70? That truly stinks. But you know what.........I will be alive when I'm 70.......and that's all that matters.
In other news, I'm up a half pound this week, so I erased my miniscule weight loss from last week. I can deal with that! I'm going to be as big as a house again when we decide to have another baby anyway =)........kidding honey! I'm going to just have to work harder at this weight loss thing to get down to my goal weight before getting pregnant again. I'm sure the french fries, chicken tenders, and cheesy broccoli casserole I had at Cheddar's last night didn't help matters for my weigh-in this morning. But it sure was good!
Here's to the future!
God Bless,
The Quitter
In other news, I'm up a half pound this week, so I erased my miniscule weight loss from last week. I can deal with that! I'm going to be as big as a house again when we decide to have another baby anyway =)........kidding honey! I'm going to just have to work harder at this weight loss thing to get down to my goal weight before getting pregnant again. I'm sure the french fries, chicken tenders, and cheesy broccoli casserole I had at Cheddar's last night didn't help matters for my weigh-in this morning. But it sure was good!
Here's to the future!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Day Ten....Dreaming
Yep, it's day ten. One of my favorite numbers!
So last night I had a dream that I was in the car (this should come as no shock) and I reached down to my cup holder to grab my bottle of water. What I came up with instead was a brand new shiny pack of Marlboro's! OMG! No way. Look at this beautiful thing I have here. Hmmmm, what shall I do with it? Well first I'll open it. My hands started to work on that task while simultaneously driving (I have no idea where I was going). My brain, however, was saying "what are you doing? You don't even want a cigarette! This is the first time you've even seen one in 10 days and look at what you're about to do." - My dream brain is apparently very intelligent, just like in real life. =)
I very quickly cracked the window and tossed those suckers into the ditch where they belong. A more environmentally friendly dream would have been to pull into the nearest gas station and toss them in the garbage, but hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's go to do to resist temptation. Maybe tonight I'll dream and driving back to that spot and picking them up to throw them away properly.
Here's to avoiding temptation, even if it is just a dream.
God Bless,
The Quitter
So last night I had a dream that I was in the car (this should come as no shock) and I reached down to my cup holder to grab my bottle of water. What I came up with instead was a brand new shiny pack of Marlboro's! OMG! No way. Look at this beautiful thing I have here. Hmmmm, what shall I do with it? Well first I'll open it. My hands started to work on that task while simultaneously driving (I have no idea where I was going). My brain, however, was saying "what are you doing? You don't even want a cigarette! This is the first time you've even seen one in 10 days and look at what you're about to do." - My dream brain is apparently very intelligent, just like in real life. =)
I very quickly cracked the window and tossed those suckers into the ditch where they belong. A more environmentally friendly dream would have been to pull into the nearest gas station and toss them in the garbage, but hey, a girl's got to do what a girl's go to do to resist temptation. Maybe tonight I'll dream and driving back to that spot and picking them up to throw them away properly.
Here's to avoiding temptation, even if it is just a dream.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Day Nine.....Still hating the car
Have I mentioned yet that I hate being in the car?
I have?
Like sixteen times?
Okay, sorry. I can't promise that I won't mention it again, but you just never know!
Today I have some insight to share into the whole "I need to smoke because I'm stressed out" mantra. Many of you who know me can attest to the fact that I'm pretty much wound like a three day clock. This has been true most of my life for whatever reason. It's something I should probably be involved in a 12-step program for with meetings and everything, but only one life altering event at a time, please!
Anyway, I used to think that smoking a cigarette would help calm me down when I would get stressed or a little irritable. Boy was I wrong. I haven't smoked in nine days (yay for me), and I still get stressed and irritable just as much as before. You would think that if cigarettes helped keep stress out of your life, that your stress level would go up after quitting (sorry I'm getting all scientific here). But that hasn't been the case with me. My stress level has stayed the same (and I really need to try and reduce some of that little nuisance - that can be my next big project).
I guess what I'm saying to those of you who are considering quitting or are in the process of quitting is this:
I know how you feel and understand completely, but cigarettes DO NOT take the stress out of your life. Nor will your life become more stressful after you quit smoking. The same stressors were there before you quit. As a matter of fact, you should have one less thing to be stressed out about. You don't have to worry that you're damaging your body everyday by smoking. Big load off my mind!
Here's to less stress!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
I have?
Like sixteen times?
Okay, sorry. I can't promise that I won't mention it again, but you just never know!
Today I have some insight to share into the whole "I need to smoke because I'm stressed out" mantra. Many of you who know me can attest to the fact that I'm pretty much wound like a three day clock. This has been true most of my life for whatever reason. It's something I should probably be involved in a 12-step program for with meetings and everything, but only one life altering event at a time, please!
Anyway, I used to think that smoking a cigarette would help calm me down when I would get stressed or a little irritable. Boy was I wrong. I haven't smoked in nine days (yay for me), and I still get stressed and irritable just as much as before. You would think that if cigarettes helped keep stress out of your life, that your stress level would go up after quitting (sorry I'm getting all scientific here). But that hasn't been the case with me. My stress level has stayed the same (and I really need to try and reduce some of that little nuisance - that can be my next big project).
I guess what I'm saying to those of you who are considering quitting or are in the process of quitting is this:
I know how you feel and understand completely, but cigarettes DO NOT take the stress out of your life. Nor will your life become more stressful after you quit smoking. The same stressors were there before you quit. As a matter of fact, you should have one less thing to be stressed out about. You don't have to worry that you're damaging your body everyday by smoking. Big load off my mind!
Here's to less stress!
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
What?
Okay, so to explain this post I have to do a little background on Chantix. When you get your prescription, you get access to their online program called "Get Quit". It's pretty cool because you sign in every day and they say some little blurb about how amazing you are and then they tell you how many days you've been a non-smoker and how much money you've saved based on the amount you used to spend on a pack of cigarettes and how many cigarettes you used to smoke each day.
Wow....I guess all that wasn't really necessary, but I'm not going back to delete it, sorry.
Anyway, I just logged in for the day and today's blurb was about changes in your body. There have been a few blurbs on physical changes already, but the previous ones were things that I already knew about. This I never considered.
Basically everyone knows that there are lots of chemicals in cigarette smoke (about 4,000 different agents in the average puff.....ONE PUFF)! One of these chemicals is carbon monoxide (which I already knew). What I didn't know is as follows (taken from chantix website):
'Carbon monoxide invades the bloodstream and takes up room that should be filled by oxygen. So less oxygen gets through to the muscles. As a consequence, smokers feel tired, they have less energy, and they can have an oxygen deficiency. The muscles need more oxygen, but the blood simply can't carry as much. '
Seriously? I used to have less energy because of something that I could have prevented? What a waste of time it was to smoke. Nothing good can come of it and I'm getting mad at myself right now for it. I know that's not going to help......but it's so frustrating.
Here's to normal energy levels!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Wow....I guess all that wasn't really necessary, but I'm not going back to delete it, sorry.
Anyway, I just logged in for the day and today's blurb was about changes in your body. There have been a few blurbs on physical changes already, but the previous ones were things that I already knew about. This I never considered.
Basically everyone knows that there are lots of chemicals in cigarette smoke (about 4,000 different agents in the average puff.....ONE PUFF)! One of these chemicals is carbon monoxide (which I already knew). What I didn't know is as follows (taken from chantix website):
'Carbon monoxide invades the bloodstream and takes up room that should be filled by oxygen. So less oxygen gets through to the muscles. As a consequence, smokers feel tired, they have less energy, and they can have an oxygen deficiency. The muscles need more oxygen, but the blood simply can't carry as much. '
Seriously? I used to have less energy because of something that I could have prevented? What a waste of time it was to smoke. Nothing good can come of it and I'm getting mad at myself right now for it. I know that's not going to help......but it's so frustrating.
Here's to normal energy levels!
God Bless,
The Quitter
Day Eight
Well I made it through day seven with no problems. One whole successful week down....lots more to go. =)
It's funny when I stop to think about when smoking a cigarette crosses my mind and makes things difficult. Like on Sunday after we got home from our bike ride, I started dinner and then got in the shower. As I was in the closet getting dressed, I was thinking to myself...."self, you're going to go check on dinner and then step outside and have a cigarette." It was just automatic for my brain to go there. The good thing is that once my brain went there, it was also automatic for my commen sense to tell my brain to shut-up and go check on dinner without having the cigarette. After that, I didn't think about smoking for the rest of the day.
Here's to common sense.
God Bless,
The Quitter.
It's funny when I stop to think about when smoking a cigarette crosses my mind and makes things difficult. Like on Sunday after we got home from our bike ride, I started dinner and then got in the shower. As I was in the closet getting dressed, I was thinking to myself...."self, you're going to go check on dinner and then step outside and have a cigarette." It was just automatic for my brain to go there. The good thing is that once my brain went there, it was also automatic for my commen sense to tell my brain to shut-up and go check on dinner without having the cigarette. After that, I didn't think about smoking for the rest of the day.
Here's to common sense.
God Bless,
The Quitter.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Day Seven......Seriously?
Has it already been a week, really? WOW! That went by surprisingly fast.
It's great to meet my first mini-milestone. At the end of today, I will have been smoke free for one whole week. That's awesome.
I feel like I'm sleeping much better than a week ago. It's hard to pinpoint the cause because I go through spurts of horrible sleep and then good sleep. But this is better than the usual 'good', so it might be attributed to quitting smoking.....not sure yet. What's funny about this is that one side effect of quitting smoking is 'interrupted sleep patterns'. =) Maybe quitting smoking is interrupting my bad sleep patterns and making them good again. That would be sweet.
In other news, I had ice cream three times last week. Not so good, but I got all my workouts in as well. That's the first time I've gotten all my weekly workouts in since right after Christmas!
Have I mentioned that I loathe being in the car?
Here's to another successful week.
God Bless,
The Quitter
It's great to meet my first mini-milestone. At the end of today, I will have been smoke free for one whole week. That's awesome.
I feel like I'm sleeping much better than a week ago. It's hard to pinpoint the cause because I go through spurts of horrible sleep and then good sleep. But this is better than the usual 'good', so it might be attributed to quitting smoking.....not sure yet. What's funny about this is that one side effect of quitting smoking is 'interrupted sleep patterns'. =) Maybe quitting smoking is interrupting my bad sleep patterns and making them good again. That would be sweet.
In other news, I had ice cream three times last week. Not so good, but I got all my workouts in as well. That's the first time I've gotten all my weekly workouts in since right after Christmas!
Have I mentioned that I loathe being in the car?
Here's to another successful week.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Day Five...I'm Still Alive
Sorry about the rhyming thing I've got going on.....it just sort of happened.
Well quitting smoking hasn't killed me. Today was my first weekend day of the quit, as I started on Tuesday, April 28th. We kept pretty busy, so that helped. The rain wasn't much of a mood booster though. It can stop at any time, really!
Still no awful side effects from the Chantix. Just some really mild upset stomach and a few headaches. As long as I wait until about an hour after I eat breakfast and dinner to take my pill, the upset stomach doesn't rear its ugly head. The headaches were pretty constant during the first week, but I haven't had any this week so far.
I still haven't touched a cigarette. Five whole days. Yay for me!
My chest and lungs feel extremely tight........but that's from the upper respiratory crap I still have. Will it ever end? Seriously!
So something cool happened today. I went to get my eyebrows waxed because I was sick of the caterpillars that had taken up residence on my face. Anyway, I've been having the same girl wax my eyebrows for the past 2 years now. But today.....I noticed something new. Her hands smelled like stale cigarette smoke (yuck)! I thought to myself....."self, that's kind of weird, she must have started smoking". Then it dawned on me......she probably always smoked, but since I don't smell like cigarettes anymore, I could totally smell it on her hands. I know, brilliant deduction, right? Pretty cool all the same. My hands won't ever smell like that again.
Okay, I'm done rambling until tomorrow.
Happy quitting.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Well quitting smoking hasn't killed me. Today was my first weekend day of the quit, as I started on Tuesday, April 28th. We kept pretty busy, so that helped. The rain wasn't much of a mood booster though. It can stop at any time, really!
Still no awful side effects from the Chantix. Just some really mild upset stomach and a few headaches. As long as I wait until about an hour after I eat breakfast and dinner to take my pill, the upset stomach doesn't rear its ugly head. The headaches were pretty constant during the first week, but I haven't had any this week so far.
I still haven't touched a cigarette. Five whole days. Yay for me!
My chest and lungs feel extremely tight........but that's from the upper respiratory crap I still have. Will it ever end? Seriously!
So something cool happened today. I went to get my eyebrows waxed because I was sick of the caterpillars that had taken up residence on my face. Anyway, I've been having the same girl wax my eyebrows for the past 2 years now. But today.....I noticed something new. Her hands smelled like stale cigarette smoke (yuck)! I thought to myself....."self, that's kind of weird, she must have started smoking". Then it dawned on me......she probably always smoked, but since I don't smell like cigarettes anymore, I could totally smell it on her hands. I know, brilliant deduction, right? Pretty cool all the same. My hands won't ever smell like that again.
Okay, I'm done rambling until tomorrow.
Happy quitting.
God Bless,
The Quitter
Friday, May 1, 2009
Day Four.......Bring on Some More
Day three went well. Just like days one and two, I had the hardest time once I was in the car. Oh well......it will get easier. We took little man on a family bike ride last night. That was fun! The rain actually cleared out long enough to go outside.....it was a miracle!
In other news, I actually dropped a 1/2 pound this week. I really wasn't expecting that. I had geared myself up for a good 2 pound weight gain for my first week, but I guess not. Yay for me. We'll see what next week shall bring.
I don't want to get cocky here, but I do have to say that this is going suprisingly well. I guess I'm saying that while this is difficult to do, it's much easier than I thought it would be. I haven't bitten anyone's head off or tried to run my car off of a bridge. =) Seriously though, it is going much better than I ever expected. Maybe it's due to the Chantix, maybe not. Only time will tell.
In other news, I actually dropped a 1/2 pound this week. I really wasn't expecting that. I had geared myself up for a good 2 pound weight gain for my first week, but I guess not. Yay for me. We'll see what next week shall bring.
I don't want to get cocky here, but I do have to say that this is going suprisingly well. I guess I'm saying that while this is difficult to do, it's much easier than I thought it would be. I haven't bitten anyone's head off or tried to run my car off of a bridge. =) Seriously though, it is going much better than I ever expected. Maybe it's due to the Chantix, maybe not. Only time will tell.
Here are a few of the improvements in my body since I quit smoking:
-My blood pressure has decreased
-My resting pulse rate has dropped
-The temperature of my hands and feet has increased (Dad.....you'll enjoy this one when Mom quits smoking!)
-The carbon monoxide level in my blood has dropped to normal and the oxygen level in my blood has increased to normal
-My chance of a heart attack has decreased
-My nerve endings have started to regrow
-My ability to taste and smell has been enhanced (I'm not sure if I like this one so much......everything just tastes funny)
Here's to more positive side effects of quitting smoking!
God Bless,
The Quitter
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