Tootin' The Horn

It's one year to the day since I woke up and decided to see if I could make it through the day without a cigarette. I didn't use a patch or gum or lozenges or inhalers or Welbutrin or Chantix or e-cigarettes -- most of which I tried in the past and failed at miserably. I did it cold turkey. Not only did I make it through the day, I made it through the year (and with little real discomfort in the process). Yay me!

I'm not going to lecture anyone who's still smoking. Seriously, I can't judge you.

If you want to quit, however, this is what worked for me, and why:

• Don't wait for January 1. You doom yourself from the start if you play that game.
• Be ready, but not stressed about it. For me the best time to quit was when I woke up one morning, realized that I'd smoked the last cigarette in the pack the night before and didn't have any more in the house. That kind of timing just works.
• Take it one day at a time. Anything else can get overwhelming.
• Don't use crutches -- the side effects can really suck and you can blame your failure on them, rather than your own failure to stick to your guns.
• Treat cravings like you would a cranky child. Most of the time simply not engaging will nip it in the bud. Sometimes, however, the most effective way to stop a kid in the middle of a temper tantrum is to mimic them by throwing yourself down on the floor and wailing, pounding the floor and rolling around. Silly? Yes. Effective? Yes. (Positively refreshing sometimes!)
• Say "I quit," not "I'm quitting." Words are powerful things, and positive statements can really reinforce your resolve.
• Take responsibility for your own behavior. It's not your friend's fault if you backslide: It's yours. Suck it up and be a grownup, pal. (And, even though I haven't backslid, if you do, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again. Don't beat yourself up and make a big deal about it.)
• Pat yourself on the back each day for making it through one more day, especially if the cranky craving problem child has been particularly naughty that day.

Now I'll have to figure out how to celebrate this big milestone, and I promise it'll be something good.

A big "Thank You" to all of my friends who've provided encouragement throughout the year!

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P.S. -- If you love someone who smokes and want them to quit, here's what not to say to them. Guilt, love, science, rationalization -- none of it works, and just makes most of us dig our heels in and get way more stubborn.

In The Rear-View Mirror

As of today, I'm eight weeks butt-free. Yay!

(Next issue? Getting off my rapidly-expanding hiney and getting myself back into shape. That's my job for this week. Find a place with a treadmill with my name on it...)

Drive-Bys

Remember that $8+ million Governor Quinn was getting ready to gift NIU with that I mentioned yesterday?

Here's today's news:

Tardy state payments may cut classes at West Chicago's schools
Illinois owes almost $8 million to districts with a combined deficit of almost $10 million

And...

New Lenox budget hole may swallow 4 teaching jobs
Delayed general state aid payments total at least $3.4 million

I'm telling you, the Gov has no business promising NIU money that rightly should be paying teaching salaries right now.
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While I'm not interested in going to see Avatar, I would love to see this place, which apparently inspired some of the settings in the film, in person. Stunning indeed!
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The Daily Douche Bag:

How much do you want to bet that being named Telly Savalas Virgin had something to do with this guy turning out to be a douche bag? (The parents who named him that are douche bags, too. That's just mean.)
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I may not smoke any more, but I feel this guy's pain:

If you start smoking at a party, I can absolutely guarantee that within five minutes everyone else will be smoking too. And what makes this even worse than being made to stand outside is that they will be smoking yours.

Since the smoking ban, no one has given up the tabs. They’ve just given up buying them, and this is the most annoying thing in all of human history.

Yep.

I would give someone a kidney or a pint of blood. But my last cigarette? No. I’m afraid not.

Last weekend I took a crisp, unopened packet of 20 to a friend’s house, where I’d been invited to spend the day shooting. And over breakfast one of the chaps said: “Ooh, can I nick one of those?”

Naturally this prompted his wife to chime in with a request as well, and that sort of opened the floodgates. So, by the time we’d pulled our boots on and set off, I had only 10 left. Ten wouldn’t be enough. When a smoker has only 10 fags in his pocket and there’s no shop for miles, it’s an all-consuming problem. You do a lot of maths. When can I get to a shop? How many hours till then? And just when you’ve worked out you can have one only every 40 minutes, the hordes descend again: “I say, you haven’t got another fag, have you?” So now you have only five.

I don't know about where you live, but in Chicago cigarettes run somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 per pack, so, on top of the irritation factor, there's the small matter of the not insubstantial cost of funding the damned moochers' habits.

And people -- total strangers and pan handlers, especially -- get really testy if you actually tell them no, even if they offer to pay you for one.

Do yourself a favor: If you want a cigarette, go buy your own pack. If you don't want one badly enough to do that, then don't try to mooch one from anyone else.
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Just heard about this upcoming Chicago singer, Daphne Willis, and I'll be buying her debut CD when it comes out:



Wow!
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Giggles of the Day:


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

And...


see more dog and puppy pictures

They just go together so nicely!
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I might give up on the motorized barstool wish forever if I could just have one of these. Watch the videos, 'mkay? That looks like too much fun!

(Blame LawDog for my new obsession.)

Deer in the Headlights

There was a day when all I wanted in a purse was a pocket for my cell phone, a pocket for my cigarettes and a zipper compartment for my lighter.

Then I found Shooz.

Then I bought myself a laptop computer.

Now, I'm juggling handbag lust with practical baggitude.

And they have this really adorable bag with enough girliness to make it sexy, and enough room to hold my laptop AND my Kindle.

My debit card is already groaning... but tomorrow, that naughty girl is MINE.

Now... I wonder if they have shoes that will compliment....

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Holy crap. When did I become such a GIRL???

Drive-Bys

Giggle of the Day:

Captain Hamster

Found via leeann, who also makes me giggle on a regular basis.

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Mrs. Who discovered the source of Rush Limbaugh's recent chest pain problems:

I know what happened to him. He was walking in the hallway at his Hawaiian hotel, and thought he came upon Medusa. Wouldn’t that give you serious palpitations? Actually it was just Nancy Pelosi, sans makeup on her vacation. Limbaugh is fortunate that it wasn’t worse. It could have been Helen Thomas. With or without makeup.

Perish the thought!

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Target practice my marksman buddies can appreciate?

Fine-tuning can be achieved by learning to shoot out pebbles onto a metal target.

(A tip of the cap to the Instapundit for this eye-opening article on the future of feminism. BTW -- compare and contrast the aforegoing to this. Go ahead -- I dare you!)

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Seems I've once again been appointed to a cabinet-level position. Eat your heart out.

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Ear Worm of the Day:

It is cold outside.
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P.S. -- I made and started keeping my resolutions before New Year's and so far, so good with the not smoking. I'm learning to say "I quit" (in the both the present and past tenses) instead of "I'm in the process of quitting" (which indicates I haven't yet succeeded). Not one cigarette since 12/17/09, and I win again every morning when I get up and can say that I made it through another 24 hours. I'm already a success. Now I just have to keep up the good work, one day at a time.