Chrysalis

Sarah, I don't understand why you were crying. Are you afraid to face your ex in a courtroom? Are you afraid that he will stalk and hurt you? Are you heartbroken because you had loved this man and are crushed to know that he's not the man you thought he was? Do you think that you will never find love again or if you do find love, that you again be making a mistake? As you can see, there are a lot of reasons why one MIGHT cry upon receiving such a letter. Which one(s) apply to you?

I just finished eating the last of my first batch of pickled eggs. I have been tasting them every couple of days and decided that they really do taste best when you leave them in the brine for 3 weeks. Today's eggs were really, really good! I will definitely make those again soon. Meanwhile, I am going to try a different recipe that calls for mustard seed and dill weed. I'll let you know how it goes.

It helped me a lot to hear over and over again, "The misery doesn't last forever. Your quit will get a little bit easier every day." It helped a lot to have experienced quitters tell me that and it helped a lot to see all the celebrations for long quits. The other thing that made this quit possible was having a list of 3 or 4 major reasons why I chose to quit in the first place and to keep reminding myself over and over again that I wanted these things more than I wanted to smoke. Oh, and "one day at a time, one hour at a time, 5 minutes at a time if necessary" helped, too.

REZ, your post reminded me of a very good movie I saw starring Anthony Hopkins. It features an Indian motorcycle. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World's_Fastest_Indian and it's available on Netflix.

Ross, "vanity plates" are license plates (or car tags) where you request what is printed on the plate. So a trophy wife might have "BARBIE 1" as her plate, for example, or a chef might have "CHEF 1". You can request vanity plates in every state. However, you have to pay extra for it and you might not get what you requested, in which case the state just gives you a random variation. So "BARBIE 1" might get delivered to you as "BOOBIE 1". :P

Action, I think that if you just delete Mamma Doreen's mash notes there should be plenty of room for the rest of us to send you messages. :)

I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like to pretend to be Mrs. B a few days a year. Oh, my! :lol2:

I think that Jess is communicating with some people via PM. As far as I know, she's hanging in there and looking forward to the Packers game this afternoon.

You both look wonderful (if somewhat looped :P ). Thanks for the photo.

Last night was our wedding anniversary-- 32 happy years. As for every anniversary, we got all dressed up and my husband took me out to the best restaurant in town. At the restaurant, he gave me a card. I don't know how he does it, but he always finds terrific cards, but this one was so extra special that I want to share it with you. So there's this guy. Meets a girl. (Great girl. REALLY GREAT girl.) Somehow wins her over and convinces her to marry him. It's a HAPPY day. One of the happiest of his life. But the BEST thing is-- the happy days keep coming. Week after week. Year after year. And even when life isn't perfect and wonderful, somehow she makes it better. Just by being herself. Just by loving him like she does. And one day, it hits him. That whole happily-ever-after-thing? Maybe it's not just for fairy tales. Maybe it does happen-- even to average guys like him. He may not own a white horse but he got the girl, the BEST girl. And somewhere out there there's a sunset with their name on it. I love our story and I Love You! ---Hallmark Expressions Well, this card made me cry in the restaurant. It still makes me cry as I type this because I know that he means every single word of it. So men, show your wife that you love her. Treat her like a queen on your anniversary. Make a big fuss and put some real effort into finding a card that expresses how YOU feel. Women really love that crap and you will be rewarded many times over during the months and years that follow.

Oh, Bakon! That's gorgeous! What a sweet ride for your big road trip. I'm so glad that you caved into Mrs. B's demands. ;)

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Sounds like great advice, Sue. I'm going to remember the chamomile tea, a hot bath, and 4,7,8 breathing. Thanks!

Would you like to PM? Or chat? What's going on with you?

We just got in, Jess. What's happening??!!

Oh, that's wonderful news, MQ! Thanks for letting us know. Welcome home, Beth!!

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Hey, REZ, I love your new avatar and your title, too! :D

Oh, Oneistoo, I can see you growing such a strong, healthy quit right in front of my eyes! You're doing smashingly (is that a word?). You recognized that you were facing a trigger situation, you sought out some support and reinforcement via Joel's videos. Then you went ahead and completed the task without smoking AND you recognized that from now on you do NOT have to smoke to face that task. That's perfect! Give yourself a big pat on the back!

Jess, there is an Allen Carr channel on Youtube that has a bunch of "Easy Way" videos and interviews. In addition, somebody put an audio version of his book on Youtube; Part 1 is here: You ask for videos? You got videos! :)

Jess, you seem quite clear that you are in urgent need of stress relief and that cigarettes will do that for you. You know that there are many, many other ways to reduce stress-- many have been suggested here and you have even tried some of them-- but you really want to use cigarettes to reduce your stress, improve your sleep and stop your nightmares. OK. I'll make a deal with you. Go ahead and start smoking again for 3 days. Buy some cigarettes on your way home tonight and smoke all you want from now through Sunday night. But the deal is that you need to notice, think about, and record EXACTLY HOW MUCH STRESS AND/OR RELAXATION YOU ARE FEELING before you smoke, during the smoke and after the smoke. You also need to record exactly how well you are or are not sleeping and how the nightmares are going. You must be completely honest with yourself as you notice and record these observations. Then you come back here on Monday morning NOT SMOKING and tell us how well the cigarettes fulfilled your expectations for relieving your stress and helping you sleep. I don't believe that cigarettes will really help but I'm prepared to be proved wrong. If you are right-- if going back to smoking is just a super duper mood enhancer and sleep inducer for you, God bless you-- keep smoking until you are ready to quit again. But if you really are still stressed most of the time and still have a hard time sleeping most of the time, you will quit smoking again immediately. Then you will redouble your efforts to find some other way to reduce your stress and improve your sleep. What do you say? Do we have a deal?

Hi, Wendy. Joe is absolutely correct. Chantix helps ease the physical withdrawal symptoms and it can lessen the pleasure you get from smoking but it does NOT make you quit smoking. Just like everybody else, you have to want to quit more than you want to smoke. Even with Chantix, you will have to deal with a lot of physical changes and you will struggle to keep your quit through a lot of jittery days and restless nights. Just like the rest of us, you will have days when you would KILL for a cigarette! And the best way to handle those feelings is by educating yourself about the nature of nicotine addiction and how to overcome it. Read "How Do I Quit Smoking" and "Your First Days, Nicotine Free" pinned to the top of the Discussion sub-forum, and watch a lot of Joel Spitzer's videos (also pinned). I took Chantix and it did help me quit, especially for the first couple of weeks. But to make my quit permanent I had to learn more about this addiction. I also read a lot of posts from the long-term quitters here-- their advice and support were crucial to my success. So don't sit around wondering when the Chantix will start to work. Assume it is working. You spend your time reading and posting and preparing yourself for your Quit Day and getting mentally ready to ditch the cigarettes. Get excited about this opportunity because that is what it is-- an opportunity to escape from this expensive, toxic addiction! Won't that be wonderful??!!

Jess, can you try putting on some headphones and listening to something soothing when you're in bed? I like Dan Gibson's "Solitudes" which is a combination of nature sounds and classical music. He has lots of different ones. Find them here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQQ9gKizOEU I find it impossible to stay awake when I'm listening to Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness exercises. Again, he has several. Check his talks out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daU-xneLA0g My favorite is Emmitt Miller's relaxation self-hypnosis tapes here https://www.youtube.com/user/EmmettMillerMD Don't suffer with tossing and turning. Use some of your cigarette savings to get yourself an iPOD and some of these relaxation recordings. They really work.

Scott, I'm so glad you got your Photobucket fixed-- I was missing your photos. You London broil and twice baked potatoes looks wonderful. Why do I never think of making twice-baked?? I think I'll put them on the menu this week.

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