Chrysalis

BAT, that's hysterical! Thanks for posting it.

Marti, I'm so proud of you! I mean, just LOOK at that mess of cigarettes! And think of what you are NOT now doing to your lungs and your heart. And to your kids and Chris, too. You go ahead and be happy, happy, HAPPY!!! You go, girl!

Does anyone else have a figure/ground reversal problem with the Batman logo like I do? With all of the logos, especially the one for the first Batman movie (Michael Keating and Jack Nicholson), I keep seeing an open mouth with 2 upper teeth and 2 lower teeth. Seriously! That's all I could see at first. As a matter of fact, when that movie was first advertised I kept wondering why they were using a dental motif to promote a Batman movie. :D

That's a good answer, Matthew, very good. But let's go one step deeper-- why did you want to have "just one"? What did you need at that time in your life that you thought one cigarette would provide? Please understand that this is a very, very important question. Your answer to this question could well mean the difference between success and failure this time around. If you have read Alan Carr's Easy Way book, then you know that smoking really does absolutely NOTHING good for you. It doesn't relax you, it doesn't make you friendlier, it's not a "friend" that relieves your boredom. These are all lies that are part and parcel of the addiction. For many of us, our brain continued to believe those lies for many months after we quit smoking. But they are Nicodemon-generates LIES! If you smoked 2 months after quitting, some part of you still believed that cigarettes did something good for you and you wanted to recapture that feeling. We call that "romancing the cigarette"and it's one of the most common reasons for people to throw away a really good quit. For a pack of lies. Such a shame! So based on your previous experience with quitting smoking, you know for certain sure that you CAN get through the physical cravings that last a week or two. You CAN get through the psychological/emotional cravings that appear and disappear for several months. But you have to be alert to your tendency to "romance a cigarette" because you know from experience that that can undermine you. And you also know from experience that allowing yourself just one cigarette will inevitably lead right back to full-time smoking. I strongly suggest that you view as many of Joel Spitzer's videos as you can. They are pinned to the top of the "Quit Smoking Discussion" forum and are a superb educational resource. For the "romancing the cigarette" problem, I personally benefitted a lot from his "Fixating on a cigarette" video. Congratulations on a great start to your last quit! Stick close to this board and take it one day at a time!

Hey, Bakon, forget those jealous, snarky salesgirls! I found exactly the right fashion statement for you. PM me and we'll arrange for a "private" showing. ;)

I think that it is very important to learn from our history and from our mistakes. You said that you have quit several times before-- once for more than 2 months. When you quit before, why did you relapse? What was happening with your quit? Was it being a constant struggle? What were you thinking when you relapsed? That you would only smoke one? That you couldn't cope with X without smoking? Were you living with a smoker and just resented the hell out of him/her? What was it? I'm a firm believer in understanding what went wrong in the past so that we don't make that same mistake again. What happened with you, Matthew?

Great blog, Marti! I can feel your strength and your confidence on so many levels. And it's wonderful to think that you are passing those traits on to your daughters. How cool is that??!! I'm proud to be sharing this journey with you.

I have had a hankering for finnan haddie for several years now. When we lived in Chicago, our local Irish pub served it all the time and our local fish monger stocked it (frozen) so I could make it at home. Since we moved to Atlanta-- zero, zip, nada. :(. Nobody every heard of finnan haddie (it's actually smoked haddock). Yesterday, I thought to check online suppliers. I was trilled to discover a couple of places here in the States! So I splurged and ordered $50 worth (that ought to last us a while, right?). Then I got to the last page of the order form and discovered that the shipping would be an additional $60 for shipping in styrofoam and ice. No, that's just too expensive for me. I canceled the order. Does anybody know where I can get frozen finnan haddie either in Atlanta or where the shipping doesn't cost so much? Really, any place in the southeast-- we could always take a weekend getaway to Savannah or Charleston or someplace and get some finnan haddie while we're there. :)

Come to think of it, I guess the IRS did have my mother do that stuff, too. I think that was mostly just in case the thieves tried to steal more of her identity-- they didn't. But that reminds me-- I strongly advise EVERYONE to put a "freeze" on your credit with all three credit reporting bureaus. That means that nobody (including you) can open a new credit account in your name. The way most people suffer major headaches from stolen identities is that the thieves open new credit accounts in your name and charge them to the max-- Visa, Mastercard, etc and department stores and electronics stores and telephone companies, etc. They could even purchase a new car in your name. By freezing your credit they can't do that no matter what personal information they have on you. The downside is that if you want to get some credit-- if you want to open a department store charge or purchase a car-- you have to call all 3 credit bureaus in advance and "unfreeze" your account for 1 week or 1 month or whatever you choose. We froze our credit several years ago because consumer advocate Clark Howard recommended it and I'm very relieved that we did.

That happened to my mother a couple of years ago. The IRS said this is common and made no big deal about it. They old her to submit her tax return as usual and include some ID number that the IRS gave her. She had to include that number on her returns for a couple of years. That's it-- that's all she had to deal with. I hope it turns out as easy for you, Nancy.

FAIR WARING-- if you are drunk, do NOT watch this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP3w-oJjH8I

Such a gorgeous princess dress for such a gorgeous princess! Your "Frozen Party" was obviously a big hit! Keep those photos to show your grandchildren. :)

Such a gorgeous princess dress for such a gorgeous princess! Keep those photos to show your grandchildren. :)

Thanks, Scott. That sounds really good! I'm going to try it.

We're with ya, Bakon! Every truckin one of us!

She just posted an update. It is here: http://www.quittrain.com/topic/4332-sazarac-update/

Love the cod idea, Scott! Do I see some kind of sauce on it? Or maybe butter? Whatever it is it looks wonderful!

I really hate it when my evil voice pops up out of nowhere! When I saw Sharon's mention of "Donner Kebabs" my mind immediately said, "E-e-e-w-w! The Donner Party!" (that's a reference that only Americans would know, and not very many of them, either). Sorry, Sharon. Your LAMB Kabob recipe looks delicious! :)

Fantastic success, Rob! You're through both hell week and heck week and you are starting to really feel the benefits of not smoking. Good for you. I"m especially impressed that you can hear Old Nicodemons seductions (like "just one more pack and then I'll quit") and recognize them for the lies they are. That's SO important! You and your flatmate have a wonderful celebratory dinner-- it's important to give yourself credit for this achievement. Keep the quit, Baby!

Doreen, thank you for sharing your good news. I'm so happy to hear that it's not cancer! However, I still find it very scary that poor Tony has severe COPD and pneumonia. Oh, my! I will continue to pray for him to get rid of that miserable infection.

Well, if you're very flexible about the make and the features, it could be fun to spend several Saturday afternoons test driving different cars. Then when you have 2 or 3 likely candidates, try to rent each one for a weekend (weekend rates are cheaper) and really test them out. I will say that we are very happy with our Hyundais, especially the reasonable price and 10 year warranty, but they don't have the "zip" you seem to require. You might want to look into 6 cylinder cars. I think that they have faster acceleration. Have fun!

Thanks, everybody. You really gave me a boost today! I couldn't have done it without you, I really couldn't. And for the "tweeners" among you, I hit a very difficult patch during months 5 to 6. I was hanging on by my fingernails for 2 or 3 weeks there. But it finally eased and I have not had another such tough time again. Sure, I've had a day here or there when I thought about smoking a lot, but nothing nearly as hard to handle. So don't be surprised if you're going along smoothly and suddenly want to throw in the towel and go back to smoking. It's temporary. I promise. Just keep your quit one day at a time and you WILL get through it! Thanks again to all you lovely people! :)

Wow! It's so exciting to look up at the lido deck and see all the great people up there cheering the rest of us on. And now Stu is there cheering and helping, too! Congratulations, EB! You've done great and you've been a real help and inspiration for me. Celebrate your accomplishment!

Well, good on yer then, Marti. A bit of the stiff upper lip, whot? Mustn't get your knickers in a twist, eh? Carry on, there's a good girl. Pip pip, cheerio!! (Yes, I used to love old English movies from the 30's and 40's. Lord Peter Wimsey was to die for! Do you folks still talk that way? It's pretty funny! :) )

Our flu vaccines cost $30 per person. Unless that is a real hardship on one's family, I don't understand why one would not rather be safe than sorry. So, yes, we got the vaccine and are happy that we did.