notsmokinjo

You don't feed your dogs every day???? ..... Maybe.... I'm pretty new at this pet ownership thing and I am really bad at the fish owning thing. TNP walks their dogs every day.

True.... regularily even... always make my satay sauce from scratch... have even done a complete satay sauce with the m&p... we eat asian a fair bit... make Pho from scratch too. TNP has made a Beef Wellington from scratch true... AUDI... biggest lemon I have ever owned... will never, ever own one again. TNP has made a Beef Wellington from scratch

False .... both our Chinese and Vietnamese resteraunt gave us lucky red envelopes for Chinese/Lunar New Year and Tet.... (quick pick tattslotto ticket in the Chinese one & scratchy in the Vietnamese one).... fortune cookies aren't really a thing here. TNP has shopped at an asian specialty grocers Ooops... to Jillar... False.... tonight making mexican chicken.... last night had chinese take out though cos I refused to cook. TNP has shopped at an asian specialty grocers in the past month

Evelyn tells stories (cos everyone trumpets, even if it is silent and deadly)

True... because I figure if the poor little teens could handle my arse sitting on the floor crying like a nutjob 5 mins before home time without ringing a cat team (mental health critical response) because they didn't have the brand of rice I wanted in the size i wanted by making me a cuppa then they deserve my loyalty. TNp prefers Thai to Chinese take out.

Woohoo... you frickin ripperoonie... well bloody done chook! Thank you so much for carrying my big fat arse on ya shoulders and all the wonderful help you have given me during my quit. You are one of the reasons I am still here. Thank you also for all the awesome slang you have taught me, I watched a Glasgow episode of come dine with me and nearly understood everything they said. Seriously though, you are an amazing role model. You have achieved a wonderful, amazing achievement and are now a smoke free, fluffy purple princess who rides a rainbow farting unicorn. What an amazing inspiration you are and I am so proud to claim you as me mate. So... on this very special of special occasions I'm going to break my sobriety because Reci really did go to town on the purple unicorn decoration theme and say bottoms up as we take a celebratory shot together....

Congratulations @Wee fluffy me for being smoke free for 1 whole, entire year! Well done and Welcome to the Lido Deck. Thank you so very much for sharing your journey with us. For all the support, laughs, advice and good times you give to everyone on the QT. You should be so proud of this big achievement and all the hurdles you have leaped over on your way to this milestone. Make sure you celebrate big, loud and proud today and spoil yourself with something special, even if it isn't a doughnut. Lido Deck specials today include Unicorn Shots and Unicorn Cocktails.... but the piece de resistance is this awesome center piece.... So sit down, feet up, glass in hand and take the well deserved accolades we bestow upon you.

Congratulations @catlover for being 6 months smoke free. Well done for being an official member of the 50%er club because you my dear are half way there. Half way to the Lido Deck. Half way to your first year (of many) of being smoke free. You should be so proud of yourself because 6 months is a big one and we are all proud you have come this far. So make sure you do something awesomely good to celebrate and reward yourself for your wonderful quit.

Congratulations @tocevoD for reaching 7 months. Well done toc... you held on despite a pretty rough month and should be super proud that you have hit the 7 month mark. Make sure you do something to reward yourself today and celebrate this new milestone.

Congratulations @Fab for being smoke free for 7 months! Well done Fab. Its great to see your quit is growing stronger and firmer each month and that you are loving your smoke free life. Make sure you take the time to celebrate today and let us know how you spoilt yourself for your 7 month quitaversary.

cos I is way more important than 'e is. Why does it have to be sink or swim, can't you just choose to float?

Offensive 'musical' equipment

@jillar ... pretty sure I wasn't thinking much of anything at the time... I wanted one and be damned I was going to have one... I didn't really wont one, I certainly didn't need one... I was just being stupid... it was almost like a game of chicken I was playing with myself.. stupid and selfish.

^^^ in 8 minutes when its 1 Feb in the UK you can have as many 6packs of kitties as you can carry .... congratulations @catlover you are flying through this quit

^^^ Now Reci... I thought you promised no more selfies?????

The Good ..... I am still smoke free. The Bad ..... I had a bad night, I didn't SOS or post or even log on The Ugly ..... I walked half a km to 7 Eleven to buy a pack of smokes (I didn't, I bought a coffee but I made the bloke get the smokes out and ring them up before I said NO... it was that close). So right now, I'm pretty pissy with myself because I was so stupid. I'm pretty shitty with the whole quit thing actually because the same triggers are still happening, I beat them every time but still. Its just doing my head in a bit. Then when I have these crazy moments I have to look at the whole situation and work out how much of it is really a craving or smoking thought and how much of it is being blown out of proportion by my thyroid levels making me wacky, or wackier than normal. So what triggered last nights melt down... I had the sewing machine out. I kid you not that was the trigger. But the thing is, since I quit, every time I have the sewing machine out I fricking have this issue. Every time... now in hindsight last night was more a ok, finished that bit lets have a smoke more as a glancing thought than a crave, I turned it into a crave because my thyroid levels are high which is a bit like being manic at times, coupled with some anxiety... so a passing thought that would be like a breeze across my consciousness and I would normally shrug of and have a little laugh about turned into hours or mental fricking anguish with everything from "you are putting up with enough shit your deserve this" to "what's the point your going to die anyway" (I'm not, well I am, but not for a very long fricking time... just like we all will eventually)... it was back to the can't sleep because it was all i could think of, can't sew because it was plaguing every second.... it was crazy. So the sun is out now... and its all evaporated away with the night. I'm glad I came to my senses and didn't cave. I am really angry with myself that I ignored every single step in my "if it gets bad" plan and did none of them. So.. this is not an SOS... it is ok to rouse at me for not SOSing... for not saying hey having a tough time here... this is about me making myself accountable for my stupidity. That is what this is about. OK so... in relation to the sewing machine trigger... its not like the first time I used a sewing machine (in the first week of my quit) where I went through 2 days worth of NRT gum and cried like a lunatic for 3 hours while sewing my daughter's primary school graduation dress (6 hour job in total) ... since then I haven't really sewn more than a few drama class costumes for the kid and hemming... but every time I have the bloody thing out and using it... a 'crave'... so they aren't as strong as the purple dress from hell day... and every time I use it there are less common and less intense and more just a passing thought. So maybe instead of looking at it (the sewing machine) as a horrible thing that is going to make me want a smoke I need to embrace it and use the thing to beat the shit out of this stupid connection I have developed between using the sewing machine and smoking.

It is a sad reality that most of us here will have been touched in some way by the sadness and horror of Lung Cancer. So when I was researching what 'days' it was today... and let me just say there were 9 options I found globally for 1 August the information I found out about Lung Cancer shocked and sadly surprised me. Sadly because I feel it was facts I should have known and had either chosen to ignore or black out because surely it should be common knowledge. These are some things I learnt (or re-learnt) or knew: So what surprised me was that at the beginning of the 1900's lung cancer was relatively rare and now it is the second most common cancer globally (behind non-melanoma skin cancer). So this is globally, I know in Australia it is 6th, in the US it is 2nd, in the UK it is 3rd in Canada it is 2nd and for Portuguese men it is 3rd (couldn't find gender neutral results so not sure how skewed that is). 90% of lung cancers are preventable. The most common causes are smoking, work pollutants (uranium, radiation, asbestos), air pollution, nutritional deficiencies Lung Cancer is the most common secondary sight for metastasized melanoma (skin cancer). I new this because I have lost 3 friends to secondary skin cancer in their lung tissues. Smoking is responsible for 94% of Lung Cancers. Quitting smoking and reducing exposure to passive tobacco smoke can significantly reduce patient risk for developing lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer decreases with each year you are quit. Medical advances in the past 10 years in relation to treatment and early diagnosis are more than occurred in the previous 50 years combined. Lung Cancer claims more deaths yearly than Breast, Colon & Prostrate cancers combined. Lung cancer is vile, it destroys not only its victims but the people around them but we can reduce our chances of developing this disease and we can educate the generations coming behind us so that the risks we have taken on ourselves are not theirs. So for all those we have lost, Vale, and to all those suffering, keep fighting, stay strong. (edit)... and for all those left behind *hugs* and hold on to the happy memories and think of them with love and fondness always. For anyone lurking... do yourself a favour and give up, Quit, pledge NOPE (not one puff ever)... because each day you don't smoke you are improving the odds that you can avoid this disease.

2 years babe... then 3... then 4....then that point in your life when you don't need to push for anything because it just is.... NOPE.. .. nah, I have we strive for never loosing the CoS to the sticks ever again Claire... thanks for dropping in and giving the update.. love to hear how well you're going... it really is a help to those of us coming behind, had a rough night so good to log on and see these fantastic post.

ooh ahh ...I think Reci has nailed the decoration brief...

Good Morning NOPErs .... welcome to the 8th month of the year which some of us celebrate as Fishing Month, some of us celebrate as Happiness Happens Month and the @Wee fluffy me and myself strive to achieve Anti-Frizz Month. On the daily front there are two significant world days that apply to all of us... the first of August is World Wide Web day.... and lets face it without the www we wouldn't have each other to share this journey and to support and guide us at the cross roads we come to... the second on for today which is a harder one to face is that today is World Lung Cancer Day... a day to remember those we have lost, acknowledge the advances made and look forward to a time when this is once again not the most common form of cancer. NOPE ... I value myself enough to be smoke free.

WELL because its not a party without this stuff I'm claiming a two up Tuesday.... Fairy Bread ... the greatest Aussie Party food like, ever. Oh, Jillar has fizchicked in a G.... Gifts... everyone needs birthday pressies, even if it is just sock, chocs 'n' jocks that make up my mum's gift giving. oh... look at that... H is free..... Honey Joys.... honey, cornflaking party goodness.... the 4th thing you look for as a kid on the sweets table to know your at a classy party.

10 Hey G-ski... hope you and yours are all well clear of the fires and/or safe.

Don't cha tink its de Oirish, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure. If its a long way to Tipperary why would you go?