cpk

Hmm, yeah, but reports said call was made from inside facility, which probably complicated the situation? Glad you checked in, MQ. Happy 4th! Hear fireworks as I write this.

Will check them out. Thanks. I get kind of obsessed with themes and this is blue moon month!

Hang in there, sweetheart. You know you can come on the forum and talk it out. Everyone is supporting you. Don't get so low you feel you can't talk. Okay, I am not losing weight YET BUT AT LEAST NOT GAINING. The chocolate thing was just a joke. Really, I was thinking about you and wondering how you were doing. xoxoxoxoxox

funny? broad shoulders? can change a tire and put down the toilet seat? not a sociopath? Okay, how about a clever nonsmoker? Now that's sexy!!!

Hi Evelyn. I was just thinking about chocolate, and then I thought about you! Haha! Seriously, hope you are giving yourself much time and space as you settle into your new home. Did you bring your pets? Just wanted you to know I'm sending you good vibrations, hun. xox CPK

This is a blue moon month because there are two full months in one month. As I write this a gorgeous full moon is hanging in the sky, framed by my window. Tomorrow I will be 5 months quit, and when the second (and authentic blue moon) of this month is once again peeking in my window I will be nearing 6 months quit. The blue moon isn't really blue, just uncommon. I think the next blue moon shows up around 2018. Maybe by then I won't think much about having quit smoking. But if someone mentions the blue moon, I'll remember this one in the summer of 2015, when not smoking was still a new thing for me. I will be happy - VERY HAPPY - when thoughts of quitting smoking are as uncommon as the blue moon, and replaced by many exciting, and extraordinarily ordinary life events, For USA folks, Happy 4th of July, 2015, blue moon month.

I have wondered about the difference between "slip" and "relapse" - if there is one.

nope (five months free TODAY ) Nice way to spend 4th of July ... in Home of the Brave...ALSO... the Land of the Free... freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal freedom is the new normal

Thanks for sharing, Jenn. I think you are a favorite of a lot of people here! I have no advice as to your sad allergy situation. I had allergies but they completely vanished when I quit smoking, it seems. I clean a lot more now, so there's less dust in my house! (I work with horses and do take allergy medicine if I am going to be pitching a lot of hay.) Good Luck. Sometimes allergies improve when overall immunity improves. My brother had allergies and sinus and respiratory problems so bad was hospitalized, but after he had quit smoking for a number of years (maybe 3 or 4?) his overall health started to vastly improve. It took awhile...

So what is insulin resistant? Is that like pre-diabetic? I think I might be in that condition right now (haha, I'm the health anxious nut) but truly I do think so. I shouldn't have gotten on this thread, maybe! What does a "little bit" of daily carb mean? I'm assuming something like 1/2 cup pasta. A couple of years ago I went on the Atkins diet which is low carb/hi-protein and although it was hard, especially the first week or two with NO FRUITS OR SUGARS OR ALCOHOL, NO CARBS...but I ended up feeling GREAT. After a month of low carb, hi protein I lost a substantial amount in pounds, and gained energy.

Why can't we have DD holding Ted and Doreen hugging both DD and Ted? In the garden, of course...

Why can't we have DD in Doreen's garden hugging Ted? :)

Something like Day 18 of my quit I was on the Internet trying to find out why I wasn't coughing yet my chest hurt a lot. Received a lot of responses from this site, then just stayed. My favorite thing is to read the feedback offered. Everyone is very generous offering what Mr. Bakon calls "free advice." (Hmm. What other kind of advice would there be on a quit smoking community forum?) The members here are very responsive if you throw a question out and ask about other people's experience. It's very, very interesting. As well, I have grown quite fond of a few people on QT who are like shining stars in the night sky...real hero and heroine types!

Because when they say a glass of wine is "good" for you, it's one 5 ounce glass, and I've even read that for women it's 2 and 1/2 ounces...and really, I don't know many people who drink 2.5 ounces of wine! It's empty calories, and I think my large (way over 2.5 ounces) glass of wine was giving me high blood pressure, but then you remember me, Leanna, I'm a what do you call it?, health anxious person. I will admit that the wine was a good sedative. better than melatonin or the herb valerian, but too bad, I need to keep experimenting. There's a yoga position where you put your legs up against the wall. Also, I'm trying milk before sleeping. Wine works in the short term, but women, we gotta get real...it's just not a good long-term coping tool. So glad to hear others have tried this and then let it go. Well done!

Pinterest has hundreds of photos of Russian Blues. Check it out. As far as cat breeds go, one of the most beautiful short-hairs of all. But why can't we have Doreen standing in her garden holding Ted???

Fruits are high in natural sugars, so eating fruit seems counter to this plan. However, for you, the plan is wise, considering you are used to tons of refined sugar items in your diet. By going to fruits you are taking a step away from all the refined stuff which has really bad ingredients besides sugar, like hydrogenated palm oil etc. There are also sugars in milk. Carrots have a very high sugar content. I think maybe green smoothies would help...with spinach or kale, and maybe just a reduced amount of fruit like 1/2 banana and a chuck of pineapple or a couple strawberries and blueberries. Get a list of the fruits with the lowest sugar content and go with them. Good luck on this. Stay away from commercial fruit juice. Too concentrated. Stick with fruits in their natural state. Also, thoughts of smoking might increase - because by taking away highly refined sugar you are taking away a "lift" you are used to -- I'd say do fruit, but in limited amounts, and use almond milk instead of dairy. Need it be said, drink lots of water? (For me in the form of tea, and maybe for you that could be good too, as herbal teas come in lots of fruit flavors. My cabinets are crowded with herbal tea boxes since I quit smoking.) Can also flavor water with chunks of frozen fruit... Just wondering if carob chips are allowed.They come in trail mixes, which might be a good alternative snack. Carob is a good alternative to chocolate, which can never taste good without sugar added! (I had to give up chocolate early in my quit as I was consuming dangerous amounts...) Hope all this helps. Your cleanse at this level is inspiring, TEW!!!

Where's the boot camp graduation photo???

Happy Birthday, nonsmoker! Wisdom, Youth, Beauty, Health!!! Bravo for the Glow! Way to Go!

Boss, please check in.

Loved the golfing story. I bet your Dad was mighty pleased. No parent likes to see their kid smoke. Beware! Mr. Bakon might be round to issue you a window licker stamp of disapproval for romancing the thought of smoking on the way to the beach...

Your new profile pix is yummy! :) You're giving El Bandito and Action some competition!

So glad you are back and posting and commenting all over the place, and always so positive, upbeat, and full of warmth and gusto for life as a nonsmoker! Brilliant!

Beautiful, bro, and yeah, thanks for making it fun...

Thanks for these comments. "Improvement" means handling stress better, I guess. Most of all, getting to that place where the quit no longer has a "special place" in one's life. I hope by next year at this time I will be where you are now, DD. Thank you again for all your comments. They have had a great impact --- more than you probably imagine...