Chrysalis

Deep breathing, reading and posting here, scrubbing the stale smoke smell out of my house, more deep breathing, reminding myself of why I quit in the first place, more reading and posting here, thinking to myself "Just 5 more minutes. Just 5 more minutes. Just 5 more minutes...." more deep breathing, napping, more reading and posting here... [i think you got the picture. :) ]

Locals say that Dougie the dolphin was first spotted in the harbor of Tory Island back in 2006, after the dead body of another dolphin appeared onshore. They believe that the dolphin was grieving her mate and that’s why she started coming into the harbor. Ben the Labrador started jumping in the water when he saw her and the two have become good buddies.

I so admire my optometrist (Dr. Stephen Warstadt, Tucker, GA) because every year he donates his time for the whole month of August to provide free vision services and treatments to people all over the world. He is so enthusiastic that sometimes I think that he works the other 11 months a year just to be able to afford to take this month to help people. The organization that sponsors these treatments is called One Sight ( http://onesight.org/). I don't know how they are rated in terms of administrative expense ratio but please check them out. They do good work.

This hamburger Florentine recipe sounds good! I'm going to try it this week.

Oh, oh! I'm getting a PTSD flashback here! :( MQ wants to reach out and encourage inactive members to renew their quit. LB wants to make sure that people's privacy is protected from spam. Both of you made your points quite eloquently. I'm sure that you will both take the other's point of view under advisement. Can we put this issue to rest now?

My new healthy food obsession? Maesri curry pastes! You can get them in Asian groceries or from Amazon. I've been having a ball finding new ways to use them.I think that using lots of spices is the best way to make food be delicious and interesting but still keep the calories low. Last night I took the yellow curry paste (called karee curry) and rubbed it all over skinless chicken pieces (both light and dark meat). Then I charcoal grilled them and they tasted just like tandoori chicken. Excellent! Today, I cooked about 1 Tbsp of karee paste in 1 cup of light coconut milk for a few minutes. Then I added 1 cup of chicken broth. I diced the leftover "tandoori" chicken and put it in the sauce together with some sauteed diced onion and diced avocado. Heated it through and served over rice. So easy and so good! I bought the Maesri 6-pack from Amazon (2 cans of each curry--red, yellow and green). We have tried and love the green and yellow (green can be a little spicy hot--use sparingly). We'll try the red one next. Here's a photo of the 3 kinds:

Yes, it's very gratifying. I also use the time to help train the dogs for "good canine behavior" like not pulling your shoulder out of the socket and "sit" and "stay" and stuff like that. Interestingly (and sadly) few of these dogs wag their tails. Most dogs, when they meet friendly people, wag their tails and want to be petted. These dogs (almost all pit bulls and Rottweilers) have no pleasant experience with humans. At best, they were chained in back yards and neglected; at worst they were fought and/or used as "bait dogs" (naturally timid dogs that are used to provoke savagery in fighting dogs). So they don't expect to have pleasant interactions with humans and they don't usually wag their tails. But I know that they love their walks, even if they don't wag their tails or slobber all over me. With time, they get to know me and adjust to my way of doing things (these dogs are pretty smart) and we have a good time. And then there are the bitter-sweet days when one of my "pals" gets adopted. And so it goes...

Oh, Joe, what a happy coincidence! Your first cruise, your wedding anniversary AND your quit smoking anniversary! Marvelous! I love your idea of the split-cruise. Like you, I have steadfastly refused to go on a cruise because to me, a cruise ship is just a floating hotel full of Americans. I want to see the destination, not the hotel. However, your comprise gives you a chance to sample cruising without locking yourself in. Great idea. And, hey, you may discover that you really do like cruising-- a lot of people do. Enjoy! And save a place for me on the Lido deck. I'm working my way there-- slowly but surely.

Wow! A shuffle dance-off! Love it. And, no, while the dance may look easy I know that it's not. It is great exercise, though! :)

Wow! I can imagine how good I'd feel if I had quit smoking, gave up in despair, and then got an outreach email from Quit Train offering to help me get back on track. How cool would that be!! Great idea, MQ, and so kind of Beth to undertake this task.

We have had a subscription to Netflix almost since the company was formed. Six months ago, we canceled our cable TV and added Amazon Prime streaming video, thereby saving ourselves $130/mo. Netflix was and continues to be great. It's easy to navigate their site, I like their rating system and "suggestions", the videos load quickly and run smoothly. I think it's a great value for the cost. Unfortunately, their library is not as good or as complete since Amazon started competing with Netflix to buy the rights to new films and TV program, but it's pretty good. I don't like Amazon and seldom use it. The biggest problem is that some of their videos are free with Prime and others (the vast majority) cost money to rent. It is very difficult to limit a search to "free" videos so you keep coming up with videos you would like to see only to get irritated when you discover that there's a $4 fee. Another thing Amazon does that pisses me off is to offer 1 or 2 seasons of a series for free and the rest are fee-based (at $3.00/episode-- give me a break!). So you get into a story arc and are left hanging. Their interface is crap, too, so it is hard to search, hard to find suggestions, hard to fast forward/back, etc. Just poorly designed all around. As others have said, Amazon Prime can be worth the expense just for their free shipping (which we use a lot). But their streaming video service is for the birds. More trouble and aggravation than it's worth. PS-- That being said, if you do have Amazon or want to try it out, check out the new Amazon Original Series called "Transparent". The pilot is available now and the rest of Season 1 will start next week as a full-season marathon.

Well, you can laugh all you want to at Jack LaLane but he was the very first person to offer Americans fitness coaching IN THE HOME (i.e., on television). I remember how he galvanized my mother's generation and got them to start exercising. Good for him! He was soon displaced by Richard Simmons with his energy and humor and Richard was soon displaced by Jane Fonda with her exercise videos (in your home AND at your preferred time!). I know-- more than you ever wanted to know about home exercising. But somebody had to have the idea first and that was Jack LaLane.

Hey, Whack-a-mole, I've really been missing you! It's not nice to entice somebody to a new neighborhood and then promptly disappear on them. :( But glad to know that you're having fun with the whales (we've GOTTA hear more about that!) and that you've kept your quit. Congratulations on your 2 months. You're really starting to build a solid quit now, aren't you?

Our condo complex closed our pool for the season so I just started my new exercise this week-- walking shelter dogs 3 times a week. They so enjoy it and I get great exercise!

Aine, I suspect that Comrad's illness has a lot to do with your desire to smoke. Might as well admit that straight out than say, "I don't know why." You're human. It hurts. You're scared. Yes, Comrad has it worse than you do, but you have a tough row to hoe, too. Be kind to yourself. But situational stress is not the only factor here. I, too, have a constant desire to smoke (I'm almost 6 months quit now.) It's not at the level of a screaming crave, but I think that if someone handed me a cigarette at any time on any day, I would happily smoke it. I truly envy those people who say that they just "took smoking off the table" and never again considered smoking. I only wish! But then I remember something a friend of mine told me when I first quit. She quit 20 years ago. She said that for the first 10 years she wanted a cigarette all the time. OMG, I thought!! How could anyone live with such craves all the time?! But after almost 6 months of going through the same thing, I think I understand. No, I am not craving a cigarette all the time. But I do think about them all the time. Then I think that I want to quit more than I want to smoke so I just let the feeling wash over me and go do something else. As we know, different people experience quitting different ways. Some can banish the thoughts; I can't. Too bad. But I can differentiate between serious cravings (which I couldn't handle on a regular basis) versus just wishing I could smoke (I can handle the vague wishes). I can remind myself again and again why I decided to quit in the first place (very compelling reasons). And I expect that, like my friend, day by day, week by week, month by month, I will get to 20 years and be able to look back and say, "The first 10 years were the worst." :wacko: That's just the way my quit is for me. I have to accept that and roll with it.

Thanks for the update, Bonnie. I certainly understand your daughter's reluctance. I have put off every surgery I ever had for as long as possible. Perfectly normal. I'm glad that she is feeling better and that she has a happy occasion to look forward to. Strong medicine there, eh? Good for you for keeping your cool during all of this and for keeping your quit, too. Good job, Mom!!

Land ho! Bring on the grog! Bring on them wenches!

That's great, Marti. It sounds like you know what you want and what you will not tolerate and are willing to live with the consequences. Perfect! You have my permission to continue marching to your different drummer. (LOL!)

Great post, Nancy. Thank you for finding it and sharing it.

Pippa, thank you for taking the time to post your daily exercise log. It's so encouraging for me to see other people who really do incorporate exercise into their daily routine. I hope, hope, hope to get to where you are some day.

"What if" you were still smoking when you had to go to the ER with chest pains? Even if the chest pains turned out not to be a heart attack, wouldn't you have felt like a darn fool for continuing to smoke??!! At least now, you can hold your head up and know that you took what steps you could a year ago to improve your health. That's got to be a good feeling, isn't it?

I will be interested to see how you handle all this, Marti. I sense that you and I have a lot in common in many ways. For sure, I am one of those people who decided years ago that "I am what I am, like it or lump it." I know that there are others here with the same attitude. The tricky part, however, is that you have to accept the consequences of such a decision. I, for example, have no friends. None. Zero. Well, I take that back. I have one dear friend who lives 1500 miles away and has done for 30 years. But other than that, there is not one single person who I can call up and cry on his/her shoulder. There is not one single person in town who I am certain would come for dinner if I invited them. So be careful how you choose to live your life. You say that you've been miserable lately-- lonely, crying, a hermit. That seems to bother you a lot. Only you can know if the "real you" is a warm, friendly, selfless person who attracts and enjoys other people. Or is the "real you" a shy, reserved, maverick who projects a persona that you don't need anybody and so you don't have anybody? If you defy peer pressure and disdain group standards, prepare to have a very, very small circle of friends. If you want a large and diverse social set, you may have to pretend to like a lot of people you don't really like. It's a choice we all have to make. By the way, if you haven't read the book "The Help" I strongly suggest that you do so. Among other things, it is an excellent depiction of what happens to your social life if you stick to principles that other people don't share.

Sarah, I think that you are being very smart and very brave to break free of these toxic relationships. It sounds to me like the worm has turned and now our Sarah has finally decided to take care of herself for a change. That's marvelous!! Keep patting yourself on the back-- out loud and often-- for getting out of that relationship and for quitting the cigarettes. Those were both HARD things to do and will take months or years to really leave behind you but you ARE doing it and you ARE succeeding! As for the hugs, the more you reach out to help and hug others the more love and hugs you will receive in return. Can you do something to help someone else? Do you have any elderly or disabled neighbors who would enjoy a visit or your help with something around the house? Can you volunteer to be a Big Sister? Or rock babies in the children's hospital? How about caring for animals? Can you get a dog or a cat? How about volunteering to care for dogs or cats at a local animal shelter? As I say, the best way to get love is to give love, I think that if you start to do that you will stop crying and start enjoying your life more. Again, congratulations on your wonderful accomplishments! Keep your quit!

Oh, good for you. Slovenka! Welcome to Quit Train and welcome to the new, healthier, non-smoking you! The first thing that I think you should do-- and do this today-- is to think carefully and WRITE DOWN at least 3 good reasons why you want to quit smoking. Make the reasons be important and personal to you rather than generic reasons. So, for example, rather than say, "I want to quit smoking for my health." say instead, "I want to quit smoking so that I will not end up in a wheel chair with an oxygen tube in my nose by the time I am 60 years old." Make the mental pictures clear, vivid and personal to you. Other than that, I suggest that you do what the others here have suggested. Read the links and watch the videos that people recommended-- educating yourself about the nature of a nicotine addiction and how to overcome it is crucial. This self-education will be an ongoing process so that your quit gets stronger and stronger over time. But start now so that you can be as happy and secure in your quit as possible. Again, thank you for respecting yourself enough to take this seriously and to make a real commitment to quitting. You CAN do it! We will help! Congratulations, Slovenka!

Wow, Marti, what an honest and powerful post! Slovenka, I hope you appreciate the time it takes to write a post like Marti's. And that you appreciate even more the guts it takes to admit publicly how stupid and self-destructive you have been in the past. Marti is examining her own failings and putting them out there FOR YOU, Slovenka! So that you will see that what you are doing is telling yourself addiction-powered lies that all smokers tell themselves. Those lies will end up killing you. Like the others have said, get honest with yourself. At least have the guts to say, "I choose to smoke even though I know it's stupid, dangerous and expensive. I am making a conscious choice every time I light a cigarette." Stop trying to quit smoking. Go ahead and smoke often and openly. But you MUST accept responsibility for your choice every time you light up. Maybe if you start to accept responsibility for what you are doing rather than hide from the responsibility, you will some day realize that you have the power to quit smoking, if that is what you want to do. These days you are saying to yourself, "I want to smoke more than I want to quit. " I hope that someday soon you will start saying to yourself, "I want to quit more than I want to smoke." When you truly believe that, we can help you accomplish it.