sharonsiff

Best thing I would do it not focus on what you can't have (a smoke) but focus on what you can have (coffee/a dance to fab 90's hits) Search you mind Evelyn for other times in your life where you pulled through, against the odds- empower yourself mentality. I totally get that this is not a 'run of the mill' quit like the rest of us have had, you're doing amazing Super Evelyn....So proud of you xx Keep singing, keep dancing and remember the urges will go......

So sorry that this has happened to you, what a cheating swine! I hope you're getting lots of hugs from you mum my lovely. Xxxx

Great to see you, have missed your posts as I love your spirit.

Glad you feel more settled in your thoughts Babs xx

Thanks Jenny, we like it.... it's clean, tidy and nautical. Living in a house by the sea is mega expensive here too, it's a dream of mine but in all reality it would need a lottery win to fund it. The terms and conditions set by the council are use them from 8am and please leave around 11am. You are not allowed to sleep overnight in them, wouldn't want to..... what if I needed a Jimmy Riddle in the night? The toilets are a good 2 mins walk, would NEVER make it...lol My dream home by the sea would be the fabulous property used in the 'Sleeping With The Enemy' movie, loved that so much. Obviously I'm not married to a can straightening hubby so I'm safe..... I do that myself, that's MY job!! Ha ha ha......

Fabulous news Evelyn.... soon be 4 ;)

So they thankfully stumbled upon a log cabin, upon approach the door swung open and.....

So glad to read your update Tiff. If it helps any I too found it tricky to internalise the no longer a smoker part, even while I was vaping which must seem ridiculous, but sadly it was non the less very true. Maybe if you can't do both just deal with one thing at a time? You've done the physical not smoking part and just accept and trust that the mind will eventually catch up. I would say to you read this, read that and of course that might help you, but, if like me you've been reading Allen Carr and this and that since 97 then sometimes it can be best to just trust and accept that you physically have to have first gone through the hell of it and then the mind just catches up and finds everlasting peace. Just don't smoke Tiff and the rest will follow.

Week one done- bish, bash, bosh..... brilliant xx

This is great news Jay, they do say ever quit can be different so I'm made up for you that this, your final forever quit is going smoothly.

We have had some fun times Paul ;) If you visit the UK Paul I'll get the bbq on and pop you some beers in my cool bag :)

I am so pleased for you Marti.... I really am. That's my motto here too, that the peace of mind is priceless, just utterly priceless. I am sure you post will help folk going through tough detox both physically and mentally. I don't know how the folk who escaped from Alcatraz felt Marti but I'd bet money it's the same as we do ;) Pity we can't FB them and ask...lol The important thing though is no matter how crap and defeatist you feel some days, in the first 3 months, if you hang tight and grit your teeth if necessary, the peace is there for the taking.

Hi Tiff Like EB said you've got this as you said yourself you won't smoke, even though you want to. That's it really in a nutshell tbh just don't smoke even though you want to. The 'not wanting to' does come. I never thought it would for me and would have likely cyber bitch slapped anyone telling me it would come eventuality. I wanted it now! No such luck sadly but it did come you have my word. Hang tight, don't smoke and post an sos everyday if need be..... do whatever you need to do ;)

Oh please do, I'd love to see them, their design and take on it. It's funny you know Susana we go to Tenerife and last holiday I didn't do a beach day.... no flipping beach hut to store my stuff. Although I did the fab walk from Los Christanos to Puerto Colon instead ;)

Oh Pippa, just beautiful! Isn't our earth a truly beautiful place? It's views like this, that I don't see in my environment, that just take my breath away. I'm murder, would be saying to Lee "five more minutes, just let me soak it in a bit longer" while he would be giving me the come on face, things to do and places to explore. Truly beautiful.

We save a fortune Marti. Pity you don't live nearer me as you and your kids could use ours. If you're ever in Essex just let me know. Even on dry non sunny days the kids can fish or go crabbing.

This is fabulous news Mason, well done you.... head down and crack on be month two before we know it.

Good work.... congratulations :) Will be a year under your belt before you know it.... seriously it will.

This is fabulous news, congratulations Susana. So now you can drive your way to a year quit, no roundabouts, cruise your way ahead... good work my lovely.

Thanks Pippa, they are cool and very handy in our current financial climate tbh. Fewer and fewer families are stretching their budget to a two week jolly abroad so the huts come into their own... weather permitting ;) The cost of mine, 3 years ago, was £3500 so no holiday that year but it means I have a mini holiday every time I go down there for the rest of my life. I was holiday mad!, didn't have kids till I was 30 so I could holiday each year. Now I feel it really wouldn't matter if I wasn't able to fund one ever again. Obviously I hope I can ;) but if not, no hardship... head down the shed on the beach. Action: everything I love is blue!.. blue sky's, blue sea and blue jeans. Deffo in the blue camp...lol The reason no one was around is it was only about 9:45 ish. People at work but those who are retired or off for the day turn up late morning. Some days Lee and I pack the kids off to school and get there just after 8am.... cook up bacon and eggs for breakfast, on the camping stove. My favourite part of the day is morning.... just love it. There are other lovely colour huts now too. When we purchased it was mainly shed browns or dark green or blue. Since we painted ours lots of gone for seaside pastel shades and they look fabulous! Mine is having a make over in a couple of years as I fancy pale lavender and french white. We still have enough blue paint to touch up for two more seasons so I'm not being wasteful...or Rockerfella!... but once we run out of current paint I will be on a make over mission. Stu: I loved it when you said how British... that was the exact theme I went for and was hoping to get across. Lee and I have so many fabulous childhood memories of British seaside holidays we wanted to make it a memory box of our past. You can't see them on the picture but I have 50's style pictures of every seaside resort both of us visited as children, like a trip down memory lane for us. On my doors I have fab ice cream and strawberries and cream style pictures, all the treats we would have at a day at the seaside. Lol at the brew reference, had plenty of those..lol... Lee and I are light weights and the wineglasses contain pop...Vimto I think ;) Will get a knotted hanky piccy of Lee with his beer (vimto) belly hanging out, oh and his string vest and a stick of rock in his hand.... I will too you know... ;)

Although the grass in front of you isn't yours, it is really ;) so it gives you plenty of space to set up your sunloungers or table and chairs, or both. We are lucky with the position of ours as directly in front, but slightly to our right, there are access steps to the beach. The beach directly in front of us is more of a pebble beach but along, and round the corner, it is a sandy type beach. The beach is a Blue Flag beach so has passed all the tests to claim it is clean, safe and of good quality as far as beaches go. I don't go on the beach tbh but enjoy watching the kids larking about on it.

Nah... still not working. The cost of beach huts aren't too bad, in my opinion. At the moment they are selling from £4500 to £6500 obviously depending on the condition. When you buy a beach hut you buy as seen, so, if I was to sell mine that would include everything that you see on the picture. About 5 go up for sale a year and I think there are about 400 huts down there. Lots of people buy and then rent them out to make extra cash. I think they charge about £25 a day. During the Summer break we see lots of new faces due to renting, which is lovely. Some people rent, love it then go on to buy. We never rent ours as we want it for ourselves but of course anyone is welcome to hang withus when we are there. If we go on holiday we let ffriends have the keys and use as their own.

Lee's shift pattern yesterday meant we could spend a day at our beach hut (shed on the beach) so I took a couple of photos to share. So there are lots of different designs and colours of huts, and lots of them! It really is a mini community in it's own right down there (Dovercourt Bay, Essex) which I love. Ours is the sky blue with deckchair striped doors. The council charge us £162 a year ground rent. This covers the grass being cut, bins provided and emptied weekly, lights along the promenade and fabulous news toilets.... oh and water. Inside the huts everyone decks them out to suit their needs. Those with garden shed brown tend to just have them as storage and somewhere to use their camping stove to make a brew, or heat up food. Others, like us, make them more like a room that you can sit in but hide all the items you have stored. He is the inside of ours. And the favourite thing, our view! In my home I have a fabulous field view and here I have a sea view. It's the North sea so some days it's blue and some days not ;) It's too cold for me but my family take a dip, go out on their rings or go crabbing. It's lovely as we get lots of sailing boats go past and to our left we can see Felixstowe docks and the container ships coming and going. Yesterday was a quiet day, which was lovely, but the 6 weeks school holidays start on Monday so weather permitting it will be full of families and fun....and I can't wait! So as it was just the two of us yesterday it was lunch for two.... perfect. Tiny pic is playing up now...grrr...will post the sea view again later.

Morning Jay :) Please don't think you're cheating, cheating is having a crafty puff on tobacco smoke. I know two people who used patches as a gateway to their sticky quit, one of which has schizophrenia and even his doctor didn't think he would be able to quit! He owns a 14 year solid quit I'm very pleased to say. Check in everyday if you can, report how you feel either good, pants or indifferent.... it really can and does help. Well done, your first day is done.

What with yours and Sharonmakesmestiff.... cried laughing ;)