Grateful for experience. I got caught in a crazy wind and rain storm on the bike yesterday - 15 highway miles from home. Big gusts on a tiny bike. It was scary and I had to keep wiping my helmet to see through the rain. But I made it, and I am not scared of wind or rain anymore.

Also - started Wellbutrin for smoking yesterday. My quit date is the 25th, And 1.5 months after that, I will have saved enough $ in smoking to buy these puppies (I've had my eyes on them for months but I couldn't justify spending the $....but in the better part of 2 months, I'll happily justify it!

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...91-capture.jpg

Good motivational idea, fb!! I wish you luck quitting smoking. I started smoking at 15, smoked on and off (mostly on) till about the age of 35, which was 20 years ago, when I quit for good. It was one of the best things I've ever done for myself, and I think you'll feel the same once you've been done w/cigs for a while too!

Thanks HP - I can't wait to be over the hump with it all out of my system. I've been smoking off and on (mostly on) for 24 years. Ha - And I was thinking this morning after my 3rd cig - WOW, I'm like an alcoholic - trying to go out with a BANG before I quit. What the hell?!

I can't wait to be done and feel better. And for the new motorcycle boots :)

So, today I am grateful for my 'plan.' Stock the fridge with healthy crunchy veggies, stay SUPER active and busy, and just sleep through the worst of it. Oh, and the Quit app on my phone. My biggest priority after quitting is not to blow up like the Hindenberg by substituting with food.

This was a big help to me. I had read that it was important to identify the "most important" cigarettes in my daily routine, and one of the biggest was that cigarette in the car, driving home from work. I always made sure to have apples and carrots w/me at that time of day!

I found it helped a lot to make other changes in those daily routines, not just removing the cigarettes. Coffee and a smoke went together in the AMs, so I switched to some different kinds of tea until I felt secure enough to go back to coffee. Another thing for me was that a cigarette and a beer went together so very, very well. I almost totally stopped drinking during that time just b/c I knew I'd have a brew or two and end up smoking again.

Even though I smoked for many years, I don't know that I ever really had an actual addiction--reading some of the things that other smokers go thru when quitting, it simply was NEVER like that for me, just a nasty habit much like biting my nails (which, unfortunately, I still do...).

The weirdest thing has been how it does remain in my brain, even after years. I remember going thru my closet to get rid of some clothes several years after quitting and finding a pack of smokes in the pocket of one of my winter coats. The thought flashed thru my brain "you could smoke those!" (Yuck!) There was no real desire to smoke that accompanied it, just the brief but clear thought. Strange!

THanks for the tips - SMART! After meals and driving are the worst for me, and of course stress, and I have a high stress job. I can't tell you how many meetings I have conducted outside on the picnic table with a smoke lol. I defiantly have more changes to make with the cigs going.

Happy that it's Friday and it's supposed to be another sunny, warm weekend in Central Ohio!

Went for my evening walk last night after putting DS to bed, and behind some houses there is still some farm land that still exists in this part of the state! Anyway, it was a bit later than I usually walk, therefor it was darker. I happened to look between 2 of the houses out into one of the soybean fields and saw the lights of literally THOUSANDS of fireflies (or lightning bugs if you prefer) lighting up the field! It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. All those flickering lights spreading for tens and tens of acres. Nature is beautiful.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

COD

COD, I have a lot of lightning bugs here too, but nothing like the massive display you describe! How magical!

I always feel like stuff like that is the HP's way of letting me know it's all going to turn out fine...

http://s32.postimg.org/wxbkdn751/ima...RPf_Qgs_Mj.jpg

Oh I wish we had fire flies here!!

Grateful for Friday as well. I'm going to float and fish, bake, clean, sew and hang with ma dog. Looking forward to a relaxing and productive weekend.

I'm grateful for some fun time with DD13 this weekend. We are going to see the new Ghostbusters movie on Saturday with one of my girlfriends from work, and will then have the rest of the afternoon and evening together, just the two of us. DD16 will be spending the weekend at her dad's because she is working, and she has plans to go to the local Renaissance Faire with her friends, and DS will be with STBXAH.

I'm also grateful, once again, for the wonderful benefits that come with my government job. DD16 had a consultation earlier this week to have her wisdom teeth removed. Looks like they're coming out on Columbus Day, for a cost of nearly $2,500. Of which all but $80 is covered by insurance. w00t!

Well, that surely eases the financial pain, at least!! If it helps, I had 3 wisdom teeth out a number of years ago (only ever got 3, fourth one is MIA...) and it was truly no big deal in terms of pain or recovery. I hope DD has a similar experience.

Thanks, honeypig! The story of my own wisdom teeth removal is the stuff of legends, and I have shared that story with DD16 in the hopes that she will avoid some of my mistakes (I had mine done in the dentist's office, NOT by an oral surgeon, with only novocaine--NO nitrous oxide). DD16 has a weird fear of anesthesia, and has eschewed nitrous oxide in the past. But the incredibly kind oral surgeon had a great talk with her about it, and she has opted to have nitrous for this procedure. The surgeon does not think the procedure will take more than one hour from the time DD16 sits down in the chair until the time we leave the office (contrast with mine, which took over two hours and involved chipping two of the teeth out bit by bit), and he told her that if, once the nitrous starts, she doesn't like it, they can always just turn it off. So, I'm grateful for kind and patient health care professionals, too, because he set my DD's mind at ease.

I'm ALSO grateful that DD16 doesn't have school on Columbus Day, or the two days following Columbus Day. So even if her recovery is a little more difficult, she shouldn't miss much, if any, school.

Grateful for epic fishing.

I've been an avid fisher woman for the better part of 20 years. Like 1- 3 days a week avid and not including extended 1 week + fishing trips once a year. I've caught A LOT of fish...on lures and live bait. Flyfishing is new to me (since last Sept) and I have NOT been good at it. It has been defeating, and the few fish I've landed were exciting, but it sucks sucking at something I was always good at before changing methods lol.

Maybe the fish were just hungry this weekend, and tonight IS a full moon, but I slayed them on my fly rod this weekend. Like, shoulders sore from reeling slayed them. And it feels sooo good to feel decent at something that has been kicking my butt for months. This. changes. everything. :)

Very clear head and beat up body at work today - just how I like my Mondays!

Grateful for the bright red geraniums in white wooden planters on either side of the stairs to my door! I found the planters in someone's trash last fall and carried them home, then put a note on my calendar in May so I'd remember I had them. Stein's had a special on geraniums and I opted for the classic red.

I have that long flight of stairs going up to the upstairs deck, which I haven't really used this year and have been toying w/the idea of putting pots all the way up next spring. It would be a ton of work to keep them all watered, but I think it would look great. Maybe I'll check into some of those soil additives that are supposed to be extra-good at holding water...

See, this is how it starts!! :c043:

Awesome HP. Red geraniums were my dad's favorite... and since he passed, I see them everywhere <3. One of my clients even gave me one in February - random - she winters them in her sun room and had too many. When I see them, I take them as little hellos from him. :)

I LOVE when people do up their stairs with flowers! Gorgeous!

I cannot even tell you all how amazing & perfect my time off has been....... I don't think I slept the entire 7 days my BFF was here & we ran at top speed for 6 full days, doing everything we could squeeze in from pedicures to partying like rock stars on the beach all weekend.

I'm exhausted, I've talked myself hoarse & my head is still spinning from all the late-night talks & catching up. We had the time of our lives & I am SO happy that I was able to do this for her, so grateful to my boss, RAH & DD for being unbelievably supportive & letting me step out of life & responsibility fully for those days. I didn't just ignore my phone - it stayed turned OFF most of the time!
:scoregood

^^ FS, I'm so glad you got to disconnect with your girls!

Trying to be grateful today. I was sick of smoking, and decided to quit 2 days ago rather than this coming Monday. I am 'white knuckling' it for sure....but really determined. I hate them...and cannot wait to be a month down the road from now! So...gratitude for how crappy I feel, because it means the poisons are leaving my body.

I didn't think I could ever stay quit & I just celebrated 10 yrs cig-free in January, woot-woot!

Hypnosis helped me because it helped me to drill down new ideas into my inner programming - he must have repeated "I don't smoke" about 100 million times in that hour or so. From that day until right now, the very first thought I have when cigs come up is "I don't smoke!" It's a voice inside that I hear clear as a bell & I'm always surprised, even all these years later.

You can do this FB!!!!!! I'll be cheering you on every day! :hug:
:You_Rock_ :cheer :You_Rock_

That's awesome - congrats on over 10 years!

I am happily binge-watching "My Big, Fat Fabulous Life" on hulu & I adore it! Entertaining & so inspiring for girls/women in regards to healing & growing beyond body image issues. #nobodyshame

Like me, the main "character", Whitney Thore, suffers from PCOS so I definitely relate to her struggles in a very personal way.

I am happy for the nice hot weather in Central O-H-I-O country! And for the revelations I'm having (see my post from today: Two Observations). And I'm grateful for my DS, and grateful to God for all my blessings.

And for this 'family' of ours on this board!