Hi Jenny,

I am back home and living large with power AND internet again.  My older brother helped me get my stuff home from my sons and we went and got some groceries since I had to throw all the food in the fridge and freezer out.  

It appears the tree that hit the corner of my  house damaged where the gutter drain connects to the house and the gutter is slanted in that area.  At least from what I can tell from the ground.  I am not allowed on ladders until my vestibular system is much better.  Could of been a lot worse.  My son is going to look at in a few days.

I didn't sleep very well at my sons apartment .  The people that live above him were noisy and it reminded me why I hate living in apartments.  I have not had to live in an apartment for 31 years .  Hoping to get some good sleep in the coming days . Pain levels are still high.

I hate those monster colds that hang on for a long time.  That's wonderful that you got your splint off and your elbow is doing fabulous.  Yay no braces at bedtime too !   

2 months on March 4th , that's awesome.  You're doing this Jenny!  You are a nonsmoker!

I am still getting those stinking thinking smoking thoughts at times .  They just show up here and there involuntarily and an increase since Wednesday night because of stress I think.  I self talk out of them pretty easily though.  I don't want to be a smoker again .  So many benefits already after just over 3 weeks.  

                                        Lisa

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Erika,

Are you coming up on 2 months? I’m getting close to it, so I’m thinking you must be, right? How’re you doing? I’ve been doing really good this month and am so thankful! I haven’t decided yet how to celebrate my 2 months. I tend to lean towards food as rewards, lol, but I’m thinking maybe I can think up something more meaningful or lasting. A new cat or dog are out of the question, though. Sigh.

Jenny

Congrats to all of you for not smoking!  It's a great life.

Ernie

Lisa,

Yay for power and internet!! Sucks to toss out all the food. Ugh. Maybe a silver lining in there somewhere? I know I have things in my fridge I could probably do without, but can’t bring myself to toss because it would be a waste, lol. Maybe your fridge was better off than mine, though? I think it was an absolute blessing when my mom lost power for a 3 days. She literally had things growing in there before the power loss and it was a relief to just toss it all and start over. 

I hope it’s nothing worse than a gutter drain for your house. Sounds like you have a sturdy house! Did the tree hit your neighbor’s house at all or did it just decide your house looked best?

Ugh, I’ve heard lower apartments aren’t fun with certain neighbors above. I hope you get much needed rest at home and feel better soon. Sleep and some de-stressing activities of some kind. Maybe just lots of sleep.

That cold finally took a huge turn in the right direction on Saturday and I feel SO much better! I was back to laughing and finally felt like eating eating again. Today was even better. Very happy about that. Are your sinuses doing better?

What are some of your favorite benefits so far of being a non smoker? I think not having a tight chest, not sneaking around and not feeling like a failure are some of my top ones. 

Jenny

Hi Jenny!

Yeah, two months on March 1!  It's really happening!  Congrats to you too with the upcoming March 4!  

So glad to read about your surgery recovery, I can feel the joy in your post about being suddenly pain free, and especially the relief of waking up without a splint.  That's amazing!

My daughter and I were house bound this past week because of the blizzard but it ended up being NBD.  We did our stuff on Zoom and just took it easy.  I barely thought about smoking at all, except maybe to think how grateful I was to not have to sneak outside and find somewhere to light up.  That was always awkward in years past, seeing my neighbors shoveling out and looking at me funny for polluting the air.  Or having to wash my gloves all the time because they reeked after one cigarette.  Ugh, I always felt so bad about that.  Now it feels unreal, like I can't believe that was ever me.  

Speaking of blizzard - shout out to Lisa for being such a trooper about handling a stressful winter situation without smoking!!!!!  So glad you are back in your place again, Lisa, and with power and internet.  The power of NOPE!

Thanks for writing and so glad that everyone is doing so great!  

Erika

Erika,

So happy to hear the blizzard didn’t hit you bad! We had family in Southern California that got video of their backyards with pools and palm trees, all with snow around them. It was kinda crazy! I think a lot of people there enjoyed our “blizzard”, but it did cause some chaos since our lower elevation cities don’t normally have snow plows handy. Lots of people had a couple stay at home days and not everyone was thrilled with that. Cities 1 hour from us got snow, but closest we came was something called graupel, which is apparently tiny snowballs. Not technically snow, but also not hail. I learned a new word, lol. Anyway, we were very excited for our 10 minutes of graupel. Well, I was sick in bed that day, so I missed it, but I was excited to hear about it and see videos of it from friends.  

Then I hear of people who got hit by it so hard and I wish they’d got the graupel instead. I’m told people out East don’t bother with distinguishing such silly things as which kind of slush comes from the sky. I’m so sorry so many people were hurt, either physically or emotionally, by those storms.

It’s great to hear you’re doing so well! Not going out in the snow to smoke has to be, well, so much more comfortable in so many ways! I love that I have days I don’t think of smoking, too. I really didn’t think that would happen so quickly. Yay!

Do I remember right that you’re in New York? Or was it Boston? I’m losing track of places. I’m thinking you’re New York since you’re going to Hamilton, but I suppose you can see Broadway shows all over. I do remember correctly that it’s you going to Hamilton, right? Maybe 2 am isn’t the best time for me to try to remember these things, lol. We’ll see how I did!

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Jenny

Hi Jenny!

Graupel is a great word, thank you for that fun fact!  I love fun facts!  I got graupeled on during a camping trip a few years ago and was like, "What is this stuff?  It looks like hail but doesn't sting when it hits me!"  And now I know! 

Yeah, y'all's weather has been crazy out there!  There was some snow in San Diego county one time when I lived there and one of my clever neighbors got a cooler full up in the mountains and then built a small snowman on the beach for her xmas cards.  So creative!

Oh--I live in Minneapolis.  We have a good theater scene here!  Very stoked for Hamilton next month.  Good camping hiking and swimming too in the warmer months.  

Also a good place to quit smoking, turns out.  After yoga the other week I overheard these ladies talking about how stressed they were to (1) rent their air bnb to smokers because they made the place stink, even when the guest smoked outside and (2) one of them was having a houseguest who smoked in her car and her clothes reeked of it.  Normally this would've made me defensive and craving a spiteful cigarette, but instead I realized I had no idea how other people felt about third hand smoke.  These ladies seemed nice and weren't being catty.  They were honestly distressed.  I chalked this up as the universe trying to tell me something.  

So proud of us!  And to quote the OG Minneapolis Lady theme song (from Mary Tyler Moore show, lol), "We're gonna make it after all."

Have a great day!!!

Erika

Erika,

Michigan or a different M state were going to be my 3rd and 4th guess…  

We are gonna make it! Love it!

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

My son fixed the gutter drain today.  I am not sure if I need the gutter itself fixed, it is a little bit askew but not detached.  No the big limb did not hit my neighbors house just mine.  I am lucky there wasn't worse damage.

I have been sleeping a lot since being home again.  A LOT . My sinuses were better and then last night not so much.  Hopefully just a weather/allergy combo and not an infection.  All it did yesterday was rain with wind and chilly.

I am so glad you are feeling better.  Laughing and having an appetite again , yay.

Some of the benefits of not smoking that are my favorites so far are no coughing , and no phlegm from smoking, and not having that dependency of a required need to smoke.

                                         Lisa

Graupel, live and learn. Derived from the German word for barley. 

Enjoy a smoke free day everybody.

Paul