Yes, the craves always pass, Erika.  I think over the years, the nicotine craves get mixed with the habit and what we think is enjoyable. Not sure i can tell them apart. 14 months for me. I still get craves but they are more fleeting and less frequent. I still carry a zero-nicotine e-cig. Rarely use it but I feel better having it in my pocket.  

Jackson Hole was very nice, though the sloops were hard. Even the blue was relatively hard. 

Enoy the day all,

Hi Jenny,

Well , my first impression of the new PT place is that I am in the right place and they might actually be able to help me.  They are very specialized in Vestibular therapy and they only see this type of need.  The Guru owns the business and has earned accolades and awards in the field. She also has had vestibular issues herself in the past.  The appointment for the evaluation was way too long though (for me) .  I ended up being there for 2 hours instead of 1 and the winter storm was in full swing when I got out and the roads were really, really bad.  The first 1/2 hour I sat in the waiting room which my lower back did not like .  Also, I would not show up 30 minutes late , dont make me wait 30 minutes on you.   Anyhow, a really cool thing there is they have a therapy dog there that belongs to the owner/guru.  Her name is Minnie and she is a Labradoodle.  Very loving and soft dog and mellow.  She sat right next to me during my appointment and I got to pet her during most of the appointment. This Wednesday they will throw me around on the table and use the goggles 

That is awful that you have had brain surgery and more than once.  I can see how that could effect a persons vestibular system.  The vestibular system includes the brain, the ears, and the eyes and all 3 need to be able to work together.

Your county got nailed earlier this year.  100 trees are a lot and with flooding, that is sad about the fatalities.  During the ice storm we had and in a near by town a firefighter was killed .  A tree fell on a wire causing the wire to drop  and he got electrocuted.  There was a huge funeral for him today at that towns High School.

Sounds like your Dad might of enjoyed that conversation of your family past in Michigan ?  Boys do silly boy things.  My BFF raised 3 girls , a whole different scenario there.  I dont remember anything about an electricity fight in the 80s. The early part of the 80s I was otherwise engaged,  I was a teenager hanging with my friends and overly into teenage boys .

Were you able to tolerate the cross stitch ?  Did you get your Sushi ?  I went to Rite Aid last night and got an indoor sunflower  growing kit  and  Oreos and milk for my one month reward.  

My craves and smoking thoughts have been frequent since Thursday night.  So far today and tonight have been better. I WILL NOT SMOKE !  I WILL NOT SMOKE !   I wonder if there is some correlation to the bigger anniversary dates ?  I know my stress and anxiety have been up - medical appointments do that to me .  I need to do better with that response , I have a lot of appointments this month .  

I hope you had a good weekend.

                                              Lisa  

Erika,

It is great to finally be at a month ciggy free.  I have been struggling with frequent craves and smoking thoughts starting Thursday night but today and tonight have been better.  I WILL NOT SMOKE ! I WILL NOT SMOKE !

We had a snowstorm Friday.  The roads were awful.  That extra wet heavy snow. I did not lose power - yay.

Because I am a Prince fan , I have to ask you if you have been to Paisley Park ?  

                                                  Lisa 

Lisa,

How exciting the new place sounds like it will be able to help. Yay!! Sounds like she has some serious expertise! I think they need to have the therapy dog start in the waiting room, though, huh?  Maybe a separate “waiting room” therapy dog for the people who have to wait 30+ minutes to be seen? I’d do much better waiting in a waiting room if I had a soft fluffy dog to pet. I really hope Wednesday goes well. You need some good days!

That’s so sad a town near you lost a firefighter in the storm I have so much love and respect for our first responders. It’s heartbreaking to hear of that kind of thing.

Yeah, my dad was very happy to call me up and talk about Michigan. It was sweet, really. I can only imagine I’ll be the same way if one of my kids brings up something they don’t quite remember and wants to know more about when they’re older. 
I’d heard my parents talk about Bloomingdale through the years, but I always thought they were talking about the department store, lol. 

Haha, you were paying attention to boys instead of town politics? Shocking!

I have yet to get my cross stitch out of the bag. It’s sitting there, right next to the couch and I just haven’t opened it yet. (It’s zipped closed to protect it from the cats, so it’s extra effort to get it out ) I think I’m working up the motivation. Tomorrow could be the day! I also didn’t make it to getting sushi, so I’m on a roll. Hee hee. Sushi roll…  It’s just turned into a do nothing weekend, which is fine. I’ll try out cross stitch tomorrow and pick a different day this week to get sushi. I mentioned the vegetarian and non-raw fish options to my daughter and she was actually intrigued, which surprised me. She may go with me and try some teriyaki chicken sushi, so that could be fun. Can’t say I’ve ever tried chicken sushi. I don’t care for the raw fish ones, though, so I’ll try the chicken.

Sunflowers will be fun to watch grow! I love that idea as part of a reward. The Oreos and milk sound like an immediate reward, with the flowers being the longer lasting part.  

I really do think the bigger anniversary dates bring on more craves for us. You’ve had all the extra stress, too, with so much going on, plus so much coming up on your calendar with the medical appointments. Definitely stick with your NOPEs and whatever plans have been working for you. It’s gotta ease up!

Jenny

Hi Lisa!  

We got the wet blanket snow too and it's supposed to keep coming all week.  Glad you did not lose power!  Me neither!  Fingers crossed for us this coming week.  

I love Prince too!  And yes, I went to Paisley Park once before the pandemic.  It is so magical, you can sense him there because they kept everything exactly how it was when he died.  His oversized sunglasses on his office desk, which looks like a slightly miniaturized version of a traditional carved mahogany executive desk.  They have a lot of rooms with dress forms featuring some of his favorite outfits.  I was gobsmacked to get a sense of how tiny he was--his voice and imagination and talent were so huge it seems like he should've been seven feet tall.  

In any case you should make the pilgrimage sometime!!!!!  I have a guest room!!  The Paisley Park gift shop is so cool--they sell black umbrellas with white PP logos all over them and the logos turn purple when they get rained on!  Dang it I just remembered that I lost my umbrella.  I should go back out there for another tour.  

OK take care and talk soon!

Erika

Hi Jenny,

Sometimes we all need a do nothing weekend (s).  Self care etc.  I used to have to protect my cross stitch projects too.  The years I had those projects going on we had 2 dogs and a cat so there was dog slobber and animal fur flying around. 

I would never eat raw fish.  I am not a daring eater.  When I was a kid my Dad would make dishes that had animals in it that he hunted but he would say it was something else.  After we ate , he would laugh and tell us what we really ate and then my brother and I would be disgusted.  Since we were only at his house every other weekend it was easier for him to get away with being sneaky like that with cooking.

It is a beautiful day here in SW Michigan.  Sunny and 46 degrees (warm for here for early March).  I got up too early though and I am going to have to try to get a nap in soon.  Wednesday and Friday I have PT.   The frequent smoking thoughts and craves I was struggling with have improved but you know still present at times .  I want them to be all done with , but that is not the reality of quitting smoking.

I hope you are having a good day.

                                                    Lisa 

Lisa, 

I managed to work up the motivation to unzip that bag yesterday I only did a few stitches, but I didn’t have any trouble getting a bit done! Planning to see how much I can do in a sitting tonight. Providing I get back to it tonight. I was pushing so hard to get as much done as I could before and am just having a hard time getting back into it. 

I wouldn’t have handled the mean tricky cooking very well.  My mom snuck stuff into our food when we were little, but not in a mean way. She was just using up what she had and didn’t tell us. We didn’t know gravy wasn’t supposed to be green. She was blending in whatever leftover veggies were in the fridge at the end of the week. I wised up as I got older and “dissected” my food, as she called it, lol.

I had a pretty awesome thing happen yesterday! My daughter shattered a white Correlle dessert plate in the middle of our living room. I know, awesome, right? The thing broke into what seemed like a thousand pieces and went EVERYWHERE!! After securing the dog in his cage, we stood there, staring at the horror and couldn’t do anything but start laughing. It was really so ridiculously awful. There was glass on the top of the coffee table, behind the kitchen island, on the couch, behind the couch, under the piano bench that’s in the dining room behind one section of the couch. It was INSANE!! She started to work on it while I cleaned up my cat scratches from the 2 cats who had been peacefully sleeping on my lap. Actually, that was when I had my cross stitch out, now that I think about it. Instant way to get cats on the lap.   Anyway, I ended up starting to help her a bit and my back wasn’t hurting like it normally would, so I helped some more. Then I found myself pushing the coffee table to the side, which I most certainly wouldn’t normally attempt. Then it came time to scoot the couch pieces and I helped move the couch!! My back wasn’t screaming. I mean, it complained, but not like it normally would. We finished up and I really expected it would still flare up bad later, but it didn’t do it like I expected it to. I’m getting extremely hopeful that the RF ablation has made a difference! I’m kinda afraid to get hopeful, like I could be positively thinking myself into feeling better for a bit, but this was a really big thing and I’m still not too bad today. Sciatica with hip and leg are complaining, but I’m ignoring that right now. I’m excited my back might be calmer for who knows how long. Time will tell, I suppose. I probably would do well to curb my enthusiasm for a few days, but that’s hard. 

I think I’m going to try some massage for the sciatica. I was looking up info about it and there’s a nice massage/sports medicine guy who does a lot of specialized massage and stretching stuff. I figure it can’t hurt and is a whole lot better than a new medication. 

My craves have calmed back down the last few days. The couple times the thought of smoking has even crossed my mind I’ve just looked at my cross stitch bag and known that it’s an option for something to do. Then I’ve decided to not do it, lol. Ok, going to get back to it today. I really can’t keep putting it off. I definitely need to post a picture here once I finally get it done!

It’s 54F for us today with blue skies. I heard we’re about to get some rain, so we’re enjoying it while it lasts. I need to start planting some herbs for the summer. 

Jenny

Hi Erika,

The last couple days have been decent , but we are getting some icky event late Thursday night and into Friday morning.  I am looking forward to spring.  

Paisley Park sounds wonderful.  I would love to go there some day.  I was so bummed out when Prince died.  I have a lot of good memories tied into his songs.  

                                              Lisa 

   Hi Jenny,

Wow , what a mess that dessert plate made when it broke.  Good thing you two and the fur babies were not hurt from the flying glass.  Be careful with yourself and your back , you dont want to undo the good you are experiencing.  I have made that mistake. 

Massage sounds like a good idea for the sciatica.  Sounds like they stretch that nerve out too?  It seems like Drs mostly like to throw pills at things instead of offering alternatives.  Maybe they just don't know other things that could help.

Yeah, when the craves and smoking thoughts come I do something else.  I have been back to doing my favorite type of puzzle book that I like since I quit.  It is called Frameworks by Penny Dell and I just ordered some more.  I was introduced to it during concussion therapy .  

  Yes , I would like to see your cross stitch project when it is  done.  It is for a music teacher that your family has known for a long time?  There is this new to me craft I might try after I am done with vestibular therapy and have more quitting time in.  It is called diamond art or diamond painting.  My BFF showed me her first one she is working on.  It does not look hard at all.  She does a lot of crafts and is good at them , me not so much.

Yesterday afternoon I took a 3 hour nap and today a 2 hour nap after PT.   I guess I am tired.    Friday after my brother takes me to PT he is going to come over and hang out and we are going to get takeout for dinner and watch a show. No napping that day .

                                          Lisa 

Lisa,

We really were fortunate the glass didn’t hurt any of us. The cat scratches I got were the worst of it. I found I could scoot the couch a little bit without my back freaking out, but squatting down and trying to find something under the sink was too much. There’s still time for it to improve more, though. It’s been about a week and can often take 2 to be fully effective. I’ll remain hopeful, but more careful. I appreciate the words of caution. I sometimes forget that part of recovery when I get excited. 

I’m hoping massage will help the sciatica. I read physical therapy can also help, so I may end up there for it, if  needed. 

How did your PT today go? Sounds tiring if you got a 2 hour nap afterward. And a 3 hour nap yesterday? It’s good you’re getting sleep cause it sounds like you definitely need it!

The puzzle book looks neat. Is the concussion what brought on your vestibular problems? Or is that totally unrelated? I looked the puzzle book up on Amazon cause I was curious what it was. I love puzzle type things. I’ve been getting so restless and something like that would be handy. I find myself standing up and walking to the kitchen, then looking around and eventually just sitting back down because I can’t think of anything I want to do, lol. I finally started making some progress on my cross stitch, so that’s good. If I can get back into a rhythm on that, it will help.

Yes, the cross stitch is for the music teacher at the school my kids have gone to since they were little. It a K-12 school, so we’ve known the teacher for 17 years. Wow, I just did that math and am shocked! She taught my son simple instruments like chimes and recorder, but taught my daughter those, plus flute, violin and some others, plus she was in every school musical and involved in lots of things. The teacher has always been amazing. I saw the pattern years ago in one of my pattern books and thought it would be perfect for her. I thought I’d make it during my daughter’s high school years, but then the carpal and cubital tunnel hit 3 or so years ago and put that plan on hold. Once I finally decided to do the surgeries, I knew I was going to get the project done after all, so I’m determined to complete it by June! It’s a Precious Moments pattern of a little boy playing a violin and little girl playing some kind of wind instrument. I have a pretty good portion of it done, then it’ll be all the backstitching. I do think I’ll make it in time. I’m not super experienced, so we’ll see how it goes!

My BFF made me a diamond dot type art thing for Christmas a couple years ago and it’s gorgeous!! It’s a purple cat and I absolutely love it. She said she found doing the project so relaxing and peaceful. It was like a gift for me and a gift for her, lol.

I’m finally going out for that sushi dinner tomorrow. Just me and my daughter. Well, I invited my son, but I’ll be very surprised if he joins us. He’s working night shift right now, so I’ll find out in the morning if he accepted my invitation. I really hope he does!
Anyway, I’m looking forward to it! Sometimes it feels like a lot longer than 2 months and other times it feels like a lot less. Time is so weird. 

Jenny