Details Schmetails

When I woke up on 1/11/11 I became a non smoker. Again. Technically I guess you could say it happened on 1/10/11 seeing as though I flicked my last cigarette at about 11:30 that night but details schmetails.

This is the umpteenth time I’ve tried to quit, as anyone who has read this blog long enough knows, but I have a feeling this one might just stick because I’m really tired of gasping through my workouts. When we joined the P90X family last year Matt & I decided that upon completing our first twelve week round we were going to quit. So quit we did!

I tend to be a hypocrite in a whole bunch of areas of my life -- calling myself Green but turning the heat up any chance I can get, eating healthier yet still smoking -- so I guess this is the first step in trying to rectify that problem.

Okay, technically that isn’t entirely true. I first started to correct it by saying I wanted to write novels full time and then actually began the process of querying Agents to have my manuscript published. That is working out pretty good as I just had an agency request to read the first two chapters of the book based on just the query. I sent that along the other day and will wait the prescribed two-three months for a reply. It might be a request for more, it might not, but either way interest is being generated and I’m thrilled.

Thankfully they didn’t request the synopsis seeing as though I still haven’t had the mental capacity to turn 230 pages into 20. I guess sometimes I also work better under pressure so I’ll do it when I have to.

Maybe that’s not the best solution but it’s all I got right now so it’ll have to do.

Smoking has been a part of my life for all of my life in some capacity or another as most of my relatives on my dad’s side were smokers before I was even born and some still are now. I started at about age fourteen in a casual, social way but really became a smoker at eighteen. That was when I graduated high school and was no longer involved in sports.

I’m starting to see the connection to athleticism and inability to wheeze while in the midst of that athletic activity. Shocker, I know.

Plus that’s almost twenty years ago now. Scary thought that I’ve been poisoning myself for that long. With so many other changes afoot this one should be a no brainer. Something I don’t even have to think about because it just makes sense.

But that’s the very place I start to go mad -- my mind. The body is almost out of the physical withdrawal symptoms now and chewing the replacement gum has helped with that a lot but last night I was definitely in the bargaining phase in my head. ‘If I could only be that type of person who has a smoke just after dinner…’ But I can’t. So I won’t.

Matt is using the patch and so far he seems to be doing okay too. I think he’s been at it almost as long as me so I’m sure he’s going through a lot of the same internal stuff I am. We’re trying not to be cranky or take it out on each other. So we pretty much haven’t said boo to each other in the past three days.

That would be okay in most situations seeing as though he goes to work outside the house but yesterday he worked from home because of our second “blizzard” in as many weeks and I think we said about three words to each other all day. I just chewed a lot of gum and focused on my class while he rubbed his shoulder under the patch and focused on his job.

Speaking of, my first class is going pretty well, it’s a Psychology course though (which usually escapes me) and I’m already looking forward to my next class, Genres of Literature or something like that. In this one we’re studying all manner of human development and how physical, mental and social aspects in our lives directly relate to how we grow and shift as adults.

Socially I don’t really hang out with any other smokers on a consistent basis, besides Matt, so that’s helpful and physically I’m tired of experiencing the negative effects of it on my body so, again, that is an easy jump. Like I said, it’s all in my head now.

And I will move past it, I just know its going to take some time.

Thanks, for the Everything

I’ve been spotty reading blogs lately as well as commenting back to people’s posts but yesterday a photo and post over at Freshness Factor Five Thousand had me thinking about all the things I’m grateful for, thanks-full for and inspired to acknowledge. It’s been quite a while since I’ve put one of these lists together so it seemed like the right time to do it.

A lot has been going on here and many changes are afoot this year and I really love how every year, month, week, day, hour brings a new reason to be grateful or inspired. Sometimes it’s just nice to take stock of what we have, what we’ve had and where we hope to be so of course this list is far from all inclusive but off the top this is my own personal accounting of the awesomeness as I see it in the world. As always, in no particular order.

Heat
Hot water
Cups of tea, coffee and clean drinking water
Bacon & blue burgers
An open mind
Family
Friends
Fun times with both of the above
Music that gets me through the hard times
Music that inspires me to acknowledge the happy times
Playing the drums and the man who is teaching me to do so
Winning the lottery
Having a little extra to donate to charity because of the above
Fruits and vegetables
P90X
Facebook
Ability to ingest information as I start my journey toward an MA in English
Inspiration
My sewing machine
My paint brushes
Muscles to work hard and work out
Yoga
A healthy dose of cynicism
Showers and toothbrushes
Creativity
The library
Snuggling
Lost
Gas in my car’s tank
Agents who have rejected me & my novel
Football
My bloggy friends, some of whom I consider to be my closest friends in the world
Writer’s license
Cannoli
Enough money to pay the bills
A little extra left over to save for our upcoming move
Strength I’ve gained through adversity
Books
Hair dye
The end of eras, relationships and experiences
All six senses
Silence
Crackers
eBay and the people who buy what I sell
Fabric
A roof over my head
Poetry
Wool socks & winter boots
Flip flops and bathing suits
Sunshine
The power to change
The knowledge to know when to do just that
The sense to know when not to
A voice to speak how I really feel
The couth to know that some stories should be kept private forever
Basil
Road trips
Victoria’s Secret
Rainbows and sunsets
Hugs
Stars
Art in every form
Love in every form and sense of the word
My terrycloth bathrobe that I’ve had for 15 years and still love like it was brand new
Laughter
Intention
Acceptance
And of course, the unrelenting, unwavering, love and support of my husband; without it I would have been committed years ago. ♥

Jam Pack It All In

Wow what a whirlwind of busyness since I last updated everyone! How about a recounting of the adventures shall we?

I had lunch with a friend who informed me she got her Christmas present early from her boyfriend -- two front row tickets to see the NKOTBSB (for those not in the know that’s New Kids on the Block with the Backstreet Boys on one stage at the same time because clearly one boy band is never enough) show at the Garden next June. At this point in my life I’m still a semi fan of NKOTB, not enough to want to spend hours on Ticketmaster to see them live anymore, but I still turn up their oldies when they come over the iPod airwaves its true. But my friends…well as she explained it’s the only time she gets to be fifteen again so she’s ready to go all out. I couldn’t be more excited for them to have this experience of the front row at the scream fest!

Yes this is at my wedding, don't judge me it was a gift (instrument of torture?) from my DJ, my first ever roomie.  The friends who plan to go to the show are to the right of me.

The next day I enjoyed another lunch with my mom but only after we disassembled some super heavy metal shelves on her first floor then reassembled them on her second floor. Much laughter ensued and although we rocked at it -- not a single thing broken and nary a floor scratch -- I don’t think either of us are going to be signing up for a job as a furniture assembler anytime soon. The help with the shelves was my payment for a quickie haircut. As a kid my mom used to cut my hair all the time and I totally trust her to get a nice and even straight line. Not too shabby eh?

I chatted with my Academic Advisor before he took off for vacation, reorganized my sewing stuff so I could actually get into the closet, had a drum lesson, paid my rent and donated to a whole bunch of charities for the bulk of our family for Christmas.

Then we went to my dad’s on Christmas Eve and had a fantastic evening chock full of laughter and conversation! My WSM’s son is here with his new wife and baby and it was fantastic to meet both of them too. My almost step brother is an adopted child and originally from Columbia. A few years ago he decided he wanted to discover the place he originally came from and took a trip down there to explore. Within what seemed like minutes he had met a wonderful girl, fell in love, got married and had a baby. Whirlwind romance! She and the baby (my almost nephew!) are total dolls and it was really cool to see my dad with the adorable toddler no matter how ragged he ran all of us.

The one thing I didn’t do this Christmas was get some of the presents out on time. Matt’s family lives scattered across the country so every single year I say that I’ll get things shipped in time and every single year, though it comes right down to the wire, I tend to live up to my promise. This year though was the perfect storm of overload. One gift was ordered on the 10th with expedited shipping and didn’t arrive here until the 23rd. Another was handmade and after I completed it I searched everywhere (and I freaking mean it!) for a box that would fit it to ship in but no one sells a 23” wide box that’s only 3” high. Even the large size at FedEx is too short. So the Post Office dude told me about the box guy up the street, who makes boxes to fit any package, and Matt and I went on Christmas Eve. The place was closed. Of course it was. So we said screw it, at least we can get the other items out. Late but mailed (including a sale I made on Etsy, thanks Ginger ♥ and a clutch I was shipping out for a fundraiser not to mention an aunt & uncle’s gift). Yeah well the Post Office was closed too because noon was the cut off on Christmas Eve. Then there was Christmas, Sunday and yesterday’s blizzard…but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Christmas Day I managed to just let go of all the stress from the week prior for a couple reasons. First, there was really nothing I could do about making it all okay at that point anyway. Second, wine helped. Wine helped a lot. All joking aside we had a great day at my mom’s (sadly my SIL & family were sick and we had to cancel Christmas morning brunch with them but we’re already rescheduled so barring more sickness or weather we’ll see them in January!). She made all kinds of yummy veggie dishes, had hummus and salsa with chips and then for dessert she made a pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate cake, my aunt & uncle brought an apple pie & carrot cake and I’m pretty sure my brain exploded at that point because I forgot everything else. Lots of laughs and hugs and warm conversation was had and then we came home to gear up for the next day’s journey in the snow.

Oh, the snow…

So the thing about New Englanders is that talk of a couple inches of snow doesn’t exactly scare us. We have the manpower and equipment to handle the stuff and generally the city is opened for business no matter what. So on Christmas night when we heard that the weather dudes in town were predicting upwards of two feet in some areas we knew the 26th was going to be a day of action. Up at 7:30 AM we tossed on some sweats, brushed our teeth and took our coffee on the road.

First order of business was filling the gas tank where I cashed in my winning $3 scratch ticket from Christmas woo hoo. Next we swung by Matt’s office so he could turn on his computer and pick up a bunch of stuff because there was no way he was going to try to go into the office on Monday, working from home was just a safer idea. We headed south to feed a friend’s cat & give him some love. While we were hanging out and playing with this little love whore of an animal, the snow started to really intensify and we decided we better get ahead of the storm so we filled food & water to the brim, gave a little more love, and hit the very slick road (slowly).

Because we were ahead of the storm bands, and also because we had no food in the house, we headed to tax free NH (only about a 30 minute ride from our house, don’t worry!) to do some quick in and out shopping. With plenty of toilet paper and snacks we headed back south, nervous of what the roads might look like. But to our surprise not much had fallen yet. It was only noon. They were predicting over 50mph gusts so we gathered candles and charged up our phones and laptops in case of a power outage.

At about 3:00 the snow started to fall. And at first it was even kinda pretty…

But by the time the storm had dumped its 18” on our front doorstep and rolled on out of town just 24 hours later, it really wasn’t all that pretty anymore. Truly we were just trying to come up with ideas for where to put the stuff! And we made a new best friend when our SUPER KIND neighbor came right down the street with his snow blower at 8:00 in the morning. Holla for the random kindness of others!!! He did four houses worth and even hit our driveway. There is no way to tell him just how grateful we are for such selfless help in such a tough situation. Thanks neighbor!!

Technically speaking we didn’t get a blizzard in Boston. To be classified as such you need: 3+ hours of falling snow, less than a quarter mile visibility and sustained winds at 35mph. We got the first two handled but only managed to hit 33mph on the winds. Sorry, I’m calling this sucker a blizzard anyway.

I have to go out today to finally see the box guy and get all of this stuff in the mail but before I go I think I’ll spend the $65 Gift Certificate to the CSN Stores website that I won over at Karen’s place! YEA thanks Karen, it’s quite awesome to win and have a chance to shop! I’m thinking of looking for stuff like foot warmers, slippers, fleece blankets…