Oh and.... Day #11!!!!

I'm on day #11 with no smoking! I bought a pack Sunday morning because Saturday both the husband & I were craving one in the worst way. It sat in my pocket for a few hours then I thought, "what the hell!" and I opened it. I lit one up, took 2 drags and threw it on the ground. It tasted like shit. Seriously. That was some nasty ass tasting crap that I tried to put in my mouth! Yuck.

The pack is still in the truck with just that one cigarette out of it.

I think I just needed to be reminded that I don't want to do that anymore.

We're back

We made it home and survived the weekend. Saturday isn't much to speak of because we were stuck in the swap the whole time and I ended up getting chilled right away in the morning... you know how a bone-chilling chill can effect you! I was screwed the rest of the day. Then from shivering I got a massive headache. I think I was probably the biggest pain in the ass around.

We got back to the hotel about 5:30. The husband ordered some pizza while I jumped in the bathtub to try to get warm. I crawled into bed with one of his t-shirts on and a pair of wool socks, ate pizza &breadsticks and then laid down. This was 6:00.

"I'm just going to close my eyes a little while to get rid of this headache"

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

6:20 the next morning....

We skipped the swap on Sunday and went through the show, saw the races and tried to see everything we couldn't see on Saturday. We headed out about 1:30 right after the Loudest Snowmobile Contest.

Got home and did some laundry, caught up on the girls' weekends (they both had a blast!) and realized Saki had grown in the 2 days I was gone! Wow!

Oh.... and can you believe we never took our camera or our video camera out at all this weekend? What a bunch of losers we are, huh?

Day #7 - Goodbye & Good Luck

Well today is day #7 of no smoking. You want to know if these pills are worth it? Yesterday we were picking up a sled at some guys house and he pulled out a pack of cigarettes. I thought, "oh God, here we go!". I hadn't been around a smoker in 6 days. He lit one up and.......

.... nothing.

Thats right. Nothing. I didn't care. I didn't want to tear it from his hand, I didn't want to bum one from him. Nothing.

Then he got into our truck. I almost puked. The smell of smoke that was coming off of him made me gag. He wasn't smoking, he just stunk to high heaven of smoke. Yuck. If I needed a reminder on why I quit.. it was sitting in the front seat of our truck.

Ok other news. We leave today for Waconia 2008. Are you going? Why not? Well, if you are... stop by and see me! I'll be the one, as I've mentioned, sitting under a big green Kawasaki banner and sitting next to a big green Kawasaki sled. I'll also be holding a big beautiful white dog ransom for awhile... if Doc lets me I should say!

Bring me a cup of coffee, too... I'll be freezing my ass off! Or a shot of blackberry brandy will do just fine, too. Nothing warms up the blood like blackberry.

Saki isn't going with. I wish she was. They say a dog should meet 100 people by the time they are 16 weeks old. This would have been perfect for her, but the hotel we have reservations at doesn't allow pets and good luck finding a room this late! So she's staying home.

Day #4 and Snowmobile Shows

Well, Day 3 is here & gone... I did it! I had more cravings yesterday than I have yet, but hopefully they are right with the mumbo jumbo about after the 3rd day it gets much better.

I bought strawberry pop tarts yesterday, so I'll be able to take my pill sooner today. I broke down and took my pill yesterday morning w/ a granola bar. I had to fight to get that down. Yuck.

I am finding that the evening pill is giving me an upset stomach - to the point that I feel like I'm going to puke. Funny thing is; my dad doesn't take the morning pill for the same reason. I'm not going to stop taking the evening one quite yet... we'll see if it passes.

Today I need to start getting my butt in gear for the Waconia Snowmobile show this weekend. I have to go to Walmart today and buy hangers (and dog food & kitty litter). We are leaving Friday morning, so I want to have everything packed & ready by Thursday night. Of course, we'll go through the same fight again - I pack light and everything between my stuff and the husbands stuff can fit into one duffel bag. I have a nice sized one... only it's pink. He has this thing with his clothes being in a pink duffel bag. Silly man.

I've got a good selection going of SledderWear merchandise. A package of stickers should be at the post office today. I ordered a few last minute ones last Friday. I have my designs printed out for the catalog and just need to print out the ones I've done this week.

Plus I need to go to the bank today - the husband is getting the puppy-trade sled on Thursday.

Oh.... and it looks like the green Kawi won't be at the show. Don't ask - it's a sore subject. Everything that could have went wrong, did. It ran for 5 minutes last night, though! Sounded great! And then...... well.... it was good while it lasted.

Day #3 is here. Still not smoking.

The weekend flew by really, but wow. This morning the cravings are pretty bad. I haven't taken my pill yet because you have to take it with food and I am dying for strawberry pop-tarts, which I will be getting at 8:00 when I drop Demon #1 off for a skiing day trip. Then I'll take my pill. I don't take it right away in the morning because I'm one of those people who can't eat right away after I wake up. The husband can get out of bed and walk to the stove and start cooking .... the thought of it makes me want to puke.

I've heard the 3rd day is the worst. So far I think they are right. If I knew there were cigarettes in this house, I'd smoke one. Even just a drag would settle me down right now....

God I hate cigarettes.

Day 1 of Not Smoking (thx to Chantix)

It's been 27 hours without a cigarette (but who's counting?). It was a rough morning, but after that it was a breeze really. After supper I craved one, but it went away pretty fast. Funny thing is, I was playing Sonic on the Xbox and all of a sudden I started craving Cheeto's! LOL So I went to the store and bought some... had a handful and remembered that I really don't like Cheeto's.

The husband isn't doing so good... all I hear is "I really want a f*@king cigarette!". I told him to go buy a pack if he wants one so bad. He questioned me on the meds.. "I thought they were supposed to make you not want one".

Well... I don't want one.

Anyway. Day #1 as a non-smoker is almost through. It will go fine the rest of the night, too, because I didn't smoke much at night to begin with. Still gotta go have my chocolate peanut butter ice cream though. Don't anyone expect me to break THAT habit!

I did think of something today, though. After you quit smoking, your taste is supposed to change because you aren't killing your tastebuds with the smoke. Ok, great. BUT WHAT IF I DON'T LIKE THE TASTE OF CHOCOLATE ANYMORE?!?!?!!!!????

New Chantix Warnings

Depressed mood, agitation, suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior have been reported among some users of the pill. Today Chantix is getting a warning on its U.S. label that asks doctors to monitor for these behaviors. Pfizer points out that people giving up smoking, or people who are smokers in the first place, tend more toward depression than their nonsmoking peers. While Pfizer says a causal link between behavioral symptoms and its drug hasn't been proved, the seriousness of some of the events prompted the stronger label.

From the Wall Street Journal

Trucker heard about this on the radio today and called me... scary stuff. He's been really crabby all week, but I didn't think it was the pills. (He ended up putting a snowmobile suspension in by himself because he was being a dick and I told him I wouldn't help him if he was going to be like that!)

Anyway... I'm still taking the pills. I think I'm actually in a pretty good mood, considering. But this is just an FYI for anyone else thinking of going on Chantix.

Day... um.. 7?? on Chantix

It must be day 7 because tomorrow is my Quit Day. Today is my last day of smoking. I just had my last "morning cigarette". It was kind of sad....

Am I ready? I don't know... all week I've been smoking less, I'm down to 1/2 pack a day instead of a pack or better. The last 2 days I have forgotten my evening pill, though.

I mentioned to my parents (who are very close to the 1 month mark!) that I'm down to 1/2 pack and they said; "smoke 'em up! When they are gone they are gone!". I don't want to smoke them all... well, I do, but as I'm smoking I don't like it, it tastes like shit and I hate the taste it leaves in my mouth.

Amazing that a stupid pill can do that!

The only side effects I've had is tiredness, but yesterday I didn't have it. I felt like I had taken NyQuil or something. Supposedly it's worse the week you stop smoking, but then it goes away. At least thats how it was for my parents. We'll see. I suppose you can't smoke if you are sleeping. :)

.... but you can't sleep with an 13 week old puppy in the house either! (she can fetch, sit, lay down on command already - but the potty training? Ha! Thats a joke.)

Oh... and to my "daily blog readers" - you know who you are, but I don't. I can see there are returning visitors to this site via Statcounter, but I don't know who they are. But, you know who you are and I've gotten quite a few more daily readers since my non-smoking road. Thank you - maybe you are here to see if it's worth it or maybe you are just nosey or maybe you have some office bet going to see if I do this or not... but thank you just the same. It's nice to know that someone is checking in with me to see how it's going.

(Would be nice to know who you all are! LOL Leave a comment! Don't be shy!)

A Pic to Make You LOL

and some random cute puppy pics of Saki

Day #3 on Chantix

Nothing major, but I smoked less today without even realizing it!

Day #2 on Chantix

Day #2 on the Chantix. Nothing to report. No changes... although I have smoked less today, but it might be from the headache I have.

More pics of Saki

Introducing....

Saki!! Sort for Kawasaki, of course :) She is a 10 week old golden retriever that we brought home this morning. Cute little thing, isn't she?

Day 1 on the Quit Smoking road

The husband & I both got a prescription for Chantix yesterday. It's that new quit-smoking drug that seems to be the drug of all drugs. You take the pills for a week before you actually quit - it's really interesting. Supposedly the cigs will start tasting like shit before your week is up. We'll see... I take my 1st pill today.

Official "Quit Day" is the 19th.

I started smoking when I was 15. Heck, it might have been the end of 14, I'm not sure. 15 for sure. I'm 35 now. Easy math, I can figure that one out! It's depressing though - 20 years of smoking. Yikes. Yep, I think it's time to quit. I'm already having trouble breathing a lot and I've always got crud in my lungs.

My mom died of coronary heart disease at the age of 46. I was 5 days away from 8 years old. I had a hard time when the demons were 7-8 years old, I really did. Funny how that works. My oldest brother is past 46 and he told me that he had a very hard time with being 46. If he could make 47 he'd be ok.

My dad is 72 now and has COPD, Emphysema and has an oxygen tank in the house for when he needs it. He smoked for 60 years (yes, he started at age 12 - a prescription from a doctor, believe it or not! For hay fever!) and I believe he is about 2 weeks of being smoke-free thanks to this Chantix.

My bestest friend in the whole world is on her first week of being smoke-free. Yea Misikins!

One of the side effects is changes in dreaming... I already remember most of my dreams and some of them are way out there...

...a litter of raccoons were sleeping in my slippers last night.....

....I can just imagine what sort of things I'll be dreaming about now!

So bear with me over the next few weeks, it could be a bumpy road. I'm sure most of this blog will be about smoking for awhile now so if you wanna skip it for a few weeks - I'll understand.

It's 1pm and she's blogging? ... the continued saga

The demon stayed home. She isn't dying, but she's sick all the same. It's now 1p.m., not a.m., p.m. and whats going on? She's sleeping and I'm not. I'm tired, so is she - but she's sleeping on the couch, snoring away like a baby, probably having some sweet dream. She's all comfy and warm under a quilt... ok partly warm because of the fever she has, but warm just the same.

And here I sit. Tired, not warm but very tired.

I hate being a mom.

It's 1am and she's blogging? What is she doing?

Not sleeping, that's for sure. Demon #2 has been waking me up since 11:30 whining about a sore throat, fever and stuffy nose. What can I do about it? Go lay on the couch... geez. Why wake me up? Does that make you feel better?

Ironically the kid has a doctors appointment at 8:30 tomorrow this morning for a meds check-up/blood work follow-up, so I guess the doc can see if she's dying from some strange cough-due-to-cold disease, too. And they better not try to give me antibiotics a day into a stuffy nose/fever cold either ... but I doubt our doc will - she knows me well enough now. I won't give my kids antibiotics unless they are dying from an infection. They need all the immune system they can get, I don't break it down with a drug if the body can fight off the infection itself.

Getting ready for the big show

The next few weeks are going to be filled with getting stuff together for the big snowmobile show in Waconia. This is one show that I don't miss, although I am skipping out on the ride this year. Last year I had just a wee bit of an incident that involved a sled, my knee and a pile of rocks. That's all I'm saying about that... the memory is too fresh. This year the ride is on the lake, so I should just get on a sled and shut up, but I won't. Last year the ice wasn't thick enough so we had to do this "other" trail ride which consisted of a lot of ditches. I hadn't drove in a sled in over 20 years... it wasn't a pleasant experience, lets just stick with that.

But anyway, we'll be at the show - big neon green snowmobile and snowmobile banner and all. Look for us. We'll have a bunch of stuff from SledderWear there, along with a catalog of all the designs available. Stop by and say hi... and bring me a hot cup of coffee.

I hope it's not freezing.

Oh and....

Decided to get my ass in gear and do some stuff to my InsanityWear shop. Always paying attention to SledderWear... always neglecting InsanityWear.

Bad. Bad.

Good for you snowmobile t-shirt junkies, though. (Yeah, new stuff at SledderWear.com too... but isn't there always?)

Anyway. After what feels like a year, I finally updated the "Whats New" section. Of course, some of the designs in there aren't even new anymore. Pathetic. Well, some of them are. There are new Valentines Day & St. Patrick's Day ones. Go check it out. You should... really. Because I said so.

So yeah. I did it. There you have it and now you know. And you are a better person now for knowing, too.

I'm gonna strike gold!

The husband caved in... I get a puppy!! And last night he informed me that out of all the breeds I like he thinks I should get a Golden Retriever.

Can you hear my heart melting?




Very soon I will be bringing one of these precious little faces home....

Stay tuned!



.... oh, the trade off on the puppy? Another sled. Oh well.

Doggie tails

So I went on a little BSL kick today. Found out that MN is going to try to pass a statewide dog breed ban in 2008 again.

I'll leave my rants for another time - I did it with graphics.

(None of them are, actually!)


One of my BIGGEST pet peeves - teach your children to respect animals and how to PROPERLY act around them! If the demons are acting stupid with the dog, I'll flat out tell them that if they get bit it's their own damn fault. They know better, but there are a lot of kids out there who don't.


Remember that? Yep... way back when. Dobies were the meanest dogs a person could own... but then the fad of rotties & pit bulls took over.


I just personally got a chuckle when I read this one..... I had to use the "fact" on a design!

You can find all of these designs & more pet related ones here.