Hellooo, I'm back!

So, it's been a while. Totally forgot I had this blog until I quit smoking again, and was only able to find it by searching for someone else's blog (Shasta Girl). I'm surprised it's still here, to be honest, there must be millions of forgotten blogs out there in blogland. I'll try to update a bit more often, about this n that. Lots of work updates to rant about. Among other things. :)

New Year Old Year update

So I'll try to make this short.
Gadget Girl and I went to visit our friend Kimmie when it turned out we both had the same week scheduled off. ROAD TRIP!!! GG hates to drive, and she's an excellent copilot/navigator, and I like to drive, so it works out. We discovered this when my dad passed in Florida and we had to drive back and forth a few times.
Anyhoo, the road trip to Missouri was end of August/Labor Day/Week after. We had a blast, I might be able to post a few pics here with any incriminating evidence blacked out.
Oh yeah, and I *planned* to smoke on this trip. What else do you do in a car for 900 miles? Sheesh.
So we get back to Houston, and Hurricane Ike is heading our way. So the next weekend we get to put up with Ike. btw, I'm still smoking during this stressful weather incident. We make it thru ok, mostly damage to chain link fence and a tree across the 1962 Streamline 24' Duke with the pink stove and sink. Big ol' pine tree went across it. Insurance didn't quite see the value that I did, so it paid out less than what I bought it for. Bastards. And the killer tree lifted up the fence where it's roots were and crushed the fence on the other side of Duke. A couple of other trees lost some major limbs but that was about it as far as damage goes, so we were pretty lucky. Ended up getting a bunch more pine trees cut down that were hanging over the house and otherwise being a nusciance. That cost some $$.
So, after the hurricane, a week later, my boss goes on vacation for 2 weeks, then back for 2 days and off for 3 days. This is still not a good time to quit. Stressed out is a mild way of putting it. Then, they fire her. This got Cindy and I to the point of crying from stress/frustration quite a few times. I was smokin a lot! Then they hired a new gal, and it turns out she's pretty nice but slow and hands off her work to others. It's finally getting mostly back to normal.

So, I decided to quit again. Unfortunately I still had 3 packs, so I officially started weaning myself starting January 5th, and smoked my last one Friday January 23rd. Not too bad. I've had a couple of URGES over the weekend, but I figure those urges will be stronger when I get in the car. That's my strongest trigger, and that's about the only time/place I was smoking for the last 3 weeks.

So I reset the quitting clock.

Happy New Year everyone!

Another blonde moment

The appliance repair dude came today, fixed the stove. The pilot light had crud around it. “Soot buildup” to be exact. Repair dude said we should replace it anyway. I was talking to Dupre about my concerns about having to wire in a plug. You know what the smart-ass says? “I don’t think that light inside operates on gas.” I swear to god, I didn’t even think about that. And it has a timer on front too! Color me blonde! lol My best friend didn’t think of it either, which makes me feel slightly better. Too funny.

Work has been hell, but at long last, Junior has gone back to school, which means he’s only working Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Two days of would-be bliss, but now the wicked witch that sits next to me is starting to PMS or something. She’s getting to be a p.i.t.a. too. Or geeze, maybe it’s me. lol

Vacation time coming up, I can't wait! Hopefully I get to make my trip to Missouri to visit THAT GIRL who doesn't own a Shasta anymore. Traitor. But as of this morning, there's a hurricane out there that might head this way. I'm saying, GO EAST, GO EAST. I want my road trip!

Kitchen Blues

So I’ve been thinking about replacing my severely outdated kitchen appliances. I already replaced the fridge with a white Kenmore. So I’m thinking the logical thing would be to go with other white appliances. Right now the ones I have are all a chocolate brown, from mid 70’s probably, and the sink even matches. Lately the stove has been taking forever to light, and when it does, it goes “whomp”. It’s gas, by the way. Scared me when I was in the kitchen doing dishes and forgot I had turned it on – I think the door kinda blew open a bit. I’ve used it since, and it’s done that again, but the LAST time I used it, after I turned it on I went back to the bedroom to sort laundry or something and I swear, I thought someone slammed the back door. It went “kaWHOMP” and rattled the dishes I have hanging on the wall. So now I’m scared to use it.

I’ve been shopping around, looking at mostly Sears since I have some gift cards for Sears from Mypoints and Discovercard. And they have gas ovens. Did I mention it’s a wall oven and cooktop which costs like DOUBLE what a range does? Grrrr…. And they have white gas ovens. But you know what? All the ovens nowadays are electronic lighting, and electronic displays. And you know what electronics need? Electricity. My kitchen has 4 outlets in it, one of which is occupied by the fridge and dishwasher, and one of which is by the stupid narrow counter, which I think is supposed to have like barstools on the other side. It’s useless. That outlet is occupied by phone and microwave. So that leaves me two available outlets. You’d think this kitchen was built in the 1800’s instead of the 1960’s. They did have blenders and mixers and toasters in the 60’s, didn’t they??? Grrrr…. All of which brings me to the fact that I so seriously doubt that this kitchen of mine has an outlet where the oven is, which means if I buy a new oven and stovetop, I’m going to have to get an electrician in. And since it's gas, the fittings probably need to be replaced too.

Maybe I’ll just call a repairman and fix the oven. Because it is almost an antique. And I'll buy a dishwasher instead. A white one. From Sears.

Don't you love the modern look of this Caloric Ultramatic? :)

Ashtray, anyone?

So, I cheated. I had a really ugly bad day (week) at work, and I wanted a cigarette sooo bad on the way home. And I actually waited a couple of hours after I got home, but I still wanted a fresh cigarette. I think I’ve mentioned that I have an open pack of cigarettes that I occasionally take a few puffs from, maybe adds up to less than 2 cigs a week since I quit. It was open when I quit and there’s still about 5 cigarettes in there, and I have a couple of half cigarettes in my hidden stash. Since they’ve been open for weeks they’re getting a bit stale and don’t taste so hot, but I figured that was a good thing – I’d be less likely to want to smoke if they tasted crappy. But Friday I decided to hell with it, I wanted a FRESH cigarette. That would taste goooood. That I could smoke with relish and enjoyment.

I opened a new pack, and fired one up.

Boy, was I disappointed. It tasted just like the stale ones. Let me rephrase that. I was PISSED. I did not get what I wanted. (insert big sigh) And then, it was a couple of hours later, I rubbed my nose. And boy-o-boy, did my fingers stink!!! Is that what they smelled like all the time when I smoked? And I couldn’t smell it? Ick.

But really. Even when I was a non-smoker, and I’d light a cigarette for a cheap buzz, the first ½ inch would taste okay/pretty good. I didn’t even get THAT. Or the buzz. I could cry. But I’m glad I quit. I think I could actually smoke a few, like at a happy hour thing, without going back to full-blown smoking. We’ll see, I haven’t tried that yet. Because I still want one when I get in a car, or when I’m getting really stressed at work, which is almost constantly lately. I was seriously considering stealing one from Cindy on Friday. But I didn’t. I was good. I made it thru the stress. I waited for six hours. And I was disappointed. There's still 19 cigarettes in the "fresh" pack. I guess I'll give it to my friend.