Archive for November, 2009
Uh, Never Again
Posted by: | CommentsWell, the day after Thanksgiving I decided I would go shopping.
At 5:00 am.
Really.
So, I got myself ready and headed out to Target. I got to the parking lot around 4:50. There wasn’t a spot to be had in Target’s lot, so I parked in the lot next door. I got in line to enter the store.
The end of the line was around the building at the loading docks.
Really.
I got inside and there weren’t any carts left.
Really.
I dragged my but back to a very large air hockey table that was on sale for fifty bucks. (This was the gift I told my folks that the kids would like – and they will). I grabbed the table, and, without a cart, dragged it through the store. I offered one guy ten bucks for his cart.
Really.
I still didn’t get it…he had something large to get.
So, I propped up my air hockey table and headed to the front of the store to stalk people for a cart. I finally got one. I tried to do some more shopping. I had the best of intentions. I was going to get all the shopping done.
HA!
I waited in line at the electronics counter (because I needed an iPod Touch) for over an hour to pay for all of my crap. I did save ten percent because I opened a Target charge, and got 25 bucks in gift cards back.
I left the house at 4:30 and got back at 7:45. And I just went to one store.
Really.
Have a great day!
Oh So Thankful
Posted by: | CommentsWell, lots of things are just going just peachy here. It’s been two weeks since I’ve had a cigarette. Do I still want one? Yes, every day. In fact, I want one right now at this exact moment. Being at the restaurant is the hardest…everybody here smokes.
I’ve also been very good about going to the gym and exercising. And even though I couldn’t go to the gym yesterday, I still exercised. I did some disco abs thingie on Comcast OnDemand. Chloe did it with me. It was quite comical.
I don’t want to gain any weight because of the whole no smoking thing. I know that if I stepped on a scale and saw that I GAINED five pounds, I would get my fat ass in the car and drive down to the convenience store for cigarettes. Plain and simple. So, I’ve also joined Weight Watchers online (just for three months…then I’m going to cancel. In fact, ‘cancel Weight Watchers’ is already in my to-do list for February). I didn’t realize how much CRAP (well, not crap in the literal sense. But crappy food.) I shove in my mouth. Especially after getting those two bags of Halloween candy for half off. The Heath bars? Long gone. But I still have the Mounds. I’m thinking I should just finish off the bag and delay Weight Watchers for a few days. 
Because my timing is always so perfect, it just so happens that Thanksgiving falls this week. So, I’ll be eating a ton of food that day. Oh well. At least I don’t really have to cook anything. I still have my sister in laws convinced that I can’t cook. Which is just fine with me. My assignment for Thanksgiving dinner? Celery stuffed with cream cheese and peanut butter. I almost got found out a couple of months ago, and my sister in law Anita found out that I make a mean ham. I have since sworn her to secrecy. Since she’s not actual Downey blood, I think I’ll be OK. I’ll probably get found out right now…but hopefully they think that I’m lying right now and that I really can’t cook.
Kristina – you just roll with me here. Don’t tell your aunts. But that’s why you got stuck making pies. Because they know you can.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Crazies, They Are A Comin'
Posted by: | CommentsYou know the crazies are coming, don’t you?
I mean, they’re coming for me. I’m assuming that they’re coming for every other person (or at least every other mother) in the world, too.
It’s that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s one month of slightly controlled chaos, enormous amounts of pressure and lots of extra calories.
I don’t mean to sound like a Scrooge, but I’ve NEVER been big on Christmas. I take that back. I was never really big on Christmas once I had to be the grown up (even before I had kids). I don’t like deadlines, I stress about whether or not I bought something for all the people on ‘the list,’ should I have joined that cookie exchange and did I send cards out to everybody that I got a card from?
Ugh.
So, because Thanksgiving is not until next week, I’m sticking with the whole “Let’s make a better Heather” theme. Smoking habit? Kicked. (Don’t get me wrong…I still want to smoke. A lot. But I won’t). Exercise? Check – five times a week at the gym. Weight? Working on it with the exercise and some bland tasting, low calorie foods. Except for the bag of Heath bars I bought that were on sale after Halloween. But they’re very small 
I’m doing all the crap my doctor wants me to do. I just need a check up at the dentist, AND I need to get my hair done.
So, tomorrow I’m going to get my hair cut and colored. Let’s see…I’m going to look back at some old posts…The last time I got my hair cut and colored would be August 13th. More than three months. Which explains the roots that are over an inch long. And the greys.
Oh, the greys.
So, tomorrow will be it for a while. The last thing I do for me until after Christmas. Then I’ll be officially diving in. Present buying, cookie making, wrapping, cards, decorating, attending concerts, making treat bags for school…the list will go on forever. I’m gonna slap a smile on my face and enjoy it, damn it! Really, I am.
I just hope I don’t come out on the other side of Christmas as a smoking, lazy, 50 pound overweight mom with a crushed sense of self and a crushed sense of humor.
But hey, then at least I won’t have a hard time picking out some resolutions for 2010.
Grrrr…hmmm…ugh.
Posted by: | CommentsOK, just a quickie here.
- I really want a cigarette. I haven’t had one, I’ve been good. But I’m dealing with a craving that has lasted pretty much for the past 4 hours.
- I’ve decided that if I ever find out I have some type of terminal illness, I’m going right back to smoking.
Just sayin’
Other than that, I’m just trying to think some happy thoughts…and I’m chewing lots of gum
Change – It's Good, Right?
Posted by: | CommentsWell, let me tell you about my past week. I quit smoking last Sunday. I had finished all of the steps of the Quest cigarettes that I could get my grubby little hands on. We had a great Sunday that involved a trip to the grocery store, an awesome sale on crab legs, spoiling the kids and enjoying the day. The last cigarette came after that awesome dinner of crab legs and fresh bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I made everybody leave the house so I could be alone with my cigarette. We had an emotional good bye, but knew it was better for both of us….
ANYWAY, that was the last time I smoked. The next day I went to work…at the restaurant…you know, where there’s ALL THAT FOOD?!?!?! I couldn’t stop eating. I just didn’t know what to do with myself. At 10:30 I had roast beef and mashed potatoes. A couple of hours later I had some funnel cake fries (they really are super yummy). An hour later…nachos with cheese and jalapenos. It was crazy.
Thankfully, the gym that Tony and I decided to join opened the next morning. So, I headed off to the gym, determined not to gain the weight that normally comes along with quitting smoking. I’ve done pretty well with at least GOING to the gym. And here’s the best story about that:
Thursday morning I decided to take a Zumba class. I’ve always liked the dance-y stuff, and figured it would be fun. Because it was the first day they were actually having classes at the gym, there were only two other women in the class with me. I announced to everybody that I had just quit smoking, and that I hadn’t exercised since, maybe, high school. I asked that if I decided to just quit and lay down on the floor, would they politely just ignore me.
I hung in for the class pretty well. It’s a 45 minute class, and around minute 35 I decided that I needed to be done. I thanked the instructor (I really did enjoy the class) and told her I’d see her the following week. Chloe and I headed out to Kohl’s for some shopping.
And then it hit me.
I thought I was going to have a stroke in the middle of Kohl’s. Chloe and I sat in the shoe section for a while, and I told her that if mommy fell down onto the floor to just go and get somebody who worked here. I figured that no, I probably wasn’t having a stroke. But the fact that I had a Fiber One bar for breakfast and then proceeded to dance around like a horny club going 21 year old for a half an hour might have been the problem. After I felt a little better (and ate a sucker to get through our shopping trip), Chloe and I headed to McDonalds for a Happy Meal and some grilled chicken wraps.
So, I haven’t died of exhaustion, stroke, over eating or nicotine withdrawal. And I haven’t killed or injured anybody. I don’t think I’ve even made anybody cry. I’d dare to say that’s a pretty good first week of not smoking and diving into exercise, don’t ya think?
