Day 15: Ham n' Cheese, Snow and Peace!

 

Day 15: Two weeks plus one! This morning, Stacy and I woke up about an hour earlier than we needed/wanted to.  We just laid there and talked and looked at our phones.  While we were doing that, I started laughing because when I was chewing, I absolutely would have put in a dip during that hour!  It was wonderful not to grab for a can of chew, a spitter, etc.  Sometimes I wouldn’t even have my chew or spitter near and I’d have to get out of the warm bed and go searching. That right there is reason #5,771 I’m glad that I’m a quitter!

 

I just dropped the kids off at school and by the time I got home, Stacy let me know that the school called and said the kids were getting out early.  At this time, it seems like a good idea considering the weather is supposed to be pretty bad.  We shall see. 

 

Well, it’s now 3:30 and there is no snow. The kids got out at 1pm.  Did the school district make the right call?  I’m not sure how late the last bus drops kids off, but I assume it’s 4:30-5pm.  If that’s the case, they made the right call because it’s now 3:35ish and it’s snowing.  Hard.  Right call or not, our kids are home safe and to me that means they made the right call.

 

It’s finally time to go pick up our ham n’ cheese cosmos from OIP!  We LOVE OIP’s ham n’ cheese cosmos!  For those of you who don’t know, OIP stands for Original Italian Pizza. Ironically, we never actually order pizza from there lol.  We just order one cosmo because we like the same condiments on it.  I eat my half with Middlesworth BBQ chips and there is NO substitute!  If we don’t have them, I will make sure we get some before I eat my half lol. Stacy will have Utz Smokin’ Sweets at times, other times she’ll eat Middlesworth Plain chips.  Tonight she had Wavy Lays.  Pretty important stuff huh?

 

Tonight is a weird night.  We don’t have the kids this weekend so it’s oddly quiet in here.  We SHOULD enjoy it while we can, but I’d prefer hearing the mini voices asking for apple juice or a snack.  I’d even prefer one of them coming to our room at 3am telling us they had a bad dream.  Stacy and I are just lying in bed catching up on our You Tube videos.  I have Iowa-Illinois wrestling on the Big 10 Network.  Iowa is taking care of business as expected. Alrighty folks, it’s that time…

 

Good night all…

 

Day 14: Two Week Weigh-In And A Sneak Peek!

Day 14:  Two weeks!  We made it two weeks!  It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always fun, but we’re two weeks closer than the guy/gal who hasn’t tried to quit yet. Stacy says that to me every day and it never gets old.  I had some major cravings but Stacy kept me grounded.  She always keeps me grounded and sticks by me no matter what.  Her support has been better than any other alternative.  I’m very lucky to have her as the leader in my support group.  Any successful “quitter” will tell you that having strong family support is a big reason for their success.  If they tell you otherwise, they’re lying!

Ok folks, today was my two week weigh in.  Remember, after my first week weigh in I weighed 190.  I started on day one at 189.2 lbs.  Yes, that means I only gained eight-tenths of one pound during the first week.  I was expecting it to be much worse!  Since it didn’t happen the first week, I was sure it would catch with me this week right?  Well…It didn’t!  As a matter of fact, I lost weight!  I weighed 186.6 lbs today.  I weighed myself three times and it said 186.6 ALL THREE TIMES!  I’m not really watching what I eat or on a strict diet.  Yes, I’m active.  Hell, we all are.  We’re raising two kids.  Of course we’re active! lol

I know I’m getting ahead of myself because it’s only been two weeks, but what’s (so far) the moral of the story here?  The “I’ll gain weight” excuse is for the birds!  All excuses are!  Sure, I might end up gaining weight, but I’d MUCH rather gain weight than lose my face, family, life, well you get it right?  You can NOT quit any addiction what so ever as long as you have excuses.  Believe me, I was one of those excuse givers.  I quit for six weeks and then gave excuses.  Hell, other people had excuses for me!  Before that, I always had excuses as to why I couldn’t/wouldn’t/shouldn’t quit chewing. Sixteen years is a LOT of time to come up with excuses.  I did and MANY other addicts did as well.  They still are! Are you one of them? Are you?

Ok, off my soap box now, time to put Stacy on it! Starting next week this blog will be about A LOT more than me quitting dip.  It’ll have recipes, girlie stuff, kid stuff, dude stuff, reviews of our favorite weekly things, Pinterest Favorites and Fails and MUCH more!  Stick with us!  If you’re already with us, invite some of your friends!  You just might enjoy what you’re reading and watching!  Remember, once we get to 100 likes on our Facebook page, we’ll be giving away the $25.00 gift card to Outback Steakhouse and several other places.

Goodnight folks…

 

Day 13: Lucky #13 and Bad Orange!

 

 

It’s day 13 folks! I’m super excited and I’m going to tell you why.  I had MANY cravings today, which is usually a trigger for me to be grumpy or irritable.  I wasn’t grumpy OR irritable! Well, ask Stacy to confirm this but I’m pretty sure we did well with these cravings. In my opinion, that is a HUGE step towards beating this addiction.  It’s not the last step or final step by any means, but it’s a confidence booster!

 

Tonight’s blog won’t long because today was a pretty normal, no curve ball type of day, which is the best kind of day when you’re trying to quit nicotine. I will say this, tomorrows should be exciting, it’s my second week weigh in!  Do you think I gained more weight?  Remember, after the first week, I gained eight-tenths of a pound. I was expecting it to be worse.  Maybe all my food consumption has caught up to me during my second week.  We shall see! Combine the fact that I’m trying to replace dip with food AND the fact that Stacy feeds me very well, you’d think I’d gain some weight right?

 

We had smoothies again today.  We added in a clementine orange assuming it wouldn’t do anything except add some flavor.  It did add flavor, but not the kind of flavor we wanted. It’s a process of elimination when you add new fruits to your smoothie.  Mr. clementine you have been eliminated! I’ll still eat you by yourself, but not with your friends all mashed up! Stacy said “Mr. Clementine seemed to have to much hair.” LOL

 

We’ve also been doing our teeth whitening challenge.  So far, it looks like Stacy is winning.  I’m doing the store bought teeth whitener; she’s doing the home made variety.  The home made stuff has hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and crest complete with scope tooth paste.  It takes her about two minutes a day and it takes me about 15 minutes a day.  Plus, I’m stuck with a giant mouth piece and I can’t talk for the 15 minutes.  You would THINK mine would work better.  So far, not so much.

 

Alright, folks...Tomorrow is my second week weigh in AND it’s my two week goal! 

 

Goodnight all…

 

Day 12: Motivation And A Movie!

 

Day 12?  It feels like I’ve been doing this forever.  It’s only day 12?  That is my current attitude.  But, as always, Stacy helped me out.  She said “You’re 12 days further along than the person who hasn’t decided to quit yet.” She’s absolutely right!  I could still be on day zero, which is where MOST people are who have an addiction to nicotine. 

 

She also broke it down for me another way.  I keep saying that 100 days seems like such a long time and the 100^th day seems so damn far away.  Well, it is far away!  However, Stacy broke it down like this.  She said “Let’s put 10 marks on the dry erase board.  Every ten days, we can erase one of the marks.  I don’t know why, but it felt great erasing that first mark.  I felt like I was getting somewhere.  It gave me power and strength over nicotine, which we all know is hard to obtain.  THANK YOU STACY!

 

After that talk and little “project” we did, the rest of the day went pretty well!  We went to Walmart because we needed to get an HDMI cable.  It’s amazing what one simple cable can do for technology.  All we have to do is plug one end of the cable into the lap top and one end into the TV and we can stream Netflix, You Tube, etc. right into the TV.  To save money, we decided to order Netflix, and downsize to the most basic Direct-TV package.  We are going to put Netflix (through the Wii) into the kids’ rooms and use the HDMI cable in our room.  It’ll save lots of money and the kids feel like “big” kids with a Wii in their room.  It’s a win-win situation.

 

I also stopped into the Dollar Tree to get more sunflower seeds.  I can easily say that sunflower seeds have helped me the most during my journey so far.  I mean as far as an oral replacement.  Stacy and our family have helped the absolute most overall.  The seeds, crystal light, staying busy, will power, luck, venting, and of course, the guys from www.killthecan.org have been a huge help!

 

For dinner, I got romantic.  I used a coupon and got Stacy and me a whopper and fries.  Yeah, that’s right, I’m a keeper!  On a serious note, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a whopper, damnnnnnn they are good!  Stacy and I talked about it the other day though.  We both said we’d take the Big Mac if we HAD to choose one or the other. 

 

I just finished watching a movie called “Here Comes the Boom,” staring Kevin James.  I always liked him ever since his days on The King of Queens.  He does good comedy in a clean way.  Not many people can do that these days!  Don’t get me wrong, I prefer the dirtier, more offensive comedy, but it was a fun movie.  And yes, it ends exactly how you’d expect it to, kind of like all clean comedies do.
 

 

 During the movie, I did have one fake chew.  I’m a little bummed about it, but I’d be even more bummed if it was real chew.  One day at a time! Good night all…

Day 11: Taxes and Confidence!

 

Day 11!  Today was an awesome day!  Maybe the best day yet! We got a ton accomplished and I hardly had any cravings what so ever! However, I have learned (it’s about time!) not to get cocky with the nicotine gods. I did that before and got my ass kicked.  This time, I’m just to stay thankful and humble and be glad that I had a great day and try to be ready for anything each day.

 

We did my taxes today.  I moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania last year so Stacy and I assumed my taxes would be a nightmare.  They weren’t!  Well, they weren’t fun, but we didn’t get hammered financially! Phewwww! We made out quite well actually. It took us several questions and several hours and that is usually a HUGE trigger for chew.  11 days ago, if  I was sitting in front of the computer for several hours doing work, I would have made sure I had my chew and spitter.  In case you guys/gals didn’t already know this, spitters are DISGUSTING.  I’m very proud for many reasons to be a quitter, but knowing I don’t always need my disgusting spitter around me or others all the time sure as hell makes me feel good! Anyway, my work time would have revolved around how much chew I had.  If I would run out of chew, I would have stopped my work and went to buy more chew.  Often times I would lose my motivation to be productive on my way to the store.  I would have told myself “I did enough, I’ll finish it later.”  In reality, If I never would have left my computer, I would have kept my motivation and got the work done, just like Stacy and I did today!  It feels good baby!

 

Remember yesterday when I said I felt like I was taking a step back by buying more fake chew?  I was comforted by the great people of www.killthecan.org when they told me that in no way was fake chew a set back!  Stacy also said something great, “Fake chew isn’t a set back, REAL chew is!”  She’s right….As always lol.

 

I’m very happy and proud to say, although I do have fake chew sitting beside me on my night stand, I’m about to fall a sleep and I did NOT chew any of it! The reason that’s such a big deal to me?  Because mornings and bed time is when I get my worst cravings!  I don’t expect it to be this easy every day, but I’ll take a good day when I can get one! Stacy likes good days to lol. Today’s post is short, but that’s a good thing!  No bitching, no set backs, no venting, etc.  I can’t promise every day will be so smooth though lol. Well folks, let’s hope tomorrow is more of the same.  Good night all…

 

 

Day 10 and our Chinese Superbowl!

   

Today has been a much better day, I think?  I took a step back though, at least in my opinion.  I went and bought a can of fake chew.  It’s the stuff with no nicotine and no tobacco so it’s harmless.  However, I wanted to quit doing that to.  I don’t like using crutches.  I just know it’s a million times better than chewing the real stuff. Again, I feel it’s a step back, but it’s much better than giving in to the real stuff.

 

I also failed in another way.  Stacy has been looking for her Pantine Spray Gel all over the place.  She usually gets it at Walmart and it hasn’t been there.  I went to CVS and Rite-Aid and couldn’t find it there either.  I was hoping to get her a small gift to show her how much I appreciated her support over these first 10ish days.  No luck!  We still can’t find it anywhere! Fail.

 

So today’s the Superbowl, featuring the Ravens and 49ers.  However, when you live in a house with a five and seven year old, there is also another “bowl” that is just as, if not more important than the Superbowl…..Any guesses?  The Puppy Bowl!  That’s right, Puppy Bowl IX! Auden and Beckett watched it on and off from the time it started until they went to bed and in bed as well.  I guarantee they’ll watch it when they are getting ready for school tomorrow to, assuming it’s still running on a loop.

 

For Stacy’s and I Superbowl grub, we didn’t go traditional.  We had our very own Chinese!  Pork pot stickers and chicken fried rice, with bacon! We love the pot stickers and I love the fried rice.  Stacy even loved the fried rice tonight!  I added an extra teaspoon of vegetable oil tonight, I’m not sure how much of a difference it made, but it must have! It was goooooood!

 

 

We’re also having smoothies, and it’s our first time making them here at our house. We’re going to add two bananas, half a cup of strawberries, half a cup of blueberries, half a cup of low fat vanilla yogurt and half a cup of skim milk.  Then for nutritional value, we added a handful of fresh spinach.  I’m sure you’re asking, what!?!?  I promise you will NOT taste the spinach!  Why not add some positive nutritional value at no cost to the taste? They came out fantastic and we didn’t add ANY sugar! All the sugar was from the natural sugar you find in fruits. I put mine in the freezer for a few minutes and it was f’n delicious! I’m considering adding bacon next time….Seriously…

 

 

We’re watching the half time show right now….Stacy’s opinion of the half time was….”It was ok, I expected her to sing more and sing more new songs and dance less.” My opinion of it?  She’s incredibly talented but she didn’t really utilize her talent.  She utilized technology but not really her incredible voice.  I guess that’s the “norm’ these days with music, especially pop music.  Technology first, talent (if any) second.

 

The lights went out! Stacy said the FUNNIEST comedic line of all time and we were too scared to post it on Facebook. However, in my opinion, it’s too funny not post on at least one forum!  When the Superdome lights suddenly went out, Stacy looked at me with a straight face and said “ah man, Ray Lewis just killed the lights.” I literally “lol” and couldn’t stop.  Any of you who really knows Stacy, knows she usually isn’t the one to make bold or “controversial” comments.  That’s why it was so damn funny to me!  Hahaha that’s my girl!

 

Well, the Superbowl has come and gone and so has the NFL season.  It’s now baseball season!  Let’s go Orioles!

 

As far as the chew, today was a good day.  I was a little worried that watching football on TV would be a chew trigger.  It just didn’t hit me. I was lucky.  I know there will be some triggers in the future and I intend (with my family support) on kicking those triggers right in the nuts.  I’ll do it, I will.  Good night all…

Day 9: Good Day, Rough Day.

Good day, rough day.  I’m not sure what it is, the weekend maybe?  All I know is this:  After several good days in a row, I had some major cravings today.  I was irritable, snarky (Stacy’s word lol), and overall grumpy. My mom and brother came up to visit us and even my mom noticed.  I didn’t really notice it.  Hell, I thought I was doing well with handling the cravings.  According to my mom and Stacy, I was NOT. 

 

I thought the bad days were over.  I thought wrong.  It’s so much that I thought the bad days were over, but I think I let my confidence get to high.  I just assumed that I’d be good to go because I had several good days in a row.  I’m not sure if it was the weekend that triggered the intense cravings or what, I just know it was bad.  I am proud to say that I did NOT chew though!

 

IT wasn’t as bad as day three was, but it wasn’t great either.  From the second I woke up, I wanted to chew, and I mean the VERY second.  That was the first time in awhile that I wanted to dip from the second my eyes opened.

 

My brother and my mom came to see us today.  It was a good time.  Stacy made her ALWAYS awesome homemade mac n’ cheese and my mom made some sort of cheese dip.  It had crushed Ritz crackers on the top and bacon as well.  It was gooooood. Dan gave Beckett and I haircuts, which was incredibly nice and convenient for us. It’s always an adventure when it’s time for Beckett to get a hair cut, but today he was a trooper! And, as always, Grammy Carol spoiled the kids with arts and crafts activities. It sounds like a fun day, because it was a fun day!  After Dan gave me my hair cut, I went up to grab a quick shower.  According to Stacy and my mom, after my shower is when they started to notice my irritability. I didn’t even realize it.  That’s how crazy nicotine can make someone.  I hate it.  I hate being “snarky” towards anyone, especially towards the people I love.  I dream of the day when I’m finally 100% over this damn addiction.  Not necessarily just for me either, but for the people who are sticking by me and rooting for me.  Those same people who are in the trenches with me and going through this with me.  None of them made the choice to start chewing, I did.  Yet, they all want to be right here with me and go through it with me.  I’m grateful, thankful and LUCKY!

 

I just want to be in bed and fall a sleep.  The craving won’t go away and I’m not much good to anyone.  Again, it’s not like it was on Day three, but I sincerely hope tomorrow is better.  I guarantee Stacy hopes tomorrow is better to!

 

Thank you for sticking by me, Stacy.  I literally could not make it through these rough days without you.  I mean that.  I love you.  

 

Sorry about the short post tonight folks.  It’s all I got in me.  Good night all…