I made a bet recently that I fully intended to loose...lol

At the beginning of August, Lunawolfseeker/Natalie (for those of you who know, check out her blog) made a bet with her two daughters:  she would loose 20 lbs by the end of the mont or pay both daughters $20 a piece.  She needed help, and accountablity...people who would cheer her on, and ask her how things were going everyday...no hard thing to do since I have been around family members on Weight Watchers, and Natalie is my friend, if she needed a cheerleader, no problem  I am happy to do it.

Well, last week, as she was at the 8 lb mark in her goal weight, I thought about how she was doing what she set out to do.  I also thought about the one thing that I wanted to give up, but like Natalie, I didn't have the incentive or the encouragement to do....QUIT SMOKING!!  

So, after long and intense thinking about this, I went to Natalie and made a bet I knew I would loose...or a deal, you decide...lol

When Natalie lost 10 lbs (halfway to goal mark), I would quit smoking....I know I have tried before this year, and failed.  Like Natalie, I didn't  have that accountability, and I wasn't completely ready to do this alone...but I want to do this.

Well, Natalie went beyond 10 lbs to 12, and I am very proud of her....however, this means that I quit smoking.

It works out, really....I only had about 6 left in the pack this morning when I got up, and I am really sick today...something's not right with me.  I called off work.  At 11 a.m. I officially quit!  I don't have any aids except for the one I signed up for online on Sunday-Quit.net.  I will have someone to help me do this, and I am hoping that I will have your encouragement and help too.

You see, I will want my dentist to not only work on my teeth, but to whiten them as well, if I keep smoking, then that would become a waste of money for me in the long run.  I am also tired on the smell in my car, hair and on my breath.  I am tired of my new manicure being ruined by the yellowness of the nicottiene.  I am also seeing the physical signs as well in my skin, and the extra coughing I am doing...

I am getting the aids and the help online, but I am also going to go to a doctor for help and advice as well.

I had other issues to that come with smoking-what I am doing while smoking:  drinking coffee...so, I am temporarily giving up coffee and replacing it with tea.  I will probably write more to give my hands something to do, and I will try to be in places where I don't smoke...easy since the state has passed the ban on public smoking everywhere in the past two years.

This also means that I stay away from chocolate (I am already doing that in honor of Natalie's diet).  At the moment, I am not worried about that one....lol

There are other things that I need to change in my routine to counter this, but I have to...for two reasons 1) I fully intend to honor my end of the bet, and 2) I WANT TO BREATHE RIGHT AGAIN!!

There are also things I will do to reward myself as I do this...and the ultimate goal...maybe someday I could use the money to visit Scotland and Ireland...and England...because I fully intend to hunt down the absolutely GORGEOUS Richard Armitage and land a big kiss on the man...and it wouldn't do to have smoker's breath when I do ;)

I am going back to bed in a few minutes because I am not feeling well today, called in sick for the first time since I started 5 months ago...but everyone have a great day!!

~Raven

Oh, and Nat, I will fulfill the other promise this afternoon, I am having problems with my computer here at the moment.