7 Years Ago

7 Years ago today I smoked my last cigarette. I was a pretty heavy smoker for a number of years. Quitting smoking was one of THE hardest things I have ever done. I couldn't have done it without the patch which I wore the full 10 weeks. There were times that I would rub the daylights out of it trying to get that little extra out of it.
The first 2 weeks were horrible. I had to keep constantly busy. I have never showered so often in my life. It seemed I always felt itchy. I played my guitar constantly trying to keep my hands busy. I couldn't pick up a phone to call anyone because that always went along with smoking.
There are times that I still miss having a cigarette, but those times are less. I'm very glad that I quit although I've put on a great deal of weight since. Addiction is such a hard disease but a real sense of victory comes when you're able to overcome something. I always said if I can do it, anybody can.

Mornings

I'm not really a morning person...yawn, stretch, groan....but this week I've been working 7:30-3:30 every day. That means I'm up at 6 o'clock EVERY SINGLE MORNING! Yikes!

This weekend I'm looking forward to sleeping in and getting lots of rest and relaxation around the house. Maybe a movie, ordering in pizza. Anything that does NOT require getting out of bed so early.

Peace out.........

Read the Want Ads Lately?

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting....

DYSFUNCTIONAL SECTION OF HALLMARK CARDS

1. I always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. And now that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) - I've changed my mind.

2. I must admit, you brought religion into my life...
(Inside card) - I never believed in Hell until I met you.

3. As the days go by, I think how lucky I am...
(Inside card) - That you're not here to ruin it for me.

4. Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) - Someone other than you.

5. When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card) - Now that we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.

6. We've been friends for a very long time...
(Inside card) - What do you say we stop?

7. I'm so miserable without you...
(Inside card) - It's almost like you're still here.

8. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy...
(Inside card) - Did you ever find out who the father was?

9. You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and there was only one life jacket...
(Inside card) - I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.

I stole this from a blog I often read.........too funny.

10. Looking back over the years we've been together, I can help but wonder...
(Inside card) - What was I thinking?

Big Girls in Holland

This photo is on this computer, I'm not sure why but since it is I thought I'd post it. Here we are in Holland. Yes, this is how they dress. All the time. So we thought we would do as they do. Aren't we cute?

In Other Words....

Last weekend our computer crashed and burned. It wasn't pretty. So, now I have no pictures, nothing to attract anyone to read my blog which, by the way, isn't read by many people anyways.

This week I've been working a lot. A whole lot. A big fat pay check (ca ching ca ching) lot.

Next week? I'm a block head. Yup. In the world of transit that's what I am. Someone who does a block of work. In other words, the same run, the same time, the same bus every day. For a week! Yippee skippee!

I'm living on borrowed computer time with this computer. I took it out of the closet, dusted it off, and hopefully it will work until the new one arrives. It does funny things. Sends emails to people that I didn't send, crashes in the middle of reading other people's blogs, shuts down constantly and keeps telling me my *(&*(
virus blocker isn't updated"

Anyways, until I'm up and running again on a new or improved ' puter, this one will have to do.

.............peace out.

Bad Betty

This is my mom Betty last year when she turned 80. For an old girl she's doing pretty good. She's fit and healthy and apart from losing her eyesight hardly has a reason to see a Dr.
For some unknown reason Chris has always called her Bad Betty. No idea why, I don't even think Chris knows but the name has stuck. Over the years as kids we gave her names..."Big Bucks Betty"...she didn't like that.

A Bad Betty story...my mom goes for power walks every day except when the weather is really bad. She can walk around the lake in 20 minutes that takes an average person 30 minutes. She's fast..I have never been able to keep up with her.

One day as she was zipping by the lake a guy suddenly stepped out of the bushes and opened up his trench coat and with very little imagination "flashed" her. My mom stopped and looked at him in the eye and said "if that's all you've got I wouldn't be showing it off" and continued around the lake. I told you, she's quick.

Another time she was at the mall and she parks a long ways away, you know, just in case another car parks beside her, and when she was loping towards the mall a guy came up to her and asked her if she had any spare change.

Bad Betty says, "No, but I have a peppermint. If you're going to beg from people you should have fresher breath" and gave him a pepper mint. He mumbled something and walked away.
Bad Betty, she's a legend. A crime fighter in the 'hood.

Life Goes On

We have a dog named Maggie. We now have had Maggie for 2 years, we got her from the SPCA, She had been given up 3 times before and so we became her 4th home. She had a lot of issues and needed a lot of tissues then and now. We've had her to a Dog Psychologist, put her in Obedience School and have tried endlessly to work with her. She's made huge improvements in some areas.

One area Maggie still needs to work on is her love for cat food. Now that we have 2 of them who also need feeding on a daily basis, she finds it necessary to eat not only her food but theirs!

The cats are NOT impressed. No wonder they give her "the paw" when she looks at them.

Other than that, it's been just work, work, work around here.

Kit and People in Uniform

I thought I'd tell a little Kit story.........I'm thinkin' my blog's needing a little more material so I'm going to tell a few stories about people. *Some names have been changed to protect the innocent*NOT!!!

Kit loved anyone who wore a uniform. It fascinated him. He held people up in high esteem if they wore a safety vest. He waved at everyone we’d pass on the road and saluted those in uniform. He often found ways of making sure somebody in uniform would come out to the group home where he lived.

One day Kit and I were out in the community and had stopped in one of our favorite coffee places to refresh and Kit spotted a man wearing a vest with his name tag on it. Kit loved to see tags and would point to them gesturing to the person that he wanted to know what it said.

That day it was something like “MAC” and Kit laughed and shook the guy’s hand. “Mac” was intrigued by Kit and asked me where he was from. “Mars” I said, to which Kit laughed uproariously. We would often make up stories to tell people just for fun. Kit had a wonderful sense of humour and trying to fool people was one of his favorite past times. Mac laughed again and shook Kit’s hand pumping it up and down. Then he turned to me and said,

“What a great guy, he makes a great first impression. When you meet him it’s like a whole bad day just gets washed away.” I’ll never forget that.

Kit loved to bring people in uniform to the group home. One time he cut the outside cable wire which provided the feed to the fax machine. Not too serious until the Manager wasn’t able to fax something. It was then discovered the cable had been cut.

Another time he cut the phone line. This time it was a little more serious because the Group Home was out in the country and really quite isolated. These days all staff have cell phones so we did have an alternative in case of emergency but he still got a talking to for that one.

The most memorable uniform story was the night we had to call the Paramedics to remove a violent client from the home. Two Paramedics and an ambulance arrived so Kit showed them into the house. Because of the state of emergency the Police were also called. They parked their cars out front and as staff we weren’t aware of that.

After the client was removed and the crisis was over we thought everyone had left. However, the policemen were still out front sitting in their squad cars making their reports. Just as we thought it was quiet in the home the front door opened and in walked one of the big burly policemen holding hands with Kit. In his other hand he held a long stemmed flower. Kit had followed the policemen to their cars and presented them with flowers as his way of thanking them for helping us deal with the crisis.

I Refuse to Change

I haven't been able to update my blog because I keep getting messages that I need to switch over to Beta Blogger and from what I've read, it's a real pain. Heck no, I won't go!

So for the time being I'm being stubborn and staying over on this side. Until I find a new blog site that works for me, this blog will just have to do because it's allowing me to post this fine morning.

Here's a shout out to all my peeps...............keep the faith!