Quitting Smoking

This is my second day of not smoking using the Nicoderm CQ patch and it is making me sick.  Yesterday I had it on my arm and my arm felt like I had a tourniquet around it with no circulation and severe pain.  I called the Pharmacist and he said to get that patch off of my arm; that I was having a severe allergic reaction to it.  He said it could be the adhesive or the drug that is used to deliver the nicotine that I could be allergic to.

I put a new patch on, but this time I put it on my back hoping that, maybe, this would work.  I don't care about the allergic reaction; I WANT TO STOP SMOKING!  So, today I am feeling icky and hope that I can do this.  I have smoked for over 20 years and have hated it all along.  I call myself the closet smoker!  I don't smoke in public, in my car, around anyone, or in restaurants.

I hate the smell on my hair, my clothes, just in general.  I know that many more doors will open up if I do stop smoking; like having more friends, you know, the ones that you really want to be friends with, but are so afraid that they will find out you smoke.

I'm not getting any younger and with the longs years of smoking it has taken its toll on me.  I have allergies and smoking just makes this worse.  I feel like I have a lump in my throat all of the time, I have no energy, and I am coughing up that green stuff.

I kind of had an eyeopener this week with my 9 year old.  She came home from school with this poster that she wanted to create for the "Don't Do Drugs" campaign and right in the center of the page was the "No Smoking" symbol.  I asked her what that was about and she told me they were learning about not doing drugs.  I asked her what kind of drugs were they talking about and she said "cigarettes".  She even asked me how to spell cigarettes, so she could put that on her poster.

I realize that nicotine is a drug, but cigarettes are legal.  I also asked her if she knew of other drugs that no one should do.  She said she didn't, so I proceeded to educate her.  Maybe she isn't old enough yet for this talk, but any opportunity I have to explain anything to her I take, because I didn't get talks from anyone when I was growing up, so I didn't know any better.

Why didn't they teach this stuff back when I was in school?  My life might have turned out differently.  Here I go to try and go through another day without a "cigarette".

Wish me luck!

Modern Day (Small Town) County Fairs

I've lived in a few small towns and this is probably the smallest one.  I took my eight year old to the local County Fair last night and was shocked at how much it costs to go these events now-a-days. For starters each ride was one ticket and each ticket cost $3.25.  Now, you could buy 10 tickets for $25.00 and that would make each ride $2.50.  If you have a family of four and two people want to ride the rides it could cost $50.00.  Now, I bought her five tickets because I didn't have the $25.00 for ten tickets and I knew she wouldn't ride all of the rides anyways.  So, for five tickets it cost me $16.25.

Crystal rode the Spider, the Cliff Hanger, the Carousel, and the Farris Wheel.  She had five tickets, but they wouldn't allow her to ride the Farris Wheel by herself, so she wanted to use the extra ticket so I would ride with her.  I swallowed my vertigo and went on the ride with her only because they had the Gondolas and not the traditional seating.  Had they had the traditional seating I would have had to decline riding with her.

On the spider and the cliff hanger, she had a look of terror on her face during the ride and gave me the thumbs up after she got off the ride.  I thought this is the start of our next adrenaline junkie!

Now wait, there are still the games.  Each game was two tokens and each token was a dollar.  Crystal played six games for a total of another $12.00.  The nice thing about the games is that; one, you no longer have to give the game attendant any money as there are "token" machines in front of each game and two, you actually get to play on some of the games until you win.  Here is my thought on playing until you win; is this because our kids are so spoiled today that we are afraid to see them "disappointed"?  What happened to competitiveness at these games?  Like, the horse race where you roll the ball into the colored holes in order to see your horse advance and hopefully win or the dart game where you try and pop the balloon so you can win a cheesy prize.

I guess that is all out the window with these games today.  Crystal had a blast and walked away with like six prizes and didn't have to feel the pain of defeat for not winning any of the games.

I did get upset at the Carousel ride when the guy taking the tickets told a grandmother of a two year old that she could ride the ride with him, but it would cost her a ticket.  Really? When did this change come about?  That was just wrong.  I spoke with the Grandpa and he said he thought it was a rip off too, but what are you going to do when the children want to ride the rides?

The total budget for the trip was $20.00 and we ended up spending $28.25; the the $8.25 coming from the left over laundry money for the day.  All-in-all, she had fun and even got to see some sheep, goats, and bucket calves, so her day was a good day after all.

Cell Phone Etiquette

I'm not the best at always answering my cell phone, but I do really try hard to answer my phone calls when people call.  Of course, there is the occasion when I just can't.  I understand that we are all busier, running faster and longer, etc., But, would it really kill anyone to at least within a week acknowledge that you received a phone call?

I found this article titled "12 Unwritten Rules of Cell Phone Etiquette" and I was surprised to find out that there is such a thing.  The article discusses everything from screening your calls to talking in public and more.

Item #11 caught my eye, because with the age of technology comes long drawn out processes when calling someone.  It states "If I reach your voicemail, don't you think I already know you can't take my call right now and want me to leave my name, number, and a brief message? Do you need to waste my time telling me that? The whole process of leaving a message to begin with is too long. The last thing I want when I finally reach your personal greeting is a lengthy description of what you want me to do. We've been using cell phones long enough to know the drill. Just as you want my message to be brief, so too do I want you to keep your personal greeting short."

This can also go for those automated phone systems that the majority of companies incorporate because they don't see the need to pay anyone minimum wage to sit and answer the phone for them.  Please don't get me started on the hilarious phone systems that take how many prompts to get through before I finally get the person's voicemail.  I think I should leave a lengthy message just because of how long it took me to actually get through to your extension.

Well, off to call my landlord again to see if they can fix a broken light fixture.  Hey, maybe my daughter will have light in her room by next year when we have to move again!

Seedy Garden People Paper Dolls

I have never "made" paper dolls, so this swap was a bit of a challenge for me.  We had to use vegetables, fruit, and flowers in order to come up with these "Seedy Garden People".  The fruits and vegetables were easy, but trying to fit the flowers in somewhere was the greatest challenge.

I used brads for the four moving parts, which included the arms and legs and then I just secured the head.  The fun part was putting each little person into an actual seed packet, where they will reside until they meet their new owners.

 

We also gave them names and I used word from the catalogs that I received and put them together to give each a unique name.  There names are, from left to right:

Ruby Red Seascape

Paula Nemours

Sarah Blossom

Alcea Bernhardt

Small Town Fireworks Show

So, you might think that a small town wouldn't or couldn't put on a great fireworks show, however, our little town did a fantastic job at putting on a very impressive show.

It was so hot that the Fire Department had Fire Engines set up so the kids could cool off and have water competitions while doing so.

There were turtle races, questions to answer regarding the United States, hot dog eating contest, and lots of people shooting off their own fireworks.


All-in-all a very successful, hot, and fun 4th of July holiday.  I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday as well.

Back into the Swing of Things!

Last week I was able to whip out some artwork and I feel really good about it.  I was able to get in some trades with people over at ATCs for All!  I plan on focusing on doing some serious artwork and laundry.

Feather Mask

Mr. Sun Mask

Coffee Lover's Dessert Recipe Card

Lemon and Blueberry Bread Recipe Card

Fire and Ice Face

So, I've been working and lost my muse for a while.  Seems that is happening alot lately.  I am seriously always trying to get something done, but never in the art department.  I made this ATC a while ago and am now just getting around to posting it.  The really funny thing is that I can't bare to give it up for trading.

I love the porcelain masks with the different pictures painted on them and that is what inspired this particular piece of art.  I think I might just keep creating ATCs with more like this and then I won't feel so guilty about trading one.