Horrible Weekend

I can not believe the grip these dried up leaves have on me. I went all weekend without the Xbox since my daughter grounded me. Yes I know that is funny, picture a 33 year old man sitting at the kitchen table getting a lecture about how I have disappointed this poor 11 year old girl. I hung my head low and said, "I am sorry I will try better."
Friday night went pretty smooth I was able to continue on with my thrill of being able to play Madden 2008 if I didn't smoke the whole night. My daughter had a friend spend the night so I was able to go the whole night without smoking and she allowed me to play Tony Hawk with them to see if I can help them unlock some more area's in the game. We all got up on Saturday and had breakfast, I stayed away from the coffee and had some Soda instead since I have realized drinking coffee and having a cigarette go hand in hand with each other. Then we went to the Mall. Going though the mall with two girls almost in their teens and a 3 year old is always fun. I am lucky that my kids are used to hearing, "I can't buy that right now I need to wait until payday." They are to the point that they barley ask for anything anymore.
After lunch we decided to go into a movie, this is always safe because if I am going to pay that much money to go to a movie there is no way I am going to miss some of it so I can smoke. So by Dinner time I was feeling pretty proud of myself for not smoking at all. After dinner we went to my daughters friends house where neither of her parents smoke anymore so it was pretty easy to go without there also. Then the girls came up with this great plan, they were going to spend the night there Saturday night so they could get up in the morning and go to church together. So me and my youngest daughter packed our things and went home. We were home long enough to get our PJ's on and make some popcorn so we could sit down and watch a movie, when my girlfriend came over with her daughter. So we made a little camping environment turned the movie on and ate popcorn. About half way though the movie my neighbor came over, he was bored so he decided it was time to bring a beer over and hang out. The kids were watching the movie so the 3 adults sat at the kitchen table playing cards and the other two were drinking their beer. My neighbor decided to go for a smoke, That ended it. All day again and here we are, my oldest isn't around to see me. My girlfriend and neighbor got their jackets on and said, "We are going to go Smoke." My youngest daughter looked at me and said, "Daddy, you can have one"
I couldn't believe it... So I had one, then 2...
Needless to say I failed miserably again on Saturday...
Sunday was actually a very good day, nothing exciting happened after church so we all went home and hung out without any smoking.
Monday was okay, I ended up having 2 during the day at work, my smoking buddy at work was getting lonely so he begged me to go with him.
So far today I am doing really good, I haven't had one yet but I have eaten a lot of Pretzel's today.

Day 1 - Dru's quit day

Wow, not even lunch time and this is getting difficult. I actually was surprised last night I finished my last pack at 12:00 am. So I woke up this morning with out the ability to smoke. Everything was already gone. I was able to get out of the house fine without smoking but then the coffee and car ride to work killed me. Yes, killed me... I can honestly say this is going to be very hard. I am not a macho man and do see myself break down in the fetal position by the end of the day. If I can only make it though work. I brought the 3x5 cards to work that the kids made me and posted them on my desk. One of my smoking buddies walked though my office on the way to the morning smoke break and I actually caught myself thinking, "is it really that important that my daughter thinks I smell bad."
I am realizing that coffee is a very large trigger. Every sip makes me want to warm my lungs with the refeshing warm smoke.
All of this and I have only been at work for an hour.
THIS SUCKS, maybe I should start this quiting thing tomorrow... :D

Healthy Food Alternatives For Cravings

I thought of this post because one of the biggest excuses for not quitting smoking is “I will gain weight!” I for one do not want to gain weight or loose the progress that I have already made. Besides, I think all of us that are involved with this group are mainly quitting smoking for our health. So, here are a few healthier things that we can put in our mouths other than cigarettes or other tobacco products.

• ½ cup – Baby Carrots (raw) = 35 calories, fat 0 g, carbs 8 g

• 1 cup – Celery (raw) = 17 calories, fat 0.2 g, carbs 3.6 g (Celery is actually “negative" calories since it has diuretic properties)

• 1 cup – Broccoli (raw) = 30 calories, fat 0.3 g, carbs 5.8 g

• 1 cup – Cauliflower = 25 calories, fat 0.1 g, carbs 5.3 g

• 1 cup – Sunflower Seeds (with shell) = 262 calories, fat 22.8 g, carbs 8.6 g

I found the calorie counts on Calorie Count Plus, this is a free service and it is my favorite for looking up servings and calorie breakdown information. I use Everyday Health for weight, food and glucose tracking (it is also free, I love free stuff). I have found that, Calorie Count Plus is easier to look up food values. In either service you can put in your own recipes and find out what you are really eating, sometimes this can be scary so beware. You can also find more information on Kicking The Smoking Habit that I posted on my blog.