Some Positive Updates.......

Hi all. I hope everyone has been doing well. I myself have been doing tremendously well lately. To start off with, I've quit smoking. After a 27 year habitual feeding frenzy, I finally got up some nerve(with alittle help from my doctor) and decided to try to live a life without the smoke. Honestly, it's a daily struggle for me but I know that in the long run, it will be quite beneficial for me healthwise, and it may prevent the aging process just a bit, as far as wrinkles go. I've had alot of support from friends to help me get through this rough beginning. So far, I haven't had a cigarette in 16 days, which is a very big accomplishment for me--a person who smoked just alittle shy of 3 packs a day. I admit that even as I'm sitting here typing this, I'm craving a cigarette. I was using the nicotene patch. It is the strongest prescription available, (21 mgs.) but for the past few days, I've forgotten to put it on. I suppose that that's pretty good. I like to think it's very good....

I've also managed to lose 28 lbs. and drop one size down in pants. This is another great accomplishment especially since I'm trying to quit smoking at the same time. My doctor suggested that I don't worry about what I eat, and just to concentrate on my quitting smoking but I don't want to gain anymore weight and I knew if I weren't careful, that that would be the exact road I'd be headed for. So I took the liberty of cutting down-drastically- the amount of food intake in my diet each day. I hope that I can continue with this momentum. I just have to stay motivated.

Recently, there were some very severe storms in the St. Louis Metropolitan area which created havoc in every neighborhood they reached. Some people are still without electricity because of the severity of the storms. For the most part, tree cutters and workers are seen working on peoples' yards, collecting the debris left behind from the strong winds. I feel that this was the closest we've been to having a tornado in a long time. I'm not ashamed to say this....I was so very scared. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I've never been in a tornado before. I hope that I never have to experience one upclose.

I've got another vacation coming up pretty soon. I'm hoping that this one will be different from all the rest. I'm hoping that this particular vacation will begin my climb of overcoming some fears that have haunted me for the majority of my life. That's all I'm going to say on that note for right now. A very dear, close friend of mine, who lives about 11 hours away knows what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I hope everyone's doing well. Take care all, have a good week and God Bless!