(Happy?) New Year’s!

It’s just a regular day for me… nothing special… here I am on New Year’s Eve, sipping coffee, blogging, surfing the web, and contemplating my next Netflix movie choice…

FUN, FUN, FUN! 😀

Or… OLD, OLD, OLD! 😐

Oh, well… I’m okay with it. I have to work tomorrow so it’s all good to me.

Speaking of which… I work in a government backed financial industry… like every bank in America and every government office is closed tomorrow, but I am working. WTF?! 😯

I don’t have any super duper New Year’s resolutions… My current plan is just to focus on ME this year. I have taken a couple of years off from doing that. I look like shit. I feel like shit. I need to get off my fat ass and DOOOO something about it. (As Nate would say… 😉 )

2014 Plan

Quit eating like there is no tomorrow. Seriously… I’m so over food. Nothing tastes good anymore. Since I quit smoking entirely, they say your taste buds come alive… well, I think I killed mine off as nothing is particularly satisfying… it’s all just “meh” so now is a great time to quit stuffing my face.

Put make up on every day. It’s amazing how much of a difference this makes in a woman’s life. I need to do it again. I have started just making sure I have eye liner on… baby steps, people… baby steps! 😉

Simplify my finances. Since my employer has all but said they would be laying us all off in 2014, I need to get my finances in order to prepare for upcoming apocalyptic fall from grace. I have pretty much resigned myself to knowing that I cannot control the employment gods. I only have control of me… so I need to pay off anyone who I actually love or like while I have money and a job. Once the job goes, it’s going to be a blood bath. 😆

Appreciate others. This is a continuation of my resolution from 2013. It went well but I got a little to caught up in my own pity party to focus well on it. I plan to stick a shitload of thank you note cards in my purse to try to give me more incentive to appreciate people on the fly… I am pretty sure that almost every person who is generous these days is not recognized for it and they deserve recognition. I know that when people do that for me it makes me feel special and I want to make others feel the same way.

Completely quit nicotine. ONCE AND FOR ALL! So, I kinda quit smoking in 2011/2012 when I had a baby and was breast feeding. I used to smoke 1 to 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I got down to one a day and then one every few days when i was breast feeding. Then, I slowly started smoking up to 3-4 a day. And THEN I spiralled out of control when my family home was trashed by renters and started smoking like a crazy woman again…

Anyway… I tried an electronic cigarette on Thanksgiving Day. Not bad. On my drive home, I stopped and bought a disposable e-cigarette that i nursed for 2-3 days. On Black Friday, I found a great deal on the V2 Cigarette Starter Kit (comment if you want the discount code!) and that started my journey. I have not had a regular cigarette since December 6th.

E-cigarettes have nicotine in them but you have control over the amount. So I do still get nicotine regularly. However, I plan to wean down to 0% nicotine by the end of the year. Possibly sooner… I can’t even stand the taste of the tobacco flavors anymore and I am having a hard time finding the perfect flavor to vape/smoke daily so it could be sooner, I guess. We’ll see how it goes.

Smoking was a good, loyal friend for so, so many years and what made it so hard to quit was the routine of it all. I still smoke/vape when I take out the dog to poop, and after I eat, and when someone is screaming at me on the phone… but now, it’s completely fragrance free water vapor. I love not smelling like smoke anymore! 🙂

So those are my plans for the new year. 2013 kind of sucked donkey balls. I am not expecting 2014 to be much better. But, all I can do is do me better than I did me last year, so that’s the plan, Stan!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas with their family and friends! I wish nothing but the best for every single one of you in 2014!

PEACE!

 

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Random Act of Kindness

I think I’ve already written about this before so I won’t get into it too far but…

This past summer, when I was in the depths of hell and a nicotine soaked depression after a skank ass family trashed my beloved first home, I received an offer for help from a random and unexpected source. It was from a woman in my community that I had worked with very casually and distantly when my son was in high school sports. Anyway, she messaged me and offered to help me on her only day off for the week.

I would classify this woman as an acquaintance at best so I was very moved and shocked at the offer. I always wanted to thank her but time got away from me. Tomorrow, I am sending her and her family a package with movies, candy, and popcorn in it, along with a card:

Inside the card, my note to the recipient said:

Dear Patty:

This past summer, I was going through a major crisis… And whining about it on Facebook. All my supposed  “real” friends were suddenly either nowhere to be found or just being complete assholes. Out of the blue, you messaged me and offered to help.

You didn’t have to do it. You know me a little bit but we aren’t BFFs or anything. We don’t hang out on a  regular basis. You don’t owe me anything. But, out of the generosity of your heart, you were the ONLY  person whom I didn’t give birth to that offered me a helping hand..

I just want to THANK YOU for being such a generous and absolutely freaking wonderful person. Even though I didn’t take you up on your offer (mostly because I was embarrassed), your offer made me realize  that 1). not everyone in life is a dick. – that there are really good people still out there, and 2). I need new  fucking friends because mine are all assholes. Often, as I was chain smoking and covered in grime and paint, I would think about the random act of kindness you offered to me and it kept a smile on my face through the bad times.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions in 2013 was to be sure that I thanked everyone who deserved it because  I think too many people these days go unappreciated. I hope your karma is winning the Lotto… But, until then, I hope you and your family can have some quality time together watching a few classics on my dime.

I know It’s not much but I wanted you to know how very much you are appreciated, Patty.
Your friends and family are lucky to have such a loving and kind person in their lives.

Merry Christmas

So, I’m not talking about an act of kindness I myself committed, but rather, an act of kindness that was given to me. I hope every single one of you will either be the recipient of or deliverer of a completely random act of kindness. It feels great both ways. Believe me. 😉