I’ve opened my last packet of cigs and told everyone, so there’s no going back. I have to at least attempt to quit.

Thank you so much everyone for your advice and encouragement.

Jen, your positive attitude always inspires me - everyone around me is being really encouraging and supportive rather than saying I’m gonna fail. Literally everyone in my family has smoked at some point in their lives and given up in the last ten years. I was the youngest so the last to start smoking and I’m one of the last to give up (bar my 2 aunties)… so I’ll just have to prove myself wrong instead of other people!

Sherri, thank you so much… I promise to think of your encouragement so that it isn’t wasted when I’m having a mad craving!

Frederique, LOL - in all honesty, that is one of the reasons I want to give up… I’m hoping that this is the year, and that giving up may make it a little easier to accomplish! Congratulations on being a reformed smoker, 7 years - wow… you’re my hero.

Sue, phone that number… prepare for it, make the appointment but with a fairly long lead up (month or so)… my parents saw a hypnotherapist last year after having smoked for 40 years, they haven’t smoked a single cigarette since! They said it was a weird experience and that they think it worked by ‘numbing’ them for a month. They said that every sensation of craving felt slightly dulled and that although it was still hard at times, it just wasn’t quite as ’sharp’ yano? If I don’t manage it this time, hypnotherapy is a route I’m seriously considering! Thank you chick!

In other news (not that there is much) - I saw my niece Mildred over the New Year, I hadn’t seen her for almost a year so it was lovely but really sad how she was growing up so quickly. The weather was horrible while she was here, so any photos I got of her were indoors with flash.

She’s such a good girl, and VERY talkative! We went bowling, made salad, did jigsaw puzzles and went shopping - she’s a real girly girl, and is totally into fairies at the minute (at least it isn’t Bratz). She sings and talks to herself all the time and is just a joy to be around.

After having her face painted by her Dad she became ‘Super Fairy Girl’… we all had to have super powers, so I was ‘Super Camera Girl with her baddie-blinding flash’ (what an excuse to take pics huh?), Paul was ‘Super Tall Man with his super long legs’ (he’s 5ft 8″), My Brother was ‘Super Security Guard with his super security scanner’ (you’re not coming in!) and everyone else got various roles which we had to morph into whenever ‘Super Fairy Girl’ sprinkled us with fairy dust. Too much fun!

Till next time,

Love from me xx