Care Package and More Snow!!!

Today is Day 10 without cigarettes. Or nine full 24-hour periods. Without. Cigarettes. And it is Day 3 without nicotine. That’s right! Not a single bit of nicotine. Yay for me! No heartburn-inducing gum. No taping nicotine patches to my biceps with super-duper, double-sticky, flexible medical tape. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Absolutely. No. Nicotine.

However, I have been mainlining sugar straight down my throat-vein like my very existence depends on it, and, in a way, I suppose it does. But it’s a long shot. I’m not really worrying about the whole decreased-metabolism-thing yet, (and I’m sure I will when the button pops off my jeans and I have to spend $150 to replace the bathroom window), because right now, it’s all about getting past the 16-year love affair with the most addictive substance in the world.

Oh, good lord, do I love me some cigarettes.

In addition to the small milestone I reached today, Mr. UPS Man delivered a care package from my mom. Nothing lifts your spirits like a care package from your mom! I got all kinds of goodies: four different kinds of lip gloss, mints, minty gum, sweet ‘n spicy ginger chews, chocolate-covered toffee and espresso bean bits, a new purse and wallet, a beautiful journal with new pens and highlighters, and…a new/used computer (which promptly crashed upon installing Kaspersky’s Anti-Virus and all 26 of Microsoft’s critical updates). So. I’m sitting here looking at it now, its 300th restart of the night, and all I can say is: bless its tiny, little processor-heart.

I’m sorry, Mom. I know I’m the only person who can muck up a computer with anti-virus software.

Once I can figure out how to get it up and running without crashing, it will be a wonderful word processing tool. It will be just like that playwright said at the December PEN Women’s meeting; I can take my little notebook to the coffee shop or the Waffle House and write and write and write without all the evils of the Internets tempting me. You know, in that perfect world where one writes stuff that people actually want to read and other things like student loans and gas bills don’t exist. *Sigh*

On an up note…today was one of those days in the Blue Ridge Mountains where it snows all day long but never amounts to much on the ground. One of those snow days where it’s simply pretty just falling like it does—with none of the headache. So I decided that I would get up off the couch, tear myself away from the never-ending job search, and take some pictures.



Trying to capture snow falling without actually going outside...



This shot was taken from the breakfast nook... That's my snowed-in Subaru, and yes, it IS all-wheel drive. What you don't see? The hellacious dip between the driveway and the street. I scrape bumper-to-asphalt on a clear, dry day. My neighbor, Crazy Man, doesn't even shovel HIS dip. And THAT'S sayin' somethin'. Besides, neither of us owns a front-end loader or other necessary equipment to remove all the snow that the City plows *off* the street and *into* our driveways.



View from the front porch... (I've actually ventured outside by this point). You can't even tell there's a water tower and mountains over yonder, can you?



That's Subi, the first new car I ever bought. I put 25,000 miles on her in 9 months when I traveled between Salem and Lynchburg every day to teach 137 high school seniors College English. It was great, GREAT fun, in hindsight. I'd do it all over again, too. (Because I'm crazy like that)...



This little bird lives with its partner in a hidden spot off to the side of the front porch. It's terribly suspicious of me, even though we've been meeting like this for years now.

I thought about posting another poem tonight, but after reading through them, I decided I hated them all today. I'll try again tomorrow. Perhaps I'll even write a new one...

Peace and Love...