Congratulations on the cold turkey!
For every pack that you no longer buy, you can put your non-smoker money in your savings account.

OOh LV Murikami..... those will only increase in value with age you know.... I would like to have a cherry speedy!!! WOoo hoo!!!
Sorry about your hermitdom...self imposed or not...but don't stop blogging!

Ahh, this pics look great! It looks like ya'll had fun! And as far as the hermitdom goes, your virtual friends are here for ya!

(God-that work thang REALLY gets in the way of fun/drinking/friends/not smoking doesn't it! You should have a serious talk with them!)

Congratulations on the savings account and the being a non-smoker! Both excellent developments!

you didn't say, but will this hermit-dom extend to the blog?

I certainly hope not.

Nope. I plan to write IN GREAT DETAIL about the exciting developments of each day of hermitdom, I see the following headines:

Belly button grows after pondering!!!

The cats poop.

The cats poop: Part two.

TV, or: How I managed to live an interesting life today.

Stuff: I have it and it clutters my house so this is why I am doing nothing fun for six weeks so I can try to get a handle on my life and OH GOD, Montana! Cabin! Woods! Manifesto!

heh

that looks like a swell little party.

I love your house. Can I move in? Once I get rid of all my stuff? It will be fun.

Ash-- Yes. As long as it is after October 1st ;)

Oh, I didn't know that you were taking bids for roomies...

um, I'll throw my hat in the ring...I can cook and clean...sort of.

Heh.

I am 11 days smoke free! Well done to both of us! We rock!

Woohoo! CAP is a NON smoker ... yes she is!

And the hermit thing ... I'm so with ya sista... Sept 6th begins in for me. I told the crew a couple of weeks ago. They think I'm nuts. I have a plan. A kntting lotsa holiday gifts, saving lots money, spending lots time at the gym plan. Let's catch up Oct 2nd and see how it all went. Love Ya!

Kudos on the "not smoking"! Hermit-dom. It is a daily fantasy for more people than anyone would realize. But....if we all became hermits we would miss out on the wonderful Peter Jennings of the world. Stay home with the cats, have a glass of wine and don't answer the phone!

The Boy and I quit smoking (also cold turkey) in January. We saved enough money between the two of us to go on a cruise to Alaska this summer. Which totally rocked.

But the not smoking made me EVIL. For months on end. I hated everyone. Myself, my co-workers, the people on the subway. I could have chewed through wood somedays. Did I mention the hate? I was saved by knitting, vodka and time.

I had no idea how much emotional garbage I sublimated through smoking. It was tough. But Alaska rocked. Good luck!

Well, ya'll have apparently seen through my bad writing there (all nicotine-withdrawl induced) and yes! I started a savings account primarily because I used to spend $5 a day on smokes about 6 days a week, and ... HELLO. That is MONEY. And maybe one day I could go on a trip and meet a hot Russian man with his hot Russian accent and he and I will make beautiful love and drink vodski. So! Savings account!!

and now I want vodski

I am assuming this extends to SnB as well... we'll miss you! And I'll try to put off having a housewarming party until after October 1. (As if I could get my shit together and unpack before then anyway.)

two things -
a. white guys with ties, inc? laughed my ass off.

2. doesn't grown-up banking make you feel all responsible-like? i think it's sort of hysterical that i'm kind of a mess and will probably be under-employed and live with my parents forever, but i have a retirement account. it makes me giggle.

First, cold turkey.. only way to go. I did that cold turkey thing 1,597 days ago, and it was the hardest damn thing I ever did (even after giving birth. Twice!) but boy was it ever worth it.

Apparently I channeled a LOT of emotional/stress/craziness into my smokes *stupid little things don't deserve all that credit anyhow* and when I quit it was like.. woah, how do I cope now. When I was mad at my man, I yelled. And then I appologized and was like..dude, I used to just smoke when I'm irked..but now you're gonna have to deal. He quit 2 weeks later.. and started yelling back. It was all good.

Every day gets a litle bit easier... there will be a lot of days where you will want to go back to it (every once in a blue moon or two I crave a ciggy in a bad way. Sept. 11 almost had me joining Peter, but I couldn't see throwing away all those days of not smoking. I mean what's the point then?) but don't. Do it for yourself. DO it for Peter. ABC totally rocked a salute out to him last night, and when I heard him again announce that he had lung cancer in that raspy voice, I almost cried. And I pat myself on the back for cold turkey.

About those white men in ties... so not worth throwing your poor life unto an upheavel.. but I hope you come out on the other side well rested and at peace with yourself and your stuff. (or with less stuff. Clutter sucks!)

(hugs)

Yay for Laurie, making with the nonsmoking despite stress!

Congrats on the smokelessness, congrats on the savings account! I am working away with my offical CAP budget spreadsheet, and I must say, I think this will help if I can just remember to write shit down in it! (I'm working on it - I know my money goes somewhere, the trick is pinpointing where it goes!)

Yeah you! With the quitting smoking!

I hear ya about the work-work-work that never, ever seems to end. But possibly the savings from not smoking in your new savings account will throw you a sweet vacation post-hermit-dom.

Wow, what a fun looking party. And such a pretty little oil lamp. I need to get me one of those little ones, cause you know, you only want to haul out the big three foot oil lamp for guests and so on, but now and then I want to burn a little oil on a smaller scale.

Good job on the quitting! I quit in October of last year, so that makes me 4 months off the smokes plus six months of only-kind-of-sort-of-smoking. I know, I’m wishy washy and need to really quit again for real. But for a fist try I think it had it’s merits. I never smoke during the day or at work anymore and have somewhere between 2 and 6 cigarettes a week, depending on how my week is going and who’s around to bum smokes from. Beats the heck out of smoking at least half a pack every day like a slave though. But I will quit again and prevail! Just like you are right now!

Good luck with the hermiting and working thing. Lucky for you, the most fabulous and magical even in all of Los Angeles is going on *after* your Hermitation AIDS Walk Los Angeles is Sunday, October 16th. All ya’ll, if you are in LA you should walk. And if you’re not or just don’t want to, the least you could do is sponsor me, really. Go to my blog, details there

Last time I use your blog to promo my own interest Laurie, I promise. But come on, it’s charity!

Hooray for the savings account! Great idea someone posted about funding it with the cigarette money! Too bad we can't find a way to make $$ off of cat poop.

I found the thing that helped me the most when I quit smoking on January 3, 2005 was to change my routine. I was fortunate enough not to be so much addicted to the nicotine as to the routine/ritual/habit of the smoking. Which I loved. So I had to fill in the habit furrows grooved in my brain. So switch your daily routine around a little, if possible, and that may help. For example, I had to lay off the martinis for a while. Because a Cigarette So Goes With A Martini.

Also in Unrelated News: I'm sure your employer in the Financial Industry offers their employees a 401K program. Participate in it as much as you can. The matching contributions are Free Money.

Congrats on the cold turkey status. That sounds like bunches of fun!...As someone with a great deal of hermitude, I think taking a break to recharge is a good idea (but I'm always looking for converts). Hope it doesn't take long!

The only reason I have a savings account is because my bank requires that I have one to have a checking account. Someday I'll be out in the real world and make enough money that I can actually save some!

Hooray for quitting smoking. CA might be one of the easier states to do so,since public smoking isn't allowed anywhere, it seems.

So, once you are through the hermitdom, if you feel the urge to smoke, go to a public place. Think about how all of the nice L.A. people suck in enough car smog per year that they don't need the second hand smoke to kill off their lungs. Think of Peter. He'd be proud of you too!

Laurie, Doll! You're one year ahead of yourself! Congrats! You officially become an adult at the age of 35! You are so ahead of the game by opening up a savings account, quitting smoking and de-cluttering at your young age! By this time next year you'll probably be drinking iced wodka in Leningrad with Petrov.

"Savings account"?... What the hell is that?! Is that the hip way to describe the stockpile of shoes and yarn??! Because if so, then I've got one too!! Whoo hoooooooo!

;)

p.s. Nice job on the cold turkey. You've already figured out how to survive one day without them. Just repeat. K?

I like that oil lamp!

YAY! There appear to now be three of us who are now non-smokers! I am up to day eight! I'm so glad you joined me in this venture as we are best friends and all ;)

Hermitdom isn't all that bad. Now married with two kids, I'd love a week or so of that!

So. Proud. Of. You. Quitting smoking -- FABULOUS!!!

You'll probably fare better than my mom, who nearly had a heart attack when I was about 10 and I had loaded an entire pack of her cigarettes with exploding "loads" (ordered from the back pages of my comic books) and she fired up one night after a long night of night-shift work at the hospital. She screamed, I woke up, and I came dashing into the den, where she had a cartoonishly funny blown-out cigarette hanging from her lips. She was laughing and trying to swat me at the same time.

She still smokes, though. ;o) For the past 64 years, she tells me.

Totally unrelated question -- how do you do that very cool, orderly block of tiny photos that are clickable to biggie photos? I can "view source" and borrow the code, but I was kind of hoping you'd tell me there's some cool program out there that will do all the coding for my lazy self. Hints appreciated ....

Best of luck!

Carolyn -- I use the feature in movable type that resizes them for you. But if you do a view source, you can get the code, and then just change the pop up to be whatever size you want.

MT does create a whole page for the popup (which is why the extension of the window is .php instead of .jpg) but you can just make it an image popup, not a whole HTML page. I did that on one of the stitch 'n bitch posts when I had three bazillion pics and just resized them all in a batch.

Dude. I sound all TECHNICAL and shiite. Parden me while I bust out my pocket protector!!!!

You CAN do this!!! It is hard and it SUCKS, but you can do it. I am supporting you all the way with this. If you slip, you start again. You will never lose the desire, but the grumpiness will pass in time. I promise!
Savings account is fantastic. There are two kinds of people, spenders and savers. It is great when spenders become savers :). (and I mean that in all the nicest ways)

You go! I know how hard it is to be a new nonsmoker, because I recently became one too. If it helps you can see decline at www.laquits.blogspot.com. But enough about me. I'm proud of you. You can do it!

MONEY! YEAHHHUS!

Just think of all the money we (I was once a smoker too, quit... 15 years ago) burned up. Really. All those little white things are just rolled up money. Money that is much better used to buy kitty toys, yarn, and kick ass vacations. Or, in my case? I pretty much spent my money buying things for my classroom(s). I now have a 10 by 10 storage full of classroom stuff. But, some of it is on loan out, some of it will be used this year for a new classroom and others will be fodder for a Killer Garage Sale. And NOBUDDY walks off with my stuff for free (not without talking to me first!)

Enjoy your hermitage.

I totally support your quitting smoking but Auntie Purl & hermitdom? Please! If you're whacked out like me and can be content to exist on a deserted stretch of Texas highway then hermitdom is a viable option, otherwise, get out there, you were born to mingle. Isn't this blog your manifesto?

Hey Aunt Purl -

You'll always have wine, which is my buddy at the moment. Good for you on the no smoking thing and thank you for writing all that you do. The internets are indeed a good thing.

Smoke-free. AMEN. May you live long and prosper...
with or without Parkay tub. Everyone benefits with a manifesto.. hope yours knits up well.

Well, poop! I was hoping you'd pack up the cats and come up here to Canada, eh?

Montana???? We have wonderful secluded places here in the Black Hills of South Dakota!! Plus, if you want to be around people you'll find them a friendly bunch. They won't steal from you at yard sales!

Congrats on the not smoking. Whenever the urge hits, take a deep breath and notice how nice it feels. You can't take deep breaths if you're a smoker. Set that cig money aside for something nice.....yarn, a trip,whatever. Write on a calendar each week how much you saved by not smoking. You'll be amazed!!!

And send an email if you need help with the non-smoking!!

AFGHANISTAN has some wonderful places for hermits. Just pack plenty of barbed wire...mine detectors...water....ummm soap...

congrats on the cold turkey. A former colleague once said that it was probably best to quit during a really stressful time at work. If you quit when it wasn't stressful you might start again to cope with stress. We're rooting for you.

And hurray for the savings account. I'm also pretty crap at the managing the budget thing and basically have occasional periods of real restraint to get things back on track. I find automatic transfers into savings a godsend. it's like it was never in the chequing account to be spent.

Congrats on quitting smoking--it is TOUGH, but cold turkey is the only way to go!

Congrats on quitting smoking! It's a remarkable achievment. And congrats on your savings account. I for one, have never been good at saving! But I recently started a 401K thingy here at work - I feel like such a grown-up!

Love your posts and your friend David in the pics is a cutie!!

Do you have an ING savings account? I don't know much about 'em [other than that they're commercials with the personified dollar bills are really cute], despite the fact that I have one. I know the interest rates are higher then for most regular savings accounts [which means your money makes more money!]...I opened one up a while ago, on a referral from a friend, and because it was on a referral they gave me $25 for free [and maybe some free money to the referee too...]. I'd be happy to give you an email referral, if you'd like to broaden your savings horizons...[just think of the yarn you could buy with $25! Well, ok. Maybe not that much. But still. Free money!]

I ran out of Parkay, can I borrow some of yours?

Look at you with the not smoking! You wild girl, you. Good luck with being a hermit. The best thing about being a hermit is that you can be a total bitch, too, and nobody will be the wiser. But you might want to work on that when you come out of hiding, because nobody likes a bitchy-back-from-hermitdom-hermit.

Congrats on the cold turkey and especially on the savings account, yowza, good job!!!!!!!!!

Awesome on the cold turkey! Go, go, go!

Happy hermitage! Props on the no smoking thing, tough, but good. Trust me, I've been there.

Congrats on quitting! I'm glad my fellow Canuck Peter inspired you. My Dad smoked himself to death and then my Mum died of lung cancer, all before the age of retirement, so I am always pleased to see someone quit the coffin nails.

And I LOVE ING savings accounts, Love, love, love them.

Good luck with staying off the ciggies. You can do it!

is it just me? or are all of your friends hot? HOT HOT HOT!!!