Giving up smoking was easy, giving up the chocolate that has taken its place- was a little more difficult.

About a month ago I was faced with a choice… The choice being- smoking or breathing. After some debate I came to the conclusion life wouldn’t be as interesting to me if I couldn’t breath so I quit smoking (cold turkey) and after four weeks of being smoke free I would have to agree breathing is more beneficial.

As I said earlier quitting was easy, well maybe easy wasn’t the right word. Possibly quitting was inspirational to me because instead of smoking I decided I was in need of a hobby. So I took up three…

I began teaching myself French (which I have not done in eight years),  painting which I also have not done in a while and began teaching myself how to play guitar. After all this I am now proud to announce I have successfully only thought about smoking 494,393 times in four weeks.

No just kidding, I just keep reminding myself it is all in my head and each time I want a cigarette I eat chocolate instead.

So, since I now technically should be partial owner of Hershey I have decided to go ahead and quit the chocolate too. This may be the toughest thing in young girls life to do but I’m going give it my all!!

Does this sound a little over confident to you, yeah me too! There is no freekin’ way I would give up chocolate and smoking all together. I said breathing was better, I didn’t say anything about gaining 50 pounds.

The posters worked and my kitty returned home last night. Having been picked up in the parking lot near my house the couple who took my cat home called and said they thought my collarless, dirty white cat was a stray. You see my cat won’t wear a collar and is all white so any time it rains equals instant dirty cat.

Thank you for returning my cat saftley my kids are thrilled!! Also for any of you who shop at P&C if there is ever a fat white cat walking your way please just let it be and don’t take it home. Thanks

Paris Hilton and “Scooter” Libby should have shared a cell. See, both famous yet both of them broke the law. Wait wait wait, that’s right Paris is already out after a slap on the wrist more than likely recovering from a hangover from an all night binge in celebration of her release and Libby well he never had to step foot inside a cell in the first place.
Sometimes I wish instead of being Jill Osterhout, I was Jill Heinz, the only heiress to the ketchup family fortune. I could party hard, break the rules and when I got sent to jail after violating serious rules I would simply have a simple cell done in white away from all the hardened criminals and have a brief stay only in turn to create a media frenzy and boost my popularity just a touch more.
On the other hand if instead of being born famous I could make myself that way by becoming highly political and joining the ranks in the highest political chairs in our country.
Libby proves the age old saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Libby recently sentenced to 30 months in prison for a outing a CIA agent and more recently commuted by George Bush who other and will not spend a day behind bars.
Outing a CIA agent, a federal crime is no small potatoes to us common folk but I guess when it comes to the political world politicians can ‘out’ whoever they want except for George himself. Actions of Bush not only are going to create a stir across the country, his actions set forth prove when the going gets tough get the president to bail you out.
Maybe 30 months is a long sentence but in turn it is also a well deserved sentence. What Libby did to Plame and her family was wrong. Giving Libby a fine is like saying what he did really isn’t so bad, just pay this fee and be on your way.
I would like to know why say a mother/father enters a store and steals food, gets arrested and says they stole the food to feed their hungry child, Bam! They spend the next six months behind bars and have a fine they can’t possibly afford to pay. Now Paris drives drunk, could have killed numerous people while Libby puts another life at potential danger and jeopardize the work of a CIA agent but both get off with a slap on the wrist.
I still agree that is we just housed them together the tax payers would save money and even for six months. Having the two share a cell would be punishment enough. No, not really I think they both should both get the book handed to them and really take responsibility for their actions.

I just read a post of the forum about lottery winnings, and it really made me think. I’ve never really spent too much time wondering what I would do if I ever won the lotto. Gambling has never been a big thing in my family. In fact, my mom went to Turning Stone Casino for the first time last weekend, put $5 on the roulette table and after one spin, ended up with $175. The people at the table were amazed that she didn’t want to continue when she was on such a lucky streak, but she thought they were crazy for suggesting she chance her winnings.

With these views of gambling pervasive in my family, I don’t give too much though to the lotto jackpot or picking my winning numbers, but since my husband just got one of those Raffle to Riches tickets, and I have my mother’s luck, I’m going to indulge myself for just a moment.

I’m pretty sure if I won the lottery, I would be fairly reasonable……at first. I would invest in some smart stocks and pay off the bills and set up college funds for all the kids in my family. I would build the addition I’ve always dreamed up with a big fireplace and cathedral ceilings and a loft looking down into the living room and I’d be pretty content.

At least that’s what my plan would be, but as they say money and power corrupt. It probably wouldn’t take long to become as ridiculous and frivolous as all of those childhood stars that earn money when they’re 6 and become bankrupt by age 12.  It would probably start with exotic and lavish vacations, and who travels on public air lines when you could charter a private jet and forego all of that time consuming airport security. Next of course would  be the accommodations. Well a house is perfectly lovely for the average person, the lavishly rich need ridiculously needless gadgets and so many square feet that you need a map, or more likely a GPS system,  to find the closest of your 18 bathrooms. And we all know the only reason to have a home that large and outrageously over-done, is to show it off. So the lavish parties would begin directly after the purchase of the home and continue until the money all runs out, which, with such huge and extravagant purchases would take about three days.  I guess it would be fun while it lasted, but does that mean I’m going to start buying tickets on a daily basis? I wouldn’t bet on it.