I have good news coming out of my ass

GN #1: Blue Streak gets AWESOME gas mileage. He was just over half full when I got him--and now, almost a week later, he's just UNDER half full. A whole week of driving! I know! (And yes, they didn't give him to me with a full tank of gas. The guy drove it down to the station to put in 8 gallons or so but come on--it's KIA, not Mercedes.) ;)

GN #2: I'm off today and tomorrow for Rosh Hashana. A 4-day weekend--sweet. I love Jewish people.

GN #3: I'm down another 3 pounds, for a total of 5 so far. I'm now at a weight (146) I haven't been in over a year that wasn't flu- or heartbreak-induced. 6 more pounds, baby! If this keeps up I should be there by my 31st, easily.

GN #4: Yesterday was a pretty big day. It was the official one-month mark since I quit this last time. I haven't made it a month in....well, a while. And I'm still going strong. I needed the gum pretty heavily that first couple of weeks, but it hit me the other day that I haven't needed it in a while. I still carry it around with me, though. Just in case.

There's a funny story with this, though. Yesterday after work, I went out with 2 guy teachers, M. and C. When M. asked how the quitting was going, I realized that that day was my 1-month, and I told them so. "And I've only slipped a couple times in the whole month!" I proudly told them.

They looked at each other. "So you HAVE smoked in the last month?" M. asked with an evil glint in his eye. I could tell that these boys, aka The Brothers I Never Wanted, were about to bust my balls.

"Well, yeah," I said. "But I only had, like, 2 cigarettes. In a MONTH. Normally, I would have smoked 500 in that time."

"So you haven't QUIT," said C. "You're just smoking LESS."

"Oh, please!" I defended myself. "2 cigarettes does not a smoker make. From 500 to 2?? I'm doing AWESOME. Plus, my online support group says that it's okay, even normal, to have a slip. That doesn't count."

They looked at each other. "So..." said C. "I could cheat on my wife"--note: C. is single-- "and I could say, 'But it was just one time! It doesn't count! And baby, I'm doing it a lot less than I was! Isn't that great??' "

The boys are both snickering now.

"AND," added M., "even if you DID, you could just go online to your support group and they'd say, 'Hey! Don't beat yourself up! It was just a slip!' "

By this point, of course, the guys were laughing their asses off. They thought they were hysterical. I just crossed my arms and silently stared at them--it was the "teacher stare" that I've mastered this last month.

M. caught my eye and suddenly stopped laughing. "Sorry, Jen," he mumbled. "You're right. Congratulations."

Ha! The teacher stare even works on OTHER TEACHERS!

(It WAS funny, though.)

And finally, GN #5: When you put #3 and #4 together, I have actually lost 5 pounds WHILE quitting smoking! (Soon to be 10 pounds!) Whoo hoo!!!

Some stock pictures

Picture this in a dark metallic blue and you have my car.

Oh, and some random cool features: 6 airbags, including side-curtain; electronic tire pressure monitoring system (haven't figured out how to work it yet, though); an MP-3 plug to play my iPod through the car stereo; heated mirrors (which would matter a lot more if I didn't live in FLORIDA, LOL, but I still thought it was cool); standard CD player and decent stock sound system (remember, this is coming from someone whose last car had a TAPE PLAYER--and a non-working one at that); and one of the best warranties in the biz. Plus, A/C was standard with this model (don't laugh. It's not for a surprising number of cars--which is why I went with the Spectra, actually. I initially looked at the Rio, but by the time I added the air, it would have cost as much as the Spectra anyway--plus, the Spectra had a $1000 higher cash-back offer). Plus, according to user reviews online, the gas mileage is AWESOME.

I know there's more that's cool about this car but I can't remember it all right now--my head is still spinning. =-)

I'll be damned....

I actually did it.

I bought a new car today.

And not just "new-to-me," either. NEW. 2007 Kia Spectra, deep ocean blue. (I'll take pictures with the camera phone tomorrow.)

I'm almost 31 and this is my first-ever brand-new car. The monthly payments are a bit of a nut, but with the (slight) raise at work, the adjustment I made to my health insurance (which means much less coming out of my checks) and keeping up just one or two Pure Romance parties a month, it shouldn't be a problem. And besides, with my beloved '99 Ford Escort JUST under 100,000 miles, it was at the point that I was falling into that putting-more-into-it-than-it's-worth trap. Hell, if I'm shelling out money for a car all the time, it might as well go towards a new one.

I've been thinking about a new car for a good year now but with my credit, I figured it was impossible. Then I heard an ad for a Kia place down in Naples promising they could help anyone, so with a laugh, a healthy dose of skepticism and an evil gleam in my eye ("you just don't KNOW what you're up against, you poor bastards") I drove down today to check it out.

I had done considerable research online last night so I wasn't going in blind, but it was still a nerve-wracking experience. I'm paying more per month than I anticipated, but again, with my credit, that's pretty much a given. My rep, a guy who sounded like he walked off the set of the Sopranos, was a lot of fun. He was an older, balding, heavy-set Mob-like teddy bear who hugged me instead of shaking my hand when the deal was finalized. Ooh, and I did get a $1500 cash back deal which of course went towards my down payment (see how responsible I am?). We won't say how much I got for 'Scort. Let's just say that what little value she had pretty much came from the new tires on her. =-) This didn't stop me, of course, from tearing up a little as I drove away and left her behind. I got her right after Cam's accident. We've been through a lot together. Hell, we came to Florida together. Okay, now I'm getting verklempt again. Shut up.

So....there you have it. My hands are still shaking. I can't believe I did. I drove in the right-hand lane the whole way home, hands at 10 and 2, pulling a Deb and going 65 in a 70, swearing every time a bug hit the windshield. I had to pull over halfway home to figure out how to turn on the lights. =-)

I feel like such a grown-up.