1. Allison G_MOD

January 5, 2009 @ 1:49 pm

Am I the only one who harbors no resentment at all for my mother smoking around me as a kid?
Seriously, it’s not even a blip on my radar. I have no health issues, and I didn’t become a smoker myself.

People will let a tipsy person leave a party or bar and drive themselves home in that condition, but man, light up near another person, and they’d be kinder if you were swinging an axe near their heads.
Sheesh!

2. GrandmafrKs.

January 5, 2009 @ 3:09 pm

Thank You Allison G, ITA with you, altho I am a smoker and would never, ever suggest anyone ever light up for many reasons, this 2nd hand and now 3rd hand smoking stories are getting old,
I have heard so many ppl bragging about what a great New Years Eve party they had, how much drinking that went on and how stupid ppl were for standing out side smoking their cigarettes, but yet they all drove home, Yeah,get drunk and get behind the wheel and smell of booze but not smoke, hit and kill some innocent ppl, but yet you won’t smell like smoke, Sure makes alot of sence huh.

3. Charlene

January 5, 2009 @ 3:28 pm

I was just speaking to my husband about this, as his father is a smoker. I am about to have a baby and I told him I was concerned with him holding the baby as I had read that particles from smoking can be inhaled. I have every right as a mother to protect my child from that. Smokers make a choice to risk getting lung cancer or other horrible diseases. My baby has not.

I personally think it is incredibly rude when someone smokes around me. Especially because I am pregnant - so yes I am one of those people that glare at the smoker and yes, I’ve even told them how rude they are - they are putting my health at risk! I do not deserve to be put at risk for contracting a smoking related disease. Of course a smoker will say I should just move away/not go the the place where smoking is allowed, etc (which is impossible sometimes anyway). I don’t see how people that are causing health care premiums to rise, polluting the earth, contributing to other peoples’ deaths are the ones that should have more rights. That’s completely absurd!

4. GrandmafrKs.

January 5, 2009 @ 4:28 pm

Charlene, you do have a point, but I also don’t think I should worry about every time I get in my car that the next car I come close to may have an intoxicated person in it, We lost a young mother of two girls who was just turning into her drive way coming home from church when a 16 yr old drunk hit her, she left b/c of a drunk not b/c some one was smoking to close to her,
I have no problem with not smoking around ppl, I do not smoke in my home or in public, but some of the non-smokers some times reek of perfume so strong it will actually take your breath away, And yes they can be rude, but I’ll trust a smoker any time over a drunk, what is really sad most ppl that drink think they are fine to drive themselves and risk everyone around them, So contriuting to others deaths, yes every time you get in your car, remember that each car you pass you have no idea who is behind the wheel.

5. Lauren

January 5, 2009 @ 4:46 pm

Charlene, I can totally understand where you’re coming from! I had a dear, old friend who smoked cigarettes and pipes and every time he came to see us he wanted to snuggle up with the new baby. After he would leave, all of the baby’s clothes, blankets and even the crib would have to be laundered - twice, just to get the strong smell out of it. If you’re not a smoker, you are extra sensitive to it and you might not even smell it at all. But if you’re not a smoker, it will hit you like a shovel of dirt in your face.

Besides, I always wanted my babies to be fresh and smell good!

6. Charlene

January 5, 2009 @ 5:05 pm

I completely agree with you Grandma. I actually believe that drunk drivers should be charged with manslaughter if they kill someone while intoxicated. And I do think people have a responsibility to try to deter someone from drinking and driving (even calling police if someone will not hand over the keys). However I think the driver is ultimately responsible, as he or she made the choice to drink.

You are obviously a considerate smoker. I wish all smokers were - I’m sure that inconsiderate smokers are the minority but I always seem to be around them! It’s a touchy issue with my father-in-law. He’s also a considerate smoker but he smokes A LOT. My major issue is that I don’t want my baby’s tiny little lungs breathing in particulates, however, I also admit that like Lauren, I don’t want my baby to smell like cigarettes either!

7. mully

January 5, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

2 wrongs dont make a right..which is to say that I dont approve of either drinking and driving or smoking.

Both of these habits can, at the very worst, cause death to innocent people.

8. GrandmafrKs.

January 5, 2009 @ 5:16 pm

Yep! nothing takes the place like a “baby smell” I wish we could bottle it LOL. and you are right about the smell being imbedded into every thing, I don’t there are many places any more that you can smoke in, I do know where my husband works that ppl are not allowed to even smoke on the property, and many hospitals ban smoking on the grounds as well,
So when it comes to the smoke getting into all material and is hard to get out that is true, I honsetly think (maybe I’m wrong) that it is worse now than it used to be, I don’t remember back in my younger years ever noticing the smell as bad, I also have heard they now add more to tobacco to make it more addictive than some years back,

Best luck and wishes for the new baby, you sound like a great momma to be.

9. Lauren

January 5, 2009 @ 6:01 pm

GrandmafrmK, do you have any remedies for getting smoke out of clothing and such?

I attended my sister’s funeral in November and my other sister, bless her heart, had this little bitty jacket on. I was concerned about her being cold and I had on a heavy sweater and slacks, so I gave her my new black, wool coat to wear at the graveside. She wore it the rest of the day and she smokes. So, I’ve had it drycleaned, but I can still pick it up. Maybe I’m just sensitive to it. But my boss said he could smell it too! So, now I don’t want to wear it.

Maybe I’ll just send it to Colorado for my sis. She could probably use it.

10. mully

January 5, 2009 @ 6:06 pm

Lauren: My mother smoked like a fiend for years. She quit probably 15 years ago and when she passed away almost 2 years ago, I was going thru her apartment and you may not believe this but her things STILL smelled like cigarette smoke.

I think for many people its the smell, as well as the general threat of second and third hand smoke, that turns people off. I dont know of any real way to get rid of the smell.

Maybe mothballs?

11. Kelly_Belle

January 5, 2009 @ 8:27 pm

Charlene said: Smokers make a choice to risk getting lung cancer or other horrible diseases. My baby has not.

Thank you soooo much for saying that! I do still smoke (only when drinking…which is maybe a few times a year now) and never when I was pregnant. BUT….my friends had a house warming party not too long ago. A mutual friend was there with her husband…she is due January 13th with her first child. There she was on the back porch smoking away all night. Now…it wasn’t one right after the other…but it was enough to make another girl (who has been trying for 8 years to get pregnant) get up and leave the party. She was heart broken…and I can’t blame her…it was awful to see her doing it. Not to mention that I have heard that she still smokes pot every now and then. Now this girl has tried for the last 5 years to have a baby and now that she has finally become pregnant she is adding dangers to her pregnancy. I know it is none of my bees-wax, but it breaks my heart knowing that her baby is taking in what she is inhaling. Her new son-to-be did not make that choice…she has made it for him and that makes me sad for him.

12. GrandmafrKs.

January 5, 2009 @ 8:37 pm

Lauren, as Mully said “maybe moth balls” but yikes. honestly Mully is right, I have used every thing I can imagine and it’s almost impossible, but if you contact a Co that sells cleaners for industrial cleaning they will have the best thing for you, I’m sure you can find it on the web,(such as Spurrier, or Warrick Chemical Co)
Years ago when we decided there would be no more smoking in our home it was b/c of the smell more than any thing, now that my hubby has dealt with cancer I’m glad we do not have it in our home.
And yes Lauren as your boss said you can still get a wif of that smell, even the best perfume does not cover it up, I was trying to remember the name of a product that DH used when helping some one to clean up fire damage, it worked really good, and I’ll continue to try and find it,

Smoking, oh my gosh how much money goes up in smoke? how much could I have saved, not only on the Cig. but all the stuff to try and get rid of the smell. I laughed when you said you might send your coat to Colo, while on a trip with my DD this year she had a very expensive brn leather purse and where we stayed with some family they smoked and she said not only her clothes but even her purse had that smell, and she thought she might just send the stuff to them, LOL I don’t know that she ever did tho, Any way good luck, hope you find something.

13. mully

January 5, 2009 @ 9:03 pm

I am not a supporter of smokers by a long shot. I used to BE a smoker myself..waaaaaay back when I was younger and I think a pack of smokes maybe lasted me 3-4 days, so to say I was a heavy smoker was a long shot. What I am going to say is in no way supportive of smokers but I do wonder about some things at times.

My mom smoked as did most of the people of her generation. She was pregnant with me in the early 50’s. I am sure there were probably alot of other pregnant moms who smoked the entire time they were pregnant. There were probably alot of babies born to chain smoking mothers who did have issues, but I am pretty sure there were many babies born to chain smoking mothers who came out just fine and even blossomed during childhoods filled with smoke hazed houses.

My point is this: I think that with most things, there ARE documented dangers and those dangers cause our lawmakers and doctors etc to give us warnings. I dont think those warnings are intended to tell us that every, single baby born to a smoking mother is going to be born with some sort of problem but rather to make sure that we are informed and educated about risks. For me it was a choice of health but also I HATED the way I smelled and everything I owned smelled and like those of you who mentioned babies, I didnt want my baby’s head to stink of cigarette smoke.

As I stated, I am not a proponent of smoking. My dearly loved Dad died when I was 13, he was only 43, from lung cancer. I saw first hand an on an almost daily basis for more than 3 years, what dying from lung cancer can do to someone. It was usual and normal for him and his peers to smoke 3 packs a day and those were the days of non filter Chesterfields (his smoke of choice). This was also long before the first surgeon general’s warnings on packaging.

I wish many times that he had been warned. He might have had a chance to see me graduate from high school and college, walk me down the aisle, see his first grandchild born.

Warnings are there to let us know that we are at risk. Unfortunately, there will always be people who, for whatever reason, cant or wont heed those warnings.

I applaud everyone who has the sheer guts that it takes to quit smoking and in doing so, helping to save your own life and possible the lives of others around you.

14. GrandmafrKs.

January 5, 2009 @ 9:22 pm

So very well put and so true, I also give full praise and credit for any one who can “quit” and yes it will/does take a lot of guts/will power. I have been told it is much harder for women to quit than men, why I’m not sure but I do know many men who just went cold turkey and then some women as my self still fighting not only for a breath but for the next cigarette.
I have also been told that cigarettes are as addictive as street drugs, back in the day of Chesterfields and Pall Mall reds who would’ve thought?

15. Lauren

January 6, 2009 @ 2:19 pm

Thanks, GrandmafrmK. I’m going to look up some products used on smoke damaged upholstery. Honestly, though, my sis could probably use the coat more than I, so I probably will go ahead and send it to her. Just don’t want her to take it the wrong way. She’s ultra-sensitive.

I was born in the 60’s. My mom died when I was 9, but some of my fondest memories are of my mom and all her friends, ladies in the neighborhood, who would get together at our house around 10 a.m. (since my mom had 2 or 3 kids at home all the time) and drink coffee and smoke cigarettes for a couple of hours. They talked about everything from meatloaf to “brassiere” sizes. LOL

I used to pilfer a “butt” from the ashtray, take a “cold” cup of coffee (lots of cream and sugar) and go sit outside on the back porch and pretend to smoke. I thought I was especially grown up because my mom would leave a ring of her lipstick around the cigarette butt and I would try to get as much of that on my lips as possible. I usually had on a pair of her high heeled pumps, too, because I liked that “clicking” sound it made on the concrete. Great memories. LOL

She smoked, a little, but she was a good mom. I don’t think she meant to do us any harm, I don’t think she DID do us any harm. It was just a way of life in society. Look at the old movies. I saw Ricky Ricardo the other night sing a ballad in the Tropicana with a lit cigarette dangling from his fingertips the entire time. The first thing I thought was, “How did he croon so nicely with all that tar and nicotine sticking to his lungs?”

Just the way it was.

16. GrandmafrKs.

January 6, 2009 @ 2:50 pm

Exactly Lauren, I am a baby boomer myself, and that is “the way it was” for sure, and oh yes the memories, good ones and us kids loved it when the neigbors came calling, seemed as tho we had a little more freedon to (pilfer) I laughed at the “drink coffee and smoking remark” b/c one is no good with out the other IMO, two bad habits.

Talking about memories, you having a christian back ground I’m sure you know this song “Precious Memories” (I’m sure most ppl have heard it) but it is my favorite and I have heard it sung at many a funerals, and now I’m about to make my self cry so I’ll go, but I think that is a lovely idea to give your sister your coat. Another precious memory.

17. Lauren

January 6, 2009 @ 2:58 pm

“Precious Memories” was a song at my mother’s funeral. Also, her favorite hymn, “I Will Not Be a Stranger (When I Get To That City)”

Have you ever heard of that song? You don’t hear in church much anymore, but I still love that song.

18. mully

January 6, 2009 @ 3:16 pm

Not to be a downer here, but when I buried my mother almost 2 years ago, she didnt want a “viewing”. She had asked to be cremated and so I honored her wishes and we had a Catholic Requiem Mass for her but before the Mass began, we had about an hour where we received family and friends in the church and they could pay their respects. We had pictures of her and my Dad together and there was a table with her remains (cremains) so that people could say a prayer if they wished

Walking into the Church right before Mass I had her favorite hymn “How Great Thou Art” played and we all walked in singing that song. The rest of the service was mostly Catholic hymns including another favorite of hers Ave Maria. At the end of the Mass my sister in law, who has an amazing voice, sang Amazing Grace.

It was a beautiful service and one which, even now, almost 2 years later, I still get choked up about.

I wanted it to be special and memorable and I think it was.

19. Lauren

January 6, 2009 @ 3:35 pm

“How Great Thou Art” is another tear-jerker for me. Beautiful song.

I’m going to start humming if I don’t get off these blogs. LOL

20. GrandmafrKs.

January 6, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

ABSOLUTELY girls, and with out “Amazing Grace” where would we be? I think we know.

21. Lauren

January 6, 2009 @ 6:37 pm

Yes, it is His Amazing Grace.

GrandmafrmKs, if you don’t already know, Marie wrote the most thought provoking post on CMG yesterday. I had tears in my eyes before I finished reading it. If you haven’t read it already, you should.

22. GrandmafrKs.

January 6, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

Yes I did, and you are right, “A tear jerker” Thanks, and for sure God knows her heart, and that is what we are judged by. I am confident she will find her way back.

23. ambull

January 7, 2009 @ 12:50 pm

GRANDMA!!!! i thought we lost you i miss you!!!

ok, ok…here’s my take on it, hope i don’t offend anyone!

i hate cigarette smoke…i don’t hate the smoker, cause if i did, i’d lose friends and family!

what i WISH is that after a night out i didn’t have to shower before i got in bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, all those exclamation points mean i am serious) a shower at 2:30 in the AM is NOT fun!

i’m not a big partier, but when i do decide to go out and have a few drinks and enjoy some time with friends and family, i CAN’T breathe at ANY given bar! now, it’s sooo obvious (and even some of my friends admit it) that they smoke “socially”…WTH? what is that about? reminds me of the episode of “friends” with rachel smoking with her co-workers to just be part of the “group”!

there is NOTHING i wish more than for NC to be smoke free. i know NY is, and i believe CA is too…come on NC!!!!

after my new year’s weekend, i now have blazers that need to go to the drycleaning….uuuggghhh

and don’t get me started on what that is doing to MY lungs! i guess i could just stay home? and btw, if we don’t have a designated driver, we cab it! just for the record

24. ambull

January 7, 2009 @ 12:56 pm

oh, just another point…when i get up in the morning and have a “raspy” voice from being in a smokey bar for a few hours, there’s a problem. that’s evidence that it’s doing something to us non-smokers, and no it wasn’t from shouting all nite

btw, my hubs is one of those “social” smokers i was talking about. he has now quit that just in the past month. he smoked about 5 cigarettes one night and woke up so sick from it.

SMOKING IS BAD! my poor (yea right) BIL smokes AND dips…he’s sooo in for it! so sad

25. mully

January 7, 2009 @ 1:21 pm

Ohio has been smoke free for over a year now. Its an absolute blessing to go into a restaurant and NOT have my dinner ruined by the smell of cigarette smoke or worse, have someone blowing it in my face while Im trying to eat.

Going to clubs (not that I do alot of that these days) is also much nicer since I no longer smell like a cigarette factory at the end of the night.

I know alot of people feel that there civil rights are being compromised by laws such as these, but I cant help but feel that my very health is being compromised by 2nd hand smoke.

26. mully

January 7, 2009 @ 1:25 pm

oooops…correction on “there” it should be THEIR!

27. GrandmafrKs.

January 7, 2009 @ 1:32 pm

Hey back at ya Baby Girl, I have never understood “social smoking” altho as you, I have known several ppl who can/do, My bro. was one of them (was) only smoked when he was out. He died at 52. My DF smoked two cigarettes a day/with his morning coffee. And I do know that Drs say 2nd hand smoking for my DH is as bad as if he was smoking, now that don’t make sence to me, but I am not going to chance it either,

As far as the smell, it is very hard to get out of any thing, it leaves a brown film on surfaces, when I was Managing a restaurant and we would clean down the booths and tables there would be this nicotine film on the cloths we used, and yes thats what is in the lungs,

I don’t know of any where in our city that allows smoking inside except one club and it cost them 45.000 to build a smoking system in order to accomadate both smoking and non. But he said it was well worth it, and by the looks of the parking lot I am sure he has been well paid back. It don’t offend me when non-smokers speak up, and just for a chuckle would you believe it’s the ex-smokers who complain the loudest about the smokers than one who has never smoked before as (DH and DS) Good to hear from you sweetie.

28. Stacey S_MOD

January 7, 2009 @ 1:58 pm

I sadly admit to be a smoker I realize that the smell lingers on me long after I have extinguished the nasty thing, but it’s such a terribly addicting habit that I just can’t seem to quit for good!

I quit while I was preggers & nursing, I quit for a little over a year when I was losing weight trying to become healthy (neither of those stuck), I quit for 9 months after my mom passed, & the last time was over the summer (that one only lasted about 3 months).

I don’t smoke in my car & for the most part I don’t smoke in the house (If it’s raining, snowy, or cold, I stand by the front door & try to get most of it outside). When I smoke at work & Febreeze myself when I come in (I realize that that doesn’t work wonders, but somehow it makes me feel better).

Massachusetts has been a smoke free state for years now. Even as a smoker I can’t stand being in a restaurant & having someone light up….THAT is nasty! It always floors me when we drive to GA> every summer & you see the ashtrays on the tables, or people smoking in the malls. Last year we went to Foxwoods Casino in CT. & you could actually smoke IN THE CASINO!!!! That was bizarre…I did smoke while I was in there…but I felt like I was doing something wrong.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see a pregnant woman smoking. It’s one thing to make a choice for yourself…but any mother who lights up while she’s pregnant is not displaying what I would consider to be good parenting skills. Your first job as a parent is to keep your child safe & loved….smoking while pregnant is not doing either one of those things IMO.

Smoking is MY bad habit, & I try VERY hard to be considerate of those around me. However, I think it’s sad when my rights as a smoker are being infringed upon. I think it’s sad that the taxes on cigs are going up & up every time the state needs $$$. I realize that they’re trying to send a message, but smoking is a habit, not a hobby! The fact that it’s almost $7 for a pack of cigarettes is insane! I bet if the state raised the taxes on alcohol there would be a lot more complaints!

29. Valerie

January 7, 2009 @ 3:05 pm

Stacey - I feel for you. I know how hard it is to quit. When I first became pregnant many, many years ago someone said to me that my baby would be smoking every cigarette I smoked. It was like a switch went off in my head. I gave up smoking and never ever craved another cigarette. I can’t explain it. I always felt that my Dad who passed away a week before I found out I was pregnant had something to do with it - like a guardian angel. I had been smoking for about 7 years. You sound as though you had great success in quitting for long periods of time. I’ll bet you can finally kick it for good. It sounds as though you use good judgement as to when and where you smoke.

I applaud all of you pregnant ladies out there for standing up for your rights. Anyone who is INCONSIDERATE enough to light up around you deserves to be told exactly where to go. Florida is also a smoke free state.

Have any of you seen the show Mad Men. It just cracks me up how much smoking went on in the 50’s. They smoked everywhere. I remember as a kid seeing people smoking in the hospitals and even the grocery stores.

30. GrandmafrKs.

January 7, 2009 @ 3:16 pm

“Smoking in Casinos” thats funny, last time I was in Vegas they still had smoking, that was in 04, I think one reason I don’t go out to many places is b/c of the “no smoking rule”
Do any of you remember when we were allowed to smoke in hospitals? as a patient or a visitor? when I had my children in the 60’s there was smoking in the rooms, can you even imagine that today? A lot of public places espically hospitals won’t allow it even at the entrance, one heart hospital in K.C. won’t allow smoking even on the grounds in your own car, now that did tick me off, like it’s gonna hirt who in that hospital, And when you walk in some one will turn their head and cover up mouth and start coughing, to me that is more obnoxious than me blowing smoke, I too try to be considerate, but still as Stacey said we pay taxes and I think rudeness goes both ways,

31. Valerie

January 7, 2009 @ 3:35 pm

Grandma - Where I live in Florida, there is at least one Hospital that doesn’t allow smoking anywhere on the grounds of the Hospital or any of their medical clinics. I agree, that is taking it way too far.
I also agree that some non-smokers can be very rude around people who smoke. And yes, they are usually ex-smokers. Just because I quit, I don’t condemn anyone else who still smokes. My only hope is that smokers are considerate of those around them. It certainly sounds as though you and Stacey are.

I agree that drunk drivers are just as, if not more, dangerous. I also can’t stand when extremely overweight people judge smokers.

32. Kelly_Belle

January 7, 2009 @ 3:38 pm

Here in Florida we haven’t been able to smoke indoors for awhile now. When my husband and I were coming home from CT we stopped in at a Burger King in GA and there was a woman smoking right there at one of the tables. I hadn’t seen that since I was a wee little one!!! I do remember going to visit one of my mom’s friends at work when I was about 5 or 6. She worked at a bank. She was smoking at her station!!! Like I have said, I do smoke socially but I have NO problem with the banning of smoke in a work place, restaurant…or any where. My icky habit should never be someone else’s issue. Melanie has never seen me smoke. I would never smoke around her either, even outside (not saying anything about anyone who does…Melanie just has tons of allergies…thats all). I actually voted to ban smoking in Florida establishments.

My mom and I were talking about this not too long ago. My older sister was “learning” how to go to sleep on her own in her crib (Obviously this was MANY moons ago) and just crying her little heart out. My mother sat in the hall way outside of my sisters bedroom door the whole…smoking!!! Right by my sisters bedroom door! Ugh…I know that when my mom was pregnant they told her to cut back on smoking but she didn’t have to quit! My my how times have changed! When I was pregnant I craved 2 things…beer (which is odd because I really don’t like beer) and a cigarette. During one of my OB/GYN appointments I finally told my doctor about my craving for a cigarette. She starting to giggle and advised me that smoking is not healthy and all that fun lecture stuff that goes with it. And then she looked at me and said if I were to have one every now and then that was my choice. OH MY GOODNESS. Right then I stopped craving one!!! Just listening to someone saying it was okay and it wouldn’t hurt my baby to a point of losing her, and then hearing what the baby would go through….stopped my craving dead in it’s track. Plus it helped telling someone that I wanted one. I could have never of told anyone else…for the fear of the “look”. But my doctor was a safe person…and she confirmed how un-crazy I was.

33. Lauren

January 7, 2009 @ 3:47 pm

One of my husband’s relatives claimed chronic headaches for years. She worked for a quack doctor who wrote her endless prescriptions, to which she is addicted still 27 years later, BUT he also told her to take up smoking! He said that the nicotene would shrink the capillaries or vessels in her head and ease the headaches. I don’t know if it worked. I think she just wanted another bad habit or an excuse to smoke. I don’t care for the woman much and we have been careful to keep her on the fringes of our lives for the last 2 years.

Then a friend of mine told me how she kick-started her diet. Apparently, her doctor told her that the sugar in the cigarettes was adding empty calories, so she gave them up. I didn’t even know they put sugar in cigarettes. Anyway, she stuck with it, didn’t lose all that much weight, but lost the smokes.

Has anyone else ever heard of that? I always thought people tended to gain weight after quitting smoking.

34. Valerie

January 7, 2009 @ 3:49 pm

You’re right Kelly, indoor smoking has been banned in Florida for a long time. We moved here around 20 years ago when smoking was still allowed in public places. It was maybe 2 or 3 years later when it was finally banned.

35. Valerie

January 7, 2009 @ 3:54 pm

Lauren - I have always thought that people gained weight after they quit smoking merely because they use food as a substitution. I quit when I first found out I was pregnant so I gained around 45lbs. HAHA
Of course, I’m sure the baby had something to do with that.

36. Lauren

January 7, 2009 @ 4:00 pm

Let me make it clear: I said I do not care for the woman, but it is not because she is a smoker. Not at all.

It is the drama and chaos and poison that she brings into every single person’s life that allows her near them. And I’m not exaggerating.

But that’s for a different blog.

37. Kymberly

January 7, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

She worked for a quack doctor …

Then a friend of mine told me how she kick-started her diet. Apparently, her doctor told her that the sugar in the cigarettes was adding empty calories, so she gave them up. I didn’t even know they put sugar in cigarettes. Anyway, she stuck with it, didn’t lose all that much weight, but lost the smokes

Mightn’t it be the same quack doctor perhaps? I’m not a smoker but I’m fairly certain they don’t put sugar in cigarettes. I believe it’s the candy and snacking that people are presumed to do instead of smoking that are attributed to weight gain. But what do I know? I’m just a writer. I tend to make sh@3 up.

Honestly, I’m not a smoker, do care about health, and like the no-smoking laws but … third hand smoke? Seriously? My husband probably brings home more toxins on his work clothes - but I hope no one is advocating for his unemployment?

At some point I think the do-goodism enters into the “nanny state.” As they make great points (second hand smoke - got it) they then ramp it up to get those last remaining stalwart smokers on board. When like two smokers are left on the planet they’ll be browbeating them with tales of 19th hand smoke It’s on your RETINAS man and when you glance at someone, even momentarily, it affects them!”

38. Valerie

January 7, 2009 @ 5:51 pm

Smoking does leave a residue on everything. I remember back when my girlfriend’s parents both died within a year of each other from lung cancer. She inherited their house and I was helping to clean it out.
Everything including furniture and walls were covered in nicotine. Yellow, brownish stains that took forever to get clean. I don’t know if that stuff is toxic in that form, but why take chances.

Kymberly - I do agree that sometimes this country takes things a little too far. For example - Eggs are bad for you, bacon is bad for you, don’t touch shopping cart handles or bathroom door handles, don’t drink whole milk, etc. How did we children born in the 50’s ever survive as long as we have.

39. GrandmafrKs.

January 7, 2009 @ 5:52 pm

Valerie, I agree about over weight ppl giving me the evil eye while they are standing there chugging down a 20 oz bottle of good ole’ dr. pepper or shoving a big mav in their face LOL. as far as sugar in cigarettes oh my gosh I have never heard that either, And yes most ppl who quit smoking gain weight, I am about 110 to 115 and when I was in the hospital for 10 days I put an extra 8 pounds on, I am 5ft 2 and the only weight problem I ever had was my first two pregnacies one baby I gained 47 lbs she weighed 4lbs 2oz born 6 wks early, 2nd baby was 45 lbs and he weighed 6lbs 8oz full term,

I do have a thyroid problem which explains low weight also, but as far as smoking I know my DH gained after he quit 25 yrs ago, I’m so proud of him. I also heard (get this) that is is harder for women than for men to kick the habit, and yes that ticks me off, we women go thru the almost unbearable pain having babies (men don’t) and yet they say we can’t conquer kicking the habit, but I haven’t quit yet. Funny huh? Well I guess one man did have a baby ewww, was that a man? LOL

40. GrandmafrKs.

January 7, 2009 @ 5:56 pm

Lauren, I understand what you were saying in your post #36, I think most ppl have one of those in their family, we sure do, When you see her coming you just know “it’s not gonna be pretty”

41. mully

January 7, 2009 @ 8:33 pm

I do think that the do gooders in our country tend to take things a bit far and it starts to very much feel like “big brother” has descended upon us at times. But I cant help but agree with what Val said about the leftover residues from cigarette smoking. If that quantifies the theory of 3rd hand smoke then Im not going to put up much of an argument. As I said in an earlier post, my mother smoked for a very long time, but she quit about 15 years before her death. Believe it or not, her apartment and everthing in it, still had a stale cigarette smoke when I went to clean it out.

The worst proof to me was when she still smoked. My husband and I couldnt believe that her once white walls, which were no longer white, had a yellow, sticky film over them which was very stubborn to remove.

I can well imagine that ingesting whatever was covering those walls could probably do someone’s lungs no good.

Another quick story to share: I was shopping at the local mall after work tonight and I was coming out of Macy’s, which you probably all know is a pretty large, somewhat upscale department store. I was leaving the store on my way to my car an as I opened the door into the vestibule I noticed a couple standing there. They were both puffing away, but worse than that, the store’s heater was also blasting very hot air and Im telling you, the mixture of all that smoke and all that heat in what is a fairly small area…I was ready to toss my cookies!

42. Valerie

January 8, 2009 @ 12:21 pm

Speaking of Macy’s, I just saw that Macy’s is closing some of its stores. I didn’t read the article yet. I used to shop at Macy’s all the time - not so much anymore.