WWW = 15

The World Wide Web as we know it celebrates its 15th birthday today. It has changed our way of life beyond recognition. What changed when the Internet came into your life?

I received this assignment from Magic Smoke this morning and thought the topic is certainly one I would want to participate in.

The WWW allows me to reach all the destinations of life with a click of the mouse whether for work or play. Oh my, let me count the ways of how the Internet personally changed my life:

1. Research is an information highway!

2. Sending a greeting card to a friend no longer requires running to the local card shop.

3. Paying bills online and saving on stamps!

4. I'm learning more about graphics and animations to entertain my family and friends and myself as well. My WWW faceless friends taught me how to do this. Thank you to all of them.

5. Creating photo albums online and sharing with people that mean a lot to me.

6. You can even get a education and a degree online and job search! Now, that's amazing!

7. Cyberspace is also a hot and happening place for online dating.

8. I cherish my good morning emails from my daughter every morning.

9. I cherish my weekly emails from my son.

10. I even found a long lost childhood friend after 45 years online. That was a very special moment for me after years of searching for her. I found my dear friend on the WWW. We now chat online everyday! We were totally shocked that we both have been living in the State of Florida for the past 20 years but on different Coasts! We are both originally from New England. We also had the opportunity to visit with one another and will be seeing each other again soon. It doesn't get much better than that!

11. I even renew my prescriptions online as I hate any telephone automated system.

12. Online shopping is always a convenience and a savings on the high price of gas these days!

I can go on and on how the Internet changed my life but I would be here all day long because my list would be never ending!

I was reluctant to create a Journal online but now I find it entertaining and informational and also enlightening. But the best part of an online Journal is that you have a bunch of all new faceless online friends and would not be able to do this if we didn't have the WWW. It allows others to look at your thoughts and follow your topics and then add comments and perspectives on what you've written about.

I did get one negative response from an acquaintance as recently as last night. I received an IM and the individual asked me "why are you doing this blogging thing...what is wrong with a simple email?" She also said it was too much reading for her. Well, my response to that is "You don't have to read my blogs" simple as that! It's not mandatory for anyone to read it if they choose not to.

Sometimes, I send reminders to my family and friends if I made a new entry and I must have clicked on this person's email address who is normally not on my regular list but I will keep a mental note not to include her email address for "Reminders". Everyone is entitled to their opinions and there is always the "Delete" button!

The Internet is fascinating to say the least! I find many ways and reasons to contact someone across the miles in a special way:

Tags: WWW

Beauty Salon Gossip

Beauty Salon gossip is one of the oldest and still the most common means of spreading and sharing various information and views. Oh my, the topics of conversation are not only just on beauty topics either! Some gals can get right down and raunchy with their personal stories! Certainly, a day at the beauty shop is very entertaining to say the least, many, many chuckles as well. I also love the shops that serve wine! Whoo-hoo! When the ladies are a bit tanked……..you would not believe what comes out of their mouths! LOL

We women have performed many strange rituals and experienced much pain and spent mucho dollars to look young. It’s a paycheck alone at the beauty shop just for your color, cut and blow dry. Then the manicures and pedicures is another added expense.

Hey, guys…………you just have to get a good haircut and shave! Wow, think of all the money you guys are saving and you men look gorgeous when your hair turns gray! Unfortunately, it doesn’t work the same for women!

I remember years ago, I used cucumbers on my eyes to relieve the puffiness and Preparation H cream that is marketed to treat hemorrhoids used under the eye to reduce the bags and dark circles after a late night out. But the beauty babes of today are going to extremes to look younger than their years.

Gosh, now the women are actually using food poisoning injections to freeze their face and wrinkles…that’s a bit scary for me and trust me, I would love to look younger just like the next gal but I do know some ladies that have used Botox and get these injections over and over.......After so many treatments, it looks so awful and unnatural. Their lips move when they talk and their whole face looks frozen! That does not make them look younger; it makes them look like freaks in my opinion. They lost their personal facial expressions which is what makes a person look unique!

Caution ladies, I recently read an article about Botox and it claimed new research points to evidence that Botox may make a beeline from the injection site to the brain. Yikes! That means Botox may affect what's going on up in your head.........wow...that is nothing to smile about and certainly not making you look younger now is it?????

One woman in the Beauty Salon said she has been drinking Donkey Milk! I never even knew donkey’s produced milk????? Yikes! Where would you buy Donkey Milk? Wow! I think I was on the floor rolling over laughing my head off after that statement! She said she also uses Pepto-Bismol as a facial mask. Now, I would give that a try but I have super sensitive skin and would be afraid I would break out in a heart beat!

I guess women that can’t afford the Hollywood lifestyle search for thrifty treatments that you can find in your medicine cabinet or kitchen cupboards to work miracles on their face!

Well, I have a sister-in-law that used to use the cake form of yeast and whisk it with Ponds facial cream and she has beautiful skin………..go figure…..we all know what yeast does to bread dough! I guess it must plump up the skin and wrinkles be gone! LOL I haven’t tried that either due to my very sensitive skin. But, I would try that well before Botox any day.

The only gossip I could contribute was spreading the news that I love my new purchase (H20 Steam Mop). All my friends are now buying it just by my reviews…..loving it. I think the damn company should give me a commission for every person I referred this product to! Word of mouth is the best form of advertising as they say!

I put my two cents in and expressed that I prefer to age gracefully by eating healthy, exercising and wearing SPANX! There I go again…advertising for another product! However, I do believe in moisturizers….moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

I know some of my girlfriends have their hair colorist on their speed dial and one who has her plastic surgeon on hers……………So, who is on your speed dial?

Tags: Beauty Shop gossip

I Believe

A friend recently sent me an email and the title was "I Believe".

I thought it would be interesting to email all my friends and ask them to send me what they believe and incorporate both; a few from the email and all of my friends beliefs. I told them I would keep their thoughts anonymous........so here goes:

I believe - A birth certificate shows that we were born; a death certificate shows that we died; pictures show that we lived!

I believe - That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I believe - That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I believe - That true friendship continues to grow.

I believe - That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I believe - That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I believe - God never gives you more than you can handle.

I believe - You should work hard but play harder.

I believe - You get what you give.

I believe - What goes around comes around.

I believe - that everyone that can should own a dog - they truly are a person's best friend.

I believe - If a person is cruel and mistreats animals, they will also mistreat humans.

I believe - The state of joy enables you to stop worrying.

I believe - You should set goals and commit yourself to them.

I believe - People interpret words and actions differently. We may look at the same picture and see different things.

I believe - If your attitude is in the toilet, you have no chance for success and happiness.

I believe - That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I believe - That we should all be responsible for our actions.

I believe - That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe - That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will surprise you because they will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe - I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe - That no matter how bad your heart is broken, the world
doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe - That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe - Two people can look at the exact same thing and see
something totally different.

I believe - That your life can be changed in a matter of hours.

I believe - That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe - That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I believe - The happiest people don't necessarily have the
best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

I believe - You should be a good provider for your family.

I believe - We should do something nice for a total stranger every day.

I believe - One of the most powerful personal development tool is simply to keep a personal journal.

What do you believe?

Thank you to all my family and friends for participating.

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky!

Oh my, that is all I remember!!!!.......It's been 38 years or so since I have recited that nursery rhyme to my children. LOL

We all know it as a popular English nursery rhyme that we taught to our children when they were young. Along with “Star Light, Star Bright, Wish I May, Wish I might. Wow, I actually found myself star gazing tonight. Something I have not done in many, many years.

I remember when I was young growing up in the city of Boston, we only had the roof tops to either sunbath or star gaze. Being on the roof top of those beautiful old buildings is an experience I will always remember. (my niece emailed me after reading my Journal to remind me we used to call it "Roof Top Pebble Beach") LOL I lived with my large family on the 5th floor of a very old brownstone building. Til this day, I can’t comprehend how my mother took care of all of us. Of course, this never entered my mind until after I became a parent of two. How did she do it with so many children to feed and cloth and take care of?????? God rest her soul. She didn't grow up with the luxuries the young mothers have today, washers, dryers, refrigerators, (we had an ice box) playpens, toys for the children, etc. Gosh, today the young mothers have an Au Pair (live in babysitters) and cleaning ladies!

Tonight, I felt a bit antsy and lonely or whatever it was that I was feeling after I had dinner by myself, I decided to go for a walk…..I live in a condo in sunny South Florida….upon my return home from my walk, I stepped inside the locked gate of the community pool area…(Condo Rules…no one is allowed in the pool area after dusk) So, I was a bad girl and disobeyed the rules tonight. There I sat on a comfortable beach lounge chair and looked up at the beautiful sunset.

Prior to retirement, I didn’t have time to do this cost free pleasure. Who had the time, I had to cook, eat dinner, prepare my clothes for work the next day, iron, do laundry, go to bed………..Ugh! Weekends were filled with errands, grocery shopping, cleaning the house and cooking some meals ahead for the following week. And, all this is after I raised my children.....wow...when they were young and still in school.........triple all that work stated above. When you are younger, you have more energy. I know I couldn't do it again today at my age.

I usually walk during the daylight hours but tonight was different for some reason. I got back in the house in time to see “Dancing with the Stars” and “Boston Legal”. Two of my favorite programs…….

I was a "ballroom dancer" and I love "law" and lived in that legal world for many, many years.

It started to get dark but I was in no hurry to go back in my house. It brought back memories of me and my children in their special weekend retreats to Vermont and Maine gazing at the beautiful stars up above. Did you ever experience a solar eclipse? Did you ever kick back around a bon fire and identify the constellations? Did you ever see a Meteor shower? Oh and making Smores on a stick! Fascinating!

Tonight was an impressive show for Dancing with the Stars. Boston Legal........amongst their normal humor……..they challenged the Supreme Court! Yeah, the writers manage to get their point across one way or another! Kudos!

I didn't need my watch to tell me the time....I knew my programs were due to come on TV so I got back in the house in time to watch them both.

Whatever you do, take the time to appreciate the natural wonders above. That special twinkling light that traveled millions of miles to your very own eyes to view!

Amazing! Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

P.S. Yes, I made a wish on a star tonight!

100 Things about me

(Since Val (Valpish) made this a challenging topic on her AOL Journal, I’m giving it a try using hers as a guideline, as I don’t know if there were direct questions to be answered regarding this blog.  Here goes……….

 

1. I am 63 years old, oh my…where did all the years go?
2. I am a mom to two
3. I miss New England
4. I do not have grandchildren
5. I was born in Massachusetts
6. I currently live in South Florida
7. I absolutely love New England
8. I love wine with my dinner
9. I quit smoking on January 17, 2007  Yippee!
10. I have gained weight after I stopped smoking…..Ugh!
11. I also gained weight before I stopped smoking!  Oh my
12. I miss my single digit size clothes
13. I can sew, knit and do needlepoint and crewel
14. I have high cholesterol and high blood pressure….Ugh!
15. I am now a redhead!
16. I like dogs, I do not like cats.  A cat scratched the top of my first brand new car when I was 18 years old and years later a freaking cat jumped on the top of my baby’s head when I was visiting a friend that owned this cat, I feared it would scratch my baby’s face….so frightening….I dislike cats…then I became allergic to them as well
17. I love the color blue
18. I collect dolls, miniature shoes, perfume bottles and Dept. 56/Christmas in the City houses
19. I have a robot vacuum cleaner (Roomba) I call her “Little Rosie”
20. I love exercising in the pool.
21. I love diamonds and gold, hey they are a girl’s best friend. LOL
22. I seldom get bored
23. I started to wear glasses for reading only at age 50
24. I’m Catholic
25. I was married and divorced a couple of times and still believed in love and marriage to do it again and again, (no one gets married with the intentions of later being divorced but things happen) then I  met a wonderful man and I became a widow in the year of 2001
26. I’m currently not dating by choice.
27. I did try that online dating thing 
28. I prefer the old fashioned way of meeting people 
29. I do not play any musical instrument
30. I like Yoga and Thai Chi
31. I have a broken ugly baby toe
32. I hate Halloween
33. I found very few 4-leaf clovers in my life…hard to find growing up in the city.
34. I had a Granddog.  She was a beautiful Sheltie
35. I graduated from High School and later went on to college after I was divorced
36. I am blessed with many wonderful friends
37. I love ballroom dancing
38. I won a scratch lottery ticket once for $100.
39. I was in the Legal Field for over 30 years then on to theMedical Field
40. My favorite job ever was working with a special attorney 
41. I have kept a diary all my life
42. I am my own best friend
43. I love listening to the world waking up in the morning with all its sounds and distinct noises
44. I love catalog shopping better than walking in the Malls
45. I do not like to drive long distances
46. I love mostly all foods
47. I can not use chopsticks too well, I try then I get fed up and pick up the fork
48. I am learning to incorporate more fish in my diet
49. I prefer cooked foods over raw
50. I love Veal Franchese

To be cont.
 

100 Things About Me (Continued)

 

 

51.  I'm hooked on animations and graphics as you can see.

 

52.  I would be 20 pounds lighter if I didn’t sleepwalk including nocturnal eating.

 

53.  I still like to color with crayons and I can color within the lines! LOL

 

54.  I am a night person.  Definitely not a morning person due to my insomnia.

 

55.  I don’t mind being alone, my computer keeps me company.

 

56.  I have my TV on all day long for noise.

 

57.  I started going gray before age 20….thank goodness for hair color.

 

58.  I retired in 2007.

 

59.  I read to a blind lady once a week in my complex.  I think everyone should  do something nice for someone every day. 

60.  I occasionally do Volunteer Work for the local Police Dept. typing their Crime Watch logs.

61.  I feel comfortable swimming in a pool opposed to the ocean.

62.  I can’t sing for beans!  I sing all my favorite Italian songs especially when I’m making my sauce (we Italians call it gravy) and meatballs on Sunday!  I love Jimmy Rosselli, the famous Italian Singer.

 

63.  I love music with the exception of Heavy Metal and Rap.  I love Sinatra and Etta James and Nancy Wilson is my all time favorite Jazz Lady!

 

64.  I believe in the power of prayer.

 

65.  I used to be an avid reader before the computer age and the Internet!

 

66.  I hate to make business telephone calls and dealing with that exhausting automated system that completely wears me out!

 

67.  Retirement taught me to take the time to stop and smell the roses.

 

68.  I love, love, love shoes!

 

69.  Bella is my favorite word…it means beautiful in Italian.

 

70.  “All My Tomorrows” is my favorite song by Frank Sinatra.

 

71.  I used to do crossword puzzles but now do word games on my computer.

 

72.  I am Italian….I’m sure you figured that out by now. 

 

73.  My parents and two siblings are deceased.

 

74.  I never knew my grandparents.

 

75.  I love to be pampered with a manicure and pedicure.

 

76.  I keep my a/c house temperature on “meat locker” cold. Living in South Florida gets me overheated!  As I said, I miss New England.

 

77.  I prefer to eat my dinner off of a TV tray in the den while watching TV. 

 

78.  I love Orchard plants.

 

79.  I love garden fresh tomatoes, basil and parsley.

 

80.  I’m not an athletic person.

 

81.  I’m not into sports but I’m certainly a Red Sox’s fan!

 

82.  I love beautiful Newscaster white teeth.

 

83.  I love to cook most days.  It’s boring cooking for one.

 

84.  I sleep with at least three pillows, one being a “Chillow Pillow” to keep me cool.

 

85.  I’m on the computer for at least 6 hours per day.

 

86.  I try not to go on the computer late at night as I find it stimulates me more and creates havoc with my already serious insomnia issues.

 

87.  I don’t play golf.

 

88.  I don’t play tennis either.

 

89.  I do like the Clubhouse to the Country Club for lunch.

 

90.  My favorite smell is gravy and meatballs simmering on the stove.

 

91.  My other favorite smell is the crisp cool winter air in New England.

 

92.  I like to do art and craft projects and creating scrapbooks.

 

93.  I love creating photo albums online and now I’m totally hooked on graphics and animations…..soooooooo time consuming but I love it and I have the time.

 

94.  I love Shalimar Cologne by Guerlain.  I’ve been wearing this fragrance since I was sixteen.

 

95.  I love Happy Hour with the girls.

 

96.  Getting older frightens me.

 

97.  I do believe in God.

 

98.  I love a clean, tidy house.

 

99.  My favorite TV programs are "Dancing with the Stars", "Brothers & Sisters", I miss "Sex and the City".  And, Who does not miss “I Love Lucy”?

 

100.  My online Journal is my way of  leaving my footprints in the sand!

 

Dear Diary!

Hello Everyone!

 

 

I was cleaning out a closet and came across my very first diary.  When I was young, every little girl had a "Dear Diary" with the little lock and key.  All my girlfriends had one too and we all wrote our secret thoughts and most confident information stored in that little Diary that was kept so private!  We were all so anxious to grow up and wear lipstick and high fashion clothes............Oh and the high heels!

When I think back at my first Widow's Meeting seven years ago....to my surprise....we were told that keeping a diary or a journal can be a lifesaver.  For some, writing is an unbearable chore but for me keeping a journal was not new..............just my writings became new.   We were instructed that frequency in writing was not important and literary merit was not important either.  It was just putting your tears on paper and jabbering about so many things and going in so many different directions.  Their theory was, it was cheaper than seeing a shrink!  I now understand the theraputic results from keeping a Journal then and now.

Another woman told me she could not write and did not know how to keep a Journal.  I told her to at least try.....no instructions are necessary.  You can direct your diary/journal to yourself, or the familiar "Dear Diary".  As for me, my personal Journals then were in letter form directed to my deceased husband.  I was writing letters to my dead husband!  My need to talk to him at that time was overwhelming, there was no one else to whom I could expose that part of myself when I was grieving and hurting so badly because it happened so suddenly without any warning.  I was in shock for a very long time.

Then as the days, weeks, months and years went by..........One day I reread my letters I wrote to my husband in my own handwriting and noticing that my hand must have been shaking as I normally have a very neat, meticulous penmanship......I read each page and I cried for the person who wrote it..."Me".  As I read each page, I saw a person healing, it was like watching a clinical progress chart on how I was coping day by day.........wow reading all that anguish and confusion and then more anger and finally..........resolution.

I no longer write to my dead husband and I now keep a Public Journal and these days, I see more comedy than tragedy and more hope than despair.  I was overcoming and surviving.  A lot of years has gone by now.  I have become my own best friend.

I recently had another friend that said she could never do a Public Journal and talk about themselves.  Well, it's not like standing in front of a podium and talking to a large group of people............and yet it is....you just can't see their faces and you don't need a microphone!  I feel like the only person I'm entertaining is myself until I started to receive numerous "comments".  I was pleasantly surprised!

No makeup needed and skip the evening gown and high heels!  Dressed for comfort in front of your own computer just expressing your feelings or sharing a special day with someone else.  Or sharing some special photos of a fabulous vacation....so much to talk about even though it's only you sitting in front of that computer.  Yes, I'm blessed with many friends but I've always loved to write and through this Public Journal, I have made many new friends in the amazing world of cyberspace.

I've learned to become a mechanic, repair a leaky toilet, install a new garbage disposal and all the things my husband would take care of.  Yeah, my biggest complaint about doing these new chores was breaking a nail!  LOL  Oh...and swearing a lot.....LOL

I do have to say, I would be absolutely lost without my computer. 

 

I don't need a pet, I have a robot vacuum cleaner called a Roomba....it feels like you have a pet in the house....I just click on the button and it goes about the entire house vacuuming all the dust bunnies and dirt away and when it comes near my feet while I'm at the computer, I just raise my feet so she can continue on cleaning!  It is a riot....and a lot easier on my sore back pushing a heavy upright.  It cleans very well too!  I call her "Little Rosie"!

Well, time for me to get comfy and finish reading the book "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert.  My dear friend, Laurie gave this book to me to read.  I'm loving the author's description of her journey through Italy!

Ciao!

P.S.  Can you tell I'm hooked on all this graphic stuff???  And, my animations are moving!!!!!  Yippee...Hey, Dan (slapinions)  I never learned how to add music but my animations were more important to me.  But I do appreciate all your help from the day I wrote my first entry....you were somewhere out there in the w.w.w reading it!

 

Dinner For One!

 

Cooking for one for an "Italian" is very difficult.  We love to cook and in abundance.  But cooking just for yourself and creating such a mess of pots and pans to clean up and not to mention all the leftovers that I only end up giving to friends and neighbors.  Of course, some things you can freeze for another day.  I invite the girls over for dinner once in a while and we have a good time and I'm able to share my labor that I spent slaving over the stove for hours with friends.

 

I became a widow in 2001.  You would think that after all these years the empty feeling would go away.  I felt so fortunate to find a wonderful man while I was still in my fifties and after being divorced prior.  Being Divorced and being Widowed are not the same.  (I know that this section should probably go into "All about Me" but too long to place on a side bar) plus my main topic here is really about Widowhood!

 

I recall years ago, a newly divorced air head of a woman said to me, "You're luckier, I was dumped by my husband for a younger woman and given the choice, I would rather see the bastard dead".  Yikes, that was a mouthful..................Despite the lace of malice intended, these comments offered no comfort to me as a  grieving Widow at the time.  I felt I would do anything to have my husband alive.  My husband and I both felt blessed to have found each other later in life, as we both were married before.  Wow, we only had 4 short years together before he passed away. 

 

This world has enough sorrow and for me to add to it would be such a shame.  I occasionally still experience difficult days but I try real hard to balance out the bad that is beyond my control with the goodness that is within my reach.  I’m trying to do my best.

 

I realize that I don’t have to be the one responsible for making everything work.  Believe me.  The big things are already taken care of:  the sun will rise in the morning, the stars will come out at night, and ---if I work it right---my children’s love or a close, dear friend, will share a special smile with me and make everything wrong…right again.

 

Going from widowhood to selfhood is more than coping and overcoming.  I was dragged  unwillingly into this so-called life passage, as always there will be good days and bad days, fears and tears, and all the little inequities that comprise life at any time.  After attending many Widow Group Meetings and reading about "What to do now" I was told that acceptance is the final stage of recovery for widows and sometimes I feel I have reached that stage and sometimes I feel I took 5 steps backwards.  It is so hard to be totally independent again and to make a new life especially when you are older like myself and recently retired.

 

 

I'm originally from Boston, Massachusetts and born right in the "North End" where all the great Italian restaurants are.......(my daughter took this photo of the Boston Public Gardens and the Swan Boat rides) Oh...the memories! 

 

I currently reside in Florida with the sunshine and palm trees, however, I miss my children and family in New England.  I've been living in Florida for nearly 20 years now but I still miss Boston!  I even miss the snow but not shoveling it or skidding on ice driving in a snow storm............Oh my....I remember those days!  I would like to move back some day but the housing market right now is not the right time.

 

My computer has been a form of therapy for me.  I always kept a Journal of some sort....with a legal background....journaling is a must....so I also applied it to my personal life as well.  When I moved to Florida, I composed weekly Newsletters to my family for years and still do.  But, now I do a Journal/Blog which my daughter suggested for me to do.  She knows I love my computer and she thought this would be a good experience for me.

 

I recently was chosen as one of the Guest Editors Picks and was so delighted.  Thank you again, Dan (Slapinions).  I received tons and tons of emails from other Journalers expressing their congrats!  Wow!  I feel like I now have sooooooooo many new computer faceless friends out in cyberspace.  You are all so kind and thoughtful.  Glad you thought my Journal was worth being one of your picks!  That made may day!

 

So, now putting the key into the door doesn't feel so empty anymore............all I have to do is walk over to my computer and check my Journal/Blog as there is always a comment waiting for me.

 

So to Dan, Indigo, Val, Pam and gosh so many others.....I can't remember everyone's name right now.  What an amazing group of people in "Our Magic Smoke".  I'm so excited with all my new animations and mastered inserting them into the text of my Journal with the help of Val and Pam......I was determined to get it right and they had patience to help me along....Thanks everyone!

 

I'm loving my new red hair!  A woman has to make some changes.....dark brown hair was my natural color.

 

I also love my accomplishment of being smoke free since January, 2007!  Yippee!  The prescription Chantix helped me and also the fake cigarettes for the hand to mouth thing....still hold on them to this day....so relieved to be rid of the addiction!