January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

[spedteach]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Good morning all,
Lounging around with this laptop before facing the public schools.
Red, I too cannot wait for American Idol. Without shame I admit I am such a sucker for those shows. Did you watch So You Think You Can Dance? Yesterday at the gym I saw a news report on a guy who had won The Biggest Loser,losing like 170 lbs. and then gaining it all back. Food addiction must be awful.

OH, I too will ask my husband for help in my battle with al and it does make him feel appreciated, needed, which in turn helps me. I've been married for almost 30 years. Not including him in this struggle of mine would undermine the whole effort.

Man and TNM, hello. If I didn't have any cravings, I don't think I would spend a lot of time worrying about their imminent arrival. For me, focusing on right now has been essential for maintaining my sobriety. The past equals guilt and the future fear, so be in the moment, see how that works for you.

Dill, Dill, Dill, the driving like a bat out of hell story, how many times I did that. My husband would run a short errand. As soon as he was gone, I would leap into my car, drive to the nearest place I could buy a bottle of wine, and be back before he got back from his errand. And then stealthily nip away at the bottle all night. Whew! If that's not sick behavior I don't know what is. It does seem rather ludicrous in retrospect. Always good to be able to laugh at oneself.

Seems cold here...17 degrees...but know some of you are getting slammed much worse, like you SD as I'm assuming that means South Dakota.

Later, bear hugs,
Shelley

[sdlovespackers]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hi All!
Quick post as we are calling off school in 15 minutes...therefore tons of kids not knowing what to do or where to go....such fun!! Just came back to the office to get my cell phone! The wind is suppose to pick up and temps (get this) DROP drastically!! WHAT!?!?!?! Pretty must guess no school tomorrow!! This would be the time I would run through the drive through and pick up some beer or wine (why not tie one on if there is no work huh)...well not anymore!!! Heading home and gettin my sweats on al and sober the entire night!! Anyway...better get movin'!
PS-Thanks Dill for reminding my of last March?april....sometimes I forget how far I've come...or what it was "really" like!! We rock huh?!?!?
Big WARM hugs!!
SD:l

[ladybirdheart]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Good day. Goodness, I have my own stories of the surreptitious dash to the liquor store, I wonder how many other dear souls in there are doing the same thing. I wouldn?t be too concerned about not having cravings, Mandalay and TNM, (if it were me I would be bursting with relief) as it is my understanding that some people never do unless they prime the pump with a drink or two?if they do not pick up a drink out of habit or pressure or curiosity, they are fine and can go right on with life. This could be you! I certainly hope so. I took a big bite out of a personal bullet a while ago and made an appointment with my eye surgeon. To make a long story short, I had cataract surgeries last year which were more complicated than the usual as I have scarred corneas, and my left eye didn?t come out right and needs to be redone which is now considerably more complicated as he has to take out the plastic lens blah, blah, blah. Icky. I was too chicken to do it at the time as I had just gotten through a major case of a gruesome room clearing Malocchio (think of an eye that looked and felt like raw hamburger with prickly stitches?I should make it my avatar:H), but the visual problem is affecting the quality of my life (which I now have since I am not drinking) so I need to fix it. My appointment is not until mid February and then who knows when my spot in the surgery line will come since I lost it the first time but I am going to do it. I feel better getting things in motion; taking care of hard things rather than pushing them aside for another day causes me far, far less stress. I have also decided that once I am healed up I am going to arrange a nice ocean voyage. I shall explore that through these cold days to keep things more balanced. My love to each and all of you, Ladybird.

[sooty]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Ladybird you brave and lovely lady - well done for getting your eye sorted out - it sounds absolutely awful but I'm sure the long term benefits will outweigh the unpleasantness now and we'll all be rooting for and thinking about you - the power of thought and love does big stuff you know!
You certainly deserve a cruise - where and when will you be going my dear? Tell us all about it so we can imagine you on board taking in the food and the sights...
I'm planning to take some holidays this year as for one reason or another they didn't happen last year - I'm staying in the UK probably, I want to explore parts of the country I've never visited.
To all of you out there I hope Humpday was happy, sober and free
see you tomorrow
love Sooty

[Miss October]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hi Red ! I love the name of your thread " JUST DO IT". Awesome advice. I would like to join in if you don't mind.

I watched the Biggest Loser too (love the show), and I'm a huge fan of American Idol. They will be both on at the same time, so I have to flip back and forth.

SpedTeach - I loved "Do you think you can Dance". Talk about being in shape. They sure don't drink !

So today will be my DAY ONE. Looking for support and encouragement.

Best wishes to all for a sober evening.

Miss O.

[mandalay]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hi everyone

Guess you are mostly all getting to the end of Tuesday, wishing you all positive thoughts for a sober Tuesday evening. I'm on Wed now, but thank you so much to Lavande and Cyntree for the wise words and support. And Ladybird, how awful for you, I am constantly inspired by people like you. Gotta rush to work, but will pop in later.

Mandalay

[lilmea]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

LHB-How awful about the eye surgery! I would certainly say you deserve an ocean voyage after that. Any ideas where you might go?

[sooty]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Just popping on to say goodnight as its getting near bedtime for me. Hello Miss O and welcome, this is a good place to be - looking forward to getting to know you.
Hope humpday went well for everyone - its still cold here but no more snow thank goodness.
I want to go out tomorrow but not if its slippy slidey!!
See you tomorrow gang
love Sooty

[mighty mouse]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hello to all my wonderful friends,

I MISS you very much.:upset: Like lode I have become addicted to you and starting a new job has really interferred...what was i thinking. Job is going well but I am very tired. It will take me a few weeks to get used to it. my college kidss will be gone next week so having only one left at home will be less hectic. and maybe the tree and decorations will come down this weekend. I discovered I still have a brain. was worried after not working for quite a few years.

I wish i could respond to everyone. i just spent the past hour catching up with the posts and you sound good and positive and are JUST DOING IT all in their own ways.

I love waking up and having someplace to go with my coffee cup in hand. clear mornings are truly one of the best things about staying away from al. I still think of al almost daily but most of the thought is how nice it is without it and very small times are cravings.

keep up the fight. every little success counts and grows...will try to catch up again this weekend.

:l:h:l:h MM

[cyntree]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Good evening, all. MM - this is your first job in a few years?! You brave soul - congrats, and good for you...of course your brain still works - any of us here could have told you that! Glad to hear that your AF life is going well, too. Man - I didn't see earlier that you are in Australia! Isn't it a thrill that we all can communicate and share our stories? Welcome Miss O, and congrats on day 1 - feel free to stay close and post often.

Dill, I think your grocery-run story hit a chord with most of us. Today (even in this other city) I drove by a QuikPik where I have stopped in the past to buy my vodka stash....it was about 4:00 when I drove by, and I thought about how I would stop there, do the 'hiding' thing, worry and obsess all night about having just enough, not too much......AAAARGH what a horrible waste of time and emotion and energy. Thankfully, I had not the least desire to turn in -- just was thankful that I wasn't going to spend my night the 'old' way. Then I went into a grocery store where I normally would have found something to sneak back to the apartment; but again, was really just interested in getting the stuff to make a good garlicky version of liguine and clam sauce. Hooray!!

LBH - good for you for taking action on your eye, but I can understand your hesitation. You definitely need some ocean breezes for healing after you're done.

I am so sorry for the terrible weather, you midwesterners. My 82 year old Mom is stuck at home alone again for the 3rd time in 3 weeks - I'm trying to get her here to thaw out.

Hope everyone had a happy 'hump' day - Sooty, be careful tomorrow if you venture out - we need our captain all in one piece! (When someone talked about taking the summer sleigh around the world, I remembered an experience I had while fly-fishing in New Zealand, walking through a seemingly endless field of shoulder-high blue lupines. How fun would it be to land the sleigh in that field?!)

Take care all, bon reve rose -

[Peanut]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to drop in and say a quick hello to everyone - and my wishes for you all for your physical well-being. Stay healthy, eh?? I just read an extremely interesting book called "Born to Run", and one of my favorite lines in it was "you don't stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running". You guys know I love running and this has inspired me to never stop. So keep moving and stay strong. Take care of those eyes, LBH. Lav - I'll visualize some extra calcium for your bones. Lil - hope your barometer hands are feeling better.

Cold there SD?? Stay warm. And Sooty good luck plowing through all that snow - we have such a small amount of the stuff, it's odd.

Hi to each and everyone of you on this thread. I have missed you all very much, but have been so freakin' busy at work and tired at night, I don't get much posting time. No phone or internet until the 14th - ridiculous!!! Our new lab is in a new building built specially for us, attached to what is called the Field Lab where all the seed set up and that sort of stuff is done, so it is easier working with the people who provide us with out testing material. The lab is the Cereal (grain) quality labs an we do testing on crops for the breeders here and now is our busiest time of the year, and really not an ideal time for making a huge move like this. Thus, the stress.

Oh yes. My 102yo auntie passed away this morning. Sad, but on the other hand, not so sad. Didn't expect her to live forever, and it is amazing that someone born in 1907 lived long enough to see 2010!!! She died peacefully in her sleep early this morning. I will probably go home for the funeral, as it is only an hour flight away and flights are pretty cheap right now.

I'm off to bed. Goodnight everyone - cheers (??) to another AF day!!!
xoxoxo peanut

[Lavande]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Evening friends,

It's bedtime but had to check in.

Pnut, sorry to hear about your aunt - but at 102? Wow, she had an amazing life! God bless her!

LBH, I'm available if you'd like to have a slightly used nurse to watch over you after your surgery
I'm sure you'll do just fine. A post op cruise sounds like great medicine!

MM, glad you like your new job - that's always nice!

Greetings to each & every individual here today & welcome Miss O - glad you're here with us!
Too tired to think at this point - I'll just wish everyone a safe & AF night!
Lav

[openheart]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Hello dear ones--just doing a quick check in on everyone to see how you are today. Laughed outloud (thank you--that doesn't happen often enough!) about Dill, Red, Cyn and others' descriptions of the mad dashes to the liquor store trying to go unnoticed. I so greatly appreciated this.

Now that I am able to step back and really look at my actions more objectively, I see how the alc was eroding my core value of honesty. The deceptiveness of sneaking away to buy more wine. The deceptiveness of funneling wine from one bottle to another to keep the level "reasonable". The deceptiveness of all the cover ups, while still priding myself in thinking I was honorable. Kinda scary to think about--so grateful to begin to trust in my integrity again.

So sorry for the loss of your aunt, Peanut, at 102 yrs. Was she petite by chance? I seem to recall reading something about how if you are under 5'2" you have esp. long lived genes.

Looking forward to this weekend where I can spend a little more time on MWO. Hmmm...that's the first time I've thought of looking forward to a weekend and it wasn't about drinking! I'll take that as a good sign.

Be well!
Openheart

[lodestar]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Whoa! Busy day in here! I'm off to bed shortly ~ didn't get to read all the posts today.

Something about topping off your wine bottles to stay at a reasonable level? At the end, I funneled from the bottle under the sink to the bottle in the freezer and...

...I live alone! Not really funny but :H anyway.

Big hugs to all.

[sooty]

January: Just Do It! ~ AF ~ Week 1

Morning just wanted to log in to say hi. Off to my pilates class this morning but Mr S is driving I'm glad to say.
Open - what you said about Al affecting your core of honesty - so true my friend - really struck a chord. I pride myself on my honesty and yet I was such a deceiver both of myself and more importantly those who care about me. Thanks for pointing it out. Always food for thought on here ....
I'll be back later - have a good day everyone
Sooty