Newbies Nest

[Lavande]

Re: Newbies Nest

Good evening Nesters,

Happy 4th of July eve, haha!
I don’t even want to get into that planned debacle in out nation’s capital tomorrow
My son works in DC & I don’t even know if he’s on duty tomorrow, guess I’ll find out.

Change, you’re doing great, hang in there regardless of what anyone else says or does. You know you are doing what is best for YOU!

Pav, I don’t know how I’ve managed to stya married all these years. Sometimes it wasn’t my top choice, if you know what I mean. I think we are strong people, look at how we have completely rearranged our lives for the better

To everyone else - Hello & I hope everyone has a great AF Holiday & safe night in the nest!!

Lav

[Byrdlady]

Re: Newbies Nest

Ava, you were right, we had a lovely visit with the friends from up north. We talked the whole time and the time flew. I’m so glad they came but it’s always nice to get the house back.
My friend had half a glass of wine last night. Who does that? I’m glad I wasn’t trying to juggle drinking while they were here. That was always so exhausting. I feel like I’m now living an authentic life.
Be strong, all, I promise the work is worth it. Byrdie

[lifechange]

Re: Newbies Nest

Hi Nesters!
Quick check in without having read all the way back.
It's been challenging at my dad's, but manageable.. just putting one foot in front of the other!:happy2:
hugs to you all..xx

[Byrdlady]

Re: Newbies Nest

Happy 4th of July! Rubi sends her very best! 5FF39E2A-CB18-45D6-ACF0-0A4105EC798E.jpg

[Lavande]

Re: Newbies Nest

Happy 4th of July everyone!

We just had a big thunder storm roll thru & all of my 6-7’ tall sun flowers were laid over on the ground. We just finished tying them up to teh chicken yard fence so I think they’ll be OK

Byrdie, happy 4th to you & Rubi! Glad the visit went well .

LC, glad you are taking it a day at a time at your Dad’s. Enjoy the visit while you’re there

We did absolutely nothing today & that’s completely OK with me. I really wasn’t in the mood (or have the energy) for throwing a family BBQ. Besides, I think my kids need to step up & start doing their share, LOL.

Hello to everyone & wishing a safe night in the nest for all.
I have been watching CNN all afternoon, the So Cal earthquake was pretty big. It freaks me out to hear they were evacuating an entire hospital. That was always a nightmare of mine, thankfully I never had to deal with that.

Lav

[Guitarista]

Re: Newbies Nest

Yo fam. W'dup.

Hope y'all are having an easy day/arvo/evening.

Friday morning over here. Almost feeling my regular self again after some loooong air travel this week through upside down, inside out time zones. And that's just in me head. A touch of romance here and there on my trip, and a little tug on the ol heart strings, but nothing too dramatic that feel i can't handle. This is a very good thing as i'm feeling stable and balanced. Lot's of beautiful stuff to reflect on. Will see if i can post some pics this time.

Big smooch to Ruby! Big smooch to y'all! No ticket to boozeville for this galivanting guitarrista! Now.......where to next in this big beautiful world? take it easy out there.

Hi Lav. Sheesh, sorry to hear of that earthquake. Time to check the news. Hope folks are safe over there including our Pav for one, and any other nesters who might be affected. Have a nice evening mi amiga. (after a check - 300 days this monday! Must admit, hard not to be beaming ear to ear right now)

[Matt M.]

Re: Newbies Nest

Good morning all- not a whole lot going on in my neck of the woods, other than being Africa hot!
I awoke this morning focusing on gratitude. Grateful to awake today with a clear and peaceful mind after a night of fireworks and eating. There was Alcohol flowing in abundance all around me and not once did I envy those partaking. At nearly 5 years sober I'm still floored that this is possible. A few of "the promises" taken from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous that I often like to read-

Promise 1. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
Promise 3. We will comprehend the word serenity.
Promise 4. We will know peace.

Stay hard freaks!

[Pavati]

Re: Newbies Nest

Hi, All:

Thanks for checking on me, G, but that 'quake was quite a ways south of me. It was bigger than the big one California had in 1989, but it was centered in a much more remote place. Still not good, but a lot fewer casualties. Glad you're still basking in the glow of a fabulous trip. I definitely have the travel bug now...

Lav - the rain flattened sunflowers? That's a hard rain. What would have happened in nature if you weren't here to tie them up? They just go to seed early?? Glad you had a day off.

Byrdie, how did Rubi take to the fireworks? She looks fabulous for a parade!

We had a low key day here. Brother- and sister-in-law came over and we went on a walk with the dogs and had a BBQ. Nice to hang out with them and I'm lucky I married into a family I really love. I think my 20-something son's room smells like stale booze this morning - he'll not feel too good today. I wish I could give him your three tips, Matt, but he'll have to find out for himself what his relationship with booze is. I'm think overall it is pretty healthy with the few odd drunks. We'll see.

Happy Friday - that's cool that we have a one day work week. Hope everyone else is still around and just not posting. What's going on??

Pav

[wagmor]

Re: Newbies Nest

Hi everyone! We made it to our friend's cabin on the river (literally right off the back deck) and we have sporadic wifi so I thought I'd check in while I can. Hope everyone in the US had a good holiday yesterday. Honestly not my favorite holiday for various reasons, and our week in the forest was planned specifically to escape the illegal fireworks that people set off like bombs all over our city (including our next door neighbor, ugh).

Independence Day was always a big drinking day, especially in my teens. I can distinctly remember one July 4th when I was about 17 attending a citywide annual parade/picnic/fireworks thing and us teens were sneaking gin into our slushies. That was the day that killed gin for me - I got so sick, and had such a terrible headache later, and could never drink it again. Why do people DO things like that? Poison ourselves on purpose and view it as fun, celebratory, cool, whatever. If there's one thing I wish I could change from my growing up years, it's that I wish I had never started drinking. Since I can't do that, I'll make damn sure now that I protect my quit with everything I've got and never drink again.

No more wasted time, no more self-poisoning.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll be reading back through posts today and catching up on all the nest happenings. Happy Friday-into-Saturday!

[Lavande]

Re: Newbies Nest

Good evening Nesters,

Still stuck in this heatwave, yuck. I am just going to have to wait it out (in my AC of course) Haha!!

G, would love to see some travel pics
Like sound of 300 AF days coming up for you, yay!

Matt, I’ll take the happiness, serenity & peace any day over a bottle of poison!!!

Pav, I figured you were out of the way of the earthquake as was my brother out there. Still pretty scary though & all those aftershocks must be unnerving.
I remember my kids coming home fairly sloshed a few times at that age but fortunately that was a short lived phase. They knew better than to drink & drive & they both preferred driving so they made good choices. Your’s will too.

Wags, are you doing any fishing in that way too close river? LOL
Glad you found a peaceful spot for the holiday weekend Enjoy yourselves!

Nothing much happening here so I’ll just wish everyone a safe night in the nest!
Lav

[available]

Re: Newbies Nest

afternoon nesters

All good in ava land, been out walking with Carl which is lovely. My hip is slowly getting better which is great.

LC glad you had a nice time with your dad, please hold your sobriety close and look after it.

G, 300 days on Monday, go you. You have worked very hard for this amount of time so you deserve to smile and be happy. As we know sobriety is not an easy road to travel but so worth it when we realise that in ourselves. We are not missing out on anything, we are gaining our life back. I cant imagine myself ever drinking again, i just dont want to but i do protect myself at all times, if i dont no one else will.

I was talking to one of my neurologists the other day about being nearly 100 days smoke free and he said how he was a social smoker back in the day. I told him i was an all or nothing girl and that i didnt drink anymore also. he asked why and i told him i was an alcoholic, he was kind of taken aback but told me i was an amazingly strong person. Yes i am and i know that now. When i drank i was insecure and alone, not now. He did say he never picked it that i was a drinker.

Well i am going to hang out the clothes, a lovely cool winters day. Lav, i dont envy you the heat, it sucks your soul out.

take care xx

[Guitarista]

Re: Newbies Nest

Cathedral in Bogota Colombia Bogota cathedral.jpg

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu 2019.jpg

Machu Pichuu 2 2019.jpg

Machu Pichuu 4 2019.jpg

[Guitarista]

Re: Newbies Nest

Cathedral in Bogota. My guitar rig set up. Having my say outside the palace of justice in Santa Marta Colombia. Tayrona national parque Colombia. Sorry 'bout the sideways pics. It was a long day.

IMG_5146.jpg

[wagmor]

Re: Newbies Nest

G - love the pics! And huge congrats coming your way soon for the big 300-day milestone, which as you know is just a few inches shy of the full circle around the sun celebration! Woohoo buddy - really happy for you.

Lav - we aren't fishing but lots of people come to this river just for that, along with kayaking and rafting. It's a wild and scenic river and salmon run here. The river is only about 10-20 yards from the back deck but it's down quite a ways lower. This actually was a dammed part of the river, and thus a lakefront cabin, up until about 8 years ago. Then the power company who owned and operated the dam determined that something was wrong with it that was more expensive to fix than they were willing to spend, so they decided to blow the dam and now we have a fast river with rapids off the back of the cabin. It's like sleeping with a waterfall just outside your window - mostly good white noise, but occasionally found myself wanting to "turn it down" just a bit :lol:


Heading home today and I can't wait to get there. I have 3 classes tomorrow but nothing scheduled for today, so we'll mostly just drive, unload the truck, unpack the bags, and catch up on all those home chores nobody has been doing for the past week like watering plants.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

[narilly]

Re: Newbies Nest

Happy sober Saturday, love the pics G. You Raawk with the 300 days amigo <3
Glad your hip is healing up Ava. Isnt it amazing how far you have come? "I am not a smoker or a drinker" Did you ever think you would say that? You ARE a strong gal!

Wags, your holiday sounds great but it is always nice to get home.

Work is great so far, I keep thinking it isn't real and I feel very lucky. It is Stampede here in Calgary and I am wearing my Cowboy boots every day. I have 8 pairs and I was looking at them yesterday and wondering which ones I threw up on before...ugh. Yeah, me a alcohol during Stampede was not good. I remember puking all down my white shirt and my friends half carrying me out of the beer tent at midnight. I am SO grateful those days are over!
I am going Square Dancing down town this morning and enjoying my day Sober.
If I can do it, anyone can.

Dont drink today, embrace it!