Wed - July 9th

[4theboyz]

Good Morning Abbers!!

Looks like many have taken a vacation on this thread, but I like starting my day here for my daily AF affirmation.

Had a great night last night, the wife *and* the kids were all off somewhere so I had the house all to myself and the speical honor of having my baby sister pop in from out of town for a unscheduled visit. It was so so nice to kick back relax and have a super casual dinner and talk about the good old days! We did discuss drinking briefly and she was very supportive of my AF efforts as we enjoyed our club sodas on-the-rocks out on the deck on a beautiful warm and breezy July night.

So I am relaxed, happy and looking forward to another great AF day today and hope y'all do the same!!

[ready2change]

Wed - July 9th

Howdy 4TB and all to come. Yes the boards are pretty quiet today, hope that is a good sign.

Today I will be AF and HF...starting anew with renewed vigor. The madness has to end.

Have a wonderful day everyone, and I hope you attain your goals. Life is so much better without AL, isn't it?

R2C

[Tiny]

Wed - July 9th

I'm here and after two weeks (again) started back on the wine ... last night I had only one glass... so what I need help with is that two week mark ... UGH.... I moderate OK but I really want a lifestyle change ... and, whi am I kidding a bottle of wine a day is not moderating! Need a serious head check!!!!

[on my way]

Wed - July 9th

Good morning abbers,

I was up and out the door well before 6:00 this morning. The kid?s summer sport training is beginning to wear on me. Been hearing the murmurs of Al a lot lately, stress from lack of sleep and late work hours. Trying to keep it out of site and mind is not easy. Funny, my face looks like a teenager with a bit of an acne problem. Stress stinks!! Funny, one of the things I noticed in the beginning of my abs was my face looked dramatically better, less puffy and clearer, guess I?m due. I?m sure the heat and humidity of late does not help either.

Our trip to GB is coming up quickly; I?m really looking forward to spending quality time with my older kids. Worrying about fitting in with the friends I am to meet, they drink quite a bit and I really do not think I can mod. One drink to me is like an iceberg to the Titanic. YIKES!!

4tb, sounds like you have a great sis, glad you enjoyed your evening, Tiny, hang in there, we have all slipped, keep at it and it will happen!! R2c, you sound up and happy, way to be! All the best to those to come.

Well, I?m off to the garden, all the rain and humidity is helping it grow very well, especially the weeds.

Love to all, omw

[Determinator]

Wed - July 9th

Happy Sleepy Wednesday ABlanders!!

noisy hotel last night so I'm vewy sweepy. zzzzzzz. comon coffee......do your thing.....

4tb, thanks for the kickstart, and glad you had some quality time with your sister.

Tiny, sorry your struggling but that just means you are still in the fight which is a good sign.

last night I ate at a barbyQ joint that's been here in Hayward California since 1928 and I can see why....yummy! but did miss my bike ride with Dx...maybe tomorrow night for that.

Onmyway, GB will be so fun and I'm jealous! sure they drink a lot over there but who wouldn't respect you for respecting yourself?

Ready2change, you do indeed sound ready glad to have you.

well, I'm off to my work HQ today. will be a long day and hope to eventually be back home in Reno by late tonight but I may get stuck another night....we'll see.

be well friends!

[retteacher]

Wed - July 9th

Hi Everyone: I'm back from my wonderful, AF vacation to WA & BC. We stayed w/family & just really enjoyed ourselves. I'm so glad I absed. I was centered & serene. I didn't feel I had to control what was going on & how people were getting along. That's a theme in my life that I can only work through if I am sober. When I'm drunk I want to control everything...even what people say to one another.

It's good to be home. I'm anxious to see the g-kids later today, but now I'm off to get my dog from the groomer.

Mary

PS: Tiny, please do not give up. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to start over. We'll eventually get it.

[Doggygirl]

Wed - July 9th

Hello AFers and a happy HF day to all.

4tbz, your evening with your sis sounds really relaxing and nice. Is the craziness at work settling down? Hope so!

R2C - life sure is better without AL. Now the trick is to burn it in our brains so we never ever forget. That's the hard part - at least it has been for me!! 60 days AF is looming - never been past that in my adult life before. I'm getting my guard up NOW and working to remind myself of how bad AL is for me.....no glamming up the memories if I can help it!!

OMW - GB = ????? (Great Brittain??) If so, I'm pea green! I'm so glad I don't have any many days long situations coming up soon where I would be around big drinkers day in and day out. Hang tough!!

Keep trying Tiny. Eventually I think you will get tired of the roller coaster and it will feel different. So don't give up!!!!

Deter - your comment about spending a day (or more) at your work HQ nearly made me break out in a rash! OH how I don't miss the travel and other BS of corporate life! It was fun up until the last 5 years or so....now I'll take the pressures of our own business over the BS of a corporate HQ any day!! So...I guess I'll say nanny nanny boo boo glad I'm NOT you...... Hope you are set free in time to be home tonight.

Welcome back Mary!!! Sounds like you had a nice trip. Have fun with the G-Kids today!

I was glad to hear from my Mom this AM that Dad's temp must be back down because he was coherent this AM asking her to bring his razor and toothbrush and all that today. I hope that means he will be ready for release before the weekend. I'm going down there today regardless - NASCAR is coming to town tomorrow so we will be hunkering down and staying off the roads. (we live near Chicagoland Speedway)

I am liking AF beer, even though I haven't been much of a beer drinker since college and that was a LONG long time ago. Not sure if that is a problem yet or not - don't want no slippery slope. But I'm not drinking AL and if not beer makes me start wanting AL then out the door it will go.

Hope everyone has a great day!! With all the race stuff being staged all over town, it feels like Friday.

DG
Celebrating 49 Days HFAF

[4theboyz]

Wed - July 9th

Hey DG,

I didn't realize you are that close as I am an hour and 1/2 North of the Speedway and know all too well that the traffic jams around there are legendary on race weekends. It seems that as many people go there and just camp in the parking lot as do go and sit in the stands and that is a *Lot* of people!!

I am not a NASCAR fan and if you are have fun with all the excitement down there!! Actually I guess I would suggest to get as far away as you can as NASCAR fans drink more booze than any other fan base I know of! Crazy days ahead!

[on my way]

Wed - July 9th

Dg?. Northern England and Scotland. I am meeting a bunch of old friends there for sports and rec, it will be a temptation fest in the Al dept.

4tb, I grew up in DuPage co. I too think leaving town would be a great idea.

[Doggygirl]

Wed - July 9th

Yes this is The Big Race Weekend. LOL - our property borders 53 - you know you are getting old when it's fun to sit out there in a lawn chair and watch the crazies go by. I would NEVER go sit in those stands for race day - you fry up there. (although the big NASCAR fans sure enjoy it!). What *I* think is fun is going to the NHRA Championships (National Hot Rod Association - the drag strip cars) at Route 66 Raceway (is it still called that??) I love the Funny Cars. We will be dog training on Saturday as usual, and all the participants will be hoping to miss the major traffic which they usually do. On Sunday we're bugging out early to head north for a dog event, so for the first time in years we won't have the lawn chairs out, and won't see the fly boys (Blue Angels or whoever is hired this year) fly over our house during the opening festivities.

Wow - and OMW is a "local" too!! Your trip sounds really fun - but way more AL tempting than anything race weekend will have to offer me. I did buy more Sharp's on sale. and a couple different kinds of AF wine to try. The boozers will have nothin' on me!!!!

DG

[on my way]

Wed - July 9th

Doggie, talk about nostalgia?I can still hear the radio plug for the drag strip, u remember?? I loved going to the drag strip. I enjoyed the dragsters but really liked watching the contests where the regular crazies rip through the massive mud bog on motor cycles. They always got stuck and the vehicle they sent in after them got stuck too. Good stuff!!
I miss living in the area and all it had to offer. I do not miss the traffic, noise and rat race attitude of some of the folk. We live in farm country now and love it.

Let me know what you find in af wine. i'm curious but have not tried any yet. det made some sugestions but I have yet to try them. Where not in a very metro area here, I'm guessing my options will be very limited.

Good night to all!!

[Doggygirl]

Wed - July 9th

OMW, we are "country folk" too. We feel pretty lucky being sort of on the edge of things here on the outskirts of Joliet - we're on 9 acres so we sort of have our own little park - but it's 5 minutes from downtown Joliet and an hour - four hours () from Chicago depending on traffic. We used to commute all over creation which just got old after so many years. Now we have our own business so most of our clients are right here in Joliet. We do SOME travel though - we have a strong market share in Wilmington. We've often talked that someday if we ever move from here we'd like to be MUCH smaller town /country.

The AF wine I tried was Fre White Zin. As I read from some around here, it tasted TOO sweet. I added a little crushed ice and club soda to make an AF wine spritzer, and I thought that tasted pretty good. It felt sort of "special" to put that in a wine glass. Although I had to laugh - the first thing I did was knock over the wine glass, proving that I'm a clutz with wine glasses even while sober. No wonder I just put the wine in a regular 16 ounce glass when I was a drunk.

The store also had a few flavors in the Ariel brand which I've also read about here. I got a couple of those but haven't tried them yet. I will say the store owner was very nice and after asking where they kept the AF beer and wine, and then buying a few different things to sample, he offered to order any AF stuff I would like to try - he said he can pretty much get anything from his suppliers. I thought that was pretty nice of him, and it makes me think more people must be buying the AF stuff. So if there is any sort of liquor store where you go to do your main shopping you might be able to have them get some things for you to try.

The first time I stopped at this place was Tuesday - it's right on the way home from the hospital where Dad is. I noticed they had a great sale price on Sharps (all the Miller stuff). I realized what a good price that was so stopped back yesterday to take advantage of the sale, and they were OUT. All the other Miller stuff seemed to be in stock but not Sharps. I thought that was sort of interesting. There must be some NASCAR fans somewhere around here who plan to NOT indulge in the real AL this weekend!

Happy Thursday everyone!

DG
Day 50 HFAF!!