AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

[Doggygirl]

Happy Friday Abbie Fabbies! I hate to sound like a broken record, but geez. It's another great day to be sober! Is that so sweet your teeth hurt or what? Being unhung is better than Greenie's reese's peanut butter schmeared on apple slices.

I have a sore throat that started coming on yesterday. Probably picked up some nasty germs hanging out at the hospital last weekend. So I'm taking a pass on the leads group meetings this morning. I might go share my germs later at the nail salon though. We'll see.

Uni, I looked in the book bag from my friend and 19 seconds is in there! I'll read that next. Or maybe I should save it until last if it's better than the others. I'm really into the Salem Falls one at this point and will probably power read the rest of it today!

Kate and Cindi, Mr. Doggy and I have also radically restructured our professional lives. And we wouldn't go back to the way it was for anything. Mr. Doggy climbed all the way to partner with a CPA firm (his practice area was computer / technology related consulting) and I was in sales for a big computer distrubution company. Big jobs. Big money. Lots of travel, stress, etc. We have learned to live on far less money with our little local computer support business. And we're not traveling nor working insane hours with insane stress levels. Sometimes we think we need a lot more than we really need. So Cindi - I hope everything works out so you can make a career change!

It's raining today so a great day for curling up with this book! I hope all you abbie fabbies are having a great day. Any sober day is a great day to me.

DG

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Morning Friday's Most Fab Ones!!!!

Thanks for the kick off DG. Yeah man!! Sweet sobriety!

As I was feeding pets I was thinking I could do with a nice day of rain so I could curl up with a book. I made a note of 19 seconds. I love to go to the library room where the dontated used hardbacks are $2. Well, sun is pouring in the windows so I'm plugged in.

Gaia... the force of the group is with you this weekend! Stay in your groove, girlfriend!

I've made arrangements with a new painter. He came over late yesterday and then we rode around in his truck looking at examples of his work. One lady walked outside and chatted and she did praise his work. I also will get a list of references. So Monday I start over. I think I'm going to change the color of the house. Broken record chant - thank goodness I'm doing this sober.

Cindi, on the undies thread I reminded you of the time way back when that you advised me to remove myself from a toxic situation......just sayin' :l

Well....... do have a fabulous friday and be ever so grateful to be sober!

[Lavande]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Good morning Ab Fabbers!

Sunny & pleasant here so far today. Looks like the heat & humidity return this weekend. Hiding in the AC will be on top of my list, I'm such a weather weenie!

Speaking of high stress jobs.......
Mr Lav & I left our high stress jobs (cop & nurse) seven years ago. I opened my small, home based embroidery biz & am happy I did. Unfortunately Mr Lav went on to another high stress job (security director on a college campus). And now he's so depressed & stressed out he can't bring himself to live in his own home. He is now considering leaving that job..............

Wishing everyone a wonderful AF Friday!
I too am grateful to be sober!

Lav

[AAthlete]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

+2 on being sober this morning - wouldn't trade it for anything. Great to see everyone this morning and happy Friday to all.

DG, I agree that money can't buy us happiness. I have a good job that allows me to usually get home by 5:30 each day (course I start pretty early), which means I can have dinner with my family, attend my son's school/sports events, etc. I honestly wouldn't trade it for anything, even if it means not making as much as a could...

Guess it goes back to our conversation yesterday about finding that balance in our lives. Whether it is work, exercise, eating, etc., too much of a good thing usually ends up being a bad thing - at least for me.

[Guitarista]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Happy POETS day all! Another day sober indeed! Great to see everybody.

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

That is SO funny! I had a buddy in early college days and we used to cut classes on Fridays and hang out and called it POETS day!

[LVT25]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Hello friends!

I have been busy working and taking advantage of the beautiful warm days. Baseball games, and lots of stuff except taking care of my own projects. But today that all changes. I'm taking the morning to do some stuff here (maybe even get the greenhouse set up), and then I think I have all day tomorrow. Sunday of course will be dedicated to Father's day.

I had a pretty vivid drinking dream last night. I was with my high school classmates (I dream about them alot) and I got drunk enough I couldn't remember anything about what we did. Then the next day someone handed me a beer and I thought Oh well. It seemed so real, but I'm glad it wasn't!

I better get busy. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!
:h

[LVT25]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

I just took a quick peek at yesterdays thread and wanted to add....

I quit my job 3 years ago. At the time I had gotten a hefty inheritance and own some land, so we thought we could swing it, but we had no way of knowing for sure unless I tried. I wanted so much to be able to follow my kids in their sports and other activities. My job was also getting pretty stressful and the boss was an anal micro-manager.
Then the economy fell apart. I managed to find a few part time book keeping jobs to help buy groceries and pay some bills. We haven't changed our spending habits enough and have still had to dip into savings some. And even though it appears that I am overly stressed running from job to job, I am still much happier than I was. I can keep my own hours and come and go as I please and haven't had to miss a single event in my kid's lives! Plus, I feel I am much more aware of where they are and what they are doing. Granted, I didn't make a whole lot of money as a vet tech, but I did ok. So, Cindi, I hope you find your answers to your career concerns, but sometimes you just have to take a leap and see where it takes you.

[LVT25]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

OH!!! And Greenie! I have what I think is a wonderful idea. What if you gave your ex a really nice short haircut with FH carved out in the back????:H:H:H

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

LMAO LVT!!!! Hey, what happened with the effing parents are home remark? ANd the erm... texted photos. Hummm? hummm???

[universal]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Hi guys,

Looking forward to a great AF weekend here. Supposed to be nice and sunny - hopefully I can get some relax time in!

Let me know how you guys like 19 minutes! (I loved it -

[Cinders]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Whew!! Got through the appraisal. Only issue is if we want an FHA loan, the property the trailer sits on has to be separate. It was at one time but I am pretty sure hubby combined them into one deed to minimize tax issues.

Oh well. If it isn't one thing, it's another.

But, an $800.00 savings a month is worth going for if I am going to quit my job and do something else. (Might have to sell the Honda S2000, too, but ssshhhh, don't tell Mr. Cinders yet.)

The sad thing is, I always wanted to teach HS math when I was ready to change jobs. Today, in the USA, that is not a good prospect with all the layoffs of teachers.

Well, one must learn to be flexible in life, yes?

Oh, and another gloriously sober and happy day in the works here. I even get a chance to sit back and enjoy a fairly clean house. A very unusual state for us.

Glad to see all are doing well and I really appreciate the encouragement of my friends here. I am ready to make a major change and looking forward to it rather than fearing it.

Love,
Cindi

[Raven.joy]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

i wash the dishes every night before bed, it's a symbol of getting better. When I was drunk I had to do it every morning. Cleaner house, cleaner you, all good.

[greeneyes]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

Raven!!! Good to see you! I wash dishes at night too. Straighten up the living room. And the girlie face stuff. It IS all good!

[Doggygirl]

AF Daily - TGIF June 18!

****SANDWICH WARNING****


Good to see you Raven.joy!!! Wow your post brought back some pretty gruesome memories about how my house was before I quit smoking and drinking. YIKES. Dirty dishes was just the beginning of it. Yes. Cleaner liver, cleaner house! YAY!

Greenie I'm glad you are getting new painters. A bad paint job could create twice as much work to fix it and then do it again.

Yes LVT. What ABOUT the sexting and all of that? (I'm trying to appear cool and sophisticated and "with it," which is probably not the correct phrase any more, by knowing what "sexting" is) I suppose one of the Great Tragedies of life is that by the time we are old enough and mature enough to HANDLE a little sexting, we would definitely not want anyone seeing nekkid pictures. Speaking only for myself, of course. :H

(seriously - hope all is well with the boys!) Also want to hear about your greenhouse project once you get around to that.

Cinders, $800 a month savings is definitely worth shooting for! Keep that teaching dream alive. Who knows - even if you end up having to do something else for awhile, if you are home all the time you could volunteer to tutor or something rewarding like that. The possibilities are really endless. One of the girls in AA I'm friends with is a teacher assistant. She hopes to be a special ed teacher one day. She is helping another one of the guys prepare for his GED. There is just so much we can do when we are sober and....HOME! I hope we have got you sufficiently excited about whatever is coming next in your professional life!

Uni, here is wishing you a RELAXING sober weekend!

POETS day, huh? Never knew what that was. Sounds sort of like the Friday "Pricing Meetings" we used to have at one of my old jobs. They usually took place on Friday afternoons but sometimes other days. They usually started at 3PM but sometimes earlier - maybe even a continuation of luch-to-pricing-meeting. They ALWAYS took place in a bar.

AA, too much of a good thing usually ends up a bad thing for me as well.

Lav, I think of you and your business every time I go to one of my leads groups meetings. There is a lady in one of them who does what you do from her home, and her story is a lot like yours! She keeps mighty busy but also enjoys flexibility to go 3-day weekending it in their camper and also taking care of her g-kids. We need some abbie fabbie T-shirts. With rhinestones. Wouldn't that be fun?

I drug my ass to Curves today. I've been under motivated for exercise this week but as always, am very glad I pushed myself to go do it. I always feel better after no matter how I felt before. One of the ladies who works there went with her husband and sound like many friends to a wedding last Saturday. On Monday, she was telling the story in a more light hearted way about how shit faced her husband got. Sounds like he made a real ass of himself oogling another woman with big boobs, dancing with everyone but his wife, and ultimately falling down and getting a shiner. We were laughing on Monday that the shiner served him right - maybe he won't oogle large breasted women next time.

Today (right in front of me - I was not eavesdropping!) she was talking about it with another woman who works at Curves. The story came out a little different between them. Sounds like the husband does this on most occassions that he drinks. He doesn't drink at home, but when they go out and drinking is appropriate (moderate drinking being appropriate that is!) he often over does it. She's scared he will get a DUI or worse. She's scared he will damage his professional reputation and cause financial hardship. I of course could relate to his drinking escapades as I tried to "explain away" about a million or more of them - I know all of us have.

It was very interesting hearing how this is affecting her - the fear and uncertainty. The lack of trust that he will be able to drive them home. The fear of being embarrassed by his behavior. The fear of losing ________________ (insert lifestyle thing here) if his job is affected.

I decided to tell her that I used to get in that same kind of trouble when I drank. My intentions would be to have a couple of drinks but I just couldn't stop. I told her I finally quit drinking and that life is better now. She asked me questions such as "How could he have a drinking problem when he never drinks at home, even though there is alcohol there?" I told her that I can't say for sure if he has a problem - only he knows that. But for me, I finally had to take a close look at what was happening all to often when I DID drink. The "black eye" story reminded me of a work sales award cruise I took one time. The first night I got drunk and fell and had a shiner like her husbands for the whole event. In front of the boos, his boss, and his boss. I told her about it. I told her that once I finally stopped drinking, it's a relief to know I won't have stuff like that happen any more. At least not because I'm drunk.

I never said I was an alkie. I just told her I understood and that if he decides he would be better off quitting, it IS possible and life DOES go on and one CAN have fun at social events without AL.

Mean time, she said he has been her personal slave all week due to guilt and remorse. So it's not ALL bad. :H

And I thought I wasn't affecting anyone else with my drinking. THAT's what she reminded ME of today. I'm grateful my husband stuck with me.

DG