Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

[Lavande]

Good morning Abbers!

Just getting us started - will be back

Lav

[Doggygirl]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hi Lav! Zoom zoom off to school but sending a BIG WAVE hello to the fABbies!!!

Have a great day one and all.

One thing is for sure.....

DG

[Treya]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Quick high energy hello from me too to Lav DG and all to come.
Seems all the fabsters have things to do today!!
XTreya

[Kaslo]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Good morning Abstininkies. A friend is visiting tonight from back home on Vancouver Island. Ive known him since University days. So thats since 1978 or so. He and his exwife used to come and drink a lot of wine at our place. When he called yesterday I told him he was "on his own" and there was a bit of a shocked silence, but he is more interested in talking than drinking, I figure. He is an old soul. He can drink all he wants when hes here, but I ainta gonna go there. I am looking forward to cooking for him though. I am thinking a hearty soup of some kind and home made bread. And a salad.

Have a great day everyone. Kas

[jennyneric]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Good morning

[LVT25]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hello friends,

Quick check in for me too. I have tons to do, but I'm having just a little trouble getting started. My in-laws have left. We had an enjoyable supper (all together) birthday cake and ice cream. I'm glad their last night here was a good one. Now, I am looking forward to getting into a somewhat normal routine around here! And I really hope my hubby gives his liver a break for a few days.

Jenny, I know sometimes when we start a debatable subject here, it might feel like we are picking on someone. I hope you don't feel that way. I understand your circumstances (sort of) and I do know the laws are different in every state. Here they are really trying to crack down on social hosting--which is allowing minors to drink in your home. Here it is legal to provide alcohol to your own children. Which I think is dumb, but I don't really want the government telling me what I can do in my own home either. I think if you are helping your kids to get drunk though, that may be considered child abuse. Anyway, it may be a hard thing to do, but maybe you could discuss your issues with alcohol, and tell her it's not all it's cracked up to be. I think part of the problem in our society is that alcohol use is so widely accepted and over rated if you will--so much that people break the law all the time by providing alcohol to minors. I often wonder if people that do that also let their kids smoke, do drugs and other illegal things with them? Anyway--I hope you don't think I was picking on you, I just kind of wondered why. Thanks!:l

Hope everyone has a great AF week!:h

[Lavande]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

I have talked to someone in my Vet's office & arranged to take Girl Dog in tomorrow afternoon. I'm sorry to see her go but I know that it's time to end her suffering. There is no chance of recovery for her, we've tried everything.

Hello to DG, Treya, Kaslo, jenny & LVT!

jenny, I have very strong feelings about serving minors. I made sure my kids, their friends, nieces & nephews were safe when in my home. My 18 year old nephew took it upon himself to score a 6-pack somewhere & hop in his pickup truck 8 summers ago.......he never made it home :upset:
That's why my feelings about minors drinking AL are stronger than ever!!!!!

OK, my two grandsons are arriving shortly. I will be watching them while my DIL attends her class then goes to her karate class. I pray for strength

[greeneyes]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Awwwwww Lav!!!! :upset::upset: That breaks my heart about girl dog. I really feel for you having to do that even though it is absolutely the right thing to do. Maybe you can arrange to play with a grandbaby or two afterwards to help shift gears.

Jen, I hope you don't feel picked on. I'm kind of remembering last time you got real quiet after opinions were voiced about hubby driving with a kid and a 6 pack in his belly. One other thing, though. I think sometimes you feel like you don't have much of a say when it comes to having an opposing view to your family-in-law. At the end of the day, who cares if the 18 year old or her mother or anyone else thinks you are rude if you don't allow underage drinking in YOUR home and if you won't break the law to allow them to do it elsewhere. And if they want to kick up drama about it, it's THEIR drama. You do have a dog in that fight ~ your kids are watching. :crowned:

[Kaslo]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Lav that is tragic about your nephew. How awful for his parents and siblings... and sorry about the old dog as well. Tough but a good decision, absolutely.

Mainly I am checking in to say NICE PICS DET!!

Re Jennys predicament... I guess I sympathise a bit because its hard to go against the grain when everyone around you is doing something that is against the law. And telling each other and themselves its no biggie. I used to think it was ok for kids to drink if they did it in moderation at our house only and not leave till ready to leave. BUt I am not so sure now. i certainly would not actually go and buy the stuff for a teenager. No way. I have never understood the attitude that following the law is doing what the government wants us to do, and not following the law is not letting the government tell you want to do. (if that makes sense, which I am not sure it does). I think that is a basic difference between Canadians and Americans, we view our laws as something we have agreed upon, we allowed to pass in the parliament via our representatives, and we depend on the legal system to enforce on our behalf. Dont ask me how I feel when those mofos in Ottawa piss me off though! :H

I actually think the laws about booze should be tougher. For example, I dont think taxi drivers should be permitted to deliver to peoples houses. We think that is what did in my step mom, Helen. Who is incidentally starting to sit up, eat, talk, etc and seems to be recovering!! All because they got her away from the sauce she was getting delivered to her on the QT. GO figure, anyway, Jenny I guess you probably have heard enough of this topic now.

love and peace to all. Its 33 C here! Hot hot hot!

kas

[jennyneric]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hi!

[Determinator]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Ooooh Rooo AFerooooos!

extra hugs for you Lav xxxxxxx

underage drinking strikes a deep chord in me. mind you I'm a libertarian and do NOT want more laws/legislation passed, but from a practicality and responsibility perspective this is a biggie.

when I was 17 yo, a couple friends and I hung out by the local grocery and offered a stranger a few bucks to buy us a case of beer. he did so and we went to my grandmas house (she wasn't home) and one of the friends got worried and left. so that left the two of us and we guzzled the whole thing and then thought.....lets go for a walk. to make a long story short I was arrested for J walking and being a minor under the influence while staggering into a crowded intersection(whew!) and taken to the juvenile jail where (you won't believe this) my Mom worked! I spent about 8 hours in a cell until my Mom came to bail me out. you wanna talk about the family embarrassment, that was it. I had to take AL abuse classes and it was a major pain in the rear for my family as we all went to court together a couple times. that really really totally sucked. anyway, the moral of the story is only bad things can possibly happen to a drunk minor, and it's a damn good thing the cops never found that man that provided the beer because he'd have been in court with us.

in brighter news, all is well on the AF front. and with due luck my sweetie will be home late tomorrow night! woooo wooooo woooooo! I miss my wife soooo much. sniff sniff.

be well loves

[Doggygirl]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hi again all!

Lav - I'm so sorry to read about Girl Dog. ((((Girl Dog)))) You have sure given her a good life there in LavLand. Even when it's time, and it's the right thing to do, I know it's hard. I'm thinking of you.

Jenny, I really understand where you are coming from in terms of picking your battles. Whoever coined the phrase "alcholism is a family disease" wasn't kidding, were they? Alcohol can permeate family relationships in so many insidious ways - you don't even have to drink AL for AL to cause trouble! I know that what seems simple on the surface sometimes isn't. :l In the grander scheme of things, I hope you are able to structure a peaceful, sober life for yourself and your kids while it seems AL has you surrounded on some level. And I hope your niece manages to stay safe.

We did role playing today in my Addiction Counseling 101 class. We took turns being the counselor and the counselee. We were free to give our own real backgrounds as it pertains to drugs/AL or make something up. I gave all the sordid facts of my life and also my "date of my last drink" etc. Feels sort of good to be getting into a profession where my drinking history doesn't scare people LOL! Well, I think I scared one girl. This survery covers "any time" so it was interesting answering the question "what drugs have you used?" and saying "drugs really and truly have never been a problem for me but here are the ones I've tried: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah the list was longer then I thought. I'm chalkin' that up to college in the 70's. And reading a text book which reminded me of some stuff I would have otherwise forgotten about LOL.

Anyway...back to the books. Hi to ALL fABbies and I hope everyone is having a good day.

DG

[LVT25]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hello again.

Lav, I'm sorry you have to euthanize your friend. I know all too well how hard this is, but a very loving and caring and selfless act every time. Hugs to you and your furry friend.:l

Jenny, I feel for you and your situation. I am fortunate in that although my hubby drinks too much, he doesn't want our kids or any one else's kids to make the same mistakes he did. I'm afraid it would be a really bad scene if we disagreed on that one! He even commented how hard it was to watch his nephew (21) get drunk at the last wedding reception. I remember my sil having her sons drink with her on a camping trip because everyone else went to bed and she was lonely.
I'm glad you're talking to your kids about the mixed signals. You are doing great.:l

[Doggygirl]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

Hey Jenny - just another thought on your situation with your niece. I think it's really important what your said yesterday about telling her of your own AL problem, and the fact that it runs in her family and therefore she is at high risk. And that your door will be open should she ever want to talk about it.

Leaving that door open is really, really important. It sounds like you are in a very difficult position to try to prevent the grown ups from providing AL for her (unfortunately). So what you ARE doing is really important, IMO. You never know how things will play out. The decisions of her mother and the rest of the family might kill her. Or the door you are leaving open for her might save her life one day. All we can ever do is try our best to do the next right thing. It's not always crystal clear what that is.

My teacher today in counseling 101 talked about the importance of always leaving the door open. Just like we have all found personally and around here, most people will not get the message the first time around.

DG

[Doggygirl]

Tuesday AF Daily ~ Sept 6

OK - one last post and then I'm going to take a hot shower and give my brain a break for the rest of the evening.

When I went to college the first time, I really was not focused on learning. My goal with each and every class was to figure out the minimum to get by, hopefully with an A but a B would do. And where's the party? That was all.

This time of course it's different. I care about what I'm learning, and school is my top priority and partying is of course no longer even on the radar. I can see the downside of my obsessive personality coming out!!! LOL, the harder of my two on-line classes has been "hit the ground running" from day 1. We have very limited interaction with the teacher. He posts the assignments on Monday and they are due Sunday night. He responded politely and equally to each student on the discussion board for the class during the "get to know you - post your bio" exercise. If we have questions about the assignments, we can post them and he answers quickly and briefly. That is all.

I can't tell you how much time I spent over the weekend being mad at this teacher! There are a million ways he is pressuring us, making unreasonable demands, etc. etc. After several days of this I had to really look at myself in the mirror and realize that it's not him doing that to me, it's ME DOING THAT TO ME!!! LOL. That is all. It's hell being crazy. :egad::nutso::moon:

DG