November Survivors ~ Week 2

[Kaslo]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Hi all, I do hope others are only away because they are busy. I am NOT busy, and I love it. I finally went off down to Trail, and bought a big fancy sewing machine. A new Janome 6600. Its a quilter and a garment machine. I have never done quilting but I have this idea of somehow making outdoor garments from felts and fleece with motifs in fabric sewn across the front that are similar to my photographs. Dont know how to explain it but I am really exited about this idea.

I posted a photo here, but it was so HUGE i took it out. I cant seem to get photobucket to resize and keep the resizing. I hate photobucket. But I use it.

Now, was it Chill who asked but the accident I describe the aftermath of was a collision when I was 17, I was a passenger in a volkswagen beetle (a 1965 with no seatbelts) on our way into town on a friday night, when a middle aged man, now long gone, who was seriouly impaired and driving on the wrong side of the road on a windy highway in midwinter. I worked hard for several years to get back what I lost from that, and I was successful. It didnt stop me from working in the bush or having kids, or doing any of the really fun and interesting things Ive done. I minded, sure. I was in a wheelchair for the first year of college and had a brain injury that went untreated, but I was ok enough 4 years later to study biology and I went on from there.

One residual of all of that is that I dont have much tolerance for drunk drivers who complain about loosing the right to drive. I suppose I have been a bit harsh with a few of them on here, as a MofF, and i sort of regret that. I mean I AM totally sympathetic about the horrors of alcohol dependency and shaking the beast off, etc etc. There by the grace of God go I. But I have spoken up when folks with a DUI to work off complain and blame others for the tribulation of having to undergo rehabilitory legal consequences following a DUI. Thats probably why I am hanging out here wearing this false nose, eyeglasses and moustache. And occassionally, a bag over my head.

Lav I see that what you are doing is not free style sewing... its computer design and is it ever COOL! I bet you would find its like riding a bicycle though. Heck. If I can do it, you sure could no problem.

Everyone have a lovely day.

Love K.

[ladybirdheart]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

I was wondering who that was under the funny nose and glasses, K. The story of your injury and recovery is certainly harrowing, what a nightmare for your young self. I had a friend who spent his late teens and early twenties in nursing homes after breaking his neck in a climbing accident. He was the only young person there, it nearly killed him psychologically. And you did say "dead moose project". Dead Moose Project? I have had a lot of projects but that particular one has eluded me thus far. A shout out to anybody missing. You are missed. Hi all, lets just keep taking care of things as they come up, be it automobile, household, health, money, relationship, or spirit. Love, Ladybird.

[Lavande]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good evening greetings!

Papmom, sounds like you are dealing with the same problem my daughter is with the leaking Jeep. Her's leaked horribly during the hurricane
I hope you can all find some sort of resolution, quickly!

Kas, your new machine is pretty cool & you can do a good bit of embroidery with it too if you want I think that's the same machine a friend of mine has & she's been having a ball doing all sorts of stuff.

What's going on with you LBH?
Any news about Shelley? It's been a long time since she's checked in with us - hope she is OK.

Well - the absolute highlight of my day was when EB (who turns 4 later this month) asked me if he could pee in my kitchen trash can. I told him NO!
Honestly, what will he think of next? Good thing I was paying attention :H

Good night one & all!
Lav

[Stargazerlily]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Lovely Saturday here in the Midwest, one of those freak occurences: forecast 65 degrees and partly cloudy on November 10th. My goal is to spend as much time outside as I can. Walking with a friend this morning, hopefully outside. Then, this afternoon more raking of leaves. We raked for about an hour yesterday andthere is a huge pile of leaves in front of our house waiting to get picked up. Love it.

I want to see the new James Bond movie, I really enjoy the actor Daniel Craig. He was great in Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. My favorite Mr. Bond was Roger Moore.

Pap, that is horrible about the sunroof. Fight on, Jeep should fix it. It must be a factory mistake and it should not leak.

Lav, thanks for the website, I will defintely check it out. You have led me to explore Japanese psychology, buddism, and I want to continue. I did not realize that your sewing business was so sophisticated with computer operated design. How fascinating, and no wonder you have so much knowledge about computers and their workings.

Off to drink more coffee.

[Lavande]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good morning friends,

Drinking coffee here too Star
Your warmish weather is headed this way so I plan on some outside time myself this weekend, God knows the chicken house could use some spiffing up :H
Incorporating some concepts of Buddhism into my life has been comforting & liberating. I see it more as a way of life & thinking than a religion. I could easily spend the rest of my life reading & learning concepts.
My business is apparel decoration, I don't do any sewing/construction really. I purchase blanks & apply some sort of design for my customers. People with a specific business logo send me a pic which I send to a digitizer & have it made into an embroidery design. I apply the design to the shirts, jackets, caps, whatever they want. I wanted to do something completely different after my nursing career & this is different

Papmom, hearing that Jeep won't even acknowledge the leaking problem is very telling, I think. It has to be an overall design flaw. My daughter's SIL is a big shot in the Chrysler/Jeep Corp. & is trying to help them out with this problem.

OK, time to go outside & play. Have a great day everyone!
Lav

[dill]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Greetings! I am fine. I dunno, I guess time just got away from me. My virtual world seems to have ticked-up a bit and I just haven't been finding time to post. I haven't even been on to read which is what I intend to do after I post this. Thanks to all for thinking of me. And thanks to Lav for reaching out to me in a PM!

I have been having extra g-ma duties lately and on top of working full-time it cuts way into my "me" time. Today is more Mom duties, going over to help my son sort out his house. I have been doing this often on Saturdays. It was left in quite a state of disorganization/entropy as his wife slipped farther and farther into the abyss of pain-killer/alcohol addiction. My son was never good at home-making or organizing.

I'll be reading back now. Have a great AF Saturday!

[Chillgirl]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Hey Dill so glad Lav gave you a nudge, you are missed on here but I understand when life gets so busy and at the end of a hectic day its nice to just relax and not look at a computer screen.

Star - before I left Portugal I looked into Virtual Assistant and online jobs and its very tough to make a living this way. The last Bond Movie I went to see was with Roger Moore, it was Moonraker and I was a teenager :H

Papmom - I checked out the Doggy Daycare Centre and they said they would call me if they have extra dog walking work.

Lav - Starty did her 1st smudging today and I saw on facebook she nearly smoked the place out! Can you offer any smudging tips so's not to end up with a smoked filled house?

Spent 3 hours editing scripts this morning then sent the draft to my friend. When I checked the email attachment, to my horror it wouldnt open and I couldnt find any saved copy on my computer oh the frustration! Anyway I couldnt face re-doing it and went out for a few hours. When I came back I looked around and what relief to find the document saved in google drive! Phew.... I dont even really understand how it got there but im very happy it was

Hope everyone is having a good Saturday.

[Lavande]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good to see you Dill!
Being busy is a good thing ~ I hear it helps keep us young
I never expected to be so busy & involved with grandkids BUT it has turned out to be a very good thing for me. I'm sure your grandkids love interacting with you! Funny, my son is the king of organization, almost OCD :H

Chill, save your work often, I've learned the hard way!
Glad you were able to find your docs.
I am in the process of having a new computer built for my business (because of some weird requirements) I can't just go to a store & buy one. This is going to cost me

YB is sitting here watching PBS - is that weird or what? :H :H

[Stargazerlily]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good morning everyone. Of course I am up early because I can sleep in. I hate when this happens, but it does from time to time, so thought I would just get online and see what is up.

Dill, good to hear from you, what a good person you are, organizing your son. Hope your daughter in law is doing better, it is a long road. My son has ongoing issues, and we are always there for him, too. It is amazing how immense and infinite, the love for your offspring. Lately, my daughter will need me for a minor surgery, and I will take off work, no questions asked, to be there. I understand it is not always convenient to get on here, but we miss you and your input, plus hoping that you are well. I always have time in the morning on the computer, it has become a habit. hey, another nice day today, enjoy.

Lav, I am just kind of burnt out on thinking of meals andpreparing them. I want a wife! Sometimes I just can't think of anything to make that will please anyone, so I just go to the deli at the local grocery store. I need to look up some good recipes. Your business sounds sophisticated with the computer devices to create logos..cool..how did you discover how to do this? YB misses you, that is the reason he is hanging out with you. Long term relationships are funny things, aren't they? You go through periods of love/hate, friends/enemies, and the common history and plethora of memories creates this bond that just won't let go. I too love the Buddist philosophy and way of looking at life...not a religion, but a new way of thinking and dealing with life. I like meditation as compared to prayer only. Current religious organizations in my world are often intolerant and unloving...not my idea of spirituality. Being filled with lovingkindness and sending it out is the way I choose to live and think. I get the sense that you are on the same page.

Chill, how frustrating to lose your file, but how cool to find it. I too am having issues with all the places to store things. I want to transfer an audio file from my computer to my iphone, but need help. I see it in my computer, but have no clue how to transfer it. Darn it about the VA, breaking into a new field is never easy. Hope you are having a lovely peaceful weekend.

Yesterday I spent hours outside raking and moving leaves, with warm breezy weather as company. It was heavenly, especially as it could be the last warm weather for a while. Winter is just around the corner, and we all know it. I tried to be mindful as I was working outside, appreciating all around me and enjoying the physical effort of yardwork. There are so many blessings in life if we just are in the moment.

I think that when drinking is the major activity in a person's life, they lose the ability to appreciate the daily gifts: warm shower, good cup of coffee, exercising, healthy meals, and all the positive things in a day. AF, we begin to appreciate, hopefully, all the good in our lives, as the cycle of drinking, hangover, stops. Partying is made to look so glamourous and the reality is it is life enhancing to slow down and appreciate the simple things we take so for granted. I was reading some of the posts on general discussion and saw this process taking place.

OK all, have a great day and enjoy.

[Lavande]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good morning kids!

The fog is so thick I can't even see any neighbors houses - strange!
I just heard it's heading up to 66 degrees today - woo hoo!

I remember feeling burned out on the meal ideas Star. It's those mind numbing, everyday boring chores that just wear you out. I used to push the others (a little) for help. Give me some ideas & I'll do my best with them in the time that I have available
These days I prepare what I like & anyone stopping by for a meal is welcome to try it out. I always seem to have something kid-friendly in the fridge though.

I am most definitely grateful to no longer be controlled by the wine gods. Things certainly did get very ugly at the end & I feel very removed from all that now - yay!

Wishing everyone a great AF Sunday!
Lav

[Rusty]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Good Morning Everyone,

Dill-thank you for checking in. We all miss you so much when you're not posting....your quotes...your thoughts....and words. Through your quotes and your input, we start our days here with a mission of AF gratitude and a determination to be the best people we can be through being continuously AF. I am so glad you are there for your son and grandchildren. I know your son and grandchildren appreciate you, especially since your DIL is battling dual addictions.

Star-I read and reread your thoughtful post this morning. I agree with you...when drinking becomes a hobby that overcomes your life, you don't appreciate the simple things at all. I know I didn't. Your message this morning speaks volumes to me today, as it is Sunday, and for about 3.5 years...many Sundays were either spent drinking, in the hopes of forgetting about the week ahead that I envisioned would be so awful (they weren't), or recovering from Saturday's liquid activity. Right now, it is windy and overcast, and rain is expected, but I don't care. I'm AF and I can do whatever I want today. Even the tasks I hate the most that I must accomplish today (work related paperwork), I will embrace. I'm just looking out my window, grateful that because I am AF, I feel like I've added an extra day to my week.

Chill-Moonraker.....ooh, one of my favorites. Roger Moore is the BEST James Bond. Phew, you found your file. Wow, that must have raised your BP! You sound so happy again....back to being the old Chill. Love it.:l

Lav-YB watching PBS. You know, I think Star is right. I think he misses you, but of course he won't admit it. Ah, just enjoy it. Maybe he'll take you out to dinner and bring his wallet....for the second time in a row.:H

I am not a moviegoer, but I was reading the NY Times the other day and there was a review of "Smashed." It's a movie about a young, married couple who are both alcoholics. The wife, a 1st-grade teacher, is nursing an astronomical hangover and vomits in front of her students and then lies as to why (she says she is pregnant), and along with a host of other embarrassing events, decides to become sober. Meanwhile, her husband chooses to continue drinking. The NY Times movie critics are the most respectable types, and this reviewer gave the movie a thumbs up, so I am going to see if it is playing in my neck of the woods.

Pap-so sorry to hear about the Jeep's leaking sun roof. Since I was in the automotive industry for 12 years, I can confidently agree with Lav that it IS a design issue. However, after working every day with Chrysler's suppliers for about 10 of those 12 years, I can safely say that Chrysler will NOT take any responsibility for their actions. They are the main reason I am glad that I am not an automotive consultant/trainer anymore. Chrysler is quick to blame their suppliers for their mistakes, but then gouges them, demanding my customers slash their prices, but then Chrysler is the worst at paying their suppliers....sometimes taking up to 6 mths! I owned a Chrysler Sebring, a total lemon. The day I buy another Chrysler is the day I start riding my bike to work. Did you see in the news they've had to recall thousands of Jeeps due to airbag failures?

Rustop-we haven't heard from you in a few days. Hope you're ok.

A big shoutout to my lovely friends here that I've missed: Cyn, LBH, Kaslo, Jolie, Nurdl, Sdlovespackers (where are you, woman?), IMT and everyone else, happy AF Sunday!

[ladybirdheart]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

What a thoughtful post Star. There is so much more time and "room" in life for all sorts of things when drinking is not a part of them, including thinking! To get your music on your phone, connect it to your computer with the little cable that came with the phone and it will come up in iTunes as a "device" you can open. You can then choose which music or playlists you want to add to it, check them and "sync" them to your phone over the cable. If anything goes wrong just "Google" what happened and a horde of responses will be there to help you out. I now have Apple everything, iPhone, two iPods, iPad, laptop, Airport, and TV! It works really well and now things sync over wifi. I am really sorry about the frustration with your car, Pap. That sort of thing causes me so much frustration/anxiety and I am not very good yet in particular with the anger that attends it. I just had to change health and prescription insurance and got a conventional letter yesterday, three weeks after my request was pleasantly acknowledged by email, saying my blood pressure medication (the only drug I take) was actually denied as it was not in the formulary. I now have to contact a brand new doctor and explain how I can't take the one on the list as it gave me asthma, and beg her to help me while in the meantime I run out of what I need. I'd drink to calm down but it raises my blood pressure:H. I'm with you Rusty in having a good sober Sunday no matter what, I still need to learn to manage all kinds of things particularly negative emotions and physical pain without drinking, I can get through them but not yet very gracefully. Thanks for the movie idea. Love to you and Lav and Dill and Chill and all who pass through today. Ladybird.

[Chillgirl]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

Hi Guys

LBH - Im an Apple nut too and just recently got the iphone to add to the imac, macbook pro, ipad and ipod! I didnt know they did tv's?!
I manage these days without one and watch iplayer when I feel the need to see something.

Rusty - Im not a cinema fan either but that movie sounds like something I would really like to see. I do also like the crazy movies the Cohen Bros make and I see they have a new one called Gambit with Colin Firth :h and Cameron Diaz.

Star - Im enjoying being back to cooking only for me. I always keep it simple and live on veggie stir fries with brown rice or whole meal noodles sometimes adding prawns or salmon. Now its colder I make lots of soups too. Its different when you have to consider others though as you feel you have to offer much more variety. I could quite happily eat more or less the same most days.

Lav - If your happy with YB sitting watching your TV then I think its great. I dont think "normal" relationships really exist if we had an insight into most peoples lives and its really all about what works.

I echo you all with the gratitude of yet another AF Sunday, I love sobriety and I am grateful every day for escaping the horrors of drinking.
I could never have imagined my life without it and now I cannot imagine my life with it..... SOBRIETY ROCKS!!!

[dill]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

?Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.?
― Bil Keane

I so agree with the theme that there is so much to cherish in life and that drinking limits our perception. I find myself feeling grateful at the oddest moments, seemingly out of the blue. Grateful to be feeling connected to life and nature and to the people around me. Alcohol muddles that without a doubt, sometimes severs it completely.

The sunrise this morning was so beautiful. I stopped to look at it and I thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if the sky could look like that all day?'. Then I realized a large part of the beauty of the sunrise is that is doesn't~ It must be appreciated in the moment and you must be present and living in the moment to appreciate it.

Rusty, take care of your brain.
Lav, thanks for the links about the embroidery machines. Interesting.
Star, I hope your daughter's procedure goes well. Good that you can be there for her.
Chill, I loved the pics of Red Lodge.
Pmom, that simply stinks about the leak! I should think you are not the only one having that problem. I hope the dealership makes it right for you.
LBH, love to you.

All Things Pass - Lao-Tzu

All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night
All things pass
What always changes?

Earth...sky...thunder...
mountain...water...
wind...fire...lake...

These change
And if these do not last

Do man's visions last?
Do man's illusions?

Take things as they come

All things pass

[Chillgirl]

November Survivors ~ Week 2

dill;1409454 wrote:
The sunrise this morning was so beautiful. I stopped to look at it and I thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if the sky could look like that all day?'. Then I realized a large part of the beauty of the sunrise is that is doesn't~ It must be appreciated in the moment and you must be present and living in the moment to appreciate it.

Oh Dill I just loved what you said here and the quote from Lao Tzu. Its so so true that if we had these things all the time they would loose their value. To savour the moments are what being present is all about.

On the subject of gratitude, I had a lovely country walk today with Starty and our dogs and as usual we tackled and solved all the world problems There was a moment when we were saying goodbye at our cars when it dawned on me just how I knew this special friend. How as people we have traveled so far from where we were and how amazing it was that here we stood and how easily our paths might never have crossed.