January Generosity - week 1

[Lavande]

January Generosity - week 1

Rusty - I did resize that - honestly!!! :H

Good evening all,

Dill, Merry Christmas to you & your family today!
I know just how tired you are right about now

LBH, your F-bomb dropping parrot story reminded me of a similar one....
Many, many years ago I 'bird sat' for a friend. She brought her Cockatoo over, the huge cage, food, treats, etc. The bird was extremely talkative, loud & downright obnoxious at times. Little did I know my teenage son kept walking past the cage & telling the bird to shut the F up UNTIL the bird started repeating that over & over & over again. Needless to say that was the last time I was asked to bird sit :H :H

TDN, hope your day went well. My DIL worked for a florist for a while & really picked up the design thing. She has actually done a few weddings for friends on her own. I don't know why she's wasting her time pursuing an MSW :H

Well, I had my usual Sunday. Shopped for food, cooked the food, fed the family beggars then pushed them out the door at 8 pm.
I am still dragging my behind & already starting to wish a swift end to these winter months, oh well.

Wishing everyone a good night!
Lav

[Rusty]

January Generosity - week 1

Good Evening January Friends,

Lav, thank you so much for posting the pic of my living room!:h Notice the lights on my pre-lit tree were out in several places, and I tried to compensate by just stringing extra lights....so you see NO lights at the top and a huge clump of lights at the bottom of the tree. OOPs...it didn't look that bad during the day. I wish we were all sitting together in my living room...talking, sharing, and eating...of couse. Lav, I cracked up at your Cockatoo story....your devilish son egging the poor bird on. Poor Lav, fired after only her first bird-sitting job...terminated because the bird learned profanity on the very first day!:H

Dill-I am so glad you had a belated Christmas with your family.

Well friends, I am off to Detroit tomorrow for work. What can I say. It's work. SIGH.

I think I will go to bed....and hopefully have another wonderfully restful sleep like the last two nights. See you in the morning!:h

[Catbuddy]

January Generosity - week 1

Back from the Snow

Hi all, just a quick good night as I'm back from our snow/ski trip and getting ready to sleep.

LBH, I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful post to me last week; the painting you described sounds wonderful. I'm feeling peaceful, with an amazing amount of time spent with my son, and so much happiness from that. Now, off to bed.

Cat

[sooty]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning generous ones! It's grey and damp here at the moment but it's not raining

I'm in a hurry as i'm away to exercise class, the first in a little while cos of Christmas and general malaise - i'm really looking forward to getting back in the groove, although my muscles may regret it later :H

Have a good day everyone, Rusty your living room looks wonderful, so welcoming and peaceful. I am sure it is your haven :l

[rustop59]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning Sooty and all to come
:welcome: back Sooty, good to have you on board again. Welcome to all the new people on the thread as well. I have been MIA due to family and real life taking over. However, now getting back on track. Have been exercising but eating waaaaay too much. Started back on my healthy eating plan this morning. Thanks Star for reminding me of how much better we feel when taking our supplements. Started back on them as well.

Lav, thanks for posting Rustys amazing living room photo. It looks as warm as welcoming as the lady herself. I could not access it from her post so thanks. Safe travels Rusty.

Big hello to everyone else. Walk over so now have to take down the decorations and start cleaning again!! Poor Goldie has been through the wars, feeling better now but will need more tests to find out what's going on. She's 10 and apart from her shots has never been to the vets, guess old age catching up with her. Miss Layla has been mountain climbing/hill walking with hubby all over the hols. 3 hour hikes and she loves it, keeps her out of mischief too.

Catch you all later.

Rustop

[Hippyman]

January Generosity - week 1

Well the Nutcrackers are back up in the Attic. Now I must scourer the house to make sure no Christmas decorations are left hiding anywhere...lol

[Lavande]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning friends

I can never fully wake up until I see some sunshine so today just may be a total loss :H :H
I have a few more things to do then I'm off to Curves to work off the cookies.

Travel safely today Rusty!

Cat, you sound great! Can't wait to hear about your trip

Greetings to sooty & rustop!
Going to attempt zumba this year sooty? I still haven't tried it but I just may, at some point

Hippy. I always find one or two things lying around after I pack away decorations. Make sure you get all the nutcrackers....they could jump out at you in the dark or something :H

OK, off I go. Wishing everyone a wonderful AF Monday!
Lav

[ThreeDogNight]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning, all.

Just popping by for a quick "hello," as I am feeling a whole lot better and am going to the shop for a few hours today. Since the owners are away, it leaves one person alone, and that is too hard. I am on a "volunteer" day, as I will be paid this week for Weds, Thurs and Sat (when I'll be alone again:H.) And I don't need another day with Mr TDN:H I took some honey w/cinnamon yesterday and again this a.m. and swear that helps.

Rusty, that enlarged phot is great, as it shows details I couldn't see in the one you posted. I would love to be sitting there chatting with you and with the rest of "the group!"

Rustop, what symptoms does your dog have? I do know a lot about pet health--if nothing else:H

Dill, sounds like you are really enjoying the family. That is very sweet.

Lav, does the family ever cook for you???

I posted on another thread this a.m. and just have to say that there is somebody who posts all over the place, knows nothing, takes no advice and really offends me. (Not the poster.) Sorry to sound so negative, but really. . .Okay, rant over!

Be back later, and Rusty, owe you a PM tonight!

TDN

[sooty]

January Generosity - week 1

Good afternoon peeps. Well I survived the cardio class, but it was tough. Mainly because i've had a break and a rather nasty cold. Still I managed it. Lav, my friend and I were only talking about zumba this morning! Its not so popular now and only one class in our centre and that's aimed at the older person. We might give it a try on Friday but don't think it will do for us cos altho we are ancient we do love throwing ourselves around with gusto

The new craze here is for bokwa - apparently you dance to the shapes of numbers and letters. Sounds very odd but we're signed up for an introduction class on 2nd Feb. I'll let you know!

Oh well better do some housework as i've been out all morning. I actually feel like a nap :H

Catch you later, have a good day

[Rusty]

January Generosity - week 1

Good Morning Dear January Friends,

I am in a rush this morning to catch my flight but just wanted to quick pop in and say hello:h

Sooty-I think I would like to try Zumba. It looks fun! Thank you for being back here with us. Bokwa? Never heard of it. I will Google it. Wow, I learn so much on this thread. :goodjob: for getting back to the exercise, Sooty. It will help your mood and I know if I don't get enough exercise I can be a royal PIA.

Lav, a thousand thanks for once AGAIN posting pictures for me.:h I think my living room would be a great virtual gathering place. You are so right on when you say negative thinking is a LEARNED behavior.

TDN-I saw your response to that individual on the other thread.:goodjob: You add much wisdom to any thread....and I have followed your journey since the beginning. I owe you a PM, too! I've been too busy trying to take down all the decorations too. I heard on the news just now that this is the worst flu season ever. Proof of that on this thread. I just howled when you said you did not need another day with Mr. TDN. My best friend is now retired and while she is still madly in love with her husband of 43 years, he hovers over her and follows her everywhere, and she said to him the other day, "Tom, does a closed door mean anything to you?!!"

Lots of love to everyone I didn't mention....happy AF Monday!

Rusty
AF4ME4EVR

[Lavande]

January Generosity - week 1

Back from Curves - I'm awake now

TDN, I haven't seen the post you are referring to but.....
If you need any help kicking the asses of the passive aggressives around here - just give me the word :bat
There are a few miserable people who have been hanging around MWO for years, have made no progress & somehow get off on lashing out at others. I have had my share of nastgrams, most of which I refuse to respond to for good reason. I will not get into a slap fest with a psycho!!! :H :H
I truly believe these people have emotional problems above & beyond a drinking problem. We cannot help them & we should not allow them to take up any of our head space, OK?

Sooty - a brand new exercise? Sounds interesting but is it painful????

Rusty, have yourself a good day!

[Catbuddy]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning, my friends.

So, at least a few wonderful tales from my trip.

We rented a small studio condo for the trip, which meant I could cook our meals and relax in front of a fire at night. That was so great. The t.v. was ancient, and did not work with the Wii. Even better. Rather than spending his time engrossed in the video games, my son was really playful and interactive with me (which he usually is, if I give him the attention). So both of us were full on mom and son.

The skiing was great - good amount of snow and the lines were fine. I fell badly twice, and am in a fair amount of pain, but the good news is nothing is serious. My son tumbled and fell, and popped back up like a bobbin. It's amazing how flexible their bodies are. It truly made me think about the power of yoga. I'm going to integrate that slowly back into my life.

So, Saturday was one of my best vacation days ever. We went skiing together (he was in ski school on Friday), and going down one run, he had his arms in the air screaming "this is awesome; this is what I've been waiting for" This was so adorable as he is only nine. Later, on the drive to the condo, I thought about the community hot tub, and that we had forgotten our bathing suits. I actually then thought, since I'm sober, I'm energetic enough to go to TJMax, find a pair of shorts for him, I'll wear my gym shorts and halter, and we can go to the tub. So we did just that. When I was drinking, I would have been headed home to the wine bottle, no question. We then inquired about the tub, and found out the center has an indoor heated pool and two tubs. Wow. So we went to the tub and then got in the pool. Now, I was so sore all I could do at first was walk slowly and then float. Eventually, I was able to swim a little, then a little more. Without that water therapy, I would have downed two bottles of wine to deal wit the pain. As I floated, I thought this is the best day of skiing ever. And now that I'm sober, I can plan to take him for quick trips through the season, I'll be able to drive at night, and have the energy to do this.......the world keeps opening up.

Later, as we laid in bed ready for sleep (very small unit with one queen bed, so we had to share), he asked me "what is alcohol?" A long conversation ensued. I explained that both his dad and I do not drink - he said I don't want to either, and don't understand why anyone does. I explained that it makes you want more and more. He said (I'm not making this up) "It's like gummy bears. When I eat them, I want more and more. Not like cookies - I get full on cookies. After the gummy bears, I feel sick." I said, yes, it is just like too many gummy bears, and the same thing is at work - sugar. We have many talks about the issues with sugar. Then I said, it's sugar with a little poison to your system as well - it hurts your liver and heart, and overall, is hard on your body. He was convinced he didn't want it after that.

This was a very slow, cautious talk - our first ever about alcohol. I wasn't extreme or heated - I want to leave room for tolerance of other's choices. But it was a dream come true - On my Day 1, I wrote the following in my tool kit:

I won't drink today

- because I want to tell my son when he is older that drinking can take his life from him, and that has to come from a sober mom.
- because I never want him to try to shake me awake again as I come out of AL-induced sleep.
- because I want to love myself again.

So, I won't drink again because all those things are still my desires, and no longer just goals.



Cat

[Kaslo]

January Generosity - week 1

Good morning Generosity Mavens!

Cross post Cat, your weekend ski trip sounds like it was a big turning point for both you and your son. Im so happy for you!

Happy monday to all.

kas

[dill]

January Generosity - week 1

"You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny."
– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

So, I won't drink again because all those things are still my desires, and no longer just goals.

Catbuddy, thank you for sharing that wonderful real-life story of you and your son's day. It is a life sample of the above spiritual words. Awesome.

I still have company so not much time for posting. I am reading though and appreciate all the posts.

Lav, Rusty, Rustop, Soots, LBH, Kas, TDN, Papmom, Star, Hippyman, Merry, Jada, Stella, G., everyone, AF Monday greetings.

[nurdl]

January Generosity - week 1

Cat, that's so wonderful. Your post made me so happy for you. May it continue to get better and better!
xoxo
~n