Optimistic October

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, sounds like everyone has been keeping busy I had a good visit with my mom and brother, she did end up re-cleaning my house as I knew she would haha,Im gonna be honest and admit that I diddrink wwith them,but we just sat in the backyard reminiscing and laughing telling dirty stories,but now I have to work on what is going on with me and work harder on sobriety, while nobody was hurt or fighting while we drank,I know that its not how I want to live my life and I was doing good but I don't think anything could've kept me sober during the visit,hope everyone has a lovely Sunday

[Lavande]

Glad to see you back Pauly!
Glad that the visit went relatively well too. At some point you will have to work on a strategy to keep your quit while family visits. I highly recommend the old 'Lavan-ittude' gimmick

Had the grandsons here from lunch time thru dinner - exhausting, ha ha!

Peace to all tonight!

[SnoopyC]

Good morning all...

Had a weekend filled with people and activities, my dinner went well last night. Now, back to work, Halloween week. We will be getting rain from the hurricane this week, we need it, but have had such great weather it will be hard to cold and rainy.

Lav, sounds fun, glad you got some stuff down around the yard. We have to focus on that next weekend. I am looking forward to the time change, I could sleep later already.

Pauly, you made it through and you have a cleaner house! Take care of yourself this week.

Hello to Dill and Cyn, Have a good Monday.

[dill]

Hello Friends,

Star, so glad you had a good weekend filled with good food, fun and folk. And yes it is Halloween week. I found my festive Halloween sweater vest in my box of cold weather clothes and put it on the day we went to the matinee. We stopped at a health food store on our way home and the staff made nice comments and thanked me for reminding them that Halloween was coming soon. BTW, I rarely go to the theatre but there really are some movies that are best seen on the big screen, space movies fall into that category! We always go to matinees. We only paid $5 per ticken for that movie. We had a nice filling lunch just prior to the movie so no need to buy expensive movie theatre pop and popcorn!

Lav, you have been putting a lot of time in with grandkids lately! I'm sure you enjoyed your gson but there's yet another day you didn't have free time to prepare for your craft show! I guess you are going to have to work double time fast! LOL I can't believe that this is the last week in October already. Gotta start thinking of a November name.

Pauly, I can certainly understand your choice to just go with the flow while your Mom and brother were visiting. The time will come when you won't feel the need. Just get back on the path and keep putting one foot in front of the other. You said you sat in the back yard and drank and shared stories. Did your hb join in or anyone else or was it just the 3 of you?
Hey, maybe your mom could swing by here and clean my house too! LOL

Cyn, the moon was fantastic this morning when I got up. Mr. D told me I must come see and I was glad he did. It was chilly but I stood in my robe and slippers and gaped in awe. I hope the skies are clear tonight so I can get another glimpse.

My ex DIL called here yesterday to talk to her son and wish him a Happy Birthday. He turned 10 yesterday and he was really happy and proud to be in "double digits". She told me over the phone that she is starting back into treatment. I've heard that many, many times before but I responded positively and encouragingly. I hope it was true and that this time she sticks with is. It would be wonderful for the children.

No plans for today. The weekend was so busy I will be taking it easy, that's all I know!

[Lavande]

Good morning friends,

Happy Monday too, ha ha!
It was a busy weekend for me but still fun. The weather was absolutely perfect!
Cloudy & chilly here now, oh well.

My granddaughter is starting her new school today so I am keeping my fingers crossed
My daughter is taking another midterm exam so she's been busy herself. Hope all goes well for them.

Star, glad your weekend went well, A little rain from that storm would be OK as long as their is no big winds, right?

Dill, those busy weekends with the kids leave me with little energy leftover for Monday mornings too, ha ha!
I did notice the moon last night as I was helping the boys into their car to go home.
I hope your DIL truly is on the road to recovery, it's never too late. I imagine your grandson does feel like a big shot turning 10, woo hoo

Hello to Pauly & Cyn, Have a great day everyone.
I need to haul myself to Curves.

Lav

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, I WISH my house would've stayed clean but with hurricane Louie,no way! I've given up,yesterday he was unrolling toilet paper all over the living room, took that away and he went out and brought in a dirty football from outside and started throwing it around and the dried mud was getting everywhere, so yeah,have Mondayitis so just wanted to say hello and hope we all have a great day

[SnoopyC]

Good morning...

I made a point to look at the moon last night and it was bright and beautiful. Wow. It is raining here and colder, I don't mind, but the colorful leaves will come down and it will be dreary looking outside. That's November? What is a good name? Nouveau, New, Gnarly, Natural, come on I need help.

Have a good one.

[Lavande]

Good morning friends,

Happy Tuesday to all!
Frosty here too Star but no rain until tomorrow. The moon was pretty spectacular last night but didn't keep me awake
Hello to Dill, Cyn & Pauly.

Just Curves & work stuff for me today, then picking up the boys after school.
Have a great AF day everyone!

Lav

[treegirl]

Hi all! Geez, I wrote over the weekend, but don't see my post now...hmmmm.....probably operator error!

HB and I met in a different city on Saturday, to see a friend of mine in a play. She's an astonishing performer, and this was an Arthur Miller play, very hard hitting and dark. Whew. Lots to think about after that. HB then came home, and has (remarkably!) been here since Saturday night. He's here until tomorrow - that's the most he's been home since we came back east on August 17th...

So I have been busy doing stuff with him. He's helped me with french doors that need the screens/glass swapped out, that was a huge help in keeping the bedroom warm the last couple of nights! Dill - the previous owners put in new Marvin windows - the kind that you can pull at an angle and clean both sides (which I haven't done!).

I guess my to-do list has everyone thinking that I'm a neat freak. Far from it - it's just a list, and I never get even a fraction of it done. Some screens in the windows stayed there all winter last year, which was OK, but now they are super dirty! I just take the screens off because it's so much brighter for the winter that way. I actually do as Lav suggests - let it go. There's no way that I can keep this house clean all the time - too big. So I just keep at it, section by section, and try to stay on top of the stinky dog blankets. That's all!

I have been spending much more time in the kitchen, making sure that everything I eat is clean food, none of my allergens, and super high quality. Since I also cook for the dogs, it seems like I live in the kitchen, but so be it!

I had a big deadline yesterday, and since I took time over the weekend to be social (!) I needed to put pedal to the metal. Spent 8 hours at the computer, and got it done, but my body is protesting today. I'll mix in a little outside work today and get the blood moving.

So glad all have had good family times recently. Sounds great. Happy AF Tuesday all. PS - I like Natural November or something like that. I know I'm going to miss the leaves, and we'll be left with the bare trees, but I'm trying to appreciate that beauty too. "You get what you Focus On" is a personal theme for me these days - and I want to move away from focusing on any 'lack', and find the beauty in whatever is in front of me....

[paulywogg]

Morning friends, Star,N-joy November is all my brain can come up with ATM haha,went to Target yesterday with Kell and Louie cuz he's addicted to pizza(like me) and they had the cutest pizza slice costume, I thought it'd be perfect but he wouldn't even try it on haha,he wants to be a ninja turtle,so generic, all we're doing is handing out candy anyways but still,Lav,what are the kids gonna be? Dill,how about yours? Hello to all,let's have a nice Tuesday

[paulywogg]

X-post Cyn,I like Natural November!!! Have a good one

[dill]

Hello friends,

It's nice to know Cyn that you are not nearly as productive as your To Do list suggests. I feel a lot better now! LOL! I didn't clean my screens this past summer altho they surely needed it. I think it's been a couple of years.

Star, I saw the moon last night too and am so glad because the clouds were heavy this morning. One good thing about fall is that I can look up and see the moon now. The leaves no longer obscure it.

Pauly, I don't think I'll be helping with the trick or treat this year. They will be doing it in their own neighborhood which is a good 45 min. from here. I just hope my son gets a good pic or two.

Lav, how did your girl do at her new school yesterday and today, have you heard?

Have a peaceful af Tuesday all.

[SnoopyC]

Good morning...

Cyn, older bigger homes are lots of work, is the message I am getting from you. You do your best, make a list, and if you get a part of it accomplished, you are satisfied. I love Natural November, needed help on the names. I like, "You get what you focus on," that is so true. The colors here are so beautiful, I saw a tree yesterday and it blew my mind, the colors were amazing. I know its not long for this world, the winds today are 30mph, so bye bye pretty leaves.

Dill, not sure what I am going to do for Halloween either. Waiting to see what the weather will be.

Pauly, cute that your grandson can tell you what he wants to be for Halloween. Have fun.

Lav, hope you had a good day.

[Lavande]

Good morning friends, happy Hump day too!

Dark & raining here, oh well!
The wind is starting to pick up a bit too.

Dill, my granddaughter has had two great days in her new preschool so far, yay!
Tomorrow is my day to head out early to spend the day with her.
Yesterday I went to pick up my grandson from his preschool at 3 pm. I was met by his teacher with a grim look on her face as she handed him over, uh oh! He got in trouble for throwing toys at another child & the teacher too. He also ripped a giant hole in his pant leg. Well, that's not good, ha ha!! Seems like one kid settles down & the next one starts up

I am truly grateful that these are not MY problems! I am just the messenger for their parents.

Star, I heard we may even be having a thunder storm today, geez! The leaves have been beautiful this past week.

Cyn, I love the character of older homes. Our last home was certainly unique but it was a lot of work & became way too big so we downsized quite a bit. I still have more to clean than I really want, LOL

Pauly, my granddaughter decided to use her yellow crayon costume (from two years ago) again this year. She loves that thing! The boys are dressing up as Minecraft characters, their favorite. Letting the kids pick their own favorites is a good thing.

I think my laptop may have croaked so I'm on my ipad (sorry about the typos).
Have a great AF day everyone!

Lav

[treegirl]

Morning all -

Very dramatic; blowing leaves, threatening rain. When I went out with the dogs, it was actually not half bad out! Not as cold as it looked.

Lav - good news about gdaughter! Sorry for the boy issues; I like that you don't feel like you have to jump into the fray, but that you are the messenger. Great model for us all...

Oh gosh, once again I'm leading you all astray...I live in a 1965 split-level brick house! I kind of wish that we were in an older historic house, but dog mobility and a huge piano made it impossible to go that route. We have an open-plan with steps up and steps down to different rooms. But it really is too big. You know that you eventually fill up whatever space you have, right? I read a story by a woman who bought a British longboat and lived aboard with her husband - I think they had no electricity! Sometimes I fantasize about that kind of a life style...but with 2 big dogs, that would be a lot of docking to go potty!

Just more work here on the horizon. I am struggling with some personal decisions about how to structure my work life. I feel that some old bad co-dependency habits are having an impact on my work life and maybe my health as well...after all, it's all connected, right? So I'm going to do some meditating about that...

I'm glad that "You Get What You Focus On" rings true for some of you as well as for me. It's the same idea that we always talk about, but with fresh language. I stumbled on the site, not sure how...check it out: Play With The World | An Inspirational Guide On loving Life to The Fullest. My other current favorite from that site is "Break up with your Inner Critic".

Wishing all a happy Hump Day (here's to you, Sooty!). Be well, AF, and breathe...