July 11

[Mick]

Well folks this is it...time to say goodbye to the sunshine and hello rain....a long 2 days ahead of us but cest las vie. .looking forward to seeing me rabbits again hiya pie glad you are OK. .got a fee ideas on this trip so we will see what projects pan out of it all. .some good pix on the Fred peeps well done last Italian brew here for you all x

[TheSunFlower97]

Safe travels home Mick!

PPQ--thanks for your insight on rehab. It certainly is something I would give more consideration if I found myself needing it. So sorry you are going through so much shit and so glad you didn't make into the liquor store. Thanks for the reminder on Micks pro and con list making.

Saturday for some reason I found myself rather irritable with all the wine buying. Happy couples together buying wine and cheese. Me envisioning how much fun it must be to go home and pour yourself a glass of wine and just kicking back with the hubby. Probably is nice otherwise people would not do it. It's just not reality for me. I just was plan out bitchy leaving work.

Today my very first customer tried to "sneak" and buy wine on Sunday. Most people it's an honest mistake...but this guy outright said...."ha,ha I was trying to sneak and get away with it". I sooooo wanted to say "WTF, you are a grown ass man".

Boss pissed me off today....and on my first break I found myself eating a huge vegan peanut butter cookie. Halfway through...."OMG, I'm eating my feelings!" and threw the cookie out. I promptly changed my "availability" for work. They started a new system and they are giving us too many 4 or 5 hour shifts...meaning you go in 5 days for not that many hours. So I was always picking up more shifts....and I am done with that. With this wine stuff....I'm thinking it may be time for a change.

Lav-I look back at solo many decisions and wonder---what was I thinking? Hindsight is so much better.

Pie--loved the UPS jokes.

Pauly--gosh I used to do the type of worrying that is called "looping". It was exhausting. Same shit just in a loop. Now I try to imagine a snow globe and let my worries settle. It's been quite sometime since I've "looped" and exhausted myself. But I am noticing "emotions" so much more. I may don't outwardly express them. But too many times my insides feel like a 3 year old throwing a tantrum. I think the "looping" was actually a coping mechanism. It was like I looped to exhaustion and never really feeling anything other than anxiety and exhaustion.

Det--I'm going to have to look into those noodles. Black bean sounds great. We probably sell them...I just never noticed them.

The humidity has been awful. Its like I walk around with a layer of film on me. It's gross.

[Samstone]

good morning all
First and foremost:
Pi, a big congrats to you on 2 years!!!!

beauuuutiful day yesterday. Low humidity, today maybe a repeat?? Thanks for the Italian brew this am Mick. Safe travels home. Appreciate you keeping us filled in with photos and posts. I'm sure it was not easy to do via phone.

SF , good day to you. what type of work you do? what sort of work would you like to do?

Pauly, my wife's smoking is very gradually starting to increase. It is upsetting to me but it is her choice. I realize that is one of the more addicting substances. She did so well for a year, she doesn't smoke much, maybe one cig every 2-3 days. Then she'll put it away for a couple of days, but those days seem more frequent here lately.

Det, great shot of the quail and timely too. They are very rare here now in my area yet as a child, they were plentiful. Here lately, I've been hearing one call and yesterday I saw one sitting on the fence. I tried to snap a shot but it flew away. Then I saw you pic!!

opps, clock is ticking, gotta run,
a big how do to you Lav, Brydie, PQ, and anyone I missed!!
Sam

[Pie]

Morning all! Mick will it take you 2 days to travel home? Hi, SF! Sam, low humidity? What's that? PQ, is it the ex that's the biggest pebble in your shoe?

The last 5 of my canine boarders will return home today. Loved having them, and ready for a break. I had a new ceiling fan installed yesterday, replacing the 30-yr old one that was here. High-gloss white, 54", "stealth" model. Ooh, it is fine looking and moves a LOT of air. Cute young couple, just starting a handyman business did the work. Took them 4 hours! Good thing they were so pleasant to have around, and glad I was paying a flat fee rather than hourly.

Looks like the dispatching work I've had will come to an end in two weeks, when the regular gal returns from leave. Oh well, surely have enjoyed it, and made some new friends.

[paulywogg]

Mae everybody,Mick,safe travels back home Sam,sorry to hear about the smoking, my friend at work quit cold turkey about a month ago but she keeps talking about starting again,grrr,Det,awesome quail pic don't see those in Vegas,Pie congrats again on 2 years my friend the last handyman couple who the landlordhired to do the roof here looked like a couple of meth heads! I didn'twant them here cheap bastard!a few years ago he hired a guy to fix the stove and he showed up on a bike,not a motorcycle a bicycle,I don'tknow where he finds these people,SF,my mind loves to loopity loop,iIself ssabotage cuz I wonder why I'mso happy then start thinking negative to counteract the happiness,does that even make sense? Who wants to be negative? Guess I do cuz i keep doing it,think I'mgonna download a different keyboard, this ones pissing me off! Hello Lav and PPQP,hope we all have a great day

[porqoui]

MAE ALL....

Mick...thanks for kicking us off once again. Safe travels home.

SF...."OMG, I'm eating my feelings!" :harhar: Sorry you had a shitty weekend, mine wasn't great either.

Sam...hope you have a good day. We've got rain in the forecast for the next 2 weeks.

Pi... :welldone: WOW...2 YEARS...CONGRATS :welldone: Ya it's the ex giving me all the grief right now. Sometimes I really look forward to Mondays!

Pauly...yup we do tend to sabotage ourselves. Makes perfect sense to me. Hope you have a good one today.

Off to work. I really do need to buy an umbrella! Shout out to all to come.....:smile:PPQP

[Mick]

Hiya folks well that's me at Catania airport flight leaves in 2 hours so got a bit of time to hang about .flight gets into London about 10 ish local time .then coach tomorrow morning 6 hrs drive and home..how are you all doing...OK I hope..Paul you want to see the bogie on the last hotel..will pic it later big shout to you all x

[TheSunFlower97]

Pie---congrats on two years! I don't know how to make all the fancy stuff...and I'd probably lose the post.

On the negative thinking and looping.....it was a HUGE relief to me to learn that it's actually human nature and wired into our DNA. Think caveman always on alert for lion. Refuge really takes recovery from the standpoint that human life is to suffer, but suffering is optional. They also see addiction as nothing more than a coping mechanism from the human condition. Yes, my body processes alcohol differently....but, one would think that after after a few goes at it one would think..."well this shit isn't working". But we are wired to seek pleasure at almost any cost. We always joke...."what a relief to find out I was suffering from the human condition the whole time". It was my coping tool was quite flawed but delivered instant relief. My new tools....I have to sit through the damn shitload of emotions.

Sam--right now I'm working at a health food store. For the most part I love it. I'm looking also to move to another department. Two things....I won't be handling wine all day and it gets me away from my 25 year old boss---who is just freaking odd. I'll be making a return to the business world next year. Right now this job allows me to spend a lot of time with my kids....which is my top priority. They are in their teens and still like me. So I'm taking advantage of this time because it will not last forever. Last night my oldest and I binged watched on Netflix and had a blast.

[Lavande]

Good afternoon Abbers,

Wishing you safe travels Mick!

CONGRATS to our 2 year AF girl Pie :welldone:
Be proud of your accomplishment! Your hard work & dedication got you to where you are today!!!

SF, there is just no way in hell I could deal with a 25 year old boss - just sayin', ha ha!
I really wish we could bottle hindsight & wisdom, we would be bazillionaires, ha ha!

Hi there Sam & Pauly!
Hope you are both having a good Monday.

PQ, still raining up there? We are apparently getting some on Wednesday & Thursday. I hope you have a decennt week at work

Let's all promise no more self-sabotage from now on!
I spent too many years beating myself up about stuff that I had no control over. Looking back, that was an epic waste of time on my part. No more of that!!!!!

Wishing everyone a good rest of the day, AF of course.
I'm not feeling overly energetic today because my old dog had me up most of the night. Don't worry, she's napping now, ha ha!

Lav

[Pie]

Pauly, your story about the meth head handymen cracks me up! I found my two on craigslist, so I was a little worried... But they they turned out to be a young married couple who showed up in matching shirts, with big smiles, and a really tall ladder. I got lucky :happy2:

[Determinator]

Happy unhung Monday ABerooos!

Mick, happy travels from Sicily back to sunny ol' sod!

Pauly, how do you download a new keyboard? really got me there....

Pie, mega chocolate-covered kudos on 2+ years! ab fab my dear.

Sun, was walking this morning and a neighbors yard is suddenly loaded with huge magnificent sunflowers so was thinking of you. Naturally didn't have the camera

made it to my ass-kicking class today and feeling like my ass has been pleasantly and totally kicked.

Well, because sharp knives aren't dangerous enough.... I experimented with some live flame photography last night. Got some pretty amazing and artistic results.



and definitely do NOT try this at home.... using live ammo covered in flames is a pretty dumb idea... but I'm the guy for the job!



ok, off to find more dangerous things to do...

be well peeps

[Determinator]

[Lavande]

Beautiful Det but.......
May I ask? Are you insured??????? LOL
Be careful there little buddy

You know what happens when your son's babysitter suddenly changes her mind about helping out tomorrow? You end up with two little boys spending the night. AND they both have to be driven to different day camps by 9 am. Oh boy!

Peace to all tonight.