Thursday, Jan 11

[Hawk]

Good morning everyone~

I hope everyone is doing well. I am not even going to pretend that I am current on the goings on here because I am not. I have been busy with work (that's good) and haven't had the time to catch up here (that's bad). I am feeling disconnected here and I don't like that. I have to find a way to get more out of my day or at least set aside time for me to take care of me. That's very hard. Anyone else have that? How do you handle?

Have a great day everyone and I do hope to read, read, read tonight! Thinking of you guys and sending a big hug your way.

[soccermom]

Thursday, Jan 11

Good morning my wonderful friends,
Hawk--I can relate, as I had a wonderful break from work over Christmas/New Years and now with work and kid's activities back in full swing it is hard for me to check in and post on a regular basis and that makes me feel bad that I am not being able to respond to all the goings on here as you are all in my heart.
I like what you said: Priority: Set aside time time for me to take care of me.
That being said, I am off to work and will have to check in later tonite. Love to each and all of you.
sm-mary

[fsophiah]

Thursday, Jan 11

I don't suppose anyone has heard from E. She has been on my mind all week. I am in the middle of writing report cards. Every one of my students requires a 2 paragraph comment each grading period--that's 4 times a year. So the week before report cards go out is really stressful for me. The good news is that there was only one night this week that I drank, the night we went out with my son and his family. We had to wait for my DIL, so I ended up drinking more than I had wanted to, but I'm happy that it doesn't bother me to go AF the way it would have last year. When I think of last year's consumption rate, I blanch.

[eustacia]

Thursday, Jan 11

Hi Everybody,

I'm dotty today. Three hours sleep over three nights. I'll write more when I have my wits about me, but I at least wanted to say how much the loving thoughts and words of my friends at MWO have buoyed me. I would be in far worse shape without out you and for you, I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.

Love to all, E

[InnerStrength]

Thursday, Jan 11

E!!!! I am so thrilled to see you!!! Please do write back when you have more time, sleep etc. - I doubt very much you don't have your "wits" - even without sleep, you are probably one of the most eloquent people I've ever known. Thank goodness you're okay. Hugs and love to you.

Hawk - its easy to fall "out of the loop" a little but catch right back up. I fell out of the loop over the holidays and now I am back full force. I realized that if I don't prioritize this program, and being well, and you guys and ME, then I won't be well off...I might slide back into old habits and I dont want that! Plus, I really MISS you guys!!! Glad to see you
SM Mary - glad to see you too my dear. I hope all is well - we all have to work at "us" time, dont we? I think its sooo important...
Sophie - you should be so proud of your progress. I know we are! You have come so far. Good luck with the marking - you will shine!

Welll, one more day until the weekend. It's another sunny beautiful day outside. Hubby and I went for dinner last night and while I am used to having a glass of wine when I go out, instead I had a diet coke and then a coffee. I was kind of wired but it felt good. And hubby felt good too, I could really tell. It was a nice night. I can really tell how happy and proud he is of me lately - it makes it all worthwhile....
This weekend I think we are going to go to see some friends who recently had a baby. These people used to be heavy drinkers/partyers but with the new baby, it should be interesting to see how things have changed...
Anyways hope everyone is well!
Love you all and hello to all to come
Love Jen

[MKR]

Thursday, Jan 11

Morning All!

Do you know what people who amass wealth, friends, and laughter have in common with those who don't?

Very often, both look around at their lives and say, "Yeah, this is who I am. It must have been meant to be."

Must be a trick of the light.

****The Universe
--------------------------------------------------------
Hi E, great to see you here. Hope that things calm down a bit for you.

Jen, I am so proud of you! that was just awesome last night.

Hawk and Soccermom Mary, I was out for awhile over the holidays. You can get right back into it and catch up when necessary. I did find not only did I miss you all and what was going on, I also lost a small piece of my drive towards mods. It was good to come back and make sure I stayed on track.

PP, hang in, you are inspiring us all! horoscope yesterday was a total tease heh?

Judie, the hot tub sounds just perfect. I KNOW you are enjoying that time!

Paula, we are all so proud of you! you are doing wonderfully!

Sophia, I feel for you. I bet you are such an incredible teacher!

Rachele, go girl. Two days is a great start to mods. I know it has been super tough on you. so are you trying to hypnotize us with that avatar?

Paul said something in ABS section yesterday that really hit home, he said, the night before, something just "clicked" then it was all OK. I have found that with both mods and not smoking. All of a sudden it was . . . OK, as in not a struggle any more as much as a "something I want to do for me attitude." Does that make sense?

My boys made it back last night safe and sound and I guess ash is still being deposited throughout the VI but at least they are back home. I slept like a baby not worrying about them. GEEZ! they are 23 and 20 can I stop worrying about safety now?!!

Well, my husband on a diet now has started to watch his drinking to lose weight. I will go into more another day suffice to say at the moment there is this big burly, nasty bear at my house that I started feeding L-glut and kudzu to last night!

Hugs and Love to all including those to come later in the day!
Mary

[InnerStrength]

Thursday, Jan 11

Mary - that description of your husband as the big, burly nasty bear really put a picture in my head and made me laugh - though I am sure it wasent that funny! SOrry! LOL
Bless you - you are the best, feeding "the bear" L-Glut and Kudzu...SO CUTE
Love Jen

[lushy]

Thursday, Jan 11

Hi All,

Another snow day here for us. It is just beautiful outside and one of those days you are glad to be alive to see it all. That is because I can stay home and not go out in it.

Mary, I hope the kudzu and l-glut works on the bear in your house. You sound like you have been quite the influence on him reassessing his health and that is just awesome.

Jen, you sound like you are doing awesome too and more positive than you were right after Christmas. I hope that continues for you.

No AF days for me this week. No excuses; just did not make that choice. Have not been overdoing it either so I am okay with it.

E, I hope you will get some more sleep. As you know lack of sleep can really cloud your moods and judgement. I wish you the best.

Sophiah, being a teacher is such hard work but to have those summers off would be awesome. I wish I had wanted to have been a teacher. I tried it for one year when I was 23. I taught high school seniors as an assistant teacher under the main teacher's credentials. I got asked to prom and asked to buy kegs for them for parties more times than I can count. I was MUCH too close in age to them so they did not take me seriously. But it did give me a huge appreciation for you all you teachers do. And that includes you too SM!!

Hawk, you have been quiet around here but it sounds like work is picking up for you and I hope that is a good thing. I am still waiting for you to find me the waterfront house I want for less than 100k!!!!

For all of you lovely muffs to come have a great day. It sounds like so many of us are really making progress in keeping our drinking goals. Wahoo!!!

[Allie]

Thursday, Jan 11

Hi All~

E-- I've been thinking about you and hope that you are not feeling so discouraged anymore. I may have missed something as I have not been on much and saw 10 pages the other day and quickly scanned through to make sure something catrostrophic had not happened!

I've just been really, really busy juggling a lot right now with my Mom, as well as schedule changes around our house with my son starting college this week and me not... LOL. Its a good thing I didnt -- at least for this week and next because I dont know how I could have managed it. Just another confirmation that the timing was not right. I am going with my husband on a business trip all next week to Las Vegas, so I am trying to get meals cooked ahead of time and put in the freezer for the kids, get all the laundry done, trips to the dry cleaners, etc..

I've been AF all week until last night, and had three glasses of wine. The crazy thing that prompted that was I apparently had an allergic reaction to shrimp that I cooked for dinner. I had gotten some fresh shrimp right off the fishing boats at the port close by (which I do on somewhat regular basis cuz its so fresh and cheap here). Anyway, I've been eating shrimp my whole life, but for some reason last night I reacted to it. I've noticed that as I get older, I seem to be getting more allergies to things that never bothered me in the past. I will be one upset puppy if I cant eat shrimp anymore!!! My skin started getting really hot, especially on my face, chest and arms -- almost like I had a bad sunburn, but yet it was itching at the same time. So when I scratched, it hurt really bad. My skin turned bright red all over and it LOOKED just like a sunburn -- not patchy hives or anything. Has anyone ever had that happen from an allergic reaction? Anyway, I felt like I had battled a tiger after two hours of that and once it subsided my old thought process cranked up again.... "I NEED A GLASS OF WINE AFTER ALL THAT" or two or three.....

So any tips for handling the temptations sure to be at every turn in Vegas? My husband loves to play a few of those games, which I have never played. But it sure is fun to sit there with him and get those free drinks. This will be the third time we've been to a casino since we've been married, but we always have such a blast and of course I get toasted every time. And its hard because for ME anway, I am on vacation, hotel, no kids.... so I can sleep as late and as long as I want every morning and be ready to go at it again at night. Its such a mindset. And I dont want to gain any weight because my husband is on a diet and has so far lost 27 pounds since Nov. 1st and so I am sticking to his eating plan with him, so... who has some other ideas for fun things to do? I dont want to go see any naked women shows either... LOL

Allie

[lushy]

Thursday, Jan 11

Allie, the EXACT same thing happened to my husband this summer with the shrimp. We are both so bummed because shrimp is a staple in our house. He had the hot burning itching. I would suggest going to your doctor and getting an Epi-Pen and carry it with you when you go out. Shrimp can be hidden in various things and also our doctor said it could lead to more shellfish allergies (sorry to tell you that). So far hubby has been able to eat mussels and crab without any problem so I am sure you will be fine. I am sure you know this but if you accidentally have shrimp again your reaction will be worse the second time around and could cause an anaphylactic reaction. I have witnessed my husband have an anaphylactic reaction due to an aspirin allergy and he almost died. It is not something to mess around with. I am sorry you went through that.

Regarding Vegas, the good news is that the free wine they give you is horrible so you won't want to drink too much. I don't have any other suggestions for what to do. Are you going to see O? It is phenomenal. Have a great time.

[Saint Jude]

Thursday, Jan 11

Allie, that sounds so scarey! I think you should definately get an epi pen like Lush suggested. How odd that that has never bothered you before though...
Oh, in Vegas, the Zoomanity show is AWSOME! It's the "naughty side of cirque de sole"

We have snow here too! Very rare to have it here, as nobody is used to driving in it... the whole town shuts down. In fact I'm working for someone tonight because she's afraid to drive to town! There's all of 2 inches ! OMG!

[Saint Jude]

Thursday, Jan 11

Thought the power was going out for a sec there... brb

[Fan]

Thursday, Jan 11

hey, even small inches can be scarey.

[Beaches]

Thursday, Jan 11

Hello to all. Nothing profound to say today. I've been catching up on reading. Been a little hectic around here and boy has it ever gotten cold. I was hoping we'd bypass winter all together. Ha
No AF days for me this week. Was all gung ho on Jan 1 and shouldn't have been. Not drinking even 1/2 as much as I was before so that's good.
Glad to hear you all sound well. Allie hope you enjoy Vegas. I've never been but hear it's great.

E-glad you checked in today. I hope you are able to get some rest.

Take Care All

[MKR]

Thursday, Jan 11

Fan, oh, Fan where are you??

Lush and Jen, it has been really tough to be around him but you know it will hopefully work its way out over time. In the meantime, I may just be staying down here at my office for lunch . . .why go home to that stress! Thanks for the vote though, I do believe he sees me in such control of so many issues now that . . maybe it is rubbing off on him.

Judie, yep two inches puts them through the ringer here also. Make it 24-36 in some areas and we are still in ice and snow! Hope your power stays on!

Allie, I am so sorry. I absolutely LOVE shrimp and can't imagine going with out it. That reaction happened to me about 24 years ago. I had a quiche at lunch and by the time I got back to the office I was beat red, itching like crazy, no hives like I normally get with my allergies. Finally had to go home and sit in a tub of cool water with oatmeal. I called the restaurant to ask what was in it. I NEVER did find out what it was as nothing in it had ever caused a problem for me. I carry the kit for bee stings as I had anaphylactic reaction as a kid to my second bee sting. I freak when I see a wasp or bee cause you never know.

My mom in law is allergic to crab for years but no other shell fish so hopefully it won't go that direction where you have to add to the list of shell fish to avoid. And yes, over the years I have had more and more added to the list of allergies from dust to medications to food allergies. Can't even walk down that isle in the grocery store with the laundry detergents, my eyes burn and I start sneezing followed immediately by a headache. Oil of Olay products turn me into a face full of instant hives. Doesn't seem fair but there it is.

Hope you enjoy Las Vegas! Drink water in between the free drinks? That has always been Judie's advice that is a life saver!

NP - it is OK. You and Lush are just not overdoing it and isn't that what mods are all about?