Caledonia1

Siesta It's great to hear you're feeling so upbeat. Love your idea of painting the kitchen units.

Gilmer

Hi, Nel! I recognize you from the January thread! Welcome!

Dee74

Congratulations on 60 days R1ck

feel better soon Grace

glad you're feeling better Siesta

love to all
D

Grace2

21.40

Just watching t.v and having a quick posting session before bed.
I think I have man flu!

Hi Nicky and Gilmer, hope all is well.

Good night all, see you tomorrow

Sleep well.

Gxx

Caledonia1

Nighty night Grace. Get well soon. x

TTBABP Hey there the cute dog is mines and the toy is Lotso "lot s o huggin bear" from Toy Story. It was hilarious that day, she pinched the kids bear and they were chasing her all over the garden and all you could hear was the poor bear laughing and saying "aww your ma best friend" lol

Lovely sober memory!

bloss

Afternoon to all

Good news, my washer and dryer were delivered, so I'm playing catch up with the wash. Didn't sleep as well last night, but that's ok tonight will be better.

Nicky: your dog is a real sweetheart

Grace: don't stay up too late, (like I do)

Siesta: Enjoy the sunshine with your dog, pets make everything nicer

Sober1ck: Yeah, 61 days

Nels: 3 parakeets, brings back memories, my mom had a really pretty one (he was a nice blue color)

TTBABP: Yes, thinking the drink (drunk) through can quiet an urge to drink

Everyone have a nice, sober evening
Bloss

nel68

Hey gang, I have been a busy bee today! We made meatloaf, I baked a chicken for me and now we just made up Chex mix!~ yummy ~ The other day I made banana raisin bread, tomorrow I will not have to cook or clean because I was such a busy bee today! Except swept around the bird cage that is never ending, bloss I have a blue bird her name is Georgie she is so cute its funny how they all have there own personalities. Sissy is my yellow bird she is the oldest and keeps the pecking order of the cage, Charlie is green and yellow and is such a sweet boy, sings all the time and bobs his head, I'm not sure why cause the girls are mean to him alot...I am going to watch my show tonight Survivor. I hope I sleep tonight, I have had real bad insomnia for years but definitely the worst my first few months of sobriety. I hope everyone has a great evening [IMG][/IMG] This is one of my favorite picture. I let them out when I was cleaning there cage, this is where they landed...lol

Dee74

really tame deer you have there too Nel....
D

Grace2

09.25 Thur

Good morning dear Undies

In work, still suffering from the man flu, it's a good thing I'm tough. I'm just eating a pink grapefruit and it is delicious, really tarty.

Nicky, that story about the little bear is so, so funny. How cute. Your little dog actually looks like she's laughing.

Bloss I did get to bed quite early for me last night and I also managed to get a bit of sleep unlike the night before. I always aim to be in bed by 11pm on a work night, even if I can't sleep I tell myself that I need the rest and I read! I bet it's a relief to get your washing done, you seem to have been waiting ages for that washer and dryer to arrive. Feel free to take my washing, I don't mind, honestly!

Hi Nel, you did have a productive day yesterday, it never fails to amaze me how much I get done now I don't drink, it's a good feeling. What is a chex mix may I ask?
I can't see your photo in work because of the security settings but I'll have a look this evening when I'm home. I would love a parakeet, but I don't think my two cats would give it any peace. One day, maybe, I will have a couple.
I hope you managed to get some sleep last night, quite a few of us here suffer from insomnia, myself included, though I have improved quite a lot recently.

Off to do a bit of work now, but I'll be back.

Stay safe and sober

Lots of love to you all

Gxx

*****

Just for today I will have a quiet half hour all by myself, and relax. During this half hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.

nel68

Grace chex mix is something we usually make around the holidays.... •1/2 cup butter or margarine
•2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
•1-1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt
•1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
•3 cups Wheat Chex square cereal
•2 cups Rice Chex square cereal
•1-1/2 cups peanuts
•1-1/2 cups small pretzel rods
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Melt butter in a shallow pan. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and garlic salt (not garlic powder). Add Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, nuts (peanuts, pecans or cashews), and pretzel rods. Mix until all pieces are coated with the butter mixture.....We use cashews instead of peanuts and we put in melba toast. Around the holidays they put out a cinnamon Chex mix cereal we add to it.....Its so yummy ~ [IMG][/IMG]

Caledonia1

Thursday 2.40pm

Afternnon Undies Nel you are making my mouth water......

Grace You little soldier battling on and yip the dog was laughing but one daughter wasn't so happy.lol

Bloss My Tess is a darling she's so good natured and my little pal.

Went to a meeting this morning and I had been asked to |Chair and Share, nervracking but wow what a relief. I got a bit emotional at one point as forgotten memories came flooding back. All the better for sharing today. They presented me with a Birthday Cake and I got presants and cards felt really touched by it all.

Shattered now as I've been watching my friends 2 wee ones from 12pm. 6weeks old and 2 1/2 boy you forget how constant it is.

Catch you later
x

Grace2

15.35

Quick Hi

Still raining and grey and I'm still coughing and spluttering. I'll be glad when 7 o clock comes.

Thank you so much for sharing that recipe Nel, I wouldn't mind having a go at that. I don't know what Chex it, but I imagine that it's pretty much like weetabix, the breakfast cereal squares we have here. Maybe?? I can't see what picture you've put on as I'm in work but I will hopefully see it later when I'm home.

Nicky, I can imagine your daughter wasn't amused, lol. Wow, you're very brave, braver than me, chairing and sharing. I'm proud of you and you should be so too. How thoughtful of them to get you a cake, gifts and cards, that's lovely.
Yes, little ones are constant work, rewarding and lovely, but constant. Hope you manage to get a rest this afternoon.

Back later

Gxxxx

sober1ck

Hi Undies. Catching up, not-so-random thought is that nothing drives the "not-happening" point home quite as well as my ex asking me if i'm dating yet. Thanks, reality, oh yeah, I hate you. I'm not ready to date, I kind of miss being someone's guy, but not completely sad to be girlfriend-free for now, if that makes any sense.

critica, i'm likewise so done with winter 2012-2013. i'd rather have rain. great reminder not to be complacent, i don't want to go backwards just because forward is work.

saskia, glad to hear about sun, sleep, and a brighter outlook; thanks for the inspiration, and good luck on the bureaucracy

@boonie jealous of the FL weather. OT, but i am sometimes a bit security complacent, and am working through my accounts to make sure that i have ambigous usernames wherever e-mail address isn't required, and that I'm not duplicating passwords across sites. Even at home, "admin," "backup," and such like are banned. If you're bored, search for "common usernames" and see if you use any of them.

OLL love the photography idea. I'm not much of a shot, and about year ago I took out my 35mm camera and took pictures over the holidays. The fact that the lense is beyond anything in a phone was helpful, but I still loused up a lot of shots as I'm not that good with it. like Boonie, I take lots of pictures and delete lots of pictures, can't beat the savings on processing since i'm not even a good ameteur

siesta, i've started working out a bit, and am already a little better off than a month ago, but I still notice the stairs to the gym. Wow, I have a ways to go, hope it gets easier for both of us! Loved the nail place story Feels good not to be that loud crazy drunk doesn't it

midnight how are you? I get stuck in places i just have to wait out, seems like. Thinking of you, and hope you are having a better day today.

hi there, bloss. yep, day at a time. (groan) "yay" on the washer and dryer finally arriving

grace, hope you are feeling better, i picked up a little something myself, but it's going away. find any grace time, yet?

BF thanks for sharing about the pup, glad a good home was found so quickly

@boonie I am not above talking out loud to AV. I'm nuts already, so talking to myself is no thing, and I might be willing to play the tape "later." That's why sometimes I need to hear it out loud "now."

nel, you're making me hungry! love the pet pic, and I agree with Dee, amazing how you tamed that deer

caledonia, i used to like chairing, and should probably look for an opportunity to do more of it. any of it, really. hope you get some rest

gilmer, ttbabp, tanja, hope you are well. I don't have a good memory, so I refer to a list, as if anyone was wondering, hope that's not creepy? But I sometimes think someone will post here and there, or click "thanks" but not feel welcome, so it might be time for a shout out.

Grace2

Hi Soberick, good to see you here as always and it's good to hear that your not completely sad at being girl friend free. Gives you chance to sort your head out and concentrate on your recovery. Have you considered breaking all contact with your ex? Sorry if that's too personal, too painful a question, ignore it if it is, I just wondered if staying in contact with her and reading about her on F.B etc is stopping you from moving on. Just wondering that's all.
I'm not a good amateur photographer either, I must delete at least 75% of my photo's but it's good to have the option to do that.
Still coughing and sneezing etc, but it could be worse. I just hate this cotton wool head feeling.
Grace time?? I wish, maybe one day, sometimes I can't see light at the end of the tunnel regarding time for me! My brother is off to Thailand again on 17/03 until June, so I will have full care of my parents again. Oh well, such is life.

Take care everyone.

Gxx

sober1ck

Thanks, Grace, it may be delicate but I wouldn't bring it up if I didn't want to hear anything (thanks also for being sensitive to that)... anyway, I think you're probably dead spot on, it's certainly hard to move on if I keep "cheating." Sort of like sneaking a drink if you're quit, it would only burn me.

There have been fits and stops, and ripping off the band aid might be my best option. Hurts, but for less time than hanging on to the remaining shreds of attention she might offer. Thanks as always for being supportive.

Saskia

Hello Undies!

I've been really busy with the March thread which is coming along well. My cravings are getting much better!

Nel, I love that photo. And love Dee's comment about taming the deer, too! :rotfxko

Grace, I hope you feel better soon! That cotton-head feeling is miserable.

Sober1ck, I'm almost through the bureacracy but they had to find something! I'm supposed to have an MMR booster (measles, mumps and rubella) but there's a question about whether or not it's safe for me so they drew more blood to test for antibodies. :-( Maybe next time I can get Nel's deer to donate blood in my place? Keeping a list of people sounds like a great idea! My memory is definitely getting worse and I really dislike missing people but just have to hope they understand. This seems like a very understanding bunch of great people so I'm keeping my fingers crossed :-)

Caledonia, wonderful that you chaired/shared and lovely that they gave you a cake, etc!

Bloss, I'm happy to hear you finally got your washer and dryer. Have you figured out how many weeks it will take to catch up on your laundry?


Tanja, another friend from the May group, how are you doing?

I'm feeling strong, happy and am cleaning my house piece-by-piece (or room-by-messy-room). My kitty is not happy when I vacuum. She's a little tiny (7 lb) long-haired scaredy cat who likes to sleep the day away now that she's almost 14 years old! She owns the place and orders me around -- she is very bossy but sweet :-)

Sassy

MidnightBlue

Hi, my dear Undies) Thank you all so much for your kind words, it made me feel so much better when I red your posts, like a warm soothing wave of comfort washing away feeling of depression. My mood is better, it is not as bright as spring sky yet, but I'm working on it. I think Grace is right when asking about what I'm doing in spare time, because I don't remember actually what it is - always thinking over something and pushing myself forward because I don't deseve to relax yet.

It's a beautiful evening and I can see Big Dipper hanging somewhere right above my head)

Nel68 -Welcome! I'm sure you'll enjoy our sober band) You chex mix look so yoummy!

Grace - get well soon! Take care of youself. You are always busy and seem to have a lot of things on your hands. You once told me that I burn the candle at both ends - I think it's time for us to stop doing this and enjoy some quiet evening just watching candle light and drinking hot tea, what do you think?))

Nicky - thank you for positive vibrations, I surely got them) How's weather in Bonnie Scotland?

Boozefree - great that you found new home for this poor puppy. Dont' work too hard - I know you always do)

Booniecat - I like your metaphor about lion and gazelle) Though, good thing about all this is every time you fight AV your gazelle is magically turning into lion, and after some time AV is not a lion any more, just a little nasty creature that is hiding somewhere in the bushes.

Critica76 - I feel for you about snow, I'm sick of it myself. Luckily it started melting. I hope you'll get some warm weather soon)

Sober1ck - congrats on crossing 60-days milestone! Great achievement and great feeling, isn't it? I remember at that period of sobriety I was at this "not-happening" point as well. Actually, I can't say that I'm at "all-happening" point right now, but it takes some time to regain momentum again. And though we feel like nothing happens, it's not true - there's huge work that's going on inside. We are building new life and it's not easy. Things don't change as fast as we wish but they do change. And, IMHO it's all right that you are not ready to date again. It makes sense to me because I'm not sad at all to be boyfriend-free at the moment) And I take this time as a chance to know myself better. And every time I get a drunk call from my ex (not so often, luckily, but still) I like it even more) So, don't be hard on yourself. You know, I found a poem I wrote earlier on some day when I couldn't force myslef to do anything - you can see you are not alone in this:

I've spent all day procrastinating,
My mind is playing wicked game,
I'm someone who is always waiting -
My own doubts are to blame.

My fear fights against my hopes,
My goals take a constant break,
I feel like I am on the ropes,
And all my life is total fake.

Cheer up, it will pass some day)

Siesta - clean apartment and cabinet painting project sound so nice. I like renovation - it's like change of scene and decoration where you set a new story with a new script)

TTBABP - thank you, I do feel better today )

Bloss - I have no ocean, but tried to dissolve my blue mood in clear sky)


My best wishes to all!

Have a great sober weekend.

bloss

Good Late Morning Undies

Yes, B. got home late last night, 11:00 P.M., he was so tired, had been driving for hours. Blossom was happy to see him, she is very attached. I am a bit jealous, ha, ha...I did sleep better and feel more positive today as a result. Lack of sleep led to many a relapse for me, so I am more vigilant when tired.

Saskia: You are sounding very positive today Nice that those "nasty" old cravings are becoming less. I am always "surprised" when my mind goes there, goodness knows why I should be, after all, I used alcohol to hide from feelings and life situations for years. My cats really dislike the vacuum too, they scatter when I power it up. Just one room at a time and one day at a time sounds like a great way to live. We don't drink today and all is well.

Sober1ck: I so enjoy your posts and I think a list is a great idea. I try to remember each name, but I relent, my memory is just not up to it. I remember years ago, (many years) a break-up I had. It was very difficult not to check and see what the person was doing, seeing. I kept telling myself not to care, not to check, but it was really hard not to. After some amount of time, the pain became less. I have to admit, I was drinking at the time. The break up led to a relapse for me. In retrospect, drinking was the worst thing I could have done. Finally, the pain subsided, but the drinking continued. You are showing real strength in becoming sober. Maybe take the desire to "check" up on this person's activities, just like remaining sober, just for today commit "not" to look at FB or whatever social media she uses. One day a time is easier than forever. If this doesn't sound useful, of course, just let it go.

Grace: My memory is not so good, does your brother work in Thailand? Glad you did get more sleep, lack of sleep is a pain...No Chex cereal over there? My sister likes Weetabix, muesli and so on. My cats actually would love a parakeet, but..... well I won't go there.

Nicky: the meetings you attend sound very warm and welcoming. Most of the meetings around my area are quite large and therefore more impersonal. It there is a cake it is once a month for whatever number of people are getting a chip. So nice you were remembered with cards, cake It is hard when memories come back, I frequently cry in the shower, my favorite place to cry over certain parts of the past. Well, friend, lets keep ourselves in the present, our past cannot be relived, just do our best today. I remind myself of that, still it is difficult...sigh

Nel: I love the picture of the birds, my mom's did look like the blue one, his name was T-Bird, he could say a lot of little words. Guess my mom cleaned the cage, thank goodness. All your cooking sounds very comforting. As Grace mentioned, many of us suffer from insomnia, so I hope you get more sleep. It really does change my outlook, getting enough sleep. I guess the amount of sleep needed, varies from person to person. Some can get by with little, others need much more. I have not given up caffeine, however, I'm trying to switch to herbal tea or decaf coffee later in the day. Take care of yourself and enjoy the banana raisin bread, sounds yummy!

M.B. I am glad you are feeling better today, you have a wonderful way with words. So nice you can put your feelings to paper and work through thoughts and feelings. The ocean, sky, everything is ours to appreciate so much more when we are sober and "present". Big ((hugs))


Be back later,
Everyone, each of you, have a safe, sober Thursday

Bloss

duane1

Hi Undies,
Just wanted to add a great positive of what has been going on with my sobriety. This is something that I have been noticing in the last week or so. I am finally getting my brain back!!!!! In the past week I have noticed that my concentration level and ability to retain what people are saying (business related) has finally started improving. Through my many years of drinking, I used to go into work day after day and I couldn't get my work done. First, drinking killed my motivation to work. Secondly, my motivation was diminished by the fact that I could not concentrate. It was a really awful feeling because I knew I used to be capable of so much more. Literally, I became embarrassed to ask questions at work because I should have known the stuff they talked about or dealt with like the back of my hand. This lack of memory was embarrassing to me outside of work also. I would forget the names of people that I had been going to church with for 30 years since I was a kid. Even my wife mentioned that I was really scaring her. I went from being able to calculate most things in my head to telling my wife to get a calculator. When I quit, I often wondered if I would ever get my mind back.
Anyway, my mind finally seems to be coming back. I literally had to retrain myself at work, but I am retaining it and my work ethic has been getting better and better lately. It really is great going to work and not having to hide from everyone and be scared that someone is going to ask you a question. Well, just wanted to share that with you all. It really has been a great positive lately in my sobriety.
Please share anything you have noticed like this if you have anything.

Siesta

Hi Duane, I totally relate to what you're saying! My memory was horrible and embarrassing before and my work was suffering, but now I'm feeling so much more on top of things at work and socially. It's very refreshing. I'm so much more confident and efficient. It's a promising feeling and encourages me to keep going forward. I'm glad you are experiencing this too.