Welcome back clemence x

Grace that's one level headed teenager you have there you must be so proud what a scarey situation for him to deal with

Fishy you sound so much more positive it's great to hear

One step going to miss you who's going to tell me what the weather is doing up north now. Hope you find a balance I am a all or nothing person too its hard to break from this way of thinking I know taking a break from Sr would just give me a green light to fall back into my old ways.

Who mentioned nice weather bah humbug it's still raining here now officially sick of getting soaked wellies are the latest fashion trend lol least the gale force winds have subsided never known a winter like it.

On the plus side builder started on my bathroom today yay finally, builders are like gold dust at the moment with all the storm damage.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Monday xx

Grace, I'm so glad it all turned out okay! How scary! :(

Oh, Grace, how frightening for you and your son who was home with the younger kids! He made great choices and so glad a neighbor could be with them for the evening! My daughter is 14, so I can imagine how she would feel having to handle that.

That makes me think about my neighborhood. At one time, we knew very many neighbors so well, our children had as many as 6 houses where I would have felt safe with them running there or me calling them in a pinch like that. Now, I am down to one. Across the street. And they are busy with 3 kids off in three directions all the time. The others have moved on to "bigger and better" homes in town, but not nearby our house.

I need to really think through who I could call, if I did not reach the first choice neighbor! I guess I would simply call a couple of the ones who have moved away, but are still somewhat local.

Glad you resisted the drink, and I understand that urge. I bet you feel strong today for deciding not to do it.

Grace if I knew you were not at the house I would not have been trying to peek in the windows ;)

Clarity, focus, accountability, trust from others.

I have been remembering random details from my past. Some associated with drinking, and others that I just blocked, like in the 6th grade when I had just moved to a new school and decided to be called by my middle name but ended up just confusing people. Not a pleasant memory but not bad, just repressed.

Still, it's not fun remembering ANYTHING from the 6th grade. it was the only time I can recall when I had zero friends (because I was stuck up and alienated everyone and my mother dressed me in awful clothes). I also had a stepfather whom I hated.

I'm back everyone! Catching up on posts. I had strep throat this weekend and I'm SAD because of no sunshine and winter and too much snow and I'm fat and as soon as I started working I got sick so I haven't gotten back into exercising.

But I'm sober! God willing, I will have 90 days on Friday! :dancer5:

I hope you feel better, Brooksie.

Other than getting sick, how do you like your job?

I enjoy the fact that it is low-stress and pretty mindless. I have to multitask at busier times which is helpful. I also have to swallow my pride (which is good practice). I get a lot of patronizing smiles. A woman I know from AA looked right through me the other day.

It was pretty rude, but not enough to upset me beyond the point where I am going to point out that I saw her at my job the next time I see her at a meeting. Part of me wants to passive-aggressively let her know how rude she was... :pout

But I know that kind of behavior is not helpful!

(((Grace)))

Everyone here is still sick. Taking kiddo to doctor today.

(((Grace)))
Scary. Smart thinking on kiddo's part. Glad everyone is ok! :hug:

(((Renarde)))
Hope you get some good news from the doctor! Congrats on your exam! :c011:

Thanks Brooksie! Congrats on the new job!!!!

Brooksie, maybe she was trying to stay anonymous?

It's kind of like that in my job. Some people don't want anyone to know they come, so if I see them outside of work, I don't usually say anything unless they do first. It's not personal. :)

I celebrated with my peeps today. I love my AA group!

And guess what? It's snowing again. Geesh. We'll probably pass 130 inches mark tonight. I drive through my subdivision and there are huge snowbanks with just the open ends of mailboxes sticking out ... the snow is several feet OVER many of them.

Hey all

Just a quick one !

Fishy, sounding pretty thoughtful and seems like you've dug deep into your navel ;)

Renarde, oh no, I hope you and kiddo recover quickly

Grace, you've brought up your kids well ! Thankfully, it was handled well and you handled yourself well !

Br00ksie, I have a lot of flashbacks as well but more about my drinking days than anything else :( Anyway, dont fret about weight, its all body image propaganda by fashionistas who like women to have the figure of a young boy or have surgical enhancements....go figure. Aside from that, just focus on being healthy. You have all the time in the world to lose weight but my 2 cents is only lose weight for health reasons and dont bow down to social pressure

Tallia, hope you are well up in the chilly North !

Have a lovely day/evening ! Love and thanks to all !

:ring

Hi everyone

It's still rainy and windy in south west UK. It hasn't been too cold and no snow but the rain is unbelievable. At least the days are getting longer, the snowdrops are out and soon it will be spring. I'm looking forward to a sober summer; that will be a novelty!
,
Poor you Renarde, you've had a lot of illness in your family. I hope you will all be feeling better soon. And from Brooksie's post I think you've just passed another exam. Congratulations, you must be a very disciplined character to keep up all this studying and look after your family at the same time.

I hope the new job is going well Brooksie. Your list of clarity, focus and accountability being amongst the most positive gains in sobriety are exactly mine too.

Midnight here and bedtime for me. Just need a bit of chocolate first. I seem to have developed a sweet tooth in place of the wine habit. I remember a few months ago a lot of talk about Icecream, I wasn't interested then but I certainly am now!

You're having a real run of ill health Renarde - hope all proves well.

D

The "anonymous" thought crossed my mind.

This snow situation is madness! Once I'm back at 100% health-wise I intend to elliptical my way to a positive attitude about the imminence of Spring!!

One perk of my job is that I can werk out for free and on nights that I close, after everyone has gone home. I had planned on doing that Friday but got a fever! :ugh:

I bet she was trying to keep up the anonymous thing Brooksie. If she had made assumptions and opened up about AA - that might not be good for everyone so you can't assume. Idk.

As for me, I am at a breaking point. I feel vulnerable to relapse right now. Both the AV and the ED (which is basically an AV) are screaming at me nonstop. I may try to get to my first AA meeting this week.

Husband cooked a special dinner just to be nice and went out of his way to find a recipe without wine in it, which I so appreciate.

Ash Wednesday is still a few weeks away, but are there any Catholics/Episcopalians out there with thoughts about what you're giving up for lent?

I'm giving up sweets (Nutella included!) in the name of *cough my hips cough* Jesus.

Also, has anyone ever given up drinking for lent? I've given up booze, wine, and weed, all on separate occasions! Hmm.. I guess that should've told me something!! :gaah

Renarde, urges to drink are transient. Maybe tell yourself not today. Do the same thing tomorrow until you can make it to a meeting or feel better.

If a day is too long, tell yourself and your AV/ED "not right now!" Just put it off for as long as you can until the urge blows over.

Can you think of anything that might have triggered your urges?

I was at work on Saturday when a coworker walked in 2 hours late and visibly hungover. It took me back to the days when I would show up late and hide at my computer, barely able to function and made me happy to be sober (even with a sore throat and a fever)!!

I hope you feel better soon! Please take care of yourself!! Glad hubby is taking care of you. :hug:

Thank you Brooksie. My baby is just so sick, school is very stressful and intense, I have been sick for months and still coughing etc. I have lost weight from all of the illness and have gotten comments and my ED-AV is thrilled and just wants a little more, etc. I am now a size 0 and losing weight just awakens the monster, plus it would love to get a hold of me again since I am not using booze to cope with life. I am trying to handle everything all the time and like today I went all day on coffee and airborne gummies until I got home and ate what husband made. I lost my appetite when I was hospitalized for the stomach flu and that is triggering. With the alcohol...just having a hard time coping with months of illness and no family anywhere close to me, all under the pressure of school - and I do put pressure on myself to be a perfect student. My parents have work commitments and really cannot come to help. I am just feeling depressed. Not sleeping - insomnia - for months and AV would love to drink myself to sleep. I can come up with a billion triggers and reasons why I want to, but they are all crap because I know the very best thing I can do is protect my sobriety. My health and my family deserve that more than anything.

Thank you for asking. A big coping mechanism I use is to post here first. I really appreciate the listening. :)