jackrussell

How goes the clean up, LB? Your sister's lucky to have someone like you to come in and organize things. My wife and I look at our own situation with a view to: if something happened to us, who's going to come in and move all this to the next level. So, we have been preemptively trying to get rid of stuff, a multi-generational closet can hold a lot of things. Pick things up one at a time: goes, or stays? Makes me think of a photo collection posted online a few years ago. Families from around the world standing outside their houses with all their earthly belongings laid out in front of them. Maybe you've seen it? First to third world, amazing to see the difference. Sandal clad families with a few blankets, mattresses, a few dishes and dolls; first world fams with their two or three cars, and a mind boggling array of things on that lawn. Made me feel really wealthy, but aware of the fact that we have tons of stuff, and much clutter. And we are not wealthy. How to re-distribute? Good luck on the cleaning out, LB.

LBrain

Yesterday I found a xmas gift from my bil to my sister. Noone eever went above the garage but him. He kept everything. Computer boom boxes, misc this is weekend flea market territory.
Enough tool for four guys to have more than they need. I started digging nut shells from between the gaps in front porch. Laborious. Decided to pressure wash it to make sure it was salvagable. M@y have to flip all the boards with a few new. Have to dig out sid. E of house near gas line. Overgrwon hedge has taken over. Blahblahblah.
it going alright.I didn't bring enough clothes to wear. Ppacked minimal. Did bring 2 pr workboots.all that really mattered.

ActualAlcoholic

I feel you man. I used to homebrew and I gave all of my equipment to a friend of mine when I quit drinking. Now he's had several months to perfect his craft and is making, by all accounts, really amazing stuff. Some original recipes and some clones of popular beer from my region.

All I can do is keep repeating "I'm so glad you're able to use it" with a forced grin on my face. I truly am happy he is able to use it and that he is excelling at his new hobby, but I don't have much patience for brew talk anymore..... too many memories, too much temptation

ActualAlcoholic

The spent grains after extracting all the sugars for malt smell like a barnyard! if anything would turn someone off to beer that might be it

ActualAlcoholic

My mouth is watering with all this exotic meat talk! I've tried Elk but don't think I've ever had venison.

Have you ever tried to write down when you drink or how you are feeling when you are in the mood for alcohol? Wonder if maybe there is a pattern or something to be found there.

Keep up the good fight jackrussell

ActualAlcoholic

My GF is away on business, my room mate is away for vacation, so I've been alone all weekend and mostly loving it. Spent some time baking bread and even made myself a cake because why not.

Although I was able to quit alcohol at the end of last year I struggled to stop smoking pot, but I finally set a date and made a decision to stop for good. So I'm enjoying my first full week of real, true sobriety. Tonight will be day 8. It's been up and down but mostly positive. I don't miss the pervasive anxiety that's for sure. Not always easy when your roomate keeps a "house supply" of week in the living room drawer and beer in the fridge. Actually I've been locking myself in my room half the days lately.

But I recently picked up a side job for extra cash to pay off some bills and that has been keeping me busy as well. And it's much easier to wake up for work and get out of bed when you're not groggy and bleary eyed from alcohol or, in this case, weed.

Also made it to a few meetings over the last week and that has been an awesome sanity check.

I need to check in here more often so I don't flood you guys with a thousand posts!

LBrain

I have discovered how truly refreshing cold Canada dry ginger ale can be. I'm not a soda drinker, but this stuff really does the trick after working outside all day.
Interesting I said to my sister yesterday that I am ready to unload all of my 'stuff' and find a small place to live in. With the hobby of "everything" I accumulated a lot.

zerothehero

I love ginger ale but my most powerful addiction is sugar and my triglycerides are high. I made the decision last fall to quit drinking after new years but this just increased my consumption between Halloween and Christmas to the point that I quit drinking BEFORE new years. So...I want to set a target date for sugar but don't want to binge during the holidays. I was thinking I would give myself a year of sobriety, but maybe Halloween should be my date. When it comes to sugar I have had way too many one-last-times.

ActualAlcoholic

Good luck with the sugar zero. That seems like a tricky one because you have to be so informed as to what you eat on a daily basis and sugar can hide in a lot of stuff I would imagine.

zerothehero

Except for chocolate, cookies and brownies I'm pretty much on whole foods. I avoid most processed foods so diet in general is no big deal. I just gotta quit sneaking sweets when the food police (wife) ain't looking.

jackrussell

Actual: Good for you for baking bread and even a cake! Just the smell of baking bread enriches the spirit, I think. I can't imagine using pot daily. I can navigate the foggy head of a hangover in my own befuddled way; but pot seems to put so many balls in the air to juggle. Speech was difficult for me in my weed days, like 30 years ago. And weed then was pretty tame compared to today's product. So: keep it up. Bake more bread. I used to bake it in a wood-fired cookstove in our kitchen. Everyone who walked into that room positively smiled. Goes well with books and coffee or tea, I think.

TigerLili

I'm glad I never took up smoking pot. Very glad.

TigerLili

I confess that I strongly dislike the 'Twenty Four Hours A Day' Hazelden book and the commentary I post from it each day on the 12 step section. I hate the way it's written. It seems really condescending and I don't like their particular flavour of spirituality. I dislike it so much, that on the days that the commentary isn't so self-righteous and smug but actually useful and interesting, I feel resentful that I can't hate it as much as I usually do. :-)

LBrain

TL, your post made me chuckle. Yes, these publications can seem condescending at times. But wha t may be condescending to some, may be profound wisdom to others. I've heard it said that if I helped only one person today I've done my job. Keep that in mind as you go through your day. Keep posting. You may be helping another with their struggle.

LBrain

Early to bed early to rise...
had bfast. Looks like rain passing through early. I tore apart a porch you sterday and picked up wood. Must cut to size, repair support struture, paint railing and replace lattice, resurface deck, pressure wash and treat 600 feet of deck in back. Then have lunch...

Muhv

LBrain, my husband is the same like you, he is always doing something, building, tearing apart, repairing, fixing. Sometimes it is just so irritating, he lays on the sofa for 30 min and then he's up again like "I'm bored, need to do something".
I'm lazy, I could just watch TV and eat chocolate all day long.

Vet69

Brain, you're very industrious and a good brother. Staying active probably helps you keep your head straight. Keep up the good work!

TigerLili

I can do both. If I get a bee in my bonnet, I work like a crazy person to get the thing done. Generally though I like to lie on the sofa with my cat and watch tv and read books.

jackrussell

What are you reading, Tiger? It's nice to have a balance, I think, between engaged work and relaxation. I work with my body during the day, and like to read before sleep. Usually a few pages of a novel, then in the zone, turn off bedside light, drift....I don't know: literary scenarios launch the dreaming mind into good places, i think.

TigerLili

JackRussell - I'm reading 'P.O.W. Australian Prisoners of War in Hitler's Reich' by Peter Monteath. It's gripping. I am fascinated by the Third Reich - social culture of the times leading up the war as well as the war itself. It's utterly incomprehensible but fascinating as a piece of modern history and a cautionary tale of human behaviour.

I don't read a lot of fiction these days just because of time. I wish I had more highbrow reading tastes but I don't. I like this series I found on Kindle by J.R. Rain about vampires :-) I like very spare writers, like Hemingway. Big, long, wordy prose is not that interesting to me. I love Stephen King. I listen to audio books - I found a whole series of books in the Doctor Who cannon on audible.com. I enjoy short fiction styles, too.