Hello darling Conquest ~ I see you there. :)
Who was/were the surprise guest/s?

I agree with Venus - you're not the problem, Briar.
You're someone with a problem - there's a big difference there :)

D

Ditto kiddo. And you're not a downer, Briar. You're honest! I totally get the mind pollution problem. These days ARE precious. And I appreciate your reminder. It was much-needed tonight/early morning. Our company is finally here from the airport and they are fully loaded. Good grief. They'll be gone tomorrow so I'm just going to go to bed and look forward to my early morning coffee.
Goodnight all!
:grouphug:

Good morning gang. I'm enjoying a little early morning coffee to the sound of thunder. Today's work will be hectic but I'm on my game there and am so grateful to not be shopping....good luck out there Conquest. May the force be with you.

Went out to dinner with the neighbors. The guy is a psychologist. The first part of dinner conversation was how I could give up all the gym stuff if I'd just drink red wine each night (some study he read). This led into a long description of various nuances of 'the addict' persona. :/ Well at least the redfish was good! :)

Have a great day team!

Oh Jeeze Mark. That's awkward. Must have been tough to push through. Good going though! We all know the red wine benefit is a bunch of bs anyway. Just drink real grape juice if that's the case. A real vineyard will produce alcohol free grape juice. No double edged sword there. :)

And I think dark chocolate offers the same health benefits, a much better choice. :)
Our guest was a childhood friend in town to visit his family for the holidays. We live kinda near the airport so my sweet hubby offered up our guest room for the night. I'm glad we could be hospitable and offer that. But I'm also glad that the house is now all mine for the day. :)
I've got last minute shopping to do and cookies to bake!
Lotsa love

Oh man, Mark, what an awkward conversation that must have been. I get into a lot of those since I work in criminal justice. Addicts account for a large percentage of the people in the system, so there's always plenty of psychological analysis and judgment going on. Sometimes people say some pretty ignorant things, but I can't really correct them, I just keep my mouth shut.

My husband is a manager in his wine job, and he was recently all set to fire a lady when he learned that she was an alcoholic and had confided to her direct supervisor that this was the cause of her performance issues. So now legally she is in a protected class and can't be fired for having an addiction. He has to give her the opportunity to get straight and perform well. He doesn't think she can do it. Navigating this situation has been challenging for him, and when he talks to me about it, I can tell he chooses his words carefully. But hopefully living with an alcoholic has given him an edge in understanding the situation. That's my positive spin on it anyway. :)

Donning a modest but festive holiday sweater for my last day of work this week, feeling pretty good this morning. I have a trillion gifts to distribute. That always makes me happy.

Whoa - give up the gym for red wine!!!!!; I bet most doctors would disagree with that suggestion.

Must have been an awkward conversation; good job getting through.

^^^^ This, dear Briar, every word.

Good morning/night, Octsobers.

Busy day ahead.

Have a great day, all.

Yep, odd evening....felt like I was on candid camera. Nice folks though, they are 'downsizing' and moving out of the neighborhood.

Briar, I'm happy you seem to have steadfast support from your husband. Somehow (miraculously) drinking did not get directly into my work life. As an employer I feel for the situation your husband is in. Ironically I've had to deal with similar. Not fun.

Hope all is going well for folks as the holiday is near. :)

:) :) I love this!!! Put a big smile on my face this morning. So true!

I feel like a goose ~ I must have misunderstood when strat was going away, and we both did the list in the 24-hour thread. I don't suppose it matters right? :wall:

I don't know if we have the same protective laws here...I know you can be fired for drinking during the day at work in some industries.

You are so patient and diplomatic Mark; I honestly would not have been able to cope with a dinner companion like that.

Well, going to be a very quiet few days here for me....everyone around me is away or going. The building will be empty. I have the most amazing smorgasbord of movies, healthy food, a happy cat and loads of sunshine. And the beach of course. Christmas venus-style. :)

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas.
I am so proud of all of us, and I think we deserve this celebration. :grouphug:

http://www.zingerbug.com/holidays/gl...ke_glitter.gif

Glad you liked it Vee. :)

I hope you have a very happy Hanukkah! If you celebrate that is. I wish you weren't alone. I'd hang with you if you were local! Cook you something nice. :)

I thought you picked it up for the 23rd V, but a double listing is twice as nice imo. :)

Work mode.....OFF
4Day weekend mode....ON

:c032:

That's good stuff.

I think living near the beach would be nice V. I really like snorkeling.....if there's something to see. Do you like water activities or enjoy lounging on the warm sand?

I don't do the beach during the heat of the day. Early mornings, sunset. I used to drink on the beach, a lot, so I think that's why it has taken me so long to get back to it.

I do love boats though....every size....I grew up at the beach, so lots of fishing and boating.

Good news here, I got my new lease and there is no increase for the next 15 months. Nice. :)

I love you guys. ♥

Congrats on the good lease news V. That's so helpful for budgeting.

I've done very little in the way of boating. Motion sickness takes the fun out of it for this guy.

Great news for the holidays V. We all like that. 8)

I can see not hanging out at the beach much if that was your spot to indulge. Problem for me though is that I pretty much indulged everywhere so there was no where for me to go. Had to face it all head on. Well, except for work I guess. Never got to that point where I was drinking there. Thank goodness.