The Last Day of August, 2009

Oh, my.....just LOOK at all that water. Know where else you can find water?....In EVERY SINGLE FAUCET IN MY HOUSE!!!!! And the toilets. Oh my....it has happened. The city water is at my house as of about 6:30 this evening. And by "at my house" I mean every pipe is in the ground, every trench dug and covered, and water is flowing like manna from heaven RIGHT INTO MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!


Am I excited? (Oh yeah, you betcha). Finally, finally. Tonight I did the dishes, singing the whole time. It was so much less work than it has been that I actually enjoyed it. Paddy O'Kelley took a long hot shower after work. I filled dog and cat dishes. I washed my hands A LOT. I'm going to take a long hot shower too.

It wasn't that long ago in this country that showers and baths stopped being considered such a luxury. Now we take it all for granted.

As you can imagine, I am feeling particularly grateful today. I am blessed to be sober and alive. I am blessed to be blessed, and to KNOW that I am blessed.

I had a wonderful time at the Saturday night bbq and meeting up on the tip top of Pere Marquette State Park. It is incredibly beautiful up there, and was even more so this year. There lots of new "friends of Bill" to meet from across the river, one very nice couple from up Springfield way. When I got there, someone hollered "THERE she is!!!!" and I felt like the prom queen, lol. I was wearing my Expect A Miracle t-shirt too, just in case, lol It felt good to be there and see some people I don't get to see real often. The meeting topic was on humility, which seemed to fit perfectly. Lots of lovely honest shares, and it was good.

Sunday was a bit of a laid back day, after the morning meeting. We came home and just lay around reading and puttering. Very restful, just the way it should be. I was asked to come tell my story at an Alanon meeting, so I did. It was good.

One of the girls I sponsor drank again. It breaks my heart to watch her. She is so arrogant and so sure she is "strong" and in control. And there's no talking to her...she bobs her head up and down, I know, I know...until I want to scream. People die from this stuff. It's not a joke, and it's not a game. I want to shake some sense into her....and yet I know that all I can do is keep the doors open so that when she finally is finished (if she lives) she can walk again into the sunlight of the Spirit. So I go sit in the quiet and ask for some guidance about what to say to her this time. And once again, I am so grateful to be me with my life and my troubles and my blessings.

Here are the 12 steps, in plain English:

1. Alcohol will kill me.
2. There's a power that wants me to live.
3. Do I want to live or die? (If you want to die, stop here.)
4. Write about how I got where I am.
5. Tell another person all about me (Let God listen).
6. Want to change.
7. Ask a power greater than me to help me change.
8. Write down who I hurt.
9. Fix what I can without hurting anyone else.
10. Accept that I'm human and will screw up. Fix it immediately.
11. Ask a power greater than me to show me how to live.
12. Keep doing 1-11...and pass it on.


Blessed Be!!!!

The last Tuesday in August...

I know...I know.... it's looking like the only photos I can find today are the ones...

OF WATER LINES BEING PUT IN MY FRONT YARD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Am I giddy with the thought of doing laundry at home again? Oh, yeah.
Am I especially blessed thinking of being able to wash dishes in nothing flat? Uh, huh.
Am I delirious just contemplating shampooing my carpets???? I certainly am !
Am I dreaming of shampooing my dogs?? hmmm....they sure need it!

Tonight I will no doubt dream of the lovely sound of flushing toilets....


Miss Molly McGee has managed to hurt her back leg again. I'm not sure if she got herself into a tussel with another dog (not likely) or has jumped down into one of the water trenches and bruised it. I can't find anything stuck in her paw. There don't seem to be any broken bones. But she's walking around (and running!) on 3 legs and so something has obviously happened. She's such a little adventuress that it could have been anything, anywhere.

I got the juice made today (Cleanup is a nightmare!). I filled all the hummingbird feeders. I swept the front porch and walls down. Did a tiny bit of gardening and spent a short amount of time reading as supper cooked. I made a vegetarian dish tonight with quinoa, carrots, red beans, garlic, onions, okra, green beans and peppers. It was quite tasty, if I do say so myself. Trying to get back on the track of eating more and more vegetarian meals. Purposeful eating.


Blessings abound today. Stayed home all day and tomorrow will be a different story. Need to stop and see my sister, pick up some stuff for husband, and pick up a few groceries. I'll go to the 8PM meeting I've been attending. It's a good evening mtg for me to go to, since about 4-5 of my sponslings always go to that one. We have a lot of fun. I want to get out in the studio and make a thank you card for the woman in the class that hosted the potluck last week, too. It'll make for a busy day. I also have a sponsling who had surgery that I need to try to see. Sigh...just not enough hours in the day sometimes...

I've started reading the Stephen King book that my friend sent, Dumas Key. It's good so far....only about 70 pages into it.

Life's a dance...when you know the Steps.



Namaste.

Wild and Wooly Wednesday

Happy July, everyone! It's been a long first day of the month for me and I'm grateful to see it winding down.

Saw the doc today. She poked and prodded and practically stuck her fingers inside my kneecap thru the skin. Looked at me gravely and said..."This is bad." Through my tears, I said..."I know". Sooo--I am set up for xrays and they are procuring an appointment for me with an ortho guy, and she gave me some pain pills. She said--this has got to be excruciating. You have an incredibly high threshhold for pain, don't you? I pointed at the tears rolling down my cheeks and said "Not so much." lol I have to get the xrays done so they'll be ready for Dr Rogowski. I'm just relieved to be having the ball rolling.

Had a lovely lunch with a sponsee who just got back from a week in Prague. She got me a lovely gift...a gorgeous garnet necklace from the 40's, she found it at a flea market while she was there. It just so happens that garnet is my birthstone. I am so blessed to have people like this woman in my life. She made a wonderful salad for lunch that was made of: spinach, snow peas, cucumbers, onion, tofu and artichoke hearts. Had a slightly sweet/sour dressing on it--YUM! (I LOVE it when other people cook for me!!!) lol We looked at her photographs from the trip...made me want to go there even more than I already did! The architecture was breathtaking.

It was a beautiful day in the high 70's today. The world looked all beautiful and people were a lot nicer than they were when the temps were over a hundred. lol Me included. Tonight after we had dinner, hubby and I went out to pick a few peaches and the last of the cherries. I also picked a few cucumbers for the big salad I have to make for tomorrow nights speaker mtg/potluck. Found a few more snow peas (they're about gone, although this cool weather has started some flowering again!). The garden is looking all wild and overgrown and things are (I swear!!) about 4-6 inches higher every day.

Today, I am grateful for:
*A sober life, where I can give and receive love
*Friends and family
*Watching them dig trenches for!! WATER LINES!!! just down at the bridge!!IT"S COMING!!
*Nice weather
*Gardens
*Fresh Peaches
*Music and art and Natures beauty


Tomorrow is my sons 38th birthday. Wow. Where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday, he was a little toddler, getting into thjings and learning about his world.

No wonder I'm so tired.....lol


Namaste.