Well, hells bells...

Got this adorable award from Chris at Enchanted Oak...the deal is link it back to her and send it on to at least 3 other bloggers? I've never done this, because well, you know...I'm a technotard!! And then list 10 things that make you happy. So, I'm sending it on to...Roxy, and Kathy, and Carol, and Gary
WooHoo! You're tagged!!
My list of (only??) 10 things that make me happy:
1) That Irishman
2) Friends
3) Spring wildflowers
4) Good Coffee!!!
5) Family
6) Furry friends
7) Random Acts of Kindness
8) Being Sober and living ODAAT
9) Other happy people
10) Writing, Reading, and all the other things I take for granted.

And there you have it.

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I have been feeling great all day, until about 4 this afternoon, suddenly started hurting like the dickens. Laid up and read, took it real easy...this afternoon earlier, I gently swept the kitchen floor and walked out to the mailbox on my crutches. Then around the house to the chicken coop, where I gathered eggs. Hobbled back in and it hurt quite a bit, and I realized it had been feeling so good all day I hadn't taken any pain medication. So I took some and didn't think too much more about it. When hubby got home from work, I asked him to help me change the ice packs because I was feeling rough, and when we opened it up there was blood everywhere. Apparently, I broke one of the stitches on the left side of the knee. (They only have 2 stitches in each one). It's been bleeding off and on all night, so first thing in the morning I have to call the doctors office and see what they want me to do.

It's scaring me a little. One tiny little hole shouldn't be causing me this much trouble. lol


I slept really well last night and didn't get up til after 9 o'clock this morning!!

And I just want to say thank you to you all for your kindness and concern. It means so much.

Tonight I had to wake the Irishman, and I always try to not ever do that...he's an early sleeper/riser and our schedules are pretty mismatched, because of his work hours. Bless his heart, he scolded me for apologizing for waking him up...but I know he doesn't do well without his requisite 8 hours.

So goes day 1 of the recovery process. I hope that I haven't done any grave damage, I don't think I did and the doc said full weight bearing on the knee...so...I guess I just have to wait and see.


Anyhoo, it's off to bed for this old cow...see you tomorrow earlier, with my Flash 55....

Love and big sloppy smoochies to you all.



Namaste.

Thumping Thursday

A quickie post tonight..

My grandson is staying here for the next couple of days, he's very upset over something that's happened between him and his biological father that involves copious amounts of alcohol. He was removed from the situation by his other grandparents. We're trying to work with his mom and my son to keep him with family and safe ...and comforted. He's terribly sad and anxious. No child should have to deal with our alcoholism, but they always do. He's 12, and has been living with my son and his mother for over 8 years now. We talked and talked tonight after I got home from the womens meeting , and I sat with him until he fell asleep, surrounded by his guardian angels on the sofa bed. Molly, Lucy, Caylee, Popo. Frank, Junko, Lily, and Sam are all laying close and keeping him company. Bless his little heart. I guess it got pretty ugly and his dad was screaming things at him and throwing bottles against the walls. He said Nana, you wouldn't believe all the things he was saying about my mom and Tom and you guys and my other grandparents. I tried to explain that sometimes when people are real drunk, they don't know what they're saying and they say things they don't really mean. But he is heartbroken and says he never wants to go there again.

We talked and talked, and I gave him a journal to write down his feelings in. It has a picture of a Sharpei on the front, and he sat in bed tonight and started writing. I told him it was his private property and nobody else had to see it, but maybe writing in it would help him sort out his feelings a bit. He is such a doll of a kid, I hate seeing this happening in his life.

It brings to mind why I feel so especially blessed to not be THAT drunk anymore...that I don't have to have poison spewing out of my mouth at the drop of a hat. That I don't have to break the hearts of children anymore. That I don't have to burn every bridge I ever had.

It serves as a grim reminder of what I could have back if I dropped my vigilance and the work I do in recovery to stay sober.

It reminds me of what a monster the disease of alcoholism really is... And how it chews us up and spits us out all over the road.

I am way grateful today for the Red Road, and for the relationship I have with my Creator. And to know that if I don't pick up a drink or a drug today...I have a chance at a life filled to the brim with love and happiness.


Namaste.

Too,Too Tuesday

[The famous sign on the way to hubby's work....]

Life is just full of mystery, isn't it? ROTFLMAO....

Took the baby cat to the vet and almost 350 dollars later, she seems no better this evening. We have antibiotics and eye goop and all sorts of various and sundry things to help her get better. The good news was, after $165.00 worth of xrays....she has no pneumonia. arrgghhhhhh.. I nearly laid a golden egg when the receptionist gave me the total...I was NOT my usual gracious self.

I had to stop and take a picture of that sign above today. I have been meaning to do it for a couple of months, but never had the camera with me. Today for some reason I remembered and went into the house and grabbed it.

Just finished watching an episode of Saving Grace with Holly Hunter. I love that show and am so glad it's back on again. It was a new one, made in 2009. Also watched the new one with Eric McCormack in it, Trust Me. It was okay, but I don't think I would bend over backwards to watch it. I LOVE him too...but not this show so much.

I am tired and crabby and need to get some more sleep tonight. I have to get up and keep the car again in the morning, as I have a chiro appointment. I almost called today and rescheduled it...I still might. I am just so darn tired.... If I go to bed in the next 15 minutes, I might feel alot better in the morning. Novel idea, eh?

I'm going to try to give kitty a dose of Clavamox before I go to bed. Hubby and I wrestled her to put the antibiotic drops in her eyes and the ear mite stuff in her ears tonight. I swear, you'd think we were trying to kill her ! I feel so bad for her...she's just miserable.

I had 2 AA newcomer calls tonight. One is an older woman who's wanting to get into a detox, and they are few and far between around here. Is that true everywhere? The ones around here all lost their funding. I guess the really bad alkies just have to shake it out and die under bridges now. I finally found a place...and I pray she'll actually go. This is a woman who was once sober for a vey long time. She did all the things we know not to do, and then hasn't been able to get sober again. Or maybe it's better said that she hasn't wanted to badly enough yet. She sounds pretty desperate this time. I can only pray for her and I told her I will do anything I can to help her, but I can't do it for her. So I found a place, and gave her the phone number and told her she has to call them herself. There but for the grace of God go I...

I am so blessed to be sober. People in my family usually just drink until they die. I don't know why the grace fell on my head, or what plans Creator has for me. I only know I am thankful to the very core of my being.

I am so blessed to have 2 people in my life today that relapsed after having double digit sobriety as long as or longer than me. Because it puts a face on alcoholism that I cannot ignore. It puts a definite line right down the middle of the road for me. This side--you get this. That side-- you get that. The choice is mine, every single day of my life. Do I want to be drunk or do I want to be sober? Every morning I get to ask myself that question. And so far, every day the answer is the same. I want to be sober. I never want to live in that hell ever again.

Say goodnight, Gracie.


Namaste.

Tuesday's Monday...

[The long road home....]

Just could not manage to post last night, even though (as you can imagine) I had a lot to say. LOL

It was a day of mixed emotions, as one of our members was found dead in his apartment. Fully clothed, in the bathtub. Neck broken, from a fall apparently. This guy was one of the beloved "characters" around here. Came around the rooms for years and could never get this thing. Finally got dry and stayed that way for almost 3 years, when he relapsed once again at Christmas time. That was his one chance, I guess. He could never get sober again. He had just come out of a VA rehab and was drunk again within hours. I hope he didn't suffer...he lived alone and I don't know how long it was before someone found him. On the other hand, the fight is over for him. RIP.

I am blessed that I knew this guy, in his better moments he was a shining example of how anyone can get sober if they just don't quit trying. He was also a shining example of what happens when we think we can try it one more time.

I am blessed that I had my last drink in June of 1990 and have not found it necessary to do any more research into the deadly game of alcoholism so far.

I am blessed to be a part of something bigger than me, that gives me hope.

We had a wet drunk in the meeting yesterday, and I got one more bird's eye view of ME when I first darkened the doors of AA.

Full of gratitude from a preview of life in the drunk lane...and the knowledge that I don't ever have to drink again if I don't want to. So, I have to keep doing the simple things that keep making me not wa nt to.

Namaste.