af day Saturday 9 March

[treetops]

MAE Abberoos!! Hope you have survived this week as its been a week of the sickies - must be change of season - although I suspect our seasons are very unpredictable. Come on Mick - I want to order some warmish weather for my UK trip in a few weeks time. I have been trying to sort out my travel plans and appointments - its a little military operation for sure! Don't want to drive because where I am going, the parking will be a nightmare and I have no one to navigate (or scream at!).

Mick - Well at least you still have some public health system in the UK - we sort of do here too but its very uneven and actually still expensive for most folk.
Cat - hope you get that chronic pain dealt with. How't the office? You don't like baseball - well confession!!!! I don't like rugby, cricket, soccer - in fact most team sports. But not following sports makes me very un-patriotic. Kuya will know how evil that is here.

SL - no more sink holes I hope? Glad you liked the photo I took of you on the plane!

Lavande - enjoy Longwoods and glad you are on the mend.

Hi there Shelby, Patrice (are you checking in this weekend?), Blondie - all others! Mick's on breakfast duty today. I had mine hours ago.

Det? Oh dear - I don't know what to say. we are being supportive through this medium but its sounds like you need some serious help again. After the last prolonged drinking you said it was time to pull out the 'big guns' -and I liked the way you named Antabuse. I also was saying 'yay' because its helped me make this decision to quit (after many other failed ways before). I did not have to deal with the shit you have and we are all different with our life stuff and our bodies and our addiction histories. But we are not so different when it comes to AL and we are certainly not when it comes to combining that with AB (in this case the abbreviation is for Antabuse not Abstinent). Come on mate, you are a smart guy and you know not to drink AL with AB in your body. That is very very dangerous - the warnings are everywhere you go near the drug. Better not to take AB unless you can be 100% certain about rejecting the poison. AB does not allow any leeway - and its just too dodgy to try to second-guess the effects.
Big hug though - and keep us posted.

OK thats me for the moment - I have to venture out into the cold - its not super cold but its pretty iccky today - good practice for the UK!

Take care all - and I might check in later when I return to the screen.

[Mick]

af day Saturday 9 March

morning afternoon and evening all..how are things today with the boozebusters??Yep just sneaked in and and noticed on the thread that madam tt has thrown it in ..hi all..Mick will be along to make brekkie..got to go..oh really ..good ole Jock trick that is!!!:H
Anyway tea n coffee n lemon water on the go again...fasting day today

Right lets get started..wont be here early doors tomorrow ..on me jaunts again...despite the threats of snow etc!!

Morning TT..see you are on line at the mo...yep ordered weather for when you fly home..take it you fly into London? or Birmingham..I will order the band!!


Morning Ky..what do you mean missing? where are you gallivantin off to without letting on?..best of luck to you..Yep thats what I had to do to lose weight..train my head not to want cheese sannies at 10 at night!!


Mornig Lav..well see you enjoyed your trip to the gardens if your pic is anything to go by..isnt it weird how small the world seems when I can sit and look at a website of where you actually are.Its even more freaky when you look at Google Earth or show my street .com..and you can actually look at the houses and streets we all live in.When I type in my address on either of those sites,I am actually on the pic, though they blurred the face out!!...anyway enough of the drivel!!Heres a cuppa to keep you going..have a great day ..kid free or not!!!

Morning ppqp ..well how are you?:armsaround: best I can do for the chest rub at the mo! probably best ..just let it go ..no sense in getting worked up about it..youll get there.So your refurb starts next week..lotsa mess noise and workmen best o luck will be worth it when its finished..any plans today?have a good one


Hiya Cat...how are you doing how did physio go ?Any progress?I went swimming again yesterday ..not a twinge in the water..bit sore this morning but its an achey pain as opposed to muscular if that makes any sense at all???Early days yet, but fingers crossed not taking those tablets will help..was going to say about one of the best exrcises for lower back area is....but its early days yet !!!

AEM SL and how are you today?think its San Jose..not sure..Ill get the actual address and goggle it..any plans for today excursions out with your daughter?

Mornin Det...was going to say you ok, but thats obviously not true..cmon mate ..youve got to keep going ..you seem to do really well then spiral rapidly downwards..you need to get out of that spin

Hiya SF...well..not going into big lecture mode or any of that crap, but again read your post a few times..Just reading it ,why would you want to leave the thread, why dont you ask your husband to help you..you say you have done 2 x 9 months af ..so you can do it..why so different now?
Yes it is a tough struggle ..we all know that to one degree or the other..dont get the leave out of respect bit though...you need a strategy in place,and judging by your posts, either you havent, or it is really disjointed and doesnt help...the other thing you need ..is to turn saying into doing..I aint any expert ..far from it all I am is someone who said fk it thats enough, Im quitting and stuck to it, but I will happily try and help you to put some sort of plan in place to try and deal with it if you want

Right folks thats all from me......listened to this on the news yesterday..some little pisshead and look what he did in drink...more to he point look at the punishment!!!!



A STUDENT who fried his flatmate?s hamster in a drunken prank has been banned from keeping any animals for eight years.

Police found the dead hamster in a frying pan next to a heated oven hob in James White?s flat in York city centre, but it was unclear whether the animal was dead or alive when it went into the pan, Selby Magistrates Court heard.

Another resident of the block of flats had called police to deal with the 21-year-old student, who was behaving so strangely a district judge later described him as ?drunk to the point of madness?.

White, of Pope?s Head Court, off Market Street, denied killing the female Syrian hamster by frying it on February 4 last year, but admitted animal cruelty.

He is studying politics and international relations at the University of York. District judge Roy Anderson heard a post-mortem examination showed the hamster did not die of natural causes, but it was not clear whether it died from being fried or from rough handling minutes before it was put in the pan.?Quite what happened on that night is still shrouded in a degree of mystery,? he said to White. ?You, by your treatment of this small unfortunate rodent, destroyed your good character and earned a criminal conviction.?



He ordered White to do 120 hours? unpaid workand banned him from keeping any animal for eight years

Phil Brown, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said when police walked into White?s home they noted ?a significant and pungent smell coming from the flat.?

The hob was on full, next to the pan. White was on the floor in a different part of the building and said he had ?fried it?. He later said he could not remember saying those words.

[blondie]

af day Saturday 9 March

mae abbers

was sure I posted today
Oh well. Hi TT - you'll be in SUnday now so I hope you had a good Saturday.
Mick - that is so sick. I hope he gets kicked out of uni.
My partner called my dad old long pockets, for some strange reason! Not paying is an art form :H

hi to everyone just coming in to Saturday - heading to bed now. Hot day but hoping for some rain tonight/tomorrow. We had a state election today. WA - the state of excitement :H

Will catch you all tomorrow. Have a great day.

Oh, SF - have you tried Topamax? It worked wonders for me the first time.

[kuya]

af day Saturday 9 March

MAE Abbers,

Still around but away tomorrow.

Where's Nurdl and YAH?

Yeah Mick, those nighttime nibbles are totally my undoing.......just love em though.

Still having good weather up here in Auckland, you should move north TT

Hi to you Lav, all quietish on most fronts although I need to develop your phlegmatic approach to life........spose it comes in time.

Have a good day everyone

[Lavande]

af day Saturday 9 March

Good morning Abbers!

I see sunshine today, no snowflakes, Yay!!

Greetings TT, Mick, blondie, kuya, PQ & everyone!

Moving the clocks forward 1 hour tonight for Daylight's Saving time. Why does this always confuse the hell out of my dogs & chickens? :H Always takes them a good week to adjust!

Kuya, I think a lot of my phlegmatic approach is due age, the OTC mood stabilizer Amoryn, a bit of meditation & just giving up the need/desire to control things

Hope everyone has a terrific AF Day!
Lav

[porqoui]

af day Saturday 9 March

MAE ALL....

TT...thanks for the kickoff. It's amazing how much planning goes into preparing for a trip. Exhausted before even getting on the plane. Hope Mick comes through with the good weather for you.

Mick...I'm back to the coffee thanks. Off to visit with my Dad today, missed him last weekend due to work. I've been organizing a big St. Patrick's Day Comedy Dinner Show for next Saturday and it finally sold out yesterday. Boss is happy, I won't be going in the red. Meeting with the comedian on Monday. Not sure where, we may end up standing in the coat room. :H

Blondie...:H I'm going to have to "find all posts by Blondie" and find out where you have been posting. You could always blame it on TT especially when she posts on yesterday's thread tomorrow.

KY....morning/evening to you. The phlegmatic personality is low-key, easygoing and relaxed. Way too early to be making me look up definitions. :H

Lav...yup KY described you to a T. (not to be confused with TT). I have a steering committee meeting Monday night and with every email I send to the teams I include "clocks ahead this weekend". Don't want everyone showing up an hour late.

Off for my second cuppa...have a great AF Saturday all and all to come....PPQP

[porqoui]

af day Saturday 9 March

X-Post Lav....they don't do the time changes in Saskatchewan for exactly that reason. It confuses the cows! :H

[Mick]

af day Saturday 9 March

Here you are ppqp.....you can tell him now!!!


A man was walking on a Belfast street one at night when suddenly he was confronted with a masked man who had a gun pointed right at him.
The gunman said "Are you Protestant or Catholic?"
The man was scared out of his wits but figured that he had to give some kind of an answer.
Praying for guidance he replied - "Neither - I'm Jewish!".
Silence for about 5 seconds, then the gunman's reply - "Is that so? Well let me tell you, you're talking to the first Arab in Belfast!"

An Irishman had been drinking at a pub all night. The bartender finally said that the bar is closing. So the Irishman stood up to leave and fell flat on his face. He tried to stand one more time; same result. He figured he'll crawl outside and get some fresh air and maybe that will sober him up.

Once outside he stood up and fell flat on his face. So he decided to crawl the 4 blocks to his home. When he arrived at the door he stood up and again fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door and into his bedroom. When he reached his bed he tried one more time to stand up. This time he managed to pull himself upright, but he quickly fell right into bed and is sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was awakened the next morning to his wife standing over him, shouting, "So, you've been out drinking again!!"
"What makes you say that?" he asked, putting on an innocent look.
"The pub called. You left your wheelchair there again."

Michael Hoolihan was courting Frances Phelan. The young couple sat in the parlor of the girl's house night after night, much to the annoyance of old man Phelan. One night he couldn"t take any more. Standing at the top of the stairs, he yelled down, "What's that young fella doin' here all hours of the night?" "Why, Dad, " said Frances, "Michael was just telling me everything that's in his heart!" "Well, next time, " roared Phelan, "just let him tell you what's in his head, and it won't take half as long!"

Paddy was found dead in his back yard, and as the weather was a bit on the warm side, the wake was held down to only two days, so his mortal remains wouldn't take a bad turn. At last his friends laid him in the cox, nailed it shut & started down the hill into the churchyard. As it was a long, sloping path and the mourners were appropriately tipsy, one fellow lurched into the gatepost as they entered the graveyard. Suddenly a loud knocking came from in the box. Paddy was alive! They opened the box up and he sat up, wide eyed, and they all said, Sure, it's a miracle of God! All rejoiced & they went back and had a few more drinks but later that day, the poor lad died. Really died. Stone cold dead. They bundled him back into his box, and as they huffed and puffed down the hill the next morning, the priest said, "Careful now, boys; mind ye don't bump the gatepost again"

His wife had been killed in an accident and the police were questioning Finnegan. "Did she say anything before she died?" asked the sergeant. "She spoke without interruption for about forty years," said the Irishman.



Mrs. Pete Monaghan came into the newsroom to pay for her husband's obiturary. She was told by the kindly newsman that it was a dollar a word and he remembered Pete and wasn't it too bad about him passing away. She thanked him for his kind words and bemoaned the fact that she only had two dollars. But she wrote out the obituary, "Pete died." The newsman said he thought old Pete deserved more and he'd give her three more words at no charge. Mrs. Pete Monaghan thanked him and rewrote the obituary: "Pete died. Boat for sale"

Man runs out of a West Belfast pub with his arms on fire Police catch him and charge him with having an armalite.

"Paddy," asked the barmaid, "what are those two bulges in the front of your trousers?" "Ah," said Paddy. "They're hand grenades. Next time that queer O'Flaherty comes feeling my balls, I'll blow his bloody fingers off!"

The Irish attempt on Mount Everest was a valiant effort, but it failed: They ran out of scaffolding.

[porqoui]

af day Saturday 9 March

:H:H Thanks Mick :H:H

[Catbuddy]

af day Saturday 9 March

Hi everyone,

Sitting here sleepy, wanting to greet the day slowly!

I'm on an interesting, LONG journey I think re managing pain. Mick, yeah, I get the achy vs sharp pains. Even with gentle swimming, you are exercising those muscles; are you doing epsom salt baths after? It really helps with achy pain/lactic acid removal.

Lav, I'm fully off SSRIs and cycled up on Amoryn. So far, predictable rocky emotional times this week, but doing okay overall. Strange coincidence (or not) - the antidepressant usage of new drugs is coinciding with chronic pain management - Lyrica, Cymbalta. I did very poorly on Cymbalta, due to hypertension, and Lyrica has ugly side effects. So neurontin may be a route - a temporary course to reboot my nerves. I'm wondering if I agree to neurontin, will I get the SSRI side effects? So complex. Does managing emotional pain tie into managing physical pain? How provocative is that? My physical pain is not traced to current injury. For example, I hiked 5 miles through the hills after my PT appt yesterday. I felt fine, energetic, strong, no pain while I was exercising. I took an epsom bath and anti-inflammatories after. Still, today, I'm in full-on generalized body pain, and my hands are tingling/numb from the flaring up of CRPS. SO. SO. So. So. How to understand this?

We are having an early Spring start. It should be 70+ F degrees here all weekend. I'm going to PLANT! Yea!

Have a wonderful Saturday, or Sat nights' sleep!

Cat

[Mick]

af day Saturday 9 March

Cat...never tried that..tell me more about the salts

[Lavande]

af day Saturday 9 March

Hey Cat,

You can read a lot about the use of Neurontin in pain management here -
Gabapentin in Pain Management

Gabapentin (generic) is quite useful but it's not without it's problems. I suppose you'll have to weigh out the positives with the negatives & see what you come up with
I firmly believe that we are physically affected by our emotional pain!!!!
We can (I DID) change our perception about things & really take a lot of pressure off ourselevs.

Mick, I think I'll send Stella for a course in therapeutic massage - she could have a good business going here with all of us :H

[TheSunFlower]

af day Saturday 9 March

TT-thank you.

Mick....maybe I need a lecture My husband has fully supported me in every single quit I have done. Why is this time different....I have lost belief in myself. I lie to myself routinely.
RESPECT.....I respect everyone here who has done an awesome job at quitting....I have not. I have said "f-it so many times....and gotten varying lengths of no drinking. Somedays I barely even think of it. Others....I should heed the signs.....starts out in the am....."no way am I drinking today". I seem to forget about at that point.....but, disgusted that I am even thinking about it. Then around 3pm it creeps in....I fight it....but, within an hour my brain has decided to drink that night. I never think about it again (because the brain has been put to ease that it will eventually get what it wants)....until I buy the beer....and then its a "WTF am I doing!" BTW....after my brain has made its decision....I will never call anyone or ask for help. They will tell me not drink....and that is that last things my brain wants to hear. I have made the calls....gone to meetings.....only to drink anyways. So I just stopped asking for help because it never really mattered. Something just clicks and it is over.

Blondie....I have been on this board for quite some time.....and with the reports of side effects of Topamax....I'll never take it. I have to drive a lot for my work....and getting lost all the time....would not work.

I just want to enjoy life without a drug. I know its out there....I just can not seem to get there.

[paulywogg]

af day Saturday 9 March

sunflower,you have written exactly what i feel

[TheSunFlower]

af day Saturday 9 March

Thanks Pauly....makes me not feel so alone. Alone I feel like now.