My Turn

Well, because I whined to Martha that noone tagged me, she tagged me despite my protests! Can't a girl just whine when she wants to?

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 yrs ago?

I always think of questions like this in terms of my kids. My son was 7 and my daughter was 9, I miss that age. I was very involved in their school but less so because while I was still waitressing at night (which meant a party afterwards), but I had started working partime as a paralegal for a personal injury firm. We lived in an intolerable situation in a rundown condo in which the owner of the other unit was an out and out crazy lady and known to the whole town making the sale of it difficult. My Dad was fighting in Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and died in September of that year rocking my familly's world.

5 years ago:

We had just finished checking my mother into an assisted living facility after her collapse and near death and diagonosis of Korsakoff's syndrome. I was meeting with lawyers and financial planners to make sure her money would last. We had to clean out her house and put in on the market. I was working 2 paralegal jobs but quit one because life was getting too chaotic. I started to see a therapist but was never honest about my feelings or my drinking. She did help me alot with how to deal with my mother though. She also helpe me to triage my mother's brother, also an alcoholic. Tried to pass him off to other family members as he was pretty incapable of activities of daily living. He ended up dying alone on the bathroom floor of his home. I was trying to control my drinking to prove I was nothing like my mother but it wasn't working. I was drinking more and more. I quit smoking and my drinking increased.

1 year ago:

I can't even really remember a year ago very well. I was drinking more and more and passing out just about every night. My kids were disgusted with me. My daughter had asked me to stop drinking in front of her friends. My son barely spoke to me. My husband and I fought all the time and I could not stand the sight of him. I was supplementing my drinking with medications. Told my dr that my menstrual cramps were intolerable to get something. Took my husbands xanax that he needed for his fear of flying when I could find it, he hid it on me and several times had to fly without it. We lived in a new house which I love and I was getting paid well to do my job but I was miserable. I had stopped smoking but my drinking increased as a result.

Yesterday:

Went to my morning meeting and then work. Gave a ride to 2 other women from the group to cash their change in for bills. Checked in with my online AA group and blogdom. Went to my therapy session in her new digs. Picked up my son from lacrosse practice. Had dinner with my sponser and her friends to celebrate her birthday and pretended to order a martini as an April Fools Joke. It went over well. Went to my Stepsisters meeting where we talked about Tradition 4 and then for tea afterwards and talked about meditation. Apologized to my husband for not telling him my son's lacrosse game was cancelled but why he can't just look it up himself on the school website I have no idea. Tried to think up a joke to get back at my daughter who called at 12:38 am to tell us that the foot that had been troubling her was broken. Got my morning centering prayer sit in and prayed throughout the day. Didn't get my afternoon sit in though. Came home from tea and watched American Idol. But most of all I was sober and content.

What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
1. Pay my bills and send out the rental agreement for a week at summer house on lake

2. Visit a struggling alcoholic in hospital

3. Meditation Service at a local church

4. Watch my son's Lacrosse game

5. Make dinner

Books I like:

The Big Book of course

Open Mind, Open Heart

Three Cups of Tea

No Greater Love

What is the What

Peace Like a River

East of Eden

I could go on and on.....

Places I'd like to visit:

Rome

Albequerque (to hear Fr.Keating speak)

Jeruselem

Yugoslavia

Montana

Alaska

Tahiti

Swan's Island (again)

Pet Peeves:
Eating noises

mean people

self absorbed people

clutter (which I unfortunately create a bit of)

people who just can't sit for a one hour meeting

What I like doing:

Read

Kayak

Cook

Sit and walk on the beach

Camp

Pray in silence

What I like to watch:

robins in my yard

my son playing lacrosse and soccer

my daughter with my niece and nephew

a newcomer's growth

Reality TV

Lost

Movies that make me cry

What I would never wear:

High heels

bikini

thong

hats ( hate hat head)

Snacks I enjoy:

Tangerines w/Lorna Doones,

Bannana w/Peanut butter toast
Notice how everything is with something.....

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off my mortgage and move beach or lakeside.
Travel
Set up my kids for life
Take care of my brothers' families
Quit my job and volunteer for what I love, maybe open a women's sober house
Add my $.02 or so to make the world a better place

Three of my bad habits:
1. Smoking (just for the last 2 months, gotta stop)
2. Feeling responsible for EVERYTHING
3. Treating my husband with less than respect (getting better)

5 places I have lived:
1. Boston
2. Pittsburgh
3. Monroeville, PA
3. Connecticut
4. North Shore of Mass

5 jobs I have had:
1. Waitress
2. Sales Clerk
3. Retail Manager
4. Gas Station Secret Shopper
5. Paralegal

5 peeps I wanna know more about:
Ann with or without Wine

Banana Girl

I think everyone else has been tagged but if you haven't and you read this DO IT!