peek-a-boo !

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that life is so different when I'm not drunk

for love and tolerance, a spiritual way to live

for the spiritual tools I'll use today as my day presents itself

that I began this day (about 1/2 hour ago) with verbal contact with my Higher Power

I get to attend 3 A.A. meetings today before lunch with more recovery friends


You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.
- Emmet Fox

Mid-Week Musings

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I actually remembered to use some of my spiritual/recovery tools when I needed to

that I get to experience another day of thinking, not drinking

for the alkies I get to work with and get to know

for more awareness of when to say no

that our friend, Mary in Denver, will be runnin' again!

that my partner made it safely to London; he'll be there for a month


The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Gratitude -- what a concept!

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I got to substitute-chair the 6:30am meeting yesterday and started the new month of November with a gratitude meeting. I'm sure it's the first of numerous ones this month and that's a good thang!

that I picked up on the tools to stay sober after about 6 months in the program. First, I had to develop some honesty I didn't want to face, then I had to become open-minded enough to allow the concept of a higher power into my life and finally I had to become willing to try something different.

for all those people who just keep coming back, for whatever reason

for some rain here in Houston - finally! It's been a record-breaking dry run here - 41 days without measureable rainfall.


Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
- Anonymous

little reminders

I think you'll like THIS video. It's about friendship.



todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I go to an AA meeting early every morning; in case I don't get to another one, I've made my meeting for the day (this is hugely important to me)

for the tools I'm learning in Al Anon. My catchphrase for this program is whatever.

that I'm a slogan whore

that the universe takes care of itself pretty damn well, with or without me

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
- Franz Kafka

sobriety and serenity

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful


that my Valentine returned from 3 weeks in California just in time for a nice weekend

for the fun and fellowship many of us had participating in another Lambda fundraiser; our annual Mardi Gras Parade and we raised about $1300 for the Center

someone asked me yesterday how I remain so serene. I automatically started rattling off some of the tools I've learned over the past 6 years. He said something like, "So that stuff really works?"

You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive.
- Dr. Thomas Arnold Bennett

Powerless tools

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for the recovery and spiritual tools I've been so freely given, including (but not limited to) restraint of tongue and pen

to know for a fact that my perceptions so often have little or nothing to do with reality

that I can sometimes say the right thing without even thinking about it; it's my recovery at work


The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
- Abraham Lincoln

just some things I notice

Driver passes out, meth lab in back seat

Jan 2, 2:45 PM (ET)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) - Police say a driver passed out in his car at a Tennessee gas station while a batch of methamphetamine was cooking in the back seat.
An employee at the gas station in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, called police because the car was sitting at the pump for about an hour on New Year's Day.

Police say a chemical process to make the drug was in progress. Some meth-making ingredients can be explosive.

Murfreesboro Assistant Fire Chief Allen Swader told The Daily News Journal that gas pumps were shut off as a precaution.

Thirty-one-year-old Nathan E. Beasley is being held on a $15,000 bond on charges of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, reckless endangerment and manufacturing meth. No attorney was listed in police records.


todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I never did crystal meth. I am pretty sure I would have not wanted to stop. As a teenager in the early 70's, I used speed a number of times before I realized how much I liked it. I got scared so I stopped using it. I never got scared of alcohol or of being drunk.

for spiritual tools when I choose (or remember) to use them

for the people who still go to AA meetings and for all those who just came once

that our recovery friend, Garden Variety Drunk, was able to write and post to her blog yesterday from a commercial flight on Virgin America. Our first sober, mile-high blog?

People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, youll know exactly what to do.
- Michelle Ventor

no matter what happens

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for my recovery tools

that I can be happy and serene today, no matter what happens

that I don't have to drink today, no matter what happens

that I have friends today, no matter what happens

that I'll tell the truth about Tiger Woods and myself, no matter what happens


Whether you and I and a few others will renew the world some day remains to be seen. But within ourselves we must renew it each day.
- Herman Hesse

aim high

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for all the little tools in my recovery tool box

for my 3 AA meetings Friday's (that's terrible grammar, but so what)

that we're gonna see some wintry weather later today -- this may not seem like a big deal to most of you, but down here on the Gulf Coast, we rarely see snow or ice. It will be hilarious to see the news stories of people trying to drive with snow on their windscreens and trying to do other things that people from northern climes take for granted.

for the 20'x20' tarp that I have covered a lot of my expensive, tender, tropical landscaping with


Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- John Wooden

on the road to recovery ...

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I know the way to a fast resolution of my anger and resentments

for Step 7 and the humility that has come about because of its practice

for my extensive recovery tool box; I just have to remember to use it

for the multitude and wide range of folks whose blogs I've had the pleasure of reading. Steve of Another Sober Alcoholic is retiring (for now) and while I hate to see him go, I am glad I got to know him a little bit over the past year. I doubt that any of us will be blogging forever, so the times we have together are not to be taken for granted. Just like life, eh?

that it’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.


Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our attention.
- Greg Anderson


NOTE: Does anyone know whatever happened to Mark of A Dozen Steps Reborn?

Back to the grindstone

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I was able to handle Mother's Day without any problem. It was my first MD since she died last August.

for a most incredible AA story of survival and recovery that I heard Saturday night -- some seem to think that it's too much to believe. Time will tell.

for reminders of my very full spiritual toobox

that our Houston Rockets (basketball) beat the LA Lakers yesterday even though we were without the help of our 2 top players (both injured). The Rockets actually decimated the other team. Very unexpected.

that I enjoy doing yard work, which this weekend mostly involved pulling weeds in the Serenity Garden @ Lambda Center


The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself.
-Victor Hugo

Knock knock ...

The Lost Generation


todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I've yet to find a trigger to make me want to drink; I am neutral to the idea

that I am a little better these days about recognizing when I am playing the victim

that I have the tools to stop being the victim

tha the blackouts have stopped (but my memory still sucks)

for some really good workouts at the gym lately - my trainer is mean, a very mean man

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.
-James Dent


btw -- Who's there?

not too serious today

East Coast Fishing Humor

The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, a Canadian man answered his door to find two grim-faced Mounties.

'We're sorry sir, but we have some information about your wife,' said one Mountie.

'Tell me! Did you find her?' the anguished husband sobbed.

The Mounties looked at each other. One said, 'We have some bad news, some good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?'

Fearing the worst, the ashen husband said, 'Give me the bad news first.'

The Mountie said, 'I'm sorry to tell you, Sir, but this morning we found your wife's body in the bay.'

'Oh my God!' exclaimed the husband. Swallowing hard, he asked, 'What's the good news?'

The Mountie continued, 'When we pulled her up, she had twelve 25 lb snow crabs & 6 good-size lobsters clinging to her.'

Stunned, the husband demanded, 'If that's the good news, what's the great news?'

The Mountie said, 'We're gonna pull her up again tomorrow!'



todAAy i AAM grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I enjoy being sober; if I didn't, it would really be tough staying sober

for the recovery tool box at my disposal 24/7

that I know better than to reveal too much of my personal life in the rooms of AA; some things are better left to my sponsor or support group

that my friend's trial is over and she came out of it OK

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.
-Marcel Proust

As I see it ...

picture courtesy of Bill at Life on Planet Bill




todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that my sponsee meeting last night was about Step 3 -- great stuff!!

for some occasional semblance of balance

that I've been consciously using my spiritual tool box more often lately

for a pretty damn good life

Love truth, but pardon error.
-Voltaire

one of those days ...

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that my spiritual awakening happened like a flash, although it took decades of drinking and months of AA education to get there

that I do my best to remain learnable

for people I can confide in with trust

that I'm not a violent person now or in the past

that I rarely have one of those days any more because I possess the tools to make things right

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Living and Letting

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I'm often reminded in sooooo many ways to Live and Let Live

for the infinite number of tools offered me to make repairs to my thoughts and actions

for memories -- both good and bad

that whatever happens with the economy, it's not likely to kill me although it may require some adjustment

Imagination was given to us to compensate for what we are not; a sense of humor was given to us to console us for what we are.
-Mark McGinnis

a man of few words (today)

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I woke up sober this morning, just like the past 1691 days

for a wonderful tool box meeting

that the Astros' bats seem to be coming alive

that we have received an offer (very fair) on our townhouse and have made a counter-offer

To fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given the chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life.
-Bette Davis

the next day

Lisa Lampanelli.
This picture was taken with my mobile phone camera last Friday night.

If you don't know her, and are not too offended by nasty language, click on her name.


todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for a nice, peaceful and serene day yesterday; only 364 days until I am 55 years old -- Wow! How'd that happen?

for all the wonderful comments by you guys, my fellow bloggers

that I can sit and watch all the Paddy's Day party-goers going to and coming from the Irish pub that I still hold a financial interest in AND I have no desire to join them; in my past life, I led them

for so many tools and resources at my disposal, patience being one of them

for THIS bit of A.A. history -- in pictures

He who forgives ends the quarrel.
-African proverb

Spirituality

is the principle behind the Eleventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This was a tough one for me. I was so close-minded about anything spiritual when I first joined AA. I was still under the belief that spiritual = religous.

Finally, my life unravelled enough that I was ready to her what I needed to hear. Someone shared in a meeting that ...
AA is not a religous program. Religion is for people who don't want to go to hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there.

Those few words opened the door for me just enough that I could get past a lifetime of prejudice against God and church. It was then that I could finally let go of my obsession to drink alcohol and stay drunk.

Step 3 has changed my life. And it still does.


todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

that I've been in a serenity zone for the past week

that my perceptions rarely have any basis in reality

that I'll visit my Mom in her nursing home this morning -- after a workout at the gym and an AA meeting

for all the items in my RECOVERY TOOL BOX
(click to inspect)

that our new gym will open in a couple of weeks; in the meantime, another gym has agreed to let us members use their facilities

that I am an agent of Satan, per Mickey

that tomorrow is hAAlf nAAked thursdAAy (get those cameras out now!)

that the painter begins work in the bathroom today -- it should take 2 days

Creativity is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.
-Bob Moawad