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Operation room swap update
2007-04-12, 12:00 a.m.

Day 963

Operation room swap is coming along nicely. New window moldings are up & primed, rest of the walls are prepped, painting begins in earnest Thursday. Still have outside trim work to finish, but that�ll hold till the weekend.

Skipped that silly class today so I could finish up filling nail holes in the molding. The chain of events that would have been kicked off by not having those done today would have pushed this little project�s completion off too late. We finally used the xmas gift $$ from The Bob to get a new TV/Entertainment center. It�s being delivered Saturday and it�s kinda key to have the room ready for it. Only snag is dragging a brother over here to haul some couches around. I have beer to bribe them with.

Even made it to the gym for a work out today too � while the spackling was drying, of course. Missed cycling early this morning (hey � I AM on vacation here), so I spent some time early this afternoon on one of the stationary bikes out in the cardio theater. Did 45 minutes of some Alpine Pass climbing. Nice workout, but the bikes are uncomfortable. Feels like the seats are too far behind the cranks, or maybe the cranks are too far forward. Either way, I don�t think you could stand and pedal easily like on a normal bike or one of the stationary bikes in the cycling studio.

Didn�t especially feel like doing weights afterwards, so I hit the treadmills and knocked off a quick two miles. It�s very weird, biking 15 or 16 miles, then switching over to running for a couple of miles. Your legs are definitely feeling the effects of the biking, but it doesn�t bother the run too much. Maybe it uses the muscles in different ways? Clueless on that one.

Man, I�ve got to call my sponsor in the morning, at least leave him a message. Haven�t had any contact in almost a week and I doubt I�ll be going to the meeting tomorrow. Pretty much made up my mind I�d be missing them this week. No sense trying to get Cindy to understand why I have to go. She made some small effort at staying dry over the weekend. Monday night we each had a couple of beers to unwind after getting the windows swapped out. No biggie there. She did make some comment about how she liked it when I relaxed and had a couple of beers, rather than always sweating about not having beer in order to avoid the calories. She said I definitely �worked them off� during the day. What ever.

Yesterday I managed to get all the molding finished. As I was sitting down, admiring the view out the new windows, Cindy stops by and plops down a glass full of Guinness for me. I don�t want to read a lot into it, but I think it was an attempt to get me to NOT go to the Al Anon meeting last night. I mean, who would show up at one of those with beer breath, right? But, as I mentioned earlier, I had already written off meetings this week, so I went ahead and enjoyed the beer and didn�t make a big deal of it.

Today though, everything was back to normal. I hit the gym early afternoon. Get back, Cindy has a nasty case of booze breath. We made a trip out to a local hardware store to get paint � she spends half the trip doing the potty dance. Couldn�t wait to get home and hit the head. I spent the rest of the afternoon priming the windows � she spent it drinking, moaning about how she wanted to help. Funny how I could only find one brush for the primer paint. Of course, I never �saw� her drink, so none of it counted I guess.

Can she be so deluded that she thinks I don�t know when she�s drunk? Can she talk herself into believing that I don�t see the missteps, don�t hear the hiccups, can�t smell her breath, or don�t notice the speech patterns, physical tics, glassy eyes, reddened skin � not to mention the fact that her native tongue switches over to Drunklish instead of English. I don�t care how slowly she speaks, or how carefully she thinks she�s enunciating � drunk speak is drunk speak � no one is fooled except the drunk.

So while all that�s going on, I�m left internally reciting slogans, keeping busy with painting, knowing that I�m going to be left to do dinner again, once I�m done with all the other work, while my �helper� is once again passed out on the couch. Oh. And I never heard her sneak into her stash cabinet while I was painting in the next room. Nope. Never heard the ice machine, the gurgle of liquid being poured, the padding of feet not so stealthily stumbling off.

I know one isn�t supposed to feel pity for the drunk, but it�s difficult not to when the situation is so pathetic. Cause, control, cure. It�s a disease, an addiction.

Maybe I will go to that meeting tomorrow. Just excuse myself at 5:00 and go. Could certainly use today as an example of why I want to go. I work on her project, she gets trashed and whines about it. Perfect.

Anyhow. Paint tomorrow. Then hit the gym. Then paint again. Maybe find time to slip out. Maybe. Thing is, if I do make it out to the meeting, I know what to expect when I get home. Risk/reward. More like anti-reward. Maybe that�s something I can bring up in the Thursday group � how do they handle how their spouse resents their attending meetings? The Tuesday group kinda flubbed that one around and never came up with any concrete examples.

Yeah, making the meeting is a nice target to shoot for. Paint bunches, go work out, paint some more, wrap brushes, then scoot. I�ll just tell Cindy I�m leaving at 5. Might come home to a hostile drunk at 7, but I�ll be prepared. Guess I better get to bed to prepare for all that activity tomorrow.

Later folks.


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