DOH---TAGGED AGAIN!

Inmatezwife got me----Here are the rules, word for word from her blog...

• Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
  
• Post these rules on your blog.
  
• List seven random and/or weird facts you have learned in recovery.
• Tag seven random [?] people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs
  
• Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog

Lets play now, whadda you say.................... Oh all right, maybe if I focus on something else besides "poor me", I'll actually feel better!

1. I have learned that I am not different, unique or the 'only one who thought this way! I am, however, still special!

2. The more I think I know, the more I realize how much I actually still have to learn .

3. As crazy as I thought I was when I was still using, I have come to believe that I could only get crazier if I chose to use again.

4. In my old and very materialistic world I thought the one who died with the most stuff won...now I know that the one who dies with the most stuff is just dead when they die.

5. My search to be happy by looking outside myself has brought me to looking within where my spirituality is- and THAT makes me happy.

6. I always thought I was born bad, I am bad now and I'll always be bad. I know now that I was born pure and good, I did some bad things and I'm not so bad after all.

7. I may grumble and groan and throw pity parties for me, myself and I, but it is so much better to laugh and play with friends.

So here are the friends I am inviting to come and play with me , and no, I am not putting the links here, because they are all in my side bar, and besides, I don't know how to put the link thingies in my post the way some of y'all do!..

1. Sharon- from Fellow Traveler 2. Judith- from Vicarious Rising 3. Lounge Daddy- from Lounge Daddy Chronicles 4. Shannon - from Todaay 5. Pam -from Sobriety is Exhausting 6. dAAve -from Higher Powered and last, but not least, 7. Scott W. -from Attitude of Gratitude.

So that is it for today folks! I haven't been feeling that great lately, ya know, stuck in myself, but I am glad that I checked in, amazing how that works sometimes!

3 WORDS

dAAve stole this from Pam who did this meme a couple of days ago ; I stole it from dAAve because he stole it from Pam before I got a chance to! I liked their answers and thought I'd give it a try too.

3 word survey: You have to use 3 words to answer each question. No more, no less.

1. Where is your cell phone? in my purse
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? in my dreams
3. Your hair? way too long
4. Where is your father? with God, maybe
5. Cheesecake? yes please, cherry!
6. Your favorite thing to do? anything in garden
7. Your dream last night? not in colour
8. Your favorite drink? coffee or water
9. Car You Want? classic Mustang convertible
10. The room you're in? the living room
11. George Bush?: not so bright
12. Your fears?: yup, have lots!
13. Nipple rings?: nope, nose though
14. Who will/did you hang out with tonight?: cats, budgie, AAngel
15. Go check GoofyAuctions.com and give your opinion?: um, yeah ,OK!
16. One of your wish list items?: my own home
17. Where did you grow up?: me, grow up???
18. The last thing you did?: cleaned my house
19. What are you wearing?: I'll never tell!
20. Tagging ?: whoever wants to...

I know I've been very lazy lately, not posting or visiting much, I just haven't been very energetic lately! Just know that I am still here, still sober, and still lovin' all of YOU...

LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION...

Well, Scott W. tagged me a few days ago, so I guess I'll fulfill my obligations now! I am supposed to write about jobs I've had, hope you have a coffee, my list is not very long and not nearly as exciting as Scott's or MC's....

The very first job I had was a hand-me-down from a gurl friend. She was a home cleaner and one of her clients was an older couple. The wife was very not well and unable to care for herself, let alone take care of a home, the husband was quite aged also, and that was where I came in. I was about 16, I think, and I got paid $20.00 every Sunday to clean their home from top to bottom. Mostly the job was not bad, but one of the things that took forever was the dusting. They had lots of old wood pieces, and all were very ornate, all of the nooks and cranny's used to drive me crazy! Oh and let's not forget all the knick knacks!!! The worst part of the job was definitely cleaning the bathroom *shivers* I almost get sick just thinking about it, it was DISGUSTING! and I had to clean all the mold and mildew in the bath area. It was a tiny little bathroom with no windows... the smell... ewwwww!

I only worked at that job for a few months, then I moved from home. I had to go on welfare from February to June of '78 so that I could finish high school. My next job was at a seedy motel in the outskirts of Ottawa, where I lived. I was a chambermaid and worked both weekend days, it was a pay raise for me - I now made 44 dollars a weekend! Again the work was not really difficult, but it was not a high end establishment, each girl had from five to eight rooms to clean each day. The part of the motel where I worked was reserved more for people who didn't stay too long like sports teams, the bands that played in the disco lounge and other minor celebrities who were in town. A lot of these patrons had parties, and it was pretty brutal to clean- old booze bottles, left over food stuffs, and other stinky stuff! One band that stayed there was "The Ink Spots", when I went to do their rooms, one of the guys made a pass at me, it was not nice!
Another time, I was cleaning a room where the guests had left already, they had LEFT behind a 26 oz. bottle of rye, which I drank!!! I think I was fired after that!

When high school ended I shared an apartment with two other girls, by then I was working in a clothing store. It was supposed to be full time but was only given weekends with an occasional shift during the week. We were only paid $2.22 an hour, and it was not enough to live on! I spent a lot of time driving around with the pizza guys who worked next door- they had dope! I also got fired from that job!

Job number four was for an up and coming tech firm, something I was totally not into, but it was full time so that was good! We had to put these little bitty parts together, you know, the insides of computer boards! It required much attention to detail and if each component was not perfect, the whole thing would not work! I was definitely NOT the top producer on my team LOL. After being there for about a week, my boss took me aside and suggested I try out at a printing company that he knew was hiring, he felt it would be a better fit for me! So I applied at the new place, was hired, and gave my two weeks notice at the tech firm. I had only worked there a total of three weeks!!

My biggest and longest lasting job was working at a security printing company, I was hired in September of '78 and worked there until July of '90. The starting pay was $5.55 an hour, and it was unionized, so if we made it through the probationary period, we were pretty much set. After two years of working there our salary had more than doubled! I started working the evening shift after about six or nine months, hated getting up in the mornings and with all this money I had really started to 'party hardy'! A bonus was that shift work paid an extra fifteen percent, and I got to work lots of overtime! Remember back in the eighties? Money practically grew on trees! I was young, had no dependants, and kind of thought I'd never make it to twenty five, so I spent everything I earned! I did manage to buy a brand new car though, an '84 Mustang, I loved her sooo much. In January of '86, I was in one of my first attempt at sobriety, I had not drank for three whole weeks- it was a miracle! Living on the border between Ontario and Quebec came in handy back then because after the bars closed at one AM here , we would drive five minutes and party til three there! On one of these sober nights I had decided I deserved to celebrate, heading over to Quebec, I was involved in a head on collision. I was hit by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a one way parkway! He thought he was going to Quebec- he was wrong!! RIP to my sweet Mustang, I however never made it out to party that night!

I sort of digressed there, sorry! I did manage to work at the Security Printing company for eleven years, I ended up quitting after my disease of addictions ( including alcohol, drugs and anorexia almost killed me). Within months of leaving a treatment centre I was pregnant with Angel, I worked a couple of part time jobs , one in clothing sales, the other at a frozen yogurt place where I gained ten pounds in two weeks from Taste Testing the product!!! The next eight years I stayed at home and (attempted) to raise my daughter.

When Angel was seven. I went to college full time for a child and youth worker course. I barely made it through the first term, and ended up with three incompletes, two B's and an A!!! I tried the work thing again, another part time job in clothing retail. I loved this job and found myself to be quite good at it, my sales exceeded those of employees who had been there for a lot longer than I had! I was fired after only a month because I was frequently late. I had started doing sewing repairs and alterations from my home in '93 I think , so that money tied me over while I stayed home with Angel. After I left college, my family doctor advised me to go on disability. I was having a really tough time with depression, and trying to stay clean and sober. So that started in '96 or '97, and I didn't work again until the summer of 2003.

I worked at an outdoor fruit and vegetable market. We started at six AM and went to six PM, and we got paid in cash, so I didn't declare my earnings. I got paid $88.00 a day and would cross the street after work and spend my earnings in the bar! That was the summer I really started to get out of control with my drinking, after about seven years of sobriety! The money was great to keep me in drugs and booze and I managed to hang on to the job until they closed for the year at the end of September.

In October of 2003 I started working at a small Deli, I have shared a bit about this job before. My boss was also my pot dealer! I worked there part time for about a year, when the other employee (the bosses son) was injured, then I went to full time as well as running the whole place by myself! I was actually very good at the job and I really loved it too, I could go out back (the deli was in a bar) and I could smoke my doobs with a ciggie chaser! I was allowed to smoke dope at this job- just NO DRINKING! Good thing too as I had to cut all of the meats, smoked meat , roast beef brisket and salami! In March of 2005, Angel was taken from me by children's aid, they wanted me to quit my job so I could go to treatment, but I refused because I was the only employee at the time and I thought the deli would close without me. Besides with Angel gone I had begun to drink daily and I needed the money to pay for my habit! I managed to hang on there until March of 2006 at which point I knew I could not continue to live the way I was living. So I quit the Deli with only three days notice. The Deli did end up closing after another month! I have not worked since then, putting all of my energy into my recovery!

So there you have it, once again I am kind of surprised at how much my addictions had a place in my work history! I think I am ready to start a new job but I don't know if my former boss will give a good recommendation or not and I think I am kind of afraid of going back out into the world!!! On a positive note though, I have managed to put together a resume and am at least looking for work again!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED...TAG YOU'RE IT!!!

CORI tagged me, and I am afraid to oblige, but I'll do it anyway... It's a tag based on the alphabet, so let's all have fun now!!!

A=Available? YES, YES, YES!!!

B=Best Friend? I'd have to say the Maven, but don't tell her, she doesn't know it!!!

C= Cake or pie -Cherry cheesecake, or carrot cake BTW- I'll be havin' a big 'ol hunk a carrot cake at a 34 year anniversary in AA this month (YAY JOE!)

D= Drink of choice I love ice cold water, always have some in the freezer,but I drink WAY too much coffee!

E= Essential item you use everyday - My computer, too! I don't know how I ever lived without it!

F= Favorite color: I love pinks and purples and turquoise, almost any colour, but I'm not a big fan of yellows...

G= gummie bears or worms-I like gummi's if they are red, orange and sometimes yellow (have to be in a sour mood for that!)

H= Hometown -Born in Halifax, but Ottawa is my HOMEtown now

Indulgences - scratch tickets!

J= January or February - February, since it is that much closer to the end of freakin winter

K=Kids and Names - Desiree, yup, only one although sometimes I wonder!!!

L= Life is incomplete without... dreams, My God, my daughter, AA , my pets

M= Marriage date - April 15 1989 divorced by December of 1989

N=Number of siblings- 1 sister

O= Oranges or apples - oranges

P= Phobias or Fears -didn't ya read my last post??? I am afraid of lots... thunder and lightening, the dark, BUGS, public speaking, is that enough already? I am also afraid of rejection...

Q= Favorite Quote - I'll have to think about that one... I HAVE A DREAM... IF NOTHING CHANGES NOTHING CHANGES... ARE THESE EXTRAVAGANT PROMISES? WE THINK NOT...

R= Reason to smile -the sunshine, my garden, the fact that I am clean and sober today, my love for Devilteen, all the things I have to be grateful for...

S= Season -the summertime, it's when I was born and I love all the colours, everything is SO alive!

T= Tag 3 or 4 people - hmmm, the Maven, Jobthingy, Chocolateer, Pam

U= Unknown fact about me: I too pierced something, it was only my ear, but I did it myself when I was 13...

V= Vegetable you don’t like -I like most vegetables, not too crazy about some spices though...curry, ginger, lemon grass

W= Worst habit -probably smoking- not ready to give it up yet, oh and like Cori, I also PICK stuff...

X= X-rays - plagued with sinus problems and allergies, I have had many catscans, do they count as Xrays?

Y= Your favorite food -Ummm...I love almost anything stir fried, chicken, steak, lots of (coloured) peppers, broccoli, carrots, shrimp Hmm getting hungry now!!! Oh yeah , and let's not forget the fifth food group...CHOCOLATE!!!

Z= Zodiac Sign - Virgo. Yes, I am a Virgin. Hey Cori, me too, Devilteen was an immaculate conception LOL

Okay, I've done my part. But what if no one reads this post, well not no one, but the people I tagged... OK I have an idea, if the one's I tagged don't read this, then YOU, yeah you, the one reading this, are tagged LOL....Have fun!!!