Thursday, January 30, 2014

A return to Happy Sober Land

I shouldn't really be blogging.. I've got a big job ahead of me now as I've just got my manuscript back from the publishers with the copy-editors notes in it and there's a lot to look over and accept/reject/change/add…

Among the notes was this funny quote "The copyedit was straightforward and was mostly about tidying up the text and strengthening/retaining your narrative voice. I removed one instance of ‘shitballs’ that was very close to a previous use—I think the term has more impact when used sparingly!"

Ha ha ha SHITBALLS!!!!!! I like shitballs. And I like amazeballs too. Maybe I'm just trying to be hip with the kids (which for a lumpy 42-year-old mother of three is rather sad) but sometimes you need a good exclamation word and Fuck is just too much.

Anyway I'm happy to report that I've settled back into a happy sober place not caring in the slightest that I don't touch alcohol ever. I think we are going to organise a house-warming party and I'll go about it just as I would if I were still boozing. This means setting up a bar area and making sure the music is good and the food is yummy and the atmosphere is fun and people feel welcome .. I'll pour drinks merrily and act as I would before I got sober except I'll just quietly be not pouring any brain-bending liquid down my own throat.

Is that weird? I don't care. I want the fun to continue and it's up to me to make that happen.. just as it's up to me to not be dysfunctionally boozing like I used to.

It was rubbish day in our new street yesterday and there were a few recycling bins around our new house that were overflowing with wine bottles. I mean OVERFLOWING with wine bottles. Just like ours used to be all the time.

I have to admit it made me wonder about the owner of the bin and if they were happy drinking all that piss all the time. Maybe they are. Maybe they're not. But looking at that bin and remembering that ours overflowed like for years made me feel really happy and relieved that that is not my reality any more.

See - my happy sober place has returned!!!!!!!

Love, Mrs D xxx

18 comments:

  1. Shitballs is one of my fav Mrs D words and you extended my vocabulary ;) Glad you're back in your happy sober place :)

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  2. Hooray for you, getting back on track with feeling great! And I have to say, you're my role model for keeping the fun going without booze. That's exactly what I plan to do--not lurk away from the big boozy world, but go out and play in it, except without the booze. Thanks for being such a star, and good luck with the edits. xo

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  3. SHITBALLS is one of my new favorite words.
    Glad your happy place is back,
    xxx Christy

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  4. Because I went to great lengths to hide my empty bottles and NEVER put them out in public view, I have this theory that other alcoholics do the same??? Maybe it's the people without any bottles in their trash that we should worry about lol

    Shitballs indeed:)

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  5. LOL I am so glad not to have the overflowing bottles anymore! Very glad to hear you're in a good place again. It's always nice to read a new entry from you. You are definitely one of my positive sober role models Mrs. D. :)

    Tessa

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  6. Moving house is such a huge upset- even when you love your new place. I am glad your nesting is settling down! You are amazing (or should that be, amazeballs? lol)

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  7. I don't think it is weird to want to keep the party going. I know it's not recommended to hang around with a bunch of boozers in the beginning of your sobriety, but I had no choice. It might have made it more difficult then, but now I just look at them and think how grateful I'm not them anymore. Although I do try to hide that.

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  8. Oh, and Shitballs! I'm so jealous and proud of your manuscript!

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  9. Good luck on the manuscript... do you use Feedly? Well I do - they are looking for a regular blogger type person. http://blog.feedly.com/2014/01/26/be-the-first-content-crafter-at-feedly-we-are-hiring/

    Do yourself a favour - get to know John Martyn... ;-)

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  10. I love that you are keeping the party going!!! Party on!

    Shitballs. Love it. Right up there with batshit. And my new favorite, "Christ on a bike!" Priceless.

    We don't recycle so I just had to ignore the tinkling (crashing?) of wine bottles as the bag was taken to the bin. So glad I don't have to do that any more...

    Woot! You're back!!!!

    Sherry

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  11. I am so excited about the manuscript going forward...minus one balls there...lol. That's ok, I am 43 and far from cool, so you're cool to me...ha ha.

    Empty bottles...oh dear. I dropped them in everyone else's bins. Didn't want the mrs. to find out...oh dear. :)

    Congrats on your move and on keeping the party going :)

    Blessings and hugs,
    Paul

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  12. I used to wonder what the recycle guy thought about our overflowing bins. In fact I used to stay inside when he picked up at our house. Congrats again on the manuscript. Shitballs of fire!!

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  13. Love your blog. It's been my roadmap to sobriety. And if the blog is the roadmap, your positive attitude is the compass. I am 47 days sober today and coming to understand how I can still be fun and social and not drink. The truth is, I actually have a better time, because I know that a night out will not be followed by a morning of anxiety, self-loathing and paranoia, a.k.a. The Fears. My bigger challenge is continuing to convince myself that drinking alone, my preference, is a NoGo. No more Party of One. Shitballs.

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  14. I'm all for promoting the sober is fun attitude. I think it's a great advertisement and why shouldn't you party and be sociable in your own home if you fancy it. I think as long as you are in a good place (mentally) and it's for the right reasons then it's cool. I think you have enough sobriety to know what you are comfortable doing and to know if anything triggers a potential problem you have lots of open support around you.
    I say go for it Mrs D, you show them, we don't need to be pissed to party!
    Hope it goes well
    Carrie on Sober xx

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  15. HaHa, I love that "shitballs" is a publicly acknowledged term in the publishing industry. We should expect it to appear in the Oxford Dictionary next, and then we'll be able to use it for Scrabble. Mrs D, you're a literary trailblazer!

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  16. I wonder too about people who drink a lot- are you having fun, or just drowning over there?

    Hurrah manuscript. :) You could use just plain "Balls!"

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  17. Mrs D! So glad to hear the manuscript is progressing well. Hurry up and finish it, can't wait to read it!

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  18. Hi Mrs D! I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and it has helped me SO much. Thank you for your honesty and your humor. I definitely developed a BIG wine problem. I can identify with you so painfully much. I'm 2 weeks sober today, so I'm still in the pink fluffy clouds of being proud of myself without temptations yet, but reading through your blog is giving me a realistic outlook that yes, it will be tough, but YES, I can do it! You are so funny and adorable. Please keep being you. Again, thank you so so so much for this blog!!! xoxo

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