Well, it's actually two days well spent. Yesterday i completed a good job, spent time with a sponsee, put a new wood floor in my work/utility trailer, made a meeting and then i actually cooked a dinner for myself. I'm really amazed about how my dinner turned out because i am not a cook at all. I just asked the lady next door and she told me how to fry boneless chicken breast. They came out so good! I am so cooking challenged that when she told me how to make a roll of dinner biskets, i had to ask her what a baking pan looks like, so i could look and see if i had one. She came in for a moment, browsed around my kitchen cabinets and found a couple of them. See, i have all sorts of kitchen utensels, and cooking appliances but i have never really cooked. Any meals i ate at home were either cooked by a woman or ordered in by delivery. Heck, i know dominos pizza number by heart! Otherwise, i have spent many years eating out or rolling through drive thru windows. So, actually cooking a meal that did not involve the microwave oven, seemed like a big accomplishment to me. I am going to start cooking at least a meal or two a week and try to enjoy the task and not burn my place down or poison myself in the process. I have cooked one other time in the past three years and couldn't eat it because i burnt the spagetti noodles so bad i had to throw the pan away.
Today i worked predominately on trying to figure out a few new business marketing methods. I put a business profile on Angies List, and installed a blog/website developer program on my business site. It's called WordPress, which i have seen all over the internet for years but never tried to figure out how ti use it. It seemed a bit intimidating and still does a little bir but its rich in site enhancement features and connects seamlessly to my current site with relative ease. I think that my learning how to use all its features will help me when i am ready to give MIP a face lift this summer.
As some of you already know, my son went to jail in Dec and i foolishly made his bond. He jumped the bond and went back to Texas within a few days of my getting him out. I told him the very same day that i would swallow the grand it took to get him out but i would not be responsible for the other 9 grand if he ran. I clearly told him, "you run, i hunt, you go right back to jail". Well, after sending him messages through family members, giving him 10 days to return on his own to no avail, it took me 3 phone calls and 30 minutes to get the address for where he was staying. I passed that info over to the bondsmen, who in turn had a bounty hunter grab him and drive him to Alabama, where the bondsmen met them and brought him the rest of the way in. Right to the county jail. I wrote him a letter that night and decided to wait two days to decide if i would actually send it. This morning i read the letter i had written. It was so full of angry venom and did not in any manner reflect that i was any healthier or spiritual than he. He surely qualifies as one of us, and went to jail after breaking into a small store to steal beer and cigs at 4am. I had to tell myself many times that "we are not bad people that need to get good, but sick people that need to get well". So, i put my first letter to the side and wrote another. I was able to express myself in a much healthier way. The same point was made without all the venom attached to it, and if nothing else he knows i do love him and while i won't help any further, i will never give up hope. I did offer to send him....a Big Book and 12x12. I may not hear from him and he might not want the books i offered to send, but i feel i have done my part as both a father and as a member of AA.
Hey John, ... sounds like you handled the situation with your son just the way you should have, kudos to you ... ... ...
I have made a note to never accept a dinner invitation from you though ... ... good luck with the pots and pans ... One word of caution if you're alone when you cook, never ever leave the stove on and leave the kitchen too ... you'll quickly learn that anything with heat left on it WILL catch fire ... also make sure you have a fire extinguisher handy too ... AM NOT KIDDING ... ...
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'Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything.'
I think you are aware that our 27 year old is a now recovering Heroin addict,coming up to 4 years clean from dope...We also had him set out for arrest after many robberies,charge card theft and thousands of dollars in fraudulent charges.We prayed and had to put him on the street at 90lbs over a $100. per day jones and on deaths doorstep.He was shortly after arrested and his road to recovery began with his 3rd cold turkey in jail..There is HOPE..Today he is working hard to renew our relationship and becoming a responsible human being,,same trip his dad did hmmmmmm....Anyway I'll keep you in prayer,can truly identify.Good to hear your up side.WE do learn about the 3C;s and know we must go on with our lives.....Let us know what goes on///Peace brother!!!
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Selfishness-self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.
Vegetable broth (strained from onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potato peelings) or buy a box Canned tomatoes-diced with green chilies--or any kind on the shelf is fine Large bag of fresh chopped kale or collards (2 boxes of frozen will do in a pinch) Lots of rough-chopped garlic and diced onions Any kind of lentils, or any beans or chick peas/limas or any large grain (like wheat berries/Israeli couscous) Cook gently until done (done = can mash the garlic, the greens are tender, and the beans are soft) Serve with crackers and cheese or a good bread and real butter, while reading the last full sentence on page 87 of the Big Book, 4th edition.