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Oh, and Happy Birthday!!!!!!! Your thread is a 100 today
have a great day.
Laurahey Bettie,
good for you! Tear up those freebies that we know aren’t free at all. Not only do they take our money they take our self-respect, pride, and self-esteem. On the man front, well, I’m a firm believer in loving yourself first. If you don’t, then you won’t attract a man that will. Believe that you will meet a man who is what you want. Let the universe work out the details. In the mean time do things that make you feel good about you. You deserve it! Ok, lol, that is my positive pep talk. Glad you are here Bettie, great getting to know such wonderful people. Have a happy Easter.
LauraHey Kathryn,
just catching up. I didn’t realize Harry had been ill. I’m always a day or two behind with my reading it seems lol. Glad he was feeling better for his Easter chocolate. It is just Easter morning for me now, youngest slept in so I did too. The oldest doesn’t even get up any more, he just collects his share of the chocolate when he manages to roll out of bed around lunch time.
Those urges can just come out of no where can’t they. Something familiar triggers them. I was just about going crazy last night. Will be writing about it on my thread after. Good for you, stayed home and enjoyed the anticipation of Easter with your boys. Normally I would be so annoyed that a holiday was interfering with my gambling schedule lol.
Well, it was good to see you on chat. Talking things out and a few good laughs are what the doctor ordered. Glad you are rested after your long weekend. Don’t work too hard Monday night.
take care,
LauraHey Kathryn,
checking in to see if you have any hair left in your head lol. It is only 7pm here but I am fading fast. An hour on the computer after a long work day and my soft bed and heating pad is calling me. I already have the PJ’s on. So I will take advantage of your post to say good for you RG! Positivity and pampering 🙂
Hope you are having a good week with the kids K.
Take care,
LauraHey K,
just popping in for a mid-week check up. Was great talking with you on chat the weekend past, can’t believe we are half way to another. I’m working a late shift today, will soon have to go get ready.
Yes I was imagining MC Hammer pants lol and thinking oh God that is not a fashion repeat I want to see lol. Glad you cleared things up.
Anyway, not much new on this end, taking things one day at a time. Good luck with the job hunting. Have a great rest of the week.
LauraHey Bettie,
tough decision to make even when we know deep down it is for our own good. With your friend holding one hand, know that the rest of us here at GT are holding the other. We also offer shoulders to cry on any time needed. Be brave Bettie, we often do couragous things for others, this one is for you. Praying for you.
take care,
LauraHi Bettie,
popped by to see how you are doing. Recognizing our triggers can be very helpful. However, for a lot of CG’s by the time we get to the point of seeking help almost everything can be a trigger, or we have learned to associate gambling with many emotions and situations. By the time I was ready to come clean and put up barriers I would use anything as an excuse to gamble. I was down, or I was tired and cranky and wanted to be left alone, or I was happy and celebrating something. Didn’t matter, the addiction had taken over and the causes were left in the dust. Now that I have put a little bit of distance between me and my last bet those original triggers have emerged a lot clearer. I am learning to deal with them in a different way. Once upon a time I actually wished I win the lotto, so I could have my gambling money every week to just sit and play the games. Now if I had won the lotto there really wouldn’t be any point in playing. For me it was no longer about winning, it was about being able to play. I was hooked bad. When we are at that point it is hard to imagine life without gambling. It has filled so much space in our lives. Not just the time we are there gambling, but the time thinking about the losses, and thinking about where we will get the money to go again. It is all consuming. I am happy to say that now that I have taken away my access to gamble (I handed over my finances to someone else as there is no self banning mechanism where I am) and I have dealt with the immediate crisis that my gambling created, I am enjoying my family and no longer see their needs as interfering with my gambling. Instead I am able to enjoy the small moments.
Running Girl had made a post one day about something her counsellor had said. Why do we close the front door on gambling but leave the back door open? You have outlined some of the reasons why you don’t want to self-ban at this time. Maybe look at what would be some other ways you might be able to fulfill those same needs. So when you do decide to ban you will have a back up plan.
Well, have to run get my son ready for school. Keep your chin up Bettie. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
LauraHi Larry,
I wasn’t sure whether I should respond to your post on my thread or yours. I am never quite certain of the rules of posting etiquette lol.
I am glad that you were able to use me as a semi-confidant. Although you had made your apology on your thread perhaps there was still a little left to release.
Something hitting very close to a nerve can cause a knee jerk reaction in us. I’m so glad that you had been honing all of your RCG tools so that they could be put to use to overcome the scary urge. Guilt and shame from the past can be a powerful urge creator. But as we learn through GA and here, we can only deal with this one day at a time. We cannot allow our past actions to overshadow the good actions we are creating today.
So I am so very glad that you are here today, continuing on this journey. Happy to be your sounding board as you have done for me many a time.
Have a great gamble free day.
LauraHi Kathryn,
your marathon session reminds me of the ones I used to do lol. I get a lot less done these days but still feels like a marathon session. And you know, sometimes it takes a little work to save money. One good thing that has come out of gambling is that my husband has finally taken a part with the finances. He used to take for granted that the money was always there and I would juggle and juggle our finances. Now he is doing more shopping and realizes how fast the money can go. And we are on a budget lol. My accountant aka mom keeps me on a tight leash. So Awesome bargain K! My sister was the bargain shopper of the century. Get things for 80 to 90 percent off.
Anywyay, have fun at the purse party! Your daughter is going to remember the laughs. Be proud K 🙂
Hope to see you this weekend, although I think we are at the worst times for each other. I believe you are 15 hours ahead right now and when your time changes it will be 16. If I’m on around lunch time I think hmmmm 3am for K, yep, pretty safe to say you are not going to be here lol.
Have a great day, it is 9:22 pm for me and I think it is lunch time for you.
Take care,
LauraHi Larry,
first of all, congratulations on your seven month mile stone! You most definitely have earned your badge of honour and can wear it with pride.
Secondly, it pains me that you feel you have stepped across the line. Not sure if you mean that you said some insensitive remarks to a fellow CG or did something to bring the GA name under fire. Either way, knowing the kind caring person that you are neither would have been intentional. You have only ever tried to be a help to members here, wether with kindness, support or tough love.
I hope that you will not beat yourself up over this and have forgiven yourself whatever transgression you feel you have made. The world is a much better place for having the RCG Larry as part of it.
Have a good weekend Larry and hope to see you around on chat.
Take care,
LauraHey Kathryn,
first off, no matter what else is going on, or perhaps even more so for the hurts and irritations that life is throwing your way, a great big wohoooooo for 9 months gamble free. That is a great accomplishment! You ARE worth the effort of being the true you. And you have 9 months of laughs, family moments, good times and real life to prove it. When we used to hide away from the rough patches we also forget to show up for the good times.
So I’ll raise a glass K, may the rough days be short and few and far between, and the good days be long and often, and may we enjoy all the days inbetween.
I’m sure you’ll have us all in fits of laughter again soon enough as we read your latest adventure. Skinny jeans, mysterious odors, giant hairy spiders, and somewhere I recall a discussion surrounding spanx, lol.
Have a great day Kathryn!
Lauralol K. Glad the mystery has been solved 🙂
See we are both on posting. I missed the group this morning as it was at 5am my time ugh. Anyway, I have to go get all prettied up, have a job interview this morning. Take care and have a great evening.
LauraHey Kathryn,
good to hear that you had a great time. Every woman deserves a pampering now and again. Should be part of our life contract lol.
Life really has changed hasn’t it. You were probably able to relax on a much deeper level while you were away this time. None of the false excitement and stress of gambling while you were there. No waiting to return home to your familiar venue where maybe you could recoup some losses. No iritation that your other sister was standing in the way of your alone time at the venue. Instead enjoying your time with her and her family.
We are living more in the moment and enjoying the moment we are in.
Glad to have you back! See you tonight maybe. If not, take care and enjoy your family time.
Laura
Hey Kathryn,
sorry I missed you this weekend in the chat room, but fingers crossed there will be lots more times to enjoy that in the future. I can relate to the sick hubby, mine has a huge head cold too, and of course no one is ever as sick as they are in the history of the world. He also quit smoking a little over a week ago which is huge for him. So cranky isn’t the word.
Enjoy your trip, did I see somewhere something about a spa? If so I am very very jealous. Have an awesome time Kathryn. You deserve every second of it. You’ve come a long way and deserve to reap some rewards.
The house will wait until you come back, no fear of the cleaning fairies coming while you are away lol. Sometimes we just have to learn to let the small stuff go. So go and have a great time!!! We will all miss you while you are away.
Take care,
LauraHi Larry,
sorry I missed you for coffee this morning. Your trip sounded lovely and it is good to see you enjoying real life. Funny how our transformation on the inside shines through to the outside. Have a lovely day Larry, God bless.
Laura