Back to Life, Back to Reality

My name is Charlie, and I'm a compulsive overeater.

::Hi, Charlie!::

It's 7:35 on Monday morning. I woke up at 5:30; made a pot of coffee; did my daily reading/writing assignment; talked to my sponsor at 6 to commit my food for the day and read my writing to her; made and ate a delicious, abstinent breakfast (4 oz. cottage cheese, 1 tbsp. almonds, 1 banana, 1 egg, 2 oz. sausage, 1 piece toast); worked on my to do list; read a little bit on my new Kindle (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, if you must know); put on one of my favorite albums from 2010 (Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid); caught up on some blogs; and now I'm trying to muster up the energy to leave the table, take a shower and get dressed.

I have the kids at home for one more day before school starts, so I want to take them to a movie or something. Anyone seen Secretariat? That's probably what we'll see, cuz it's at the cheap theater. It's either that or the creepy looking CGI movie about owls... My oldest needs to take the test for his driver's permit. Ugh. And yay! Can't wait till he can take over some of the driving for the family.

Christmas was wonderful and stressful all at the same time, and I'm sad and happy it's over. My phone calls with my sponsor have been kind of free-floating over the past two weeks, but this morning we got back to our normal 6am time, and that feels good. As an addict in recovery, I function best with lots of structure in my life. It started with a structured program of recovery, but I'm finding that this structure finds its way into other parts of my life as well. I thrive when I'm living on-plan. My life has a framework. I get things done. I can rest in the reality that I've done what I can do every day.

So tomorrow it's back to work, full-time. I've been kind of free with work the past week as well. They were cool about it since I basically lived at the church over Christmas. Let's see, what's coming up in this semester?

I'm taking another seminary class online... Interpreting the Old Testament. (Although in honor of my friend G. Rabanon, maybe I should should re-name it, "Christians Trying to Interpret Hebrew Scripture.")

I'm considering incorporating some regular exercise into my life. (Oh dear, this is starting to sound like those dreaded "New Year's Resolution" thingies.) Honestly, though, I'm not sure I can find one more free hour in my week. God will lead me. Give me ears to hear and a willing heart, Lord...

Having worked with my first sponsee and dropped said sponsee (another post for another time), I am now ready to work with another. Let me know if you or someone you know needs a sponsor. I am happy to work with you/him/her if there is willingness to follow the HOW guidelines. One thing I'm very clear about is that I can only sponsor as I have been sponsored. I pass the program on as it's been passed down to me. Here are the guidelines I follow, in a nutshell, and I would be even more clear and specific if we talk about possibly working together. You can email me at charlie (dot) edinburgh (at) gmail (dot) com or call using the Google Voice number in the sidebar.

I'll be heading to Chicago for a conference in February. It's one of my favorite things to do every year. I see lots of great friends, experience wonderful rest and refreshment, hear great speakers and music and so on. And this year I'll be presenting a workshop one of the days. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. And I'm wondering what abstinence will look like for me that week. I'm planning to be abstinent, but I don't quite know how. I am not interested in future-tripping at this point, but I do need to start planning. I'll talk more about this as it gets closer.

Believe it or not, I need to start Easter planning. Easter is the high point of the year in terms of Christian worship. My choir is on hiatus until February 9, but when we come back together, I need to be ready for them and have all the music planned.

These are the things I often wait to do until the last minute... and although I always get through them, they are not as good as they could be if I had planned. I have hope that this year will be better - as I continue to work my program of recovery and live within this day-to-day structure.

And what would a new year be without the chaos of kids? In 2010, my kids will be involved in drum lessons, gymnastics, church youth activities, math tutoring, soccer, track, guitar lessons, piano lessons. Oh, and school. Oh, and Mrs. Charlie and I will be driving them to all these places.

OK, I think I have found the willingness to get off my ass. Sorry this post was so random... But look, I have posted three times in three days! Woo-hoo!

I'm So Beautiful

Hi, I'm Charlie, a compulsive overeater.

::Hi, Charlie!::

I don't know how "beautiful" I feel today, but maybe it's time to announce to the world that I am the humbled and grateful recipient of the "Beautiful Blogger Award" from The Binge Diary.














Now, the rules of the award are as follows:

1. I must tell you 7 things about myself that you do not already know.

2. I get to pass on this award to 7 beautiful bloggers that I follow regularly.

So, without any further ado:

1. I have recently switched my favorite soda/pop. For decades, I've been a Diet Coke man. Now, inexplicably, I'm drinking a lot of Diet A&W Root Beer. Love it. And no caffeine, right? It's practically a health drink. :)

2. In my house, I'm responsible for the dishes. My wife does the laundry. We share the rest. It makes things a lot simpler.

3. We have two pets in our house... a Bearded Dragon and a Holland Lop. One of my sons is allergic to dogs and cats.

4. I have a brother and a sister. I'm the oldest at 38. My sister is 35, and my brother is 30.

5. I love grammar, and I almost pursued a degree in English. In fact, I was an English major for a year before a music professor convinced me to change my major to Music Education. I graduated from college in 1995 with a Music Ed. degree, voice emphasis.

6. I have over 18,000 songs on my iPod. I know, I know... No, I didn't purchase all of them. Many are ripped from my vast CD collection, many are legit purchases, many are special freebies I found online, also legit, and many are plain old, flat-out illegal downloads or ripped from friends or the library. I suppose I'll have to deal with that in my stepwork.

7. I have read the Harry Potter series many times. I've read books 1-4 four times, book 5 two-and-a-half times, book 6 twice and book 7 once. Why? I discovered the series myself after book 4 had come out, so I read them all to myself. Then I read them aloud to my oldest son. He and I read book 5 together. Then I read books 1-5 aloud to my middle son. While I was doing that, book 6 came out, and I read it aloud to my oldest son. Then I read it again to my middle son, then book 7 came out, so I read it aloud to my two older sons. Now I'm reading the whole series to my twins, and we're on book five. ::Whew::

And here are some beautiful bloggers you should follow too...

1. My Brain, Anonymous
2. Recovering Anorexic
3. A 40-Something Fool's Journey
4. Confessions of a (Recovering) Compulsive Overeater
5. Down in Sunny San Diego
6. Thank God It's Lunch Time
7. RecoveryDiscovery