New Year, New Start. Probably dries and lows as we Tryers to be Dryers try 2019.

[Frouby]

New thread for the New Year.

Support thread for those who want to moderate and reduce alcohol. Absolutely no judgement, just advice and support. Absolutely everyone is welcome whatever your goals or hopes for 2019.

Am no good at clicky linke but there are previous threads and we look forward to continuing to moderate and reduce in 2019.

Especially today. 14 coming for 3 courses at 3pm and I have a raging hangover to start the year. Fml.

Seriously impressed by some of the efforts on here. We can do this!
Day 3 complete for me, a full weekend. Usually a ‘me’ weekend but DS stayed home. We’ve binge watched This Is England, drunk a million brews, ate biscuits and cleaned the house. It’s been ace, actually.
DS 2 got home at tea time and wanted to cook for us as a surprise, so banished us to the front room and brought us home made burgers and chips from his new cook book.
I bloody love my kids. I might not be the best mum in the world but I’ve got something right with them two.

Hope this week brings better news for you Flossie.
Anglaise when I make my break into screen writing, the crap medium may well end up in a script.
Water a week? You’ve inspired me to keep it up till Friday.

Onwards and upwards....

Well....I buckled at the weekend and had some 4% 25cl bottles of lager. Still only totalling less than 14 units so for me that's a MASSIVE improvement!
So, the plan is to limit drinking to weekends and then only moderately.....at least I think that's what "normal" people do!
Otherwise I've kept to my diet and it's weigh in tonight so wish me luck, folks!

Myusername - Well done staying AF.

NC4Now - your weekend sounds lovely

I had quite a wet weekend but didn’t plan on being AF. I managed to drink less than usual though by buying a can of gin and tonic rather than having my usual very large home measure! So sort of pleased. Also had quite a bit of wine too. Oh well, back to 3 AF days this week.

Flossie - I hope things go well for you and DD this week.

Pmsl at the medium’s reputation being in tatters 😂

I’m finding the dry January Facebook group very helpful, lots of support there and interesting conversations around peoples relationships with alcohol.

I FINALLY look better this morning, despite only 6.5 hours sleep last night. I’ve been ticking off the days on my dry January app in the Mir in and it definitely helps.

Today is day 13 in a row AF, I’m pleased with that.

Wow some massive numbers coming in! 13 days and 10 days and everything is amazing.

I was AF last night, weird dreams but a good kip anyway.

Having a new cooker delivered this morning. Supposed plan was engineer would come and disconnect existing cooker and take it away. New cooker would then be delivered and installed.

What's actually happened is new cooker has been delivered. Old cooker still in situ. Or it was until I have just dragged it out to clean behind and underneath. Bleurgh, it's bleeding filthy. Been there 4 years and never dared pull it out. Was easier than I thought so adding 'pull cooker out quarterly ' to my list of shit to do.

Just having a coffee while the squirty stuff starts working. Oh and the bloody dog got her head stuck trying to squash behind it to see if there was anything edible. Fuck sake.

There is about 27 nerf bullets, 1.42 in mixed coins, some unidentified bits of food and about an inch of grease. Bleurgh.

Oh, Frouby. How I love your domestic updates I wouldn't like to look underneath or behind my cooker.

I am in awe of the progress on here. I, however, am struggling to get beyond Day One (which is what it is yet again here).

Anglaise, leaving the medium aside, I'm so glad to hear that your DP has seen sense. He would have been mad not to, but there's no accounting for men...

Well engineer (John) is here. He's like Mr Bean, fml.

Just had to get old cooker outside with him. It was like the chuckle brothers. But not funny.

He is now installing the new one. 3 times he's been to the van for a different hose. 3 times he has come back without it.

Am supervising closely to make sure he does it right. Haven't got a fucking scooby what the right way to install a dual fuel cooker is. Fuck sake.

And I need to get some work done, but I work at the kitchen table. And really can't be arsed to explain what I am doing if he asks. And if he asks me a question at the wrong time I will probably fuck something up.

So am supervising while browsing on mn.

Had cramp since 1am on and off. Very.painful. at least I can't drink anything as I can't actually move. Dh even more poorly with psoriasis. Looks like dd 11 is making dinner.

Haha Frouby. I realised the other day that my Tupperware lids are probably amassing down the back of the fridge but they are going to have to stay there - too scary.

Glad you had a good weekend NC4. My kids were pretty nice this weekend too. Dd1 managed to behave herself at the ballet and I had a nice morning just me and dd2. They were foul again this morning but hey ho.

Feeling overcome by miserable feelings. This giving up business is really hard. 14 days today, but sleep is shit, house is a tip, work piling up and all I want to do is pull the duvet over my head and hide from it all.

Big hugs Tired. I hear you. One thing I like about this thread is that, unlike in real life, no one is saying "I don't miss it". Alcohol has been fulfilling a purpose for us. We need to find another way of dealing with the issues but there's not a quick fix imo. I am starting to enjoy some things about AF days, but equally not to the point where I never want to drink again. I am hoping I can hold on to the thoughts enough to help me moderate though. Hangovers are shit after all.

Hope you are feeling better soon Froglet

Thanks Longest. I certainly don’t miss the hangovers!

Frouby, I'm now tortured by the recollection of my DC doing impressions of "BEAN". FML. No wonder I am not dry this evening. DD was foul when she left the house this morning (I merited one word, namely "bye"), and is still foul now because I have unreasonably said no to a school skiing trip. EVERYONE ELSE is going, obviously.

Longest, I thought your post was great (about alcohol fulfilling a need). So well put.

Tired, however crap you feel, you are not me. And you are not hungover. Hold on to this!!

Good point, Longest! Wish I could say "I don't miss it"! Am enjoying watching tv and reading books again, there seems more hours in the day when you're sober....initially I saw this as the days dragging but I'm starting to embrace productivity and feel ready to tidy the attic, sort out stuff for the charity shop etc etc.
This evening I cleaned the bathroom and "rewarded " myself with Call the Midwife on catch up. Sounds stupid I know but that's how I work best!

I miss it very much. I really really really wanted a can of lager earlier. Really wanted one. Dh actually passed me one the enabling twat. But I passed it him back.

Am glad I said no now, am making our tea shortly then going to bed and reading for a bit before having an early night. Busy tomorrow, long to do list as always and will get more ticked off if I am up bright and early.

But I really wanted a fucking can of lager. DH is watching stupid shit on the telly, some American car selling bollocks and a can might make me feel manly enough to enjoy it .

Just walked past a glass of wine DH poured for mil. All shiny and sumptuous. Bah. Will have AF beer. Am keeping them for wine o'clock so as to keep a bit of the reward ritual.

I know what you mean about more hours shrunken. I suppose that's what I meant by enjoying more AF days, but I enjoy wine days too. Balance in all things I guess

I started back at WW tonight. I’ve gained 11lbs since the end of October - an average of 1lb a week. Of course there’s been Christmas, but still.
I wonder how many bottles of wine I polished off in that time?
I had some nice rhubarb flavoured sparkling water from Tesco’s instead. That was quite quaffable actually.
Frouby the joy of becoming single last year - not having to watch shite American car shows on the telly. I might be fat, lush and a bit lonely, but the telly buttons are MINE!!

Passing thru

Frouby..I pmsl at your message about cleaning out the kitchen and the man!! Hilarious. Hope it’s sorted and your oven is now working.

Anglais - forest man has finally seen the light..you’re one hot mama and he needs to know!!

Dion....you ok lovey?

NC4 - being single has its benefits..being starfish in bed and hogging the tv remote is key!!

I didn’t buy wine for tonight..I had a third of a bottle left in the fridge..that was my limit. Then dh came home early..we were waiting for a furniture delivery....so he got himself a beer and poured me a fucking gin!! It was gorgeous but......it wasn’t soda water!!
So just finished the wine too. So not horrific. One large gin and third of bottle of Pinot. Trouble is the large gin burnt my throat so I’m
Thinking it was more than a triple!!

Day 2 for me. I craved wine about 7pm but then my ‘it’s a drink free day’ reminder popped up in my phone. I thought briefly about lying to the App but then realised how futile and ridiculous that would be so cracked open a Becks Blue followed by a couple of glasses of AF wine. The AF wine is not great but I find it helps me through the evening as I’m keeping my usual ritual to some extent if that makes sense? Sometimes I wonder if I should be breaking the habit altogether though 🙄 Oh well, will stick with what’s working for now.

Flossie - a gin and a third of a bottle is still better than a whole bottle!

Anglais - wish I could get addicted to exercise! Dragging myself to an exercise class this morning.

Frouby - hope Mr Bean ended up doing a good job on your cooker 😅

Good luck everyone else.

Morning all. NC4 I am jealous of your remote. DH is not very macho (he doesn't even drive) but he is a fan of long Russian arthouse films which just show a sunset for hours and nothing happens. If he's out I binge watch the Apprentice and Don't Tell the bride.

Ugh the girls have been squabbling non stop since dawn. MIL has taken dd1 to school but I feel depressed and a wreck by it. Supposed to be working from home and doing an online exam thing but feel like running away.

DHs on edge and moping around because his mum has been here too long and won't stop commenting/advising on everything he does. He also has supposed to have heard from the hospital by now.
Assuming no news is good news there but still a bit stressful.

Friend invited me out for her birthday drinks on Saturday. Will be a challenge.

Longest - Russian arthouse vs ‘Don’t tell the Bride’ 😅 I know which I’d choose! Hope your mood lifts - it’s hard when the kids are playing up. I find it can alter my mood in an instant! How long is MIL staying? Hope your DH gets good news from the hospital.

She's leaving today. To be fair to her she's been helping out loads so I feel ungrateful but can see DH's point. She does it to me to a certain extent. dd1 "can I wear my denim jacket to school?". MIL: what does Mummy think? Me: You'll freeze but whatever, up to you. MIL: That's ridiculous, won't she get in trouble for not having a cost? Blah blah blah. Sometimes you want a bit of space to make your own mistakes. DH can basically eat nothing and she can't stop commenting on his diet. Either he nicks a bit of something he's not "supposed" to have and gets grilled about that or he sticks rigidly to his diet and she comes up with endless suggestions of alternatives or questions. "You can't have mushrooms? But there's nothing to them. There are only a few calories. What happens if you have them? What about flavouring, can you have that? You could try soup with just a bit.....". Repeat every couple of minutes with new food item. DH is not very patient but I can see it is exhausting.