Tryers to be dryers spring into spring, not as much wine, beer or gin. We sow our seeds of hope for a dryer season, but if we drink, it's for a reason.

[Frouby]

Thread 5 for Tryers to be Dryers. A thread for those who want support for moderating or reducing alcohol. Whatever you hope to do, whether it's to have more dry days, or be less wet when you do drink, come and join us for support.

Absolutely no judgement here, just friendly support and chat, the odd swear (lots of swears to be honest). All welcome, new and old tryers to dryers.

Anglaise - I hope the weather is as gorgeous in France as it is here for your big day.

Frouby - your DS sounds fearless! I hope your hangover isn’t too bad today.

Dionysa - nowt like a board game to cause a row. I hope your DC’s are talking to each other today and you enjoy the rest of Easter.

NC4 - my mum always insisted on no meat on Good Friday. She used to do lots of different types of fish instead - we used to call it ‘slaughter of the seas’ 😅

Longest - I hope you got the bbq going.

Flossie - hope DH is behaving and your DD is well.

My DC’s both had friends for a sleepover last night. They were all quite well-behaved. I only had to shout at DS once for being an annoying twat to DD and her mate. I sorted out something for him and his friend to watch on Netflix and didn’t hear them again. God knows what time they went to sleep but it’s all still quiet.
DH and I started watching ‘Afterlife’ and really enjoyed it. I gave myself free rein on the alcohol front but stopped at two thirds of a bottle of wine so not too bad considering ...

Oops crossed posts with you Longest. Enjoy Hampton Court. My DS is a sucker for big houses so we are slowly working our way through them!

Hi All,
Just wondering if I can join the thread?

Currently trying to be AF, I'm on day 6 now. I started the 30 day alcohol free experiment online and I'm in day 4 of that.

I never used to accept I had a problem, which then turned into I have a problem but I'm in control and I can stop when I want (mocking laughter ensues from myself as I think we can all see where this is going). So the last 3 months ish it spiraled, and I needed to make a choice of carrying on as I was, affecting my health, my relationship and sooner or later my job or admit that I was no longer in control. I chose the latter, I dont like the person I become when I drink, I was starting to cause irreparable damage to my relationship and I was so fed up of feeling the way that I did, trying to piece conversations together that you just cant remember, waking up and think awww God what did I say or do last night while your heart pounds as you flick through the previous evenings events and yet again being a disappointment to your partner and it all being entirely your own fault .

I dont necessarily want to be teetotal at the end of this 30 days but I do want to change my relationship with alcohol, save a drink for a special occasion or be able to say one glass is one glass!

Anyways thanks for reading, it was a lot longer than I intended :)

Really canshop? How civilised. Mine are generally horrors at stately homes and I have no iihiw proper families do it but Hampton Court has a fab playground and the maze and shire horse and cart rides dd1 is a sucker for any kind of trail.

Welcome Bewildered Owl. You have come to the right place. Well done on four days, especially over Easter How do you feel?

Frouby glad you got the ponies out, I am in awe! My DD1 keeps nagging to do more pony riding but I am too lacy/mean. Going to join the sailing club at the gritty urban reservoir instead when she turns 8. I have signed her up to sailing and canoeing holiday camp for a week in the Summer.

This sign is on the kitchen door. Whatever could go wrong?

longestlurkerever Thanks for the welcome, i was a bit nervous to post haha.

The pros are outweighing the cons so all in all i feel pretty good. Wont lie i would say my sleep pattern took a hit for a few nights and in general i didn't feel great but now i'm nearly a week in (!!?) that's hopefully settled down a bit.

I've found a lot of support on the Alcohol experiment pages and the experiment itself has been really insightful, i also have the sober time app which I've found useful. I wanted to join this thread as I've been a bit of a lurker and thought it was time to bite the bullet! Plus there's only so much inspirational posts and comments you can deal with at least this has humour

Love the sign Longest - please do update us 😂

Welcome Bewildered and well done on being AF for 6 days.

Anglaise congratulations for becoming Madame Forest today, I hope you have an amazing day 🍾🥂

All hot and sweaty after a couple of hours on the yard. Ponies behaved impeccably again, and ds actually had a proper rode with tack and everything.

He's properly fearless. Kicked off to get on, kicked off to go faster, kicked off when it was time to get off. Have created a monster, dd was never this keen.

Just waiting for dd to get out of the shower then am jumping in and heading to cousins house for a bbq.

Welcome owl. We do humour in here so you've come to the right place. Usually when we are pissed though which sort of contradicts this thread but at least we are happy drunks 😂

Bewildered, you're another one who is writing my thoughts. You are in the right place.

I'm not sure you'll find an awful lot of Inspirational Quotes here, but we're nice to one another, and there is absolutely no judgement.

FWIW, I last managed Day 6 in about 2013. FML.

No update yet - it's the big reveal tomorrow apparently. Hampton Court is idyllic. Dds have been skipping through bluebells and reading books in trees like a Lewis Carroll character. Not even that much squabbling. Have finished trail and they are now in the playground, which is noisy and heaving but they're having fun. I bought their swimming cossies as remembered there's sand and water together which will keep them occupied for hours. Class parenting.

Longest, that sounds fab. I have been at work. DD had a monster strop when I got home, because I know she is a vegetarian who hates cheese, fish, hummus, Marmite and eggs, and I have failed to provide her with the things she likes. I asked her to remind me what they were, given the long list of 'inedible' items, and she said a proper mother would know that. She then said I evidently didn't care if she died of starvation.

FML.

Oh God Dion, that sounds like my dd1. She’s not a veggie but won’t eat meat or fish or veg or potatoes or...or...or there’s nothing left! It drives me to drink.

Only just back as had to make a return trip to look for Mousey, my fourth child, left at the bus stop. Was sooooo grateful to see him sitting there. Keep popping in to look at him all safe in dd2’s arms.

Fizz is on ice but need to concoct some kind of Easter egg hunt before I can sit down.

Canshopwillshop Frouby Dionysa thanks for the welcome

Frouby i will quite happily take happy nice drunks over sanctimonious sober people, it must be so tiring being so superior all the time!

Dionysa sometimes being nice to each other is enough of a support though isn't it, and if it helps i had some non alcoholic prosecco this evening. It was crap and sour and no cold glass of white wine, but i drank it lol so maybe each boat has its cons to it.

Just racing by..in motorhome on a camping weekend. Have spent the entire time drinking in the sun!! Mind you when I totalled up what I drank across the entire day yesterday (10hrs), it was about 1.5bottles. So not hideous. But I felt really pissed!! Today was 2 large glasses in a beach bar at lunchtime. Then a wine spritzer about tea time. Then half a glass this evening. Not hideous and deffo moderation. But I hate myself because I know it’s not a one off!!
Do you guys think that’s a lot?? Over a week that’s over 40 units!!!!!!

Anyway..more personals to follow but wanted to wish anglais a magical wedding day 🎉🎉. To Mrs forest 🥂

Well, what a fail this evening.

Flossie, that is absolutely not hideous! And you are on holiday. As I said, I daren't count my weekly units - though that means I probably should. FML.

Bewildered, I am both in awe, and depressed by your continuing AF. Depressed only because it makes me even more aware of my problem, needless to say. Otherwise, the awe of overwhelming, and gives me hope.

Longest, I love the idea of Mousie being your fourth child. I had about 400 children, if DD's fondness for cuddly toys is to be believed. Those were the days.

PS Madame Forêt ❤️💑 xxx

Oh, and 🥂

Dionysa dont be depressed! If you're acknowledging a problem that's always a good start right? To be honest if my drinking hadn't escalated recently (I'm not sure why it did) I would never have made any change to the way I was acting and would still be doing exactly as i was because i would still deem myself "in control" which was just my bs excuse for not facing up to my own problem.

Morning all

Am very hungover. Urgh. Had a fab time at cousins bbq. But was a shit mum as I feel asleep on the sofa, woke up at 1am ans stumbled up to bed without doing the easter bunny stuff. Ds came downstairs before I could stop him then stomped back up complaining the easter bunny hasn't left any eggs or lego.

Managed to blag him that it was too early, came down chucked his easter egg and lego set on the windowsill and he's just about happy.

Feel proper hanging and have my mam and auntie coming for roast lamb and all the trimmings later. Fuck. Also dd sent me a txt message saying she tried to wake me and dh (who was also asleep on other sofa) but couldnt and she couldn't lock front door so put the bolt on and she hopes burglars dont get it.

I didn't have that much to drink. 6 bottles of Budweiser over 5 hours, but then had 2 galsses of wine which hit me like a ton of bricks.

Had such a great time though, kids loved cousins hot tub and are now mithering for one. Have told them they can have a paddling pool with some warm water in it 😂😂

Sounds like a fab night Frouby!PMSL at paddling pool and warm water. I have never tried to maintain an Easter bunny myth as know I wouldn't manage to keep it up. Instead I got dragged out of bed at 7am with " Come on Mummy, have you laid out the hunt yet?". It went down well though and I have the fruits of yesterday's geniuses at work - chocolate balls and shapes made from cutters and moulds. Good work DC! Bought DH who can eat nothing 100% legal cannabis tea. Is meant to have relaxing properties, I shall be interested to try. Suspect the legality of it is down to the fact it has negligible active ingredients though.

Morning all - and congratulations Madame Foret!!
I think we're all hungover today. I had a bottle of Chablis watching Bear Grylls with DS2 last night, then I bought another when he went to bed. Fell asleep on the sofa and woke up when DS1 rocked up at 4am. They are both still in bed, so I'm just drinking tea and watching Sunday Brunch. I'll have to get them up soon.

Welcome BewilderedOwl. I'm curious about the 30 day challenge. Off to Google now. I had a gorgeous spa day yesterday, really enjoyed it and spent quality time with lovely friends. Would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't gained 2st recently. I reckon 30 AF days would kick start weight loss.

Longest cannabis has two active ingredients - CBD and THC. It's THC that gets you stoned, but CBD in the legal tea, oil etc. So you get some of the health benefits, like relaxation and pain relief, but not the giggles and munchies apparently.

I'm joining the hangover club.

Going to try to get back on track with the herbs today. I keep thinking I can't be bothered, because I'd rather have a nice relaxing drink. But this is all wrong. Maybe we all need cannabis tea, Longest.

Thank you, Bewildered!

Glad you had fun at the spa, NC4.

Paddling pool is an excellent idea, Frouby. I might offer mine a warm bath if they start campaigning for a hot tub.

Bewildered, I've just signed up for the 30 day experiment. I don't remotely think I'll manage 30 days, but as Annie Grace says, any positive step is better than none. Thanks for mentioning it.

My auto-correct just changed 'mentioning' to 'mention gin', BTW. 😂

NC4Now thank you :) it was actually on here somewhere that i heard about it and googled out of interest as well. A spa day sounds lovely! Did you manage to unwind and relax, what treatments did you have? I've been lurking on the AE Facebook Page and you can really see a difference in people from when they start and finish and a lot of people say they have shifted a few pounds due to the amount of sugar etc that's in what they used to drink etc.

Dionysa hahaha! "mention gin" are you going to be the devil on other peoples shoulder during this then?
Even if you don't stop for 30 days i think the daily videos and little exercises make you more mindful of what you're doing and are quite interesting in general. Even if you watched them and didn't stop at all you're further forward than you were so you're still winning

My hangover has gone now thankfully, think I sweated it out whilst doing roast lamb with all the trimmings.

Am stuffed now and collapsed on the sofa. Ds is whining because he is tired and he misses my auntie debbie, who has had to go to a walk in appointment at the local hospital. Am feeling a bit guilty because we haven't been outside anywhere today, though have sat in the garden for an hour. But we are going to the rspb nature reserve tomorrow so will be out in it then.

It's very warm here, it did the same last year at this time. Am wondering if we are going to get another long, hot, dry summer.

AF so far today, but just debating a nice, cold Budweiser sat outside. 😁