The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Next Stop Sobriety!

[Mouseface]

Hello, welcome to thread number six!!

I'm Mouse and, thanks to these threads, I quit the booze on August 2nd 2010.

This truly is a fantastic source of support for anyone who wants it! Full of real, honest, everyday people who are all at different stages of quitting the booze, cutting down or being long term sober.

There are no judgmental 'know-it-alls' here, whatever your circumstances, you will be supported all the way.

Come and meet the rest of The Brave Babes........

And, as before, here are the previous five threads for those who would like to see how this all began.

JWN's original thread (the reason we are all here)

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

i think i am coming up to 14 weeks - its funny but i dont feel teh need to count so much now - i just know i feel so much better that i dont want to go back to the booze! may 31st is the last time i drank.

Morning all. PILS have left to go shopping so I am free to waste time on here work .

I did use wine in my fish pie (it is a wonderful Delia recipe with fish stock and creme fraiche and dill and gherkins and it is really really yummy) and I felt fine about using it and then eating it. I did as Wasindie suggested and got MIL to open it and measure it out. I think she was pleased to be allowed to help with something in the kitchen. Normally I don't let anyone do anything (hell they might find my secret bottle!).

Dp was so lovely. I refused a glass of wine saying i just didn't fancy one and that i was rather thirsty so I'd have a big glass of apple juice. And dp said that we'd both been drinking less recently just because it made us feel healthier. How nice of him to share the reason and to take the attention away from me.

I saw on the news this morning that alcohol consumption had gone down by 6%. JWN you have made a big difference to the nation by starting this thread . Well done to all of us for our own little part in that.

Have you all disappeared? Just when I am coming out to play? Or are you hiding? Is this an on-line game of sardines? If I find any of you I might squeeze into the cupboard with you.

"A question for you all. Do you still cook with alcohol? And I mean that most sincerely folks, as in following a recipe and putting some alcohol in things that you are cooking, not the one-for-me / one-for-the-pot approach or the big glug of liquer over some ice cream."

I see things have moved on but this is a very interesting (and, for me, real) question so I would like to answer it.

The honest truth is that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I would eat anything containing "raw" alcohol. By this I mean that, if there is uncooked alcohol in something, I will not let it near my mouth. Not a liqueur chocolate, not even a mince pie - I buy myself the alcohol-free ones and everyone else has the "normal" sort. Whenever I can I even avoid alcohol-based mouthwash (i.e. most commercially-available mouthwash), partly because it is so horrible, though I will use it in an emergency.

If we are talking about food where the alcohol has been cooked, then I have to confess that, while some people are very anti-, I have more of a sliding scale. I am more likely to eat something cooked in (a small amount of) wine or beer than spirits; am more likely to cook something stewed than flambeed; and don't worry about vinegar but do about wine. It depends on whether it still "tastes" like alcohol and whether I can convince myself, on any given occasion, whether all the alcohol has burnt off or evaporated.

I would probably be happier avoiding it altogether but I live with a non-alcoholic drinker who does most of our cooking, so I have decided for me that these compromises work (just about.)

Oh, and when it's ME cooking, I NEVER use alcohol.

Hi MIFLAW, and thanks for your answer.

You do know that if I was JWN posting now, I'd be posting something flirtatious about squeezing into a cupboard with you

Jaysus

just seen your message re unwanted male attention.

First of all, PLEASE don't stay away from meetings because of anything, be it punch-ups or unwanted admirers. If needs be, just go to a different meeting! One of the many catchphrases I hate but nonetheless believe - "seven days without a meeting makes one weak!"

As for your ex-con - remember, alcoholism stunts emotional growth, which only resumes when we put down ther drink. In other words, what you have here is a teenager in a man's body.

so you need to let him down exactly as you would have when you were both 14. Keep bringing your husband/boyfriend up in conversation; keep the conversation resolutely off relationships or "feelings" apart from that (obviously, "I'm happy/sad/angry" is fine, but you know what I mean); answer all texts that are not obviously about sobriety as briefly as possible; and, if all else fails, don't answer.

One thing to say to the contrary - he might emotionally be a child but he is, of course, physically a man. If you have the slightest fear, DO NOT get left alone with him or accept lifts from him; and NEVER SPEND TIME ALONE WITH HIM IF HE PICKS UP. There are reasons why we send men to men and women to women on 12th step calls ...

Venus

She's only human.

Ha! Whereas I am made of sterner stuff.

Whereas you, as your name suggests, are a goddess.

Phew! I made it!!!!! I stayed sober, God knows how but I did.

A nice evening in the end...... which was a plus as I am uber low at the moment. Not feeling myself at all. Very much like this and then this and then this and then this .

Doctors next week for me! Time to take control in other areas of my life!

So much going on!! And DS is still as bad as ever. I have decided that he shall be called Nemo. He is our little survivour.

Anyway, enough of my moaning. DD goes back next Tuesday! Just finishing washing and naming her PE kit and uniform.

Red - hope you are still going up after feeling so low. xx

Wasindie - hope your girls are ok? How are bath-times? Any better?

JWN - I had this image of you when you said you had 4" cork wedges on!!! Not drunk though!! And before you call Rentokil, I am sure you are nothing like her!!!

JAB - hello I'm not sure I have said hi to you!

MsGee - well dome LittleMsGee! Can yo pass on a Mouse hug please? (( ))

Christi - great news about the job.

algee - I've been thinking of you. If you are lurking, hello.

venus - we have Roman Chicken which has a large glass of white in. Well, not anymore! I can taste it in there! Eeew!

TODAY I WILL NOT BE DRINKING!!! I have been more wobbley than a jelly on a skatebord! I'm back to an hour at a time currnetly and trying not to think about this evening!

I have not been pissed for over a month (I stopped drinking 2nd August, bar 2 small glasses of white) and feel much better for it!!

Well done to those who are reaching 2 weeks or more!!!!

Right, huge post so time to stop. Off to sort more washing out and get cheaper house insurance! Feckers think that they are going to put it up.

I think not Direct Line, I think not!

Ooh MIFLAW x

13th step in action.

Hi Mouse, well done for keeping sober. That is a whole month, and you were so unsure at the start. Docs sounds a good idea, much better than self-medicating with booze.

Real emotions can be hard. Important things is not to make yourself feel bad about feeling those emotions. Did you see Christi's post yesterday about not thinking about feeling tired? perhaps you could apply the same to your feelings until next week when you see the doc?

PS When we had mice in our house they liked mars bars more than they liked cheese.

Time for another AA slogan ...

"The GOOD thing about getting sober is you get your feelings back.

"The BAD thing about getting sober is you get your feelings back."

Re: the 13th step:

You are a naughty, naughty MIFLAW (assuming that you weren't replying to JWN's post, in which case you are a very undertanding MIFLAW).

Hello mouse! Well done for getting through another day. And well done for deciding to get yourself to the doc's.

JWN will be very jealous when she sees all the flirting between venus and MIFLAW!

I am doing well today - can't wait to get out of here. On a half day! Hurrah!

Have a good weekend Moomin. Have a good SOBER weekend. They're the best.

While the Christ's away ...

Thanks venus! I know you're right

You shouldn't tease MIFLAW, I am damn close to being old enough to be your mother, and I am not blonde and high-heeled like the Jesus-woman, and I know that as soon as she comes back on here, I'll be dropped like a stone.

Still, you've made an old woman smile this morning

I am 36.

But I look very young on the internet ...

Hi Mouse and MIFLAW - don't think I've said hi to either of yo yet.

Mouse can I just say how much Ive admired you as Ive read these threads. This isn't meant to be patronising so I hope you don't take it that way but I've got an 8wk old DD who, so far, is healthy and well. Ive found it hard enough looking after her so I just admire you so much for having the strength to look after your lovely DS. :)

As a newbie, I wanted to ask a question if thats ok? Particularly to those who have experience of being sober for a while.

Do the urges and temptations to drink lessen as time goes on? Or is this something that you merely have to live with? Also, do you find that you think about alcohol less as time goes on? One of the reasons (though there are many) that I begun to realise that I have a problem with drink is that I seem to think about (obsess!) alcohol all the time.

Hope this makes sense?!

Any pictures?

Any pictures of you dressed up as a cherub? (we godesses like cherubs, you know)

JAB, you will of course realise that my previous post was part of my ongoing fliration with MIFLAW, I am not expecting you to post pictures of yourself dressed as a cherub