The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Carry On Past The Homebrew In The Shed!

[HammerMouseOfHorrors]

Hello, I'm Mouse.

Welcome to the Brave Babes Bus. You can get on at any point in the journey, there is plenty of room, it's free to ride and there is always someone who will be along to hold your hand over the speedbumps!

So, no matter where you are in your quest to quit the booze, join us for support, advice and a fair few laughs along the way

There is no judging, no cliques, just real poster with real problems being real and honest!

Come and meet the others.....

Here is the previous thread where you can read all of the threads so far, including JWN's original thread and the reason we are all here.

TA - Everyone is entitled to an opinion on this thread, good, bad or ugly!

You sound as though you have a plan re the drinks...... no wine and substitute it for something you can't drink a lot of. Good idea.

Vodka was always my weapon of choice. Christ, I could nail 70cl in a night, no danger.......

So then I changed to shandy and wine or beer and wine or made weaker drinks when I first started posting here.

Didn't work for me though because I found I was drinking more and more and more again, just to get to that fuzzy warm place in my head.

You are taking control and that is brilliant! Keep going. Find out what works best for you. You won't know unless you try.

And, if you feel that you are slipping back into your old ways, stop and re-think!

This bus is filled with posters who all manage their addictions in different ways.

Keep posting and keep joining in!!

thurso - yep, it's all of the toxins being released by your system. You may find that you get headaches and shaky as your blood sugar levels adjust to the lack of booze/sugar in your body too.

Your hair will look lank but then look so shiny and glossy in a week or two. You'll have reduced pores on your face, less wrinkles and less bags, less redness in your cheeks etc....

You'll taste your food more, whether you smoke or not, and you will have shit loads more energy!

The pro's far outweight the cons!!!

And, yes, Nemo (DS) has SN and LD. I'll open my profile so you can have a look if you like.

Thanks babes for your support. I am trying not to project about the festive season. At the moment I have having enough difficulty taking it a day at a time. I see an empty wine glass in the cupboard and I want a drink. I see some Christmas lights and I want a drink. I see a pumpkin ffs and I want a drink.

As part of my strategy for today I have already made a casserole (better to be in the kitchen early in the day than at 4pm). I am going out to meet a colleague and then I will come home just in time to heat the casserole and cook some veg. While that is happening I will make a couple of key changes to my website (keep myself fully occupied). I have started some knitting and I have already got it out ready for me to do this evening.

I am going to but a couple of savoury drinks to try out tonight. Even if I hate them, it will be an experiment and will help to keep me safe.

Witchety - small amounts CAN be good for you.

If you are capable of drinkining one small glass (125ml) of red wine every day and no more (or half a pint of bitter) then I say go for it.

If not, then I think you should maybe ignore these benefits and concentrate on the immense downsides as they relate specifically to you.

Crikey Mouse, you are a baby, you make me feel quite ashamed of banging on about myself.
Obviously your experiences have made you so wise,(don't want to sound trite), I can't get over how helpful and caring you are to everyone else when you have such a lot to deal with, and to stop drinking as well, well, words fail me (now there's a first!)
Bless you.

good afternoon all

Venus I'm so sorry you're struggling. This has happened to me before when I quit drinking for 3 months. The longer the time abstaining, the smaller the problems appears in your head and the more appealing 'a glass' of something seems. I succumbed in the end and was back up to speed in no time (bottles of wine a night ). Before the weekend, thinking about the whole 'see the film through to the end' scenario really helped me not to pick up during the week.

I bought some elderflower cordial today which says on the bottle, try me hot, maybe a nice alternative now it's getting colder? Am going to try it out tonight and will report back!

Mouse the improvements you describe sound amazing!! Can I fast forward week 3 please ?

Just a thought for people who are on day 1 today - once I'm past night 1 with no booze, I feel so much more positive about thinking I can do this. The prospect of night 1 when you've been drinking heavily is so bloody scary, but the relief and elation of having done that first night is enough to take me onwards on a high.

Congratulations JWN on 5 months, really really fantastic!!

Hope everyone is having a positive day xx

thurso - 'Christ Mouse, you are a baby'??

You have just made me spit Diet Coke out!! And, as you can see, Nemo is a great reason to be sober, no?

venus - hang in there!!!!

Busy morning on here:) Had a chat with my two youngest daughters yesterday and told them that I wanted to stop drinking, they asked why, and I simply said that I enjoy it too much, and once I have had the first drink I don't stop .

Tis I - Toclear!

Thought I would change my name to reflect my new positive attitude :)

Am just checking in while I eat my lunch, will catch up on the weekend's goings on and post back tonight.

Today is Day 4 :)

Just been to the post box, and I am can see I am going to have to ration myself on this thread.
Is this like a Facebook addiction?
MouseI hope you didn't spit it over the screen! You are a baby to me (motherly hug).

Right, off to make a hash of the first Christmas cake I have ever made!

ClearMiss

Great name change! And a fab start to the week!!!

thurso - make sure you keep feeding the cake! Keeps it lovely and moist. And, I like the idea that I have someone on here to give me motherly hugs!!

Feel free to dish them out to me whenever you like xx

made our Christmas cake last week. For once, there is now something in our house with a higher alcohol content than me

hello everyone!, just a quick check in!, its so nice to see such positivity!!

venus - hang on in there love!!, it will pass, im sure!!, last night i did feel a bit resentful when dh opened a bottle of red, one sniff was enough to put me off though, it smelt sort of cloying and dirty, cant explain it really, it just made my pomegranate and soda smell all the more sort of clean and healthy - remember that horrible dirty mouth that wine gives you?, ugh, makes me shudder just to think of it!

thurso, im a bit of your christmas cake!, i have never made one, im the only person in this house who likes fruitcake so it has always seemed a bit pointless.

mouse my love, im sorry but im working at home today, our server is buggering about and i cant get to my emails - could you pm me instead please?? thanks!

ha!! demented! thats a good one!!!

JWN - it's nothing important, just an updated list for you lovely. xx

demented just put it in the oven. Your comment really made me laugh.

No-one in our house likes cake, or not much of it anyway, so if I make one it moulders away for ages.

My sis and I have decided to economise on pressies this year, so thought I would make this cake for my mum and dads present, can't wait to see their faces, probably. They know I cook a lot, but just don't do cakes!

Actually bought the sherry to soak the fruit in yesterday, and made DH look at the level after I'd done it . Playing safe!!

thurso there is no point in making a Christmas cake with no booze in the fruit. My mum injects hers! Leaves it for months so it feeds on the booze!!

It is devine but best you don't drive after you've had a piece!

Sorry to disagree, but I think there is every point in buying, if not making, a cake with no booze. It is delicious and means that I do not start the downward spiral of, "hmm, perhaps I could have just one drink" at a time of year when it is almost de rigueur to have "just one drink" and people who didn't know me in the old days are trying to force it down my neck.

I also buy my own mince pies for the same reason.

Just my view as ever, but I don't count a glassful of brandy in a Christmas cake as any different from a glassful of brandy in my hand.

Hello matey's,
just checked the cake, and seems to be ok, also made two little cupcakey ones with the leftover mixture for Dh and Dc to try.

I soaked the fruit in 150ml of sherry, and, as I said made Dh look at the bottle! and put it away, altough wine is my game. I am going to feed it, but don't know how often to do it.

Luckily, I don't like fruitcake, and can't think of anything else I cook that has booze in, except casseroles, chinese....
Anyway, Milflaw, after feeling a tiny bit pleased with myself for the last 4 and a half days, I am not going to chance even that, and Dh says that everything will be just as delish.

Thurso you sound very upbeat:)

Dh said that last night. He was cooking, and instead of 2tblspns of booze, he put in spices and veg stock. Better to be safe than sorry, eh.
Not something I'd ever thought about before really, because you don't reallty taste it in food.

yup, waiting for the crash Desire

public sector contracts cancelled? What's your line of work Wasindie, if you don't mind me asking?

thurso's booze filled Christmas cake, (feed it weekly BTW), IS FOR HER MUM AND DAD, not her!!!

Wasindie - sounds like a full day.

Hey desire