The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year, New Start, The Journey So Far.........

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse

Welcome. There are all kinds of lovely Babes on board this Bus, drinkers, non-drinkers, part-time drinkers and those who have no idea what they are when it comes to drinking. Some are newer posters and some have been here forever for a little while.

Come and say hi, there are no rules, no 'must haves', just plenty of open and honest support.

You can talk about whatever you like. Your life, your love or even your laundry. We've seen it all!

The important thing is that you can post if you want to, or not if you don't. There are posters in AA and posters who are using medication to beat The Booze and of course posters who are just trying to cut their drinking down with the support of The Bus and the people around them.

See where we've been so far by following this ---> LINK TO PREVIOUS THREADS HERE

Had a drink. Sorry. Back tmrw x

cristi yeah, these posts certainly rang a bell

Ma you sound much brighter today and great idea to get a good overhaul at the GPs. Don't hold back, tell him/her everything, and maybe take the opportunity to have a good hard think about what you want for yourself this year.

The weight loss - I started on 8th January and am going for 30lbs in 90 days (or 10lb a month) so am on track so far. I have not had any alcohol at all because when I drink, I eat salty, high fat foods, like peanuts and cheese, crisps, dip etc.

So now I don't drink and I only eat food which has decent nutritional value. I try to keep to 1,000 calories a day. I go to pilates once a week and badminton twice. I intend to pick up the exercise, as it gets easier when I'm not carrying as much weight. So far so good .

When I thought about drinking, I knew it would scupper the diet and I really, really need to lose this weight so I have a really strong motivation to not drink.

Not saying I will never drink but I don't want it right now and I sure don't need it. What can I say? It all just seems to have 'come together' and it's not that hard anymore. For me, it was about getting my head in the right space.

For anyone struggling, I would recommed getting another focus other than the drink. Rather than thinking about what you don't want (to drink every day for example) think about what you do want and how you can get there. Something with a strong motivation. Set yourself small goals and reward yourself when you achieve them .

mouse I don't know what to suggest re HouseMouse as I'm sure it will die anyway in the wild . But clearly it can't live in Nemo's bed. What about getting a little cage and keeping it as a pet?

No they don't die in the wild do they?? We release them, and I think we kept releasing the same one a few times until we did take them a decent way away (ie a few miles, not just to the field over the road :))

You cannot just leave them in the house, they breed at an extraordinary rate, and yes, not hygenic things, they wee and poo everywhere.

They only come into houses in winter for warmth, the rest of the year they tend to stay out so I'm sure they'll be fine in the wild. I might release after this cold snap if you can put up with him a few more days though!
Peanut butter is best bait we've found

Oh god, apologies for ignoring the far more serious matters on the thread

Silver I'm pleased to hear you and your mum are getting a bit of a break

Everyone else has given far better advice on other stuff than I could have.

We had a humane mouse-trap once. But a mouse got into it when we were away for a few days. It died in there. Slowly. Now we use the quick and final method, baited with a piece of mars bars - there could be worst last moments in a mouse's life. You CAN'T keep him in the house, or allow him to stay, or you will be overrun. And they will eat paper, books, insulation, Nemo's clothes. You'll find them in your food cupboards (or at least their droppings) and if they chew your electrical insulation - BANG!

Intersting what you say Faire about motivation. There are 2 ways of being motivated to do something, a Towards motivation where we have somthing that we want to achieve or, be or aim for, and and Away-from motivation where we are trying to get away from something that is causing us hurt or pain or discomfort. The problem with the away-from motivation is that it can be very short lived - as soon as we move away from the pain, it stops hurting, our memories of the pain diminish and out motivation wavers. I guess that changes in alcohol often fall into the away-from category - wake up have a crap hangover, promise never to drink again, start to recover, forget resolution and pick up a drink. I think the approach you are taking faire is a great one, and it seems to be working well for you on many fronts.

agree venus. i think the away from motivation is especially hard if you don't really suffer from the thing you are trying to get away from e.g. if your drinking isn't badly effecting your health or career. moving towards can be a lot more motivating in that case.

i was chatting to a friend about smoking the other day and saying just this. for me i've never suffered really from smoking. my BP is lovely and low and healthy, my lung capacity good, never had a smokers cough or felt it impede on my ability to do things etc so a) i don't get that aversion motivation and b) i don't feel much benefit when i stop whereas someone with symptomatic responses would get symptom relief. so giving up smoking is hard to motivate iyswim.

happy sunday everyone

been reading about house mice and their habits. mouse - my opinion is you need bait out at all times, room doors closed to limit their movements and be able to trace (by where they've eaten bait) what their routes are and where they're coming from, seal any and every gap and crack etc where they could be getting in and around (they need as little as 5mm to squeeze through) and keep it up until they're gone. they don't tend to fly solo - where theres a mouse there's a nest.

Morning, tis me, Mouse

Hippo - we always set them free, and they are fine. There are loads of them here because we're semi rural. I'm going to try peanut butter and stuff the holes in the floors the best I can. The trouble is that because the rooms aren't finished, we can't block the holes up.

Most of the doors upstairs don't shut because they are awaiting the builder to sort them out.

I was just so ed that he's got the bread without setting the trap off.

Thank you all for your suggestions. xx

We had the same mouse problem. I had the smart idea of getting two rescue farm cats to have as mousers. Big mistake. They caught the mice, oh yes, but outside. And the brought the feckers inside for a play. Bastards.

I became quite adept at catching near petrified mice by hand.

The cats of course then thought this was a game and just brought even more in. Finding them alive was marginally better than finding them dead. They used to eat all the mouse except the claws and what I think might have been the gall bladder. Nothing quite like treading on a mouse gall bladder at 6am, barefoot.

Apart from mice, the cats lived on a diet of steak, chicken, fresh fish and prawns. They ate better than I did.

MsGee - please don't apologise to us for drinking. You know that it's only you that you're letting down but if you're not ready to stop and can't do it then stop punishing yourself.

Just try to cut back for a while, have more soft drinks. just manage your drinking better. Take the pressure off yourself or you will drive yourself mad going round and round in this viscous circle xx

Ma - Did you have an England shirt on?

Faire - great post, very true. If we all stop worrying about what we don't want and need and start focusing on what we DO WANT and DO NEED, then it can only be a good thing.

I'm like you Faire in that I want to shift some serious weight. For the first time in my life, my BMI tells me that I am overweight.

It's not what I want at all. I want to be healthier, thinner, fitter and much more active. The injections I had were supposed to help with that, in terms of some pain relief.

However, they failed to work. And have in fact left me with much more pain on one side of my spine than I had before the procedure. DH pointed out to me that as yet, I've not seen a back specialist, only numerous physios and pain doctors.

No-one has actually had a really good look at my spine, up close and said 'yes, it's XYZ'.

I think that we'd all benefit from following Faire in her footsteps.

Hello all
I did drink last night. I need to find my 'towards' motivation (thanks for that venus, really interesting) to deal with my drinking and my weight.

Hello lovely Babes, and Boybabe wherever you are,

Dear me, a recurrence of the "up your jumper" infection yesterday, so more antibiotics, guaranteed to make me a weep fest in a couple of days for some reason. The nurse practioner said that it often happens and takes a second lot of ab's to make it go, but I was really scared again, although I think I am taking on the appearance of a cranberry now!!!

Very tired as well as very weepy(lucky DH ), will catch up soon.

Love to all, new day today, toward the healthy life for all of us xxxx

always

Poor you thurso hope you get some good rest and feel better soon. Why not put a weepy movie on if you're bawling your eyes out anyway?

Venus you clever lady, being able to define what I was warbling on about. Let's all try and find some towards motivation shall we?

Now I'm going to move towards the kitchen because I want a cup of coffee .

SSSM how are you doing?

Thurso - my first MRI scan did that, and that was then discussed with this pain doctor. He diagnosed me with the three conditions. He now wants me to have an upper spine MRI to see if I have the same disease affecting my neck.

He's supposed to be calling me on Wednesday evening to discuss how my pain is etc..... plus the other options should they be appropriate. I really don't want an operation on my back, I've heard lots of bad things and no good things about these kind of operations but it's not come to that so we're going to see what Wednesday brings and then take it from there.

If that means going private, then we will. Thank you for your post, I really hope that this next round of antibiotics works for you lovely lady. xx

hi all
venus that towards and away thing was spot on. I can motivate towards - make myself go out and plod round the track when I am trying to train for Race for Life - but I just can't seem to do the "away" stuff.

Evening all. Hey Faire

Sorry I've not been around much for the last few days. Weekends are always pretty busy so I don't really find the time/privacy to post (although always time to read - thank goodness for smart phones and being allowed to go to the toilet by myself ). Been feeling pretty low to be honest but I'm PRAYING it's just PMT and will pass. Hormones eh? Bastard things.

I'm thinking of you all and will be back with a vengeance come tomorrow . Hope everyone's doing OK x

thurso - with back to back ab's it might be worth getting some decent probiotic pearls/beadlets (the type that actually reach where they need to get rather than not making it past the stomach acid like the milk based drinks). it really wipes out your friendly bacteria and a lot of your immune system with it and makes you feel very run down. 'forever active probiotic beadlets' are good quality and sold online. metronidazole makes me utterly suicidal within days - don't know what it is about it but i can't finish a course - it just destroys me! never noticed it with any other type - hope it's not those you're taking.

msgee - hope you're ok - no need for apologies. don't be put off just get right back on.

fingers crossed it's a hormone blip sssm x

i drank today - small sherry and two small glasses of red wine over the course of the afternoon at my parents. it was nice. this last week is that plus a pint and another glass of wine so 6 units in total. can't remember what last week was but again less than 10 units for sure so this moderation and making sure i don't drink every day (and choosing each day whether i'll drink or not) seems to be going ok at the minute.

am desperately hoping i'll have lost some more weight this week (will weigh myself tomorrow) so that's part of my 'towards' motivation for sure.

plan this week is to get more active and get back to getting out there - didn't end up making it to my singing group or to zumba this week. walked the dog more and got a few things done at home but no move on the hermiting so this is the week. must remember!

right i'm waffling and it's time for bedtime stories. pop back on later. hope everyone has had a safe and healthy and happy weekend.

Evening, tis me, Mouse

Dinner has been made early and consumed within minutes. I was so hungry!

Nemo enjoyed it too, lots of licking of pasta to get the flavour off. So great to see him actually trying to eat. I couldn't care less if all he ate was chocolate and pasta for the first few months!

Saf - I'm hoping that I too have lost some weight this week. I was at the gym yesterday and tomorrow is Zumba al la Cocoon night. A whole hour of sweating. Fantastic.

I want to lose weight more than anything currently as my BMI is reading overweight

Mind you, rather that than look like I do than Jodie Marsh EWE!

hey mouse is nemo trying to eat these days? that's great news.

Ma - yes, he'll put most of what DH and I eat into his mouth, curry, lasagne, pasta dishes and vegs. He loves taste and hates bland stuff. He's just got to get to grips with the next step once it's in his mouth; chewing.

At the moment, he chokes on the tiniest crumbs. It's so frustrating for him. He is desperate to eat, really, really trying to be like us and his peers. He just has to keep going

I'm hoping that once they close the roof of his mouth off, he'll be more confident. He can choke on the smallest piece of bread.

I watch him in awe. He fascinates me, he makes me smile from ear to ear. He likes soup and coffee too. He's just so very clever, and the best thing is that's he's doing it all on his own.

You okay tonight Ma? I'm off to help DD colour her hair (I gave in to her big sad eyes) and then we're watching Being Human whilst eating syrup sponge........

Back tomorrow lovely Babes, stay strong xx

Hope everyone is coping and also hope that Wolf is ok up there in those snowy Italian mountains all alone.

Mouse hope you succeed with your battle of the mice.

Ma really feel your sadness which seems silly in text but somehow I do.

Nights are getting lighter, Spring won't be long, new life all around.

I have my second volunteer advocacy case to finalize this week, rather takes me out of my comfort zone, could not have done it when I was drinking, never had the capacity to be moderate. All being well it should get easier as I get more experience.

Here is too a happy and peaceful week. S.

that's great mouse. when does he have the op to close off the roof of his mouth? He's come so far hasn't he?
Sarah thank you for your comment.I am fine.

mouse my girls used to love things with stong tastes - string cheese, olives, capers, chillies. They still do.

Well guess what I found in the back of my cupboard this evening? Little bottles of food colouring. My dcs are well part the age when I was making them iced birthday cakes, and what I found was my 'wine colour kit'. Those of you who are recent to this thread and may only know me as a serene zen-like godess of goodness, may be interested to know that I could create the exact colour of a chardonnay, a pinot grigiot, a sauvignon blanc, a frascatti: so the bottle always looked half full at the end of the evening (just to be clear - that was the bottle that was on show, not the hidden bottle behind my desk or in my wardrobe).

It had the added advantage that (just incase dh remembered about the half bottle of wine) the next day I could drink a half bottle of the real stuff and replace the 'colour mix'. What utter, utter madness.

venus you have me totally confused. You mixed these colours with water?
It all sounds terribly technical.....