The Brave Babes Battle Bus - On Their Way To Giving Up The Booze For Lent (or just for today)

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse

Welcome to the Brave Babes Bus where you'll find a mix of drinker, non drinkers, those who has been sober for a long time, and those who are getting there One Day At A Time.

Come and say hi....... we won't bite

And if you want to know how this all got started, HERE is a link to the previous threads.

Sarah - again. Thank you. I have just finished reading the artical and its bang on. Too much. Too much booze and its all made so normal that not drinking seems abnormal? I did laugh at your image of me in my bed all propped up and actually - youre bang on! I do feel/look like Im at the helm of the Starship Enterprise.... sitting up in bed with the phone, laptop, knitting, remote controls x 2, cup of tea, box of chopped up melon all to hand and of course the electric blanket turn on to boiling bastard hot! I quite like it but it cant carry on forever. I highly supect Ill do it all again tonight? Does this make me weird???

Fairenuff you were right. I did it. I didnt drink last night. It sounds so pathetic 2 days of not drinking but it is unheard of. I thank you all for your help and support.

bibbity - I read your post and immedidately went downstairs and poured the wine down the sink and put the tin of G&T in MrBlankets lunch box? I asked him to get it out the house/take to work/chuck in the bin becuase if I open it - Ill drink it. The house is now free of alcohol and I can breathe better.... :o) I thank you. x And SarahRT gave me a link to a brilliant piece written by a journalist that wasnt encouraging me to drink! So youre right about that :o)

Nice to meet you jesuswhatsnext - the effort is currently going in but I fear myself and my staying power..... Im not very disciplined. How did your workout go?

MsGee - what happened? (Big hugs). Are you ok? Dont worry you get another go at abstaining tonight. In my head - Ive decided that Im not drinking at home any more. We hardly every go out so in theory - I wont be drinking much at all. You proably need to make a definitive plan and then have a go at sticking to it. How do you feel this morning?

thurso1 - nice to meet you. I havent quite told MrBlanket the reality of what Ive admitted to myself. But Ive told him enough for him to support me in not drinking at home (which youre right is bleeding marvellous)... I guess I have to do this for myself first? I dont know....

.....all I know is that come 7pm tonight - Im proably going to have to go to bed again. :o( But if its working then :o)

???

Whatever it takes is fine blanket. The only way to cut down or stop drinking is not to drink, it doesn't really matter how you achieve that in the early days - you just need to make a start. Well done on last night!

Afternoon all,bit too slugish here for a boing in fact feel like bleurgh

sarah I just read that article and was planning to have a little glass of wine later as it's friday but after reading that,maybe not.It kind of says to me that I can't restrict my intake during the week and have several glasses at the weekend as that would make me a binge drinker,so basically just swapping 1 bad habit for another.

blanket blooming well done you,I bet you feel so proud and as for the running,I have been doing it on and off for years.Before I stopped drinking I could knock out a 5k no trouble but in the last 2 weeks I have been struggling.I spoke to my gp as had an appointment today and she suggested that without a body full of booze I might just be feeling real pain when running rather than just feeling hungover,food for thought there I think,may need to adopt a new mental attitude to running if I can't rely on booze and have to actually feel my body

jwn all this talk of straps and being beasted,my my :o but I did like your little pep talk about telling the basterd drink to feck off next time it rings

MsGee welcome to confused.com but to be fair to yourself you have done really well and proved that you can do it so now it's your personal choice where you go from here.What you said yesterday about your dd and ladybirds really struck a cord with me as my ds did the same last year,when the ladybird vanished he wailed for hours about how he missed him and loved him so much

I have been to see my GP again today and am most pleased that my liver is absolutely fine,a great relief on that part,she was a bit when I said I was craving sweet stuff and it had been suggested that it was my body needing to replace the sugar from the alcohol.I told her that I had had a few drinks last week but had been back on the wagon again,apparently I need new coping strategies for all the things that make me stressed and agitated,that will take the rest of my life as everything does

The odd news from the doc was that even though I had previously had an under active thyroid it looks like mine is going the other way so need to go back for another test in 2 months,but this would explain the sweats,greasy hair/skin,itchy eyes,heart palpitations.GGGrrrr why is nothing easy.

Have a good dya ye all and as dh is out entertining american visitors this pm in a restaurant I will probably be on here looking for distractions.

Blimey I have written an essay

Afternoon all, having a sit down before I launch into another tirade, been one of those weeks.

MsGee, if you can try not to over think all of this. And certainly don't knock yourself out over booze. It is just not worth all the grief. You just have to reach a comfort level for you. We are like fingerprints, all look the same from a distance, but are quite different. If you are not happy with controlled drinking or can't control it, then you need support. And that is here. There is no shame in being muddled or sad, just don't excuse the pun, bottle it up. I think you need to prove to yourself that you can take it or leave it. You only need to do that once, then decide which direction to head. It's up to you.

Hello dear Blanket, just do whatever it takes, if it makes you smile, you made me smile lotsly, then you have achieved a real goal. Well done.

Darling Quiet, yes and I am afraid it happens regularly. My very dearest RL friend who likes me to talk about her, she is not a client, used to come home on a Friday with a bottle of Gordon's and made sure that she drank it before she passed out, every drop. Never drank during the week. She would then start at precisely 11am on Saturday with wine, on the pretext that she was preparing meals for the weekend, and when she had had three bottles, usually by 3pm, she would go for a sleep, get dressed in some designer frock at 5.30pm on the dot, never was going anywhere, have a cocktail hour on dry martinis until 7.30pm then serve up some slop that she had lovingly made between 11 and 11.30am that morning, light candles the full dinner table thing, and pass out again at pudding, well Cognac for her. Sunday she was resting. That came from a built up over 5 years of a gin on a Friday and a bottle of wine on Saturday. She is sober now, but her recovery was very long and fraught with angst. I just hope as ever that none of you get to be full blown, it is such a deep abyss.

Hope you are ok Mouse.

Be safe everyone xx

Um. Sorry to keep being all me me me again.... but how does one NOT drink on a Friday?

I really want to.. :o(

Afternoon all

What a day I've had! I'm already yawning. Blanket I might be in bed before you tonight .

MsGee I agree with JWN. What do you want? Do you want to travel in the sidecar for a few days, drink what you like, remind yourself of why you want to stop/cut down?

Don't put pressure on yourself. If you want to stop it has to be because you want to. If your heart's not in it you will get into the cycle of drink, regret, guilt, etc. which you just don't need. Whatever you decide to do, keep posting won't you, my lovely .

I fancied some wine this evening. I though about it earlier. There's no reason not to drink. I haven't had any at all for three weeks and only four glasses in the last eight weeks. I feel happy that I could have two glasses and then stop. Controlled drinking seems to be working for me.

On the other hand, there is no reason to drink really. I'm not going out tonight or socialising and it would be empty calories. I'm undecided at the moment but leaning towards not drinking. I think what I really need is a good rest.

Blanket don't think of it as a Friday. It's just a day. Would you like to join me in a cup of tea instead? I'm going to have fennel & peppermint. If you think it will be tough this evening, I think you should carry on with the getting into bed plan.

Have you read any of the really early threads, or the one from JWN that started it all? If not, that will make very inspiring reading and keep you on track .

Agreed. It is Friday. I have treats and there is always the bed and the electric blanket!

The problem is that Ive discovered a bottle of rose in the fridge.
I could open it NOW and get going and then Mr Blanket wont be able to stop me....
Or I could just throw it out the back door and then its gone and then I can go back to being in bed and not hungover...
But what a waste...
Sorry. Major meltdown...

Blanket these are the times where you have to fight it if you're going to. It's not easy but it will pass. Have a soft drink, something to eat, do something else. Come back and tell us how you're getting on.

blanket - a bottle of rose? hmm! how could throwing that away possibly be a waste? the stuff is chemical cack! take that from an alkie who knows! seriously, you will find temptation everyday, the easy way is to just drink the shit!, you do have a choice though! you CAN go and put the kettle on, you COULD go and pour a chilled juice, either would be fine, OR you can drink the rose and come back on the morning and tell us how great it made you feel! and it will wont it? you are here by mistake right? not being harsh btw, just trying to make you see how daft opening the bottle would be!

JWN - I love you.
Thank you.
Bottle ignored. Coffee in hand.

Sense regained.
x

Faire you too. Feel really stupid but teh reality is - I was a quivvering mess. ????? You guys were there and its quiet bloody marvellous.

Im done.

(she goes up stairs to put the blanket on)

x

blanket don't you dare chuck the bottle out the back door,somepoor innocent creature could cut their puddies on the broken glass,just tip the nast vile rose stuff down the sink (and yes I truly believe rose is vile after an incident with a bottle or 2 of it in my heavier going out drinking days,not a pleasant time with my head down the toilet)

Yes that'sit,if you have the urge to drink your lovely bottle of rose any time this evening then just imagine me doing it in reverse (as in the reverse of drinking it) with my head down the toilet,that should be enough to put you off for life

Just want to say I am having a quite outstanding cup of tea right now. So gorgeous Yorkshire tea (not Gold) with only a little milk, in my favourite mug. Completely perfect!

A great start to the evening Babes! Enjoy your cups of tea. I am off for a lovely soak in the bath...

Go Blanket!! Feels good when you fight the urge and win doesn't it?

Hope everyone else is doing OK. You alright MsGee? Don't let last night get you down. Onwards and upwards and all that

Oh yes Bibbity, you are talking my language, I love my Yorkshire, and love Yorkshire tea even more. I have my pot on the go too.

Blanket, Quiet with her head down the lavatory should be enough to dampen the ardour for that foul acidic crap..

Get those needles clicking, how about an Easter bonnet? I am hoping you are going to have a lovely deep sleep tonight, natural and chemical free.

Hi, sorry i've not been around today - thanks for everyone's thoughts.

The difficult bit is accepting what I want vs what I can have. I've been on this bus for 18 months now and had 3 months of sobriety when I first joined, followed by a further 3 months when I was pregnant (the whole time I was pregnant, I didn't drink for 6 months of a pregnancy for new folks!) and then the odd week here and there since last summer. What I want is to have a glass of wine each night, enjoy it and not want more. But I never can. I think I need a bit of a reality check.

I haven't drank so far tonight (working and loving my job at the moment!) but I think I will have a glass or two.

Nothing new has happened, its the same old story. I drink too much and I am still heartbroken about everything that happened last year.But I can't blame that. I drank too much before then. And as soon as my lovely baby died it was the first thing I did again.

Right I am off to potter in the kitchen for a bit. I love you all and I'm sorry I'm not much help to anyone else today. x

MsGee that vote you mentioned earlier. I vote for you to try and drum up more work. Only because it seems to help you focus, distract you, give you some purpose in the evenings, and would be an extremely good reason to buy more stationery.

I often think of your loss, of what you have been through and are still going through. There's nothing anyone can say or do to make it any more bearable for you but I just wanted you to know that I have not forgotten either x

MsGee I could never ever be the kind of person that had 1 glass and stopped there,this is not who I am,if you can't be that person then you might just have to accept it and move on as I am attempting to do...I have to say I know nothing of your history as I have deliberately not read all previous threads,I just want to find out as I go along,point is I 'm already in awe of you,the advise you have given me but mostly for the fact that when your dd needed you you were sober and ready,I have in the past not been sober when mine needed me,quite the opposite in fact,have had to rely on sobering up very quickly,you have been quite the opposite this evening of not much help,many thanks and enjoy pottering in your kitchen and the next bit comes from someone who finds human touching a bit eeuugghh ((((((hugs))))))

Hi, my name is Wrath and I hope I can join you. I have been caning it for years, at least a bottle of white a night, at my worst 3.

I had counselling but I moved, was down to 2 glasses a night but I seem to have lost it.

I really need to give up completely. There is no logical reason why I can't.

just catching up. hi blanket