The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Staying Springy In Their Quest For Sobriety.

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse I have an shockingly abusive relationship with alcohol, mainly vodka.

This Bus is full of drinkers, non-drinkers, thinkers and Babes, all trying to find their way to a happy, sober life.

Some are there, some are almost there and some are not. It really doesn't matter, we're all in this together.

Why not find a seat? Everyone is welcome, drinking or drunk, come and say hello.

HERE is the previous thread, with a link to all of the other wonderful journeys so far............

bet you've gained muscle kirsty hence weighing more. that's what i always tell myself

took ds to the park after school which was nice and all the nicer for not being spending the whole time obsessively thinking about when i could get back to pour a drink.

popped in the shops to pick up a few bits on the way home and god the wine is everywhere isn't it? they don't just put it in the booze aisle they put a rack by the deserts, by the meal deals and so forth - totally shove it in your face. i nearly had a reflex look at the offers and then remembered i don't drink! the placement of it everywhere - and the fact that it was wine not beer smattered about the place made me think about what we were talking about on here about marketing towards women - they shove wine in our face by all sorts of key foods - puddings re: treat yourself, meal deals with ready meal/quick cook stuff re: go on have an easy night. and so on. we are very much targeted and it's clearly not an accident as they spend a fortune researching this stuff and deciding what to put next to what iyswim.

nice to have the routine of school back again. a few hours from now it will all be over for another day

SAF My DD is with her dad for the next 3 nights so I need to be keeping myself busy ... ehh .. building muscle!!

Quite often if I've had a bad day I just made things easier than ready meals for myself and just had a bottle of red, a big bag of chilli heatwave dorritos and a tub of houmous for dinner

I definitely think it is hard in the supermarket - the only advantage is at the checkout - shopping is much cheaper without the 6 bottles of red!

I also used to positively salivate over 'come dine with me' - not the food just the array of drinks! Will definitely not be tuning in any time soon
:)

SAF they know their market.

In my town's M&S, you walk through the women's clothing department straight into a wall of wine bottles on special offer. They tie in a bottle of wine with their 'Dine In For Two' offers, although a soft drink is available as an alternative. However, as wine is more expensive than the soft alternative, one feels one is getting more for one's tenner IYSWIM.

It is everywhere. I just can't imagine how many women, just like us, fight to beat their addiction.

Someone said that wine is the new 'mother's ruin' and that, to my mind, is very true.

I was salivating over Come Dine With Me as well - especially when they were drinking Champagne, even though I don't like Champagne. Mind you, watching them all get pissed and argue/flirt etc makes me wonder whether excessive drinking is a deliberate ploy to make the show more 'entertaining'.

Wobbling again. Only day 2. Time for another Becks Blue...

Can't believe how busy this thread is - am struggling to keep up. Mia and msGee you sound so positive - brilliant. I aspire to be where you are in a few weeks' time... We'll see.

Afternoon all . Am enjoying a lovely cuppa before I force my weary bones out to pilates . It was my first day back today Saf (hence the tiredness) but it's good to be busy.

Casa good to see you are still around. Keep posting your thoughts, you never know what helps til you try and you've got nothing to lose by hanging out with us for a bit .

Island I would suggest that you don't buy the cava this year. I know it's a ritual but remember some habits have to change. Mark the occasion in a different, non-alcoholic way, and make that the new ritual. If you want things to change, you have to make those changes. And Saturday? Well, as it's only Tuesday today, let's leave that decision until Saturday shall we? No point in depleting your jugs unnecessarily .

MsGee the great thing about the 'to do' list is that when you've done something, you tick it off like this . Oh, and when you've done something it stops being a 'to do' and becomes a 'ta da'! How fab is that? So, I have just mopped the kitchen floor, ta da!

SSSM great to see you back, come and recharge your batteries with us x

Kirsty stick with it, the weight will come off eventually. Ferfux get that becks blue down you, then maybe put the kettle on and join us in a . Are you hungry? Tired? Try to meet those needs first. Come back for a chat and let us know how you're doing. The bus is really busy but the good news is that there will probably be someone around to chat with all evening .

JWN am thinking of you - Tell that voice to fuck the fuck off! x

Ferfux. I'm in the sidecar too, so much for resolve.

Hi all. Day 8 here and I am tired, grumpy, my car is fucked and I want a drink. I am not having one, though :) And my small child has just spilt her tea all over the floor :(

Kirsty yy to diet bru. It's great!

Thanks fairenuff. Not hungry as I've been stuffing my face for the past hour, but I am absolutely knackered. Is that really a trigger? Am permanently sleep-deprived at the moment thanks to 18-month old sleep terrorist. Not much i can do about that though.

Not in the Sidecar yet greyhound - Becks blue is alcohol-free. It may only be a matter of time tho. It is so hard isn't it. Do you think it is your weekend drinking that is making it harder during the week?

you've made me laugh faire. enjoy pilates and well done on first day back AND still going to pilates - admirable.

greyhound - wow through women's clothes straight to wine - blatant isn't it?

fizzy you need a non alcoholic treat.

ferfuxake - i think tiredness is a trigger because if you can't sleep you want to change it and our big changer is booze. anything that needs a hug we pour alcohol on when you think about it, in a way, maybe

managed to sort out childcare for tomorrow night so i can go to a meeting - it's the one i went to first last week so it will be nice to return - everyone was very friendly there.

less than an hour and the boy will be in bed and i can zonk with chocolate

Ferfux ah might try that Becks blue. I'm alone on the Sidecar.

Ferfux. I think the fact that I have an unhealthy dependence on booze makes it difficult to stop. My weekend drinking isn't something I can imagine giving up.

Been for my run in the pissing rain .. 5km in 26 mins .. guess I should set the treadmill a bit faster in future :-)

Going home to an empty house .. this will be the hard bit .. I've got 9 bottles under the bed.. can i resist ? May just have dinner and shower then bed to avoid the temptation

Me neither Greyhound. God, if I find Monday and Tuesday so hard how on earth do I cope with Friday and Saturday?

I like the idea of alcohol as self-hugging SAF. Amazed I haven't smothered myself yet mind.

Bloody hell kirsty! You training for the Olympics?

Could you bear to tip the wine away?

9 bottles way.. no way!!

I'm an all or nothing gal .. aren't we all

Hey, congratulations on getting your poems published by the way, Greyhound. That's amazing. And SAF - another meeting - you're getting into the swing of it now. And KirstyWirsty running miles and miles in the rain ( and I can't blame you for not chucking 9 bottles away!). So many achievements...

I, meanwhile, am on Becks Blue number 3 and really badly craving a glass of wine. So far only the fact that DH is not drinking tonight is shaming me into resisting the call of the bottle. I would say he is a problem drinker too, in that he drinks far too much on a more or less daily basis, but when he makes up his mind to have time off he does seem to find it much easier. Guess that makes me the addict then .

Ferfuxake Monday and Tuesday have always been hard for me because I've been drinking a lot over the weekend, feel hungover and want to alleviate that crappy feeling with a chilled white pick-me-up. But then I never get rid of that hungover feeling... and so it carries on through the week.

I love your name by the way - it's one of my most uttered phrases. I've trained myself to subsitute the Danish 'for fen' or 'va fen' (a versatile phrase that means anything from 'for god's sake' up to 'for fuck sake', depending on context) which is great because I can pull back from 'for fffffff...' and manage not to swear in front of DD so much.

kirsty are you weighing yourself at the same time of day? Preferably first thing in the morning? Your weight can vary by 2lbs according to the time of day so I bet you've actually lost at least 2lbs.

Faire said "No point in depleting your jugs unnecessarily "

DD's managed to do that in more ways than one then, first the breastfeeding and now the endless requests!

I want my dinner. DH is cooking (yes, I am very lucky in some ways) and I'm thinking maybe the craving will pass when I'm full up and ready to move on to tea and chocolate .

Sarah I'm glad you liked the tea!

saf that's really interesting about the PGO spikes - I'll go and look that up.

greyhound Well Done You! What a brilliant achievement to get published. I know exactly what you mean about drinking to celebrate - I drink to celebrate, drink to commiserate; you name it, I want to drink to it.

Mia - I promised myself I would not swear in front of DDs, but for some reason FFS doesn't feel like real swearing (don't ask me why) and is probably overheard by one of them on a more or less daily basis. I dread the day I get a call from the nursery to discuss my little one's colourful language.

Really want a glass of wine my dinner. Come on DH, Pull your finger out. I should really be working but just can't focus.

Yay. Here it comes. Will stop filling up the thread with shite now and go and eat.