The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year? So, Let's Go Up A Gear!

[ChristMouseTimeMistletoeNoWine]

Hello, tis me, Mouse (normally Mouseface but I'm wearing my festive name )

Welcome to the Brave Babes Battle Bus, to a place of solace, support and sanctuary, if that's what you seek of course. It's also a Bus full of bloomin' chatterboxes, waffling on about life, love and all things from school reports to laundry!

The journey into 2013 is going to be an ass kicking one as we're moving up a gear to give the WineWitch a bloody good slapping, and the BoozeBeast a kick in the bollo.............

Some of us drink in moderation, some of us drink. Some of us are sober, some of us are trying so very, very hard to be.

Some of us have been dry for days, weeks, months and some of us years...... some of us are just starting out and are scared of what stopping drinking means. It's not forever, it's just for today if that's what you want.

We have a saying on the Bus One Day At A Time. Or ODAAT

Take each moment, each day and each blip as it comes. The support on this Bus has kept me from ruining my life time and time again. The experiences of others shared here has helped me to change the way I see alcohol, the way I see what it does to me.

Although some Babes have been here a while and kind of 'know' each other, we all have different lives, different roles to play, different places to sit on the Bus, but we ALL have or have had abusive relationships with alcohol and we're here because we want that to change; for the better.

Everyone is welcome here so don't be afraid to just jump right in and say hi. Post as much or as little as you like!

So, come say hi, grab a seat, an eggnog (non alcoholic of course ) and a mince pie, or chocolate chip cookie, and meet some lovely, genuine people who are just like YOU.

Also, HERE IS THE PREVIOUS THREAD with a link in the OP to the first ever thread, and the reason why after more than two and a half years, this thread is still here, supporting those in need.

jango well done on not drinking them. Now chuck em down the sink in case the wine witch uses them to tempt you.
Day 7 completed here. Approaching my all time personal best of 9 days....

What will you do with the wine jango? Can you give/pour it away, or is there someone who will look after it for you? It's so much easier to resist when it just aint there.

Well done ma. I don't think a big meal will have that much of an effect on your diet. As long as you get back into your groove now

Well done Ma! Awsome! x

Ma You are going to sail right on by day 9 this time I know it!!

jango what did you do with the wine? my tip is to leave it in the car (or the shed!)

Or freeze it. That way you will have to wait for it to defrost and by then the urge may have gone.

Or, if you are like me, leave it somewhere warm. I can't bear warm wine, makes me retch! By the time it's nicely chilled you may have gone off the idea?

Joey How did you sleep last night? Any better? I was better but still not good.

Day 7 ma - go you!!!

Loving the positivity on the bus at the mo, poms poms waving at you all

About to sign off and, hopefully, get a good nights sleep but just wanted to say thank you so much to Ma, Baby, Joey, Green, Faire, Gugg, Koti and Mouse. Thank you, lovely ladies, for your concern and sorry again for causing a stir. Night Babes xxxxxx

Hi all,
Had a lovely catch up with friend... She said how well i looked, ( already??!!) maybe she was just being polite... But hears hoping its really true! 6 alcohol free days out of 7... For me thats a big record! So, i rewarded myself with...wait for it... A kebap!! But no drink! Woo! Feeling great in myself and with myself!
Hope you all had a good day!

Ma - I would love some steak pie if there is any left? Started low carb diet today, only treat I can have is sugar free jelly, got home from work and taking ds to athletics, starving, and found dh had given them to the kids - who have whole cupboards full of treats, grr. In bed now, tummy rumbling, herbal tea. It had better be worthwhile, I expect to be size 6 next week (not!)

Baby, MrD and Jango, welcome! I am not much further along, only day 5 today; but feeling better for ignoring the wine witch.

You can all have my opal fruits until I hit target, unless dh has handed them to the kids behind my back. Not that I am bitter about this (hits pillow and chews nightie fretfully)

Mouse - your lovely pics cheered me up though. What a gorgeous family. And Nemo is just beautiful! Love the curly hair : )

Ps Clutter, how did it go today?

Hi everyone, you're all doing so well- high fives to you all! Day 3 complete and it was bloomin hard. Drank a cup of tea while making dinner- unheard of! Put washing away after dinner and the WW reared her ugly head so I said out loud "f**k off"! (DC's were out of earshot). Makes me laugh just thinking of it. Felt i had more time for my kids today and got more done after work too.

Soma my lovely. I am in a good frame of mind. I don't know what's been different this time, I just hope it lasts! I'm seeing such clear and immediate benefits, I think that really helps. Today I did some clearing and tidying; really trivial and boring stuff, but usually I would have given up or got frustrated because every thing I tidied didn't have a space to go to. But this time I just plugged on and did it. It sounds like such a tiny thing, but there is just no way on earth you would normally see me doing that on a Monday - Monday is the worst hangover day after a weekend of drinking to excess, the day I don't want to speak to anyone or do anything, the day when 2 AFDs loom insurmountably over me, when the week stretches into the distance before I can drink without guilt again. But not this Monday. Today I felt calm and clear headed. I wasn't irritable with DD, I didn't feel that anxious shaky feeling, I didn't feel overwhelmed by every little thing. I got on with doing what needed to be done, and that is like some sort of little miracle for me!

11 days is great! How are you feeling for it? I know you've done this lots of times before and felt great but then slipped. Do you keep a diary of how you feel? I'm doing that this time, to try and track the benefits so I can make a reasoned and informed decision about whether drinking is worth it for me. I know I don't want abstinence, never have, but I'm feeling so so much better for a week of very little drinking. Is it abstinence you want? (I suspect not, as you've been asking people about controlled drinking! )

Wow- busy night on the bus. Love and respect to all who fought tonight; for those babes who fought and feel they lost, tomorrows another day. Get back on the bus first thing and temper HALT.
Tooth pain/ face ache etc. wiped out November and December for me and are doing a number on January too and angry. I'd love to revel in my skinniness, but I've gone from plump to crack addict in a few weeks and missed the day I looked ok.
Never mind, I'm not drinking, or even struggling and a drink would make it much worse, so I'm very grateful indeed.

purple hope you sleep better tonight. DH is in the spare room with DD, so I only have to share with the dog!

g'night Babes, sleep tight, don't let the bugs bite

help you poor thing you must be pig sick by now - are you recovering now, is there light at the end of the tunnel?

mia you sound so positive :)

Well done stronger I think I heard your F OFF! From here

Well done looking for and MrD I can smell that kebab from here :)

Waves and blows kisses to all the other lovely babes.

Well looking back a week ago I'm so glad time has moved on since that hideous day but I am still embarrassed to leave the house in case I see any of the locals :( and I still have self inflicted gastritis. Anyway a week AF and onwards and upwards, going to do some more SMART stuff this week. X

Mia what a lovely post, you sound so content. And I know exactly what you mean, I cleaned the house from top to bottom yesterday and whilst not exactly enjoying it, I just got on with it and focused on the job in hand. No, the idea of abstinence is a very hard one for me to take on board and yes I've been here loads of times before. But like you say, this time feels a little bit different, as if I too am able to see and appreciate clear and immediate benefits.

I'm keeping a diary too (I always do) but this time I'm focusing specifically on the drinking part of my life so I can really learn this time. I'm not thinking about controlled drinking just yet, want to remain abstinent for a while (I think) and see how it goes. But for the time-being, I'M LOVING NOT DRINKING. Huge hugs to you and the other babes. x

Morning babes. Lots of positive posts there - Mia, Soma, you both sound great, yay!

Green - hope that gastritis buggers off soon, and goes to love in a dark cupboard with Help's toothache and Joey's bugs.

Stronger - high fives right back at yer babe!

Right - off to the shower. I will not be drinking today x

Live in a cupboard. Not love. Damned phone!

mia the plugging on, the satisfaction in doing stuff! I just didn't get it before, or see the attraction. I lived on the edge, albeit in a very boundaried way, and actually thats boring. The constant scrabbling to find stuff and produce a rabbit out if a hat, because a thousand little jobs had been forgotten or done badly.
AA talks about the three emotions we felt when drinking.
Depression, Anxiety and Excitement
That was 100% true for me- everything had reduced to shades of that. Relief at getting away with it again is only the temporary alleviation of anxiety

morning lovely babes,

Pulling the smug knickers on again, it's the start of day 8 for me. I once managed an entire 3 weeks but that was a very rare, not repeated event.I am starting to reap the benefits now: my mind is clearer and I can recall them things,y'know the wotsits... words!

mia that was a great post, you sound different somehow.
soma 11 days, well done

Hope everyone managed to get some sleep, with the noise from ' the cupboard of love' going on

help I had no idea that teeth could cause so much trouble, really hope it improves.

Green if you feel like it, would you mind sharing some of the things you find out from the smart toolbox? I don't mean anything personal, just if you found an exercise to be useful or not.

I think that I need to abstain totally, I don't think I can manage controlled drinking. I don't have much faith in my ability to stay sober in the long term but I think I want to make it my goal. I realise that other babes aren't as dependent as me, so that's not a comment on anyone else.

ooh cross post with help

I hadn't heard that one before- drinking is temporarily exciting. Very short term gain over everything else in life being on hold.

Morning, tis me, Mouse

Gugg - I think that I need to abstain totally, I don't think I can manage controlled drinking. I don't have much faith in my ability to stay sober in the long term but I think I want to make it my goal. I realise that other babes aren't as dependent as me, so that's not a comment on anyone else.

One Day AT A Time. That's all you can do. Never say Never because you just don;t know what tomorrow or even today will bring. I think that you're doing amazingly fwiw. I'm really impressed (not patronising you) by the way you have changed your entire mindset about drinking and what alcohol does to YOU.

Do what's best for you, work out a way to do it and then see how you get on. The more pressure you put on yourself, the more you'll worry and potentially fail.

You can see that you can't just do a little bit of drinking so do what you can.

Help - you sound as though you're having a really shit time of it just now .

Mia - great post to wake up to! Fantastic! You're like a whole new you. And I love it! xx

Soma - 11 whole days........ that's almost 2 weeks you know. xx

Nemo had a great night! He didn't wake once! Slept all the way through so the plan is to keep him busy again today, swimming this morning and then shopping with the park if he's good again later on after lunch. Although he's just had the mother of all meltdowns!

We're at Manchester Children's Hospital tomorrow for his post operation review, plus a load of tests to see how successful (or not) the op was. Eeeek!

IsinDe - how are you getting on?

Hope - I am a huge fan of low/no carb dieting and it;s the ONLY thing that works for me. Sorry you had a rumbley tummy night.

I've done a new thread as this one has filled up so fast, it's great! I'll post it nearer the end of this one so we don;t confuse any Babes

Where are our lovely newer Babes????? Come on ladies, give us a wave if you're out there, we won't bite. Well, unless you ask.

Clutter - how are you feeling today? How did it go lovely? xx