The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Walking In A Winter Sober Land!

[Mouseface]

Hello Brave Babes, I'm Mouse :)

Welcome to the 'Bus Of Fun' (now you've come of age!)

This is a thread for those who want to give up drink completely, or are maybe thinking about doing controlled drinking, or cutting down slowly, with a view to quitting or not... it's up to you.

You know your limits, you know what is required, it's in your hands. And only you can make it happen.

Whatever your goal, you'll find support here. Always.

There will be talk of drinking and those who fall off the Bus (arse over tit) will post about it, so if that is going to jeopardise your chances of complete sobriety, then maybe the DRY thread would suit you better, as they are complete abstainers. :)

That said, this Bus is happy to have you no matter what, as long as you can cope with chat of drinking, nights out/in, failures, cyclical drinkers, etc......

Everyone has always been welcome here and shall remain to be.

No-one is ever turned away. EVER.

There are no hard and fast rules, other than the support here is unconditional, it may be in the form of tough love at times, but it's always meant with the very best of intentions.

There are two sayings that we like here -

1. • The Vulnerable Need Our Support, Not Our Judgement
2. • Alcohol Fosters Inertia

The rest kind of happens as the posts appear.

I hope that's okay with you all.

You'll find the last thread HERE, THAT WILL LEAD TO THREADS BEFORE IT, SOME HISTORY

And the original and real, truly heartfelt reason that we are here in the first place is HERE. A VERY SOBERING READ

The Bus may be 'mythical', but the support is real, honest and will help you to achieve what it is that you seek, as long as you are honest with us, but mostly, YOURSELF

See you soon. x

Boing right back at you demented. I've made it through day 6. Definitely gets easier and that good feeling comes back.

Off to bed in a mo. Tired and sober.

Have an awesome day babes.

baby have you considered banishing him to the sofa if he snores? Day five for me too .

Hi Marvellous, well done! have you thought about buying those small bottle instead if you struggle with stopping once they're open?

One day at a timeLibertine, February will look after itself! well done on day six.

morning all I have been sleeping really well and loving it . I always used to sleep really well and love going to bed I actually count it as one of my hobbiesbut drinking had completely ruined my sleep pattern.
Anyway I woke up this morning and remembered something my friend who is a psychologist said to me many years ago when my DTs were waking in the middle of the night. She suggested that they had developed a routine and that as routines were v difficult to break I had tp " punch a big hole" into the routine in order to break it.
I then applied that to my drinking and I thought I am not punching a hole in my drinking routine I am simply using avoidance tactics and I need to change my behaviour or its not going to work.
So this is what I plan to do

1. Stay out of the kitchen as much as possible at teatime. I am going to prepare my evening meal during the day and reheat it . This will be hard for me as I have realised drinking and cooking are my hobbies

1. I am going to sit upstairs in a different room ie not kitchen/livingroom and actually change my night time routine. I will sit in my bedroom with my kindle or hide in the bath until the WWW has given up looking for me.

I will give this a try tonight but I feel a bit as I usually live in my kitchen but its not forever........I have to change not simply avoid

Good luck to everyone today
I am now off to look for Isindie as she stood me up last night

Good plan Sober, and 'boing' to you to demented, - should you be demented or ma?

Ma glad you're boing has re-appeared

Day 6 for me today. Have a good day all Brave Babes x

Welcome liberal it sounds like you are in a much better position to achieve your goal this time.

PIL neighbours gave us a bottle of wine for Christmas, and DH told his parents to keep it as we weren't drinking this month (DH has joined me!! ) His mum fretted

"Are you going to be like those awful people who only ever drink water?"

(Errr... she hasn't noticed that I haven't had a drink - except Christmas - at her house for a YEAR ?!)

What is it with people who don't like it when others abstain?

Is it because it would shine a light on her own drinking, Alias?

joey I think that serves as a useful reminder that a lot of the time people don't even notice what we are doing. I think about going out and not drinking, looking boring, but I bet most people only really care about what is in their glass!

Hi all,

I have an urgent desire to make a list, so am just going to do it

DJB's -
day 7
Anne
Obrigada
Joey
Ma
Crotch
Beaches
Soc
MrF
Faire
Hot on the heels - day 6
Spanna
Im
Liberal
Speeding along - Day 5
Sweet
Baby
Millie
Off and running - Day 2/3
Hope
Steps
Sober
Isinde
itstheonly

Off the charts - Venus, Why, Mouse
Slimmimg down the quantities - Marvellous

Wow, look at all of us! I have only scanned the last few pages so am bound to have got some days wrong and if you are not on there but should be just shout out. It is so busy, this helps me remember everyone (and gives me a sneaky opportunity to mention myself). Hope no-one minds the list, now I think I should channel this mood into some more useful paperwork.

Spanna how are the dreams? I had a random one last night with some long forgotten faces making an appearance.

Love to all xx

Brilliant, Beaches. Hi fives all round!

Wow beaches that's great! How's that diet doing? Yesterday I only went over my limit by 86 calories - will soon be in the green instead of red!

joey had my first weigh I last night - lost 1.75lbs, despite always being in the red. You either lived on air yesterday or did hours of stomach crunches.... Even a rice cake has 50 calories

Hello Beaches Babe, love the list, still hot on your heals No dreams that I can remember last night. Took ages to get to sleep but have energy today, so that's good It's just started pissing down again, rain, rain go away......the weather is making me a bit grumpy

Spanna it's crazy how much miserable weather can bring down your mood, grey skies are the worst I think. So what to do with your energy? You mentioned setting up your own business, that sounds really exciting - can you do a little towards that today. Wish I had your brains xx

joey great the your dh is joining you, less temptation in the house for you. With a bit of luck a by-product maybe a calmer atmosphere between him and dd. X

Sweet I love that you mixed it up with a karate chop yesterday! With all the beatings the WW gets, it's a wonder she still drags her sorry ass back out each day.

beaches I love love love the list it gives me strength
To see that we are pulling together like warrior women to be sober sexy and fabulous!!! I can here the ww deflate in a horrid farty sound. Just ate 2 portions of better than sex lasagne and feel bloated but on a positive note have enrolled small dd into an early morning dance class on sat morning so this will "punch a hole" (love that) in my Friday night. Instead of watching Saturday morning kitchen feel sick and regretful I shall be sipping coffee with normal non alchy mums and watching my gorgeous girl in a tutu. I'm actually looking forward to it xxx

Good for you baby, making a commitment first thing on a Saturday morning is a top plan. In am a bit jealous, boys are great but they recoil at the mention of a tutu!

Baby I just did the typing massive post and lost the bugger Urgh! Awe DD2 in a tutu sounds so cute

Beaches as I was trying to type and lost, I'll waffle again.....did you mention writing a book recently or was that just my imagination?

I've set up an Arts & Craft club for kids after school (at different primary schools), every other Saturday in a hall and at numerous residential homes in the afternoons. I piloted them all just before Xmas with some success, this is what I'm up to. I intend also to set some up for adults/kids with learning difficulties and or physical disabilities. So I've go my work cut out if I'm going to make a living

I've come to the realisation over the past few days that we will have to move into temporary accommodation, otherwise I will lose my buyer for our current house. So I'm looking into renting a 'heated' static caravan for a couple of months. Hopefully the chap that I want to buy from will be able to sort his flat that he wants to buy and we'll end up buying the house we all want

Baby Better than sex lasagne sounds yummy, very jealous

Spanna didn't mention writing a book, at least not out loud

The Arts and Crafts clubs sounds brilliant, loved going to those kind of days when mine were smaller, have various willow, wood and paper creations that have stood the test of time too! Organizing them takes a special kind of talent - now I understand how you coped with a party for 30 children . I imagine it is lots of fun at times but all the behind the scenes stuff is what makes it a success. It must be a challenge, especially with all the house stuff.

Will a heated caravan be warm enough? It will certainly help you de-clutter! We spent 3 months living and travelling in a travel trailer (Canadian for caravan) in 2012. It was actually very freeing, no mortgage, no 'stuff' that didn't have a purpose and the children were very content. (Internet connection and tv help smooth the way!). Shopping is great too, you buy what you are going to eat and not everything that is on offer just to stick in the cupboard! Also, when you finally move into the new home it will feel like a mansion. Is this chap genuine do you think? Not messing you about with the sale? God, house buying and selling can be a bloody nightmare.

I admire everything you are doing, you hold it all together on your own and are always generous with your words on here. Xx

FFS, I look up and it is bloody snowing again. Getting bored of the Christmas card look now

Beaches you just bought tears to my eyes thank you for your lovely comments

don't think he's messing about, he's trying to buy a retirement flat and the mortgage on the flat is worth more than the flat so the diseased's estate will have to swallow that cost. My worry is not the chap, it's the estate agent (I don't like him) I've offered asking price so hopefully we'll get moving soon

Thanks for the list Beaches :) looks really positive!

spanno your idea sounds amazing, I hope you get all you wish for I really do xxx

spanna even, sorry trying to be all profound and look what happens xxxx

beaches how can you lose weight if your calories are in the red? (this gives me hope, as mine are never in the green) I haven't got any scales so don't know (or want to know) how much I weigh. But doing this has opened my eyes. I assumed things like satsumas and olive oil had NO calories (because they're healthy, right?)