The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Getting Ready For The Golden Sights Of Autumn In Search Of Sobriety.

[Mouseface]

Hello everyone, I'm Mouse :) and this is the Bus I've been on a while now!

It's filled with a variety of drinkers. Those that do, those that don't, and those who are desperate to STOP but hide it, or embrace it and get the help they NEED.

'Help' in whatever form works for them, your friend or you. Be it AA, a Local Community Alcohol Counselling Group, your GP, your family/friends, this thread or even a combination of all of the above!

You have to want to stop drinking more than wanting to breathe.

I know that right now, that may sound like a ridiculous goal.

They got sober, One Day At A Time then came here during the process to chat about it, discuss their feelings, but more than anything else, their experiences HELPED OTHERS TO BELIEVE that they too could get dry.

They might not get dry and stay dry, sometimes they'll be lying about their consumption, fooling themselves as well as others

BUT when the posters do get dry for good, come back and post to help others with their tricks of the trade or just to say 'I did it!!' my heart jumps for joy because that person, poster, Brave Babe has gone through hell and back, lived to tell the tale and now wants to share that with the rest of the Bus to see if one simple trick or technique will put them on the track to recovery, sobriety, to the life that they want to lead :)

There's two saying that have appeared to stick with us -

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

We all have our own reasons for starting to drink 'too much', we all have an excuse don't we.... we all have a "but....."

Well, as I say to Nemo (who you will get to hear about ) - goats butt!

And for those of you who want to know a bit more -

HERE IS THE MOST RECENT THREAD

AND THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN, OVER FOUR YEARS AGO!!!

See you soon x

Bap free zone!
The dresses are gorgeous...
I want to be ravished in the West Wing !

ma of course I couldn't condemn it, given my track record but I know that what starts off as a bit of physical lust can rapidly turn into an emotional affair which can leave you totally wrecked

Also that is probably when my alcohol problem really kicked off. Because I knew it was wrong so needed the Dutch courage to go through with it.

Hope all goes well today with Nemo's scan Mouse, xx

Oh joey, it sounds like a lot of old feelings and thoughts have been stirred up for you. Sometimes when we look back, those crossroad moments are so clear to see. Here, have some , just try not to get it on your moustache

As a member of the bap free movement, I could swish around in a twenties frock quite happily. Sadly for me though this series won't air here for ages - no spoilers please!

Well done on your week baby and on being an average mum!
Glad you bounced back and enjoyed a good ride and Columbo today Wry.

I love Nanny McPhee too Spanna, even my two boys like it (casually in a not bothered way obviously) bet it was a tonic after some cross words. No idea why you have to try and get the last word in, I am not like that at all

Phrase the week of the 13th seems ages but I am sure it will come around quickly. Sending happy pregnancy thoughts to you.

Ma Glad you are feeling alive and noticed, as you should be.

Just popping in before work. Thanks for the lovely welcome back - feel all happy and warm and it's hopefully not the menopause causing it, but the friendship of you wonderful ladies of the bus .

Mouse - good luck with the scan today xxx

Ma - expecting you to report back later on day with distracted chap...

Have a good week all xxx

mouse Hope everything goes okay today

ma Good luck with your meeting, and remember chin up and tits out! (I don't mean tits actually out)

Not happy. Shitty day at work, feel like my opinion doesn't matter, and that I have no input into staffing levels whatsoever.

There has been a complete change of the rota system, it doesn't make sense. Tried to put my point across but decisions have already been made.

Fair enough then. I'll just work extra late shifts like a good girl to cover the shortfall.

I am going to ask for a meeting this afternoon with my boss, I feel that late shifts should be allocated fairly not to just assume that other folk will cover no questions asked.

It impacts hugely on me as after a certain point the bus frequency dwindles, and it means I don't get home until 2 almost hours after I end my shift.

I want to put my point across that any changes in rota should require a direct consultation with me. It means I will now have 3 late weeks every 6 weeks instead of 2. Please kind ladies, let me have it...

Am I being an unreasonable bitch? Especially fucked off by the reason I have to pick up the extra shifts but hey. Thanks for letting me rant xx

wry you are never unreasonable, sounds like they are taking advantage, is everyone subject to the same changes? You can rant here anytime, I'm sorry your day is shit. For what it's worth, YOU ARE FABULOUS, don't let the WW catch you out. Xxxx

ma thinking of you , excited for you, big giant hug xxxx

wry fight your corner. sounds highly unreasonable to me.
OMG - 3 hours to go.....

wont be back until late so might just have to leave you all in suspense...

I am waiting up for you ma and will be curtain twitching til you're in have a lovely evening ma quine, xx

Post more later, xx

Wry, are you in a union? They're making changes to your working conditions that impact on your work \ life balance, you may have a case. When they made us work odd shifts for 3 months recently we won the right to overtime - at which point the tight bastards decided to get some other department to do it... Worth looking into?

wry, any decision that impacts you that's made without consulting you is de facto unreasonable. I hope your boss listens.

On a happy note, I love that dog in the ad - he is also the detective's dog in Midsomer Murders (my other secret vice). Every time he's on the screen I covet him!

ma . . . excitiiiiing! The tension

mouse, I really hope today's gone well

Big thanks to everyone who's wished me well with the pregnancy, I really appreciate it - special big wave to baby, as well, because you said some lovely things upthread which I meant to respond to but forgot!

The good wishes somehow feel much more real here than on the antenatal clubs I've been on before. Perhaps it's because we're all different here. I'm not joining an antenatal thread this time, I'm over symptom spotting and obsessing. What will be will be.

I don't have morning sickness, I appear to have 'mid-afternoon queasiness'. That and the ballooning baps are my only signs. I am most definitely not a bap-free zone

Hello Phrase. Let me add my good wishes on your pregnancy. Very excited about having a baby on the bus one day (plumps up cushions for Phrase and donates a footstool for relaxation).

I'm back!
He was there, he was gorgeous. We shook hands and sat on different tables. I tried so hard not to look at him but it was like a fecking magnet in the room. First time I looked over, he was looking at me. Cue embarrassed smiles. Second time, he held my gaze and then winked!
On leaving I got a kiss on the cheek and thanked for a most enjoyable evening!
And that was that. Oooooh, he IS lush!

He winked !

Ooooh, Ma. How exciting!!! Bet you looked stunning !

Awww, the held gaze...

Pleased you had a good time, hope you have very, very sweet dreams! xx

I didn't get to speak to my boss today, he left early, but I will catch him tomorrow. Love the overtime idea looking, definitely worth a mention! xx

baby Awd Saggy has been kicked into submission, I sore wanted a wee snifter earlier, but held firm. Another nurse and I seem to be picking up the slack, he agreed to take another member of staff on, knowing she was unable to do the late shift. I really like her though, it's not her fault, she's lovely. The assumption that we wouldn't mind is the worst thing for me. Hope you've had a fine evening my lovely. xx

Phrase glad you're not feeling too ropey sweetheart, take care of those baps, top tip noted on another thread. Any Fucker promotes the use of a sleep bra. I am trying one out tonight. Will report back. Mine are just menopausal tender though, not sprouting. xx

Still on board over here . 2 Nd week of total abstinence during the week and I must say much easier this week and thoroughly enjoyedy bottle of fizz at weekend ! Only ) hrs kip now but will still wake up feeling a billion times better ! Lonely to read this thread tonight night all. X x

Good morning lovely ladies, day 8 AF and diet day 2!!! My mood has generally improved by day but my nightmares are escalating in their content. I think it's a side effect of the AD's but they have helped me so much but I'm also very tired because of the horrid nature of my dreams, I wake up feeling restless and anxious, it has been a big trigger in the past but I want to figure it out another way, has anyone experienced anything like this????

ma sounds very exciting, if a hot guy winked at me I think id pass out, bet your floating on air this morning.... Xxx

Hope your all having a lovely day and hugs for everyone xxx

Good morning lovely ladies, day 8 AF and diet day 2!!! My mood has generally improved by day but my nightmares are escalating in their content. I think it's a side effect of the AD's but they have helped me so much but I'm also very tired because of the horrid nature of my dreams, I wake up feeling restless and anxious, it has been a big trigger in the past but I want to figure it out another way, has anyone experienced anything like this????

ma sounds very exciting, if a hot guy winked at me I think id pass out, bet your floating on air this morning.... Xxx

Hope your all having a lovely day and hugs for everyone xxx

How thrilling ma! It's amazing how such little exchanges can make your heart swell

Cheers looking - no footstools for me at the moment, we are in Renovation Overdrive owing to me having a big panic about possible baby arrival and the house not being ready. We bought it late last year, and though it's in good nick the décor is ATROCIOUS - everything is shades of beige, fawn, drab - aka 'brown'. Ceilings, woodwork, wallpaper, carpets - brown. The curtains were brown before I got rid of them.

So lots of sanding and painting the last few days, and today I'm building the last raised bed in our veg garden so it's finished. I'm trying to get the heavy work out of the way now because hopefully I won't be able to do it in a few months.

Night bra eh wry? That's interesting. The baps seem to be at their most sore first thing in the morning, so maybe that would help.

baby, I took Citalopram for a bit but on very low dosage, for anxiety rather than depression - I do recall that disrupted sleep is a side effect, though the does was so low I didn't get many side-effects. Have you recently started taking the ADs? If so it may well calm down as you adjust to the drugs.

I had terrible nightmares when I first stopped drinking, full-on 'there's someone sitting on my chest' night hag ones. Could the ADs be combining with a period of AF and messing with your sleep? I hope it stops soon, I know that feeling where a nightmare tints the rest of your day

Morning ma beaches babyj crabby wry phrase looking and lurkers

Good night alias ma beaches babyj crabby wry phrase looking and lurkers

sorry soc I need a list to make sure I remember everyone