The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Kicking The Wicked Wine Witch Where It Hurts! Mwahahahahahahaha!

[Mouseface]

Hey, I'm Mouse, welcome to the Bus (aka Gerald!)

We're a mixed bunch of folk, some have been here for a while, and of course we have some new additions too. It matters not one jot how long you travel with us, as long as you get something from it.

No matter your story, your needs, your fears and hopes, you CAN come on here and talk. You can cry, scream, rant, let it all out and not be judged for anything. Ever.

We've all been so very low, some have hit the very bottom of the rock, rubbed the bruising better and picked ourselves back up again but sometimes, you need a helping hand or someone to listen too.....which is why we're here, sharing our experiences, or just reading each other's and nodding as we click along.....

The support here is unconditional. :)

There are two banners down each side of Gerald, our super duper Bus saying -

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

We have lots of food on board, but mainly Opal fruits!!! They tend to be anything other than green, as they get snapped up vair fast indeed!

If you would like to know a bit more about how we got to where we are today, you can read these threads.

THE PREVIOUS THREAD

THE START OF THE JOURNEY

Hope to see you soon :) x

spaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnna! how are you? Cropper, shcropper, happy day one to you sweetheart! Glad you had a lovely natter wi your pal, there's nothing better, is there?

Imagine if you will, a meadow of sweet smelling flowers, lavender strewn in pretty trugs, fresh strawberries and orange blossom. Well that isn't what I'm smelling.

The content of Little's arse has crawled out and died somewhere, leaving a fetid stench clinging to every inch of fabric. I swear even my eyelids can taste it.

However, she started more a/bs today and is improving slowly. I just want to take her discomfort for her, she's such a stoic little thing but her eyes are full of pain. Anyhoo, thank you for asking after her, as you well know, she kinda is the centre of my wee world, rotten arse and all. xx

Did you manage to get your house redded up ma? It was such a bonny day here, hope you got some of the sunshine for your walk! Put my name down for some cutting and sticking, I make a mean paper chain! xx

Anne I am cheering for you! You have done things differently, it may be an imperceptible change, but change you have.

hope I am feart of Santas and Clowns, where I used to live there used to be an international Clown convention. I barely used to make it home without hyperventilating. But your Santa convoy sounds lovely, in reality I may have had to shut my eyes as they drove past I bet the children absolutely adored it.

The Black Friday scrapping was quite something, I wonder how many of them regret falling on the floor with their bargain smashed to smithereens tellys?

Love, love, love the horse humour! xx

popcorn you and me are living the high life it seems, I'm on the chocolate malted Horlicks! xx

joey proper proud of you and your sortingitoot skills! Did they settle? xx

To every lovely babe, may you all have a fine night's sleep, xxxxxx

mouse A special bosie for you, me dear. Are you Bingoing tomorrow? I'd love a game of Bus Bingo, but you'd have to go fairly slow, I'm not that quick wi me dabber. Have you had a chance to start work on your blog? I look forward to it! xx

P.S Price's? Your Household candle isn't man enough for the job. For a small fee I will lend you Little so you can get inventing the Stop Wagging Your Tail You're Sending It Over My Way candle. As long as you put a picture of a Lab on the Tin. With a Viz Johnny Fartpants style gust lifting her tail.

Good morning you lovely Brave Babes, Day 2 and I feel low, short tempered, really pissed off that it's Monday morning and I've got to got into work. Feeling childishly moody, frankly I can't be fucking arsed with any of it Thank you for letting me express myself, hopefully I will prize my head out of my arse and get on with it.

Joey I really feel for you with DH and DD. There is most of the time a huge conflict between my DDs, they just don't get on and I am referee most of the time and I hate it. Hopefully one day I will wake up and they'll be friends, did you see that pig in the pink tutu fly across the sky? Have a good day Joey xxx

Wry Hello lovely one back with me oldies today, can't remember what I'm doing with them today, we're now into December's activities, all very Christmas orientated, no surprise there.

I must dash. Have a good day all and sorry I'm such a miserable cow x

hey spanna it's Monday morning. Miserable cow-ness goes with the territory.
another night of hot flushes and night sweats has left me knackered. Just had a phone call from lovely lady checking I was ok as I hadn't turned up to scheduled 9.30 meeting. groan gonna be one of those days"
day 1
A-Fucking - gain.

ma d'argh! as though you don't have enough to cope with without hot flushes!

Hi everybody,

joey sometimes you just have to let them get on with it.

Well after a bad weekend (alcohol wise) I have just had a phone call from my boss and apparently we are in talks with our parent organisation about restructuring which would quite likely cost me my job. Given my age and my fairly specialist skill set I would never get another one with such good pay and conditions so that would be it's own nightmare.

dementedma, I have previous forgetting a meeting before now, hope the rest of your day goes better.

Afternoon babes, Joey fair play on removing yourself from the conflict between your DD and your DH. I can't handle conflict at all.
Had a bottle of wine on Friday night in a friends house. Would have liked more but we were sensible and had a pint glass of water each and then off I headed home

Day 6, i hope to stay af until Wednesday. I've had a night out planned for a year although I don't think it will be a big drinking night. I certainly don't want it to be. I'm going to plan my drinks beforehand to keep it to a minimal, and I want to get another run of af nights in afterwards. If drinking one night leads straight back to daily drinking then I'll know I can't moderate...

Oh dear soupey there's a few of us on here whose jackets are on a shaky peg, work wise.
Day 1 failed, a-fucking-gain!

I'm on day 1 again. Yesterday was hard. Put in my form, but have probably disqualified myself by adding provisos about travel. Like that phrase though Ma. jackets on a shaky peg No doubt I will steal it and pass it off as mine in RL.

Its actually a shoogly peg here in Scotland but you get my drift!

Hey ma ! How are you doing hen?

I'm feeling very positive - if I thought the good mood was due to being AF, I'd sign up for another 6 weeks on the spot. But I think it's just that my moods are very changeable - in 20 minutes I'll probably be worrying about whether the house has dry rot or something.

More likely I'm happy today because I met a dog who was the spit of mine, and that made me smile. Also, I've finally found the Perfect Mascara. (Shallow, moi?)

And yeah, a weight has been lifted after my decision to no longer mediate disputes between DH and DD. (don't those guys in the peace talks ever just want to go "Enough! Grow up the lot of you! Sort yourselves out" ?)

I mean, Heaven knows I've tried.
I don't care what they're going to say - let the storm rage on!
I'm just going to Let It Go.

I am one with the wind and sky

at shoogly peg Love that ane.

joey darling, saw these and thought of you, Audrey Hepburn had a similar set in Breakfast At Tiffanys. To help with your lalalalala moments.

Little is feeling better, I got a wag today, nice sample sent to lab for analysis. God help them...

Anne celebratory Samba for day 6!

spanna You see, when you say miserable cow, I see you as nowt but a lovely smiley Ermintrude, xx

soupey, hope and ma I've just put a bigger rawl plug behind yer shoogly pegs

obrigada how was your Monday? Woohoo for your sensible Friday!

Here I'll stand, and here I'll staaaaaaaaay.......

Perfect Mascara you say? Tell me more.....

ma if you're going to do Scots stuff you have to get the intonation right yer jay-ket's on a shoogly peg (and for the rest of the Sassenachs a 'peg' is a coat hook).

annie the best, best, bestest plan is to make sure that the very first drink you have is non-alcoholic. Plan for this - have very excuse under the sun ready. Tell them you've got a headache, tell them you're really thirsty and need a pint of soda and lime. Know in advance what you will order (and have 3 back up non-alcoholic drinks in your mind, so prevent you saying " oh no organic possum juice, ok I'll have a red wine"). And then repeat exactly the same for your second drink.

I know from decades of experience that trying to do it the other way round (one or two drinks and then I'll switch to non-alcoholic) has a predictably sad outcome. The said 'one or two' drinks soften every inch of resolve you had and quickly turn into 18 or 19. There was someone very clever and erudite who said "There is a line in the sand about drinking. The problem is when I've had a single drink the line becomes invisible."

alias alias alias you're feeling good, you're feeling positive. Never mind about signing up to AF, just sign up to enjoying that good and positive moment - for however long it lasts. Revel in it. Feel the good and positive roll around your shoulders like a warm blanket. Look and see how the good an positive repels the worrying thoughts. Fell how much that little dog could influence your life. And celebrate a fabulous mascara.

I am normally a complete abstainer from any discussion on hair or make-up or style or clothes, but at the moment I have a really crap mascara. Nay - I have 2 crap mascaras, so alias I feel your joy.

Oh brilliant!!!!!!!!!

The Jack the Ripper drama with Michael Caine and a very lovely young Lewis Collins is on the Drama Channel.

wry..???? what were all those tassels????

Why, they are earplugs venus

As worn by the beautiful Audrey.

Nowt but the best for joey

Though I dare say she could stop any argument going on in her house in a nanosecond if she attached them to other bits..

Ahem! What is this perfect mascara? (bats slightly clumpy matted lashes at Joey hopefully

Also belated Happy St Andrews Day to our Scottish contingent. I see you ladies have annexed the smileys now...

inde

joey started it....

Good morning all! The sun is shining here, such a bonny day!

i have to speak at a Conference next week!
Am in total meltdown. don't do public speaking at the best of times and current hot flushes are just going to make me look like a fat traffic light stuck on red. lovely boss wont do it - says I can do it and he has faith in me..
It's 10 minutes but in front of a hall full of delegates. I will panic and deliver a 10 minute presentation in 30 seconds flat and then look like a complete tit. HELP!

For those who wanted to know about mascara...

Been looking for ages for one which doesn't smudge. Did a search on Mumsnet (where else) and discovered the best are something called tube/tubing mascaras. These coat the lashes with a tube which will only come off with warm water. Originally by a company called 'blinc' but only available online/Paris/Milan.

Clinique and Boots also do ones, and after research (it's brilliant the internet being able to see reviews!) I choose the Boots cause I had a voucher. It's called No 7 Stay Perfect, it is 12 and comes in a gold tube. And YES it works. No flaking or smudging a bit of faff to take off at night, but worth it.

Good morning ya loon balls,

wry I thought you'd kidnapped a footballers wife with the "got a wag" remark!!! So glad Little is on the mend, my little cocker, right no smut please breaks wind that is astounding for her wee stature, unless dh blames her for his!!!!

joey it does my heart good to hear you so positive, I know how hard it is stabilising my moods, sometimes bursting with optimism then within an hour overwhelmed with what needs done in the house. It's exhausting but following my councillors advice I'm eating regularly, have a new gym schedule and dd1 and I are going to attempt the shred. I got a new car yesterday so I'm going to ensure I do not leave the house unless dressed nicely without worzel gummidge hair, this morning was an exception as I did the school run in my pyjamas, may take a few attempts. I have blond eyelashes so a good mascara can make the difference of me looking dead or alive, please share xxxx

looking I feel so bad for you having to contemplate a job with so much commuting, I did it for a few years and it burnt me out in the end. I once drove 3 hours for an appointment and it scared me to realise when I got there, I couldn't remember any of the journey, just went onto autopilot and I would hate to work out how much of my life has been spent in a traffic jam. I know you must do the right thing for your family but your well being is paramount too, could you register with a few recruitment agencies to see what's around to suit your skill base then you could hedge your bets and sit out for redundancy. Things always work themselves out, enjoy Christmas and take a breather. You are a splendid lady and I'm always willing good things for you. Xx

spanna you are an amazing presence on here, always NC Ing and remembering all of our issues and insecurities and offering a kind word. You brighten up the day of lots of wee old biddies (wry inside and ma) so your are a spectacular human being AND mother. Chin up, boobs out and be proud of all you are, you are not a bit miserable ye hear me.

inside this bus just runs that wee bit smoother knowing your with us, makes me feel safe. Awwww xxx

soupey loving your posts, feels like you've been with us forever, in a good way!!!!

Still sober, it's never a problem when I'm "stable" just when the anxiety and chaos steals my head, things go very badly. Need to focus on the positives, what I am instead of what I'm not.....

You babes are amazing xxx

wry they looked like nipple tassles to me...

right ma a speech, right up my street (I am on fire today, I should become one of those advice people, ask me a question on anything from dogs to philosophy)

Practice. Write it down, ask the boss, time it and then practice. And practice some more. Practice in front of DH, DS, anyone who'll listen. Slow down. Every time you finish a sentence, pause.

The biggest mistake is going too fast because you're nervous. Just practice and deep breaths.

The second mistake is not sticking to the script. There is a tendency to ad-lib. Especially when nervous or with time left over. Don't do it! A colleague of mine once started babbling to a bunch of students that we couldn't guarantee their safety while on the premises My boss nearly did a flying tackle to shut him up.

Practice. Time it. Stick to the script.

That's it. Once your confidence is improved, you can expand to things like smiling, jokes etc. But first - practice.

Hello Babes, may I please join you?

Over the weekend I've had three realisations:

1. The number of days I haven't drunk alcohol in the last 18 months is probably in single figures.
2. Wine o'clock has crept earlier (I now like a drink to ease me through the kids' bedtime rather than to relax afterwards).
3. Although I never "get drunk", I expect that I regularly exceed the recommended weekly units.

I don't think anyone could classify me as a heavy drinker, exactly, but psychologically I love it a bit too much. I'd like to drink perhaps three nights a week rather than seven. Sound reasonable?

Hope you're all having a good day