BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

[Doggygirl]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Brighter, welcome to Booze Busters!! Glad you are joining us. Being a better Mom for your kids is an awesome reason to give up the booze.

You will also find a lot of empathy around here for dealing with aging parent issues. I guess we reach a point of disgust with AL around the same time in life where many of us start dealing with parent things.

Look forward to getting to know you better!

DG
Day 97 AFHF

[A Work in Progress]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Welcome, Brighter! Glad you made it over to this thread. I am sure you will be a regular here. And I'm sorry to hear you are also dealing with one of these "mother" situations. Does she live in the same town as you? Do you have much contact with her?

wip

[louise]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Welcome Brighter! Glad to hear you are still doing well Resolute. DG, sorry Kimba isn't improving more quickly but it does sound like there is some progress if I'm reading correctly. She can get up and move around a bit? I hope so. Congratulations on the 1 1/2 years of no cigs! WIP, your dog looks like a delight. On the duplex thing...ummm.....well, you are very dedicated. I would be afraid of not having anywhere to get away. But it certainly would be helpful to have guardianship. Pamina, thinking of you and sending hugs. I've got to go to work, just wanted to check on Kimba.

[A Work in Progress]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Oops DG you asked me about teaching. This semester, I teach Thursday evenings once a week (3 hours of class), and once a month I teach meditation on Wednesday evenings. Also working on re-building my private practice, and volunteering at a Free Health Clinic. That isn't very much, but with all the crises involving my mother, it is just about all I can handle right now. I interviewed for a full-time faculty position this summer, but didn't get it, and now I am really glad I didn't (I was actually quite ambivalent about it, at the time).

Duplex... ? Yeah Louise, I know. It seems horrifying to me, too, and that isn't even counting all the hassle of selling houses, buying a house, and moving two households. (Plus there is another house in Florida that my mother basically abandoned 5 years ago, and one of these days I have to get down there and deal with that.) But I want to make sure that, at the end of the day, I have done everything I can to make sure that my mother is in the least restrictive environment that is possible. Seeing how she deteriorates when she is locked up is just devastating to me, and I don't think I will be able to live with it (yet) until I exhaust all other options. At least, with a duplex, and caregivers in place, I can lock the doors to my side of the house, and also not have to get in the car to check on things, if it seems that I need to... Maybe it is utterly crazy. I don't know. So far, it's just an option I am (very reluctantly) considering.

I appreciate your raising the question!

wip

[Brighter123]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Thank you Wip, Doggygirl, Louse... for welcoming me, this whole site is so incredibly warmhearted and supportive !

I'll get back to you, but now I feel I need to go and get some AF sleep... after my 5th AF day...

Good night ! (I'm in Europe)

[Marshy]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Hello all Booze Busters,

Quick fly-by (a la July) from me. Wanted to see if there's any improvement with Kimba, DG. Sounds like a bit of progress, even if it is slow progress?

I've been busy working out like a demon at the gym. Think I'm hooked. In fact, I've been there so much I've developed a sore foot problem! I've spoken to a friend of mine who runs a lot and she said it's really common and I might need to buy some heel pads or something. I might post on Abbercise to get advice but right now I need a good wallow in the bath to ease my poor bod.

Welcome Brighter123! Congrats on five days AF.

[Doggygirl]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Brighter congratulations on 5 AF days! :cheering: Hope you are sleeping soundly.

WIP I think I forgot to congratulate you today on 5 Weeks sober!!! :cheering: Also, I meant to say that your schedule sounds perfect given everything you have going on with your Mom. If you have a full time teaching position....yikes I can't even imagine the stress level. Scarlett sure looks like she is having fun! I bet she still dreams about days like that in the fields even though she can't be there in person any more.

Marshy - WOW!!! We need a gym rat smilie around here!!! Hope you get some good ideas to avoid that foot pain. I was just thinking about the abbercise thread during dinner and how I don't think I've posted in it probably since before the accident with Kimba. I HAVE been abbercising though!! I missed Saturday morning but that's all.

Hey you guys - here is another Booze Buster Exclusive Recipe!!! Caramel Apple Pork Chops - Allrecipes This is AWESOME. I followed the recipe and directions as written EXCEPT I took the advice of a couple of commenters who said to double the butter/brown sugar/spices for more of the caramel sauce. Also, I use fake brown sugar instead of real brown sugar.

This is the fake brown sugar I use in case anyone is looking for products like this: Sugar Made Healthy! Whey Low Natural Sweetener I also use the why low-D granular where I don't think Stevia will work.

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!! This is more like dessert.

I also read a tip somewhere about making just plain green beans BUTTERED - to get the butter to stay on the beans. After boiling or steaming the beans, drain them, and put them back in the dry pan and put the pan on the burner. I kept the burner on a fairly low setting. Toss the beans in the hot pan until all of the excess water evaporates off the beans. THEN toss in the butter. That gets one YUM.

Whatever I cook tomorrow for dinner will pale in comparison. I want seconds. Now.

As you can probably imagine, I could only be this light hearted with Kimba making good progress. She has made major improvements today. What a relief after several days where any progress we thought we saw, we thought was imaginary. She still has a ways to go but I don't believe she will have to be put down or anything. I hope there is not an internal injury progressing, but I don't think so. Her attitude is good and all the bodily functions are working. Even the worse of the two back legs seems better - she seems to be able to move it a little bit. Yesterday it really was like a dead leg. The toes still curl under a lot, so now that she's more mobile we have to be careful she doesn't scrape the tops of her toes up. But some of her steps on on the pads of that foot and that is good. We're not out of the woods so keep sendin' those vibes, OK? It's working I think!

Have a great booze bustin' evening everyone!!

DG

[july232007]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Hey Marshy,

A fly by right back at you!

Hello BBers!

Keep at it!

July

One year, one month + AF

[A Work in Progress]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

YAY KIMBA!!!!! I am SOOOO RELIEVED!!! (I feel as if I KNOW that dog!)....

wip

[Doggygirl]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Good Day Booze Busters!! July, it is always wonderful when you do your fly bys!! Someday all of us will be flying high like you with over a year of sobriety under our wings.

WIP I will let Kimba know you are fond of her. She loves attention. She shows off for an audience. I feel like I should stay more "reserved" emotionally until I see her this morning. Mr. Doggy slept on a cot by her crate again last night. (that man loves his German Shepherds for sure) So I'm not going to wake them up until 6.

After I work out today I'm heading for the mall. I'm not much of a mall goer. Give me on-line retail therapy where they have tall size pants. BUT...have a list of things to do out there. We really need a new BBQ grill so I'm going to look at Sears since I will be out that way anyway. And maybe a fun new pair of glasses. Hmmm...

Hope everyone had a great evening and is gearing up for a great Ass Kickin' Booze Beast Bustin' day!

DG
Day 98 AFHF

[A Work in Progress]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Doing great here, up early but not as early as it sometimes is. One very nice difference about getting up early, these days, is that I feel GOOD. Oddly, I rarely had bad hangovers, in the months before I quit. Given the amount I was drinking, it seems that I should have. I have heard that this is not uncommon with alcoholics... getting used to a LOT of alcohol, the body doesn't necessarily respond the next morning with a terrible hangover. Just a general lousy feeling, pretty much all day, until cocktail hour, and then feeling better for a little while... then DRUNK. Then, start all over. What a crazy horrible way to live.

I've got a big ol' list of TO DO stuff today to conquer, top on the list being getting ready for class tomorrow night. Will go see my mother in the psych hospital, as I do every day. She was a little less hostile to me yesterday. And I'll definitely get in a bike ride.

Hoping everyone has a good day!

wip

[louise]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

So glad to hear Kimba is a bit better! Have a good day everyone!

[Doggygirl]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Good Day Booze Busters!! We are a small group this week, but MIGHTY in our progress towards an alcohol and hangover free LIFESTYLE!!!!!

WIP - interesting points yesterday about hangovers. The WORST feeling hangover I had in YEARS was the one I had after drinking after 60 days AF in fall 2007. And it only took 3 drinks to produce this massive headache and "I can't EVEN get out of bed" feeling. That's a drop in the bucket compared to what I drank in full alcoholic form.

So I DO think you are right - that our bodies adjust somehow to all that booze and it doesn't feel like The Worst Hangover Of My Life every day. BUT....the booze effects were there. Tired, dull feeling, brain doesn't want to engage - just slow getting going. And some level of feeling like crap physically. I really feel the difference now and it's huge!! I see it the most when I'm at Curves in the morning, and also at these early morning business referral club meetings. At those meetings, my brain fires on all cylinders now and before I didn't really want to be there, and struggled to "act" normal. And hope nobody was drawing conclusions from my blood shot eyes, puffy face, etc.

Anyway...that's what it's been like for me. Good topic!!

louise - thank you for your continued Kimba vibes. I have a feeling it will take LOTS of time but I really do believe she will recover enough to have a very good life, even if that's not 100% of her former functionality. She's a trooper. I love your new avatar!

Wip - on that To Do List. I hope you got through it yesteray!! I've been participating in a "Five Feats" daily challenge. The main purpose is to give yourself credit for what you DID get done in the day, even if it's not everything on whatever list you might have. It's been really good for me because I've started actually working my list and trying to get some of the most important stuff done - or stuff that I tend to procrastinate forever such as oven cleaning. That prompted someone to mention a "PYA" (Push Your Ass) theory, where getting busy with stuff lifts your mooods. I thought it was made up, but it's an actual theory or whatever with that name. LOLOL WIP in your line of work you have probalby studied that!! It just tickled my funny bone.

How is your Mom? I have completely neglected my parents in the past week and need to get after that TODAY and make a plan to visit them.

I hope everyone is busy making a GREAT plan to stay sober this weekend - especially for those in the US with a holiday weekend. Having a plan REALLY helps (for those who might be new and reading this thread!!!) My plan always includes the following at minimum:

1. Make sure I eat well. (I crave AL more when I am hungry)
2. Plan what I WILL drink. Take my own drinks with me if possible.
3. For social events, plan a LIMITED time to attend. Plan in advance what time I will leave. Have an exit strategy.

In another Booze Buster Exclusive, here is another really good recipe!! Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast - Allrecipes

This one is good enough for company, at least at my house. Looks "fancy" but can be all prepped in advance minimizing hassle when guests arrive.

OK let's go kick some Booze Beast ASS.

DG
Day 99AFHF

[A Work in Progress]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

Hey DG, interesting re: "Five Feats" ... Tell us more.

Yeah the science behind just plain doing stuff to make us feel better is very solid, it's called "behavioral activation" in the biz. One excellent study demonstrated that behavioral activation, all by itself, was just as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression, which in turn is at least as effective as medication.

And the science behind keeping lists is also solid, and it is interesting in that it works in both directions: keeping lists of behaviors you want to stop or diminish, AND keeping lists of behaviors you want to increase, both are effective. That's why it works to write it down, keep track of, cigarettes smoked, food eaten, AND exercise sessions completed, or whatever you might be working on.

I developed a wellness program that used behavioral activation, keeping lists, together with mindfulness practice AND recognition and development of values-based goals. It was quite effective. It was so effective that my boss hi-jacked it, claimed it for her own, forced me out of my job, and is trying to market her own version of it on behalf of my (former) university...

Anyhow... water under the bridge... Now I am using my own program on myself, LOL ... !!

wip

[kriger]

BOOZE BUSTERS Week of 8/25 (A)bsolutely (F)abulous (H)angover (F)ree 30 Day Challenge

After all the posts in this thread my heart is so heavy for all of you suffering through parental health issues...you all have such good attitudes about what you are doing for these "dear" people in your lives. Sometimes, as in WIPs case, her mom is lashing out at her and acts hateful, but WIP is still there every day because she loves her mom. I think you all are SO strong and so caring....I am truly inspired.
My parents are in their early 80s; they just sold their house and are moving to a "three tiered facility". They will start out in a little villa just like a house; they can move into assisted living when that time comes and then on to nursing home if and when that time comes. They made this choice because my brother and I live 2000 miles away from Florida now and you really need to move into these facilities while healthy. My Dad is totally blind from Macular but his mind is like a steel trap; my Mom has a better figure than I do-still has a waistline, but she seems to be getting really forgetful (repeats herself over and over again)- anything can happen at their age so I am very grateful for their decision. I think it's going to be a little emotional for them (one more giant step closer to the end of the line, so to speak), but hey will be fine when they get settled. They are very social so they'll make friends in a hurry and be setting up bridge games with everyone. I wish I could do more for those of you having these problems...just know that I FEEL very deeply for you all. Krigs