Less Alcohol ~ JULY 2021 ~ One Day At A Time
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So, a hippie bus to go and discover wildflowers?
I am in : - )5 -
@mainelylisa i love how you turned around your attitude yesterday! So inspiring to see you take action instead of wallowing in misery and alcohol. I personally love a good closet purge. To get rid of that which we don’t need, no longer fits well, was a bad purchase, etc, is so mentally and spiritually freeing. Plus it’s a great rainy day activity!
Oh and ever getting an Airstream….. swoon!
@dawnbgethealthy love your beautiful flowers!6 -
@dawnbgethealthy nice pictures of your flowers. The black petunia is stunning. My black iris never came up this Spring, bummer it died from all the rain and freezing last Winter.
I have to net/cage my flowers also from the deer. There are 7 garden areas in my yard, plus about 20 plant pots. AND 8 high bush blueberry bushes(5 feet tall). The deer think my yard is Disneyland with an all night buffet.
Now that the rain came it has greened up the lawn so I can take some photos after I remove all the cages and netting. I wasn't quick enough to cover the Queen of the Prairie and "Bucky" came through one day and ate off all eleven buds. ERRRRRRR.
Here is a photo of a field of WILD LUPIN. This scene is everywhere up here during June. They just grow where they want.
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@mainelylisa lov'n the new YOU. So we are headed where so we can wear our sundressses? 😍6
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Last night AF again.
6 out of 8 for July
I will have to take a look at my past drinking/not drinking calendars and compare tallys since 2018. I know, why count right? Well it seems I pretty much count everything or keep track of numbers for some odd reason. While watering my gardens the other day(which takes over an hour) I began counting perennials. Lol
Happy Friday......don't turn it into "fried day", drink responsibility.
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Thanks for all of the support, accountability and wonderful word pictures of what the "wagon" looks like
For me it's now one of the yellow school buses you get in North America but covered in hippy peace signs, wild flowers and with a self-service AF cocktail bar where the back seat. However, there's no engine as it being pulled by 4 large white horses.
Any I made myself designated driver of said wagon last night and successful clambered onboard and away from temptation.
4 days AF for July.7 -
@dawnbgethealthy my favorite of the bunch are the Nicotina for their color intensity....
We put our "retirement planning" work aside, including the whole "where to move to", just way too stressful, all of it. For now, seems the only thing we agree on is staying put and ensuring we have the ability to travel how we want to and when we want to...instead of being "tied down" to a second home or something like that. Less bills, more freedom, more simplicity.
Sign me up on the airstream ride....
74 AF days to go. Another new day today to make things go your WAY!7 -
Well folks, I slipped off the back of the wagon. Not horrible though. Not enough that I feel bad this morning as it was two (and I measured) shots over a 4 hour period. But I have put it all away, and thinking ahead to my trip. My sister rarely drinks and if she does it is a light beer or a sweet wine, neither appeal to me so this trip will be alcohol free. So I am looking at at least 7-14 days in a row AF.
Todays plan is to finish up some finishing touches on the yard (about 3 hours worth) and hopefully mowed before I am too wore out to do more. Then a trip to the store for last minute travel stuff and assess what I want to bring vs space. I tend to travel light and I am not going to buy a piece of luggage. My backpack has served me well for all the trips I have taken over the past 8 years. I can, with careful planning, live out of it for a week or more before I need to wash something.
Since we are scooting around in an SUV, any little thing I can't bring on the plane she can pack in the vehicle.
oooooh all these flowers! The only blooming ones I have really are lavender and they can get pretty big LOL. And they are great to make some lavender hydrosol to be used for toner, smell good hair mist etc.
off for now9 -
@dawnbgethealthy - LOVE your flower pics! I have similar petunias but they are drenched with too much rain for the past couple of weeks. I believe I can now consider them overwatered. If @MissMay is watering for an hour ... then I need to send some of this constant sprinkles and rain her way.
@globalhiker - We run into the same issues with "retirement planning". Back and forth ... move / don't move, close to kids / far away, remodel our current house / sell the house, buy smaller place. But seems like buying something is more expensive than staying put and the property taxes go way up! So we've done nothing but struggle with this discussion for the past 5 years. I want to live overlooking water. DH wants something cooler but not cold. We both would like something not so flat (HOUSTON IS FLAT). We love the walking paths in our current neighborhood area and there are a lot of paths (don't have to walk in the streets or next to the homes' front yards ... but will the next place have paths to walk? Keeping this place makes financial sense and allows us to travel.
Our fishing camp is too small to consider ... not even 1 closet LOL to store stuff! And 5+ hrs away. It is on water but when my mom passes away (she is 84 and in very good shape so not happening anytime soon ... she lives next door to the camp) we plan to sell. I only bought it from her to care for her without staying with her and to help her financially (social security is not something you can live on these days at 84 years old).
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mainelylisa wrote: »It's a hippy wagon bus.
I sure got grumpy today. *kitten* weather. Dog always waiting until we're in the yard where someone is looking out the window when she poops. Didn't stick to exercise plan. Crappy work. Frustration with the house. And just general grump. I absolutely would have drank on a day like this to make me not care as much. Tomorrow nothing would have changed, except the feeling of leftover poison permeating my tired body.
Instead, I actually went from complaining (to myself), to starting to do something about it. I swapped sides of the bed with DH but he doesn't know it yet...muhahaha). I purged about 1/3 of my clothes. I never go anywhere and am too cold to wear my dresses. My tight clothes don't hug the right parts anymore, lol. Then I thought...a REAL reason to minimize clothing would be for my clothes to fit into ....wait for it....
AIRSTREAM! Need to figure out the finances, but I want to explore and make adventures and be warm when I want to be warm and meet cool people. In person.
Maybe it's a hippy wagon Airstream.
I hope you get your Airstream! That would be seriously cool and a good symbol of your new ways.7 -
A few non-alcoholic options I picked up for this weekend.
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Okay that was a good plan BUT my sister is headed over for dinner tonight and looks like we are having wine (DH stepped out to buy it) with the Italian dinner I planned. So I'll probably have a glass of wine tonight but no more than 2. That is my plan. No drinking mindlessly with them through 2-4 bottles.7
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I hope you all had fantastic Fridays and are looking forwards to a splendid Saturdays.
We made it through Friday dry so I'm now 5 and 5 for the month.
It was forecast to rain all day today so we booked tickets for the Cinema for me and my daughter to see the Black Widow movie she wanted to see. I'm not that clued up on the whole Marvel thing but it's fun to hangout with her.
Oh and needless to say it is bright sunshine 🌞 outside 7 -
Sassy Saturday to all of you.
Tropical storm is gone and we have clear skies and no showers today. 😎
No place to go yesterday after I worked, I decided it was the perfect time to chill with a stemmed glass and an adult alcohol beverage. Listening to the rain on the roof, reading and sipping. Then of course a short nappy. Lol
3 standard drinks in 9 DAYS?!
Just four years ago I could slurp down 3 drinks in 9 MINUTES.
You've come a long way baby!
July 9th accountability:
3A days (3 drinks total)
6AF days10 -
Well yeah! I finished my yard work (three weeks worth), 15 yards of large bark chunks laid down under pristine flower beds and weed/grass removal from all those unwanted places. The outside has never looked so good.
I was so tired when I finished. So DH took pity on me and took me to local pub. I did have 1.5 icy cold beers and order fish and chips. I was so tired all I could eat was two pieces of fish and about 5 fries. No slaw, no chowder.
So my accountability is a bit high so far this month, but I am so much more aware of when I have a drink now. Like you @MissMay when I look at the actual number of drinks and days so far in the month sheesh I could have had all that in one night before and kept on going. 6 out of 10 dry days.
Monday I leave for my 'thelma and louise' trip. We won't actually hit the road until Tuesday but I fly to OH on Monday. If anyone has any suggestions of places that are 'must see' in the OH, KY, VA, WV, or anything more north or east. I am open! We do not have an agenda, nor a specific destination or timeline.
xx5 -
73 AF days to go...!
@Lilylady3k, my husband lived in Houston and moved out because it was flat and humid, but he said the food and restaurant options were the best. We have family there and they have monster size homes that to me look like castles, and at great prices, so Houston has some good stuff going for it. Texans are generally quite friendly and social too.
Places with water that had made our shortlist were Orcas Island, Brookings Oregon, and neighborhoods south of Carson City, NV, Cambria CA. But all 3 had negatives for year-round living (damp cold in winter or wind) or high cost and taxes. Then my husband's requirements changed, now he wants mission impossible: a RIVER in the backyard, acreage, mostly always sunny and warm days, and mountain trails in walking distance for his daily mountain biking. This all sounds like Colorado but alas it gets cold and snowy so that's out. And locations with grizzly bears are out for me. LOL. We are complicated.4 -
My usual goal, 16-20 AF for the month. This is sustainable long term for me.
Wednesday July 07 - Drinks. I had intended to be AF. After work and a little shopping we got a heavy rain storm which was so lovely and needed. I was sitting on my front covered porch enjoying it, and then decided that I would like to have drinks while I was sitting there. Of course up an entire pound in the morning, that is how it goes.
Thursday July 08 - AF - Of course I felt like having drinks. I put a Piccolo (4oz) champagne (well, Freixenet) into the fridge. I am getting my second Covid Immunization after work tomorrow, and I have Saturday and Sunday off.
Friday July 09 - Drinks. I did not have my mini champagne (comes in a 3 pack of 100ml bottles) rather started with a frozen Mike's blue. Maybe I will have some champagne 2 weeks after to celebrate being 100% protected. I am off of work now until 5pm on Monday. Not sure if I will have more drinks or not. Willpower has been better.
Rolling total - 4 AF days out of 9 days4 -
WARNING major photo display ahead. Uncovered all the plants for a photo shoot.
Thought I would share with ya all.11 -
@MissMay - LOVE Love love your garden!!! Thank you for sharing.
What is in the 6th picture ... maybe rose bushes in a rectangular bed? Looks like lots of potential tall wildflowers in the background.4 -
Lilylady3k wrote: »@MissMay - LOVE Love love your garden!!! Thank you for sharing.
What is in the 6th picture ... maybe rose bushes in a rectangular bed? Looks like lots of potential tall wildflowers in the background.
Thanks @Lilylady3k, to bad all my azaleas and rhododendrons all ready bloomed they were incredible. The 6th picture is my high bush blueberry garden that I picked 42 pounds of blueberries from last year.5 -
Thanks @lmlmrn. I dug those ferns(like 4 different varieties) out of my woods and put them in that shaded rock garden.
Wonderful YOUR yard project is complete. Hard work - YES. Satisfying - Definitely. That was alot of bark to lay. You and Thelma should head to Amish country on your road trip. There are many Amish communities out tgat way bith in Ohio and Pennsylvania. And maybe some good ole town fairs. Oh gee, now I am thinking it is my Sister and I on this adventure since she is out in Ohio as well.
We are going to need daily updates as you make you way along.4 -
@MissMay - I love blueberries! I buy them every week for breakfast. My mom use to grow them in Louisiana but I've not tried here in Texas.
Steak night ... 2 glasses of a nice red wine. DH asked before opening the bottle if I would be joining him. Yes tonight. I informed DH that tomorrow night I would be AF.
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Saturday successfully navigated and AF!
Now 6 days AF for July. It's really helping that my wife is with me on this journey this time. Sure we've both derailed the other once or twice over the past 2 months. But more often than not the buddy buddy system has helped us both stay focused.
@Lilylady3k Texas Steak Night...my mouth is watering and it's only 7am here LOL4 -
I made Greek stuffed portobello mushrooms and a little roasted broccoli to go with the steak last night. Very yummy! DH did not open a 2nd bottle of wine which was a wonderful win for him. I kept to 1.5-2 glasses and then switched to water.
https://eatingwell.com/recipe/274595/greek-stuffed-portobello-mushrooms/
Picture before I put them in the oven
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Nice garden @MissMay, lots of space there for a party too!
72 AF days to go. Big news here is that it rained wildly last night. It was a cool lightning show too. Thankfully we did not lose power like lots of others.3 -
@MissMay
Sooooo beautiful!!
Being a gardener I do understand how much work that it. Great job, and thank you so much for sharing.
I do love to see photos : - )2 -
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