Less Alcohol ~ AUGUST 2021 ~ One Day At A Time

ahoy_m8

@globalhiker I just thought of this because of your username and your mention of hitting the trails for vacation... Have you by chance ever heard of a UK travel company called "On Foot Holiday"?

They arrange hiking vacations wherein they chart the course, book the hotels along the way, and (most helpfully), transport your luggage so all you have to do is hike from town to town.

globalhiker

Happy Friday! Tonight we planned Thai takeout along with a Spanish Garnacha wine (Campo Viejo brand) my husband picked up. Odd combo, I know. I don't really drink red and hopefully I will stick to 2 max tonight. The alcohol content is high, at 14% so it's a very slow sipper.

@lmlmrn, fires in AZ have been gone for a month but we get the haze from California and the Northwest since the wind blows it down here. Our air is no good. Then we had 2 weeks of on-and-off violent thunderstorms that caused a lot of standing water. By end of September I hope the weather for us in US and Canada gets better, it should.

@ahoy_8 I haven't yet used a service like On Foot Holiday but I do think having a service carting one's luggage is super valuable and I would use it if I ever get to do Tour du Mont Blanc or hikes in Chile someday. I am not the type to carry everything on my back!

I do love the planning aspect and typically will plan out staying in 3-4 places and just do day hikes, leaving my belongings at a rental. This next trip I will stay 2 nights in Utah in a cabin set within a canyon that happens to have a vineyard, donkey and chickens, then drive to a town outside of Telluride Co. and stay in a country cabin with farm animals on lots of acres, then the last 2-3 days I won't plan anything till the day before and just go where the weather is nice and the roads open. Cost for each place is $100 a night (I grab places 10-20 miles outside of main tourist towns), I get to do the trails I want, save money eating dinners in (BBQ grill) and it's great.

Lilylady3k

DH & I held up to our bargain of bringing 1 bottle of wine to the cooking class. However, our friends brought 1 expensive bottle of chardonnay which they wanted us to taste. They also had half a dozen variety of little champagne & wine spritz bottles. We held it together except they passed the last glass of their bottle over to us and insisted. Oh well. The place also sold bottles of wine & beer which we did not buy so limited it to what was in front of us.
3 glasses of wine for the evening was not bad given the environment.

August accountability: 12/19 days AF
Alcohol: 7 days (14 drinks)

Paella Mixta (chicken, shrimp, mussels). DH and I are on the left.


We brought the Spanish wine ... Albariño.

ladychr0nic

I'm going away this weekend and I"m think I'm just going to smoke weed haha (it's legal in my country). Maybe have a little wine at night, but I'm going to try not to day drink. Usually when I go on vacation, I have ceasers in the morning, beer/cider throughout the day and then drink excessively at night.
NOT THIS WEEKEND.
I got this.

lilawolf

Aug 1: A
Aug 2-5: AF
Aug 6: A
Aug 7-20: AF Streak:13 Aug:18/20

Blackberry bubly, mint, half a lime. Lovely 10 calorie, sweetener and AF beverage for a little something special this evening 😍.

I do wish they sold Ariel, my by far favorite AF wine here. I find "wine" to be more evening relaxing mood and mojitos to be more joyful summer day mood. Either way this is super yummy.

lmlmrn

Was a very frustrating day and I am afraid I am taking out on myself with a few Adult beverages this evening.
Went back down to get pass so I can work the fair, again. Whoops they still don't have my information that my contact called me last night to assure me it was there this am. Called contact while I was there, she was not at home and did not have the number to Her contact. Gals at the counter said there was nothing they could do. They called the supervisor (who btw was the person my contact wanted to call and she said, can't help until the paperwork comes in and did not recognize my contact) So another call to my contact, no answer. She calls me as I am now home to tell me she emailed it all last night (she has told me this already). I then said I am not going to make a third trip to the fair grounds to park, walk 1/2 mile, stand in line in the heat, she would have to pick it up for me before the meeting on Tuesday. (they did take my picture so the badge is there).

At this point DH is telling me just stop. I don't need to work there, I just wanted too. They are having such a hard time getting people to work. But at this rate I can see why! The left and right are obviously not talking. I understand not moving me forward in the process because I will be handling large volumes of cash. but sheesh! Lets see what happens on Tuesday. BTW the fair opens Sept 3, and runs through 28th? or 26th something like that.

Sorry for the rant.

I plan to do much better after Saturday night after my family has left my house...feeding them dinner LOL

Lilylady3k

My plan was to be AF this evening but my sister popped in for dinner. 3 glasses of wine with Shrimp Creole & a movie.

August accountability: 12/20 days AF
Alcohol: 8 days (17 drinks)

Womona

dawnbgethealthy wrote: »

I was raised by parents who had lived through the Depression. I was taught to never throw anything out or be wasteful.
One of my elder sisters lives the edited life and loves it.
I just couldn't. I like my stuff too much.
I guess i am similar to those elderly gentlemen lol.
I have like 30 bathing suits and only made it to the lake twice this year. I do wear them while gardening to get a tan. I did wear all 30 several times each last summer. Once I can get the time off and go to the Caribbean I will take like 10 swimsuits with me. Really trying to justify my love for too much stuff : - )

OMG I had the same upbringing and I am the exact opposite! If it’s not nailed down, out it goes! I’m constantly editing.

My mom’s parents moved a lot when she was a child, and her dad threw her stuff out constantly to have less stuff to move. So, when she had her own home, she stuffed it full of her “treasures”. If she bought it in 1972, she loved it just as much in 2008. It was maddening. We were bursting at the seams but she would flip out if I tried to get her to declutter.

And then as their parents passed on, we got a lot of grandma’s old furniture, stored in the garage. Just thinking about all that stuff gives me hives.

I was delighted to finally hire an estate clean out service when Dad moved into assisted living, so I could finally get that stuff out of there.

My dad, who was always wanting Mom to get rid of her stuff, suddenly became a real softie “oh but this was your mother’s “. But if she were alive he would have been complaining about all her stuff! He was more the “keep it if it’s useful, whether you need it or not” person.

Issues much? Haha!

Womona

@globalhiker your upcoming Utah trip sounds wonderful!!!!!

@lmlmrn oh how frustrating. It shouldn’t be this difficult! I hope it works out for you.

One large glass of wine last night with a delicious dinner. Same plan tonight. I really feel that one drink! Amazing.

“It’s a jungle out there”. That’s how I describe our much neglected landscaping. The weeds took over, and because we didn’t have spring clean up/pruning service come out this past spring, the shrubs are all overgrown. Amazing how one season makes them way too big. Yet I’m afraid it’s too late in the season to cut them back. So we are toiling in the mulch beds this weekend.

The fact is we just don’t have the time to weed. I pay my sons to do it, but between summer college classes and work, they didn’t have much time either. At least they kept up with the mowing!

dawnbgethealthy

I am continuing with my usual goal, 16-20 AF days for the month, diary style


Friday Aug 13 - Drinks. Friday the 13th!! I had intentions to be AF, but just wasn't. Had an awesome day at another lake. Photos to come.
Saturday Aug 14 - AF - I am at about 50% this month so far, kind of like last month where it was top-loaded with drinks days.
Sunday Aug 15 - AF - Schedule change and I have the day off tomorrow - this sometimes signals that it would be a good time to have drinks. I think that with working as much as i did all through the spring when days off didn't exist, I became very self-indulgent once they appeared and I knew that I actually had the next day off. Still a good idea for me not to drink if I have work the next day. Refrained today, more for my waistline than any other reason : - )
Monday Aug 16 - AF - I was up in Kimberley hanging out with my guitar player and bass player. They were having beers and I was offered, but had to drive back to Cranbrook and have a split shift tomorrow, so refrained. Smoky up there too, but seemed a tad less bad with all of the trees pumping out oxygen. Burning eyes are the norm around here.
Tuesday Aug 17 - AF - Long busy day, a drink would have been nice, but I have to get up in around 6 hours, so AF probably until Friday.
Wednesday Aug 18 - 2 drinks. It was not a planned drinks day at all, but I was finished work at 3, worked in the garden until 6, and then really enjoyed a couple.
Thursday Aug 19 - AF - Planned Mojitos with a friend tomorrow evening.
Friday Aug 20 - Mojitos- Mojito mint and Chocolate mint. Very yummy. Possible drinks with other friends Saturday afternoon (day off)

Rolling total: 11AF days out of 20 days

AR10at50

Boy, I hear you people talking about saving treasures and things you enjoy........I joined MFP 4 years ago when I was a miserable glutton. I had to clean my mothers house out ( 1 hour away) after her move into assisted living and then her death. My mom had all of the treasures from her parents (aunt didn’t want to clutter her house up with it all) I would ask my sister what she wanted and she didn’t want to clutter her house up. So, I hauled it all to my house, put it in my garage and on pallets in the side yard, covered with a tarp, and went through everything. I drank soooooo much alcohol and ate anything I wanted while I was dealing with it all. Finally I joined MFP to lose weight and get control of my chaos. Jump two years ahead and I had to pack our house up to move. I liked doing that; what ever I saved from my mom and did not use, I got rid of. I was able to reorganize all things. To make the packing more pleasant, I would be drinking beer and listening to music. When ever I have a miserable job to do, I am usually drinking......which is why I like this MFP link.

globalhiker

I kept up my usual Friday night routine of polishing off the wine bottle. This morning I put in a half hour of bodycombat cardio and half hour of body pump and hopefully sweated out Friday night toxins. I did feel toxic. It's been years since I had red wine and now I remember why.

AF weekend for me!

I get what you mean @AR10@50 about getting control of one's chaos. Sometimes chaos falls into our lap unexpectedly and when it does, my stamina and energy and resolve go out the window. It takes effort to recalibrate.

@Lilylady3k nice picture and you guys are always having fun! I need to buy me a legit paella pan and get cookin'!

Market was sold out of Kevita kombucha zero cal lemon/ginger, it must be the good one because all the other flavors were filled up!

Lilylady3k

@globalhiker - The class in Spain we used a real paella pan however for this class in Houston they used a cast iron pan. It worked really well!
Oh and I know the lemon Kevita kombucha goes quick ... I like the less sweet drinks and it has fewer calories than the fruity ones.

tmbg1

Aug 1 AF
Aug 2 AF
Aug 3 wine
Aug 4 wine
Aug 5 wine
Aug 6 AF
Aug 7 AF
Aug 8 AF
Aug 9 wine 3 glasses
Aug 10 wine 4 glasses - went a bit off the rails last night and feel icky this morning. Goal is AF for the next 4 days
Aug 11 AF
Aug 12 AF
Aug 13 AF
Aug 14 wine 4 glasses and felt like poop
Aug 15 AF
Aug 16 wine 2 glasses
Aug 17 wine 3 glasses
Aug 18 AF
Aug 19 AF
Aug 20 3 beers
Aug 21 AF

Lilylady3k

DH & I are both AF on a Saturday night. Shocked! I know!

dawnbgethealthy

I am continuing with my usual goal, 16-20 AF days for the month, diary style


Friday Aug 13 - Drinks. Friday the 13th!! I had intentions to be AF, but just wasn't. Had an awesome day at another lake. Photos to come.
Saturday Aug 14 - AF - I am at about 50% this month so far, kind of like last month where it was top-loaded with drinks days.
Sunday Aug 15 - AF - Schedule change and I have the day off tomorrow - this sometimes signals that it would be a good time to have drinks. I think that with working as much as i did all through the spring when days off didn't exist, I became very self-indulgent once they appeared and I knew that I actually had the next day off. Still a good idea for me not to drink if I have work the next day. Refrained today, more for my waistline than any other reason : - )
Monday Aug 16 - AF - I was up in Kimberley hanging out with my guitar player and bass player. They were having beers and I was offered, but had to drive back to Cranbrook and have a split shift tomorrow, so refrained. Smoky up there too, but seemed a tad less bad with all of the trees pumping out oxygen. Burning eyes are the norm around here.
Tuesday Aug 17 - AF - Long busy day, a drink would have been nice, but I have to get up in around 6 hours, so AF probably until Friday.
Wednesday Aug 18 - 2 drinks. It was not a planned drinks day at all, but I was finished work at 3, worked in the garden until 6, and then really enjoyed a couple.
Thursday Aug 19 - AF - Planned Mojitos with a friend tomorrow evening.
Friday Aug 20 - Mojitos- Mojito mint and Chocolate mint. Very yummy. Possible drinks with other friends Saturday afternoon (day off)
Saturday Aug 21 - Drinks - Basically started at noon with boozy coffees. Very tiny amounts of very many things, tried so many combinations. Drizzly day, day off, and tomorrow off too. Had a nice visit with some friends who came over. It was so lovely. I have a tenant starting September 1st, so actually staying inside for a change was very pleasant - I was cognizant that I won't have the place to myself soon. Planning a few AF days soon, had no desire to be AF today.

Rolling total: 11AF days out of 21 days

Mellie289

Okay, I have been gone from here all week, but keeping alcohol out of the house, so I'm on track. Semester starts on Monday and I'm in the mad scramble to get ready.

Aug Week 1 AF
Aug 8: AF
Aug 9: AF
Aug 10: AF
Aug 11: AF
Aug 12: AF
Aug 13: AF
Aug 14: 3 wine
Aug 15: 2 wine
Aug 16: AF
Aug 17: AF
Aug 18: AF
Aug 19: AF
Aug 20: AF
Aug 21: AF

@Stockholm_Andy - love the vacation pix! I need to put that on my bucket list!

MissMay

Oh my gosh all the photos are wonderful now that I am catching up from a crazy week.

I had intended to have off from Aug. 21-29. I started telling clients this weeks ago. Then something snow balled and what happened yesterday? (supposed 1st day off) WORKED putting in a new garden planting for an older gentleman.

So I am just about to get in my jeep to leave and he asks if I'd mind taking a look at his "other" house property, because it might need some of my garden help in the future. I should have pushed in my clutch and tore out of there in reverse. NOPE....I agreed to take a peek at it on my way home.

Have you ever watched one of those scary movies where the camera pans up an over grown driveway to a house that is over grown with vines and plant matter? That was my encounter.
Oh yeah, sure.....week off .....NOT!

Did manage 5 days straight of AF after my drink took a drink last Monday. I know it was ONLY 1 more than what my goal for the day of 2 was. But that is how bad habits reform for me, by letting my guard down. Back on track.

Lilylady3k

@MissMay - Curious if your DH is back working again or if he has joined you in garden rehabs? Sounds like this latest overgrown house could use the extra hands! Good luck in tackling & taming it.

Lilylady3k

So we're designing a new kitchen layout which will open up the house even more than it is (den, dining & kitchen) but I'll lose much of my storage as we get rid of walls. Currently I have 37 cabinets and 17 drawers in the kitchen not including all the cabinets and closet in the laundry room. They are all overflowing since I do entertain a lot. My job these next couple of weeks is to decide keep, give away, toss, or move to a better location in the house.