Less Alcohol ~ AUGUST 2021 ~ One Day At A Time

MissMay

Can we add a few more days to the week so I can have time to write a post?

Clearing out my 2 story garage like a crazy lady. Making lots of forward progress. Burning tons of calories going up and down that huge staircase and it is hot as the hinges of &#$% up there.

Nice to read everyones daily activities.

I slipped the other day and had 3 prosseco. I did not need more than one but my drink took more drinks. Back to reality and more serious concentrated efforts as of yesterday.

A bit of a bump but not a giant pothole to fall into.

😎

Womona

Hi all! @Stockholm_Andy those pictures are beautiful. Welcome back from vacation! Hope it was wonderful.

Had a glass of wine with lunch w/ hubby yesterday- I was going to be AF but he convinced me to have some with him. I folded like a house of cards. But at least I was AF after paddle practice, so that’s a win.

My weight is coming down! Yay!

dawnbgethealthy

@Stockholm_Andy
Thank you for the photos!!

lmlmrn

Hello everyone.
This month I seem to have more alcohol days than in the past months. I really need to sit down and ponder on what my triggers have been. I seem to have lost my will to really move forward.

On the plus side! And just for laughs and giggles I am going to work at our state fair for the duration. It is only 18 days long and I get my schedule next week. I am going to be a 'relief' person at one of the gates where the tickets are sold, giving the gals their breaks. I won't be in the actual booth the entire time but my hours will be noon to close which can be 9:30 during the week and 10:30 on the weekends. I may be asked to help with crowd control i.e. Four boths and four sellers yet folks only using two lines....need to move them along LOL.

I have been doing some more painting and uggg, back in the yard working on the back of our property. Now I am raking up all the sod, dirt, pine needles, pine cones into piles so I can fill up our recycle can every two weeks. After this is done it will be just routine maintenance so yeah.

@Stockholm_Andy your pictures are so beautiful. I would love to travel to ....well .....anywhere actually. I do get itchy feet.
@MissMay kudos to you for all that clearing up of your garage!

Everyone seems to be doing well or at least making themselves accountable.

LazyBlondeChef

Tally for the month:
AF Aug 1-10
Drinks on mini vacation Aug 11-13
AF Aug 14-17

I even had a couple of mocktails while out of town ... a Pineapple No-jito which was muddled lime & mint w/club soda, agave syrup and pineapple juice. I had them omit the agave syrup to make it less sweet. It was refreshing though it probably needed slightly more pineapple juice. This particular bar had a whole menu of them. The other place I had one was more of a limeade/blood orange combo w/club soda. A little too sweet for my taste but otherwise a good flavor.

ladychr0nic

I'm going to just try to drink on weekends. The summer it has been so hard, cracking a beer after work or making ceasers before dinner. Enough is enough! I stopped tracking a couple months ago (it's day one for me) and over the summer I have gained 5 pounds. A lot of that is probably from the booze! It's time to cut back. Thank you for this thread.

lilawolf

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

@lilawolf Good luck with the interview! What kind of interview & what kind of engineering? Nice AF streak. Sorry, I'm not acquainted with apps to aid habit forming, but it sounds like a great idea.

I am a mechanical engineer. For this particular job, I already had 2 calls with recruiters, 2 45- minute screening interviews and now I have to do a 30 minute presentation on my self/skills/work and then a 6 hour interview with technical, design, and behavioral sections. This is pretty common for my sector but its....a lot.

Womona

AF tonight! And, I’m slightly under my calorie goal. Weight is starting to go down. Whew!

lilawolf

Aug 1: A
Aug 2-5: AF
Aug 6: A
Aug 7-12: AF
Aug 13: AF!!!! I didn't go out so I just avoided temptation.😇
Aug 14: day 8 AF. Really hard day, but I managed 😶😶😶
Aug 15: day 9 AF. Not thirsty at all today!!! 😁Mom seems to be doing well in A-rehab. Studied all day for my big interview coming up. Engineering equations are coming out of my ears lol
Aug 16: day 10 AF in a row, 14/16 for august, happily AF today 😇. 11 hours of work and got a ton done.
Aug 17: happily AF🥳
Aug 18: went out for wings & stayed AF! WOOT 🎉🎉🎉! Streak:11 Aug:16/18

Goal is AF till after my interview on the 27th. Maybe on to a full month, we'll see.

Mom made it 7 days in A-rehab and still sounds upbeat. 🤞🤞🤞

Lilylady3k

Cannot believe I've already racked up 12 AF days this month! Usually I'm struggling to the very last day to squeeze one in. Now to strive for 16 AF days which I've not hit since Nov 2020.

August accountability: 12/30 days AF
Alcohol: 6 days (11 drinks)
Goal: Limit 1-2 glasses per day; 12-16 AF days per month. Aim to drink no more than 2 nights in a row.

8/1 - 2 wine @ fishing camp 🎣
8/2 - AF
8/3 - AF
8/4 - AF
8/5 - AF
8/6 - 2 wine
8/7 - 3 wine
8/8 - AF
8/9 - AF
8/10 - AF
8/11 - AF
8/12 - AF
8/13 - 2 wine
8/14 - 1 wine
8/15 - AF
All my social groups are ditching Zoom and moving into their face to face events which means the 3rd week of each month will again be challenging from both a food & drink perspective.
8/16 - AF - Book Club
8/17 - 1 wine - ZTA Houston Area Alumnae Kickoff
8/18 - AF - ZTA Book Club

Planned
8/19 - 2 wine - Well Done Cooking Class - Espana Date Night w/ friends
8/20 - AF TGIF
8/21 - 2 wine
8/22 - AF
8/23 - AF
8/24 - AF
8/25 - AF
8/26 - AF
8/27 - TGIF ?
8/28 - AF
8/29 - 2 wine - Dining Out w/ friends @ Ouisie’s Table
8/30 - AF
8/31 - AF

dawnbgethealthy

@Lilylady3k

So interesting that the book club people that usually drink were not.

I'm not sure that I know any people that don't drink, but I think that in a group of seven (yeah, famous painters) when some were not drinking would be a great impetus to also not drink.

You were feeling like it might be a trigger...and then it wasn't! Fabulous!!

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.

Rolling total: 10AF days out of 18 days

Stockholm_Andy

@Womona @dawnbgethealthy @lmlmrn Thank you

@MissMay I feel for you with the garage clearing. Last year I had to clear-out my Dads 2 floor double garage after he'd died.

I couldn't believe how much stuff he'd crammed in to it and most of it was things he'd never have needed again in a million years.

I ordered a massive skip (dumpster) to throw much of it away but as soon as I started several of the local "older Gentlemen" came out and started saying "Oh, that might come in handy can I have that".

As fast as I was filling it they where ferrying it off to their own overstuffed garages

6 AF out of 18 for August.

I was invited to a boozy dinner this evening but I've declined as I've had too many of those so far this month with our vacation

Lilylady3k

dawnbgethealthy wrote: »

@Lilylady3k

So interesting that the book club people that usually drink were not.

I'm not sure that I know any people that don't drink, but I think that in a group of seven (yeah, famous painters) when some were not drinking would be a great impetus to also not drink.

You were feeling like it might be a trigger...and then it wasn't! Fabulous!!

That was Monday night book club and yes I was surprised by who decided to not order wine! Like me they always have a glass or 2.

Wednesday night book club was too funny. We selected a new restaurant. It had stemless large wineglasses and all the ladies that ordered wine were complaining about the SMALL pour. But it was a real 6 oz pour LOL! They just could not believe it and were very disappointed. 13 ladies and everyone had wine, beer or mixed drink except for 2 of us. I stuck with my water ... and was again AF! Getting the hang of it.

Tonight DH and I are attending a cooking class with friends. Well Done Cooking Class - Date Night - Dinner in Espana (Spain). We are making Fruit Empanadas, Paella Mixta, Tortilla Española. It is BYOB and each couple plans to take 1 bottle of Spanish wine for the 3 hr session. We'll see if we stick to that plan.

Womona

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

@Womona @dawnbgethealthy @lmlmrn Thank you

@MissMay I feel for you with the garage clearing. Last year I had to clear-out my Dads 2 floor double garage after he'd died.

I couldn't believe how much stuff he'd crammed in to it and most of it was things he'd never have needed again in a million years.

I ordered a massive skip (dumpster) to throw much of it away but as soon as I started several of the local "older Gentlemen" came out and started saying "Oh, that might come in handy can I have that".

As fast as I was filling it they where ferrying it off to their own overstuffed garages

6 AF out of 18 for August.

I was invited to a boozy dinner this evening but I've declined as I've had too many of those so far this month with our vacation

My parents place was the exact same way! That generation really loved to hold on to every odd and end for “just in case”- never mind that they’d never be able to locate the item if the need ever did arise. Which of course never did. I’m laughing at the stream of older gentlemen carting off your dad’s stuff. Who knew you didn’t need that dumpster???? Haha!

globalhiker

Thursday is here & finally no rain this morning. Time to go out for a run and start the day right.

AF this week so far. I've been terrible with the diet this week and working super long hours and haven't lifted a weight in a month or more. Sitting, sitting, sitting....and spreading quickly.

Hitting the RESET button. Time to get back on track...Vacation coming up in about a month and I need to get myself in working order to be able to hit the trails, otherwise I will be really sore and achy the whole time.

lmlmrn

spent the day in the back of the property cleaning up! I estimate I have at least 4 full sized truck beds worth of pine needles/branches, pine cones etc. Sunday is going to be busy as we try to load this up to take to the yard waste place. Tonight relax and have a light dinner with my diet tonic water and bitters. Maybe a heineken 0.0

@globalhiker so glad you are able to get out! so the fires are all gone?

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

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.

Rolling total: 11AF days out of 19 days

dawnbgethealthy

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 : - )

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