Day 31 Sober for October

Write up to follow....

Here goes.... 3 days late -

I bet you thought I was on a three day bender huh?

Not true - I have been up t'North to see my sister and family. I left work at 2pm and had a 'Top Gear' Challenge of a drive up the M1 with Don-Don (AKA Jezzer) only 10 minutes behind us all the way...she'd set off from Taunton at lunchtime but traffic and weather being so bad had only managed to catch Captain slow up at the second passing place on her lane.
Mr Interesting and his amazingly absorbent flapjacks declared this the finishing line.... he's sooo competitive!!!

I have spent the weekend having no more than two drinks at any one time, no bender,s no blinding hangovers, no debauchery, just a lovely time supping a few glasses before meal or bed!
Two babies 50 weeks apart has probably helped slow their drinking down a bit tho... hahaha !!!

Looking back over this past month I've got to say I've enjoyed the experience.
I got to check off a couple of things from my 'must sort out' list, very empowering, not just the stop drinking lark but the SP's too...
Before this I hated having my photo taken, rarely am I in a photo. My friends despair at taking my photo, I always pull a face, move out of frame or make a scene. The photos I am in when the children were small I'm looking awkward and uncomfortable.
This month I came to terms with it...

I've never had an issue with how I look, I've always been confident as a person, but hold a camera up and I FREEZE...
Why?
Learnt behaviour from a parent who also hated having their photo taken is my guess...
Well that's not me. I want photos around when I'm no longer here, I want my grandchildren to see me as a young (ish) woman and not as a wrinkly old lady (if I'm lucky enough to live that long!)

Thank you Dotty for setting me on this path... I can't thank you enough.

As for the no booze - only time will tell whether I will slip back into old ways but I have learnt that it is a habit. Coming home from work, kicking off your shoes, opening the wine... what you need to do is come in and do something different. Have something else planned to distract you and you get so much more done, you don't have a sluggish feeling in the morning and driving home from an event can be a lot less complicated! For those interested, I lost 7lbs - pure booze weight - Yikes!!!

The new rules for November will be...
No drinking on a school night unless a work disaster level 10 has been declared.

No second bottles opened unless we have company

As for my Macmillan grievances: I can't get over them. I have tried. I have read many lovely success stories of how they have helped so many people and I'm glad for them but I still feel let down by them. I worry too about how much of the fundraisers money is poured into admin and fancy publications...
We relied on the good old NHS and while me and my aunt as carers didn't get much support Mum's care wasn't compromised at all so for that I am forever thankful. As I write this it is exactly two years ago to the day of her funeral. Time to leave it be and move on...
I'm going to give a donation to my local 'Maggies Centre' Cancer support is good what ever name is over the door right?