Interesting. I recently (reluctantly) started taking it (I'd have to look, but I think 6 weeks or so) and while I've noticed the anti-depressant effect (which was what I needed), I've not noticed any increased libido. I wonder if it's an actual effect, or sometimes simply a result of feeling better.

At early thirties, 3-4x per week would have been perfect for me. I would never have thought I could care so little as I do now.

For me, it's not exactly that I *never* have *any* desire. It's that I don't have a great *need* to fulfill the desire, even when I do have it. (As I mention, it fluctuates based on my cycle) So it wouldn't be that difficult to live without it. Now, I would greatly miss the feeling of closeness that is being married. If I ever did remarry after being widowed, that would be the reason, not missing TeA. But I don't think even that would be enough to induce me to remarry. One of the reasons I brew TeA, though, even when I don't really want to, is bc that is a large part of what makes dh feel close to *me. He talks and listens, even when it's not really his cup of tea (ha!) and I appreciate that. So I can do the same. And, unlike a pp, I don't find TeA to be a bitter drink (maybe more just bland). So it's not something onerous to me.

Oh my, I can't imagine a year. I admire your month. But, as you say, "Why?" By day 5 we were struggling to find the desire to sandwich it in between baths and the youngest crawling into our bed. THAT family closeness just felt more important.

LOL Neither I nor dh has the fortitude for a daily cuppa anymore. We actually tried to do it for a month straight, a year or two ago. We made it a week, and then we both chose sleep instead. 🤣

I'm on the young side of the age group you're talking about (43), but my interest is definitely less than it used to be. It also fluctuates perfectly in tune with hormones. The first (approx) 2 weeks of my cycle, I can fairly easily be inclined to brew, and achieve a rolling boil with little difficulty. After ovulation, I really have zero interest and have to force myself to participate. While I can achieve a rolling boil if I completely clear my mind, it is much harder and takes longer. With the lack of interest and difficulty combined, I often don't care enough to do so. (Dh is very patient and would stoke the fire till kingdom come; it's me that often decides to take the pot off the stove.) Another thing that seems to affect it is my weight. A difference of just 10 lbs less than my highest weight makes me feel better overall. Also, I have hit this age at the same time as having kids. So I'm touched out and tired of people needing me by the end of the day. My kids require a great deal of me, and I am naturally an extreme introvert and low energy. There are other reasons I am often less than eager, but they are tmi about dh. The things I listed above are the biggest. As of right now, if I were widowed, I would miss the closeness but not the act itself. I can't imagine that I will desire it more as I age, although of course I could be wrong. All that to say, I think it's individual but much overblown and that the media/society is just obsessed/it sells/etc.

We've used it before. It doesn't taste as good as the bottled (well, none of it tastes great to me, but the powdered somehow tastes more sweet to me). But it is ok. My mom and dad use it regularly in summer.

Hallway is what we always did growing up. (Our bathroom had a window) Now I *would* be a lot more prone to use the cellar if I lived in a mobile home. Only once have I been in a mobile home during a storm. It felt as if it would lift off any moment.

Thankfully ours is always dry. I keep water down there, along with cat litter and box, and usually take a snack if we go down. My thinking is that we would be uncomfortable but could survive if trapped. We also don't have large trees near it (but debris could always end up there). How awful to drown inside. 😥

This is my view as well. Reasonable precautions, but other than that it is out of my control.

I've been lurking on this thread, and appreciate all the info. I rarely watch the news (frankly, this thread seems more informative.) I've been wondering how you all stock up on prescription meds. I see it mentioned on lots of lists. It sometimes takes days for me to even get my regular month's worth filled. How are you getting EXTRA? (Not talking about narcotics or anything like that, I understand not being able to get extra of that.) Are you asking your doc to write 6 month scripts?

I've been dreading tornado season. My ds is extremely afraid of storms and tornados especially. As we live in Oklahoma, this particular fear is hard to deal with. I can't assure him it won't happen. We haven't had a storm yet this season. We have a storm cellar and live close enough to town that we faintly hear the siren, but I don't think it would wake me up. Dh gets alerts through the fire dept though. I also get very loud alerts on my phone for tornado warnings, flooding, thunderstorms. I think they come automatically; I don't remember signing up for anything. It's so loud it would be impossible to sleep through. Do these alerts not happen everywhere? Maybe I did sign up for something long ago and don't remember it. Unfortunately, dh is overly concerned about tornados. When we were first married, he insisted I go to the cellar for hours with every storm or watch. I finally put an end to this and refused to go unless the storm is actually very near us. I grew up here, without a shelter. While I absolutely appreciate it and use it when reasonable to do so, I see no need to be down there when the storm is over an hour away. Annoyingly, this same man has a padlock on the shelter! You can perhaps imagine my fury at being LOCKED OUT of the shelter, with kids in the rain and wind on the occasion I discovered the lock. Every year now I must insist that he remove it from March - May. No dear, I don't want the combination. I only go down when actually necessary, and I will not be fiddling with a stupid padlock! 🙄

Ugh. The last few times I posted something (I'm not on fb anymore) the last line was "If you ask a question that is already answered in the post, don't expect an answer. 😊"

My initial thought is that it's lots of reasons and would vary by country and person. In some countries I assume people do it to avoid imprisonment and death and/or protection of their families. In others, for money or power. Sometimes personal beliefs, etc. Or a combination of things. I'll be interested to see others' thoughts.

I wonder if it makes a difference how the weight is lost. I said above that those I know who lost a lot of weight (and look older) all lost it with some type of very strict and (what I would consider) unhealthy diet. Maybe losing more healthily makes a difference in that.

My friend who had surgery when she was young did have issues from then on. Stomach difficulties, absorption problems, etc. But her surgery was 20 years ago; I think they may be doing things differently now? The people I referred to who have lost a lot of weight all seem to feel good. (And they all seem to think they look good too. I've heard a couple remark on how much younger they think they look . . . I think they FEEL younger and it's true that their body shape looks younger than it did, but none seems to notice that they actually look older. Which is just as well; they're feeling good and more energetic, and in a couple of cases have made clear improvements in health, which is more important than how they look.

I only know one person well who had bariatric surgery. She had it when she was young, and it didn't age her. I've known several people who have done strict diets and lost a lot of weight, most around 35-45 years old, one in his fifties. Every one of them look much older after the weight loss. Like, about a decade older. The aged look seems to remain, unless they gain the weight back.

You know, my mom has said more than once that it used to be quite common to dose kids with dewormer. She said they would do it when a kid twitched and moved a lot in their sleep at night. Regardless of how common, you have my sympathies. The thought of it is horrifying, but thinking of how much my kids are in the dirt and how difficult it is to get dd to stop. putting. hands. in. mouth., I should be more aware.

I wanted to come back here and thank everyone again. We recently returned from our vacation - it was wonderful! We stayed in an AirBnB outside of Taos, NM. We spent a couple of days at Sipapu (thank you @suzanneinabq) It was the perfect fit for us - very laid back and wonderful for kids. (Not to mention, cheap) The rest of the time was spent exploring, playing in snow, relaxing. The whole trip was really great. There was enough snow for the kids to have fun (and fresh snow the day before we left) but not so much that there was any difficulty driving or anything. It was probably the best family vacation we've ever had. I was surprised at how really great we all FELT. No allergies, sinus trouble at all. I didn't realize how much it bothered me, and all of us, until it was gone for a while. (Of course, that all returned before we'd even reached Amarillo on the way back.) I did have a couple days of difficulty breathing and chest pain, but after the first two days that was gone. [edit] Oh, and it felt so COLD when we returned home! The humidity really does make a difference! Thanks to your suggestions and tips, we were prepared and had a great time - thank you all again!

Just keep in mind, girls present differently and it's a known thing that the ADOS does not properly evaluate girls. Questions and scoring are based on ASD in boys. The psychologist who evaluated my dd knew this, specifically talked about it, and based her dx on the whole picture. The ADOS is only part of an ASD diagnosis. I'm not discouraging you from looking at it, but just be aware that ASD could still be in the picture even if she would appear to "pass" the ADOS.

I'm glad it went well!

I've been thinking about your dd this morning. Hope the appointment was productive.

Everything Storygirl said. My dd8 was dx'd with autism last year, by a psychologist. Based on similar advice on the Learning Challenges board, I took in over 6 pages of notes detailing behaviors over the years, comments by others, current behaviors, etc. I also drove over 7 hours in order to find a psych who had experience with both homeschoolers and girls. We spent 5 hours or so, broken up into two days, with over half of that being the intake interview talking over my notes and filling out questionnaires. She ended up dx'ing ASD1 and ADHD. Maybe what psychiatrists typically do varies by area, but here I wouldn't expect a psychiatrist to dx autism. Around here, they mostly seem to be used mainly for scripts - people see a psychologist for the meat of it. We had previously read a book or two about autism, since we have friends on the spectrum (and I was laying the groundwork to talk about my husband wih the kids) so she had heard of it. Also, she had brought up the fact that her brain "just seems to work different than other people". So I told her that this visit was to help us better understand how her brain works and that it was likely her brain works similarly to Daddy's and our friends with autism. (I was pretty sure about it. Had I not been, I might have been a bit more vague.) Our language about it has always just been about differences, not better or worse. Everyone has things that are harder for them . . . this thing is hard for me, this other thing is hard for you. If we understand the differences, we can better work together.

I think people do it because it keeps the debt amount low, relative to available credit, which does impact credit score. That has been my understanding, anyway.

Thanks! So far, Barton is working wonderfully for us, but I'll keep it in mind if we get to a point we don't need intervention level curric. AAS would be a less expensive choice, if we get to that point.