Cyndi, this is what my dh says all the time. :lol: Will get back to you later. I don't think it's a huge deal. I'd rather VPL showing than a thong showing. :lol:

I think someone here posted this a while back. I think. Thanks to whoever did. :grouphug: Here is a quote from Pablo Casals (1876 - 1973), the famous Spanish cellist. "Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that never was before and will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all of the world there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed there has never been another child like you. And look at your body - what a wonder it is! Your legs, your arms, your cunning fingers, the way you move! You may become a Shakespeare, a Michaelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel."

This thread has been so helpful and encouraging for me, since my worries about our ds keeps me up at nights. He would really and truly suffer if he was in school. He's never been tested. Nothing like that here. And, quite frankly, I don't know what the point of testing would be. I'm not going to medicate him. I know that he would be diagnosed with pretty much everything anyway. I dislike labels and so on. We just have to keep plugging on. He's very smart as far as listening skills go, and things that he's interested in - investing, gardening, marine life, horses, history, current events, you name it ... I thought he would never, ever learn to read. He now reads, although he mainly reads things that interest him, but don't most of us do that? His handwriting leaves much to be desired. His spelling is slowly improving thanks to AAS. His LA are still very behind. Math comes easier to him, but that's not saying much. He forgets how to do things very quickly. But after a quick refresher, it comes back to him. I worry about him a lot, lot, lot ... I hope and pray that at least he can get through community college. It breaks my heart since this is a boy who really, really wants to go to college :(. I hope he can. It's hard for dh and I. We both have graduate degrees. I got mine from an Ivy League school. Dh and I never had any sort of learning disabilities, etc. It's also hard since pretty much all the extended family are super-achievers, etc. Peela, reading your post is incredibly encouraging. :grouphug: Yes, this is how I feel. I know for a fact that our son would be diagnosed with a few things, but quite frankly, I don't care. I need to go on. And we don't push excessively either. I often wonder if I should have pushed more. But that would have probably led to more gray hairs for me and frustration for both of us. :banghead: :hurray: Peela, this is great news. Your words are gold. I strongly believe in this. Even though I love the book, "Outliers", this is a problem that I had with it. He was so against anything average and his definition of success was mainly about financial and academia. Success is so many other things. And yes, comparison is not a good thing. I once read, Comparison is the enemy of contentment. Thank you. I need to read this every day. Again, this thread has been very helpful. I've copied, pasted, and am printing out all the replies. I plan on reading and internalizing each post every single day, particularly during moments of frustration and worry. :crying:

:iagree: In fact, I'm always a bit annoyed at our pediatrician since she never reminds anyone when they're due for the next set of vaccines. I remember having some done in school when I was growing up in Wales.

Praying. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

:iagree: :iagree: :iagree: I'm struggling with this at the moment, or, should I say, most of my adult life :glare:. It's how much you eat, not how hard you try to work it off, that matters more in losing weight. You should exercise to improve your health, but be warned: fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain. http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/articles/aerobicexercise.htm

Stacia, this is on my list of books to read. Thanks for the very helpful review. :) Until recently, I also thought of Madame Tussaud's as a tacky place. Then I read a little bit about its history. We were going to go when we were in London, but we couldn't get discounted tickets. It really is very expensive, so we decided not to this time. We'd already gone to a play and that had cost a lot. As a child, I went to Madame Tussaud's a lot, never knowing or appreciating its history.

Most natural supplements and dietary changes take at least a few weeks before you notice a difference. Most ... I've never tried Cohosh and I don't know.

I haven't yet had time to fully read her article, only to skim it. I do like what she's written in the past and agree very much with her approach. I need to buy some of her books. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree: In the past 10 or so years, this is the only way that I've lost any significant amount of weight. I need to do this again. Since returning from vacation, I'm constantly battling hunger and letting food take over my life. :glare: When I skip meals and allow for some reasonable hunger, I lose weight. I have been eating too much and it's become a nasty habit. Reminds me of the hunger scale. HUNGER SCALE How hungry are you right now? 1. Physically faint 2. Ravenous 3. Fairly hungry 4. Slightly hungry 5. Neutral 6. Pleasantly satisfied 7. Full 8. Stuffed 9. Bloated 10. Nauseous Each person is different, but as a general rule, you’ll want to eat whenever you notice yourself between 3 and 4 on the scale – that is, when you are fairly hungry, but before you become ravenous. If you wait until you get down to 1 or 2, your body will go into starvation mode and you’ll wind up eating more than your body needs and storing the excess as fat. Practice tuning in to your body once an hour and giving yourself a number from 1 to 10 until you begin to notice differences between different points on the hunger scale. The more you practice tuning in to your own hunger, the sooner you’ll be able to recognize your body’s subtle signals long before your stomach growls and your brain starts to get fuzzy. Yes, I need to be reminded of this. Thank you. :)

It's very, very hard ... for me, anyway, the older I get, the harder it gets. :glare: True. I can't say that I've never met an overweight long distance runner/hiker, etc. I actually have. But it is far less common. I fully agree about making exercise a LIFESTYLE. I read this: We all need to move more, yet this doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to stress our bodies at the gym. Our leisure-time physical activity (including things like golfing, gardening and walking) has decreased since the late 1980s, right around the time the gym boom really exploded. Very frequent, low-level physical activity — the kind humans did for tens of thousands of years before the leaf blower was invented — may actually work better for us than the occasional bouts of exercise you get as a gym rat. To burn calories, the muscle movements don't have to be extreme. It would be better to distribute the movements throughout the day – functional fitness such as housework, walking the dog, raking the leaves, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking while carrying groceries, walking instead of driving when possible, etc.

After some hemming and hawing, I joined and love it. :D I'm here

Luann, we loved this. I have to admit that we read the abridged version about two years ago. Still fabulous. And then we really enjoyed the BBC series. I couldn't stand this book. I had such high hopes and was thoroughly disappointed. I didn't even bother finishing it. Kept skipping parts until I finally gave up on it. Love this series. I read several of these. I hear you about high school being a loooong time ago :lol:. This book is so painful at times, or, should I say, most of the time, but I am enjoying it. I hope the ending is not a very painful one. I can't stand painful and bad endings. I've never counted how many books I read each year. I guess I'll start doing that for 2012. My question is: do we include the books we read with our children? Or just the books that we read for ourselves? I guess I just never like the idea of counting how many books I read. I just want to read for the love of reading.

I once heard on some TV documentary that pretty much all mascaras eventually cause lashes to fall out, hence why men generally have longer lashes as they age than women :confused:. I used to always wear mascara and no longer do. Not for that reason. I just don't wear make up anymore. When I did wear make up, my absolute favorite mascara was one made by Christian Dior. Incredible quality. Never made my lashes hard or brittle. Very silky. Amazing stuff. I would also recommend going to Paula Begoun's books and/or her website. She knows her stuff and gives great recommendations.

:grouphug: I LOVE your boards. :D

Thanks everyone. I've signed up again and am having fun with it :D, yet trying to be disciplined at the same time ;). I love the layout and all the great ideas. I made Cinnamon Roll Pancakes yesterday from one of the recipes. :D Pinterest is so much fun. :)

Me too :lol:. I joined :D. Thanks for the link. I love British food. It's pure nostalgia for me. :) Dh and dc hated mushrooms with the English breakfasts we had while there. :lol: Me ... I LOVE them :D.

:iagree: Santa Cruz is one of my favorite places in CA, and in the U.S. We used to go there every summer for a few years. Horrible weather - rain and clouds - make me very melancholy, and I'm usually the giggly/laughing type. I do get my feelings hurt and I go through my share of moods, but dh told me that I'm actually very resilient and bounce back quite quickly. I never knew this about myself. There are some books that may help, but I'm sure everyone here is tired of all that. Prayer - if you're the type who prays (I am) Reading books like that and funny stuff Watching funny things Constantly telling oneself to lighten up Being very selective as to whom to be around - choosing your company well Helping others less fortunate than oneself To me - these all help. :grouphug:

Added this to my wish list. We often watch The Waltons and I think I'd like this. Thanks for suggesting it. :) Looks good. Added this one to my wish list also. Yes :lol:, especially since I feel that I know you quite well. I'm sure that I would agree with you, Stacia. :grouphug: This looks really good. I loved reading many of the Scarlet Pimpernel books. I think I'll like this one.

I'm reading The Good Earth. Dh, (who only reads classics or stuff online), has wanted me to read this for years. I didn't think I'd like it. I'm happy to say that I do. :)

Love it. This is perfect. :) Good for you. :)

:iagree: I guess lyrics seldom affected me. I never paid much attention to lyrics. When I was a teen in the U.K., there were songs like "Relax" (Frankie Goes to Hollywood). I just liked the beat and so on of songs. Don't want to sound like lyrics are nothing, but I do believe that it's not just lyrics that affect one's sexuality. Not at all. There's far more things that do. We allow our dc to listen to pretty much anything now. Not so when they were younger. We discuss it all openly. We'd rather them be exposed to this stuff while under our roof rather than not know how to deal with it all when they're on their own, or, worst yet, if they hide it from us. They will hear it from their friends and their outside environment. I also believe that one extreme leads to another. Not to say that anyone here is extreme, but if I get too legalistic about what they can and can't listen to, I think that there's a greater likelihood that they will go the exact opposite way.

Kristen, thank you. My mistake ... ;) Thanks for this link. Off to read it. Hate those insurance companies :glare:.

Thanks everyone. Love reading your replies. So true. I'm often so very relieved that we're actually quite isolated and away from having to compare ourselves to others. Our family life is quite insular and we honestly don't ever feel pressured to keep up with the Joneses, if you KWIM. Interesting that you had this conversation with your breakfast guest. We had a dinner guest last night (and I didn't cook, since, as you know, I don't really like cooking - we ordered Chinese :D) about the pressures of keeping up with others. They live in the U.S. and have had pressures from friends galore. Mind you, even if we weren't as isolated as we are now, I wouldn't feel pressured. I have had a few homeschooling friends who used to live here. They would make everything from scratch sort of thing. I never felt pressured. We all have different interests and loves and choose how to spend our time. They might make everything from scratch, but, might not have time to read books for pleasure or to do something just for themselves. As my sister once said: she'd rather go for a run than mop the kitchen floor. So very true. I very much agree about too much perfection. It is so not me. I tend to be a a perfectionist in some little things, but certainly not in every single area of my life - and not in home decorating either. Yep ... Yes, it's very nice for that. My dd is loving it for her creative side and for all her sewing stuff. This. Yes, the laughter part is great, as well as the nice quotes. I saw this, for example and I just love it. I wish that something like this existed - being able to go around the world with a subway system. :D I find it encouraging that you now go there less than you did at first. So there is hope for me and my addiction if I get back on :lol:. Dh thinks I should get back on, since he knows it makes me happy. I don't watch much TV at all. He watches TV to relax. For me, pinterest would serve the same purpose. When I signed up, I got an invite, and I think I signed up through FB, but then I chose an option to hide all my updates on FB, so that FB friends don't see all my updates, etc. Don't know if it makes sense or not. Fabulous suggestions. Thank you. :) Like you, I most certainly do not have the decorating/style gene :lol:. Love those "words of wisdom" etc. also. Stacia, I sooooo wanted you to join. You were one of the first of my friends that came to mind when I got on pinterest, since I know how visual you are. After all, you're the one who taught me how to post images on these boards. :grouphug: I hear you about the simplifying, etc. I've decided, that if I do go on, to only do so at very specific times - my brain-dead times, not times when I can be more productive. Great idea. I love being organized and having structure. Heather, you too? :lol: I thought it was just me!

I've been seriously asked twice. I felt bad, as I always do when I say "no", but there's just no way I could do it, unless if we charged them AND we seriously needed the money. I think that it would completely change all the dynamics. As it is, some days, I can barely handle homeschooling the two that we have :eek:.

Rosie, yay! Happy that you found what you seem to really like. :D Two of her books are on my wish list. Those quotes sound soooo nice. Makes me want to just be there. :) We just started this as our read-aloud also. I have to say that I am intimidated by it. Always have been. But so far, so good. :)