Yes, Perth Mint sells it so I imagine others must too in other parts of Australia. However, there have been runs on it since we bought it and you can only get certain weights and sometimes they run out- and we found out you need to go first thing in the morning nowadays because they usually run out by lunchtime till the next day. It's kind of strange. You can also buy it on ebay, believe it or not- we were surprised but there is quite a market out there for it.

Lol, I barely even notice that sort of stuff. I am really not very socially savvy- you know how some people here know so many people and are great online friends and remember all these details about others and who said what when? Of course there are people here I am very familiar with after years of hanging around, and some details do stick out in my mind, but not nearly as many as I think I should be familiar with, considering how much I hang around :) I have a friend IRL who is in everyone's business. She is so social- she is nosy, manipulative, a great source of gossip..but very, very good at making others feel welcome and included socially. Some people just have that gene more than others. I don't. Sometimes I notice people here who are Queen Bees or whatever and honestly, I don't think I ever saw their name before, and I feel a little rude for not noticing them before when they obviously have posted a fair bit. But as for ignoring them- I am not intending to. There is not one person here who annoys me that much. Some people just haven't said anything that triggers my radar enough times to register them significantly for them to stick in my brain. Sometimes i think I should keep a folder next to me of WTM people so I can keep track-but I think that could backfire if I remember negative things someone said- I would rather forget and treat them fresh!

The ingredient list scares me too! So many chemicals! Are they really necessary? I mean, are these natural beauty products, or just cheaper, home made versions of the not- natural ones? (I really don't know what those chemicals are- maybe they are fancy names for beeswax or something!). I have used coconut oil for moisturiser, hair deep conditioner- pre wash, deodorant and other things. I have used baking powder for shampoo and lemon juice for conditioner. I have used eggs to wash my hair- they work well. I have heard owmen in India used to use lentils to wash their hair. There is also a type of nut called soap nuts, which come from India- they really do lather when put in water. I have used them for hair washing and washing clothes. I know there is a tree here in my area that the aborigines used for soap, too- I have seen it lather with a small amount of water. Amazing. I have Rosemary Gladstar's book: Herbal Healing for Women, and there is a recipe for cold face cream in there that I made once. It was beautiful. We dont use soap generally, so we have some castille soap in bottles which last us many months. I must admit, I never saw making my own cosmetics as money saving. We just don't use that many cosmetics that it's worth buying the ingredients. But like other things, they are great skills to have- and its fun. If I had fresh goats milk I would be making stuff out of it too :)

I can relate to your situation but I dont know if my story would help much. My younger is a boy who has always demanded the lion's share of attention, with behavioural and learning issues, and my girl is my easy going one who sails through life and is good at everything, and doesnt fight much at all. But she is like your dd- ask her to do something she doesnt want to do- and she will go quiet and just not do it, even after saying she will. She is passive aggressive. She also knows that I am more likely to ask her for help with something than her brother. For example, we have a house inspection tomorrow- I had ds vacuum. I am having dd scrub the mould in their shower recess. A much worse job- and I didn't consciously choose the harder job for her, but she noticed it and pointed it out to me. She wont complain- but she might not do it, either. In your case...can you be consistent with her gently? Even to the point of doing it with her, such as standing alongside her and chatting with her as you help her do something you want her to do, so she feels connected with you? I know I need to make the effort to connect with my dd, and its not hard because she is sweet and open, but its easy to let it slide when ds is so demanding. Chores can be a lovely way to connect and ease the burden, and at the same time, hold her accountable.A few times doing it with her, and with a sense of humour and lightness, adn the chore no longer seems so burdensome. (I have a lot of empathy for kids with chores because I remember I hated them so much as a kid). I have an image of eras gone by where women work together, chatting- a women's culture. A way to be with your daughter.

I think it does depend on your local resources, whether you are in the city or country, your neighbourhood, community etc. Do you have a fresh water dam or lake nearby? Creeks? We are in the city. Our swimming pool is our emergency water supply. We probably have a couple of weeks food easy- maybe a month- at any one time, but I don't buy in bulk. I did for a while and I wasnt organised enough- a lot went off- I bought things we didnt even use like milk powder etc. I have changed to a mindset where I support local food networks instead- farmers markets. We have invested in gold and silver, and a motorhome. Stuff like clothes- I would be surprised if many people didn't have enough clothes in their wardrobe right now to last them years, even if they never bought another thing. I like Minimalism though. I think that minimalism is a great way to handle the coming times- to realise what you really need, and what is luxury. Most of us have a ridiculous amount of "stuff" that is way beyond our needs and actually burdens us. Letting go of that mentality is, I think, a bit of insurance against the coming changing times. I am not sure if hoarding food etc is going to work for everyone- many people might be displaced by catastrophes or weather issues- a year's food supply isn't going to do them much good then. Better off knowing how to live without, to be resourceful, your local natural water sources, and your community. And i think its good to remember there IS no protection or security against the future, ultimately. We can do stuff, be practical and have common sense about our resources, but putting too much attention on it seems to me to be fear based. It can be fun- I am not saying don't do it if you want to- but I think its worth keeping things in perspective. I do think its a good idea to learn survival skills, and skills like cooking, camping, finding water etc I love Scouts for that, for my kids. I think you guys in the US might be in for tougher times than we here in Australia, but you really never know. Mother Nature is a wild card none of us can really predict, on top of obvious present economic issues.

Your feelings are trying to tell you something, and deep down you need to trust yourself and act in your own best interests rather than hope others will. It sounds like it is not your place to be- not your spiritual home, your spiritual community. Not where your heart belongs. You can't change others but you can change yourself.

I love what Imp said about not liking what someone says in one post and sending prayers to them in another. I've never even considered ignoring anyone- no one has ever annoyed me enough in any thread that I cant just skip over their posts- and even that rarely happens. I think some people really enjoy getting into dramas more than others.

It gets well over 100 degreesF here for weeks on end each summer- I have never considered "making" my kids come inside. As long as they are not getting too sunburned or dehydrated, theres no problem I can see.

I like it HOT and DRY. Here we have very low humidity and very high temps in summer- and summer is looooooong. But there is the beach, air conditioning, and I just love the sun. I do love autumn and spring too. We seem to have had very little autumn and straight into winter here- too cold after months of stinking hot. I don't mind- I like all the seasons- but I don't find myself longing for winter the way I long for summer.

Probably took about 10 years. No, all my stuff is now long gone- I have one small box with school reports and photos, and my jewellery box is from childhood- everything else got lost or thrown along the way. I am not especially sentimental.

I think the best bet is to go for the latest model you can afford. That is what I did. I bought refurbished but I bought a quad core rather than a dual core. Look at the store and see what the latest most expensive one is, and work back from there. Generally, you pay for what you get and the more recent, upgraded a model you get, the longer it will last you. The truth is, I don't notice the difference- dh says its faster but we are talking subtle here- too subtle for me to tell the difference. But dh notices and that is what he encouraged me to do. So, I ended up spending a few hundred $ more than I intended, but I got a much, much better machine than I would have bought at first. So spend some time at the website reading, or perhaps ask someone who might know more, to go through the website with you. I have an 27* Imac and I adore it.

After glancing around to check for disabled people- I go for the spacious, luxury stall- the wheelchair one.

My mother has these and is chronically ill and honestly, the doctors have done nothing for her. She got put on steroids and the side effects were worse than the condition, but then she couldn't get off them for many, many months. That has happened 3 times now. She has thyroid issues, is pre-diabetic, has chronic pain and exhaustion, and constantly changing symptoms. It has been 20 years in her case too, and it seems to be progressively getting worse overall. The specialists all want to look at parts of her- no one wants to look at her as a whole. She tries this and that- often something will help for a while, and she will get better, then it will stop. The only things that have ever helped are natural supplements. Your friend needs to stop putting her faith in doctors and get on the internet and research and take 100% responsibility for herself. There are many people who have cured themselves or relieved symptoms. There is no one cause or one cure- it seems to be very individual so she needs to be willing to experiment with herself with diets and treatments and alternative approaches. I would look into raw food as a cure, myself, because there are so many testimonials in the raw food community of complete cures from incurable conditions. If she hasn't looked at any alternative treatments and not been that way inclined- she will probably need to start with cleansing, detoxifying. With going off gluten and anything else she might be allergic to. Trying the GAPS diet is another approach. There is a lot of hope- she is in a way lucky if she hasn't tried the alternative path yet because in no way has she exhausted all hope. There is a lot of research into these conditions but no single cure so no pharmaceutical company can deliver a cure in the form of a pill- hence, the research is often not "official". It does often take a grim diagnosis by a doctor to get people to let go of hope for some miracle from mainstream medicine, and onto the vast amount of resources available in alternative medicine. To be willing to "try anything". I would get her onto the internet to research- most people who take this path end up becoming experts themselves- far more than doctors.

Absolutely!

My daughter reckons she works best under pressure when she leaves things to the last minute. I don't really believe her, but whatever :) Please don't hate yourself. That never cured one of anything- hate is not a good long term motivator! Love is! Flylady taught me to break my procrastinating habit, more than anything else I have ever done. Baby steps. When I saw how I could do baby steps to get my home clean, and it was even fun, and not too hard, it slowly spread out to the rest of my life. I have a diary open to the left of my keyboard here at my desk. It has a whole page to a day. I write appointments here but also, I write my daily To Do lists, shopping lists, notes to myself, phone messages etc. It keeps me organised and accountable. Not perfectly, but its the best system I have found that works for me. I will break down large jobs into small steps and write those steps down- then it feels very satisfying to be able to tick off a step- and that feeling of satisfaction is the motivating force to do the next step.

I too picked up correct grammar from extensive good quality reading, however I don't believe everyone can or does. Also..if everyone gave up studying grammar and left it to a few elite academics....we lose a valuable resource and knowledge that benefits us all in stopping our language degenerate to a pretty poor one. It is possible to teach grammar using for example JAG and Analytical Grammar, in a couple of years, though. Some people actually enjoy it, too :) Another point i have seen here is that when you read something and it clangs- but you don't really know why, you just know it does- a good knowledge of grammar will tell you exactly why and help you correct it. Since learning grammar to the extent I have while homeschooling, i am amazed at the poor grammar all over the place- the run on sentences in particular, even in supposedly edited pieces of writing. So..considering poor grammar is used widely....and a classical education is all about having a very high standard of education-learning the language of grammar helps us not only raise our own level of writing but also be able to understand why a piece of writing is written well. It is the tool of having another language, the language of the language behind language. And no, I don't think it is necessary to know grammar to write well, but for the above reasons- and I am sure others will come up with plenty more- I think it is very valuable. Poor grammar abounds- and it is getting worse- therefore I think it is a worthy part of a good education.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: I am glad they took the situation seriously and you are getting the support you need. I think in a healthy culture, parents wouldn't be having to deal with this stuff alone- the whole community would be helping one way or another. I am glad you and your other kids can feel safe while your son gets help.

I have read this strategy many times on this message board and it has never failed to appall me. This kid is 5 years old. I couldn't do that to anyone. I think the fact you can't shows you still have a soft heart.

I buy 2nd hand. I have evolved to only wearing clothes I love and feel really good in. If I was going to spend a whole heap like that, I think I would get myself colour tested and design tested- to see what colours and designs really suited me. I have done that myself through books and online research, and it has saved me a lot of money since I did it. I am not longer attracted to clothes that look beautiful on the rack but don't suit my figure. Its not the money. Its easy to spend money on clothes-lots of money- its having a good eye for what really looks good that is more important- then something in an op shop or a sales rack might be ore suitable than an expensive item. I dont know how much I spend a year. Less than I used to, but I do love to buy "new" clothes as over the years my tastes change as well and I let go of styles I no longer feel so good in, and love to have a few new pieces each season.

:iagree: I think too many adults have become too rigid and serious in their thinking and no longer willing to have a really good look at themselves and how they might be contributing to the situation. Teenagers are very adept at picking up hypocrisy, double standards, stale rigid thinking, and adults who have lost touch with their aliveness and sense of freedom and love of life and want to make sure no one else has too much fun either. Teenagers are built like they are for a reason- they are not wrong for being the way they are. We can learn from them as much as they can learn from us. And we need to really listen to them and their reality and not tell them they are wrong for wanting to have fun. We grow together. None of which is to say the OP shouldn't get professional help or whatever she feels is needed. But often this stuff is a reflection of whole family dynamics and the whole family needs to reflect.

By the person. If there is enough for 2 loads, it will get sorted into lights and darks. I always wash on delicate (because we just don't get very dirty and its easier on clothes), high spin, cold wash- colours very, very rarely bleed and I do check for anything which might. Simple.

:tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie::tongue_smilie:

My parents had 2 kids. I have 2 kids. My brother has 6 kids. No grandkids yet! (thank goodness!)

:iagree: Its always possible to change your life direction. Since those are the first years you get the chance to make decisions wholly for yourself, it would seem natural that the effects might ripple on for a long time, especially if you think you know what you want. The conditioning to set oneself up for a certain type of life is very strong and it starts young. Parents want their kids to be financially secure, and to live moral, upright lives in their eyes. I rebelled against all that and it wasn't easy. My life hasn't been standard- I never had the normal "get married, a career, have children, get a mortgage" type mentality for my life, and I still don't even though I ended up getting married and having kids. But in one sense I guess the pattern was set in those years- I was very deeply committed to my spirituality and for me that overrode everything else. It still does, and I still don't know where that will take me but it leaves a lot more doors open to me than if I had gone the path of my parents and just planned for a career, marriage, children etc. I am not here to be safe and secure, I am here to live my life as fully as possible, whatever that means.

I am wondering what the time gap is between now and going to Disneyland. If the whole stealing thing can be dealt with beforehand, I think I too would want to take him. I think thats a tough call to make, because its your kid and his personality. Some kids might just get bitter over that, and angrier. And its a big consequence for a 5yo- and 5yos don't have much of a sense of time so the relationship between stealing and going to Disney might not be grasped well. Or it might. Depends on your kid. I would consider deeply if you are punishing him in a way that will be effective for him, or just to do something in the hope he changes. I would also keep my wallet and all money in the house out of his reach, and also give him some money of his very own (once this issues has blown over) . If your wallet is on the floor, he is not being too sneaky! He is attracted to money- that is natural- and is at an age where it is very difficult to control his impulses- but of course he needs to learn. I will say- in my home, he would go to Disney and alternative avenues would be found for the consequences of taking mummie's purse- immediately. Not that that issue wouldnt be dealt with seriously- it would- but I wouldn't link the 2 and I don't think it is a "natural consequence"- I think it is a punishment.