If you exclude the comparison with most of the rest of the world, which makes 95% of us insanely wealthy (and I really think its GOOD to remember that because it may not always be so that we are the lucky ones- its good to be grateful) ... I was talking to dh about this this morning- on our way back from the beach. I mentioned that some people we know are far more wealthy than we are- they are going overseas soon and it is costing them half our yearly income for the trip for the family- and he just came back with "no, we are the wealthy ones" and we talked about it. He works a job he loves- only about 25-30 hours a week. I homeschooled for years and now only work maybe 6 hours a week. We don't own our house- but we rent a nice house in a nice area. We are time rich. We eat well. We APPRECIATE what we have and don't hanker for more. We don't compare ourselves with wealthier people and feel inadequate like others we know. Dh has plenty of time to be a dad to his kids, and I am there when they get home after school. We KNOW we are in the top few % in the world. Even if you don't compare to the rest of the world- we are wealthy because we feel wealthy. In our suburb, we are surrounded by people with more money, more income, more debt, more stress, far, far less time.....we know we are lucky, and we are grateful. We are supremely wealthy. (and our income would be in your first or 2nd bracket)

We are similar to you and dh doenst enjoy the chooks much and would get rid of them if I agreed. I dont. We have 2 dogs and a cat, too- and one of our dogs is a jack russell cross who has found her way into the chicken pen many times, and we just keep fixing teh holes- she has never killed a chook though. Just our rabbits :glare: Our only other pet at present is a snake- but we have 7 chooks, 4 of which should be coming into the lay in the next few weeks. We had 3 or 4 chooks for the last few years. They dont lay enough to pay their way. Sometimes they lay consistently for a few months. Then the weather changes and we don't get eggs for weeks- but they still need to eat. We live in the city though and chances are we are paying a premium price for laying pellets. We don't ever change the "litter". Once a year or so we clean out the pen and I put the top soil on the gardens. I buy a bale of straw every few months and put it in the coop- they like it- it gives them something to scratch around. It doesn't smell as long as they eat all the kitchen scraps every day. In winter, we have to be careful not to give them too many scraps- scraps that sit and rot, smell- and once our neighbour did complain, so we cleaned out the cage and are careful about letting scraps rot in there- but it hasn't happened since, and it really doesn't smell. Mostly, especially now that we have 7 chickens, scraps are gone within minutes. The chook poo doesn't seem to smell- it must break down quickly. I love our chooks. They are low maintenance. If we go away, we can always find someone to come and just check their feed and water and get eggs in repayment. And for a weekend- we don't bother. They are fine.

Oh, thats really cool! Hi Negin- its hard to say but its quite possible that you would just use the summer diet, all the time. But you know, you might be able to contact him through his website and ask- i would be very curious about the answer myself! However....the gist of it is that you eat seasonally, obviously. In summer, a high carb mostly vegetarian diet. In spring, a lowfat/low carb diet for cleansing after the heavy food of winter, and in winter a high protein/high fat diet. So, in order to lose weight in the tropics, it might be that a diet very high in fruits and vegetables and only moderate in fat and protein (I think he says something like 80% carbs- that means mostly fruits and vegies, not grains- and 10% each protein and fats) for summer. But I don't really know if that is sustainable (although it is probably what a lot of the world eats anyway). I would be very curious as to how he would respond to that question. OK- I went to this page and wrote him the question myself because I am curious!

OK, I experimented with this already- not that i am depressed, but I am sick (nasty fluey thing). I have been having trouble sleeping. So 2 nights ago I got to sleep around 11 and woke up at 4am with a strong dream. I decided to just get up rather than stay in bed and doze. It was very lovely and I had a walk and got things done, went to the beach with dh and had another walk and swim. Tried to have an afternoon nap but coughed too much. But in the evening- ds wanted to rearrange his room so we spent 3 hours decluttering, shifting HEAVY furniture and basically working physically hard to get his room how he wanted it. I fell asleep again around 11pm- amazed that I had been going strong all day, even when sick, after only 5 hours sleep. This morning I woke up at 7am- so my body naturally caught up and slept for 8 hours. OK< this has nothing to do with depression but it was interesting to me that if I didn't think about how little sleep I had had, I was fine and had plenty of energy for the day, and had a really lovely day. I think I get sleep- obsessed.

I have a small, leather backpack handbag. I really prefer to be hands free when walking around and I already have scoliosis from carrying a schoolbag on one shoulder in my childhood, so this is better for my posture too. I keep it light- my wallet, phone, reading glasses, notebook and pen. I can fit a book in there if I want.

Yes- my step dd22 lived with us for a while after she left highschool and it was horrible. Dh did eventually kick her out in big dramatic exit and I was glad because it affected our lives so much. It was sad though. She now has her own home and after doing housecleaning for a couple of years, and learning to support herself AND her boyfriend (who has a foot problem so for some reason she feels the need to completely support him) she applied for university and got into teaching this year. Yay. SHe is 22. Her relationship with her dad is rocky and I feel unhealthy on both sides but what to do- I am the step mum and I just had to step way back. So in her case- neither of her parents could live with her as a young adult but forcing her to be independent has been a good thing- she got her act together.

If you have any magnesium supplements in the house- take a dose every 30 minutes a few times (as well as other treatments). Otherwise, the epsom salts bath is another good way of getting magnesium to the muscles- it helps muscles to release and relax.

I would be taking some precautions, I think.

Check out this book- Why do I still Have thyroid Symptoms when my lab tests are normal? i was recently diagnosed with hashimotos. My doctor- a pretty cool alternative type doctor with an interest in nutritional medicine- immediately put me onto a gluten free diet. I go back in 2 months for more tests to see if it helped at all. I am not sure I feel any better yet- after 2 weeks. The book is fascinating though. I downloaded it as a Kindle. Also- there are forums here for people who have read the book. Also, there are links to doctors who are trained in this understanding of the thyroid. I believe what Faithe meant was that with hashimotos, the immune system periodically, not necessarily consistenlty, attacks the thyroid gland. When it is in attack mode, the antibody test will be positive- but when it is having a break the test may be negative. However, there are other causes of thyroid issues that the book covers. Most people need to be treated according to their symptoms, not according to the numbers on their blood tests.

There was a thread about whether or not homeschooling is a calling....I didnt think it was but the language i want to use in response to the OP is....if the sister feels called to do it- feels strongly to do it I guess- then she will simply move heaven and earth to make it happen. I personally wouldn't encourage anyone, even a relative, to homeschool based on the support *I* could give them. They have to catch on fire with it themselves- its too big a life choice to make without that passion- even if it doesn't come at first. You have to be willing to go against mainstream, to just do what you feel is the right and best thing. I have encouraged 2 separate family members to homeschool and they did, but they were already interested- I just encouraged it and pointed them in the right direction- they took it on themselves after that. I also found that many people dont have the ...intellectual rigour and discipline to homeschool. Its a big job.

I read it last year and played around with the ideas a fair bit. I made up my own daily worksheet (or was it weekly? cant remember). I got my filing system better organised. The best thing was the tickler file- that was really useful for a while there while I was still homeschooling. Now that i have stopped homeschooling I just cant justify it- my life isn't that busy and complicated- but I wish I had used it for longer because it was really useful and it is still set up at the front of my filing cabinet. . (I think I am thinking of GTD. I know I read it but I read a lot of books, including organisational books!). In the end I have found a system that works for me right now- but I have gleaned many ideas from GTD and other books like it, so while on one level my system seems simple- it has evolved from many, many more complicated ones.

Oh, that is hilarious! I feel for you over there- we just don't have the same huge fundamentalist Christian movement here so its quite "normal" and mainstream to not be Christian at all- there is no stigma attached to it in general Australian culture. The fundamentalists are the ones who tend to stand out- in my world, anyway- but now I am not homeschooling I just don't come across them.

I think it can be various things- there is a hidden epidemic of underactive thyroids- that can slow things down. Add stress and burned out adrenals, insulin resistance...basically, the typical American (and Australian) diet isn't conducive to long term health. In fact its killing people fast and we are the first generation that probably wont live as long as our parents- due to preventable, degenerative diseases such as diabetes. Also, we live in a toxic environment, eat toxic food, put toxins on our skin- our liver has to deal with that- and shoves the toxins into our fat cells as well. I was stacking on weight last year till I went on Weight Watchers and then the NoSDiet - the thing is as you get older, unless you are athletic, you really need to eat less- but we don't tend to. And permasnacking is unhealthy because our bodies never get a break from digesting. I weigh 5kgs more than I did till my mid thirties- but thats better than the 10kgs more I weighed till around December. I recognised that if I didn't reign in my eating habits, I was just going to keep stacking on the weight because even a kg a year (2.5 pounds) is a lot of weight over a decade or 2. I like my weight now- I feel good at 57 kgs. WHen I was only 52 kgs- through my twenties and early thirties- I thought i was fat and was far more self critical.

I am a Gemini too! They changed the charts? The homeschool wars don't affect us over here in DownUnder land...plenty of other topics on the boards. Although I cant but help to click on the controversial links to see what all the fuss is about. It will pass.

I think that is a beautiful if sad and weird testimony to mother love.

I just wanted to respond to this. I always wondered who this God was that Christians talked about- it always seemed like a very vague concept and no one nailed it down except that it was very Paternal and controlling- but you were supposed to believe in it anyway. For a while there the concept of God bugged me because it just didn't make sense that there would be this supernatural being in the sky watching everything we do. Later in my spiritual journey, I found that the concept of God was no longer a problem because I had just managed to expand my concept of God to something very big and very inclusive, very present in everything- consciousness itself. So while I certainly don't believe in a big all seeing God that is separate from me, like a super duper Zeus or whatever, I do see where the concept comes from and what it is trying to describe- which is beyond the human mind's capacity to understand or describe. So its not so simple as rejecting God for me. I don't. In fact, when Christians talk about God I can relate because my concept of God is inclusive of theirs- but not exclusive to theirs if they define it narrowly (and not all do). I also have NO problem with "supernatural phenomena" of which I have witnessed and experienced plenty. To me, it is just phenomena that cannot be explained by science (yet) and which our western society tends to ignore and deny- but other cultures to do not deny it and I do not deny it. That doesn't mean I believe in the Roman Gods or a deified Christian God either. As for sermonising Christians- I like to poke my head in Christian threads sometimes too, and sometimes even say something. I hope I don't appear to sermonise- I usually try and keep it to strictly my experience and understanding, rather than trying to tell(sell) you the one and only truth you seem to be missing :) I really don't think people would sermonise Christianity inappropriately if they realised how much they are turning the listener OFF rather than enticing them. But I try to just send them good wishes from my heart for meaning well, however annoying they are.

Its my son that has the meltdowns- dd is not very emotional and has a saint like patience with everyone. Ds has always been sooo emotional- yesterday he got sooooo upset that we bought the wrong snake food for his snake, it was a catastrophe- but an hour later he was fine because apparently we did know what we were doing after all and the snake can eat small rats now. This morning it was the end of the world because we wouldnt drive him to school- even though it s a beautiful sunny day and its a 15 minute bike ride, and we drove him an picked him up yesterday- because after all, we don't have a life, do we? But he has always been like this so its not really a teenage thing. I am glad I don't have to put up with it with my girl- she seems to have just skipped the drama gene (thats good because the rest of us all have it).

When are you going, Negin? My dh is taking our dd for 10 days in Paris in a month's time- he wanted to spend a special time with her before she grows up and leaves the nest- and they both love cafes and she is an artist an all...I never answered your questions on it though because he just booked something online fairly central and they don't know if its good or not. They booked 2 places actually, for some variety. I get to spend 10 days at home with our ds. I look forward to it!

Our daughter's name is Genevieve. We called her Genevieve right up until she was about 10 or 11 I think, maybe even later. (well apart from nicknames like Genna-bubble and Gentle-vieve which we gave her as a baby and still call her sometimes) Then we succumbed- all her peers have always called her Gen (with a soft G/J sound as in Jen). Eventually, we just did too- I can't even remember how it happened- we just surrendered to the inevitable I think. But in Australia nicknames are very common and its almost certain people will give you some sort of nickname, especially as a kid, or in the workplace. YOu can insist on using your full name- but Gen never bothered. She has other names like Generator, too.

It is a huge issue here in Australia- not just drinking, but binge drinking- getting very, very drunk. And yes, parents often supply the alcohol to underage teenagers. When all the other parents are doing it, I guess they feel it is normal and they dont want their kid ostracised. I remember when a girlfriend of mine told me years ago that she was supplying beer for her underage teenage son's birthday party because all the other parents did it- at the time I was mortified- but now I see that it IS normal here. It has been a big journey for dh and I because dh is an ex alcoholic and we suspect the kids would have the tendency, even a genetic predisposition. I grew up drinking a little at home with my parents and rarely drink, but enjoy it on occasion. Dh cannot drink in moderation so he does not drink at all. We have not allowed the kids to drink- and the deal with going to parties is that they dont. But many of their peers do, so it has been hard for them. Until recently, we would pick up Gen from parties around 10pm, before everyone got drunk. Now we leave her till 11 or so because she just doesnt drink. What has ended up happening is that she drank at one party and collapsed from some sort of reaction, possibly allergic, to the alcohol. She didnt tell us- we found out through Facebook and friends! But it has worked out well- her friends know she can't drink- which lets her off the peer pressure hook. Jared however told me a while ago that he got himself really, really drunk a year or so ago- I am not sure how or where but I suspect it was at a Scout event. But he cannot stand the smell of alcohol any more and has no interest in drinking. I have wild kids who love to party. The alcohol issue has been of real concern to dh and I but it seems to be sorting itself out. We are known as strict parents- but the kids are realising that many of their friends also have parents who are strict about alcohol, and they have found other friends who don't drink. It was so much easier in so many ways when they were little!

It depends on where I hear the term. Around homeschooling circles, I learned to realise they generally mean Christian. In my circles, it tends to mean someone who is very involved in any one of many organised religions- could be Christian, Buddhist, whatever. Religion and spirituality can be the same, can be different. I am spiritual but not religious. Homeschoolers in Australia are a rare breed- not so common as in America- so the presumption isnt here so much that we are religious, even though apparently most are. But that is changing.

Cricket is big here but I stopped following it as an adult. As a kid, I was dragged along to lots of matches- actually it was fun to go wild in the cricket grounds. But I dont follow any sports. And I love dh because he doesnt either :)

It is interesting, and I hadn't read the information before...so thanks Negin, I like new information ....but I am not convinced. It does make sense that people who oversleep because they are depressed, might feel better with less sleep. But it doesn't take into account the seasonal changes- I think it is normal to sleep more in winter and less in summer. Also, people tend not to be in touch with their natural circadian rhythms, with artificial lights and all. I think for most people, going to bed earlier and getting up earlier would help switch them back into their natural sleep rhythms and help cure some depression at least. However...I find the information interesting, if not completely convincing- and next time I have pms I might play with it a bit.

Summer- 2 pairs of blue jeans, one pair of denim shorts, several light cotton pairs of pants, cotton skirts, cotton long dresses and cotton tops. A range of colours, mostly bright and light colours. Winter- 2 pairs of blue jeans :) , several other pairs of different coloured jeans, a dozen various coloured long sleeved tshirts, and a collection of unique and beautiful "sweaters" (we call them woollen jumpers here). And a few jackets. I mix and match, basically, and have a good colourful scarf collection to top off any combination of jeans, tee, and sweater.

No, I like snakes :) I am not into upsetting the balance- snakes kill the mice. Kill the snakes- then you gotta poison the mice. Then the native animals eat the poison and die. Upset the balance :) YOu know, what's an Egyptian snake doign in the Bronx anyway? Maybe thats the issue, really. I was honestly mortified when I read your post (because I didnt read the previous one first) until i realised you were joking (I hope you were joking!) :)