Not very. DH and I have a very relaxed lifestyle. He loves his work but has plenty of free time. We have enough money. Enough, not lots. We value our time a lot and are not prepared to give it up for more money. We live nicely. I got pretty stressed a month or so ago when I took on a new part time job. Ugh. I was so not designed to do bookwork! It stressed me out- the business I was working for was in constant stress. I quit. It wasn't worth it. I am learning to live on less money. We are both meditators and have been all our adult lives. I do yoga, and my exercise is walking in nature. I get up early in the mornings before everyone else and have alone time. I have more in the evenings because dh works evenings. I do work part time but its from home, cooking. But we are very conscious of living like this, of minimising stress in our lives, and very wary of taking on things that will bring stress into our lives. Its always a balance though and stress does happen- of course it is a natural part of life (especially with teens!)- but we do consciously minimise unecessary, habitual stress.

DH is vegetarian, I was for many years but do eat some meat nowadays. THe kids are not vego but we do eat mainly vegetarian at home- its just easiest. I also run a vegetarian catering business 2 days a week. My kids (teens) prefer most of their vegetables raw, so whatever I make for them, I chop up red capsicum, carrots, celery, cucumber etc and put it on their plates. Stir fries are another good way- my son especially loves noodles, and he ADORES tofu. We all enjoy tofu regularly- marinated and fried usually- but he could cirtually live on it. We think he must have been Chinese last life. We all eat a LOT of fruit. For protein we do eat meat substitutes about twice a week, and I have just discovered Quorn mince- so spag bol is popular here lately. It tastes better than it does with meat and a guest didnt even realise it wasnt meat. TVP reacts terrible with dh's gut so we dont use that. We eat a lot of avocados, and a lot of eggs. We have eggs for breakfast most days- it is the only thing that actually sustains any of us through to lunch, and its a great way to make sure we are all getting enough protein. One of the meals I make regularly is a "bits and pieces platter". I just put bits and pieces on our plates (or a central platter)- pieces of cheese (fetta, camembert, cheddar), rice crackers, nuts, avocado (sometimes made into guacomale), carrot and celery sticks and other raw vegetables, cherry tomatoes, boiled eggs, fried tofu/tempeh- whatever I can rustle up. Its a great meal for in front of the TV. In fact, I find it very useful to cut up vegtables for the kids and give them a plate full while they are watching TV. They also eat a lot of fruit while watching TV. So...it doesnt always have to be a meal..many times they will have something like pizza...but I will have given them vegies separately.

Approximately 100F here for several days- a heat wave. :) Feels hot for November though. If its this hot now, whats the rest of summer going to be like?

I guess I found wisdom by searching for it. There is wisdom everywhere...but it takes maturity to actually absorb it. Maturity. I think thats the key. Then you can learn wisdom, receive it, recognise it, and eventually pass it on. Words are cheap though. Its about how we live.

Oh, thanks Negin :) :blush: Mmm, it keeps coming up as an idea...and now that I am not going to be homeschooling, it could be a good project....

Lots of wise, mature people in my life. Im very lucky.

I will be interested to see if this is actually true. I am more inclined to feel its a good thing that classified information is released, myself, but I understand your point above too. I think it is too easy to dismiss others motivations as inferior when we disagree with them. The fact they were in those positions does give them an inside view and they may well be following the call of THEIR conscience to speak up, whatever it costs them or looks like to others. The government they swore alliegance to is not God itself, not the highest truth around...we each have our own conscience to deal with. You may be right..it may be sensationailsm...but it also may not be, and you don't know either, yet. I feel these are the times, in our present day world situation, that such things are inevitable and possibly important, and I watch the unfolding with curiosity, and dont jump into judgement yet. As I said in another thread...we will only know in retrospect the true effect (if we ever do). It is happening, whether we like it or not.

Yes, there are strips you can buy that actualy give you the correct range you need to be in- from the perspective of a healthy alkaline range. They expect you to test both your saliva and urine over a period of time and average it out. Most people i know just test their urine and go by the reading, which is what I do. Very quick and easy- I leave mine next to the toilet but I havent done it in a few months because I just know I ain't in the healthy range right now!

:iagree: I have been reading about it for years too so its not a surprise. It makes me wonder when some of the other things are going to happen that I have been reading about for years.

I would tell them that your cats might attack the dog and you couldnt be responsible for any damage done. We have 2 dogs and recently dh brought home a 2yo cat. The cat has completely terrorised the dogs and frequently attacks them (even while they are sleeping in their baskets). Other than that the cat is lovely. I woudl imagine if it is a little teacup dog, the threat of attack by cats might be enough to settle the issue. Really though...no, you are not unreasonable at all and just saying no is fine.

I never did find a good one. I think there is a need....maybe Ill write one. Sorry, not much use to you.

I wish. Doesnt ever happen to me.

I think maybe it will only be clear in retrospect whether it was worth it or not. I think some more accountability to the public is a good idea- not sure if people really will get hurt or that is just a government line to turn the public against them. I don't trust the popular media. Not sure where the whistle blower is coming from- whether its all for the best or a personal thing. I wouldnt trust the media to tell me, either. We will see. Other than that, its just conjecture.

I prefer, myself, a more simplified approach. I learned that, to all intents and purposes, basically all fruit and veg are alkalising. This was a raw food approach so we are not talking potato chips. Lemons are especially alkalising- a half a lemon squeezed into a glass of water first thing in the morning is very good. I tested my urine when I was doing a largely raw diet earlier in the year, and it went into the healthy alkaline zone on a diet high in fruit and veg, low in grains (I had some though), but I had meat and/or fish a couple of times a week, I had nuts (almonds are the only alkaline ones but I ate all types) and I was drinking raw milk at the time. I took green powders and had green smoothies and green juices. I had steamed vegies or stir fried sometimes. I felt really, really good on it, but I didnt lose any weight because I ate a lot of fats- avocados, coconuts, whole milk. Not that I was overweight but I wouldn't have minded losing a bit. I am just sharing my story because my experience is that if eating gets too complicated- and I always felt that for me those lists of alkaline/acid foods are tedious to live by- I wont follow my best intentions. I learned the approach of 80/20. Eat 80% pretty good healthy fruit and veg, much of it raw or only lightly cooked- dont worry about whether it is alkalising- compared to the SAD it is plenty alkalising. And 20% other stuff- meat, fish, dairy, cooked foods, grains. For me it was probably more 70/30 but I still tested alkaline. A good green juice every day can really tip you over towards alkaline. I spent a few months having a juice based on 50% celery, then other greens like cucumber, spinach...then some apple and lemon, maybe some carrot, just to make it taste good (but not a lot so its low in sugar). That alone can help a lot.

I have to regularly ask my kids to remind me how the 3 separate remotes we have for the TV work together. They are all for different things. DH knows too. My excuse is that I dont watch TV often enough to learn and I forget between times because its so long. :lol:

I love Waldorf here too (and no, I am not "scared" of them). Psht. No more culty than some Christian churches seem to many of us. Take what you resonate with and leave the rest. It is possible to integrate a lot of Waldorf ideas into classical homeschooling. The traditional Waldorf school system is based on a classical system, too, since that WAS the system back when it was developed, and it is quite compatible. I did try and homeschool Waldorf style at the beginning, with a non arty, non creative, LD child. It was a lot of work for me and a lot of resistance from him! It would have worked wonderfully with my other child but she started homeschooling a few months later and by then I had found classical. She found her own way with her creativity, though.

I agree about the HFCS. Not an issue here because I just dont eat processed foods. Also, corn is not such a big industry in Australia so we don't have corn syrup in everything. However, I disagree about the carbs. There is a whole lot more to carbs than sugar. Sure, white flour products can go with the white sugar, but whole grains have many important nutrients in them, and chucking a whole food group is unecessary and actually dangerous, IMO. There are 3 major food groups....fats, proteins and carbohydrates...we are MEANT to eat from all 3. Chucking the worst offenders of the carb food group...highly processed foods- and reverting to the least processed, whole grain forms of those foods, is of course best.

Are any of them trained in Imago therapy? Many seem to be around where I live. I have been reading Getting the Love you Want by Harville Hendrix...this book has some really good insights into how marriage/relationships work, why they become difficult, and what to do about it, and it has made such an impact on dh and I already. The book has been around for years and I had previously half read and dismissed it- I think because I wasnt ready to really listen to it message. Now I am. Its very much about keeping the marriage together, and it explains why, and HOW. The website is here but I dont know if you can tell how effective it might be from a website- you can get a feel for it, though. http://gettingtheloveyouwant.com/ Recently I watched a documentary called Crossing the Bridge by Hedy and Yumi, who are Imago trained marriage therapists, and it really, really helped me (and touched my heart). You can get it from their website, but they also have a CD for free which is probably an introduction to their work: http://www.hedyyumi.com/

I 2nd Flylady. Doing it myself made me see how expecting my kids to just be able to "clean their room" was not realistic, compassionate or fair. I used to be messy so I did immediately see the point and was able to work with it. I have plenty of compassion for messy people as an ex messy. Dh on the other hand was the clean freak and coulndt understand why everyone didnt just put things away straight after using them etc, because to him that was a habit he formed early in life. The mess upset him considerably until he sort of "gave up" like you have- but he didnt enjoy that. Flylady helped me...probably saved our marriage. If you are of the opposite tendency to your dd....that is probably why you are clashing over this and havent found the solution. Its hard to understand someone who has the polar opposite tendency to yourself- and hard to understand why they don't follow through when you ask them to do something. But just because it is self evident to you,doesnt mean it is to a child. Sometimes we really have to get down on our knees and see things from their perspective ( I had to do that with my husband, the neat freak, but it took me years- he is older than me and I had no experience "keeping house" when we got together wheras he had it down pat). I think opposites attract and we need to learn from our opposite (as you are). My dd16 is very messy and we call her the family Piglet. But she is also an artist, very very creative, and a very easy going personality- and to her, the mess is just part of her creative process. She did start to learn to tidy her room in her teens, but her way of doing it is long and creative and she examines everything- it will take half a day, but she enjoys it now. The motivation is having friends over, especially of the male variety nowadays. I think its really important that it is taken out of the context of parent/child power struggle. It is important the child feel loved even though they are completely opposite to yourself- that they dont feel shame for their own natural tendencies. Its much more pleasant to go into a child's room, play some music, put on a timer, and with a cheerful mood, help them get a handle on their stuff, than be full of impatience and resentment and, from the child's perspective, constantly nag. Even with the idea of giving them a routine...it really is up to the parent to follow through every single time...and with a good attitude. I took it as a teaching task. I think we often expect our kids to see things from a more mature perspective than they are capable...and we have to really step out of our own viewpoint and see theirs, to come back into balance with them.

Hi Jean...the medical system (and alternative medical system) seem to be increasing their understanding of the role of inflammation in disease. Sounds like your doctor might be onto it.

I suggest you substitute for sugar.....lots of whole healthy fats (a la Nourishing Traditions etc). I did that....lots of coconut milk and raw coconut oil, avocados, whole raw milk. Yum. I had no problem stacking the weight on, either :). Actually, I didnt really "stack" it on but its taken me a while to realise that my free consumption of those types of food- even though I dont eat much sugar- is what has put the weight on and made it hard to lose it. If you have trouble with weight gain, my suggestion is just to increase your fat intake. I think those types of fats are healthier for you than sugar....in moderation :)

I told my kids for the umpteenth times that they were "accidents" today. They were. But very, very loved ones (they know that!) . No secrets in this family. I would just tell her. Nowadays there really is a lot less stigma and shame around dating services, here in Australia at least. Many, many people use them- even young people.

Excellent Jean! A step in the right direction, anyway...must be a relief. Now to find out what works for YOU to heal your actual condition.

I am "other" on that poll and there is no "other"! We limit screen time but it isnt contigent on school work being completed because..well, thats just a given, and we don't do screen time that time of day anyway. We never work evenings- whatever wasnt done by early to mid afternoon, just gets done the next day. When my kids were younger, and for our first few years of homeschooling (say, ages 8- 12 or 13) the rules were: no screen time Mon-Th, 1 hour on Fridays, 2 hours each Sat and Sunday. However, that didn't count the nightly episode of some series or other that we watched together. Family screen time was excepted. Since they have got older, they spend 2-3 hours a day, sometimes more, on their computers, mostly socialising. So do I. So does Dh.(OK- maybe a bit more) No, they are not supposed to be on FB during school hours, but it does happen! Not to mention the texting! Yes, its an issue, but as homeschoolers, their phones and computers keep them in daily (sometimes hourly) contact with their friends, so we try and work with it rather than ban them altogether. We watch one or two series at a time- but many days the TV doesn't get turned on at all. We never watch commercial TV. The boundaries are much looser nowadays, but the schoolwork gets done, and while we all spend plenty of time on the computer, there are plenty of activities and social events as well.

It was such a big deal for me to go into a bra shop and get properly fitted a year or so ago. No wonder my bras werent feeling so good- I was bigger than I thought! But still, after buying a bra for $60 and taking it home..I found I just couldnt stand the underwire- which has always been the case for me. After leaving the bra in the drawer for 6 months and wearing my saggy old comfortable bras, I decided to rip out the underwire- and now I have a bra I will wear that actually fits, too. I definitely have a wild side and I found going bra shopping very daunting!