Forgot to say mine is electric one, actually one of those 5 in 1 machines. So is also a slow cooker, rice cooker etc. It's NewWave brand.

Yes! Love my pressure cooker. It definitely does help for budgeting (avoiding take out on chaotic nights), flexibility, and prep time. Last night was one of those nights....I was tired out after working, my fridge was nearly bare, my married dd and her husband were here around dinner time, and I'd only got a beef roast out of the freezer a couple of hours before, so it was pretty much frozen still. I threw the roast in the pressure cooker with a bit of beef stock, a glass of Apple juice, a generous squirt of balsamic glaze and some salt and pepper. 50 mins later, a beautiful tasty pot roast with yummy sauce that just needed thickening. In the meantime I made a cauliflower gratin with carrots as they were the only veges I had left in the fridge. In fact, I probably use the pressure cooker only on those nights when it looks like you'd be having two minute noodles otherwise. Basically it means we eat well with a minimum of time, fuss and despite not being organised.

Can you not dust her and her bedding with baking soda? I have no clue if it would work, but it's supposed to neutralize odors. Maybe to save her frothing at the mouth while cleaning herself, you could give her another quick bath after half an hour or so.

I'm not sure about your question, but I just wanted to say you are an awesome mama and grandmama to be doing this!! I plan to be like you!! :-)

Definitely eat more, also more variety. Add more fat than just frying in oil. That might include adding a blob of ghee on your veges, making a dressing with olive oil as a base for using on a salad, adding avocado or an egg or two. Eat when you're hungry, in the first week it might be five meals a day. Then your body will kick into using the fat as an energy source rather than carbs. So if you're hungry half an hour after eating lunch, make something else to eat. But if you eat decent size meals, you probably won't have to do that so much.

This is ducklings rather than chickens, but it's very sweet. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=570khFoaE4s

I did whole30 when I didn't have the book. It's not necessary. I've since bought it, and it's very interesting, but you can easily do the program without it.

Me, too, please. Also can anyone organise fundraising again? Perhaps a GoFundMe? I hope it's not crass to mention financial help.

Oh my goodness…to lose your child. Weeping here for you. So very sorry, and praying for comfort for you. xxx :grouphug: :grouphug:

I've had dealings with a lady a little similar to this. To me, it speaks of some sort of problem, whether societal anxiety, awkwardness, or a deeper problem. In my case, I'm pretty sure it was a deeper mental problem manifesting itself in these odd ways. Either way, after my past experience, I would not really try much to help this sort of person, or to try to interact, mainly because I don't see that it did anything helpful for the other person, and just adds an element of stress to your own life that you could do without. I would remain polite, but not be afraid to draw boundaries when necessary either. Probably I would say outright that I'd rather her not ask personal questions, or reply that her question is one I'd rather not answer.

Oh, you sound like an awesome granny! Congrats! I can't wait for grandkids when they come...my oldest is getting married in a few months, so it seems to make it more real that it's possibly going to happen in the next five years! :-D

Just beautiful!

We have heaps - we are a lying family, I think! :-) My SIL ( a sweet and guileless lady) is often shocked at what the kids used to believe. Some of them are: When you are born, you are the opposite sex and you change at a certain undefined age... (this came about because of DH's baby pictures where he was wearing a dress - he said he was a girl when he was born, then he changed). By the time the change was supposed to come, they were well and truly old enough to know better! We got a new toilet when our old one was shabby and the lid broken. We told them that the toilet would break again unless they ALWAYS put the lid down. It worked, and the habit is cemented, thankfully! That we had 'back eyes', and they would try to search through our hair for them. That crocodiles lived in our dams, and we could only swim in the dam when dad was there to give his 'special whistle', which would send the crocodiles out of our swimming dam into the other dam for about an hour. The kids couldn't look while dad did this, as then the crocodiles would see that they were kids and come to eat them. That if you didn't get your christmas lights down by a month after Christmas you'd go to jail. When my dd was around 10 she noticed a house with Xmas lights around July. She said that she guessed because the owner was in jail they couldn't take them down. I couldn't believe that she still believed that, so expressed amazement, and she got so upset that we'd lied to her! Poor baby. She was the youngest, so I think the older two kind of perpetuated the stories for her. We always measured the kids on the night before their birthday, then when they awoke on their birthday. DH shortened the measurement considerably the night before, then read it and marked it accurately the next day. They always believed that a birthday meant a growth spurt overnight. That everyone that came to DH's work called him 'dad' or 'daddy'. Once, when at his work, dd heard someone greet him with his name, which is a 1 syllable word beginning with 'D'. She heard it as Dad, and it really confirmed for her that everyone did in fact call him 'dad'. That they were not allowed to even look at the rat poison up on the high beams in the shed otherwise they'd go blind. That if they went over the fence into the neighbours property ( we live on a farm) Mr Day's (deceased neighbour whose ashes were spread over his farm) ashes would blow in their eyes. And many more that I can't remember now! I've enjoyed having a good laugh at everyone else's deceptions. We look forward to grandkids now that we can begin again!

I've done one whole30, and attempted to start about 5 other times since. I loved the first one - and should never have gone off it. The plan was that we would make it a permanent way of eating, but just have a break for Christmas (2014). Well, I should have known. I had an awful flu afterwards that lasted about 9 weeks, and many other issues since, which meant my emotional state was not what it should have been for beginning a restrictive diet. I think I'm almost there now, and I plan to begin tomorrow. I love everything about whole30 - it suits my body type very well. I also didn't find it restrictive when I was on it the first time, but the first week or so is fairly hard with cravings etc. It's really helpful to print out their guide to how you'll be feeling on each day - it makes you realise it's normal. If you want to start, and want a PM buddy, let me know. Breakfasts, I always found the worst, so this time I want to try to simplify it. Perhaps just cook up extra from the night before and have leftovers. Also I made up a bunch of mini shepherd's pies and put in the freezer. I'd pull one out that morning and put it in the oven to thaw and heat. That was just a minced meat and vege mix underneath with mashed potato/sweet potato combo on top. That was good and easy, but the minced meat I used was very gristly, so I soon didn't enjoy eating them for that reason. Lunch was mostly salad & meat, which I also would take with me when going out for the day. It helps to buy nice travel-ware to pack it in. I bought a cute insulated lunch bag, pretty snap lock insulated containers, and a couple of nice Thermos for soups or casseroles. If I went out for the day I'd always pack an apple or mandarin or two, which served as a snack if needed. This pretty much removed any temptation to buy something because you were feeling 'snacky'. Dinners were easiest - pretty much any meat with veg or salad. I made ahead a few compliant salad dressings, and gravy/sauces, that I could pour over salad or reheat to have on meat. Also I pre-made a 'bread' coating for meat or chicken and kept it in the fridge. This was really handy for quickly 'breading' some chicken strips to fry and throw over a salad. The mix was almond meal and lots of different herbs and spices. I think my family preferred this mix to the breading I used to use. Good luck with it, and let me know if you want an accountability buddy. I've got a fair bit to lose - like 40kg, but as I said - it's something I want to make a lifetime thing for my own health's sake. :-)

I've been thinking of you recently, knowing the anniversary of your son's passing was coming up in May. Many hugs for you and your family. Thank you for your amazingly honest blog post. I wept reading it, because your raw grief came flowing through your words in a powerful way. I'm glad you have some joy in your life again, too, in spite of the empty hole Timmy left.

Yes I have had a dog do that. They lived peaceably for three years, then one had a litter of pups, but lost them all to fading puppy syndrome. She was depressed for some time, which we treated successfully with homeopathic remedies. She was back to her old self and happy for approx six months before her personality changed. Her rages came on for little reason, and were over within ten seconds or so, but she inflicted a lot of damage in a very few seconds. Vet visits, stitches etc were involved, but she didn't have a scratch. None of the attacks were initiated by the other dogs. They became nervous of her and would give her a wide berth. We had thought about rehoming on the proviso that she would be an only dog, but then she bit my daughter. Only a small nip, but showed us she was unpredictable. We made the very difficult decision to put her to sleep. We put the change down to the trauma of losing the puppies.

I've always found the combination of letters difficult to roll off the tongue easily. I hated reading the name Marilla in Anne of Green Gables. I love Willa, though. :-)

So did I. I haven't heard old man for dh before this.

Awesome aunty for sure! ! Also great choice of curriculum. I use Apples and Pears, Dancing Bears, and Fast Track for the remedial reading/spelling students I tutor. I love it, and it works for each one of them, regardless of dyslexia or not. I do an hour each session with them, and we can usually cover two lessons of Apples and Pears, as well as ten minutes of Dancing Bears. As long as you have a fun approach and attitude, lots of praise, but also gentle correction where needed, it'll be fun for her. Her current situation sounds very damaging. Poor girl.

I have, for the last ten months or so, a 14yo boy in every week to do lawn mowing and gardening for two hours each time. I pay him $10/hr, as that's what his mum and I settled on. I wanted to pay him a little more, but his mum said much less. I insisted in paying no less than $10/hr, and she was ok with it. So he turned 15 yesterday, and I'd like to give him a raise each year, but not sure how much. At least a dollar, obviously, but maybe $2. So I'd like to get an idea of what your 15 yo`s earn. A raise of $1 an hour only makes him $2 richer per week, which seems a bit pathetic, but then he's already pretty thrilled with his $20 per week, so he probably sees it differently than I do. A little bit of extra info not really relevant probably....he does a good job, but cuts corners sometimes, or dawdles over some jobs, but I don't expect much different from his age. His mum always tells me to pick him up on it if he's being lazy though, or not being thorough (which I don't really do). Up till now he's been a fairly young teen, but really matured in the last month or so. Thanks!

We are over the other side of the country, but my adult girls are home. I got a text to say our 9 yo dog is vomiting and won't get off her bed, and what should they do. I'm usually calm, so I replied to just wait a little bit and see how it progresses, but my stomach was sinking because she's a big dog, so average ten year life span. My daughter texted back immediately to say April fool! I laughed over them catching me out, but was very relieved it wasn't true. Normally I'm the one that catches everyone out, but being away from home, I hadn't thought about it.

Next time tell him to say what he means our put up with the consequences! My dh used to do the same, but I'm slowly training him by way of natural consequences.

Today I was peeved when I saw a friend post a status on Facebook showing her `working progress`, rather than her work in progress.

Baking Soda (or Bicarb Soda as well call it in Australia) is what I use, and I don't smell after a hot day of working physically. I usually add a few drops of essential oil to a container of the BS. I apply the 'deodorant' by wetting a few fingers under the tap, dipping it in the BS, and rubbing it on underarms. It even works if you are already smelly! :) I think because it alters the ph, as Milk of Magnesia would do, it changes the conditions of your underarms that the odour producing bacteria can't proliferate!

I'm in Australia, and I've heard it, not sure when, where or from whom, but something like: Don't get yourself in a purple passion about it! In other words, don't get worked up about it. So I guess that fits. :-)