Grateful to have all my girlies at home today. Grateful to a dh that loves working in 41 degrees Celcius heat (he feels fully alive while I feel half dead in such heat!), and to one of the dd's who is helping him construct a shed today!! Grateful to have middle dd home, and that she will clean my house for me (I've still got zero energy after this really awful flu). Grateful for my eldest daughter's boyfriend who completely gets her, and is so good for her. :-)

Day 3: I'm grateful it's Sunday (here in Australia :-)) and I can have a lazy day with no guilt! I'm grateful for air conditioning.

Love both of the webinars linked! Very inspirational and motivating.

Day 2 (because it's Jan 3 here and I don't want to confuse anyone! ) I'm so, so grateful for feeling better today after 3 days in bed with flu. I'm grateful for a hard-working husband. I'm grateful for my extra kisses and cuddles this morning from dh. I'm grateful for all our conveniences in this era.

For the two teens that come each week to mow my lawn, do some gardening, and housework. I pay therm, but I'm hugely grateful for them nonetheless. I'm grateful for two daughters that are not concerning me too much at the moment.

I'm sorry you missed your sister's visit! That sucks! Can I come to the party too? This is my third day sick...missed two days of work and thankfully the weekend is here so I can rest up some more and hopefully be feeling fine for work on Monday. Is it normal that the whole family doesn't believe mum is really sick? I'm sure everyone thinks I'm being a complete princess, but this pretty much feels how I felt in the middle of chemo 4 yrs ago! Not fun!

I hope I have the terminology right...pretty sure it's thermogram, but correct me if I'm wrong. What do most people go for these days? I'm 43 in the middle of this year, and I've yet to get my breasts checked. About the time I turned 40 I was about 9 months out from chemo and radiation for Hodgkins lymphoma, so probably subconsciously I was not wanting to even go there. And it's only now that a few times lately I've heard about age 40 being the recommended age to begin regular mammograms. And, I have to be honest, from what my mil has said to me about mammograms, I'm very nervous of getting my books squashed between two surfaces! So if a thermogram is an option, I think it sounds less...well..scary!

I'm in too. We (my dh and I) just completed our first whole30 a few days before Christmas. I'd lost 8kg, but gained back 2 of those on our Christmas break! We are actually hoping to make this a lifetime way of eating, making the only exception when we eat out at friends` homes.

Thank you! And to you, too. :-) It's just after 8 p.m. and I'm already in bed....feeling yucky with a flu. I'll leave it to the young ones to ring in the New year.

After my kids finished homeschooling, I had a couple of years off with sickness (Hodgkin's Lymphoma) and recovery. During that period, I did lots of thinking about what I really wanted to do with myself. I'm not sure that I've narrowed it down, as I have a few things on the go, and I love each one of them. I'll stick with them all until one of them doesn't work for me, or doesn't feel right any more. I work as a 'home help'/housekeeper/nanny for a lady with a two year old and 9mo twins. At the moment this is 3 days a week for 5hrs each day (15hrs weekly). I also do remedial English (reading & spelling) tutoring for 5 boys who come to my home (individually). This mostly works out for around 12hrs per week. And I also have been trained in Bowen Therapy (a kind of remedial massage), and I see clients at my home. This varies from 5hrs some weeks to none other weeks. I want to pick up the Bowen Therapy a little more, as it's the most profitable of all my ventures. I really love all my different areas of work, but I am finding it harder to keep up at home, so I have a couple of teens from a neighbouring family come to help out. The son does 2hrs of gardening/mowing each week, and the daughter does 2hrs of housework. :-) It's a real blessing for me.

I guess Work would be my word for 2015. Prosperous first came to mind, but it seems so awfully materialistic compared to others! The fact is though, that I've only just started branching out into the world of earning money, after homeschooling for many years, then several years of illness. The tide seems to have turned, and I now have several jobs on the go...all things I love, and I really want to have a few solid years of earning to help establish myself.

I hope to be far more involved with any future grandchildren than either set of my kids grandparents. Without being pushy and overbearing!

I'm sorry. Do you have any skills that you could use to tutor kids? I'm not a teacher, but I tutor kids in remedial reading, spelling and writing. If you sew, could you borrow a few sewing machines, and advertise a beginner after school sewing class? These are just a few examples, but I think there is a reasonable market for tutoring/after school enrichment programs of all sorts.

I've needed to use three or four lots of new milk sometimes to bring them back from the brink! :-)

I cleared my long-term (11 months) staph skin infection, which 5 rounds of antibiotics hadn't eradicated, with raw garlic. I crushed a clove twice a day, mixed it with some honey and swallowed it down. Within 4 days, IIRC, the pustules disappeared. After a month or so I had a couple come back, so I repeated the treatment, and I haven't had any since.

I do this one most mornings and it serves the three of us that drink green smoothies. 500ml coconut water 2 kiwi fruit 1/2 cup frozen mango 1/2 avocado 7 dates 1 lemon or lime, peeled 1-2 Tbspns coconut oil 5 large silverbeet or spinach leaves Good handful of lettuce leaves Good sized bunch parsley It's nice and filling and keeps us going till lunchtime.

The Rhodesian ridgeback and Dalmatian stay on their big beds on the floor of the living room, but occasionally are allowed to cuddle on the couch for a short time. The blind Brittany spaniel has an arm chair covered with her blanket, because it keeps her elevated away from the other dogs, and off the floor, out of our way. She can be a trip hazard! The cat goes where she wants...lol. We keep all their bedding washed frequently, they get bathed frequently, and we have hard floors. People often are surprised that the dogs are inside because the house doesn't smell doggy.

Tell me about it! There have been several occasions that I have cried while trying in clothes in department store change rooms!

My father in law can remember a time when you could look out over a paddock at dusk and it looked like a hill was moving, it was so covered with rabbits. Anecdotal, of course, but I think the plague of that time was fairly bad. Also, I don't really know a great deal about the history of the rabbit proof fence, but I guess it was built for a reason. I must look up some info about it now that my curiosity has been piqued.

I had my youngest homeschooling alone for two years before she went to public school in ninth grade. We both loved it.

Curcumin, as someone else mentioned, is also a great natural anti-inflammatory.

Most people present with specific pain in a certain area, rather than widespread pain or problems. Yes, there would be `a` cause, for certain, and I suggest Bowen therapy may be able to address that cause and bring relief. As I mentioned, I've treated several myself with very similar symptoms to those you are describing, and had a cessation of pain and numbness after several treatments. None were as long term as in your case, but I think one was a year or two with numbness and pain while driving, and waking up with numb hands. I think it's worth going down the route of non invasive interventions for a trial period, then reassessing.

Thanks again, shorter and to the point sounds like it would be easier to read. Yes I've heard of dogs being stolen but more in the city. We live on a quiet road with only one other farm on the road so not to many people come by unless they have to, but the sign would be situated halfway down the drive...About the distance she usually runs to get cars.

Gosh it doesn't sound like carpal tunnel, so don't go and have any surgery on it before you try other possible causes. I'd be more inclined to think it's stemming from shoulders when you talk about driving and sleeping making it worse, and splints not making a difference. Can you Google Bowen therapists in your area? I'm a Bowen therapist and have had good success with several cases similar to what you are describing. I would recommend three treatments to give it a good shot.

I have a shower. It's what we do in Australia, it seems. I think it's American to take a shower.