I don't usually get too personal on the internet, but I wanted to share my story in case it might help someone else. I suffered from debilitating depression. I was hospitalized in my teens, sent from doctor to doctor, and put on every medication under the sun. Officially it was chronic depression with major depressive episodes, but what it really meant was suicide was a constant thought. After the last medication left me feeling so wonky I didn't even know what day it was or what I needed to do that day, I stopped taking them. I figured I would rather go out in a blaze of glory instead of being medicated out of life. And when I made that decision I changed my mindset. I did it on my own, but I believe it was a form of therapy. I actively worked on changing my mindset at every moment. When bad thoughts started creeping in, I would not allow myself to dwell on them. I refused to give in. I didn't "think happy thoughts", but I wouldn't allow myself to go down the road of hopelessness. This completely changed my personality. I watch what I eat and I exercise. These two things help remind me that my body is a temple, my old mindset was to not care what happened to my body. I find humor in every situation that wants to bring me down. I have worked to train my brain to jump to what is funny rather than what the negatives are. My last major episode was six years ago when my dad passed away. I allowed myself to fall into the old thought and behavior patterns. It lasted for a month until I pulled myself back out. My kids and my husband deserved better than that, and I knew *I* was in control. I was feeding the depression. I had allowed my grief to consume my entire being. So I worked on it again every day until I had my process back in place. Every time the negative thoughts try to weave their way around you (and that is how I picture them, tentacles trying to strangle me) you must replace them with hopeful thoughts. It sounds simplistic, but you will get nowhere feeding the negativity. You have to treat yourself as though you deserve to be happy. Take care of your body and your mind. Every day should have a point of hope in it. In my new mindset, life is a constant adventure. I will take short-term jobs, pick up new hobbies, join new clubs to refresh myself. I've worked as a teamster at a newspaper plant (I've always wanted to say I was a teamster!), joined a writing group, gone on weekend retreats, volunteered at different places, just branched out of my comfort zone. How can I allow myself to be depressed when there are so many interesting and exciting things waiting for me to discover them? Anyone that is depressed right now, I want you to know: YOU CAN BEAT IT! You can overcome it and be the person you want to be. You have the power to do it, it is not out of your hands. I give you all virtual hugs and I want you to know you have the strength to be healthy.

:grouphug: I'm trying to stay away from this thread now, but I wanted to let you know it is situations like yours that put on my heart that we need some sort of universal health care. This could be anybody that did everything right, made sure they had insurance, tried to continue insurance when they lost it. And I'm surprised that medicaid is suggested, but universal healthcare is rejected. Isn't that what medicaid is? The only issue with medicaid is a person has to lose just about everything to pay for medical situations whereas a health care program open to all would allow people to pay for insurance and not be driven into poverty. Eh, I'm tired and this probably isn't coming out right. I hope your husband is able to find work quickly, and you will be insured.

You guys are great! After coming back from the store (nice, air conditioned, cold store) I did the cold water on the wrists and a covered icepack on the neck. And when the temperature outside cooled, we set up our box fan in each room for a bit to suck the cooler air inside. We called it our poor man's air conditioner. It was still tough to sleep last night. I admire all of you hot climate people. I really don't understand how you do it. I can see air conditioning being helpful, but what about when you have to go outside, or get into your hot car? Nevermind, these are just the ramblings of a heat exhausted brain. So, when dh came home (smiling, of course- no sense of self-preservation) we talked about the portable air conditioner idea again. I just don't know if it would be worth it for the (thankfully) few hot days we get. I'm going to keep working down the list of ideas everyone gave and save it as a last resort. Thanks again- and if you ever need endless rain survival tips, I'm here for ya.;)

More wonderful suggestions! I will send ds to shower before bed to help cool him down. As you can see I haven't made it out to the store. I did leave to roll down the windows of the car, but the door handles were to hot to open.:glare: I'm going to try again with oven mitts. We do have a hospital not too far from us...hmmmm....

I love this. While I don't practice NFP, I think every girl/woman should understand how wonderful their body is. Our first acknowledgement of our fertility is blood- and how many of us want to see blood leaking out of our most private of places? And then that sign of womanhood becomes a huge embarassment to us, what junior high girl wants everyone to know she has her period? I talk frequently with my kids about sex, it is not a taboo subject at our house. But it is with the expectation that they will be at a place in their life where they can handle all of the emotional and physical consequences that accompany it. I hope that will be in marriage, but I understand they have their own choices to make.

Ugh! I'm not sure how close I am to that lovely stage of life, but I can almost guarantee I will not suffer it quietly. I don't know what it is about heat that makes me feel so terrible.

Thank you! We tried outside, but it is even more miserable out there. Ds actually offered to do the dishes if he could just go inside. Our lab is wandering throughout the house whimpering. She can't find a single cool place to lie down. I'm going to take your advice to get out and do some grocery shopping. We'll take our lawn chairs and hang out in the frozen food section. The worst part will be when dh comes home. He is from a warmer location and these days leave him grinning from ear to ear. He makes it very hard to love him sometimes. Oh- I did figure out one trick. Lining the bra with tissue definitely helps with that awful sticky feeling. I feel like I'm back in junior high. :D

how do you survive?? I need all your tips, tricks, and hints. I live in a lovely area known for its almost constant rain and gray skies, but now we are in our hot season. It is over 90 degrees! For some reason it is bothering me today more than usual. We don't have air conditioning, and our fans just seem to blow the hot air around like a hair dryer. Popsicles and cold water aren't cutting it. I'm trying not to whine. The sweat I worked up posting in the health care thread has my shirt pasted to my back. How do you make it through hot days?

It is very frustrating, I agree. I just don't think it should be a death sentence. If a person makes poor choices, doesn't buy insurance, and is diagnosed with a serious disease should they be denied life-saving medicine because of those choices? I certainly wish I wasn't dumping extra money monthly into my HSA in case the awful happens, but I wouldn't begrudge another person medical help because they didn't. I'm not saying I'd be happy about it, but my faith tells me it is the right thing to do. I understand not everyone shares my religious beliefs, though.

:lol: I forgot about how many steps there are. Maybe I'll only march half way and stop for a doughnut. Think it might send a mixed message about health care reform?

Maybe you and I can put our heads together and come up with the perfect plan. I've always wanted to march up the steps of the capitol and demand something. It just feels so radical.;)

Our policy is a bit different. We have a $10,000 deductible and then coverage kicks in. And I believe the coverage is reduced to 80% after you reach a certain amount for individual sections in coverage. And the deductible is yearly, so every year you are responsible for that $10,000 again. The cancer-specific policies I looked at had quite a few loopholes that could leave huge medical bills uncovered. I wasn't satisfied they were worth the extra expense. I'll have to see if I can find one that just pays a lump sum on diagnosis. I wonder if that would be much better than no care?? I can't believe that there are people who have to go through this. It truly is terrible. My dad was Canadian, and when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma he received top-knotch care until the day he died. He had to quit work shortly after diagnosis, but he never had to worry about paying his medical bills. He opted not to receive chemo or radiation since his outlook was horrible, but he had fantastic doctors who made sure he was comfortable. He even had a healthcare aide at his home so he could remain in his house as long as possible. His end days were bad, but I was impressed at his level of treatment as the disease progressed. And what a blessing to the family to know he was taken care of completely, regardless of his income at the time.

I was just referring to how you ride out a president that does everything in direct opposition to your morals and beliefs. For what it's worth (and it is worth far less than two cents), I'm not really concerned about the US turning into a communist country. But maybe I just have blinders on or something.

I am so sorry about her situation- I hope she wins her battle. I guess the only answer is one government plan or another? Elaine- thank you for answering my question. Now suppose we did have a catastrophic plan (which is pretty close to what we have now, actually) that we faithfully paid for. When my husband loses his job, how do we afford to continue to make the payments on the plan? I fear that even with my going back to work and paying for all of the assorted medical bills that we would rack up (even with insurance!) that I wouldn't be able to continue to pay the policy. These are the types of scenarios that concern me. A family can do *everything* right and still be knocked out by a serious or terminal illness.

You do what those of us did during the Dubya years- grit your teeth and wait it out until the next election. Self-medicating can help, too.

So let's say my family has health insurance provided by my husband's employer. My husband is diagnosed with cancer and needs treatment. He is no longer able to work and there goes his insurance. While I'm fairly certain there is access to healthcare for emergency situations, I don't know of places where they would provide ongoing cancer treatment at no cost. But (thankfully) I've never been in this situation, so I don't know for sure. I don't think this would be an uncommon scenario- do you know of healthcare options that would keep him in cancer treatment? These are the concerns I have with the present system.

My husband works for one of the large not-for-profit insurance companies, and this is so true. His company encouraged employees to really take charge of their insurance and health care by pushing HDHPs and funding HSAs for them as an incentive. We took the offer and I am much more responsible in my health decisions. I actually call around now to find the best physicians with the best rates. I am a proactive patient now. People complain about the high cost of insurance, but at the same time want access to to incredibly expensive technology. The money to pay for specialists, equipment, and medication has to come from somewhere. And even though my husband's employer is not-for-profit, they still have costs and employees and competitors to deal with. It is not a charity. And I am apprehensive about the bill. It could mean my husband loses his job. But something needs to be done about health care access to all people- to me it is a basic human right to have health care.

Thanks for the help! I just went out to check (I was going to call the wild animal rescue office) and the bird has disappeared! He is not in the nest, on the ground, or anywhere in the vicinity of the nest. Is it possible for the parent birds to pick it up and carry it away? They are such small birds it hardly seems possible. These are the silliest birds. I still can't believe they made their nest right next to our front door at knee height. It's almost as if they wanted me to go poking around there home.;)

And now I see my avatar is fully inappropriate and I don't remember how to change it!

We have a bird nest in a planter by our front door and yesterday I saw one of the babies had somehow been freed from the nest. I am not sure what kind of birds they are (small, grey and brown, very fluffy), and I was set to let nature take its course but ds was upset that the baby might die and I placed it back in the nest. Against all good judgement. It appears as though the baby didn't make it through the night, and now he is still in the nest with two healthy babies. These are very young birds, they still haven't opened their eyes and only have downy hair instead of feathers. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I leave the dead bird in the nest and let the parents take care of it? I'm afraid it will harm the other baby birds or put off the parents from coming back to the nest (the parent birds were there again last night taking care of the other babies). We have become so attached to these birds, I want to make sure the other babies survive.

Thank you. This is exactly what I thought was behind the article. Honesty is refreshing even if I vehemently disagree.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't making a mistake using the word "subservient" in regard to the linked website. So I checked the blog post again, written by a member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. She also serves on the board of directors. She has titled her post "My Credo as a Christian Woman". To quote: "I believe that God created me to be a helper to my husband and that in serving and obeying him, I also serve and obey God." She is to serve and obey. I checked the definition of subservient: subordinate in capacity or function. I checked the definition of subordinate: subject to or under authority of a superior. I guess one could argue that a husband is really not a superior, but if he is the one that is to be served and obeyed, it seems more likely than not. So I stand by my use of subservient in the context of this website.

And I guess some people would see a sporting competition rather than two people laying on top of eachother. I think this is one of those incidences where people view things in such different ways that it is difficult to understand the other's point of view. Thank you for responding. :001_smile:

And isn't it great that you have that choice? What if the new mandate was that girls shouldn't be allowed to participate in martial arts because a girl's place is not to be protector of the home? We should leave martial arts to the boys because their role is ensure the safety of women. If the issue is with sexual contact, that is one thing. But this website promotes a certain place for women and a limited role that they should fill. Those are separate issues. But to address the sexual contact issue: why is it that women seem to be the ones to have to adjust to prevent perceived unwholesomeness? This is most likely a whole new can of worms, but it seems to me that the restraints are consistently placed on women to somehow "protect" men.