GAPS is specifically for gut healing and there is a lot of emphasis on true nutritional type healing of the whole gastric system. I am having good success with it with DD. If you are considering it, I would recommend reading the book on it from Natasha McBride to get the background info and reasons for the GAPS approach to see if it's right for you.

Not officially, really. I only ever thought about it for the first time when I moved here and needed to fill out an "intent to homeschool" form and it asked for a name. So I just wrote down (my last name) Academy. The only other time I think about it is when I put pics up on Instagram that has the kids doing a school project or otherwise showing home school photos. I'll tag the location as that name. :laugh:

Moving Beyond the Page is literature based and very well laid out. It isn't Classical in nature, but I do see some Classical influence here and there. And b/c I am so fond of the Classical approach, I have easily been able to tweak things here and there to make it work this way. :)

spent 3 days camping in the mountains and did a good bit of hiking. I noticed a huge difference this time (haven't been hiking since I started running or since starting high intensity interval training). I did not get out of breath no matter how hard the hike was and felt really, really strong as my legs powered through sections of trails where the incline was steep. We even spent quite a bit of time off-trail collecting firewood and I felt strong and got a ton of leg-burning in during that coupl-a hours. Hiking is my FAVORITE type of exercise. :)

I know you say you didn't mean this as an anti-Jw rant, and I didn't take it as such, but I do want to say..I know this is your perspective and seem to have experienced ..something? negative as JW? Just a feeling I"m getting. But there is so much inaccuracy about JWs in this post that it has my head spinning. I am sympathetic to whatever you may have experienced (if I"m even correct about that), however for anyone else who will come across this post, I feel the need to say, about 90% of what is said here about JW is not at all true. Being a JW is a 100% voluntary decision and there is no trying to control anyone the way you describe. People do what they want. People ask questions of all sorts when they have them. Sure there are standards and beliefs, and if you don't agree with them, by all means join a religion you do agree with. There is no need to try to keep 'members' around or control them because it's about your relationship with God as an individual. The health of the JW's as an organization doesn't depend on member count and never has, so why exercise any control? To what end? We don't pass a collection plate or anything of that sort either. Donations are completely voluntary. So it's not about money. It makes no sense to try to have any of the control issues you mention about. It's about Bible education and not member count. . People come and go, and people stay. If you don't want to continue a bible education, then you stop getting it. You will probably stop coming at that point. If you want to continue in your Bible education, you will keep coming. ??? What I know to be true (been a JW for 42 yrs) is just not making any sense to whatever your experience must have been. And, everything you say under the "Isolation" section? I'm married to a non-Jw that is in the Air Force. I am treated with utmost love and support as JW and so are my children. HE is even treated lovingly, has JW buddies that are also in my congregation..HECK, he is out hunting with one now! My parents are life-long JWs and love him more than me, we joke. I have non JW friends and family. Not one person has discouraged any of these connections. Since our beliefs are as bible based as possible, we try hard to treat everyone as the Bible says. I have been in 5 congregations in 3 states, 5 cities as we have moved every few years and never been treated differently. I'm just scratching my head about this post in it's entirety. I don't even recognize a single JW or part of our belief system in the post at all. I"m certainly not trying to change YOUR mind, but to any readers here........ I have to defend the inaccuracy..it's just so erroneous. There is so much more..I just don't have time to address every line.. Again, GretaLynne, not a personal thing against you, just the info here. Wishing you the best..........

A restraining order was the first thing his lawyer drew up, but it hasn't been served yet. I'm not sure why. I think my brother just told her it was ready to be served, but if she wanted her stuff out of the house, she would have to behave or she couldn't come around to get it. Then he had the lawyer hold it. My mom and I watch too many detective shows.... Before he got the locks changed, while she was still coming and going as she pleased, he came home and fixed himself dinner at some point (she had already gone), got extremely "violently" ill right after he ate, for 2 days. He said it had to be food poisoning. My mom and I think she did something. lol In the end, I just don't think she is THAT sophisticated. She is just striking at the air with everything and I highly doubt she would know how to go about it. Although........ I just don't know what she is capable of. I sure wished he would have divorced her years ago. He is now realizing his stalling has actually HURT the kids. they could be well on their way to healing as well. His company will pay to have all 3 kids in counseling, but she keeps 'forgetting' the appointments. Doesn't a mother want her kids to be ok?? ug, I know... not these mothers. The kids say she told them she missed all the appts because she was exhausted from the stress that he is causing her by divoricing her. :confused1: *a little funny.... she wasn't allowed to come plunder the house for things. She had to give him a list of her wanted belongings, he had to collect it and put it in an agreed upon place for her. So she told him to put it out front. He lives in a friendly neighborhood of people who have been surrounding him in support since she has left (everyone has long-since told him they don't want her near their homes/kids/family, but they seem to like him). Well, he told her to come by to get her stuff at 6 pm last Friday night. A lot of neighbors are either outside or getting home from work, so they got to drive by as she was loading her car full of stuff. He knew that would be the case. :laugh: She was so pissed because one of the moms got out of her car and clapped. :huh: ..the angry, vile texts started back up so he just turned off his phone. I told my mom that he's stirring a hornet's nest! He needs to just try to get rid of her as quickly as possible. ...IF that's possible after 25 yrs, 3 kids..etc.

So what happens when you are married to a narcissist for 25 yrs then serve them with divorce papers, cut off their shopping fund and stop returning calls and texts? My brother's wife...OMG. She's everything in this thread. In the last year, her behavior has been significantly more intensified and my brother didn't really know why. He's been 'holding' on for the kids' sake but after her last tirade, where she was screaming that she wanted a divorce, and her three kids were physically holding her back from attacking my brother, he just went ahead and filed. She has such a distorted view of reality. She has a Master's of Psychology (ironic, eh?) but told my brother that she will never use it, instead he is to support her fully. She lays by the pool all day, and shops to the point that all her cards are maxed out and no credit companies will issue her anymore. He's gotten his name off all her debt, which is at $69,000 right now. She is a substitute teacher, working about 6 days a month. She has no money, no credit, one friend (she has verbally abused everyone to the point that she is almost completely alone). After he filed for divorce, 2 guys in the neighborhood came to him and confessed having an affair with her, so in her state, that means she'll get no alimony. She was forced to move out of the family home and her one friend lent her the money to rent a place. Her mother lent her the $ for the divorce on her end. My brother makes $250,000 a year and has NOTHING but a few assets because when her name was also on stuff, she sold or liquidated it somehow for the money so she could shop. He even liquidated an IRA at one point to pay off her credit card debt about 10 yrs ago to the tune of $45,000 THEN. Now it's higher than that! She has paranoia and insists that he stalks her at her new place. He is SO RELIEVED to be free of her (or in the process thereof) and laughs right at her when she suggests such. She claims to have filed a PI to prove it. (sigh). In the divorce he is suing her for adultry and domestic violence. His attorney is suggesting a full psych eval but he will be responsible for paying for it to the tune of $5,000, or so the attorney says. I am trying to convince him to go for it because he needs to know what they come up with. We have been 'estranged' from my brother nearly the whole time they've been married because she gave him an ultimatum...her or us (all us siblings are younger so it was against our whole household) after she formed an intense hatred for my father. He kicked her off his property after she didn't like something he said and she went into an all out verbal assault while he was cooking a huge family dinner before they moved out of state. I mean, she appeared to have lost her mind that day. And that was just the beginning of her instability. My brother is in counseling and getting strong again but my parents are reconnecting with him and trying to convince him to be VERY careful of his safety because of her. When he changed the locks on the door (after she kept disobeying the court order to stay off of family property till the divorce matters have been decided) she texted him veiled threats and rants that she was looking for him , she's turned the kids against him, and she is 'gloating' that she's going to rake him over the coals and take everything he's got for herself. Her reality is that she makes $450 a month on a good month, will get no alimony, has to take her $69,000 of debt with her, and since my brother is removing his name from the title of her car, she has to either sell it or refinance it, which will never happen given her credit. Her mom gave her her last dime for the divorce and cannot help her buy another car and cannot help her sign for a car. She has the kids (3 teens, 17, 15, 13) but he is shuttling them around and caring for almost all their needs. If the psych eval goes how we think it will go (if he orders it), she will likely loose the kids. If she doesn't get a second job QUICK or a better one, she will likely not be able to stay in the apt she moved into. She keeps gloating and saying how she is winning, but I'm afraid of what is going to happen when she realizes she has nothing but a degree she's never used. He found out her behavior intensified when a lawyer-friend told her that she didn't have the right to ask him to leave because her name wasn't on the deed to the house, so she was trying to drive him out on his own so she could sue for abandonment. It REALLY backfired on her. I am afriad she will lash out soon like a wild animal in a corner. :( SIL's dad left her mom when she was 1. SIL's mom told me and my mom years back that she still hates him so much and that she has done everything she could to teach her daughter that men are worthless and only there to get your way with. (my mouth dropped!). She said it so casually that we thought she MUST be joking. The things SIL claims to have been through as her mom 'dated around' just solidified her thoughts that all men suck. For a while we thought SIL was just a man-hating-jerk. Now, I know it's so, so much more. The things she does and says just cannot be done by someone who is mentally healthy. She is SO distorted. She is also a drug user and sadly her oldest DD admitted that they do drugs together :crying: So I'm sure this is adding to her mental crisis. Sorry to drone on...just worried that my brother may actually be in danger at some point.

I've noticed that people who need such messages rarely think it is for THEM. lol

For stuff like that I block freely. And about once a week or so, when I feel like I'm in a good mood and in a mental place to handle it with a shrug, I check such family's posts in a quick scan to see what else I might have missed. The exception is PMS week. Not gonna attempt it then lol. I have a couple in-laws in which it would be extraordinarily more painful to unfriendly them, so I keep them, and my peace this way.

They absolutely exist and dont have to cost a fortune. i adore heels and have been wearing them since i was 14. i have certainly suffered through my share of heels that are wrong for my feet. its true that they have to be well made and preferably leather and certain expensive brands are best for comfort. But bargains can be had. Yesterday i got a cute, strappy pair of Naturalizer heels for 29.99 at Famous Footwear. I walked around the store a lot to make sure there were no pressure points in painful places and the front ball of my foot. I take a lot of time with them before buying them. Sometimes i remedy a thing or two with gel inserts under the ball of my foot...usually for my 4 inch heels because of the tilt. the gel inserts are made to go under the entire foot as well, or behind the heel. Usually much less necessary with a better made shoe. Except for my super funky-shaped feet and weird toes. I cant afford to shop for anything expensive without a serious bargain. For my latest naturalizers, i double checked on amazon before i bought them (ive scored amazing deals on expensive shoes there after going to a store, choosing a shoe and size that ive determined will work nicely) and then i check my rewards status in the store im in. I have reward cards and points building at every store that offers one! lol For Famous Footwear, I had $15 in rewards sitting there so my 79.99 pair of shoes that were on sale for $44 was now 29.99. That is my threshold for price or i walk, unless they are a must for a specific event. My closet is stuffed with expensive heels that i didnt pay much for. I have a ton of less comfy shoes, too, but mentally i have categorized them as 1-hr, 2-hour, 4-hr or 5+ hour shoes. Im going to an annual 3 day convention in 2 weeks (in heels from 8 am till around 7 pm) and it is usually the truest test of heels that are comfy for me. My newest Naturalizers passed the test and are going. A squishy pair of blue patton leather Madden Girls are going, too. They were at Ross for 24.99. check this link out. http://www.famousfootwear.com/en-US/_/_/_/Dress+Shoes/Srch0+naturalizer/Products.aspx the shoes i bought were the Naturalizer Dafny dress sandal and there are other dressier ones there, too. The Danya dress sandal was comfy, too and looks like it would go nice with a cocktail dress and are only 39.99! I wanted both but stuck to my "under 30" resolve. Another huge plus of buying better brands is that they last. the reason my shoe collection is so big is because i never have to toss junky shoes and the leather looks nice forever. in fact i usually end up taking them to get the rubber heel portion on the bottom replaced from years of wear (that part grinds away) before the shoe itself ever wears out. i wear heels 4 times a week for 4+ hrs at a stretch so they get some use! so yeah, it willl be more of a hassle to find a deal on high quality, comfy shoes, but its worth the time!

Grow our own! All of it! We just about do it now, to avoid processed foods. LOL Would you rather : That it be sunny 3/4 of the day or dark 3/4 of the day. Sort of like Alaska at opposite seasons.

Two extra freezers and an extra fridge in our garage here for years. Everything seems to be doing pretty good.

I never let Dh have any slack based on his decisions being a 'man' or 'husband' thing. We all get choices ..all...our...own... Make them unwisely after you have the knowledge of how it affects your partner, and you have a ticked off partner. I live by the same accountability. His wishes and needs are unique and I don't get to say it was a 'wife' or 'woman' thing that I did or didn't do when not listening to the wishes or needs. Because I'm not accountable to anyone else as a partner. The only stereotypes we foster is, "Happy Wife, Happy Life" :lol: HE came home with that one and we both say it all the time. :laugh:

Toenails, because that doesn't HAVE to affect me, mostly. I'm in MOntana, so I'm sure that about 6 months of the year, AT LEAST, they'd be wearing thick wool socks and covering that mess up. :lol: Would you rather: get rid of your cell phone/computer/tablet for a year, or all coffee/tea for a year? For those that participate in each.

Mow the lawn, 1000 times over. Love being in the sunshine and despise every second cleaning anything in the house.

Treating s man like a child ..even though in some ways that's how he seems to be acting, will only make things worse for most men. Treat him in the manner you want him to become, with dignity. Not sideways manipulations. Be transparent in your expectations, let go of a couple of them on the bottom of the priority list, be transparent when makes choices that frustrate you, and try to understand his inadequacies that will take him time to work on if he chooses. Do compliment where its due. But always be exactly genuine, not inflated or exaggerating the negative. And don't throw his stuff out or give it away without his permission. That's disrespectful IMO. But you can get it out of your way and push it into his corner so he can deal with it.

Yes, spinning. I'm a hippy girl with a slight saddlebag problem and spinning 3 times a week was the trick! It really did nice things, and the kick-butt intensity felt great. I've always been a 12-14 but when spinning I was a 10!!!! Sigh..alas that was 10 yrs ago and there is no such here. If you can get into a spinning class, try it!

Is he interesed in at least having a happy wife? Tell him how its affecting you and that its a fact that you and him will be at odds if he doesn't help out. If you're cleaning stuff out and he doesn't want to mess with his stuff, tell him you cant wait for him so you will be cleaning up and putting his stuff aside for him to do as soon as he can. Bag it up and put the bag in his corner of the bedroom, on his side of the bed, or where ever his stuff is. Then its out of your way but you didn't have to sort it. Maybe if he trips over it enough he will do it. Early in out marriage dh did very little in the home, I had 2 under 3 and an in home daycare of 5 additional kids, and I became exhausted. Then he would want his time with me, attention, his dinner, recreation, intimacy. I kept communicating, he kept saying ok but not following through. Nothing got his attention. So one day I just told him without his help I figured out I only had energy to care for the business and the kids. I was spread too thin and thought it was unfair that the other adult in the house couldnt step up to assist in a family that was his, too. He had to care for himself till I either got some rest, his help, or the kids grew up some. About 3 days in of having no clean underwear, getting his own dinner, not having all he wanted from me personally, and a huge lack of peace in the house, he got very angry. I let him go on and when he was done I calmly handed him a broom and told him all he needed to do was help out. I wasn't be mean, I just couldn't do.it.all. but if he helped, we could both sit down and rest at the same time and I'd be able to rejuvenate. As it was, I'd be busting my butt all day, he would even go to bed and leave me in the kitchen! Just wasn't working for me anymore, energy wise. Even if I didn't want to withdraw a little, it was inevitable. I would fall asleep the minute I sat down anywhere. It wasn't until he, himself, was uncomfotable , that he really noticed. But I made sure to communicate what he could expect to see first, then he saw it, and didn't like it. So I'm saying communication is most important, then if there's no change communicate what its doing to you, then if it doesn't change, let it do it to you right in front of him ("it upsets me when you...." Then let it upset you and let him see it. "It overworks me when you don't..." Then allow him to see what happens when you are over worked..and so on).. If he doesn't like what's going on, kindly explain that this is what happens to you when...(insert whatever you told him in the beginning). If he doesn't like it, he can relieve it if he has uld help out a little. If he chooses not to, well, this is how we will live until he chooses to help out. I always called it natural consequences. Its not punishing like I think it may sound...its cause and effect. My dh is super logical, analytical, factual. He understands cause and effect very well. I always stayed reasonable in my requests ..something like "we both wanted this family. So we are both obligated to care for all its parts. When one of us doesn't, the other becomes over burdened and this happens. You can prevent it but you won't. So here we are. Ball is in your court. Let's play...together!" And i didnt passify or ease the tension just for the sake of lessening tension. He needed to understand what his choices were doing. He finally got it and once he did, he pretty quickly became as much a homemaker as I am, when he's home. And, just as I said, once I got help, my energy returned and I had what it took to pay him all the ATTN he wanted. (Make sure he sees the turn around in you once hes turned around) and he loved it, so he kept it up. But things had to get very real before he saw it and lowered his defenses too. He learns quicker when he sees for himself. Me always telling him felt like an attack to him, so feeeeling it made more of a difference. To do that, I just let the chips fall where they may and stopped trying to over compensate to avoid a blow up. I was just absorbing the impact, not him. And why would he make changes if someone was always letting him off the hook? Comfy people don't change.

And that's what's wrong with,.....a lot of things these days. Kids should feel the full consequences of their choices. And moms shouldnt air their kids' transgressions on social media. An attorney? What's to fight? Ridiculous.

I have a Pureology question....... I color my hair red and need the color protectant qualities in Pureology. Wondering if Kirklands can do that, too. What did you notice about the Kirkland's brand that was similar to Pureology? I would love to get into something cheaper that does the same thing, for sure!

The beauty of homeschooling..........letting them work at their pace. Here, if they want to work ahead, it's because they are interested! That's what we all want! For them to be interested AND learn from it. If retention is a concern, have daily discussions on the material On my end, it means we are done sooner! Win/win! And, I do have something against public schools for making my children work at someone elses pace so I say, let 'em go!

These things seemed small enough to me to consider skipping them, but once I agreed to them, they have been huge here: instead of insisting school starts at 8, I moved it to 9 for DD (which, in turn, benefited ds, too). She is a huge lover of sleep and was simply too sleepy at 8. She is up, refreshed and ready for Algebra 1 at 9 am most every day. Still amazes me, the difference. Allowing them to choose the order they proceed through their lessons. At first I let them decide how to arrange their day, after they'd looked at the lessons planned for the day. Now, I write out the week with and end-of-the-week goal and I don't care how they proceed, as long as by Friday, it's all finished. They love having control over their week and seem more eager. DD, admittedly, handles this better, being older. Ds hasn't really done a great job at this and needs more guidance, but I still allow him to do it because of how much more motivation it gives him. I just check in more with him. Moving all corrections of sloppy, rushed, messy work into their screen time. They only get an hr a day, but if things are a mess, it is straightened out on THEIR time, not mine. If it takes them a half hour to fix their work, they only get the remaining half hour for screens. Some days, the corrections have taken DS the whole extra hour. You'd be amazed at how much less messy, rushed work they give me to begin with now. LOL Case it Binders........3 or 4 inch. Because they're middle schoolers, I hold them responsible for organization and filing. Behind file subject tabs they file finished work for me to check. Extra paper in the front ready for tomorrow. Most curr books fit in there somewhere. Supplies in webbed portion. Their little planners must ALWAYS be in there, too. It's most all of their school in a binder. Nothing is strewn about,..or it better not be. There is no mess through the house. Papers are not lost. It's ALL in the binder. If its not, it's a zero. I give reward tickets through the year for surprise check ups on the binder. If it's in shape, you get a reward ticket, which says something like, "get a dessert", "sleep late", "stay up late reading", "mom buys you a new book of your choice", etc. If it's not in shape, you loose some screen time. Those binders....golden. It has transformed our homeschooling experience and FREED UP a whole basement!

I always have a crock of sauerkraut bubbling <3 And kimchi if I find the time.

Dp

I grew up in a small farm town where you would get seriously laughed at if you asked for a snake to be relocated. Farmer John would show up and shoot it before he'd relocate it. Not being inflammatory and that wouldnt be mycwish, but thats the reality in a lot of places; relocating is not.