For those to whom it matters, this is a Christian based program.

That was my experience for 40 years. My period meant blood all over the place no matter how often I changed. (I even managed to miss three stacked pads - front back and center- to make a mess of my underwear!) I hand washed three or four pairs of panties and trouser per day until I stumbled across disposable underwear in my 40s. It was the only solution I ever found. I couldn't use tampons - even after children, they hurt! I think it may be that I was simply shaped wrong for pads. With wings, without wings, long, super thin super thick -- no matter what I managed to "miss" and stain my clothes several times every day and nothing helped. Would I have been willing to sue the disposable panties as a preteen? I don't know. But they are effective.

You might also want to look at Scott Cunningham's The Truth About Witchcraft Today (ISBN 0-87542-127-X). It came out in 1988, but it's a good overview that doesn't assume agreement.

I wanted to chime in to reiterate that it's not just being an older mother. I was nearing 50 when my last was born and I didn't experience anything like what you described. Please see your doctor.

The children I raised are 18 months apart and then 21 years apart. I prefer the 21 year gap even though it was unintentional. The older two are nothing alike and fought constantly. The bickering wore me out. Though I must say that in their thirties, while they still drive one another nuts, they are closer than I am with my siblings. (We were all born about 13 months apart.)

Geelong. I am terrified and ecstatic by turns. ;)

We did it. Group schooling is never an option, despite what some family members no doubt think.

112 days and counting. ;)

Would it be horrible of me to comment that one of the few good things to come out of my sweet husband's multiple strokes and return to Australia half a year ahead of the rest of the family is the blessed tidiness of my home since he left? Yeah, it would, I know it. :laugh: But I walk around admiring my tidy house every night before bedtime.

I am delighted to hear that! :hurray: Our family is in transition, and I was wondering how that was going to work.

We plan a big feast, exchange gifts (it our family's big gift exchanging event for the year) and make and light candles for out Beloved dead. (We print out an 8x10 photo of each person and wrap it around a blank white pillar votive (veladoras seminarias).) We set a place for our beloved dead at the feast table, and try to have the first half of the meal a "dumb supper" (where we don't speak in hopes of hearing messages). That never works for long. :huh: Fortunately our beloved are pretty clear but nonverbal. Then we take the plate and glass of food reserved for our beloved out and make an offering out of doors. Sometimes we do ritual after dinner, but feasts being ehat they are, we often go to sleep soon after dinner. :lol:

Sadie, I think that might be cultural thing, in part. My Australian husband has a really hard time understanding why I can't just be upfront like that. But I have lived in the US mid-West for 33 years and here, in most groups in my generation, it "just isn't done". I don't know why, but that's the culture. Interestingly, when people come from elsewhere and are upfront like that, mostly we love it! But every so often, it does lead to an awkward need to say no, which may, come to think of it, be why it just isn't done - because saying "no" is also "not the done thing". ;) My sweet Aussie boy is predicting that I'll get over that little silliness pretty quickly in Australia. ;)

I haven't been a TV watcher since 1974. We do "watch TV" by borrowing things from the library and watching DVDs on the laptop, but we're pretty selective.

I dunno, I was out after high school graduation just before my 18th birthday. I grew up knowing that 18th birthday or pregnant, I was out, whichever came first. (I suspect, but don't know, that had I turned 18 after graduation, I would have been able to stay.) I went to school on my own, on loans. Yes, it was a bear paying them back, but I was an adult and I expected (and was expected) to live like one. That said, I have visited my family only a handful of times in the following 40+ years. That probably was not be related. I was the black sheep, and that had nothing to do with the rule. The same rule applied to my brothers and they are all still very close. It has to do do with a working class assumption that the idea is to raise your children to be self-sufficient. If they know from the beginning that there is a deadline for getting their act together, they will put their shoulder to the wheel. Is it true? I don't know. To me, that was just how it was. I made a mess from time to time, but since I knew it would be up to me to deal with it, I just dealt with it.

What a timely post! I have "classic length" hair, about 40% grey, which I generally wear in a bun. I love it! But...in about four months, I will be moving to a new area and trying to get a new job after b15 years in a nice, secure job. I am not young, nor do I look young. I don't really want to, but I also know that if I look old, I will find it very hard to get a job. That means I am cutting my hair to just above shoulder length and planning to dye it until I am settled into a new job. I want my lovely silver back, so I will be using a temporary die. I'm scared to death... Thanks, JadeOrchidSong, for letting me know that I am NOT the last woman in the world to dye my hair. ;)