Melting pot is looking like the western movies when the only thing you could see is the buildings or the plants moved by the wind.

I really missed everybody here. Where are you? It´s been so lonely here and now I discovered that the last message posted here was mine. Four months ago. I believed that if someone wrote something the others would follow the example. But nothing happened.

what makes people motivate to write in groups? No idea, because it´s something very personal.

Last year some of us found motivation to do things we never believe we could do, like spinning in my case. the instructor wrote a note about what motivates you. The gym decided that it wasn´t interesting enough and removed from the wall. So, since then, I discovered that I must find a motivation and a motivator (does this word existed?) in me.

Sure this goes directly to the hosts mails. So, I´m telling you. I miss you a lot. Come back soon, please, the group is not the same without you.

I believe I must have the flu. Last night I couldn´t sleep well and I decide that goint to my favorite class (spinning or indoor bike) with cough is not a very wise option. I hope that next week I´m better. It´s autumn here and I´m suffering from cold, it´s too soon. I ´ve been a very healthy woman for a great period of my life and I didn´t know what is a flu.  

Welcome Agnes!

Nice to see you here!

Mei Lin

Hi Everyone, I joined a while back ..due to a real big move I could not post here before.
Agnes

Valerie, thank you for the update. I'm glad Galadriel is still active. Actually, I looked in one of the older posts (Please introduce yourself here; Jun 24, 2008)where she says:

Care2 supports OBama, so I have sadly been avoiding care2.  Instead of avoiding, I need to step up an face OBama supporters who believe anyone who does not like OBama must be "racist".

I guess there's too much controversy around. We all need to take care of ourselves, and it sounds to me like that's what she's been doing.

I've been wondering about her too. I'm in some other groups she hosts. I haven't had a lot of time to be here for quite awhile, but I've noticed she hasn't been around. I hope everything is ok with her.

I tried to get a hold of our wonderful group host and founder, Galadriel. The last thing I heard about her personal life was that she was taking care of her husband who had a surgery months ago. More recently we exchanged a couple of words on politics. I do hope she finds the time to stop by soon, and that perhaps she's been more preocupied with real life rather than this virtual one.

I´m worried about Galadriel. Where is she? I hope that her absent is because she`s in vacation or something as good as this.

It´s time for good news, little good news. Yesterday I went to see an argentinian movie/film: Motivos para no enamorarse. I liked it. And after that I saw a beautiful sunset in Av. 9 de Julio behind the obelisc. I´m finishing a job with a wool I bought in 2007.

I bought a book of Fiona Harrold: "the 10-minute life coach" last friday and I´m trying to find a positive thing from it. A cousin is doing coaching and I wanted to know what is this. I bought a cd from Michael Bublé, I thought it´s his name because I heard it in El Ateneo, a bookstore where I bought the book. I was searching for a good present for the Mother`s day (in Argentina, it´s in October). I was searching for a yoga book for my mom (the doctor made a joke when we were two fridays ago about it) but they were too expensive and I wasn´t convinced about it.

Kitchen table: Who wants to use a corset?

Yesterday I was watching the tv and I heard : corsé efect, which means that the cream does the same effect of a corset. I¨m using a corset, to help my column to be straight, it control my abdominal muscles, but the underwear I´m using to protect from perspiration moved and my skin showed the effect of the corset.  

Families:

my aunt has been suggesting me that I need to go to a psychologist almost since 2000 or 1999. I believed that a good profesional could help anyone with faith in the science to improve their lifes. It was strange because I´ve been looking for psychologist almost from 2006. And then I believe that I could find a psychologist like I found a fonoaudiologa in 2003, use the professional that is included in the place where I go to control my health. I had a very good experience when I had my problem with my speech. When I was nervous I couldn´t pronounce the r and some consonants. And my name and family name is full of r. Then, in january I was in the health center and I heard that another patient asked if they had a psychologist. They said that she will begin in january and I´m going to the psichologist (sp?) since january. Maybe my aunt believe that it´s because she suggested, but I wanted to have a treatment to feel better and analyse why I´ve been doing trashbin recycle since I don´t remember when believing that I could solve everything. I´m happy with her in general, although sometimes I remember that I liked the previous professionals but in the end they weren´t very helpful. They confirmed some of the beliefs the patients have of them. They weren´t very honest.

Changing subject, I´m worried about Iva and Galadriel. I was wondering why they aren´t writting here. I hope this is because they are covered by work and not for another reason.

I´m also worried for participants who haven´t written for months.

Veronica

You know, unless you take the lead, the family will go on making personal remarks.  Your neighbour who told you to lose weight was very rude.  Don't let her say anything like that again.  Is there anything in Spanish that means "Look after your own home/business because I need no help".  Or just "Don't interfere, it is not your concern". 

My family is depleted.  I have no father or mother, but they lived to be old.  My father was often making rude remarks about my mother having to lose weight until I told him to stop criticising.  "All the women you have loved have been fat, and that didn't matter to you"  (His grandmother, one of his sisters, his mother in law and the Queen Mother) He never criticised her again when I was there. 

The rest of the family are so interesting, and so busy in their lives, that we can talk about other things than our weight.  My sister, who is quite slender, said she was going to lose weight.  When I asked her how, (because she eats very wisely) she said she would eat a lot more fruit and vegetables. " And?" I asked her.  "I will stop buying chocolate bars and eating one every day".  Then we both laughed.  She has been working hard in the last few years, on her retirement from her job as a doctor, she has been doing a degree in English.  She must have been eating the chocolate because she was a student and that's what students do.    My youngest sister is going to be 60 next month, so we will all be Old Age Pensioners.  My brother is between us.

Ruth: I wanted to learn tango before the problem with the disc appeared in august. One of the traumatologists suggested me to do something funny like learning to dance or tae bo. Having fun loosing weight help you to feel great.

My boss told me that I need to loose weigth and I told him that I lost 5 kilos since january. The gynecologist, nutricionist, my friend Marisa congratulate me and are very happy for me. Besides, having a more active life help me with some problems I had with my period.

My mom and grandma had a theory about education: you never told anybody that you are looking better, that you loose weight or your birthday is coming soon. In 1997 I went to a spa and loose some weight, In december of 1996 I was wearing a kind of corset to mantain (sp?) my belly in its place and wear a red dress. In april I went to a family reunion and had to shut my mouth, because of this rule. Nobody noticed or said something about how I looked. An aunt discover that two of my cousins who were thin all of their life loose some weight. I don´t know. They must be have a psychological problem that prevent to see how some member of their family looked better or say something agreable to them.  I don´t know, but when I return home I was so angry with everyone, including me, but I had a better attitude and decide to go to the cinema to see Four weddings and a funeral to avoid eating something with a lot of calories.

You´re right, I must tell them about how I felt and thought. And maybe not only to my family but for all who say something about my weight. For example coming back from the time, last tuesday a neighbour told me that I need to loose weight. I must say, I know, I have four mirrors at home and I see how fat I am. but I said nothing. I was so angry because I was so stupid that I played their game and abandoned the bed to open an apartment when the doctor suggested bed rest until I have my corset, a corset that prevent me to bend my column and suffer from my left leg because of my swollen sciatic nerve. When I told my mom, she said that I don´t know how to defend myself. I have problems in three discs of my column, I told them, but they didn´t care. At last I said that they are worried for material things when a disc is impossible to replace. I am so angry that I believe I couldn´t explain how I feel.

I believe slimming groups must have a help of a interdisciplinary group. In Cuestión de peso they have this. The feel so grateful because the are so warm and good listeners. Nobody is obese because of a curse, there is a deep psychological reason there. There is something I don´t like about the groups, sometimes they are very cruel with people they have the same problem. They use them as a scapegoat. I think that all of them need a group therapy. The doctor who lead this program and is one of the most famous doctors about obesity said: they are firemen who step on the ..... They need to be more helpful with the others, be more helpful and learn how to be better people. It´s difficult, but it´s possible if they put the same good will to have a healthier life and be better people in the process.

I did everything that I could to loose weight, the only thing I never did and I´ll never do is talking pills. This afternoon, for example I drink mate. It´s only yerba mate and hot water. You are distracted and never think of eating something. It´s very popular in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. I don´t know in Uruguay, but in Brazil it´s produced different that in Argentina. In one trip to Brazil some people believe that they were saving money buying the brazilian yerba mate, but they said it´s difficult to drink it.

An aunt had to do a hip replacement or it´s the head of the femur and she had to loose weight, her daughter-in-law helped without wanting, because my aunt Luisa didn´t like her cooking methods. So, I said to my mom that I could live with Viviana and Luis for some months to loose my extra kilos . But I prefer to loose them slowly and without feeling that I´m living in a jail or suffering. Besides I read that if you loose weight easily you recover the weight more easily.

Karina, a friend wants to have 55 kilos and I´m thinking she´s completely crazy, but my mom told me that 55 kilos was her weight before getting pregnant and she have 1,63 m. I had 54 kilos when I was 14 and 1,54 m. Now I have 1,64 m and 83 kilos and planed to have between 66 and 70 kilos. But then I thought that I live in Buenos Aires and Karina in Miami, I don´t need to tolerate a nervous person who is so worried about her weight and wants that I eat like a bird instead of a person.

Here we have groups to loose weight: ALCO. Anonimos Luchadores contra la Obesidad. But really, if you say that you are going there, you are anonimous? I went there when I was 16 for some saturdays and some nights in the week. I quit. I felt like they were accusing of something ilegal. You are an addict. And they never hear my voice. Maybe the only words they heard from my lips were and chau (I never said adios, sound definitive, like we never see each other again). Anything someone said in the group, they were very cruel, and I felt like they were going to bite their neck and the carotide or another vital thing. I never confessed my favorite things when I feel stress, like eating condensed milk, eat dulce de leche or eat sugar. I feel like I was doing a crime. So I left the group like a lot of girls who studied in my school did and decide to continue with the diet, walk a lot, never miss a class of gym at school. We had a classmate who lost 20 kilos (almost 40 pounds) and I admired her a lot.

I remember two things in this group, one was a girl who was insulted by two stupid men in a car because she was eating yoghurt and she decided to share with them her yoghurt. I was so surprised because I was so shy to do a thing like that.

I did a lot of things like eating two meriendas (the meal you have between the lunch and the dinner), in different homes, mine and in Juanita´s home. I felt they were very miserable with the food they gave me. I did it once before going to ALCO and my grandmothers talk in the phone to ask if I eat the merienda in their home. I remember that I believe it´s completely humiliating their way to treat us.

Veronica

People get very funny about losing weight.  I dislike slimming clubs because they are so focused about you losing weight, that they don't care about you overeating.  So when you stop going, you start eating all the delicious food they told you not to eat and all the fat goes back on.  This is even more dangerous than being fat in the first place. 

I have to become less fat so that my surgeon can repair a hernia.  To hear him and the nurse, I had the hernia because I got fatter.  Actually, I carried heavy baskets of washing, shopping and library books.  I don't dispute I ate a lot because I thought chemotherapy would take away my appetite, and I would lose strength.  That didn't happen. 

I go lots of walks, at least half an hour each day, up and down hills.  I have given up chocolate, except one every 3 weeks as a special treat, but I don't buy a bar of chocolate every time I buy petrol.  I don't eat between meals and I have a healthy diet. 

It is a mistake to talk about your figure with family or friends or anyone else.  It is none of their business.  I tell my family to change the record and talk about something else, but they are pretty well trained by now.  When my aunt asked my weight, I told her that I was keeping that to myself and I didn't have to tell anyone.  If someone wants to talk about it, I change the subject.  I like your allusion to family anorexia.  Do you tell them that?  It must make conversation in your family very exciting, whether in Spanish or Argentinian. 

Have you seen the "Moulin Rouge " film.  There is a stunning tango sequence in it.  It made me want to learn the tango immediately.  That would trim off the fat in no time!

I have told here about Cuestión de peso. I don´t know if you remember  it. It´s a programme where people with overweight (sp?) go to loose weight.  

I admired them because I know I couldn´t go to a programme to told everybody about me problems of insecurity. I told friends, family and people in the internet. We see people who can´t walk properly because of the weight and in the end they are like models. I don´t know if they did a cast to find the cutest participants or not, or the happiness they got after loosing the weight, love themselves makes us believe they are beautiful.

Ruth, you are so sweet. About the scotish, I couldn´t say who is scottish, welsh or english, one day I was watching tv in my mom´s room and I heard someone talking in english, I couldn´t see his face, I only knew that he was Sean Connery. His accent  and his voice was so easy to discover, and I can´t consider one of my greatest things to recognize a voice, even in my own language. I like to practice, cleaning the dishes and say before I see the face of the actor: he´s ... or she´s.

I wouldn´t correct anybody if they talk different in my language. Maybe if I don´t understand I could ask him or her to repeat it again. My family has an incurable disease: correct people although they had understood what they were saying. . It really makes me crazy and I try to be more educated. If I understand what a person said, why correct them. It´s the maternal line and in the paternal line too. I can´t say if it´s genetic or cultural, but they can´t help it and they love to do it. One day I was talking in spanish. I had problems with some grammatical things like the use of conditionals. My brother Diego correct me and in the minute he asked me to be forgiven because I did it correctly finally. So, it was like the family who always tell to loose weight when you have lost a lot of pounds and everyone could see it. I used to say that they have a kind of anorexia, they see you fat when you are in shape. My grandma Juana only said once in my life that I lost weight.

So what's wrong with being Argentinian?  This is what you are.  Your language is right, so is Spanish, but they are not the same. 

I would not correct a Scottish person for their use of English.  Nor even Americans, as we are two nations divided by a common language.  It won't be long before America is bilingual in Spanish and English like Canada in French and English.

Hope you are well Gladriel.

This month I have to stay at home because of my back. I have problem with three discs that made me suffer from the sciatic nerve. This time was worst and the doctor ordered me one week of rest and two weeks more until the discs recover or he decided I need a surgery.

The discs are supposed to be clear in the resonance, but mine are grey and looked bad. The doctor said that it´s genetic.

So, I felt loved and received a lot of messages telling that they missed me from work, people I know from internet and friends.

I never knew where it started, but I was so tired of the argentinians like my grandma who felt like we were sinning because we speak a different spanish from the rest of the spanish speaking countries. My grandma used to talk different when she talked with her spanish relatives. So, when they correct me, I´m a stubborn woman and talked as we talk and pronounced as we do in my city.

I was tired of people who felt inferior because we had economical problems, problems with the human rights (who didn´t have problems with economical and human rights in this planet?). Some people said: what the first world people would think of us? and I realised that people from the first world normally confused us with the brasilians, chileans and even mexicans who has nothing to do with us.  Some people from the northern hemisphere confused Brasil with Argentina, believe that Buenos Aires is connected somehow with Brasil, when all we have in common is our good taste in music and our open mind.

I hope the doctor found the beautiful interior of your husband. Nothing more.

A colonoscopy is where the gastroentronologist (sp?) will stick a camera up my husband's rear end until the doctor reaches my husband's stomach.  Hubby will be unconcious for the procedure.

Today, hubby has to fast, and has to take medicine that will clean out his system.

I hope the colonoscopy isn´t something very serious.

I´m planing my vacations. We have to pay the hotel, today I went to the bus station near work. Everyone helped to find the company I was looking for. We will take the bus this sunday and we are hoping that we´ll be in Córdoba in the morning of 18. We are worried because a lot of people died in their vacations, in Argentina , Uruguay and Brasil . All the years we have terrible accidents in Argentina in the freeways.

I hope we will have a good time there. I will tell you how it was.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

First of all, I will be spending Valentine's morning at the hospital.  My husband has to be at Presbetarian-Shadyside Hospital by 6:30 in the morning for a colonoscopy.  He jokes that he is going to ask the doctor if he is going to get flowers afterwards.

In the meantime, I am struggling to breath with this "bug" that has gotten into my chest, throat, sinus.  I am even breaking out with a huge fever blister on my cheek. 

While I have been sick, housework has gotten neglected.

I do not have time to be sick.  This flu sucks!!!

To top it off, I need to do research, as I still have not decided whom I am voting for in April, let alone November.

And I am still job hunting.

And I am really behind in these forums.  I apologize for that.

Anyone have any ideas on how to kill a flu bug...or at least drive the blasted thing out of me?  I am really sick of being sick.

Yesterday I went to have my blood test and the poor workers had to introduce in my veins three needles because they couldn´t extract the blood they need. They were very sweet. Today I had to go again because they said that to control some hormones, the blood must be taken/extracted before 8.00 a.m.

Today I was luckier, the woman who helped the man who work with me first only introduce me one needle in my hand (because it´s easier this way and I suggested that I could do that).

Yesterday was a good day after all, I went to make a treatment in the afternoon. I made a different way and got lost but a woman helped me to find the bus I need to take to return home. A musician sang in the bus. We were an excellent audience. The musicians in Buenos Aires are very strange, they played songs and sing in English with instruments from here. One day in the subway I heard a song of McCartney with music from northern Argentina. It was strange but agreable.

Sorry, varicella in english = chickenpox. The virus is called varicella-zoster virus (VZV). If you want to know more, you could read this link. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox

Is there not a cure for it?

Galeno can´t complain about us, for some years we haven´t seen a doctor and let our body heal alone. I pay my own levothiroxine without discounts. Obviously I hate to go to doctors, I want to loose weight and recover the good health I have for years when I didnt´s know what was an allergy. I have scarlet fever at 14, varicela at 36 and another illness when I was 7. The doctor told me that I had varicela before and the virus was still in my body from this moment waiting that my immune system make me a joke. I never thought that this stupid illness would be so painful.

Next week I have nutricionist on Tuesday and Endochrinologist (sp?) on thursday. I went to the gynecologist the first day of 2008 and suggested to go to this doctors. I have a lot to do about my health, mamography, a complete blood test and try to be a good patient. I don´t take care of myself as I should.

I had to go to the gastroenterologist because I had hemorrhoids last april, I was really scared but comparing this with other problems when the doctor said I had this embarrassing problem, I sigh and felt I recovered my breath. I love the anesthiologist, I didn´t felt anything during the videocolonoscopy. The first thing the doctor said was the diagnose. Since then I´ve been cheerful about my health. I began to make projects after that and went to the bookstore to buy the last book of Harry Potter. She asked me if I had something stressful, I said no, but now I think, obviously your country, your family, your relationships, your work aren´t enough?

I need to join a gym

I need to find a doctor first...

I get a sharp pain on my right upper inner thigh and then I bleed from my anus when using the bathroom.

It has me scared.

Tomorrow I´ll go to the gym. It´s decided, unless my body decide to have a pain. My body is a specialist in self-sabotage

Some years ago I bought a book of Martha Baldwin: Self-sabotage. It´s interesting but I haven´t finished it yet.

for checking that out for me.

I really appreciate your time and research.

When I finally get the insurance and medical stuff sorted out, I will ask my endocronologist about it.

I must have missed something.

I´m so sad for you, your friend and her family.

What I was trying to say is that I spoke with Penelope and we understand so well although I didn´t know before. She was connected when I had to work. Australia was very far from Argentina and the difference of time is huge.

I received som really sad news today...

Beth, a friend of mine I met on care2, died yesterday at 3:30 p.m.  The funeral will be in Fort Wayne, Indiana at 10 a.m. on Tuesday.  The showing of her body will be Monday.

I am still in shock.

I found out from her brother who emailed me.

for dancing in the supermarket.

Today I was in the supermarket and they were playing something that makes me dance a little. Although I feel and believe that I´m not a good dancer, a woman said me that she likes how I dance. I said thank you. I don´t know why I felt embarrased when these kind of things happened to me.

I know Peru is not that far from Argentina. 

I am praying for the earthquake survivors.

I also am praying for the Hurricane Dean survivors.  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

We will have a reunion in my granny´s home because it´s my uncle´s birthday (he was born in 1954). I hope we will have some fun.

I sent a share out called "Happy Birthday to Me", plus blogged it on my site at http://HabaneroHeat.blogspot.com

Those that read it may already understand why I have not been posting in the forums.  I have been monitoring though.

Thank you to everyone who sent me stars and birthday wishes.  I really appreciate it.

I should be caught up on the forums on Monday...hopefully.

Yet, I have never had a cavity.

Both of my parents wear dentures.

Well, the dentist saw my form and realised that I´ve been his patient for almost 30 years!! He said that I´ve nice and white teeth. I thought they were a little yellow, but now I prefer to believe I was not looking them in the right light.

I remember an horrible nightmare I had about my lower teeth, it was horrible. So, I decide to remember it anytime I will go to bed without wanting to clean them. I told him that I decide to be a better patient, when I imagine me using an "artificial dentadura" Some horror stories worked for me.

Saturday, I had my eyebrows and upper lip waxed.  I have naturally thick brows and deep set eyes, so when I get my brows done, it makes my eyes look bigger.

I also got my hair cut and thinned.

Veronica --

I´m sorry to tell you, but our granny died yesterday in Buenos Aires, in the same hospital her husband died in 1995. We are sad, but at the same time we realised she had a beautiful and healthy life, surrounded by her familiy. She was a survivor of all her friends. She was born in June of 1913 and died in 2007, with 93 years.

Although she wasn´t religious, I prefer to believe her soul is with her husband and her son, my dad.

I hope she is feeling better today.

My grandmother Juana is very ill. Yesterday my cousins called a service for emergencies. You couldn´t imagine how bad they treat us. They treat us as bad or careless people, when we heard every suggestion the doctors made. They talked to us while our nanny needs to be helped. They even made my cousin weep. You couldn´t believe how a doctor and two nurses were so cruel. Isn´t supposed that they had vocation of service?

Why some people react bad when you said good things?

Yesterday I was in the subway and I saw a woman with a beautiful red scarf. I said to her what a nice scarf. She didn´t understand right and I repeated. She said nothing. She left her seat and went to another seat. I don´t understand what she did that thing. Strangely it made me feel bad. It was like she thought something bad about me. Why people react that way?

Whenever somebody says something good to me, I say thank you.

Here, it is below freezing.  We have snow on the ground.

The flight was good.  The attendants were really nice.  I drank tomato juice on the flight.

two days ago I saw something beautiful in the bus where I was going home. Solidarity. Here, we were having a hot summer with high % of humidity (sp?). A girl almost fainted in the bus. The man who was sitting next to me give her the seat, a woman ask for something sweet. They found a sugar-free gum and then a candy. After a while she began to feel better and she decided to stand and leave the bus.

I have good news.

I have my travel arrangements set

I will leave Pittsburgh at 5:55 a.m. Wednesday and fly American Airlines 4114 to Chicago, reaching Chicago at 6:40 a.m.  then leave Chicago at 7:25 a.m. on flight 3977 to Grand Rapids, Michigan where my dad will pick me up at 9:10 a.m.

The people at American Airlines were really nice, and they have a barevement (sp?) charge, so it only cost $261.60 for a round trip.  Plus she was really sweet and set me up with window seats.

I am scheduled to be in Michigan for a week, but she said I can change the return time at no extra charge.

My dad told me that my great-aunt will be buried next to "grandma", so I was thinking my grandma when he meant his grandma.

I have to think what to take and what is allowed on the plane.  I have not flown since 1998.

It is weird...now that travel arrangements are set, and I am not scrambling, I have time to realize that my great-aunt is actually dead.  Every Christmas, she gave each of us kids a scarf and mittens.  And when we lived in Italy, she sent us chocolates and popcorn.  And of my family, my great-aunt Elva and my grandmother were the only ones who ever visited me when I lived in Texas.  My great-aunt Elva is the last of that generation.

Whenever we would complain about a food item, my great-aunt Elva would tell us how one pig fed their entire family for a year, and they were grateful for it.

She just turned 80 years old, and now I have to say "good-bye" to her.

  My great-aunt died yesterday.  The funeral is Thursday in Hastings, Michigan at Wren Funeral Home.  My husband has to work, so I have been spending the last 2 days trying to figure out how to get from Perryopolis, PA to Hastings, MI.  I can get to Chicago, IL easily, but getting from Chicago to Hastings isn't so easy.  Southwest Airlines can fly me from Pittsburgh to Chicago for only $115.40.  I am still working on the rest of the journey.  I thought of taking a train to Battle Creek, MI and having my dad pick me up there, but that means a 24 hour train ride with a layover in Chicago...and catching the train in Pittsburgh at midnight.  I thought of flying into Chicago and then taking the train from Chicago to Battle Creek Michigan, but I have no idea how far the airport is from the train station, and I do not know my way around Chicago.

I thought of renting a car, but they want a $400 to $500 deposit.

This is why I am neglecting the forums this week.

Right now, it looks like my best bet is to take the train from either Connellsville, PA or Pittsburgh, PA and to either Toledo, then take bus to Detroit, then train to Battlecreek or I can take a train to Chicago, and then transfer a train from Chicago to Battlecreek, Michigan.

I have never taken a train in the U.S. before.  The only time I ever rode a train was in Italy from Calabria to Rome in the late 1970's.  I have no idea what to expect.

I am a strong believer also of the orthomolecular medicine (using vitamins at stronger strengths to equal effectiveness of medicine.,and medicines have too many side effects.)and that lots of people have absorption problems which sometimes manifest as "deficiencies." though people seem to eat a lot of "good"nutritious foods et.cetera. I hope you will find some of these articles helpful.

http://www.docshop.com/education/fertility/treatments/natural/ 

http://www.lifeextensionvitamins.com/folachomandm.html It's not always the womans' problem!

http://search.lef.org/cgi-src-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=0&page_id=520&query=help%20for%20infertility&hiword=HELPED%20HELPER%20HELPERS%20HELPIN%20HELPING%20HELPS%20INFERTIL%20INFERTILE%20for%20help%20infertility%20  DETAILS TO CAUSES & help for infertility. This is a very good monthly magazine called LifeExtension. Well researched articles from all over the world.

http://vitamincfoundation.org/

http://www.increasemalefertility.com/references.html Acetyl L-Cartinine helps sperm motility. with references.

http://www.doctoryourself.com/testimony.htm (not about infertility,but the other side of the story of vitamins,and why they are safe )

http://www.doctoryourself.com/fertility.html  Vitamin C works for a lot of things.

I hope you have a nice evening also.

I had dishes to do.  My husband was a sweetheart and made "shake 'n bake" chicken thighs, homemade mashed potatoes, and peas for dinner.

I had the bed stripped and up so I could vaccuum under it.  So I put the bed down, and put clean sheets and covers on the bed.

It is 9:17 p.m. I just got back on the internet.Linda, thanks for reminding me, I need to scrub my kitchen floor.  It is vinyl, so it needs to be deck scrubbed.

I love hard wood floors.  I think they are beautiful.  It sounds like a lot of work though to maintain.

As a child, I did not realize how fortunate I was for my parents...or what they endured for us.

As a child, it was like a was a sapling, and my mom was a huge oak...she told me to bend to survive while she took the force of the hurricanes.  As I grew older, I got stronger also.  Now, I realize there are times to bend, and times to stand strong.  Without realizing it, by example, that was an important lesson my mom taught me.

It is funny when I hear my mom's words coming out of my mouth...like when my husband asks "what's for dinner?", and I will reply "food" or "skata"..."skata" is Greek for "feces".

It is 6:19 p.m. and I am just getting around to internet stuff.  My day today:

I started laundry. 

Took the cat litter apart (it is self scooping) and cleaned it.

Cleaned the vacuum rollers.

Scrubbed the cat condo.  I am convinced Ashley's fur is velcro.

Vaccuumed.

Fed the cats 3 times.  They protested the new stuff, so John is at the store now buying them Fancy feast grilled.  They won't eat the stuff from a pouch, and they won't eat IAMS or Fancy Feast Medley, or the stuff we bought from a vet.

Eating just canned catfood thugh, Moocher has lost 3 lbs...so he is down to 13 lbs, and is much more active.

I think Ashley misses the old days when she only had to worry about Rusty, because now, Rusty and Moocher tag team her.  Fortunately for her, she can out-jump the boys.

Her eye looks to be doing much better.

Thanks Galadriel & "God." for the Bill of Rights! My mom also taught me that being ethnically mixed gives me the best of both worlds. And with your positive attitude you turned me around a bit. Well,I already wrote in the other thread about mom,but she also dressed me "femininely" in kimonos,hairpins,and all that stuff too,but she also taught me to defend myself too. The way I "overcame the attitude of smaller versus bigger," whomever was bullied or not(I was bullied by the smaller,so didn't like small people for a while.) was that my youngest daughter is smaller,starting growing semmingly slower than my other two,she is cute,gentle,understanding,strong,intelligent,too. plus I've seen how it is for her being teased by others taller than her. I hope I won't ever have to protect myself by pushing someone off me. We are all adults now.

She believed in walking away from a fight.  I respect her for that.  I find it funny now that while my mom was teaching me this, she was not practicing what she preached.

She made sure I did not witness this, but she recently told me...

The woman who pushed her down the stairs because my mom "married one of their men" got jumped by my mom.  My mom saw her in the laundry room, and jumped her, beating the daylights out of her.  The woman called the police on my mom.  My dad was with me upstairs in our apartment.  So when the police came, my mom denied starting the fight.  My mom was very petite, probably weighing a hundred pounds and only 5'5" in her stocking feet.  And the other woman was much larger than my mom.  So the police believed my mom who was lying, declaring she did not beat up the other woman.  My mom said in reality, she jumped on the other womans back and just clobbered away at the woman.  That woman never tripped my mom down the stairs again.

I think what bothered my mom more was that my mom had me when the woman tripped my mom.  My mom was extremely protective of us when we were little.

It must be a family tradition...we teach the younger generation to "walk away and not fight" while the older generation takes up the battles.

not an aggressive personality...not a passive personality...

but a personality where I am able to blow stuff off, able to laugh at myself, and able to choose my battles.

Like for instance...when we moved here, the post office was only open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m....and the post master here would not deliver our mail though others got their mail delivered.  The post master picked and chose which streets got delivery and which had to get a P.O. box.  I fought him.  He pretty much told me that I had no choice, and I was fortunate because it used to be where everyone had to pay for their P.O. box. 

I am not everyone.

I got the phone number to the Post Master General in Washington D.C.   After a phone call to Washington DC, I get my mail delivered, and that post master no longer works in our Perryopolis post office.

I think it is one of the advantages of having parents who are so different...I am a combination of both of them.  And I have learned from both of them...even when I tried not to.

My mom would lecture a lot, and I would really try not to listen to her...blast it...those thousands of lectures somehow got through.  Sad thing is, I have heard myself use some of those same lectures on my neices.

I believe that one has to adjust to any situation. It`s good that your father taught you how to do it. You can`t expect that Superman would be available anytime a woman is in danger.

I tried to read a book called El varón domado (I`ll try to translate this title later, I promise). It was from a german writer, Ester Vilar. My mother bought it in the 60`s or 70`s. Someday I`ll finish it. It`s an interesting point of view to talk about in the women vs. men. thread.

My mother said that I had to choose between being a helpless woman (described in that book) and a strong woman (I don`t know how to explain it). The day I begin to defend myself, instead of crying and feeling a powerless victim, everytime someone said something bad about me, I feel great. 

I think your parents did what`s best for you. My grandmother and my mother tried to teach me to be a lady (sometimes I act like one).

I see I have ticked people off.

What surprises me is that it was not about the Holocaust thread...but about the slavery thread.

I was accused of being bitter that my mom told me not to fight.  If anyone got that idea, I apologize.  I am proud that my mom taught me how to be a "lady", and she taught me to walk away from a fight.  But that is where dad steps in when I am 13 and teaches me how do disarm a person who has a gun or a knife.  I got the best of both worlds...my mom's & my dad's.  I am not bitter about that.  I am proud.

And if you notice the Bill of Rights on the front page:

I have the right:

-not to justify my existence in this world

-not to keep the ethnicities (what others call "races") separate within me

-not to be responsible for people's discomfort with my physical ambiguity

-not to justify my ethnic legitimacy

I have the right:

-to identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify

-to identify myself differently than how my parents identify
me

-to identify myself differently than my brothers and sisters

-to identify myself differently in different situations

I have the right:

-to create a vocabulary to communicate about being multiethnic (or what some others may call "multiracial")

-to change my identity over my lifetime - and more than once

-to have loyalties and identify with more than one group of people

-to freely choose whom I befriend and love

I have this on the homepage, which is why I was surprised to get chewed out in a message from someone who was in this group for following the bill of rights.

We have a Nationality thread @

http://mail.whale-mail.com/caremail/noframes/view/t_viewhtml.asp?SID=%AB%AB%A3%AD%A3%AB%AA%AE%AF

I want to learn about the countries of the other participants.

The other day someone wrote me from Nairobi. So I went to wikipedia to remember what I learn from Africa at school and from movies. I think it´s better know the information from a person who lives or was born there. The love of their country makes things more interesting than someone who looks from outside. I remember how I felt disgusted from books of Vicky Baum and Graham Greene that doesn´t love my country. So one may think that this stupid thing may be right, when is completely wrong.

Chocolate iced cream

I have chocolate ice cream in the freezer...and Moosetracks.  I do not want iced cream.  Maybe if I tell myself long enough, I will believe it.

Ruth, you are such a sweetheart.  Thank you so very much for the kind nurturing words.  I really appreciate them, and you.

I can understand why you want your own baby Galadriel.  Anyone who has had a baby themselves will understand.  Not excluding men who have no chance of pregnancy, but it is different being pregnant.  It may be that I only had one chance, and I took it despite disappointment on my mother's part.  I have since discovered that fertility is a problem for women with my condition.  If my mother hadn't been ultra-fertile, I would not have inherited enough fertility to conceive. 

I think it is important to keep on hoping.  If it is to be, nothing can prevent it. 

Don't worry about your diet.  One lapse isn't a failure, but chocolates aren't very nutritious.  Keep on with your 5 fruit and vegetables a day and bread with wheatgerm.  You will have new neighbours soon, and this could be the start of a new episode in your life.  Unless you manage to find a piece of real estate that you can make use of.  Then you'd have new neighbours all round. 

You are much loved.

It is January, and I can walk outside barefoot.  This is very unusual for the area where I live.

This morning, the alarm went off at 4 a.m.  My husband had to catch an 8:40 a.m. flight to Charlotte for a connecting flight to Jacksonville, Florida.  We arrived at the airport at about 6 a.m.  I just dropped him off as I have done since 9/11 because of the security implemented.

I pick my husband up at 2:55 p.m. Friday.

Downstairs, our landlord is removing the old wall of my downstair's neighbor's apartment that has black mold.  I can smell the cigarette smoke up here that is pretty strong.  I am glad the black mold is being removed as it is highly toxic. 

I was doing really well on my diet until Christmas.  For lunch today, I had a soft pretzel & M&Ms.  I really need to get back on track.

Linda, thanks for the link.  I know I have Factor V Leiden, which is one of the clotting disorders.

Also, I was told by my gyn that I would probably not go to my grave with my uterous.  He said that 2 years ago, my uterous was the size of being 12 weeks pregnant because of the tumors.  Now my uterous is the size of 5 months pregnant because of the tumors.  He was very negative and told me I should adopt.

Rodanda, I do not have the answers to your questions.

Personally, I really want to have a baby that is mine and my husbands.  I know it sounds selfish, but I want a child that is part of us.

just realized how old the posts were....which would explain why it was summer for everyone....lol.  I thought everyone must be from "down under"   LOL 

  I guess this got bumped when someone posted the pregnancy link.  I'm just reading along like all the posts were made yesterday.  Oh well, a day late and a dollar short..........story of my life.

Thanks for inviting us all to your "kitchen table".  I just wanted to chime in on the "marriage" issue.  I agree that it is about two human beings loving each other.  I know lots of heterosexual couples who choose not to have children.  Does that mean they can't be married??  Oh, and then there is the whole idea of artificial insemination or surrogate..so does that mean if a homosexual couple decide to have a child by these means or if they chose to adopt, then they could marry?  If not, then should we say that heterosexuals who opt for these methods of "having" children should NOT be  allowed to marry?   Also, who enforces this?  Is there a "bedroom police" that goes around making sure everyone is doing their procreative duty?? LOL   That's just insane....and another way to oppress those with a different view than that of the lawmakers.

  Oh, well that's all....it is coming onto Wintertime here in the Northern Hemisphere, so we are breaking out the jackets...though the weather has been rather mild.  I'm just getting ready to go to sleep....trying to get some last minute things done for a homeschool co-op that I am teaching on Monday.  thanks again for starting this thread!!

http://www.obgyn.net/infertility/infertility.asp?page=/infertility/articles/thrombophilia  Thrombophilia and pregnancy.

Definitely, I would really appreciate any information or help in the infertility area. 

Problems I have are:

• Factor V Leiden
• Scarring
• tumors
• Age now...I will be 42 in July
• Tumor was taken off ovary when I was in Greece
• I continue to have my period when I am pregnant
• Tilted Uterous

As for cheesecake, my husband loves cheesecake.  His birthday is Monday.  I will have to try to make it for him.

Hector, Helen,

Don't give up, we have a lot of friends in our community who for various reasons waited a long time for kids, some after being told they couldn't have or they were too old - today all but one couple have a child - and they are expecting after adopting two kids a few years ago.

Israel is a world leader in fertility treatments and obstetrics, if there is anything I could look up or help you research let me know. I know folks who've come here from North America and Europe for treatment, because even with the airfare, it was cheaper here and there was a bigger variety of options available.

On the news lately here, topic of discussion has been about who should be able to get married.

My senator, Santorum, stated that marriage is about kids, and if we allow homosexuals to marry, that takes marriage away from being about having kids to being just about the adults.  As I listened to this I thought, "What about hermaphrodites?".  If marriage is just between a man and a woman, does that mean hermaphrodites cannot marry?  That sounded really rediculous to me.

I asked my husband who was listening to the same news report, and he did not have an answer for me, except to tell me that I was the most analytical person he knew...and he is an engineer.

Happy Shavu'ot

Leiah for telling us about this holiday.

And my husband is a fan of cheesecake.  I have never made it from scratch.  I either buy it already made, or I make it from a box.

Jazz, my husband loves summer also.  As a matter of fact now, he is out fishing.  Or as one of his friends said, "he hunts fish".

It has started cooling down some as it is now 7:35 p.m., and I have noticed storm clouds moving in.

I am sitting here eating crackers and drinking hot chocolate.

Moocher has just been fed.  He loves canned Fancy Feast Grilled.

Been real hectic here. I, junior and hubby all have colds and it's the Shavu'ot (Pentecost) holiday starting tomorrow night and we have guests, a relative visiting from abroad and we're behind on cooking and cleaning - of all the times to get sick!

Oh, and we're hosting the traditional all night study event, at which we've both volunteered to teach, and I haven't even written up my teaching notes yet!

At least this year I"ve relented and consented to buy cheese cake from a bakery (a very good one, but still, not the same as the kind I bake) - sometimes my husband can be really sensible and he took one look at me and said, darling, you make great cheesecake, but I think this year you have enough going on without having to bake too.

He's right, if it's a toss up between preparing my teaching notes and baking I know which one I'll feel more satisfied accomplishing...

I'm on my way outside right now to water the flowers and trees...very warm here too and everything is drying up...but I adore summer so I'm not complaining...not after the horrid winter we had here....Hope you have a great evening...

~Love and Hugs~

Jazz

At my grandmother's house, we used to sit around the kitchen table and talk.  So I though this would be a nice place to visit and just chat.   We can chat about everything...so what is on your mind?

It is 5 p.m. here, and my husband should be getting off work soon.

I did the bills and mailed them off.  Walking to the post office, it was VERY hot, and that is with shorts, pullover, and my hair up.  Summer is not officially here yet and I am already impatient for autumn.