The Secret

[luvinlife]

Sammy, I know I can't sleep until I know both of my teenagers are "safe and sound". I can't wait for school to start so they'll get to bed earlier....circles under my eyes! Do we ever stop worrying about our kids?

Love, Clare

[sammy]

Yes...OUT OF SITE IS OUT OF MIND!!!! When he was off at school I could easily live in my fantasy world that he was safe and sound in his dorm room!

LOVE!!!!

[Petra Wilson]

The other day as Mathilda and her friend were wandering around here, they noticed a man staring at
them from his apartment window. Moments later he started to follow them. Finally he asked whether
they were local or tourists and Mathi said: "degage pedophile!" and he all but ran off. He's not local,
prolly here for the holidays. So now I have to make sure they play nearer home Also, he's been
coming up here using our area's bins! A day later Phil, (in all his dirty, dusty hairy glory) popped into
the tabac with Mathilda and when he clocked Phil he almost ran off again!
Hopefully the sight of Phil scared him away...

Now I worry every time Mathi's out of the house, even if she is within ear shot.

Love, Pet xxx

[luvinlife]

I guess the worry is always there. It's such a shame that we have to teach our kids not to trust anyone who is a stranger...

Love, Clare

[memawlaura]

Hi Pet,
Call the local authorities tell them what is going on and that your alerting them so not only you are keeping an eye on your kids so will they be doing so, the best outcome is that they will visit him and he will leave and move on somewhere else.

[luvinlife]

Hi my second "family"!!! I wonder how Kenge is doing...our "online" nephew should be arriving soon, I think. Everything is going good for me. My kids seem to be on the right track going through their teenage years. It's rough, but worth it. I keep thinking about this thread and its title, "The Secret". Well, hopefully the secret will no longer be a secret.....it's all about love and inner peace and happiness -- the spirit, not the material. Heading to the beach this weekend. The weather has been beautiful, and thank goodness, no oil on our beaches. I always find peace and tranquility at the ocean, not to mention a ton of prompts. Have a great weekend!

Love, Clare

[Wild River Rose]

The other day as Mathilda and her friend were wandering around here, they noticed a man staring at
them from his apartment window. Moments later he started to follow them. Finally he asked whether
they were local or tourists and Mathi said: "degage pedophile!" and he all but ran off. He's not local,
prolly here for the holidays. So now I have to make sure they play nearer home Also, he's been
coming up here using our area's bins! A day later Phil, (in all his dirty, dusty hairy glory) popped into
the tabac with Mathilda and when he clocked Phil he almost ran off again!
Hopefully the sight of Phil scared him away...

Now I worry every time Mathi's out of the house, even if she is within ear shot.

Love, Pet xxx

Hi Petra,

I know it's worriesome, but you should take comfort that Mathi is aware of his intentions. He can't harm her if she is aware of that because she won't believe any tricks he might use to get her alone or into a vulnerable situation.
Much love to you and yours,
Monica
XOX

[Petra Wilson]

Hello Monica and Laura, thanks for your advice and sensible words. If he bothers
her again though, I'll call in the gendarmerie. But word has been put about and I
haven't seen him since!

Clare, I'm so chuffed that you're better and happier now. I've got the teen years
to look forward to, LOL!

Hugs to everyone, Pet xxx

[Sandy]

Hi Guys,
Pet, I'm glad that man has moved on and hope that if he has harmful intentions to children that the authorities soon have him under lock and key. Thankfully you and Phil have done a good job growing strong, confident children who are not easy marks for this type of criminal.

Hope you're enjoying your time at the beach Clare. I love what you wrote here...

Well, hopefully the secret will no longer be a secret.....it's all about love and inner peace and happiness -- the spirit, not the material.

You said it lady! Let's all be the bunch of "blabber bodies" and show this world how to love. (hmmm ... I suppose that could be taken the wrong way by some people but you guys know what I mean...right? )
Hugs,
Sandy

[CutieKenge]

Hey Clare,
I'm doing alright! I havent been here in a couple weeks, I think. Been pretty busy but trying to take it easy. A little 5 more weeks to go until my due date! I don't know where the days have gone! I really did enjoy this pregnancy and being pregnant - but I'm ready for this baby to come. lol. I'm getting pretty tired now and just turning in bed is a task. Thank you for always asking for me!

I hope everyone is doing well. I just did a little catching up on the past posts. Seems there has been a lot going on, but things have straightened themselves out more or less - that's good news. Just popping in to say a quick hello! Now it's back to work!

Hugs,
Kendra

[happyrain]

kendra

[CutieKenge]

Hey Eric!

[luvinlife]

Hi my second family! I've been thinking a lot lately about our purpose here. I'm always so confused about why some people seem to have more "problems" than others. I guess I'm wondering about "fairness". Why are some people born into poverty and disease and others seem to just skim through life without any major discomforts? I'm thinking that everything isn't always as it seems, that the people that "seem" to not have any discomforts really do...just different ones. Actually, I feel very lucky to have all that I have. I used to feel guilty about it because in my childhood religion we were taught that "suffering" was good (or something to that effect). Okay, I'm rambling. Just throwing my thoughts out there!

Love, Clare

[Irit]

I'm always so confused about why some people seem to have more "problems" than others. I guess I'm wondering about "fairness". Why are some people born into poverty and disease and others seem to just skim through life without any major discomforts?

Hi Claire I too have wondered by some people have such a hard life and others seem so blessed. I still don't have an answer, except some people just come into this life with a different purpose then others.

[gypsie]

Hello everyone

Gosh Pet, if you see him again take a photo and show it to the police, thank God Mathilda know what to do Sorry I have been away again lost the password on the new email and finally had a minute to call bigpond PHEW!! Been so busy with Yasmin's wedding and my son's baby on the way, life is full but happy. The other day my grandaugther Amelia said to me as I was getting changed "whats that Nanny" I said "what darling?" and she moved the fat under my arms as it wobbled, time to swim again lOL. Out of the mouth of babes, my bingo arms were exposed!!!!!


Loving you all always and Light should have a computer in the next month, she is living deep in the Australian Bush and much better xoxoxoxo love you my lovlies Gypsie Deb

[Petra Wilson]

Hello everyone, long time no hear and see?
Gypsy, it's always great to hear from you and your hilarious stories, especially your
straight talking grandchildren. Have you had your holiday yet? Lucky thing, you!

Kendra, I'm thinking of you in these hot and often uncomfortable days. I remember
it with Manny; he was born at the end of July. Not long now....exciting to be anticipating
your son's birth! LOL!

Love to everyone, Sandy, I've been writing your email but keep getting distracted by the
everyday stuff....sorry sweety! xxxx

[luvinlife]

Gypsie!!! That was so funny, yes, out of the mouths....Isn't amazing how this thread turned out, Gypsie. Even though it's titled "The Secret", this thread is sort of like my comfort zone..a feel-good place to come to. Anyway, have a wonderful, love filled weekend, everyone! Kengie, let us know how you're doing!

Love, Clare

[Sandy]

Your little Amanda would really have something to say about my winter belly, Gypsie.

You know, Clare and Irene, I have wondered the same thing... sometimes it doesn't seem fair. I hope in the view from Eternity we will understand a little more than our human minds can comprehend at this time. I hope so. ..and hopefully God will smooth out the edges of our hard lives and equalize the hardships with celestial gains as we progress through the next realms.

Hey Pet, I'm not worried... It has been so hot and with the kids off school there is probably never a dull moment. I'll receive your email at just the right time... always do.
Kenge, when I was expecting my first child it was one of the hottest summers on records...Thought I was gonna melt baby and all. Hope you have a nice cool place to rest your expectant mommy bones. I am getting so excited as "the day" gets closer and closer.

Love you guys,

Sandy

[aqualeaf]

Hi All You Beauty-Beings!

It's been such a long time, but I finally got a chance to sit down and read through the last few pages of this thread this morning and get caught up! I wish I could write in here more often, but as a number of you may remember, I seem to have a hard time just writing short posts -- nearly every post turns into a novel! Still working on the idea of writing shorter, quicker but more frequent posts/emails, etc., which would make it much easier for me to stay in much better touch with more people more often!

I just finished an 8-week online/phone workshop with the author/artist SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) (http://planetsark.com), who many of you have probably heard of. I've been a big fan of hers for years, and have almost all of her books, which are almost all hand-written in rainbow colors rather than in a typewritten font, and combined with her colorful hand-drawn artwork, making them such a delight to look at and read! The class was on how to live your creative dreams, so I took it in order to get a little boost and some structure for working towards the dream of truly making a living from art. It involved a lot of journaling questions and soul-searching, articulating your dream, identifying the obstacles and beliefs that are standing in the way of truly living it, maintaining work/life balance and good self-care concurrently with living your dream, creating a support system for yourself, and all sorts of really helpful things, from a wonderful woman who's become quite wise and successful over the years at everything she's teaching. And now she's offered such a great discount for re-taking the course a second time that I'm going to take it again starting in September, since there was so much to absorb that it's hard to do it all in just one session anyway!

In the meantime, I got so busy sitting in coffee shops with my journal for at least a couple of hours a day exploring all these more "foundational" soul-searching questions in the class that, paradoxically, I slowed my art production way down! So, now that there's a break in the action, I'm trying to get back up to speed on my art again and integrate what I've learned while continuing to actually get art done. There have been lots of detours on this path, but each one seems to be for a good reason, often resulting in me going back and getting some of the more foundational elements right before proceeding too far.

Pet, you had mentioned several pages back that you'd like to see my art on Facebook. I did run across both you and Gypsie Deb on Facebook several weeks ago, when I was still really new to, and timid about, Facebook, so I didn't send anyone a friend request at the time, but now that I'm a bit more used to it, and am starting to get in the habit of actually posting my art there, and have been in the process lately of adding some friends I made at the SARK workshop too, I'll go look you up again! And I'll try to also find some of the rest of you who have mentioned that you're on Facebook (Nicola, Kenge) as well!

Sandy, well, it may be a little late for your basil plants at this point, but here's the basil lemonade recipe you asked for months ago! Keep in mind that this recipe is intended for a really heavy-duty blender -- not sure how it'll work in other blenders (I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have worked too well in some of the other blenders we've had in the past! ) If it didn't work, I'm thinking you might be able to just used fresh-squeezed lemon juice instead of the whole lemon, and maybe brew some really strong tea from the basil leaves, refrigerate the tea, then mix it in with the lemonade part to get a similar taste?

3 C (720 ml) water
1 1/2 lemons, peeled, halved, seeded
1/4 C sugar or sweetener of choice
1/2 C fresh basil leaves
1 C ice cubes

Place all ingredients into blender in the order listed and secure lid. Turn machine on and quickly increase speed from lowest to highest. Blend for 1 minute or until desired consistency is reached.

Ron and I are following a new eating plan now, instead of the nearly-all-vegetarian, almost-no-fat one we were following for at least a year or two (then began drifting away from). This one combines good-quality animal protein from organic (as much as possible, anyway), free-range, grass-fed sources, eggs, organic minimally-processed full-fat dairy products and various nuts and oils in small amounts, organic fruits and vegetables, and small amounts of complex whole grains, sort of like the traditional notion of a "balanced diet" (but no processed foods, gluten, baked goods, or refined sugars), along with high-quality vitamins and probiotics. We have 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, and each meal is balanced to be approximately 40% carbohydrates, 30% fat, and 30% protein ("40-30-30," a ratio followed in other plans we've tried, but this one has seemed much friendlier and easier to follow, with actually delicious recipes, fortunately!).

Even though we'd been trying to take the mostly vegetarian approach for a few years, we’ve both noticed that we do actually feel better when we eat at least some animal protein, and it’s a lot easier not to miss the baked goods when you can have meal additions like small amounts of super tasty real-cream-based sauces of the sort that we’d previously not been allowing ourselves. And this plan's working better for Ron on his ongoing weight-loss efforts than any of the ones we've tried so far, mostly because it doesn't feel like nearly as much deprivation! We took a couple days off of it for his birthday a week or so ago, but found it really easy to get back on track again (actually, we were glad to get back on track, after realizing how much better we felt on the diet! ). I'll admit, I do still often have a small chai tea with whipped cream at the coffee shop in the afternoons, and small squares of dark chocolate here and there -- I've found that if I keep a bar of 88% dark chocolate around, it's strong-enough tasting that I only want to eat a really small amount of it at once , so that works out pretty well!

Well, okay, I see that this post is now already to at least "novella" stage (though after such a long absence, perhaps it can hardly be helped, at least not by me! ) I'd best get going for now before I go on too much longer! Lots of love to you all!

- Aqua Deb

[luvinlife]

Great post, Acqua Deb! It sounds like you've been having a very interesting time! I'm terrible at Facebook...I have one to keep an "eye" on my teenagers. It's a big thing with them, and I learn a LOT about them and their friends. They know that I "creep" (which my 14-year old daughter says it's called when you're "spying" on someone's page)....but I really can't navigate my way around it. Anyway, nice to see you back...and I'm going to try that yummy lemonade recipe!

Love, Clare

[Irit]

I just love the lemonade recipe...I think I will try it with agave as the sweetener and I am growing lemon basil, so that should be very interesting.

Thanks,

[CutieKenge]

I'm always so confused about why some people seem to have more "problems" than others. I guess I'm wondering about "fairness". Why are some people born into poverty and disease and others seem to just skim through life without any major discomforts?

Hi Claire I too have wondered by some people have such a hard life and others seem so blessed. I still don't have an answer, except some people just come into this life with a different purpose then others.

I agree with Irit. I think each of us has a different purpose and we come here with different obstacles, goals to achieve, and things to learn to help us evolve or get closer to, hopefully, our higher self or true nature. That isn't very comforting when you're the one going through the struggling, but sometimes that is the best explaination I can think of. Life hasn't been a big cake walk for me either, so sometimes I don't want to think so positively about the rough times. It makes me think about past and present life Karma - but Karma can be such a complicated and misunderstood topic that I will just mention it here in passing as something I believe affects what we experience this time around.

----------------------------------

Hi ladies! Things have been prety busy with me lately, as you can imagine. Had our baby shower last weekend, and now I'm in the process of making room for baby - and everything else that baby comes with! I hope to finish a good chunk of everything this week because I want to be able to do some more resting the last couple weeks...I have about 3 weeks left until my due date! This pregnancy has been wonderful, but I am definitely pretty tired now. The time has FLOOOOWWWWN by!! I can't even believe it. I'll be 37 weeks this Wednesday. Makes me kick myself for not getting some stuff done earlier, but nothing I can do about it now. lol. Bad habit I have.

Please keep me, baby, and Jah (my husband) in your prayers. Things have been pretty stressful lately (& at times pretty challenging), so we could use an extra boost of prayers. I just look forward to having a safe, easy, happy birthing of my son very soon. Thank you all for you love and support. I can't imagine finding a better extended family!

Ok, off I go! This is my last week of work (I take care of a just-turned-3 year old) so my time has run out. Just wanted to check in quickly since I haven't been here.

Much love to all of you!

[Irit]

I have about 3 weeks left until my due date! This pregnancy has been wonderful, but I am definitely pretty tired now.

Good luck to you during the last 3 weeks, as I know you are ready. I will certainly keep you in my prayers!

Irit

[CutieKenge]

Thank you, Irit! I definitely am ready - and anxiously excited! Many thanks for keeping me in your prayers.

Love,
Kendra

[Sandy]

Hello AquaDeb!!! I love reading your posts...I know it's hard to keep them short and say all that you wish to say but I can say for, I suspect, most of us here, that we enjoy what you have to say and miss you when you are not among us. Your online workshop sounds fabulous! ..something even non artistic individuals could benefit from as well. Thanks for the lemonade recipe. Yes you are right, my "warmth loving" basil is doing poorly right now as winter wanes but there is always new life and new baby plants as spring comes.

My blender is a little weakie though so I am not sure if it will handle the recipe's needs but will give it a whirl. If it doesn't work I'll try your possible adjustments. One way or another we should be able to have something similar in a few months when the basil really gets going! Thanks for remembering and taking the time to type out the recipe, sis! It's so good to see you on the board again.


Hello Kendra, It is so exciting to think that pretty soon little Nubbs will make his appearance. I hope these last weeks go smoothly for all of you so that every moment will create the most wonderful memories to hold and cherish. It is a special time for your budding little family and you as a mommy have a front row seat for all that occurs. Your Love and positive thinking is infectious and will guarantee a special nurturing environment as you and Jah strike out in this new parental direction.
Yee haw!!! I can hardly wait till the little fella gets here!


Love you guys,
Sandy