I have a question.
I cook veggie soup (vegetable s in veggie broth), but sometimes I don't have the time to stop and make the soup (or the money to run to the store and stock up on more vegetables)... so sometimes I just have hot veggie broth as my meal.

Am I still getting good nutrition from the broth?
(I know "not as greatly as if you ate the vegetables") but it's better than replacing my veggie soup with junkfood.

So, in your opinion is drinking the veggie broth as a replacement ok?

I sent my girlfriend a package in the mail almost three weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived. It's going from Indiana to California, and most of our things arrive within three-five days. I've gotten two presents that she's sent since I sent hers. I figure a lot of you have experience with snail mail, so what do you think? Should I be worried? I just used a post office on my college campus, which is what I always use.

Ok i know this sounds stupid but I am kinda at a loss.

I had a really ....terrible upbringing. I didnt grow up with mom, my dad raised us because my mom was busy being a drug addict. I am not looking for sympathy. I love my dad, and I had as much as he could give, given the person he is and that his mom was a complete alcoholic abusive bitch (no he never abused us or was a addict).

..That being said, I grew up with a fear of being responsible for anyone other than myself.

My best friend brought over her 2 year old on Christmas eve to pick something up and clear as day he asked where his uncle Aaron was and said that he "loved antie leesh"....


I have been so afraid of having kids. I want them then I dont. I am so afraid of screwing them up. But that...that was like the straw that broke th camels back. All of a sudden I wanted a baby. I wanted a child to hold me, to wake me up at 3 am when I have to be up at 6 and teeth.

...I dont know what to do.


When did you know you wanted kids? Do you think there are people who shouldnt have kids? When do you think people should have them?
I know most people are "afraid" but when do you think is an "ok" level of fear and uncertainty, vs a "no shouldnt have kinds" fear?

My dad picked me up from NY last week... we had a whole 6 hour drive together, I thought we'd get the chance to bond. Instead, he chose to bring up his feelings about me dating D. He told me he couldn't get past the age difference (16 yrs), that he knew she wasn't the one for me, that I was making a mistake. That this relationship started when I was so young and that I was staying with her because she had a hard past and I felt I was obliged to. He told me that at Thanksgiving, when she came to visit, it made him extremely uncomfortable and he decided he had to say something. So he did. I cried. It hurt me so much. Not that anything he said was too big of a shock...but to hear it all out loud, from him... I asked him why he couldn't trust that I knew what was best for myself, told him that I am truly happy with her, that being with her makes me better... I don't know how to move forward. This will always be a problem. It will always hurt them, and they will in turn hurt me, because I love them so much, and care too much what they think. It will never be the family I imagined it to be. So I am conflicted. I love this woman more than I ever thought possible. She makes me laugh, I am happier when I am with her. But that happiness is not seen by anyone else except her. Everyone else judges, waits for us to end. I'm so torn. I'm so hurt by their unwillingness to see past their jaded judgments to see that I know what is best for me.

How do you deal with family that doesn't approve? Does it get easier as you get older? Are you forced to pick one over the other? Advice, please.

It is obviously to everyone now that energetics needs the revolutionary changes. Energetics based on nonrenewable energy resources (oil, coal, gas) have to be replaced, sooner or later, by energy based on the inexhaustible sources. Although two-thirds of the world's electricity is still generated by thermal power stations working on fossil fuels, which are to a great extent responsible for the adverse environmental effects (global warming, ozone depletion, etc.), almost all developed countries are actively elaborating alternative energy sources.

The solar and wind energy are considered by many as these sources. Indeed, these powers are reliable and highly desired renewable energy sources. But in spite of all this they have significant limitations. Such alternative power plants can't work at night and in case of lack of winds. In order to radically change the structure of power generation in favor of renewable resources we need a stable energy source that has great energy potential.

And that source really exists.

Hey everyone! I made a post last Sunday about how worried I was about flights, so a quick update while my girl is at work. :)

My flight had a 3.5 hour delay, but I was lucky to get there at all, so not complaining. We had to spend the first night in Manchester, but the past few days we've been at hers. :) Celebrated Christmas with her family, who even got me presents. We're having a great time so far, and there's still over a week left. <3 I'm happy I went.

I hope you're all having a good time, too. :)

I'm determined to switch from a highly omnivorous diet to a vegetarian one.  I've done it before with pure will power, by cutting out red meats, then white, then fish, and was a vegetarian for two years, but then I got married to a carnivore and meat somehow became a staple in my meals, again.  My will power, this time around, isn't so strong, so....

My question is - have any of you successfully converted from a carnivorous/omnivorous diet to a vegetarian/vegan one?  

If so, any tips or advice to share?

Thanks!

Departure day. I have three full days left in Dublin with my boyfriend. And then ... who knows? Before I go further: Stats here

( proceed with caution )

Not all biology jokes, he covers some physics as well.



More at Science Laughs

Merry Christmas, for those who celebrate it! and a Happy Holiday Season, if you don't! :)

if you do celebrate Christmas, how are you sharing it with your SO this year, even if you can't be together today? Micah and i are (once again) lucky enough to both be home in the same city for Christmas. of course we've got our separate family celebrations in the morning, so i haven't seen him yet today. later today we're doing gifts - i put together a little "traveling" kit, for his study abroad experience in the spring. A couple of fun, brightly-colored luggage tags, a cute little travel clock, and a nice "do-it-yourself" guidebook to Madrid, where he'll be living. it's nothing fancy, but it's a little something that will hopefully be helpful! then we might watch a Christmas movie with my family, and probably spend a little time just cuddling and talking.

what about everyone else? did you choose to do gifts, or skip them? were you able to squeeze in a visit, or will you be getting one soon?

i hope everyone is doing well, and that things are going swimmingly in your corner of the world!

Last month when I was on the Pill I missed a lot of the pills and it took a few days for my period to start after I took the last one (it usually starts right away) and that was 3 weeks ago. Every day this week I've been passing blood clots and the flow the entire time has been like a normal period, not just light or spotting. I've had mild back pain and some moderate cramping the entire time. I went to Planned Parenthood where I usually get my care and the woman at the desk rudely told me that it was just because I missed pills last month and brushed off the fact I had a backache and told me it wasn't related. She gave me an appointment later that afternoon but I didn't go because of how nasty she was.

Should I see a doctor asap? I'm starting to feel really lousy, like all the blood's been drained from me (I used to be anemic, so I'm assuming that's the issue again).

The Jesus of your spirit is within you:
ask his aid, for he is a good helper.
Don't seek from your Jesus the comforts of the body.
Don't ask from your Moses the wish of a Pharaoh.
Don't burden your heart with thoughts
of livelihood; livelihood will not fail.
Be constant in attendance at the Divine court.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- Mathnawi II: 450; 453-454
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski

I was reading some pre-ttc books about how to get your body ready to have a healthy pregnancy. I'm overweight (150 lbs, 5ft 1in, BMI of 29, 30 = obese, so we're cutting it pretty close! But that being said, I don't really think of myself as "fat", when I was skinny skinny skinny in high school I was 125, but even that is "high" for my height). Anyway. I knew that there would be warnings about losing weight and the problems you encounter while pregnant, but I was completely blown away when I read that YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE CHILDREN IF YOU ARE OVER WEIGHT. What?! The book was written by a female doctor, who says she frequently tells her patients - even the ones who are ALREADY trying - that they should STOP TRYING if they're overweight. Ouch!

I was so bummed out. I was going to go to my dr. in January to have a pre-pregnancy check up, but now I'm afraid I'm going to go in and she's going to hail down fire and brimstone on me for being heavy.

Do any of you have any experience with being overweight and thinking of starting a family? I am so depressed - we were going to start trying early next year, but if I have to lose TWENTY pounds to be healthy (which is 5 lbs over my skinniest weight), I don't think we'll ever start.

Do you believe that distance makes the heart grow fonder?

If so, do you think LDR are, or have the potential to be, more tender and loving than SDR? Of course I understand that each relationship is special and different, so that cannot be a blanket statement. =D

My girlfriend and I started out as SD and then she moved away. We had an okay relationship as SD, but after she moved, we were able to connect on a much deeper emotional level. I truly think the distance helped (even saved) our relationship because it opened up communication in a way that I couldn't have dreamed of when we were SD. Now, when I go to visit, she and I can communicate better, we get along better, and we generally understand each other better. I really don't think we could have reached this level if we had stayed in the same town.

Hopefully when we become SD again, things will stay like this, instead of return to that!

Thoughts?

Hope you're all enjoying the holiday season as best you can. =D

One of my favorite celebrity agegap couples have separated.
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/susan-sarandon-and-tim-robbins-split/33121?nc

(and I couldn't care a twit about Demi and Ashton)

Sometimes I forget completely what companionship is.
Unconscious and insane, I spill sad energy everywhere.
My story gets told in various ways: a romance, a dirty joke, a war, a vacancy.

Divide up my forgetfulness to any number, it will go around.
These dark suggestions that I follow, are they part of some plan?
Friends, be careful. Don't come near me out of curiosity, or
sympathy.

There's a movie coming out next month, Extraordinary Measures, in which Harrison Ford plays some sort of medical researcher.

There's a clip from the movie here.

I must say, I laughed pretty hard when Ford says, "I don't care about money. I'm a SCIENTIST. I care about more important things THAT."