A friendly game of soccer works off more fat and builds up more muscle than jogging, new research shows. Danish scientists, who conducted their research on 37 men, also found the soccer players felt less tired after exercising than the joggers because they were having more fun.

This is good to know as my high school daughters have played varsity and junior varsity soccer, and 15 of my other kids have been deeply involved with our parks and recreation soccer... more

My nearly 80 year old mother has forty grandchildren, mainly thanks to me, and 15 great-grandchildren so far. She is tough and strong, still gardening and keeping up her large yard area. She and Grandpa live in an attached house here on our land.

She has always taken good care of herself, not through manicures and pedicures, but through good eating, vitamins, exercise and staying very busy. She’s where I get my energy from, she can go from dawn until dusk and she regularly does so, plays Bridge several times a... more

Hilton reveals,

"I have, like, a million clothes and more than 500 pairs of shoes, so I'm going to give a bunch of them to orphanages and children's hospitals. I never wear something twice."

Contrast this with my previous post of the man with a $20,000 annual salary who turned it into a half a million dollar nest egg.

I think what bothers me the most is that my own children think Paris Hilton is cooler than this other guy. To never wear anything twice definitely appeals to them.

I... more

"Earl Crawley, 69, better known as Mr. Earl, earns $20,000 a year as a parking-lot attendant. But he has amassed a stock portfolio worth more than $500,000'.

Articles like this inspire the snot out of me. If this guy can do that, then my kids can rise up out of the pits of their former lives where they were mistreated, abused and neglected.

They’d have a big old pity party if I’d let them do so, but I won’t. I spend a great... more

The Atlanta Journal Constitution had written a series about some terribly sad deaths in Georgia in mental hospitals resulting in a lawsuit and an investigation which unfortunately has made it a million times more difficult to find help for severely disturbed children. This is a painful-to-read series and there's more to each story plus another side.

There are not enough foster homes for troubled adolescents, an... more

I made a huge amount of progress today, so much so that I feel as if I’ve had a stay of execution and in many ways that is true. I’d received another email from a teacher confirming my thoughts and feelings about the damage Jose has done in our home, the constant outbursts, terrible potential for violence, and how he has lately projected his hatred for me onto the other girls in our family. His threats, his attacks and his continuous maladaptive thoughts of ‘killing his mom’ are too alarming to live with each day.

I received a reprieve... more

Julie wrote two posts that caught my attention regarding compassion fatigue and the walking wounded. My caseworker and I were already on the phone today talking about this as we both have sons who are in psychiatric hospitals at the moment. They are the same age and share the same birthday 10/31/94. Yep, Halloween. No further comments needed.

I found this compassion fatigue test/checklist and discovered I’m apparently not suffering any... more

A while back, a reader commented on how she felt that the four kids she’d adopted hadn’t turned out so well and I immediately responded that I hoped I’d never given the impression that we’d had 100% success. I’m high on the fact that we have had some miraculous success stories to share, but we’ve been in the depths of hell at times also.

Yesterday one of my sons turned 19 in jail. He’s bipolar and a very difficult person. Men with guns, tasers, and handcuffs are having a tough time maintaining him there while he’s behind bars. No wonder I’m still struggling with my own version of PTSD after living with this guy for years. I’d have never survived it at all without the help of my... more

Y’all might just about be tired of our ongoing saga with seeking mental health resources, but it is why I’ve been unable to post very often lately. My son, Jose, has been out of our home for six weeks now, and even gone, has forced us to go through a CPS investigation which took up even more of my time.

I budget my time carefully. Family comes first, the kids who are trying their best to succeed – I never want to overlook them in my often fruitless efforts to find help for more seriously disturbed children. I have 13 kids who are obsessed with soccer, tying... more

My dream in life is to be alone, to go outside and work all day without interruptions, basking in the peace and the solitude of my gardens, eating all I want when I want, without having to stop and cook dinner. I’ll get this chance, if all goes well, in less than 14 years. Time flies anyway, I’m constantly busy, happy and fulfilled, but truly isolation and seclusion appeal greatly to me. I dream about it quite often.

Then I read this article in Newsweek, suggesting that isolation and loneliness actually... more