Weezl and friends Phase 2 -giving it a whirl for Shirl! Testing meal plan for a month

Hippeechiq

HowlinWolf wrote: »

Hippeechiq - are you using Safari as your viewer? I am having a similar problem, sometimes I see it and sometimes I don't

No - am using Google Chrome. I've done a screen shot so you can see what I can see:

Hippeechiq

How strange....just viewed the site use IE 8 and this is what I can see:

artybear

I am using google chrome and can see it finexxx

morag1202

Flattered to be included but not too sure if I have too much to contribute. I'm totally not techy so probably can't manage anything other than a chat on this thread (or a mark 2 one since this is rather long) and I only type at about 5 wpm. Will happily lurk if I'm able and eilling to do rewrites etc if required.

weezl74 wrote: »

OK, who could do the following slots:

weds eve 7.45 pm yes, also Thurs and Fri

saturday 2 pm no or 7 pm yes

sunday 3 pm? no

purpose of the meeting:

1 general feedback to weezl about the nature and direction of the project (what we like, what we'd like to see happen next)

2 gathering information to put together an FAQs page for scared shirley ( a follow on from sian/wendy thoughts t'other day about what's putting shirl off: 'what if I make it and my kids won't eat it?' etc)

3 gathering together what is missing currently on the website that will make it hard for shirley to use the website if she doesn't have us lot holding her hands: (it doesn't say how many pieces of bread to have with my pate sandwich, why have I bought the milk? how many times am I making each recipe? etc etc)

4 some FYI points from weezl that are too exciting/secret to share online (this now sounds approximately 1674 times more exciting than it actually is, sorry

5 tasks to be given out to those who want them (don't all leave the room!)

6 close of meeting- big dodgy group hugs and a rousing rendition of 'oh flower of scotland!' ( 6 volunteers required to physically restrain my secretary at this point) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA6cnXFiE6I

weezl74 wrote: »

it appears fergie can now hit submit reply

I have a cat who can do this plus disable wireless, shut down laptop, change page size, loose toolbars, select google then call up a page etc. Tis a pain :mad:

Hippeechiq

artybear wrote: »

I am using google chrome and can see it finexxx

How odd :huh: That simply doesn't make any sense, does it?

Allegra

weezl74 wrote: »

Mr Weezl and I had a really interesting conversation the other day about the way that people define themselves and create an identity through spending.


We talked about the different identities our friends have created in this way, and how attractive a lot of those choices seem to us

We also talked about how 'not spending' is probably perceived as an identity too, and yet it is something we sometimes both feel a little bit lost because of.

DH is a dentist (currently doing a PhD) so frequently meets up with peers from uni who are defining themselves with boats and cars and skiing.

Mostly he feels fine, but sometimes he wonders who he is.

Not really making any point here... just musing

Sorry for taking us off-topic again, but this is something that has really struck a chord with me, and I'm afraid I just had to revisit it

See, I am really uncomfortable with the idea of defining one's identity through something as transient as the distribution of money. It's a point that has already been made - that if you define yourself through your spending on boats and cars - or clothes and shoes, for that matter - then if your income is suddenly reduced and the spending has to be redefined, then you don't just have the material hardship to contend with, but also a serious crisis of identity.

Or worse even - the people like you and Mr Weezl who made a conscious decision to quit spending end up losing their sense of identity as a result.

Now, we all know that some people do define their identities through spending.... But I really do believe, rightly or wrongly, that these people can be divded into two camps - one who is so uncertain of their identity that they hide behind a consumerist construct, so they really define themselves by no more than their spending, and those are the ones that will most struggle when this construct is stripped away by circumstances. Or even if it isn't, because the fact that this is not a true representation of their identity will mean that they will seek to spend more and more in search of satisfaction and contentment that will never come.

The other camp is the people who use this consumerist construct as a convenient shorthand for what their true identity is. So while they might say - and think - that they are people who spend on cars and boats, people who spend on fine dining at Gordon's, people who shop in Waitrose, people who shop for clothes and shoes - in truth they are people who boat and drive fast cars, or people who like good food, people who like pretty things. These are people who will be able to see a slash of their income as an opportunity rather than an identity crisis - people who will find another way to sail and drive, more appropriate to their new circumstances; people who will host OS dinner parties at home or go looking for treasures in charity shops. Because, you see, I believe that for anyone who does know who they really are... It can never really be about money; money is always just means to an end, no more and no less.

Trying to illustrate the point further - I was surprised when I saw the above, because I truly do not feel that my identity has ever been entangled with my spending habits to any extent. True, I will use the label "I am a frugalista" or some such as that convenient shorthand when contributing to a moneysaving forum - but is that who I really am ? By no means.

But who am I ? I did, for many years, define myself through a construct. My identity, I firmly believed, was that of a writer. I wrote all my life - I earn money writing since I was 15 - and that was who I was. Yet when my circumstances changed and I was no longer able to write professionally - inability to meet deadlines pretty much puts a stop to that nonsense - I did not lose myself altogether. I just realised that what I thought was my identity - a writer - was just one facet of it, just one viewpoint of the whole - and that what poured in to fill the gap left by words - the kitchen, the garden - was another aspect of the same.

So I then thought of myself as someone who creates something new and usable out of very little - new worlds out of a collection of characters as represented by the letters of the alphabet; fruit and vegetables out of seeds; meals and treats out of the fruit and veg.

But even that wasn't quite right. Did I really create ? Or did I just find what was already there, in potentia ? I believe the latter. Because the former not only gives credit where it's not due, leaving aside for now delusions of grandeur, but also leaves out another important part of who I am, a part that always informed whatever I did - and that was the part that liked to help people. I help people in my paid job, and I love it. And the biggest role in my life, and the one that parted me from my identity of a writer - the role of a parent - that is the one that can under no circumstances be stored under the label of a creator. I am not my children's creator - I am their custodian, and their facilitator on their journey to adulthood, independence, and identity of their own.

And that is how I finally found out that this is who I am, my true identity - as a custodian and a facilitator And once you have that sorted, the rest is smooth sailing no matter how bumpy the road. And no matter how many metaphors you mix

And the reason I have felt the need to share all this with you is because I think that I can recognise a similar quality in you, Weezl, only in a more expansive, extravert manner So while you are trying to define who you are in relation to your spending habits and getting lost searching for that elusive definition.... This is how I see you. Hope that helps :rotfl:

As for Mr Weezl, we mostly see him at one remove, so I can not provide a convenient shorthand for him, but I will be so bold as to hazard a guess that, if in relation with his peers who are identified by the fact that they boat or they drive - something that defines them strongly enough to inspire chucking large wads of their hard earned at facilitating the pursuit of - in relation to that, as someone who chooses not to spend, he could well be someone whose identity is so strongly defined by his interpersonal relationships that the best place for his heard-earned is in pursuit of freedom to enjoy these relationships to their full.

Or I could be talking tosh, in which case, my apologies, and I need to say here that this was never meant to be any more than a bit of light-hearted banter, and goodness, how did it grow to a monster of such dimensions :eek:

I better go and have some quality time with a glass of red, methinks !

hornetgirl

Wow, amazing post Allegra. I'd thank it 20 times over if I could. How I wish I could articulate my thoughts so well.

artybear

wow allegra, you are a writer

artybear

BTW Brazil was pretty good tonight, but OMG at the french team.....they are heading home I think

artybear

p.p.s watch Jonathan Ros, Al Green sings and is AMAZING and some Glee people are on too!!!!!