Nice People Thread Number 11 - A Treasury of Nice People

neverdespairgirl

I didn't know you could freeze them. My Mama makes endless marmalade in January, and the whole house smells gloriously of oranges and lemons for weeks, but that's her lot, she uses them all fresh. I just asked her, she makes 250lb to 300lb a year.

zagubov

Tahlullah wrote: »

What a fantastic site. So much to read. This will keep me entertained for the rest of the day.

Great to hear that Pump 2 is working so well today...

Glad you like it-
I used to have a workmate from Chicago and she put me onto it. :beer:

Sadly the Onion has started charging us goshdarn foreignors for accessing it but if you've got one of those proxy services you may not be too concerned.:D

Yorkie1

If all else fails, and you run out of marmalade, you can always resort to Ma Made mix; Mum's used it for years to avoid having to prepare the oranges from scratch and Dad certainly hasn't complained (and he's a bit of a marmalade connoisseur).

zagubov

michaels wrote: »

Yep, seem to have grown into it rather than out of it. As a child/teenager I was majorly exposed all the time and no problems, I reckon mid 20s I started to sneeze a bit when concentrations were really high (we are talking cutting the grass under fruit trees when it was really dry dusty) but not really a problem. Since early 30s it has been a problem and seemingly worse each year.

Sounds familiar. I had no allergies nor sympathy for people that had them till I went to live in Nikksterville. The yellow fields worked their wicked magic on me and I'm only avoiding it now by living (as God intended) in built-up areas.:)

Apropos of nothing, any NPs know Maidstone in Kent at all?

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Lydia, I wonder if the forthcoming inquest is playing on your mind and generating some of these burn out feelings?

Thank you silvercar. However, since I've felt like this by the end of just about every school holidays for the last lots of years, I doubt that last week's inquest development has much to do with it. I am in fact quite looking forward to the inquest as a rest from my usual responsibilities, at least during the weekdays.

Spirit wrote: »

Lydia it does sound quite sad. Have you had a Consultant opinion and advice on what can help you? I know mental health problems take many guises,

When I was depressed I did not feel hopeless and sad. It was a lowering of mood. It sucked my energy and motivation away and despite a Psychiatrists diagnosis I would not accept that I was depressed. In the end it made me agrophobic/ created social anxieties..well disguised as I made it to work, however had all sorts of ways of avoiding many other situations/excursions.

I had CBT which helped a bit but the turning point for me was when I finally accepted I was depressed and then agreed to anti depressants. That took time but brought the depression to an end and I came off them.

Spirit, if I thought it was depression I would take antidepressants. However, the medical consensus so far is that antidepressants wouldn't help. I am told that they even everything out, so that you do not feel the lows, but do not feel the highs either. But that is precisely my problem - I already do not feel much of a high or a low about anything. Most of the time I would not describe my mood as low at all, just exhausted. I am in a bad mood today because I am fed up, but I don't think I get like that particularly often.

I've done multi-item questionnaires about depression, and scored as not at all depressed. Similar questionnaires about burnout ring alarm bells. I've seen my GP, and an occupational health nurse through work, who's seen dozens of cases of burnout and even more of depression, and they both say this isn't depression and antidepressants wouldn't help. Which is IMO a pity because there is no pharmacological help for burnout. Burnout is linked to cortisol levels being too low, whereas depression is linked to cortisol levels being too high, as far as I can gather.

The OH nurse made school discuss ways of lessening my stress at work, which they were very helpful about - getting in early in the morning was the only significant thing that work was contributing to my stress levels so they've guaranteed me no lessons before 9:20am until DD goes to secondary school. The rest of my stressors are not work-related so there's nothing work can do about them.

The GP said I needed talking therapy with a counsellor, but said I was essentially too functional to be able to get any help on the NHS, so I am seeing a counsellor through a local charity that only asks you to pay what you can afford. I like her and find her easy to talk to, so we'll see how things go.

SingleSue wrote: »

I can relate completely to a lot of what you have posted as it was similar to how I was when I had my breakdown in 2005 caused by exhaustion, extreme stress and depression.

I too was cut off from adult interaction, in the early days because of the boys, their difficulties scared old friends away and even though I had a husband, he didn't understand depression (he said it wasn't real and was only used as an excuse to get out of work) and when it came to the boys, he didn't really want to know about their disabilities (he was in complete denial) or to take part in their therapies/appointments/medical tests etc. In his mind, it was a parenting issue...my parenting issue and all they needed was a good clout and that would sort everything out, everything else was just namby pamby.

Anyway, I found what really helped was talking to people via MSN. Online contacts had worked out that when I was low, I tended to disappear from forums or would go quiet socially and avoid people, basically because my self worth was so low I didn't think anyone would want to talk to me plus also my feeling of not wanting to 'put upon' other people. Once they worked this out, they made a concerted effort to get me to talk, initially via MSN (they worked out that even when I had it as showing offline, I was generally online but hiding), then in the flesh at speedway meetings.

Those talks quite literally saved my life, without them, well, the outcome would have been very different. We didn't even talk about how I was feeling, it was just normal stuff e.g speedway, current news, the weather...the normal boring run of the mill stuff that people talk about but it took my mind off the bad stuff.

So talk away, it really does help and helps to make you feel less isolated. It still helps me and keeps the black moods at bay reading about what all the other NP's are doing...although I will still withdraw from posting when things are really hitting, it keeps me going/distracts just reading.

Thank you for understanding, Sue. Fortunately I don't usually react by disappearing from forums! I totally agree that the NPT makes me feel a LOT less isolated than I would be without it.

Thank you, all of you NP!

neverdespairgirl

Will delete the ones with more identifiable details, so don't quote:

Sister #1 at work hosing down horse kit, Bruv and Isaac playing football:

neverdespairgirl

zagubov wrote: »

Sounds familiar. I had no allergies nor sympathy for people that had them till I went to live in Nikksterville. The yellow fields worked their wicked magic on me and I'm only avoiding it now by living (as God intended) in built-up areas.:)

Apropos of nothing, any NPs know Maidstone in Kent at all?

Fairly well. I'm about 10 miles from it in parents' place ATM. How can I help?

lemonjelly

zagubov wrote: »

Glad I mowed the lawn yesterday. It's tipping it down here as well. Had to go to the shops and only the local gargae was open (and mobbed).

The Avalanches were my Aussie fave band (before that it was Men At Work)

Nikkster wrote: »

I'm sure I've got their first album somewhere (probably on mini disc :cool:). I should try and find it. And bring back my stereo (think it's going to live in the will-be-dining room).

The Avalanches album is superb. The year it came out, they were everywhere.

The wait for their now infamous 2nd album continues. It has been mooted every year for the last 4 & still hasn't materialised.

lemonjelly

Doozergirl wrote: »

Mmmm.... With too much butter and blackcurrant jam

vivatifosi wrote: »

Surely you mean raspberry jam... specifically this one:


yummmmmmmmmmmm

No, DG was right first time. Blackcurrant, for the yummy tang!

Nikkster wrote: »

Cherry jam for me please.

Or marmite

I think we have just hit a major stumbling block...:eek:;)

lemonjelly

Masomnia wrote: »

As far as I'm concerned, cheese on toast with some tomato ketchup on top is 'pizza'.

Oh and Gen, I will definitely try the lavender with ratatouille thing!

Now you've graduated, surely you can progress to cheese & tomato puree on toast. Luxury pizza!