Roll Call

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
Roll Call
18
Fri, 08-11-2006 - 8:36am

Hey there everyone. I've been lurking around this board since October (after a vegan cooking class reawakened my vegetarianism), but there's plenty of membernames I don't recognize. Let's introduce ourselves :)


I'm Joelle. Live in mid-Michigan with my dh, my almost 8 year old son, dh's longtime friend, and a housefull of pets (a python, a cornsnake, a crocodile gecko, a betta, a musk turtle, and a lab/English mastiff mix dog). Most of them are rescues. We hope to get into a house in the country eventually, which will mean an increase in pets. My ds desperately wants a Sheltie puppy, I still want a malamute, and my dh would like an American mastiff (they've been bred not to drool as much as bull or English mastiffs).


On parenting, we're attachment parenting homeschoolers. I tried out 3 semesters of public school kindergarten and just wasn't impressed, happy. ds, who loves to learn and regularly asks to "do school" on Saturdays now that we're homeschoolers, was stressed. I'm not raising my ds specifically to be a vegetarian. After all, he's lived through about 7 years of me eating meat and with his past eating issues (had periods of time where he was eating so little ped. told me to give him 3 cans of pediasure a day) I'm not willing to make it an issue. He does tend to follow me into vegetarian eating probably 8 out of 10 times anyway. It seems I'm always moving a little more towards holistic, green living though often I feel out of place because I can't stand the outdoors. I'm allergic to the sun so trips out require lots of planning, if they're likely to be for more than 10 mins

Love and Light,
Joelle, homeschooling mom to a 7yr old hydrogen molecule


Homeschool chat:
Sunday night from 9-11p in the PP Sunroom
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=iv-ppsunroom&nav=start

Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-03-2006
In reply to: cl_finian
Fri, 08-11-2006 - 6:56pm
Hi everyone! I am Tracie, my DH is Dave, DS Frankie is 28(he is adopted)DD Courtney Faith is 6 and DD Savannah Grace is 5, we live in Westlake, Ohio with a houseful of pets that allow us a little space here in their home because someone has to drive to the store to buy pet food! I have been a vegetarian for about 3 yrs or so, DH and the kiddo's are mostly vegetarians as well. I have diabetes so the veg lifestyle has been healthy for me. Looking forward to meeting everyone! Tracie

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Avatar for finian
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: cl_finian
Fri, 08-11-2006 - 7:24pm

welcome tracie. what kinds of pets do you have?


if you don't mind me asking, were you diagnosed with diabetes before or after you became vegetarian? I've heard claims that a vegan diet can reduce even eliminate problems associated with diabetes

love & light
Joelle, homeschooling mom to a 7yr old hydrogen molecule :D


Do You Homeschool???


please join me at our chat :)


Sunday at 9-11pm ET in the PP Sunroom
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppsunroom/chat


Hope to see you there!!


Love and Light, Joelle

Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.




Follow me to these boards:


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-03-2006
In reply to: cl_finian
Fri, 08-11-2006 - 11:46pm
Our very spoiled princess of a dog is a Basset hound,her name is Dottie, the cat is a medium length haired mostly white kitty with BIG green eyes and calico markings, her name is Akio. Thumper is our grey and white Dutch bunny, Zippety is our Siberian Dwarf hamster, and Salt and Pepper are the gerbils. Our Parakeet is Tweety...I think that is all of them! LOL!
I was diagnosed with diabetes about 13 yrs ago, so way before I was a vegetarian. I am not vegan but it easier to control my sugars when I am eating the way I should, it is amazing how much junk food I can find without meat in it sometimes! I think if I was really watching my diet I could be in alot better control of my sugars, and I am sure that eating a vegan and or raw diet would be great, but I have to admit to being to lazy to do it! Tracie

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-15-2000
In reply to: cl_finian
Sat, 08-12-2006 - 12:09am
Hi Joelle, I'm so glad you have become the cl for this board. I've been lurking hoping there would be one soon. I used to come here once in awhile a long time ago and am glad to be back. My name is Rose and it's just me and my DH, all the kids are grown (6, three are his, three are mine) and we have 7 grandchildren. We have 2 dogs, Mable is an Australian shepherd/blue healer cross, Lil' Bit is I don't know what and we have 3 male siamese cross cats, Mud, Bud (my DH named these 2) and Mr. Finch, a gray female cat JuneBug and a white cat that came here as a stray 6 years ago. I live in northern Idaho and am assistant libraian in our small community library. I have been an on again off again vegetarian, it's been hard because no one else in my family is and they just don't seem to understand my wanting to live a vegetarian life. I almost went back to eating meat because I'm trying to lose weight (it's been a real struggle), so I thought maybe I wasn't getting enough protein and from what I've been reading you need protein along with the weightbearing exercise to boost your metabolism. I'm 53 and going through perimenopause and it seems your metabolism slows down a lot at this time in life. Anyway, I'm staying veggie, will just try to make sure I get enough daily protein. Any suggestions are welcome. Rose

Poetry contains almost all you need to know about life

--Josephine Hart

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
In reply to: cl_finian
Sat, 08-12-2006 - 7:34am

Ah I love basset hounds, but my dh says no hounds of any sort lol. Hamsters and gerbils :) I'm holding out to start having them again, and guinea pigs, once we're in our own house again and not sharing an aparment.


Junk food can be hard. My mom screws up her blood sugar almost every trip she takes. I think she's finally taking some sort of medication for her diabetes but she hasn't gotten to the point where her doctor put her on insulin. I know I should get my diet alot better. If I could just keep from even becoming full diabetic would be good. I need to get on insurance and get a fasting blood sugar test done. We've tried using my mom blood glucose monitor when I was visiting, but my eating (and sugar level) was too erractic over the weekend to make any sense of it.

Love and Light,
Joelle, homeschooling mom to an almost

Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
In reply to: cl_finian
Sat, 08-12-2006 - 7:51am

Thanks for the welcome Rose :) I'd too been lurking and I found it sad the board was without a cl for so long. I've finally come to a place in homeschooling where I feel confidant enough what we're doing to help out. I quit cl-ing 3 boards when I brought my son home from public school so I could figure out what I was doing.


Oh Mable must be such a gorgeous dog. I love the Australian shepherds and I can't imagine them being mixed with anything that would make them less pretty.


It certainly can be hard to be the only vegetarian in the family. I went to Mongolian bbq with my family yesterday. I was the only vegetarian. I ended up getting placed away from my family with 3 friends of mine from the SDA church who happened to be there celebrating a bday. At least my son's gotten to the point that he understands at places like that why I might not be standing near him. It was good to see tho; the chef had a pair of cooking paddles placed aside as there were at least 4 vegetarians at the restaurant while I was there.


Is your doctor supportive of vegetarianism? maybe he/she could help with diet suggestions since I'm guessing your protein needs would be different than

Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-03-2006
In reply to: cl_finian
Sat, 08-12-2006 - 11:08pm
If your pancreas is working as it should be then no matter what you eat your sugars should fall in the normal range! If you are seeing either high numbers or to low then that indicates there is a problem and you need to get in to see a Dr. as soon as possible! I do not have insurance right now either so I know how hard it is to afford all the basics, but you should get that sugar checked as soon as you can. Tracie

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
In reply to: cl_finian
Sun, 08-13-2006 - 7:11am
I'm watching at Meijers. They had a fasting test for $4. When I saw that, I couldn't even afford that, but I'm sure it'll repeat. Just need to ask at the pharmacy I bet :)

Love and Light,
Joelle, homeschooling mom to an almost

Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-29-2005
In reply to: cl_finian
Sun, 08-13-2006 - 11:25am

My name is Amy and I am a teacher for medically fragile preschoolers, married for 7 yrs to DH, a artist and stay at home dad. We have a boston terrier, 3 cats, chinchilla and fish. All but the fish are rescue animals. The boys love the cats and my oldest has his heart set on a bird. If anyone has advise on how to safely have a bird in a houseful of cats I'm all ears!

Our boys are adopted as toddlers and thus they have special needs for things like play therapy, medication, love and logic parenting, etc. They do well in a very structured environment where the rules and daily format is clear to them. They do NOT like suprises! Our ultimate goal is to move our modular home on land, have more adopted kiddos and pets.

The boys have a lot of our intrests such as role playing and comic books. Rodney (6) is in ice skating and Davy (5) is in swim class. We are trying to be green with organic gardening, recycling and simple living but we still have a lot of work to do in that area.

Amy aka Rodney and Davy's Mama

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-14-2003
In reply to: cl_finian
Sun, 08-13-2006 - 12:03pm

Hey Amy. good to see you at the board again :)


Two boards that may help with the bird/cat mixture in the house: Fins & Feathers http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ptfish

Love and Light, Joelle
Homeschooling mom to a 11yr old hydrogen molecule.

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