Belle

ex, on the thread "Reasons Why People Join or Leave TWI"

ex, I think that's beautifully profound and so true. :) I also think it's "gem worthy".

I think he's just showing how socially inept he is.

Awesome! Sounds like a great read. :)

Is this it? The Ohio State Song Beautiful Ohio words by Ballard MacDonald and music by Mary Earl special lyrics by Wilbert B. McBride I sailed away; Wandered afar; Crossed the mighty restless sea; Looked for where I ought to be. Cities so grand, mountains above, Led to this land I love. CHORUS: Beautiful Ohio, where the golden grain Dwarf the lovely flowers in the summer rain. Cities rising high, silhouette the sky. Freedom is supreme in this majestic land; Mighty factories seem to hum in tune, so grand. Beautiful Ohio, thy wonders are in view, Land where my dreams all come true! or this? The original words to "Beautiful Ohio" follow: Long, long time ago Someone I know Had a little red canoe, In it room for only two. Love found its start Then in my heart, And like a flower grew. CHORUS: Drifting with the current down a moonlit stream, While above the Heavens in their glory gleam, And the stars on high Twinkle in the sky, Seeming in a paradise divine, Dreaming of a pair of eyes that looked in mine. Beautiful Ohio, in dreams again I see Visons of what used to be.

Abi, the more I learn from you about the Jewish religion, the more I like the way they think, what they teach and practice. Thank you for sharing what you know with us. :)

Thanks, y'all! I guess my spending is about average. It sure seemed outrageous to me. I remember when I first got married we tried to keep our groceries under $80/week, then it was under $100/week then $150/week.... That was just for two of us and only two years ago. I can't buy tons of stuff in bulk from Costco, Sams and BJ's since it's just me. Storage and things going bad before I get to them are the biggest problems with that. But I can see how it's great for families. I just wish fresh, colored bell peppers were as cheap as Ramen Noodles. Bramble, that's cool that you have a friend who shares the game meat with you. I have tons of oranges and grapefruits on my trees right now that I have to get ride of soon because it's almost time for them to blossom again. Wish we were close enough, or shipping were cheap enough for me to share or trade with you. SafariVista & Bliss, I tried juicing for a while, but it's so darn expensive to buy the fruits and veggies for such a small amount of juice. I actually think DMiller gave me advice on the best juicer one night in the chat room.

DADGUMMIT, SUSHI I've been stuck on this thing for dang near an hour now. Like I needed something else to distract me from work. <_< :P :lol: :P

I guess I won't complain about the 48 degrees we got down to last night. *duck*

Good for both of you!! That's incredible!! Thanks for sharing this, Ron. Inspiring.

NOW you've got my attention! THAT would be something.... ^_^ :P

You're going fishing again, aren't you, Jonny? I'll miss your stories and I'll miss your wonderful presence here. Hopefully, you'll bring the family down to play tourist sometime. You, the missus & the kiddos are always welcome at Chez Belle. Enjoy, my friend. :)

I know I was never like this! BUT, thought some of you parents might enjoy reading it anyway..... Teenage Daughter Copyright 2004 W. Bruce Cameron Please do not remove the copyright from this essay. Congratulations! You are now the proud new owner of a teenaged daughter. Please read this manual carefully, as it describes the maintenance of your new daughter, and answers important questions about your warranty (which does NOT include the right to return the product to the factory for a full refund). IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE RECEIVED YOUR TEENAGER IN ERROR: To determine whether you were supposed to receive a teenaged girl, please examine your new daughter carefully. Does she (a) look very similar to your original daughter, only with more makeup and less clothing? (b) refuse to acknowledge your existence on the planet Earth (except when requesting money)? © sleep in a burrow of dirty laundry? If any of these are true, you have received the correct item. Nice try, though. BREAK-IN PERIOD: When you first receive your teenaged daughter, you will initially experience a high level of discomfort. Gradually, this discomfort will subside, and you will merely feel traumatized. This is the "Break-In Period," during which you are becoming accustomed to certain behaviors that will cause you concern, anxiety, and stress. Once you have adapted to these behaviors, your teenager will start acting even worse. ACTIVATION: To activate your teenaged daughter, simply place her in the vicinity of a telephone. No further programming is required. SHUTDOWN: Several hours a after activation, you may desire to shut down your teenaged daughter. There is no way to do this. CLEANING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Having a teenaged daughter means learning the difference between the words "clean" and "neat." Teenaged daughters are very clean, because they take frequent showers that last more than an hour. They will scrub themselves with expensive, fragrant soaps which you must purchase for them because like I'm sure I'm going to use like the same kind of soap my mom and dad use. When they have completely drained the hot-water tank, they will step out and wrap themselves in every towel in the bathroom, which they will subsequently strew throughout the house. If you ask them to pick up the towels, you are confusing "clean" with "neat." Teenagers are very busy and do not have time to be neat. They expect others to pick up after them. These others are called "parents." FEEDING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Your teenaged daughter requires regular meals, which must be purchased for her at restaurants because she detests everything you eat because it is like so disgusting. She does not want you to accompany her to these restaurants, because some people might see you and like I'm sure I want my friends to see me eating dinner with my parents. Either order take-out food or just give her the money, preferably both. If you order pizza, never answer the doorbell because the delivery boy might see you and ohmigod he is so hot. Yes, your daughter's idea of an attractive man is the pizza boy. CLOTHING YOUR TEENAGED DAUGHTER: Retailers make millions of dollars a year selling stylish and frankly sensible clothing which will look adorable on your daughter. If you enjoy shopping, you will love the vast selections which are available to you. Unfortunately, your teenaged daughter wants to dress like a lap dancer. You may be ab le to coerce her into putting on a cute outfit before leaving the house, but by the time she walks in the schoolhouse door, she will be wearing something entirely different. OTHER MAINTENANCE: Teenaged daughters require one of two levels of maintenance: "High," and "Ultra High." Your daughter is "Ultra High." This means that whatever you do won't be enough and whatever you try won't work. WARRANTY: This product is not without defect because she has your genes, for heaven's sake. If you think this is not fair, talk to your parents, who think it is hilarious. Your teenaged daughter will remain a teenager for as long as it takes for her to become a woman, which in her opinion has already happened and as far as you are concerned never really will. If you are dissatisfied with your teenaged daughter, well, what did you expect? In any event, your warranty does not give you your little girl back under any circumst ances, except that deep down she's actually still there -- you just have to look for her.

How much do you spend on groceries and how healthy do you eat? I know Vegan, Pipes, SafariVista and others follow a pretty healthy lifestyle. I'm currently on Jenny Craig, so I buy their pre-packaged meals for about $60/week - I then spend another $10-20/week on fresh produce and milk. I try to buy at the farmer's market and the roadside stands, but know that's not a year round option for you northerners. Eventually I'll be buying my own food completely as that's the goal of the JC program. What's the cheapest way to eat healthy?

:lol: :P :lol:

Reasons why people joined: To have the corner market on "the truth" To learn the word like it hadn't been taught since the first century To have all the answers To get that "more abundant" life that was promised Ego & Pride Reasons why people left: To live the life you thought you'd be living when you got involved Nobody acknowledges that you have the corner market on "the truth" Others have also learned things that hadn't been taught since the first century - and they were never in TWI Having all the answers comes with a really high price If the right answer doesn't seem right it takes a lot of work to make it fit You're not allowed to question the answers Cleaning leadership homes and never having a spare minute to yourself gets old Realizing that you're less and less "normal" gets rather unsettling To achieve financial security Desire for privacy and autonomy

Wanderer, posted about calling an old girlfriend and his description of their conversation got me to thinking about how "odd" I/we must have seemed to "normal" people. It's one thing to tell people about your "church" but another to bring every conversation around to a teaching about the Bible and your group. I know that for a time, I felt uncomfortable in groups of people who weren't in TWI. I didn't know what to say, how to act and really just felt like an oddball. Oddly enough, when we'd try to have a "party" with our fellowship or branch it was also odd. People would come to the party expecting to be on a schedule and idle chit chat, generic chatter never happened. People were so afraid of saying something that might get them in trouble or be considered inappropriate. It sounds like many people who get involved with TWI and some of the offshoots buy what they're selling hook line & sinker and only live for "the ministry" - they become socially retarded. They turn their lives over to these people and there's so much censoring of our thoughts, beliefs and time that people really don't continue to develop and they quit thinking for themselves. They're almost catatonic in the social sense. They don't know how to talk about anything but "the Word" according to TWI, even current event topics are discussed in light of the latest teaching from HQ.

Tom, if I had known which hotel room had the cold beer, you can betcher WOW burger I'd have been there. Actually, since I got involved in 1993, the legalism was pretty much in full swing by then. I only knew people from Orlando and they weren't that much fun to begin with - I couldn't see spending so much time putting up with them under those circumstances and the idea of meeting more people just like them wasn't all that appealing either. Johniam seems to have nothing the he didn't like about the ROA and thinks he was in a different cult. I'm just thinking maybe his rose colored glasses protected him from all the rain, mud, lack of sleep, port o potty detail, etc...

Wanderer, Welcome to the cafe!!! First round's on me. I'm sorry you went to all that trouble only to get shot down. It sounds like what happens with so many people who get involved with TWI and the offshoots, buy what they're selling hook line & sinker and only live for "the ministry" - they become socially retarded. They turn their lives over to these people and there's so much censoring of our thoughts, beliefs and time that people really don't continue to develop and they quit thinking for themselves. They're almost catatonic in the social sense. That's a great idea for a thread..... Mark, you sound like me in that you maybe never really had any "true" or "good" friends in TWI to begin with. There are very, very few people I knew while involved with TWI whom I would give one whit about contacting. I'd venture to say that nearly everyone I knew in TWI was only interested in my so-called "friendship" as long as I was towing the company line. They weren't real friends in the first place, so why would I want to try to be friends with them now? BUT, I do think that there are a lot of people who got involved at such a young age or who, because of the lack of legalism early on, really did connect and make true, deep, caring friendships. And some who thought they did. And some who did, but the other parties became so sold out to TWI that they totally became a different person.

Naw, John, I just think some folks left their rose-colored glasses at home. I never went to one. They were canceled shortly after I got involved. From what I heard about them even back then, I was really glad that I would never have to come up with excuses NOT to go. Never anything I cared to be a part of.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO YOU, SETH!!! I hope it's a RIP ROARING GOOD TIME!

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, SHELLON!!!! Wear your jammies all day!! I hope you're treated like royalty today!

Its Busted, I'm so sorry! I try to be around to buy the first cuppa joe or danish for our new visitors. Please, accept this cup with my apologies.

Well, I for one, am very upset!! There were nothing but prudes in my area! Sheesh.......