Isabella Binder

Wonderful thread! Thank you for the opportunity to share my gratitude today.

I am grateful for my partner, who just managed to finish his first week of a new job without too much struggle. He wasn't working in a payed job for more than three years due to mental problems. He did volunteer though in this time. We found a little bit of an unusual place where he can be open about his difficulties with stress and other issues. It's still a long way to go for him but the first step is done. He did a great job and I am very proud of him to come that far in the last years.

It's a wonderful thread, thank you so much for all the stories. I would like to share my experiences as well.
I went braless almost by accident when I was 16 on my first holidays under the Greek sun. I never had such a bad sunburn since. My nose had blisters and it was impossible to wear a bra or anything tight on my shoulders for days. I wore a bra since I was twelve, I felt like a grown up with it. What I didn't realize until then that I actually felt more comfortable without. So I never wore one again, except on an occasion or two. Now I am 37 and I never think about it. Just this thread brought up the memory that there was something a long time constricting me. I do wear tops as an undershirt and when I go out a cardigan to cover up if my nipples do decide to stand straight. I had a few uncomfortable situation when I was younger, men starring at me and it just gives me more ease to be able to cover up. I never had an issue with sweat or stickiness. It just belongs to me and I guess I got used to it.
Another time I was buying new clothes and found this wonderful red dress to wear for fancy occasions. Only at home I did realize the label said it was maternity. I giggled about myself and enjoyed the dress. The clue was with it, you could make it tighter or looser around the belly with a band. When I was out, I could eat as much as I liked and simply loosen the dress to be still comfortable with a bigger belly.
For years now all my clothes are baggy and loose, second hand and hand overs, I alter and mend everything to my needs. I do look most of the time like I have 10kg more than I actually do and quite boyish. I feel comfortable and if someone doesn't like the look of me, can divert their gaze:)

In Vienna my grandmother makes Eiernockerl, translated something like egg spatzle. There are no measurements in her kitchen when she taught me. She puts flour into a bowl, adds some salt and a bit of oil, two or three eggs and mixes it up until it becomes a very sticky dough. Very much like in the other descriptions. Into a pot with boiling saltwater she puts the Nockerl with a teaspoon. First the spoon gets dipped into to hot water, a bit of dough cut out with the teaspoon and immersed into the water. She repeats this process until the surface is covered. After 4 minutes they are ready to be ladled out. The next batch goes in. My grannie is very fast at it, and they are very similar in size. After 70 years of practice mine will be perfect too;)
Then she fries them with some butter in a pan, adds another few eggs and scrambles the eggs around the Nockerl. Salt and pepper on top- ready to eat. Delicious and quick meal (at least when my grandmother cooks it).
Traditionally in a vienesse pub you get them with goulash and without the scrambled egg.

Reading this post I recalled how much I loved playing board games as a child and still in my twenties... Thanks for sharing all this nice recommendations!
I would like to share Cluedo. We had the classic version in my childhood and later on I found by chance Cluedo The Simpsons Version. We had many evenings with hilarious laughter about who killed whom with a doughnut.
For two I liked to play Abalone. Strategy and I liked the click, click of the balls, I found that very soothing.
Also Backgammon because you can be silent and just enjoy the company or you have a little chat with it.
For the gardeners might be Bohnanza, a card game, something funny. It's about soya beans and blackeye beans that need to traded and collected. Good fun for a bigger group up to seven people, especially with kids.

Hi Lucy, we are three hours from Gdansk towards the side of Germany.

My partner is in the autistic spectrum and he needed to quit his stressful job and move to the country side to find some peace of mind. Doing something with his hands is definitely working for him. The most he likes working with wood (chopping, sawing, building) and electrics. Anything he can be exact and precise. Also working with animals is good for him. Social etiquette, people talking round about and saying one thing and meaning the other are really hard for him to understand. Animals are straight forward and rewarding. He loves gardening but has no idea how to keep a garden. Simply tasks like weeding, pruning, filling a raised bed and cleaning a brambel batch are great outdoor work. It takes us time to figure what he likes to do. And every day is different. But the journey is the goal...
With his diet we are now gluten free and sugar free. The gluten make him cloudy in the mind and the sugar headaches. He has a lot of digestive issues but for some time now it works well with cooked buckwheat for breakfast instead of porridge. I bake all our bread, cakes etc and mostly we avoid shop bought gluten free products.
As a hobby he chose photography and he puts a lot of effort into one picture/project. He studies light and shadow and many other aspects of this art. He has some social contact on FB with photography groups and permaculture groups.
These are the three main points in his approach to his version of autism to lead a content life. Daily job on our new farm, diet and creativity/social contact/art project.

For headaches and migraines the fresh herb of feverfew worked the best for me (and many others I helped with a sandwich or some tea). I received this tip from a lovely Welsh herbalist on a week long course with her in Ireland. Many other recipes as well but this is the one for headaches.

Sandwich: take any soft bread, butter it and put some fresh leaves of feverfew on it. This version you can even freeze and have it handy in the winter time. Take a small sandwich every few hours until the pain seizes. Usually it doesn't take more than one sandwich.
Tea: pour some hot water on two or three feverfew leaves and infuse for 10 minutes. The dried herb doesn't work as well as the fresh one though.

It is a very strong and bitter taste but worth it to get rid of the headache. Get well soon!

We like to use Gomashio. Its made of ten parts dry roasted sesame seeds and one part salt, ground coarsely in pestle and mortar (or in the kitchen machine). Store in a jar and use like salt. Its a wonderful smell we do love in our dishes... It's part of the Japanese kitchen and sprinkled all over salads and sushi. I even put it sometimes on my porridge. Salt in porridge is more the Scots style though...

I have the simple recipe for tumeric paste and I use it almost every day. Tumeric works as natural inflammatory for me and I take a teaspoon of the paste when my joints ache. An elderly friend uses it for years for her arthritis in the knees. It makes the pain bearable for her. When a cold is knocking at my door I take it. Haven't had a cold for the last year now. The only runny nose I had in some time is when eating curry (with a lot of tumeric). In general I add tumeric to a lot of my cooking. Grains like rice, stews and soups, fried vegetables. It goes better with some veggies than others. Just give it a try what works for you. As far as I experience it using it in cooking isn't as strong as using it like a treatment.

Tumeric paste: 1 teaspoon of ground tumeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of soft coconut oil and 1 tablespoon of honey, mix in a jar. Take a teaspoon as it is or dissolve in hot water as a drink. I take one or two teaspoons a day regularly. With a bad cold I would take up to 4 spoons a day.
The paste is even popular with kids because its quite sweet. Another one for kids is to add it to some hot chocolate.
I got the recipe years ago from a wonderful Irish woman, who got it from her Japanese grandmother. It is the most precious natural healing treatment for me.

I make my own toothpaste and tumeric is added to keep my gums healthy. They like to hurt sometime.
Toothpaste: 2 tablespoons of soft coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of bread soda, 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric powder, a few drops of essential oil like peppermint or sage, mix in a jar and use a very small amount for brushing teeth.

A Mauritian cook told me once his families treatment for sprains and strains. He grates fresh tumeric and puts it with a bandage around the treated area. All textiles and surfaces get terribly yellow though with fresh root and doesn't wash out. Please be careful where you put it.

This tonic recipe is a bit strong for me but maybe someone else finds it useful...
Mix in apple cider vinegar (with the mother) some fresh chopped garlic, onion, chili, ginger root and tumeric root in a jar with lid. Shake every few days and leave for 6 weeks in a dark, cold place. Strain after and take tablespoons as desired. The mix of the roots can be dried after and added to curries and stews.

An English lady I knew swore on steeping fresh tumeric root in hot water for some time. It's a lovely golden liquid in the end and she drank it every day.

Stay healthy and well!