Ohhh before I forget - make sure you know your password before PC changes over to the new site. I didn't realise I didn't even know my password and the email address that I had stored on here is years old and I don't even use it anymore. I'm auto logged on to PC so I never have to enter those details.

Yeah I've heard of the star of Bethlehem. That's tonight here! But it's like at 1:00am and there's no way I can set my alarm and disrupt my sleep like that. I just won't function. I'm still oversleeping as it is. As for my son he hasn't really had much of an afternoon nap for 2 days now. Discovered when I picked him up from daycare that he has hand foot mouth disease. Ughhhh. Let's see how he is before Christmas. This is about his 4th round and I've never caught it so here's hoping!

Yes I agree it's so weird how close our lives are! In another world we could have been teaching at the same school! I seriously wonder if anyone at my work has BP and I just don't know about it. They say the statistics are 1 in 100 or maybe it's 2 in 100 I'm not sure. I don't know of anyone though.

Now I seem to remember why I never watched handmaids tail when I first heard about it. I couldn't find it on Netflix Australia at the time but it's worthwhile me having another look. I was going to do some Netflix watching today but before I knew it time was gone and I was picking up my son from daycare. :/ That's when I discovered the hand foot mouth. I'm jumping around 2 paragraphs here but let me know if you do see that star!

I'm a caffeine addict I think! I don't do anything in the morning without my first cup of coffee. I just don't function at all. Before I went all hypo then manic I could literally have a cup of coffee before bed then pass out. Although I've read somewhere that caffeine absorption is affected by smoking so I think that must be true. I never finish a cup in one sitting I'm constantly reheating it in the microwave. I have some quirky habits I reckon.

Glad to hear your husband has been engaging in slightly more conversation with you today. That's a great step forward, even if it's a small one. Onwards and upwards in slow steps. It will get there but it does take time.

What are your usual hours over there? I see your daughter was up last night way later than my son but I think that's because you start later than I do. I leave at 6:30am to get to work at 7:30am but school doesn't start until 9:00. That's because I have an arrangement to finish at 3:00pm everyday instead of 4:30 like everyone else. It gives me more time to spend with my son because the peak hour traffic is nuts. So he's normally asleep by 7:00pm and up around 6:00am. My partner drops him off at daycare every day so that helps.

Ha kids and technology! At least your daughter can navigate your iPhone. My son accidentally closes apps and then just yells at me to get it back on. And he also hates the phone being in my hand. If he sees it he thinks it's his. I'm not sure about my son being a genius I think it's more that I put too many counting songs on TV when he was younger! And they stop at 20 so that's as high as he can go. Although I'm trying to teach him multiples of 10 like 10, 20, 30 but he keeps interrupting me and saying 100! So we're not getting anywhere with that.

Where I live is pretty flat too with houses and some trees. Nothing spectacular. They're doing a lot of development around here so whilst there are some older houses a lot of them are getting bashed down for new houses to be rebuilt. It's a sought after area because the high school here is brilliant. It's the main reason my ex husband and I moved into the suburb in 2011 because we wanted our kids to go to a good high school. We bought a house here together but with the divorce we sold it. I don't own property but my partner does. We rent and he leases out his place because I don't want to move my kids to the school in his suburb. Plus the crime there is higher. There's virtually nothing here. I mean there is a little bit, but nothing to write home about. Touch wood.

Yeah my principal told me in 2009 that he had a breakdown. I'm not sure what that means exactly. Like did he have time off work or what. He asked me in the last week if I really wanted to do coordinating or not in 2011. I felt a bit offended. It's like he's expecting me to fail. Okay I think his main investment in the question would be that he's worried about the impact on the team if I fail hard again and have to take time off work. He said to me if I need a break and I'm struggling I must let him know. But selfishly I think, if someone steps into my position whilst I'm on leave and they do a good job, they will become my direct competition in 2022 because they could apply for the position. I know it's backwards thinking but that's just how it is.

Oh those rapid thoughts when we are manic can be very distracting so I can see how you couldn't quite get a book done in 1 weeks! During my height of mania I could honestly only understand 1 sentence in an email, usually the first one, then I could absolutely not pay attention and had no idea what people were saying. Nothing made sense and I just couldn't hold on to a train of thought long enough. You starting to write a book even whilst depressed might be a good thing. It will help distract you and take your mind off what you are feeling. And it's a great outlet. Good luck at your pdoc appointment in a few days! I hope they can help. I cried today just thinking about all of this crap that I've been through this year and then I thought damnit stop the tears because you need to go pick up your son. I think I need a really good sob.

Ohhh well as for my messages from God. Okay look clearly I'm not manic right now so I KNOW what I thought was bollox. But it was basically that the 2nd Coming (if you have a religious background you'd know what that means) was already happening here on earth and I was one of a few chosen 'disciples' (I have no other word of it) who had the closest connection to God and it was through my actions and me being a teacher that everyone would get to know the word of God. Yikes. I don't know if I dreamt much when I was manic because I barely slept. I probably had nightmares that I just don't remember. Last week I woke up (pretty sure I told you this) after a dream where the assistant principal who resigned had suddenly turned up to work. This was right before he resigned because that was always my greatest fear.

I'm pretty sure I have PTSD and that's what caused my mania which was caused by the entire assistant principal. I just get triggers left right and centre.I'm going to have to do some googling to see how to desensitise my triggers because they didn't exist before this episode. Or they certainly didn't exist on this magnitude just more of fleeting thought in the back of my mind.

Do you have any pets? I've got 2 dogs and 1 cat. I had 3 dogs but my Maltese passed away suddenly from a heart attack about 2 months ago.That was a shock because she was only 11 years old but my vet said that they are prone to that. Sorry if I've asked these questions before. Sometimes I can't remember what I've said in the chatrooms before or what I've typed on this thread. I'd go back and read it but I would now be on chapter 10 of this novel I'd get another dog in a heartbeat but they're selling for over $3,000 at the moment. COVID shot the prices up and the dog breeders all got greedy because sales went up due to people staying at home. And now they're being advertised as "Christmas pups" which has pushed the price up higher. I've seen ones go on GumTree for $10,000. Yup. Although I'd say the median is around $3,000-$4,000 for a jack russel or poodle or something of that sort.

Okay that' s me done babbling. Hope you managed to sleep some! Think I'll be going to bed fairly shortly myself.