Looking for friends and support

I think I originally signed up last year while still using livestrong.com. I was fairly happy with the site, however there were things I didn't like, and I never got involved with their forums; I would like to change that over here. As well as losing 100 pounds, i want to work at getting back to the personality I was 20 years ago, which was a lot less pessimistic, and a whole lot less ready to take offense.

My children are growing up and before too long the oldest one will be out on his own living his own life. i want to be able to be part of that life with him for as long as possible, and I do NOT want to be like my father is. Don't get me wrong either, my father has good qualities and I intend to emulate those as much as possible, however he has some very bad ones as well and I am seeing myself acting the same way at times, and this really bothers me.

My younger son has a high functioning form of autism and can be very hard to work with sometimes. He is a great kid and has a lot of love and compassion, but when he gets frustrated and lashes out, I get frustrated as well. I do not lash out in return, however I DO lose my patience a lot and tell him to go to his room when I should probably try talking with him instead. I refuse (rightly in my opinion) to coddle him though and allow him to throw a temper tantrum or act in an inapropriate way just because he has autism; he needs to learn that he can not react in those ways and get away with it, using his autism as an excuse.

I am getting ready to move to a new house (versus an apartment) and will be getting back to Nature quite a bit. I am building a "hobbit hole" for my younger son in the back yard, as well as putting in a MAJOR garden and some miniature fruit trees. I will also be building a decent sized (10x10 or 10x12) shed which I will be turning into my workshop so I can get back into cabinetry and furniture making.

I would love to get to know more people, not only in my area, but all over. I want to fill me life with good people who share the same values I do and will help support me in my goals.