A Thank You gift
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An unexpected “thank you” gift arrived in my mailbox today.
Audrey from Audrey’s Spot for Recipe Tips & Hints sent me two very cool items from the Tupperware collection to show me her appreciation for setting her up with a new blog design. I absolutely adore these! Its a big improvement over the empty sour cream or yogurt containers I usually use.
I have a slight problem though. Within 15 minutes of opening the box, this is what happened:
Yes, Princess has decided that they look better in her kitchen than in mine. So I’m going to have to steal them back from her after she’s done “cooking”. At least until I can buy her some of her own.
Speaking of which, Audrey is a Tupperware sales representative, so if you need someone to hook you up with some, visit her Tupperware catalog page. (They’ve already got Kung Fu Panda stuff!)
Crazy Mom of the Week
And the very first ever “Crazy Mom” award goes to….. (you hear the drum roll in your head, right? good!)
A couple has been arrested in what Canadian police said on Tuesday was an apparent offer to sell a seven-day-old baby girl on Craigslist for C$10,000 ($10,100).A woman who saw the offer on the popular website alerted police who tracked down the 23-year-old mother and 26-year-old father using a cell phone number that was listed in the advertisement.
Perhaps she was inspired by the German couple who tried to sell their baby on eBay last week. But considering that bids on the 7 month old German child failed to meet the reserve price of $99.99 USD, I’m not sure why the Canadian woman expected to receive over $10,000. The upkeep on a seven day old child is much more costly and the shipping and handling expenses from Canada, as opposed to Germany, are much more reasonable.
Earworms!
Earworms are just songs that get stuck in your head.** And I’ve had a lot of them today. Everything from “Scooby Dooby Doo, where are you…” and the theme song from Family Guy to ‘Revolution’ by the Beatles and ‘Dontcha’ by the Pussycat Dolls (via the ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ movie).
Just thought I’d throw that out there since I really didn’t have anything better to say…and my head hurts. So I’m not doing any writing or graphics tonight, just watching TV and getting sucked in to the Internets.
**Disclaimer: The author of this post assumes no responsibility for the subsequent mental repetition of the aforementioned musical material experienced by any readers of said post.
(In other words…sorry if you’ve got any of those stuck in your head now.)
Liar liar pants on fire
You would not believe the accusations in Sperm Donor’s latest motion. Asking for “emergency custody”, calling me “psychologically abusive”, asking for the court to order me to take Princess to the daycare he wants her to go to which is 30 miles from my house, putting words in the therapist’s mouth.
Yeesh.
Anyway, speaking of Princess, there’s something wrong with her. I don’t mean in a “she’s so weird!” kinda way. I mean like physically wrong with her. This afternoon she fell asleep in the recliner while watching a movie which was no big surprise considering she got up when I did early this morning so I knew she’d be tired later in the day.
But then I took her to her appointment and she just burst into tears over something small that usually would just frustrate her a little bit. She’d said something earlier about her head hurting but I didn’t think much of it. See, we were in Target and I said something about getting Tylenol and she asked me what it was and I told her it was for my headache. Five minutes later, she says she has a headache. I shrugged it off.
Then we’re walking through Aldi grabbing a few groceries and she would be fine one minute - chattering away, talking to Sissy on the phone - then she’d start crying again, saying her tummy hurts and she just wants to go home. One minute she’s asking for Burger King, the next minute I can’t even talk her into eating some applesauce.
We get home, she curls up on the couch next to me (no fever…I checked her temp), and by 6:30 she’s passed out. By 7:00 she’s snoring. And now at 7:30 she’s talking in her sleep.
Hmmmm…Mom says call Ask a Nurse or something. She feels a little warm but then again she’s been laying under a blanket.
I hate these kind of “What Do I Do?” moments of motherhood.
Its not just a MySpace thing, Mr. President
- The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care.
- About 32 percent of military members said their tours in Iraq and Afghanistan have hurt their mental health, and the majority of them fear that seeking counseling will harm their careers.
- About one in five U.S. soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, yet only half get treatment.
Those statistics were quoted on Bloomberg.com and are the result of a study conducted by the RAND Corporation.
But I’m not going to get into my own personal feelings about war and politics. My problem with these statistics are about our failing mental healthcare system. These statistics about our service men and women are mild compared to the issues civilians have when it comes to treatment for mental illness.
Along my own path to recovery, I encountered several obstacles including access to therapy, funding for medications, child care while I sought treatment, financial assistance and, of course, lots of red tape.
How are you supposed to get treatment when you don’t have insurance? Sometimes the only option available is to find a therapist and a psychiatrist who will work on a sliding fee scale. But they are so overbooked and underfunded, they have to put limits on how many sliding fee patients they can take. Then there’s medication. If it weren’t for patient assistance programs like PPARx, I would have to pay over $200 every month for medications. Unfortunately, most people living with a mental illness can’t afford that, so they’re forced to go unmedicated. Not receiving access to therapy and medication can lead to things like excessive absences from work, domestic abuse, criminal offenses and hospitalization. Obviously that’s going to cost more in the long run than the medications would have.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I can’t even begin to tell you the years of hell I went through - and my kids went through with me - because I couldn’t afford treatment. And this is why I’ve tried to advocate for those of us living with a mental illness by using my own blog to speak out about it. I don’t know if I can speak loud enough to make any changes but what does it hurt to try? Who knows, maybe people that read my blog or meet me through other forums like message boards or social networking sites will rethink their own stereotypes. Or maybe it’ll make them pause the next time they use the term ‘bipolar’ as an insult. Or maybe they’ll be inspired to do some research before they vote, see where the candidates - both national and local - stand on funding mental health treatment or the criminalization of the mentally ill.
If you’re one of those people, start here. Find out how your state ranks when it comes to treatment for mental illness. Or check here to learn more about the issues affecting the mentally ill.
I’m tellin’ ya….it ain’t easy staying sane in an INsane world.
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Sissy's Virtual Baby Shower
November 1st, 2008 Sponsorships, Advertisements, Donations Appreciated!
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