In Dire Need of Mental Health Care Reform

The way the mentally ill are treated in the United States is horrible.
Be warned there is mature language in this post.  This topic is one that make me very angry.

In this country we need mental health care reform in a very serious way.  We went from a country that made institutionalizing people far easier than it should be. (Don't want to be married to your wife anymore?  Just say she is crazy and have her placed in an institution. Then divorce her for abandoning you.) We are now a country that makes it impossible to get the help that mentally ill people need until they have harmed someone. We thought the abuses were over when we closed these horrible places.  Now the world can see that the abusers have just moved buildings as we turn a blind eye.  We need better mental health training for our police, so when they answer a call that involves someone under an episode they can respond in a non deadly manner.  We need changes so that when individuals with mental health issues are jailed they can receive the medical care they need without delays or posturing.

Many years ago we had a friend that ended up in jail for 3 days over some minor crap. He was denied his medication for Schizophrenia for his entire stay.  His parents had even brought it for him with doctor's notes stating it's need.

After being released he took his medicine as usual but it needs to be built up in his system to work correctly. Our usually happy friend ended up having an episode. This episode involved coming to my house and screaming at me about a video we supposedly borrowed without returning. (we didn't even borrow it)  He was over the top angry.  Spit was flying from his mouth as he yelled at me, calling me a lying bitch. He got in my face yelling at times things that made no sense at all.

I was alone with my oldest two as toddlers.(they were napping) I was afraid of how violent he was going to get.  Luckily I knew him enough to know this was not normal behavior. I remained calm and convinced him it must be somewhere else. I collapsed in tears when he did leave. I felt horrible for the thoughts I had when he showed up acting aggressively.  I was expecting my two children to be waking up any minute.  Was I going to have to hurt my friend to stop him from harming my children or myself?  Luckily I didn't have to.  I snapped into what I call waitress mode.  I stood there with a smile on my face. I him answered calmly and quietly.  It was almost as if he didn't know how to process my reaction to his angry outbursts.  His head tilting to the side at times just like a puppy learning commands.   He left in a slightly calmer state as well as in confusion.

He was horrified when he learned what had happened.  I was horrified when cried as he apologized to me.  I knew that it wasn't my friend who was standing before me that acted like that.  It was the unhealthy part of his brain filtering everything through a filter of unreasonable anger.  He did not choose to go off his medication. He was denied his medical rights.

   

Puke Fairy

Oh Puke Fairy why did you have to make a stop here in my house. The end of the school year is in sight.  Is it not bad enough that it got me on Mother's Day?  She had to circle back around and get the youngest as well.  Nothing like a stomach bug with someone with no puking manners.
Feel that sick feeling in your gut?  Begin making your way to or aiming at a proper receptacle.  Do not remain where you are.  At no time should you move to a carpeted area or on top of upholstered furniture.

Ugh... Time for crackers and electrolyte fluids.  The Puke Fairy won the first round all over my couch.  I made the mistake of giving him a sipper cup.  I have now resorted to a medicine capful every 15-30 minutes.   He's holding it down as well as the crackers... for now.  Wish me luck, this ends with him.  I am so done with puke.
Thank goodness for sanitizing wipes. I have been using those like mad today.  My Hoover Floormate SpinScrub has been a godsend when he poured puke as I ran down the hallway with him to the bathroom.  

Oh the joys of motherhood. Sounds so glamourous, I can see why women do it.  

Zip Code Specific Gardening

Want to know when to plant your garden for your specific zip code?  Use SproutRobot!  If you are like me and live in an area with many micro climates, this is a great help.  I hope to be able to put this into more use.

Our compost is really starting to look great. The benefit of living in a hot climate, is it seems to break down faster.  The chickens go crazy every time I turn the compost.  I joke that they are begging to be let loose on the compost.  Sorry ladies, Las Vegas does not approve of chickens out of their coop/run.

Right now we only have 3 topsy turvy planters.  I found them on sale in the middle of winter for $2 each a few years ago.  We finally got them hung and filled this year.  Yes, I am guilty of being a procrastinator married to a procrastinator.  With 5 kids I feel like I spend much of my day in damage control. (3 glasses were broken by my kids this week alone)

Growing in our hanging planters are tomatoes, two kinds of peppers and strawberries.  Everything but one of our peppers has flowered. We have gotten a few strawberries that my kids instantly ate.  We have 1 huge pepper on one plant and nothing on the other.  Darn bugs attacked and destroyed the leaves faster than it grew them.  We may not get anything from it.  Our tomato plant has tons of little green tomatoes.  We are just waiting for them to redden up. Although some fried green tomatoes like my dad used to make sounds really good. Or the pickled green tomatoes from my mom. Is my lack of patience showing?  

I can't wait for the first taste of a sun warmed tomato.  They have a different scent and taste that for some reason makes me feel as if everything is right with the world at that moment.  Then another dish breaks and I'm back in the trenches of motherhood again.  Thank goodness for my Tomato Vine Scentsy scent. I bring that sun warmed vine smell into my house anytime I want.

Are you an urban gardener?  What is the one thing you love growing the most?