Do I Look A Little Stressed?

not to mention my eyes feel like two pee holes in a snow bank!

I survived my first day of Quality Assurance, but I'm not so sure I did that great a job at it.  I was under the impression that any and all errors were to be graded, so I overdid it on the first one, and the rest of the day I probably under did it.   Oh well, it's a learning process, right? I think I instant messaged my QA supervisor more than I needed to, bless her, she was very sweet and encouraging.

If it were up to me, every DSM-IV diagnoses would be capitalized, it drives me nuts they are not, especially when grouped in a diagnosis format, i.e., Axis I, Axis II, Axis III, blah...blah.  Ugh!

Some dictators want them all lower case (so says the AAMT Book of Style), which doesn't even look right, and some want them all Capitalized, it's exhausting.  One lady wants the word "Claimant" capitalized throughout the entire report.  I think on one MT's report, I replaced this 29 times.  I think I suffered more eye strain that normal, because I was constantly looking at the screen all day long, and it's no wonder my head hurts!

I gotta go the store, (I absolutely hate this task) cause come tomorrow I might not have a car again for God knows how long, depending.  Yes, after spending 11 hundred bucks to put a motor in, it start missing?...I was p'od, and Walter says he will come back tomorrow to get it and drive it out to the boys who put the motor in and say, "Smell it too, and hear the miss?"  Like I said, if a cherry motor has only 40 thousand miles on it, it is NOT going to stink like burnt crayon (it's done that since it came home) or have a miss in the motor...Do I have stupid written across my forehead or something? ha! Don't be messin' with a hillbilly gal.   She'll whoop up on ya! and while I'm at it, I'm stopping off at the drug store for a bottle of wine to soothe my whine!

and how was yuns day? ya know, in the South, y'all is singular, all y'all is plural but in hillbilly ya'll is yuns!

Did you guys watch tonight's edition of Hoarders on A & E Channel? It was about two middle-aged women named Tara and Betty. 

Tara has been reported to her landlord and needs to clean out her apartment or she'll be homeless. She's an obsessive collector, favoring things like McDonald's Happy Meal toys, nativity scenes, snow globes and hundreds of teddy bears.  Tara must finally get control of her hoarding and part with most of the clutter in her home or face eviction.

In Tara's case, she said what started out as collecting led to boxes filled with stuff, and her biggest problem was learning to organize her things. By the show's end, she had made very little progress and had much left to do; however it seemed promising that she would still commit herself to the progress.

When fire crews responded to a small fire at Betty's house, they discovered her sick husband living in filth, as they couldn't even get a gurney in the house. Adult Protective Services removed him from the home because of his medical condition.  He had been an alcoholic all his life, and schizophrenic on top of his medical concerns.  They also had a grown schizophrenic daughter living in the home, who was also hoarding, and had three whole rooms upstairs filled with junk.  For the last two months Betty and her husband have been staying in a hotel as their house was inhabitable--but funds were quickly running out. If Betty doesn't clean up her home and her yard, he may never be able to live in the home again. 

What I found truly sad about this show was  the fact that Betty's daughters thought she chose "things" over them, one daughter sick with leukemia, and another daughter made the heartwrenching choice to walk out of her mother's life realizing that she could not help her.  I think Betty's position pretty much came through with her demeanor about the stuff, stating, "You are not here, only visitors for a short time, and the stuff is; obviously she finds solace in having things instead of people in her life, she was lonely.   She stated at one point, "I am a rescuer of stuff."  I don't think Betty will continue to make any real progress, however by the end of the show she had one room free of stuff and the yard was fairly well cleaned up.  It said at the end of the show that her husband was able to return home.

it's a sad, horrible thing, this hoarding addiction.  I think deep down we could all be hoarders of more junk than we need, I know I got more than I need, and constantly feel the need to clean out and throw out the more I watch this series!

On Hoarder's Tonight...

Ya'll know I've been watching this series on A & E. Is there anybody out there watching this series too? Tonight, there were two cases, a middle aged lady named Linda who lives in a home filled with tons of clutter, and Steven who used to be homeless but lives in what looks to be an efficiency apartment in pure disgust and filth.

Linda's compulsive shopping not only depleted her family's finances but filled every room in their home with piles of bags and boxes. Her husband left her three years ago when he could no longer cope with her hoarding. Her youngest daughter was deeply affected by her mother's hoarding.

Linda and her husband are in the final stages of divorce and Linda must clean out and sell the family home as part of the settlement. Tensions run high as she struggles to let go of her things.

During the show, Linda got overwhelmed and the process was slow and by the end of the show the issue had still not been resolved more than one room, and the house was not fixed up or sold, and still in limbo with the divorce. The mess was left as well, except for what the initial cleanup crews and kids helped her with.

Steven was at risk of eviction from his government subsidized housing. His apartment was filled with garbage, human feces, bottles and cans.  It was pretty disgusting. I am not sure he isn't just lazy and filthy, and not necessarily a hoarder. He was a big guy too, I don't know how he got to his bed. When they first showed the apartment you couldn't even open the door all the way. His place got so unpleasant to even him, that he spent his days elsewhere. He was ordered to clean up or be evicted from his apartment and end up back on the streets.

Steven did really well, as he was ready to move on and be free of this way of life and filthy garbage hoarding. He is currently trying to write a book and Linda? She probably isn't free of her hoarding but moved on to a different location.

for a video clip of tonight's show on A & E, click here.

On Hoarder's Tonight...

Did any of you guys watch this show, or are tuning into the series on A & E Channel? The show focused on a couple, Jennifer and Ron, who are hoarders, as well as a 61-year-old woman named Jill, who hoards food.

Jennifer is a young stay at home mom. Both she and her husband Ron, suffer from hoarding and their three kids are growing up with piles of junk, food, and clothing everywhere. They have been cited by the city on numerous occasions. Jennifer lives every day in fear of child protective services coming and taking her kids away and must now try to get the house in order before it's too late. Personally, it's one thing to live like that, it's another to subject children to it.

Jill's home is a nightmare. Food in various stages of decay is stuffed among her two freezers and four refrigerators--one of which is held shut by duct tape and a box of dented canned goods. She recently lost her job and knows that if her landlord were to pay a visit she would get evicted immediately.

Both Jennifer and Ron, and Jill, were greeted by cleanup crews and psychologists to help them. I think Ron had the hardest time, Jennifer the easiest, and Jill, OMG what a nightmare her home was with rotting food on the floors and the stench the guy said was just unbelievable. It made me want to hurl just looking at it.

The sad truth is that unless their mental behavior changes they will probably fall right back into their hoarding ways. Unfortunately there is no full episode video available like there was last week, which I posted, but there is a disturbing video about Jill's food hoarding. To check out this video click here.

Got an opinion? Are you a hoarder yourself? This series is disturbing, and it makes me want to clean out my junk and get rid of it. Next week, looks to be interesting too!

Hoarding and Other Such Stuff...

I watched an interesting show last night about hoarding.

According to the promo, “Intense and highly personal, A&E’s true-life docuseries “Obsessed” examines the lives of everyday people imprisoned by unmanageable, repetitive behaviors and sometimes debilitating fear. Whether it is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, Hoarding or a variety of phobias, the unscripted series gives viewers a chance to see first-hand how an obsession can radically affect a person’s life. By using cognitive behavioral therapy, each subject is taught how to understand the thought process which contributes to his or her symptoms and is coached on how to change these thought patterns, manage their anxiety and avoid the resulting debilitating compulsions. The show explores the stories of sufferers as well as the adverse effects their disorders have on their friends and family.”

It is going to be an interesting series to watch. I remember the first time I encountered somebody who did this. It was my mother's neighbor, a kind little old lady, who lived across the street. She had paths to get from room to room and the piles were from ceiling to floor. I was shocked as I never saw anything like it. I wondered what treasures she might actually have in there as I loved antiques, but probably anything of value was buried and one would have to really hunt through the garbage.

Later on I realized that hoarding can also be in the form of animal collecting, as a lady I know has way too many animals in her parent’s home, mostly cats, totaling at least 20 or more and a few dogs. It was an environmental hazard as you couldn’t catch your breath inside this house due to the stench and there was a child who lived amidst it. I can’t imagine the hazard that hoarding can cause, fires, and even perhaps personal illness and/or injury. After all you could get buried underneath a pile that fell over!

People who suffer from this hard-to-treat psychological disorder are unable to discard items because of an exaggerated fear of needing them again, concerns over being wasteful or a sentimental attachment to the items. Animal hoarders think they are saving the animals from being euthanized at a shelter, but how can one care for that many animals properly and in such crowded conditions? She never allowed her animals out of the house. To me, animal hoarding borders on animal neglect/abuse but often they can't see that, just as obsessive hoarders cannot see the trees for the forest? Geeze.

Some hoarders accumulate so much that they nearly bury themselves in their own homes, which was the case of this guy on the show last night. This guy, named Richie is an extreme hoarder who can't throw away anything that belongs to his deceased mother. As he grieves her loss, he's even blocked off the hallway to his mother's bedroom, making the room inaccessible. I believe that even his mother was hoarding before she died. Throwing away anything of hers was a source of extreme anxiety. A therapist and him worked for a year and only cleared away the hallway and his mother’s bedroom. He however, could not bring himself to throw away the dried flowers from her funeral, which he kept in big boxes.

I wonder if they will do a follow up show in a year and see if he has kept progressing in his attempt to clear his living situation to a bearable existence. It was truly unbelievable how much stuff was in that house. I will be tuning in to watch the series.

If you missed last night’s segment and you’re interested in watching the full episode about Richie’s story, click here.

Let The Pills Do The Talking ...

Check out this site.  It cracked me up frankly.  In dealing with a teen who has psychological issues and an older daughter who has drug induced mood swings, I can relate to these T-shirts on a personal level!

Straight Jacket T-Shirts: When you're crazy enough to let your medication do the talking for you!

On this website, you'll find a line of crappy shirts in a unique design obviously created by someone whose medications are not quite right. We hope these shirts will allow you to share your inner turmoil with strangers in the form of pithy sayings expressed in our singular Pill Font. T-shirts that spell it out with the meds for those who Just. Don't Get. It. Written with the real pills that comprised the psychiatric / neurological cocktails that we are now or have taken at one time or another. Some worked, most didn't. Maybe there are also some pills on these shirts that you have taken, are now taking, or will take. With any luck those medications are or will work for you.  I wished I could say that we've found the right medication for my teen. 

Click on the link to each section to find shirts taking you through a psychopharmacological didactic regarding our conditions and the issues involved with being mentally interesting. Most of which can be summed up as telling various mental illnesses and/or people to fuck off. That, or are aspects of a dialog that make sense only to those of you who are also aware of the reptilian conspiracy and are preparing for the time of reckoning.

With so many designs (over 40) and shirt styles (eight to sixteen for each design) I've put the shirts into different sections, and sections with larger numbers of shirts have a sub-section for each design. So much for making this site marginally less annoying than either a large Goodwill in sketchy neighborhood or a Hot Topic in an upscale mall.

Bipolar Rollercoaster Shirts to buy during a manic spending spree: I'm So Happy I Could Kill Myself Fuck Bipolar! Bipolar Sucks!	alt.depressed.as.fuck As if you you deserved to buy these shirts: Whale Shit On The Bottom Of The Ocean Fuck Depression! Depression Sucks!	Obsessed and/or Compulsive OCD shirts. OCD shirts. OCD shirts. OCD shirts. Wash four times before wearing: OCD Sucks! Fuck OCD!
Those Crazy Meds Shirts that let the meds express how you feel about your meds: I Love My Meds! Meds Suck Less Than Crazy 6 Meds "Made Me Eat It" 4 Meds killed your sex life and more!	Stigma Busting Come out of the mental health closet with these shirts: Mentally Interesting Brain Cooties Aren't Contagious Batshit Crazy Medicated For Your Protection	Say it with Pills Not otherwise specified shirts: I Feel Fantastic! I Always Take My Medicine Extra Medication For All! My Doctor Can Beat Up Your Doctor Hug/Touch Me And Die/I'll Kill You and more!