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!
On Hoarder's Tonight...
retirement?
Outside England's Bristol Zoo, there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40), £5 for buses (about $7).
Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo Management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent.
The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility. The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee. The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll.
Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain (or some such scenario) is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years. Assuming seven days a week, this amounts to just over seven million dollars!
And no one even knows his name.
Maybe he needs a good woman to sponsor? ... look no further.
*reposted from Whitt's Whittlings at Blogstream* check him out, great writer!
Rules Of Marriage . . . Shared In The Words Of The Young
1. HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
-- Alan, age 10
No person really decides before they grow up who they're going to marry. God decides it all way before, and you get to find out later who you're stuck with.
-- Kristen, age 10
2. WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Twenty-three is the best age because you know the person FOREVER by then.
-- Camille, age 10
3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF 2 PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.
-- Derrick, age 8
4. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids.
-- Lori, age 8 (but maybe Lori needs a sibling?)
5. WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough.
-- Lynnette, age 8 (sometimes you wished they'd shut up!)
On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date.
-- Martin, age 10
6. WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
When they're rich. (smart girl there!)
-- Pam, age 7
The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that.
- - Curt, age 7
The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do.
- - Howard, age 8
7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them.
-- Anita, age 9 (and a girl needs a good handyman!)
8. HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there?
-- Kelvin, age 8
And the #1 Favorite is ...........
9. HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck .
-- Ricky , age 10 (ha! smart boy there!)
Butt...Butt...
1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'
4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'
And the best one of all.
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'
I haven't laughed this hard since last time! ha! Speaking of a colonoscopy I first had one done in 2007, and I was expecting some horrible experience, but I didn't feel a thing, I was out like a light! and when I woke up, I felt great! After all, I was 10 pounds lighter from the prep which wasn't that bad either. I know there are some horror tails out there about colonoscopies but mine was not one!
Quirks...Bugs....eeeek!
First off the margins need adjusting; images have no padding around them as you can see...
the spacing is off both between the end of a blogged post before the comment line, and between typed lines so I've had to manually put spaces in.
I'd like some borders, let's see, I even tried putting a code in for padding,
let's see if it works.
if not, screw it, I'm tired...
Yep, see there? It didn't work. sucks....
and tomorrow I get to play some more with it, or better yet, I think I will aggravate the guy who put this template out for us to enjoy, however, it does need work.
SQUAAAAK!
and Brian, should you happen to appear in here, why does the first line on type at the right of the picture indent when viewing in IE? argggh!
okay, so now it's Saturday afternoon and when I came in to view this post (in Mozilla) this one looks fine with the image borders and adequate width around, however, "Something Stinks" post on the Older Posts page DOES NOT! (along with others), what gives? rawrrrr!
UPDATE: Yours Truly, AKA nerdy girl has figured out how to insert picture and get a margin around it! Isn't it lovely?!
The Morning Chronicles...
So I'm sitting here in my chair, out surfing on my work break, and I hear an alarm clock faintly go off. I am the only one who lives here, and even though I have neighbors, in separate houses for God's sakes, how could I possibly hear their alarm go off?!
That's as bad as the day recently after my daughter moved back in with her Dad that I heard her callphone alarm go off upstairs. You can't mistake a cellphone alarm, and I even went to look for it thinking she left an old phone here (which no longer had service), but weird in fact that it wasn't even in the house! uh...yeah...
I have always gotten the impression that I am definitely not alone here in this house.
Do you have an opinion on landscape art?
(if you click picture it enlarges)
I have to say it both disturbs and intrigues me.
When it comes to this particular picture, wouldn't you want to get a closer look inside it?
exhaustion and revelations
She informed me today that she might not live to see another birthday; not necessarily because of her drug addiction and liver issues, but because the doctor believed she had cervical cancer and that it had spread. I only got bits and pieces of information about this. She told me that she went to have an ultrasound and there were cysts, one as a big as a silver dollar. She was told back in March that her pap smear was abnormal and she was supposed to follow up carefully for more testing, but her and hubby's interests were not in their health, but that of fulfilling their drug habits.
As a parent, when your grown kids can't seem to get their lives in order it is heartwrenching, you sometimes feel guilt, you judge them, you alternate between loathing and loving them, try to give them advice, give them tough love, but none of it really matters; they make their own choices regardless of how you raised them.
She already has hepatitis C and now this, if in fact it is true and one can believe what she tells you. Both him and her have been known to a few stories and it is not above them to do so. I don't know what to think. It's hard to be sympathetic after the havoc they have both reeked upon the family. Her hubby almost died of a drug mixing just two years ago, but he still abuses. They expect everybody else to bail them out, not only financially, but emotionally. They have become quite the Bonnie & Clyde too, and my nickname for the two of them are "The King and Queen of Thieves." They are not above stealing from their own family. It's so disheartening.
Did I mention they have two kids? My granddaughter BellaRose, at 7, is not my daughter's husband's biological child, but Wyatt is theirs together at 3 years old. Little Queenie (BellaRose) has taken care of Wyatt under the worst of circumstances when they were shooting up heroin a few years back. She has really been through it, and she is so smart and beautiful, and I hate seeing her family life in such upheaval. Kids don't deserve that.
This news comes on the heels of news back in the Spring that my son had the early stages of esophageal cancer; a lesion in his lower esophagus caused by reflux. He tells me it was caught early and after a course of chemo orally he is going to be fine; at least that is what he tells me. This kid was never a worry and he wouldn't want me to worry about him. He will be 35 his birthday this month.
August is one of those bittersweet months for me; a time of joy and sadness. Both my grown children were born in August; my father died in August, my first husband, John died in August, and my brother died at 15 years old in August 1974, on the day we buried him my son came into this world. I don't know why I would be surprised to receive bad news in the month of August.
God only knows what will happen next.
Are You A Hoarder?
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.