LadyCardFan's Ramblings

Tonight I found out that one individual received a nice little package on his doorstep in South County.  Housing where disabled vets live, as do other disabled individuals, was targeted by some of the lowest slime I've ever heard of.

My son spent the weekend with me.  When he arrived home, via his brother, they found what looked like a cool whip bowl on his doorstep, along with a note wishing "Happy Memorial Day". 

Thinking one of the neighbors probably left him some cookies, my middle son opened the bowl and almost gagged.  What sat inside was a combination of feces and urine, unsure if human or animal.  My son, gagging, promptly threw it in the garbage dumpster.

My oldest son spoke with two of the neighbors who stated that the bowl had been sitting there all day. 

I asked my oldest to phone the police to at least report it, if they choose to fish it out of the dumpster that is their choice, but it needed to be reported.  I'm sure he'll post here what they had to say.

Who would do such a disgusting thing? 

The housing unit is designed for disabled individuals.  It is one of the few 100 percent wheelchair accessible complexes in the St. Louis area.  There are disabled vets who live there.  I feel that this was left on my son's doorstep due to the area of the building he resides in, vet haters thinking that all vets live there. 

I am just speechless with what I feel for these low-lifes.  Did anyone hear of any other veterans being targeted?  I know my oldest is not a vet, but the vets built the housing unit.  That in itself says to me they were targeting our disabled vets on Memorial Day.

Healthy Lifestyle, what's that?  For me, it is a combination of things that include:

• Emotional Balance
• Dietary Understanding
• Physical Activity

At Self Help Center we've instituted a new program that comprises all aspects listed above.  However, this blog is not about our program, it is about providing you a significant resource that until today I was unaware existed and requesting your assistance through feedback of the site. 

This resource came via a simple survey from Schnucks. I am a regular participant of the Schnucks online surveys.  They email me, I respond to the survey and occassionally come away with a tidbit of info that I feel is important to me or to those that use the center.  Today the survey was on food safety.  As we have a food pantry at the center and as our employees are food safe certified, I was interested in what they had to say.  At the end of the survey, they provided a link to their website, which also linked to other sites.  This was where I hit the jackpot.

The United States Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture's Library, Food and Nutrition Information Center.  What a mouthful, huh?

I found so much information that is easily used, including a menu planner that allows you to evaluate your choices, track your intakes for a year, and provide insight into making changes based on nurtitional guidelines. 

Just to play around a while, I sat down and completed a typical week's intake.  My choices included such goodies as hot wings, meatloaf, pasta with meat sauce, salad, diet jell-o with fruit, oatmeal, etc.  Things that a typical person would eat in a week (I don't know if I'm typical, but why not think so?).  What I found, based on their analysis, is that I need help.  (Well, we already knew that).

My area of weakness is intake of milk products (more lite cottage cheese could be good), but what's more, I need to often eat more, not less.  More fruit, more veggies, more meat, more whole grains, more of everything.  I don't eat a lot of sweets, but in order to lose weight you must eat a balanced diet . . . and it was obvious that I've got some issues there. 

The "My Pyramid Menu Planner" is a truly wonderful analysis tool, though until you are more familiar it can be challenging. But you can enter information on your entire family (I believe up to 7 individuals), you can copy meals, so if you eat oatmeal 7 days a week, there is not need to enter for each day and for each family member.

I encourage you to check the site out and let me know what you think.  Was it too difficult to navigate?  Was the information clear?  Was it helpful or would it be helpful to you?  I'm looking to utilize this site at the center as part of our Healthy Lifestyles initiative, so I do have a need to know. 

Here's the link:  http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_
center=4&tax_level=1&tax_subject=242

Sick Of Rain!!

A curious fellow died one day and found himself waiting in the long line of judgment.  As he stood there he noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into Heaven.  Others though, were led over to Satan who threw them into the burning fire of hell.

Every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire, Satan would toss them off to one side into a small pile.  After watching Satan do this several times, the fellow's curiosity got the best of him so he strolled over and asked Satan what he was doing.  "Excuse me, Prince of Darkness," he said.  "I'm waiting in line for judgment, but I couldn't help wondering why you are tossing thosepeople aside instead of flinging them into the fires of Hell with the others?"

"Oh, those," Satan groaned.  "They're all from Missouri and they're still to wet to burn."

On Wednesday, April 9th, two vans of program participants of Self Help Center drove to Jefferson City for participation in two significant events.  The first was the kick-off event for Transformation in Missouri.  This event was put on by the Department of Mental Health and our participants were pleased to be included (of course they didn't mind the free food). 

Wednesday evening they joined a DMH staffer who oversees one of our state contracts for dinner at Ryans.  The gave participants an opportunity to talk one on one with her.

The following morning, the participants loaded up in the vans and headed to the Truman Building for various sessions.  One of our participants represented the center with the SCOPE session.  SCOPE is a cooperative of drop-in centers in Missouri who are working to enhance our programs by coming together with DMH and the Missouri Institute of Mental Health.  Additionally there were many other sessions that occurred, which I have heard rave reviews of.

After a complementary lunch several of the participants headed over to speak with their representatives sharing their views of need for peer service expansion in Missouri, appreciation for funding agencies such as ours, and so much more.  They arrived back at the center around 6:00 p.m. this evening, all very tired, but excited to have participated in this annual event.

One of the issues that those diagnosed with a mental illness still face is the stigma placed on them by our society.  As such, here, I've posted content from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in hopes of perhaps shedding some light to those of you who choose to label those I speak of.

Before You Label People, Look At Their Contents

When mental illnesses are used as labels-depressed, schizophrenic, manic, or hyperactive-these labels hurt.

Labels lead to stigma -- a word that means branding and shame. And stigma leads to discrimination. Everyone knows why it is wrong to discriminate against people because of their race, religion, culture, or appearance. They are less aware of how people with mental illnesses are discriminated against. Although such discrimination may not always be obvious, it exists-and it hurts.

The stigma of mental illness is real, painful, and damaging to the lives of people with mental illness. Stigma prevents them from getting the treatment and support they need to lead healthy, normal lives.

Stigma discourages people from getting help. At any given time, one in four adults and one in five children experience a mental health problem. Early and appropriate services can be the best way to prevent an illness from getting worse. Many people don't seek such services because they don't want to be labeled as "mentally ill" or "crazy."

Stigma keeps people from getting good jobs and advancing in the workplace. Some employers are reluctant to hire people who have mental illnesses. Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), such discrimination is illegal. But it still happens!

Stigma leads to fear, mistrust, and violence. Even though the vast majority of people who have mental illnesses are no more violent than anyone else, the average television viewer sees three people with mental illnesses each week-and most of them are portrayed as violent. Such inaccurate portrayals lead people to fear those who have mental illnesses.

Stigma results in prejudice and discrimination. Many individuals try to prevent people who have mental illnesses from living in their neighborhoods.

Stigma results in inadequate insurance coverage. Many insurance plans do not cover mental health services to the same degree as other illnesses. When mental illnesses are covered, coverage may be limited, inappropriate, or inadequate.

Here are six steps you can follow to help end the stigma which surrounds mental illness:

1. Learn more. Many organizations sponsor nationwide programs about mental health and mental illness.
2. Insist on accountable media. Sometimes the media portray people who have mental illnesses inaccurately, and this makes stereotypes harder to change.
3. Obey the laws in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in all areas of public life, including housing, employment, and public transportation. Mental illnesses are considered a disability covered under the ADA.
4. Recognize and appreciate the contributions to society made by people who have mental illnesses. People who have mental illnesses are major contributors to American life-from the arts to the sciences, from medicine to entertainment to professional sports.
5. Treat people with the dignity and respect we all deserve. People who have mental illnesses may include your friends, your neighbors, and your family.
6. Think about the person-the contents behind the label. Avoid labeling people by their diagnosis. Instead of saying, "She's a schizophrenic," say, "She has a mental illness." Never use the term "mentally ill."

Quite often here on the blogs I hear individuals ranting about overpaid executives, typically these individuals are referring to the leaders of non-profit organizations and not the money grubbing for profit corporate heads who walk away with hundreds of millions in income, bonuses, and stocks.

As one of those non-profit executives I can state with fact that I am one of the lowest paid execs in the greater metro area, based on the latest United Way poll, of which I participated in.  At approximately $30k, with no health benefits and retirement savings some may look at my earning as too high for our budget, which is now around $160,000.  Unlike the larger non-profits I work the programs at our center; therefore, a huge chunk of my income is charged to program services and not administration, which is what the foundations often look at when making the decision to award grants to the agencies.  When I first began working at the center our annual budget was approximately $89,000.  Today, we offer higher quality programs, more programs that are nationally and internationally developed, and have a facility that is five times larger than the previous.  We provide thousands of hours of free services each month. 

As such, I'd like to hear your opinion on how much is too much for a non-profit executive to make?  Would you base that income on the budget of the non-profit, the activities of the executive, or what?

How much is too much?

Okay, this should really go in Faith, but I don't think many would read it if I put it there, so it's going in entertainment as it will probably make you all laugh!

If I wasn't so angry now I might laugh at the oopsey I made.  I'm still shaking my head! 

Yesterday was a scheduling nightmare.  I had to be at a meeting at 9:00 a.m., realized on my way home that I had forgotten to make a deposit for work, so had to swing by there to pick up the deposit, and head to the bank.  Oops, I had to make my deposit too, so hit two banks, mine first.  Pull up to the drive-up (son was driving) and realized his drivers window is broken and won't roll down.  Okay, so we'll park in front and I'll go inside.  Done. 

Get home, have to order flowers for my ex-sister-in-law's service and don't have much time because I have to get to my doctor's appointment, so I went to FTD.com.  Usually I leave this to my sister, but she had to work and I had a bit to do it, so I ordered a nice peace lilly, copied my receipt, and then got ready for my doctor's appointment.  Starts pouring rain as I'm getting ready to head out the door.  Grrrrrrrrr. 

Continued inside!

Today my boys lost their Aunt Deb after a long battle with Emphysema.  She was only 47.  She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.  She was evacuated by life flight to St. Louis this morning.  

I have many fond memories of Deb during our goofy school years, especially will never forget the SCOPE bottle.  Just one of our many secrets shared during our teen years.

I got a call from my son tonight, of course the call came while I was eating dinner as he always calls when I'm eating dinner, and as always I asked him what he was doing.  He informed me he was heading to Arnold.  In my mind I'm thinking "Oh Oh, that's not good."  He does not like doing his job in Arnold due to some attitudes of the police there (who think they don't have to abide by State Law).  Fortunately this was not the case. 

Steven had heard on the radio (probably WIL) that residents were trying to save a subdivision from the rising waters and were in desperate need of trucks to carry the sandbags.

Steven got on the phone and called his boss and asked permission to carry sandbags until he got a call from a property owner.  She gave him permission. 

As he got close he encountered a local officer who asked him, "What are you doing here?"

Steven told him not to worry, he was here to help, informing the officer that he had heard a call for help.  (That huge flatbed tow truck would be able to haul quite a bit.)  The officer let him through.

He managed to get 4 huge loads carried to the back of the homes in danger with only a couple problems.  The first, as he was turning around on the street one of his wheels went in the yard of a home that was not at risk.  The woman began screaming at him that he damaged her yard.  This, of course, made the owners whose property was in danger and the other volunteers very angry.  Instead of this woman helping, she was watching her yard for damage, now that is a neighbor I would not want to have.

After dumping the fourth load the property owner informed Steven that their yard did not drain very well and that the ground was going to be really soft (he was already in there and now had to get out, good time to inform him, huh?)  As he made his way out, he got next to the street and became stuck.  Thank goodness a state truck pulled him out.

Unfortunately Steven got a call and had to make a trip to St. Charles, but he did a good thing tonight and I'm proud of him!

So next time you think that those to impound illegally parked cars are bad people, think again.

How frustrating is it that those of us who travel 141/44 and Big Bend are all trying to get down Big Bend to get to 270 or 44 as our route to get to and from work.  We now have quite a few more semis driving down this narrow corridor, making it even more narrow, but now, to top it off, we have these gawkers parking along the very narrow shoulder to gawk at the flooded Meramec River. 

I admit this is a great lookout point, but not when it is traffic time.

Can someone please suggest to the officials to please put NO PARKING signs along the shoulders until the flood water has receeded and 141 is back open?  Someone is going to get killed.

Oh, and you driving gawkers, STOP IT and drive.  Today it took me 1 1/3 hours to get home, a normal 30 minute maximum trip in traffic.  I sat on Big Bend in traffic this afternoon, thinking how very backed up it was.  As it turns out, some idiot decided to stop their car and look out staring at the waters.  This is not only stupid, but also very dangerous. 

Bloggers,

I have a couple prayer requests for you.

First, please say a prayer for Jamie's daddy who is not doing too well now.  Jamie, you know that you and your daddy is in my prayers.  Keep a positive spirit!

Second, I received news today that my cousin Jeff had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured.  The heart surgeon took him into surgery in an attempt to help, but there was nothing they could do.  They do not expect him to make it through the day.  Please keep him, his mother, and siblings in your prayers.

Just got off the phone with my sister in Ellsinore and she told me my mom and step-dad have been evacuated, along with the rest of the town.  Earlier today the main road into Piedmont (Route 34 East) was closed near Sam A. Baker State Park.  When I last spoke to Mom, about 3:00 p.m., they were putting things up high and packing as a just in case.  Mom lives on the McKenzie Creek.  Earlier today they had two storage sheds flow down the creek and end up in their yard, then the water receeded. 

Mom said it was definately worse than the 82 flood.  Here's a link to a short video sent in by a student at the high school.  The 2nd link is for the KFVS website where it shows the various flood stories from SE Missouri, including the specific story on Piedmont and Roads flooded in Wayne County.

There's a lot of elderly there, please keep them all in your prayers. 

http://www.kfvs12.com/global/video/popup/pop_player
Launch.asp?clipId1=2301773&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Flooding+i
n+Piedmont&d1=75333&redirUrl=www.kfvs12.com&activePane=
info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=

http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/category.asp?C=2806>

Those Darn Trolls

Do you or someone you know have a diagnosis of mental illness?  Do you have questions about symptoms?  Were you at one time addicted to drugs or alcohol?  Are you on government assistance?  Do you need information on qualifying for disability?  Would you like to share your story with others in an attempt to give the participants of the forums hope?  Would you like to better understand mental illness?

If you answered yes to any of the questions listed above, we invite you to join us in a public forum on our website at www.selfhelpcenter.org.  The forum is new and we are looking for individuals to help get it going with questions, statements, comments, posting of articles from the local media headlines. 

How many of you have a favorite charity?  How many actually find time to give to that charity?  How many give to that charity annually, monthly, weekly, or even daily?  Today's generation is becoming creative when it comes to giving . . . how do you compare?

Giving while grocery shopping

Does your charity offer you the opportunity to have one of the Schnuck's charity cards?  These cards, similar to a credit card, are handed to the cashier as you check out.  The card is swiped and a credit is placed on the charity's account.  This cost you nothing to participate, just a few seconds to pull the card from your purse or wallet.

Has your charity offered you the option to purchase a Shop n Save gift card?  While you are paying full retail price ($25 = $25), the charity is not.  This cost you nothing to participate, just a few seconds to hand a check or cash over to your charity for one of the cards.

Internet Searches

Do you ever google?  I'm not sure about you, but I use a search engine quite a few times a day.  With that being said, the next time you wish to raise money for your charity try going to www.goodsearch.com.  Once at the site you'll enter the name of your charity of choice in the "Who do you goodsearch for?" box, then proceed to do your search.  Each search is worth a penny to the charity.  The search engine is powered by Yahoo and we did receive a check this year from last year's searches, so I have first hand knowledge they do what they say they will.  While it wasn't much, the more that use the search engine, the more you give.  Some larger charities are raising thousands of dollars a year.

Giving while shopping

Yahoo has taken things a step further than their charity search engine.  They have now partnered with 42 different corporations with an internet presence in their GoodShop charity venture.  Corporations such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Macy's, Nike, Nordstrom, ebay, and Sears all give back to the charity when they make an online purchase from the GoodShop link.  You can even purchase tickets to the local movie theaters through GoodShop.  The percentage donated by the corporation varies from 1 to 37.5 percent.  http://www.goodsearch.com/goodshop.aspx

If your charity isn't listed, why not notify them of the good that could come their way by signing up at www.goodsearch.com.  One sign-up works for both programs. 

Of course, if you don't have a favorite charity, just enter Self Help Center in the box, we could use the assistance!

The oil rich state of Alaska is being earmarked for a congressional benefit that those of us here will not see.  My question is why?

Congressional leaders are contemplating two different proposals to help residents of Alaska due to the high cost of heating fuel and gasoline.  Both products must either be flown or shipped in, especially due to the remoteness of some villages.

Proposal 1:

Rep. Bill Thomas, a Republican who represents nearly 50 small communities in the state's southeast panhandle, suggests a $500 payout to state residents, at a cost of about $360 million. It would be paid from the profits of the state's oil wealth savings account, the $38 billion Alaska Permanent Fund.

Proposal 2:

Republican Sen. Tom Wagoner is proposing a $750 credit for every household to be applied to utility bills, paid by the state in lump sums to power companies.

What about the disbursement of the Alaska Permanent Fund?

Each year every man, woman, and child in Alaska receives an annual disbursement in the amount of $1650.  The fund is expected to hit $40 billion this year thanks in part to the high oil prices and increased oil taxes.  So, why are our representatives considering taking our hard earned tax dollars and shipping them north (proposal 2)?  Especially when one considers that those in Alaska also don't pay taxes!

People are having it rough all over.  Alaskans, since they do not pay taxes, will most likely not receive any of the stimulus checks that most of us will, but then, we don't get the $1650 fund disbursement. 

Last year Citgo donated $5 million in free heating fuel to Alaska's poorest communities.  They have promised to assist again this year, but so far they have not done so.  If they do, what then?  Another perk for Alaskans.

So, how do you feel about this issue?  Is it fair for our tax dollars to support a tax-free state that already gets a huge annual perk that those here don't?  Just doesn't make sense to me.  If they do this, IMO, they need to reduce the fund disbursement to the households.