Article about needlework etc

wrote:


So I take it that if your two kids were in the library and this man
exposed himself to them you would have been totally understanding and
said "That's okay" ?

The circumstances do not justify the social worker (who as Cheryl said
doesn't live in the area herself) insisting on maintaining his right
to do just that.

Not at all! I'm just pointing out that, at least in Oz society, there
are no safety nets to help such people avoid making a public nuisance of
themselves. I never said the *behaviour* was 'okay'. And I never
commented on Cheryl's social worker either, now I come to think of it.

I do know that appropriate social skills can be taught to those with
reduced mental capacity and isn't it a pity that no-one ever taught this
man? It would've saved a lot of angst in the library, that's all...

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Cheryl Isaak wrote:

Sigh Trish - having lived it with my cousin (bipolar with drug OD induced
paranoia and brain damage), I know where you are coming from. He was lucky
that the state still had some hospital beds open for the mentally ill, those
are all but gone now. Some one in the family would have seen him cared for,
but his long term girlfriend wasn't so lucky. We don't know what happened to
her after he died, but I suspect she's on the streets someplace. And we
facing it with a friend whose son has a very low IQ and something called
intermittent rage syndrome. She won't live forever and his Dad isn't really
in the picture. What the heck is going to happen to him. How long can the
trust monies last to keep him in a protected environment?

There are no easy answers. The family should be the first line of defense,
but that can't be the whole thing. Nor can the state. I do believe in forced
hospitalization; some people are a danger to themselves and others. Both
they and society need to be protected.

Can we talk about something less depressing; it's been 10+ years since
Stephen's body died - he actually died the day he OD'd 30 years ago.


C


Yeah, sorry. As you know, I live with it too. My kid doesn't do sexually
objectionable things (thank goodness!!!) but his disorder is all about
the inability to know what's appropriate and what's not. We've been
lucky, DS and I, in that he's been able to learn what I've taught him
*and* that I've been able to devote the time needed. Not everyone's that
lucky, however, and my heart really does bleed for other families where
a syndrome rules their lives.

--
Trish Brown {|:-}

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

lucille wrote:
"MelissaD" wrote in message
...
Trish Brown wrote:
Bruce Fletcher (remove dentures to reply) wrote:

When we see young (and not-so-young) mothers with a couple of
children in tow who fill their supermarket trolley with
ready-prepared food (burgers etc) and tinned produce Maureen often
comments that with what they spent they could buy a couple of joints
of meat and some fresh vegetables and, for the cost of an hour or
two in preparation, give their family several decent, much healthier
and tastier meals.

YES! My two favourite soapboxes are macaroni cheese and pikelets
('pikelets' is Oz for small, single-bite pancakes).

My nieces will pay $$$ for vile, disgusting frozen macaroni cheese
and/or preservative-laden boxed pikelet mix. They say 'I don't have
the time to cook like you do, Aunt!'

Pppppbbbblllffftttt!

It takes twenty five minutes to heat the frozen gloop they call macca
and cheese, while I can whip up a scrumptious batch from scratch in
exactly ten! (NB. I cook my pasta in the microwave while the cheese
sauce bubbles on the stovetop) Bit o' flour, butter, milk, cheese and
bob'syeruncle!

Rather than pay three or four dollars for packaged pikelet gloop,
it's just as simple to chuck a cup of flour, an egg, some sugar and
some milk in a jug and mix! What's so hard about that???

Well I'm firmly on the side of cooking and baking from scratch - but I
really enjoy it and consider myself a "foodie". Yes there are times I
don't and I have a few staples such as canned soups or corn or jars of
pasta sauce in the cupboard. I work full-time (and more with my job
lately) and it takes some time but it's worth it to me. I try to make
double quantities of things when I can and freeze one batch for later
- very helpful on a busy night. Let's not even discuss baking - my
fave - homemade cookies, breads, biscuits, scones - always available
in my house

I can buy pasta, some veggies and a bit of sausage and have enough for
several meals instead of paying double for something that's full of
salt and other things and don't taste as good. Not to sound like a
snob but I don't really like the taste of a lot of "pre-made" stuff -
it seems very artificial to my tastebuds. I do have some snack stuff
like crackers for my kids after school but we are not a big soda,
chips, frozen pizza kind of house. I'm lucky to have the room for a
nice sized veggie garden too so come summer I use even better
ingredients!

Not everyone likes or has time to cook and that's fine - but there are
simple quick healthy meals that take the same or less time to prepare
as all the pre-packaged expensive glop. My sister takes some time
every weekend to prep ingredients - like chopping up carrots, onions,
etc. and stores them in the fridge so they're ready to go when she's
trying to get dinner going on a weeknight after work and that system
is great for her.

Anyway - rant done - Bon Appetit!!

MelissaD



I used to cook a lot for my family, but not very much for myself. For
one person, making things from scratch might taste better and I'll even
give you the fact that it takes about the same amount of time, but tell
me? Do you happen to have a self cleaning kitchen.

Do all those mixing utensils, pots and pans and chopping boards clean
themselves? If they do, please let me in on your secret.
No - my kitchen doesn't self clean - wish it did!

However I'm one of those people who cleans as I go so I often reuse a
bowl several times in a recipe by washing it while something is
simmering or mixing or whatever so not a lot to do when I'm done. I
have a big wood cutting board next to the sink and I just wash it with
soap and hot water - no issues with germs. I have a nice big chef's
knife that I wash when I switch from veggies to meat or vice-versa.

As I said - everyone is different - what works for me might not work for
someone else. I just think we should all try to eat a little less
processed food from a box if we can....and that is just my opinion.
doesn't mean it has to apply to anyone reading this.

MelissaD

Dawne Peterson wrote:
"Olwyn Mary" wrote
Some people on welfare live in circumstances that make cooking really
difficult. They might not have a working oven; sometimes they are
cooking on hotplates. Microwaves are pretty cheap compared to electric
ranges. One of the great things our foodbank does is offer kitchen
facilities, so people can actually cook with proper working stoves and
good pots and utensils. They also have the help of the local Home
Economists organization, as some people, especially if they are from
several generations of welfare, had no one who had skills to pass to
them. Many are glad to learn how to take the assortment of vegetables
they might get and turn it into a good soup that will last several days.

Dawne
We have a programme too (for those who will take it) to basically
teach them how to cook good, nutritious meals made much more cheaply.
They are not exactly lining up to take the course though, it's
depressing.

I know it is not pc but some of these are second and third generation
welfare cases; they have grown up with role models who displayed no
work ethics and no basic housekeeping skills. It's not realistic to
think they will develop those skills from thin air. I am not condemning,
just stating and totally at a loss to know how to
remedy it.
In one of the small towns in which I lived for a few years, they had a
very interesting way of dealing with it. Being a small town, there was
only one community food bank. If a person with a full food stamp
allotment came in for a third month in a row, she (it was usually a she)
was referred to free local nutrition classes, and was not permitted to
have subsequent distribution from the food bank unless she had proof she
had been to the class. They had to at least learn *something* at those
classes!

It works a bit differently up here--there are no food stamps. A person on
welfare gets a basic monthly cheque, and works out their own costs from
there. So there is no controlling how they spend it, unless they are
totally off the rails. The Food Bank here takes people on referral, which
might be through Social Services, but might also be through a church or
other community organization, so it doesn't only serve welfare people.

Some of the takeup on its cooking and shopping programs are from people who
are not welfare recipients, but are making a transition from a time when
they never had to think about what they bought or spent (so, run into the
grocery store and pick up the precooked meals, stop for takeout etc) and now
have to learn how to stretch a much smaller income (job loss, family breakup
etc).

The Food Bank itself provides a lot of canned goods, because for safety
reasons it solicits non-perishable donations from the public. So sometimes
the basic food basket in a way encourages the non-cooking that people are
used to.

It is a hard thing to be hungry, and sad that for many people, the solution
is still to eat a lot of "fill up" stuff with limited nutritional value.

Dawne



We're fortunate to live in a semi-rural area (town is getting very
close!) and many of us grow our own veggies.

The past few years the Food Bank has actively solicited fresh produce
donations from us and it's great. I can get rid of all those extra
zucchini that grow at night when I'm not watching and the families that
need the help get some fresh food too besides just the canned and boxed
regular donations.

MelissaD

MelissaD wrote:
Dawne Peterson wrote:
"Olwyn Mary" wrote
Some people on welfare live in circumstances that make cooking
really difficult. They might not have a working oven; sometimes
they are cooking on hotplates. Microwaves are pretty cheap
compared to electric ranges. One of the great things our foodbank
does is offer kitchen facilities, so people can actually cook with
proper working stoves and good pots and utensils. They also have
the help of the local Home Economists organization, as some people,
especially if they are from several generations of welfare, had no
one who had skills to pass to them. Many are glad to learn how to
take the assortment of vegetables they might get and turn it into a
good soup that will last several days.

Dawne
We have a programme too (for those who will take it) to basically
teach them how to cook good, nutritious meals made much more cheaply.
They are not exactly lining up to take the course though, it's
depressing.

I know it is not pc but some of these are second and third generation
welfare cases; they have grown up with role models who displayed no
work ethics and no basic housekeeping skills. It's not realistic to
think they will develop those skills from thin air. I am not
condemning, just stating and totally at a loss to know how to
remedy it.
In one of the small towns in which I lived for a few years, they had
a very interesting way of dealing with it. Being a small town, there
was only one community food bank. If a person with a full food stamp
allotment came in for a third month in a row, she (it was usually a
she) was referred to free local nutrition classes, and was not
permitted to have subsequent distribution from the food bank unless
she had proof she had been to the class. They had to at least learn
*something* at those classes!

It works a bit differently up here--there are no food stamps. A
person on welfare gets a basic monthly cheque, and works out their own
costs from there. So there is no controlling how they spend it,
unless they are totally off the rails. The Food Bank here takes
people on referral, which might be through Social Services, but might
also be through a church or other community organization, so it
doesn't only serve welfare people.

Some of the takeup on its cooking and shopping programs are from
people who are not welfare recipients, but are making a transition
from a time when they never had to think about what they bought or
spent (so, run into the grocery store and pick up the precooked meals,
stop for takeout etc) and now have to learn how to stretch a much
smaller income (job loss, family breakup etc).

The Food Bank itself provides a lot of canned goods, because for
safety reasons it solicits non-perishable donations from the public.
So sometimes the basic food basket in a way encourages the non-cooking
that people are used to.

It is a hard thing to be hungry, and sad that for many people, the
solution is still to eat a lot of "fill up" stuff with limited
nutritional value.

Dawne



We're fortunate to live in a semi-rural area (town is getting very
close!) and many of us grow our own veggies.

The past few years the Food Bank has actively solicited fresh produce
donations from us and it's great. I can get rid of all those extra
zucchini that grow at night when I'm not watching and the families that
need the help get some fresh food too besides just the canned and boxed
regular donations.

MelissaD

We don't have a real veggie garden, but this year I planted squash(3
types) in a flower border, where the frost had killed off the hibiscus.
I also have four pepper plants there. In pots on the deck are cherry
tomatoes (2) and regular tomatoes (2). Also a tub with three eggplants,
and two longish boxes, one with bush beans and the other with wax beans.

So far we have had a meal of green beans, and this morning I blanched
and froze two meals worth of the green beans and one of the wax. Jim has
been eating up the cherry tomatoes; he had fried zucchini last night and
yellow squash casserole the night before.

I need to sow more radishes, we ate the first crop.

It is starting to get pretty hot down here, so I don't know what will
happen to the plants. I started March 1st, and should have done it earlier.

This year is the learning year.

Gillian
Central Florida,