Hi everyone! It’s the final day of the month and this means it’s time for my monthly recap. August was a pretty good month in terms of my engaging in interesting and enjoyable activities. It was also a slow month, in that no progress has been made on the home-finding front. In fact, I only realized yesterday that it’s been literally a month since the client supporter contacted me.
I could of course blame the summer for the slow-going process. It’s true, in that my support coordinator and assigned staff were both off for the greater part of August and the behavior specialist is now off until mid-September. It isn’t good though. Because of this, I E-mailed both the client supporter and the client confidante on involuntary care today. After all, no formal progress doesn’t mean life doesn’t go on. I mean, back in my days of online forums, I’d always use some variation of the tagline “Time spent in institutions is not life experience deductable” as my signature. It’s true for the client, but too often the people in charge do not realize this.
It is, in this light, good that I was able to spend a significant amount of time on enjoyable activities. One of those has been cooking and baking. I originally wasn’t sure I wanted to spend over €300 on a food processor if I wasn’t going to be able to do cooking activities at my next home anymore. I obviously could’ve bought a cheaper model, but eventually decided to go for it and just get the model I wanted. I’m lucky in this respect that I’m relatively financially secure. And in case you’re wondering, it took some fiddling around with the whisk attachment, but eventually the cake I wanted to bake on Saturday was a success.
I haven’t heard anything about my Care and Force Act agreement (on when I can and can’t be restrained or secluded) since having had the meeting with the behavior specialist and client confidante three weeks ago. This honestly sucks big time, since even though I’ve only been restrained once during this time, there’s no guarantee that things won’t turn around for the worse again until I’ve actually gotten a proper agreement. And truthfully, even if or when I do, I doubt things will ever be okay here at this home.
That’s the sad realization I’ve come to this month: no matter how good my day is, I’ll always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I think this perpetual sense of apprehension isn’t altogether unfounded.
Astrid Blogs About… 
Since I haven’t had much time to read posts lately, I am just now reading about your search for a new home. I truly hope you will find a place with respect, empathy and people willing to listen to your input in your own care. What I have read in the past about this home, it does not seem to have much of any of those things there. I hope you hear something soon! Food processors can be wonderful for kitchen creations… a solid investment. I hope September is good to you… a whole new month of possibilities ahead.
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Aw, thanks so much for your kind comment! Honestly, I have never been at a place within the care system that is good with respect to any of these qualities. Part of the reason is probably inherent in the power dynamic of care, though I hope not.
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You’re welcome, Astrid.
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First, yay on the cake! I am glad you splurged on the fancy mixer. Baking is so much fun and can even be therapeutic, for me anyway. Anything that takes my focus away from my phone is a win.
Second, fingers crossed for your living situation to get resolved ASAP!
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Thanks so much for your kind comment. Yes, I truly think my stand mixer was worth investing in. By the way, now I know what I did “wrong” buying it: I genuinely believed it had an attachment to grind nuts etc., but that’s what food processors are for, not stand mixers. Thankfully, I will be able to buy an attachment that does this if (more like when) I want to.
Thanks also for the well wishes on my living situation.
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Hi Astrid. I commented just below you on Paula’s blog and wanted to pop over and say hello. I’m so glad you went for the better food processor and your cake turned out to be good. I baked my husband a birthday cake and it came out lopsided. My daughter looked in the oven and told me my racks were crooked. Bother. But the cake tasted good anyway. I used extra frosting on the low end. It sounds like you’re looking for a new home. I hope things work out for you there soon. Take care.
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Thank you for stopping by. I’m glad the cake you baked turned out to taste good after all. And yes, unfortunately I’ll need to move again. It’s not like we’re in a hurry or so I’m told, but the whole thing does bring up quite a lot of emotions.
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I’m glad you enjoyed interesting activities like baking and cooking in August. I hope you’ll receive good news regarding home situation soon. Thank you for linking up with my #MonthlyWrapUp.
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Thanks for stopping by. I hope there’ll be some progress on the care home situation soon.
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