Halloween Candy

Okay, I admit that I am a pathetic chocolate junkie. This was painfully evident today as I was mixing candy to hand out for Halloween and I layered all of the chocolate candy at the bottom so that it would be more likely to be left over at the end of the night. Here is a 30 year old woman practically stealing chocolate out of the mouths of trick-or-treating babes. Sad, but true.

Good Morning

and Happy Halloween from Yoda

Good Morning

From Marina Isabella

McDonald’s

We had a late appointment with our accountant this evening, we were hungry, and there were the glorious golden arches.  We make a concerted effort to minimize our intake of fast food, but sometimes we do cave in.  As we sat in the line, which snaked around the building, I remembered a recent McDonald’s commercial on television.  The commercial consisted of carrot sticks, lettuce leaves, and tomato slices making their way across the screen, with something along the lines of “it’s what we’re made of” flashing amid the dancing vegetables.

I find the whole thing rather appalling.  Sure, they put some wilted lettuce and tomato on the whopper, and they do offer some salad options.  The commercial, however, really should have shown slices of processed american cheese, fake-ish chicken with the consistency of foam, and vats of bubbling oil for deep frying.

As I thought to myself that they must think the masses to be complete morons,  I came across a study that yielded frightening results.  In the study, McDonald’s food items were given to preschoolers.  Some of the items were plainly packaged, and other items were packaged in traditional McDonald’s packaging.  The preschoolers rated the food in the McDonald’s packaging as tasting better.

Does this mean we are complete morons?  Would we have stopped at McDonald’s tonight if we weren’t bombarded with their advertising?  Who knows…  Yet as I sit here and polish off my 1/4 pounder with cheese, what can I say except…..”I’m lovin’ it.”

Pink Martini

 

One of my all-time favorite music groups is Pink Martini. They have a unique, retro-loungy sound, and are a spectacularly talented group of musicians. The group has a timeless quality and a universal appeal. They manage to integrate unique instruments (e.g. the harp), as well as several foreign languages into their songs. Below are links to You Tube videos of two of their songs, Sympathique and La Soledad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vekv0GRu_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHQjjWRu8kw

Is health care a right?

The concept of health care as a right has become an increasingly hot topic, particularly with presidential elections around the corner. There are many legitimate arguments to be made on both sides of the fence. First, we must clarify what that question means. Does it really mean “is FREE health care a right?” When something is determined to be a “right,” does that mean it becomes the responsibility of the government to provide, uphold, and enforce that right? Rights are dynamic and subjective. Therefore, the answer will largely depend on current cultural trends.

Health care is an area that is very near and dear to my life. I have worked in health care for most of my adult life, as has my husband. I have also been a lifelong consumer of health care, including several hospital stays. Let’s assume, for the purposes of this blog entry, that we are talking about “universal health care.” That is, health care that is managed by the government, funded by tax dollars, and equally available to all citizens.

There are numerous questions to consider related to the concept of free health care as a right. Most rights have responsibility attached to them. There has been an increasing trend in this country, however, to emphasize rights while simultaneously de-emphasizing individual responsibility. When imagining a United States with universal health care, I cannot help but wonder whether there would be limits, or whether it would be an “anything goes” system.

Is it society’s responsibility to provide free health care to the drug user who has overdosed for the fifth time in her life? What about providing a free leg amputation, free prosthetic leg, and a year of free rehabilitation to the diabetic who chose not to correctly manage their disease? What about providing ongoing prescription sleep medication for the person who has a hard time falling asleep at night? Or how about providing free viagra for the man with erectile dysfunction so that his self-esteem will not be eroded?

Where should the lines be drawn, and who should be in charge of making such decisions? In this post I present questions. I am refraining from including any personal opinions, as I feel that warrants a separate post.

Good Morning

From Marina Isabella

OT: Introduction

I am an occupational therapist, which means that many people have no idea what I do for a living. This blog should serve as an excellent forum to promote and increase awareness of occupational therapy. Being such a broad profession means that even occupational therapists sometimes have difficulty explaining what it is that we do. One description is that we give people “skills for the job of living.” Regardless of how we describe what we do, it is one of the best professions out there (my humble opinion).

Often, when people hear “occupational therapy” they are misled into thinking that we help people with employment. Yes, we might help people with some aspects of employment, but we do much more. The word occupation in this context refers to anything that a person does that is meaningful to them. There are many things that are meaningful to us that we may take for granted, like being able to go to the bathroom independently, or getting into the car and driving to the grocery store.

So, occupational therapists help people to participate in meaningful occupations. We typically work with people who have some sort of disability, either from illness or injury. We also work with people of all ages. Some examples of what we might do include helping a premature infant to safely feed, finding a way for a child with cerebral palsy to fully participate in her day at school, or training an adult who had a stroke to use adaptive equipment in order to continue to live independently.

Who am I?

I am Theresa Mancuso

Darren’s wife

and Marina’s mom

Hello and welcome

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog! My husband accuses me of “thinking too much,” and I discovered that I greatly enjoy maintaining an online journal when we created a website for our daughter, Marina. I decided to start this blog in order to have an outlet for writing about topics other than Marina (although she remains my favorite topic overall). This blog has no particular theme, other than my thoughts and opinions on a variety of issues. I welcome comments, feedback, etc. Thank you for dropping in!