KateP's musings

It is before 9:30 at night. I am closing down the house for the night. Today was a good day despite the fact I was still tired. I woke up around 5 and stayed in bed until 6. I started getting ready for work by then. I did get online and replied to some emails and read some forums. I got to work at my normal quarter of 8. I did my usual stuff picking up the mail and collection letters. I went to the office and looked over stuff that Nina did. AT first I was really critical because she had logged off my computer and locked it. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get on it but I was wrong and was able to get on. She also left a disk I used for the monthly reports for the bad addresses in the disk drive. I told her about it when she stopped by for her eyeglass case I found on the floor. I got a chance to talk to Ann and asked if there were any problems or complaints I should know about. She said no. I told her how the day went yesterday. She was glad to hear that it went w...

It was after five when we got up and started getting ready for the hospital. We got to the hospital a little before six and we were sent up to the surgical center. I was given a beeper (I empathize with the doctors who have to wear those things) while Mom was being prepped. When she was ready I was given the signal to come in. The Anesthesiologist was there talking with her. He was a little concerned over the potassium results from earlier blood tests. He had to consult with someone and do some retests. They turned out to be okay. If they hadn’t the procedure would have been scrubbed. Once the new results were available it was time for her to go. I went back to the waiting area and then decided to go home for a bit. That was after 7. I went home and had some breakfast and folded the clothes in the dryer and called Liz. She was at work. I told her how things had progressed so far and then we hung up. I made a quick call to Bob. I watched TV while I had my breakfast and then it was getti...

There was a lovely blanket of snow on the ground when I got up this morning. It started sometime last night. The weatherman said it would start around midnight. I think it must have started between 10 and 11. I got up got ready for work. I got the car started and warmed up and managed to get the sidewalk cleared. Donny did the rest of the sidewalk later on in the day. The roads were not that bad. I managed to get to work at a decent time and started getting into the work. Shirley didn’t come in and I had learned that her niece had died. I tried to get as much as I could done. Today’s lockbox was huge but I was unable to finish it. I let Ann know about it before leaving. I told her that today’s post office mail was done. The bad addresses but I knew there was more to be done. Andrea had class today so she was over in the training area and Ms Daphne didn’t come in today. I am not sure why probably because of her neck or the roads. I talked to Liz today. We talked about what ...

It is a chilly, sunny Saturday morning I still have the Yellowstone Public Radio station from Montana on. I am not sure what is playing but it is nice. I haven’t been up long but I just wanted to get things done. I had a good sleep despite the cold. The extra blanket kept me warm during the night. As long as I was underneath it was comfortable but I could still feel the cold. Before going to bed last night I checked some emails. I got a couple in relations to the 4th District. They came from Thursday. One was the revised minutes from the district meeting and the other was about Dave H’s email. Hopefully now he will get the minutes. I also got a couple of invites to join a couple more groups. I joined those today. They are for pen pals and chatting. More people are leaving the Circle of Friendship group over the postings from Rhonda. Sara from Long letter Gal pal list posted yesterday that she had a death in the family and that she had to take care of the arrangements. A few...

It is Friday night. I have the Yellowstone Public Radio station on the net. Mom is downstairs cleaning up the kitchen from Dinner and watching the PBS news. We were talking about her stay at the Nursing home for rehab. She will have a TV and phone while she is there so she won’t miss her favorite TV shows. She isn’t going to be able to take her medication with her there. We also talked about my bringing her the mail and newspaper. I have also been putting together a grocery list. I have included rock salt. The reason is because after reminding Mom to be careful this morning she fell. She fell on her hip. She is okay but it was disconcerting for her. I will get it this weekend. Today went pretty well. I arrived at the garage fairly early to find that one of the elevators was out as it was yesterday. I parked closer to another one and took that. I walked to the office with Joyce B. I picked up the mail from the trays and headed to the office. When I got to my office I f...

It is a rainy cold Thursday. Mom is at CPAC and I am trying to print out some letters for Jennie but for some reason I can’t transfer (or cut and past) from an email. I know that this morning or last night there were a couple of updates. I am not sure what it was exactly but it was from Windows so…Well it turned out alright. The rain is supposed to turn into snow by the end of the night. It was making the evening commute for some rather dicey. It is supposed to make the morning commute pretty dicey as well. Work went well. I managed to get the mail opened and delivered (at least the 20th, 21st is delivered). I still have to do today’s and of course finish up collection letters that were given to me today. We did have a minor mess up. Mike wanted to come early and pick up the charts so I thought they were all back and told him to. Lisa had already given finished but Diane didn’t. So I was able to leave early and drop it off. Ms Daphne was pleased I didn’t get upset with it. T...

I started to write an early entry very bright and early yesterday morning but never finished it because the day got away from me. Shirley spoke to me about the bins underneath and I told her I would work on them. I have just been working and going to Dr. Appointments and trying to figure out what will be going on with Mom. It got kind of hairy last night because Mom didn’t have the answers Liz and I were looking for about her upcoming knee Surgery. I ended up getting frustrated with her and just not writing. She also was complaining there was an “odor” near my door. I couldn’t smell it but she really was pissing me off. Today went a little better and I managed to get a lot done. At least I think I did. I worked, went to the woman’s meeting and emptied the garbage. Now I am going to bed.

Today is President’s Day where the country and perhaps the world honors and remembers the birthdays, lives, of two Presidents that help make the Country what it is. It is Abraham Lincolns Birthday (last week) and George Washington’s Birthday (this week). Usually this is when most schools take their February vacation. Many automobile dealers try to make a big sale. Most places (banks and post offices and most schools) were closed. It was very obvious when I was driving on the highway and arrived into the garage today. It was also evident when there was little or no mail that came in today. It was also evident when Shirley wasn’t in. So I spent the day finishing up the collection letters that needed to be folded and I finished the lockbox from Friday and sorted both Thursday’s and Friday’s and delivered. I did the charts both delivering and ordering, and did the reports for today’s bad address (which obviously was zero). I worked on readdress mail near the end of the day. I also...

On my way to Mediplex this morning I could smell the pungent sign of a skunk. I thought it was to the side of the road. It wasn’t. I ran right over it. The smell came into the car and it stayed with it for a while. When I went back the same way some kind soul moved the carcass to the side of the road. Bingo went well. Nancy was there when I arrived and she seemed tired. She told me the state was still there and so we had to do things a certain way. Not let anyone have coffee until all of us were in the room (Natalie would be coming in-she wasn’t happy about it either). Mom saw my room and she wasn’t happy either. I have been picking it up here and there but she is not rushing me and she needs to learn to shut the door. She did but still. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. I helped Mom with our Dinner and then she went out to the store for a couple of hours. It also snowed for a short time. It wasn’t long nor was it a lot. Mom and I were talking more about her knee surge...

One of the things I didn’t mention last night was Mom will be going into the hospital on the 27th for knee replacement surgery. She is going for blood work as I write this and should be home shortly. Anyway, I have to reread the packet she received last week. It discusses more of what she can expect prior to the surgery and what she needs to do after the surgery. She doesn’t want to be stuck in one end of the house the entire time. She will not be able to drive anywhere and or do any cooking. I told her there are plenty of cookbooks in the house that I can follow (they are indeed nifty little inventions). It is quite possible she may have to stay at a rehab center for what she THINKS is a few days (she really doesn’t know for sure). I suspect it will be longer. She went through a list of what she didn’t want to happen. My thoughts on this it will be a very busy six weeks and I will need to be close by and work on stuff around here. It is a little scary because well there will ...

The sun is setting in the west. Mom is making waffles (you go Mom) and in a few hours we will be going to the 4th District Meeting at Mike and Tessa’s house. It should be a two hour meeting and hopefully not too long. I need to find my notebook. Today went well and I was in a pretty good mood for most of it. I got some letters folded and mailed but still have more to do come Monday. I still have to finish the mail from yesterday and a little bit of today’s. Mom just called me. She says that Sylvia wants to come tonight. This should be interesting. I wonder what that’s about. I had a good session with Debra. I was very agitated and I told her about the whole KS debacle. ( This will explain what I mean) There wasn’t much she could say but acknowledged I was disappointed (I am actually beyond disappointed). We won’t be meeting next week. It’s her birthday. I picked up my plaquenil today. It was over $71. I didn’t get the other because they didn’t have it ready and it is now...

I have had a long day. I didn’t go to sleep until after 1. Somehow I cut myself because I had blood all over my left hand. It took most of the day to either wash away or fade away. I got ready for work and put the garbage out. I was pretty late in leaving and managed to be late for work. I can’t remember what I was doing first but I know I jumped into what ever it was. By the end of the day I had all the EOB piles up to today done and sorted and delivered. I found out today that TK’s restaurant is no more. They had one last party and that was Superbowl Sunday. The restaurant was sold to make way for a 14 story High rise. The surrounding parking lot will no longer be there as well. I was in shock. I talked it over with several people and the topic of parking availability came up as well. Shirley returned from her snow day and she looked great. She didn’t ask me once what was on my desk. I told her I would finish the letters in the Morning. Through out the day I was still pr...

Well I can’t believe I am adding to the hoopla but here goes. Kevin Sorbo has once again experienced hoof and mouth disease. In a recent article here he is quoted making several complaints and incredibly inappropriate remarks about Rob and Lucy Lawless Tapert. He managed to enrage many of Lucy lawless’s fans such as Xena Online: Kevin Sorbo has issues . I mean this woman has really good points. I mean what is the point when you see all these that have been posted? There are some Xenites that are trying to understand and there are some that are just giddy with delight to be proven right yet again. There are also fans that will believe it when they actually hear it from his mouth. Well they can do all they want I am finished. No more lists no more forums. It’s done. Kevin you had it all in your hand. Big freaking deal that you are outspoken well this will cost you a great deal and I hope to god you are willing to pay the price. Your fans think you can do no wrong and that ...

Well it is a cloudy Tuesday morning. In about 8 or 12 hours the Nor Easter is supposed to be here. I am not really holding my breath for anything substantial. No real accumulations to speak of. The Woodmont Borough was very busy last night. I found several emails in my box from the Clerk. Apparently two of the emails had to do with FOIC and its ruling for a man by the name of Borer. A couple of years ago he wanted the list of emails that have signed up for email alerts from the Borough and they wouldn’t give it to them. Well the FOIC ruled in his favor and the borough has already provided him with that. Also the monthly minutes were passed out and so was the next meeting announcement. It is after 8 pm and no inclement weather yet. I just heard that it is lightly snowing in NYC. I also heard that it was snowing in Cheshire a few hours ago. Work went well today. I managed to get the letters folded and ready to be mailed. I am still working on Friday’s mail and should be fini...

I am feeling pretty good about how today went. I got to work at decent hour (there didn’t seem to be a lot of traffic and the garage didn’t seem very full. I later found out there was an accident on the I-91 Highway. I haven’t heard much about it except through word of mouth. Meredith Cacace returned to work from maternity leave today. She usually works part time anyway. I might have mentioned her in Friday's entry she is really a sweet girl. A few people left welcome back notes and gifts. Susan C came back after a few days out of work. It turns out she was in the hospital during that time. She really didn’t go into detail about it but I told her if she needed anything to let me know. Rhona Haynes came back from being out sick. She was the one who organized the Valentines social gathering. She seems to be doing okay. I really didn’t get to talk to her much except Hello. Ann Brooks was out today. She will probably be back tomorrow. Ms Daphne took a vacation day. I d...

It’s gone. It’s really gone! The Milford Jai Alai Fronton which had been on Old Gate Lane for nearly 35 years and was closed in 2001 is finally gone. The fronton was built in the late 70’s to bring in extra revenue for the state and city. It was situated by the highway and near the truck stop at exit 40. You could see it from the highway at all hours of the night. I can remember the traffic jams that it would cause. It was closed five years ago after the Mohegan and Foxwoods Casino’s opened and became more popular. It just could not compete with that. Lowes Hardware is going to have one of its stores there once the building is complete. It should be interesting to see how this works. We have a Home Depot on Route one by Orange and there was a Lowes in West Haven. I am not sure if it will remain there or not. As it is there are two new Wal*mart’s being built and one of them is in West Haven and the other here in Milford by the Connecticut Post Mall. In the end it will be v...

It is a cloudy Saturday morning and I have been up for about an hour or so. I was updating my new pen pal file for Phyllis E. I have her letter printed out and going to be mailed later. Mom got up a short while ago and I suspect that my shredder is the reason. Although she didn’t indicate that it was. I am not sure what her plans are but I did offer to go to the store if needed. I also told her today would be low key day. I am also doing some laundry and eventually will have the room back in a shape in which I will not be overwhelmed or tripping over stuff. Well I have made some progress with the laundry. I just have a few more loads to do. I really don’t want to be doing laundry for the rest of the weekend. It isn’t fun and it takes up time and energy and things that could be done by others. Mom is out back writing out her thank you notes from the party. She got them today. She will be busy for the afternoon I think. I talked with Liz today about hr test. It seems that her ...

Oh this is so weird. I was reading the newspaper online and read that a local Flower Shop/Nursery had a fire on Wednesday. About the fire at Filanowski Nursery . It isn’t that far from where Telka lives and I drive by it to get to her house. Some time of machine was damaged and one of the hot houses burned. Anyway, I had a dream the other night and I know there was a fire in it. I am not sure where though. It has been many hours now. I finally fell asleep way after 3 and woke up after 5. That made it a tough day for me. I did stay in bed until 6:30 but had to rush around to get ready for work and to go to the store for the juice I was bringing for our “social” at work. As a result I was late which through off my whole routine. Whatever wasn’t finished today would be done on Monday. My session with Debra went well. She got a huge check from Aetna which now gave me a small amount to pay (although bigger than I was going to). The good news is we are now caught up and will be up to date on...

It is just before 7 on this cold Thursday night. Little House on the Prairie finished on TVLand channel. The episode was the conclusion of Gold Country where the Ingalls and Edwards realize that panning for Gold isn’t all that is cracked up to be so they head home. That was the last we would see of the Edwards clan for a while. The next season would introduce the Garvey family. Anyway, today was a lot better and I felt a lot more accomplished then I did yesterday. I managed to get the letters done within a certain time. I started on them this afternoon. There were more waiting to be folded so I started on them. I will have to work on them in the morning. When I asked Shirley if should do the letters first thing every morning she said it would depend on how many there were. She suggested I work on them an hour at time depending on my other tasks. I do have the 7th and 8th to sort now and they can be done tomorrow. Joel Ball was telling us about Oswego New York having 7 feet o...

It is after 10 and I am doing some laundry. Tonight was a short night because I got home after 5. I left the office late because the bad addresses were not done for the day. Shirley had asked or reminded me to make sure they were done before I left at 4. Well it wasn’t going to happen. I am not sure if she was annoyed by that or not. Shirley does know I still have stuff to do. I managed to get all the letters done up to today. I didn’t get everything done but I did get two more piles of the rejections sorted and delivered. So now there is the 6th and the 7th to do. Actually I have to finish today’s work. I do worry that I am getting disorganized and frustrated. A few times today I could see Daphne watching me and it was frustrating she would make noises like she was laughing. She watched me put stuff under my desk ( I usually do that because I don’t want it on top of it. I thought I was going to lose my temper with this woman. I have a lot of respect for her but the way I ...

I spent a better part of an hour emptying out my Iwon.com mail box and my msn mailbox. I probably missed emails from that too. I just couldn’t be bothered. I hope to stay on top of that and I am about to empty my outlook express. The emails were about the daily lives of the pen pals. Marian at one point was relating that one of the five computers they have will be returned to the company that her husband worked for. The day went pretty well. I am pretty much caught up with the collection letter folding but that put a lot of stuff on the slide. We didn’t get much post office mail which was good but we had gotten a lot of the lockbox. I expressed my concerns to Shirley that I may have messed things up (for a lack of a better term) when I put things aside and then concentrate on one thing. She didn’t yell but she said it was good that I can see that. What did you think of the news today? The lady astronaut getting arrested for attempted kidnapping and I think murder charges? For...

It is after 7:30. Mom is in New York with Stella for their monthly trip to the Opera. I should expect them home around 1 a.m. I tell you what a way to spend a birthday. This day 80 years ago Mom was born. She spent her birthday answering emails, running some errands and making my dinner which was awesome by the way. She received a beautiful floral arrangement from Carol and Rita down in Texas. Rita called twice today to sing and to wish her a happy birthday. We had talked for about 20 minutes about politics (not something I would normally do). We also talked about the party and she praised us for doing a great job. She told me that Carol isn’t doing that great and Ryan (her grandson) is homebound. I spent the day working. I thought I was finished with today’s lockbox but good Ol’ Ted brought me more which should have been brought earlier. He is such an air head. I will have to add it to tomorrow’s stuff. Angela was concerned I was a little behind on the letters and I was afra...

Today was an incredibly exhausting day and sort of scary. As you may remember I didn’t sleep well because of the excitement of yesterday and also it was difficult to sleep with Emily whom I love dearly in the same bed. Jim and Jamie got up for a bit and both went back to bed for a bit (they slept on the floor last night) Kristina slept for a good long time and so did Emily. I had to get ready for bingo and I left around 9:15. Nancy was there starting to serve coffee and I relaxed for a bit. We started to set up for Bingo and then got some of the residents who were regular players. We had sixteen players. The games went well. What happened next was frightening. The games had finished and I was bringing Helen back to her floor. The alarm went off and scared another resident Carla. She got into the elevator that was out of order I went to her and took her by the hand and told her she couldn’t use that one. The alarm was still going off and as she was coming out of the elevator fell...

It was little before 12 when I left for the convention center. Liz and Nelson their children, Nelson, Adam, Cheryl, and Rich were setting up. Soon Nelson’s Sister and Bob and Donna Hall helped with set up. Phillippa Coughlin came early to assist in the set up. The guests started coming by 1. As I said to Mom I can’t really remember who came first second or third. I was given the task of greeting the guests and giving them name tags. It was around 1:15 when Mom arrived and she noticed a few people that she recognized and they acted nonchalant. Another of the guest who came from New Rochelle (and part of the Knitwit club) wasn’t sure where he was supposed to go. Well by then Mom was getting the corsage on and Sheila was telling him it’s for Claire. I escorted him into the room. Once the corsage was put on I took Mom by the hand and brought her into the room and all shouted surprise. Mom walked around from one end of the room to the other. I think she saw everyone and she was...

Well it is quarter of one in the morning. I have tried to sleep but can’t just as I suspected the coffee is keeping me awake as well as thinking of what I have to do at the office. My stomach wasn’t feeling too well either. I joined two more groups and sent them to my msn address (it’s for the pen pal areas). I am clearing out the IWON.com box. Some of my lists there have been hit by the same spammer. Some people are leaving some of the groups. They either don’t have time or haven’t gotten any responses to their requests for pals. I know one left the snail mail Pen pal Club. She didn’t give a reason but that’s okay. I don’t know what time I finally fell asleep but it was not good. I got up printed the letters and got ready for work. As I was coming upstairs Mom was up as well. She didn’t sleep either. There was a coat of snow on the ground. When I was getting ready to leave I needed to move her car. I pushed against the horn. I came inside and said well so much for being di...

I had a pretty good night last. I read emails. I managed to write out some letters the one to Lord & Taylor. I am not sure if they will do anything about that but it’s a good try. Carla sent Liz and me a letter for Mom for her Birthday. I printed out after I emailed Liz and asked if she would like me to print it out on stationary. Well the day went pretty well. I spent most of the morning working on letters and then did the today’s mail I did manage to work on the bad addresses as well. I may have “told on myself” as well. I still have a lot of readdress mail to send out as well. Shirley was out again. I am not sure if she will be in tomorrow but that’s okay I can continue to work on the letters and the lock box. Gayle Canales returned to work today. She will be working part time for another week or so. Evelyn Harris came in for a visit with her brand new daughter. She is adorable. Mom is at her meeting in Wethersfield she says she will be home by 8. She spent the day ...