KateP's musings

Considering it was the second to the last day of 2009 I was hoping that it would go smoothly but alas it didn’t. The first person to annoy me was Dave. Actually I can see his point but the tone of email set me off. If it is what I perceive as being rude or obnoxious I can be resentful. On Monday he sent me an email inviting me to a party to ring in the New Year on Sunday. I didn’t see it until yesterday. I asked him if Mary would be there if she was I would not be going and I told him I was dead serious. I received his response this morning: Hi Kate This is between you and Mary. and she has no idea about your feelings toward her. I did invite her; all I am doing is having a gathering to start the New Year. So you decide what you want to do. I need to make the arrangments without having to worry about this. Hope you had a nice Christmas. David My response was “I am sorry I won’t be there”. Now most of you know that I usually get others viewpoints. Most of them agreed that I hav...

After having a wonderful night’s sleep I had a wonderful day at work. I got up early got clothes out of the dryer and got ready for work. I left her around 7:15 and went to Dunkin Donuts® and got my coffee. I was in New Haven by quarter of 8 and to the office by 10 of 8. I spent the morning working on yesterday’s mail. Gayle came in mid morning and looked well. We chatted about our holidays and how much fun it was for us. When today’s post office mail came I started and finished in within an hour. Today’s lockbox is going to be worked on tomorrow. It was a little heavier than normal. However, I suspect that because of the holiday it has shifted everything. I did get online but once the postal mail came I concentrated on that and made fewer trips to the net. I left the office a little after 2. I was so afraid I would be late for the appointment in Milford. Happily I was not. The traffic at times was slow but I was surprised to find myself at the office on time. I was at ...

This time between Christmas and New Year’s Day when the University is on recess is my favorite time. It allows me to come home early in the day without being sick. I can watch TV or do errands such as going to the doctors appointments that I have this week. Do some chores or just relax. It also reminds me that I have limited time when I am work to get my stuff done by a certain time. For example I had work finished from Thursday that needed to be done. I also had a large volume of lockbox that came probably around 9am that was unable to finish. Well if you follow this blog then you know most Mondays I don’t finish it until the next day. However, I am going to try to make sure things are done all before the new year. Part of the reason I think I didn’t get a lot done today was because I was online. When the post office mail arrived I made a conscientious effort not to get on as much. As usual not sure it worked. There were a lot of people today and had a chance to talk with...

Well the Christmas 2009 season is winding down to a close. Oh there is still another four days until 2010 but for the most part the season is over and I realize so is the first decade of the 21st century. The snow that arrived last Saturday is now all but gone. The rain that we got last night poured and poured. All the snow that remains is along the curbs and end of the streets and of course if you look at Oyster River behind me in certain sections of the riverbanks. Work went very well and it was very festive. Our department party was on Wednesday and the food as always was delicious. This year it was catered by Paula’s of George Street. It was the regular breakfast fare. We got new bags with the Yale Medical Group Emblem in various dark colors. Our recess is now in full swing and the hours will be from 8 am to 2 pm. Christmas Eve Day Mom performed a wedding at the Town Hall while I worked. When I got home I did some chores and did some web browsing and took a nap and then Mom and I w...

Well there is a day until Christmas Eve. Most of the gifts that I have bought are wrapped (except for the coffee for Bob that arrived Monday). I still have to get Audrey and Jason’s gift wrapped and add candy to it. Mom feels that they have enough toys they don’t need anymore. I have to get the cards ready for those who are getting money and gift certificates. I have to get cards out to my 4th District Committee and the Woman’s Club. Today is our Holiday Breakfast at work. Marianne and the Administration gives it to us every year. It is the usual breakfast fare. In the past we were able to sit and socialize but many don’t and so we end up going back to our desks and eating there and do our work. There will be many who have already left for the holiday and won’t be returning until the recess is over. The recess starts tomorrow and finishes up on January 1, 2010. I will be working every day except of course Christmas Day and New Years Day. We return on January 4 2010. While I...

Well I got my wish. We got a lot of snow this storm and it looks lovely. It stopped snowing after 7 in the morning. I woke up and got up just about then and spent time online. Around 8 I got ready to get to digging out and it took me a while. I made a path from the house to the driveway and cleared off my car and then nearly got stuck in the pile of snow. (I was getting agitated because I didn’t think I was going to get the driveway done and it was cold). I got it done enough where I could get out and when I came home I found that the driveway and the sidewalk had been cleared by Donny B. The drive to Bingo was slow and I took New Haven Avenue in all the way to Gulf Street then from there to Cherry to North Street and then from there to Walnut (I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going). The roads were okay for the first major snow storm. From what I gather there were a lot of streets not done yet. Bingo went well. Bob the Recreation therapist was there making coffee. He...

I think I may have done an entry raw but for the most part I have been busy working or watching TV and had a session with Debra. Each day I was getting more anxious because I have not gotten the rest of the shopping done nor have I gotten the cards finished or basically started that was until today. I have gotten mostly all the presents I plan and the rest of the family will be getting money. The wedding was absolutely wonderful. Chris was a joy to be with and he got us home by 10. There was so much food and there was music and family the best of both worlds. Cheryl even sent some pictures out (of course I look awful). We had dinner with Bob and Ethel and Diane on Sunday. She even did laundry and we went shopping for the dinner. I think she was playing games when I asked her about her lap top. (I swear she wrote it was confiscated by either Security or some other airport situation and she is denying it). However, I think its best to let it go. Work has been busy. Been doing OT...

I think I may have done an entry raw but for the most part I have been busy working or watching TV and had a session with Debra. Each day I am getting more anxious because I have not gotten the rest of the shopping done nor have I gotten the cards finished or basically started. The wedding was absolutely wonderful. Chris was a joy to be with and he got us home by 10. There was so much food and there was music and family the best of both worlds. Cheryl even sent some pictures out (of course I look awful). We had dinner with Bob and Ethel and Diane on Sunday. She even did laundry and we went shopping for the dinner. I think she was playing games when I asked her about her lap top. (I swear she wrote it was confiscated by either Security or some other airport situation and she is denying it). However, I think its best to let it go. Work has been busy. Been doing OT for the last couple of days and will be until tomorrow night. There was some dissention in the last day or two becau...

In about 12 hours Nelson and Lisa will begin their life as Mr. & Mrs. Rivera. The wedding is at 5 pm and presided over by his sister Cheryl who is a justice of the peace. The reception will follow. Before all that happens I need to go to the bank and get some money out for all the contributions I will have to make to various collections for parties, surgeries for fellow co workers, and of course collections for those who are not working right now. I am doing some laundry right now. I did something really stupid. No that’s no a surprise I realize this but my arm got caught on a rack and spilled the detergent all over me and the floor. I was so pissed I was yelling and swearing so loud that Mom could hear me from upstairs in the sun room. Needless to say that was all swept up and I felt like crap. Chris is picking us up around 3 and driving us to the wedding and will be taking us home at the end of the night. We chose not to stay over because we felt it would be an expense we ...

It’s Friday and I am almost done with the work. At least I hope I am. I just have to finish Lockbox mail and the return mail. I have to deliver some mail as well. This week went by fast. Monday and Tuesday is basically a blur. I worked Monday and saw Debra. I can’t remember if I had any annoyances. Tuesday I worked until 6 and then went to the store to pick up the grab bag for the Party on Wednesday. I stopped by Roberta’s to pick up stuff for the meeting. She had called me while I was Wednesday I worked, went to pick up the veggie platter for the party and then went home and had dinner and relaxed for a bit. The party was a lot of fun. There were lots of food and lots of lovely presents to boot. I received a cake platter and beautiful bowls from Telka that I left there. I watched TV for the rest of the night. Oh and the snow storm that came that day sucked. Thursday I worked, had the annual compliance training and man it was boring. I worked until 6:30 and then went hom...

It is almost 3 in the afternoon. Mom is downstairs doing some baking. I have been spending the last two and half hours reading stuff on line and watching the two marathons of Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter Weekend on the Family Channel. I am happy to report that aside from an occasional cough I am feeling much better than I was Friday. I woke up really late yesterday (okay so 9 am isn’t really late) and spent the day quietly doing laundry and web surfing. Today I woke up early and was online for a bit . I got ready for Bingo and church around 8:15 or so. I managed to leave before 9 and stopped at Dunkin donuts and got breakfast. I got to Mediplex and relaxed with some of the residents there. I got them coffee that had been made and ate breakfast. The nursing home celebrated Margaret Ss’ 100th Birthday. Actually her birthday is on Wednesday. When I went to visit her to say hi it had dawned on me her birthday was this week. There was a beautiful corsage with white tul...

It is a rainy Saturday morning. It is supposed to start snowing sometime early evening. I have been awake since 9 and probably will keep it low key today. I have some laundry I will be doing shortly and just make sure the room is straightened up. This entire week literally flew by. All I did is work I think I did overtime once this week. Mom asked me why I didn’t do it today. I was getting a little annoyed because I don’t feel that I need to check with her or give her reasons. Most nights I went to bed by 8:30 or 9. Slept pretty well once the coughing stopped. I took a lot of the Halls sugarless cough drops. I went to the library last night to renew Mom’s book but she had already done it and I was going to lose my temper until I heard rather than saw Telka’s voice behind me. Mom had already renewed the book without telling me (after calling me asking me where it was and I told her I would do it). Anyway it was cleared up and I could take it home with me. After that was taken...

Hey everyone. It is after 7:30 and I took some Nyquil and don’t know how long it will be until it kicks in but I wanted to tell you how things went. Jim and the kids left around 10 after Mom’s pancake breakfast. When they left Mom got ready for Church and I split my time between lying down and watching whatever was on the TV for the moment. Mom came home from church around 12:30 by then the Star Wars Trilogy was beginning on Spike TV. Mom just hung out for a while and read the paper and did some computer work until it was time for her to meet our friends Tess and Mike for dinner. I went to bed before she came home so I don’t know when she came home. Today was really hectic. It seemed stressful to me as well as anything that was touched seemed to annoy people or aggravate them. I had a lot of work that I wasn’t able to finish. I did get to call for an appointment or so with Tim’s Auto for the emissions. I probably could go in on Thursday and it would take 5 minutes and then get ...

This has been a very busy week. All week long I was working, helping out as much as I could here for the thanksgiving holiday. I have been fighting a cold and ended up having to come home from work on Friday early. Every night I had something to do so no overtime. Monday I had my session with Debra, Tuesday I had my haircut and Wednesday we were able to leave early by using one hour of our time. Wednesday I had to do some shopping for Mom. (This makes me crazy) she leaves certain things to the end like getting an extra table for our dinner. That idea didn’t work. It was lopsided and made seating a little askew. Thursday we were able to get the table back to its spot in the cellar with the help of Donny from next door. We still weren’t ready for the family to arrive. The table wasn’t set and we were not dressed. Jim and the kids arrived around 11. We showered dressed and semi ready for them. For the next several hours we got dinner ready and the table set with the help of the kids. Man ...

Today was the Stamford Thanksgiving Parade sponsored by local businesses and I believe this is the 8th year for it. It was starting at 12 noon so Dave and I left his house by quarter of 9 and we stopped at the Darien McDonalds and had breakfast. We got to Stamford by 10. The street was going to be shutdown starting at 10. So Dave and I walked around the book store Barnes and Noble and then at 10 I went to St. Johns Church which was right on the parade route for mass. Dave didn’t want to go so he walked around and then we got together after mass. We played telephone tag and apparently missed each other after the mass. We finally found each other a short time later. We stood in the spot directly across and watched as the crowds gathered and a saw clowns, police (from various cities and towns) drive around. We even talked with other parade watchers. It was really fun. As the time came the parade started at 12 but got to see it by 12:20. There several marching bands from Stamf...

Well hello everyone. It is just about 8 Saturday nigh and I am so tired. I got up early and got ready for the day. As the title of the entry says today was the MYWC Pie in the Sky project with Hopkins School. I left a little after 8 and drove to the school with no problem. The school is on hills on Forest Road. The campus is beautiful the buildings were massive. They have a beautiful view of New Haven from where they are. I couldn’t help but feel they are so close to town but have a world of their own. The surrounding homes were beautiful and I would have loved to see how far forest road would go. I probably still could. I met the other students from all over the new haven area (and some from Fairfield county as well) some of the students (there were boys there too) were sophomores and juniors. Their teacher was Mrs. Lane. She was a former Research tech at Yale and now a science teacher at Hopkins. Roberta was there and her leg bothering her. She says she is going to have...

Well as of late last night the computer was behaving. I have no idea why but I was relieved. I hope it continues that way when I get home this afternoon or evening. By the time I leave here it will be evening. I finally have been using the new aspects of the Kronos Payroll system that I have mentioned previously. It really is not that bad to use. This I say without even getting officially trained either. I have been updating my group calendar while I am working. I can’t believe I let it go so long. The rest of the day went by pretty well. I got everything done by 4. I did try and get the mail but it hadn’t arrived by the time I started OT so I will have to get it Monday morning. Tonight will be laundry, bill paying, and sleep. I have to get up early enough to get ready for PITS at Hopkins. I will be there for 2 hours and then from there work. Mom got lovely post card from Diane. As I mentioned in previous posts she is in the Carolinas with the South Pacific Tour and has bee...

I think my computer is dying Nov. 19th, 2009 at 11:34 PM For several weeks now (at least it seems like it to me)my computer would freeze for long periods of time (to the point where the clock on here would stop). I would have to reboot the computer and for brief periods of time I would be able to get on then boom it would stop. It would happen several times during one day. I can't begin to tell you how many times in the last coupleo of hours. I may have to have my neighbor Donny look at it.Work has been busy and successful still. Lee Ann continues to worry that if I don't do my job then I will get fired. That the scanning and everything else is gravy and should be left for OT. I don't know how many more times I can say it to her. We had the baby shower for Becky today and she loved everything. We found out that Patty M is leaving the med school and going else where. I had no idea she was leaving.The meetings for the DTC were very good and very informative. Because of the ho...

It is now the end of another day and I am quite pleased by it. I left here a little after 6:30 and stopping for breakfast at Dunkin and got to work by 7. For the first hour I pulled an EOB for one of the Insurance Reps and then scanned for the rest of the time. Lou came around 8 and I started the work took care of the charts and had to call MR to let them know there were two charts I didn’t order in the box (apparently no one cleared it out from last week) After that was taken care of I started to sort through some of my papers that became a mountain on my file cabinet. I didn’t get to work much on it when Jill came with the lockbox. The volume was deceiving. When the US mail came it looked heavy as well but by three or 3:30 it was done. By then almost everything was done. I was starting on the bad addresses and worked on them until I was ready for Debra’s. Debra had called earlier in the afternoon to let me know she would be running late and if we could move the meeting to qua...

Today is my niece Diane’s Birthday. Unfortunately I haven’t sent her a card yet. I don’t know where I would send it because she is on tour with South Pacific. Common sense would indicate I could send it via email right? Yep. That is what I will be doing shortly. I was a little aggravated last night. What aggravated me you ask? Well two calls from Macy’s it was the 4th in a week. When they called last week I told them it was mailed that weekend (they called me earlier that week). I do not feel comfortable giving them banking info over the phone. I mailed it out to them last weekend. I had finally had enough and sent them an email last night. I received a reply about 45 minutes ago. They did get the payment as of Thursday. The person explained that I would not be getting the calls anymore and the reasons behind them. We all know the reason its harassment. The other reason I was aggravated less slightly was because of Mom. This entry should it explain it I hope. The oth...

Monday November 2: I got up bright an early and got ready for work and got the car over to the garage all by 7. Happily it was someone else there instead of the guy from yesterday. I explained to the guy what happened and I think he understood. The only thing is the thermostat didn’t do anything on the way over. He said he would have Frank call me. The car was fixed later that day. Election Day 2009: Was a royal disappointment for us in Milford. The Republican incumbent for mayor retained his job and a number of our candidates lost their seats and some never made it. It was a sad day indeed. Work has been overall stressful. I had been doing OT trying to get the office back into shape. Last Saturday both Gayle and I worked on it and now it is beautiful. More tasks have been added (collection letters) and after a few days Gayle doesn’t want to have any of us (me especially) do it. Considering we have so much filing and scanning to be done. There have been a lot of budget con...

Happy November 1st! It is the day after Halloween and in a few minutes Daylight Savings Time will have ended for 2009. Halloween was its usual fare. Six people came to the door by 7. At 7:50 we turned the lights off and closed the door. I watched a little bit more of the NCIS Viewers choice Scare-a thon marathon. Earlier in the day I was at work. I was the only one there until 11 and that’s when Gayle arrived. She was tired but really happy she went to the Michael Jackson “This is it” movie. She is convinced that the Doctor who administered the drugs killed Michael Jackson because in this movie Jackson was very healthy and strong. After work I headed to Headquarters the sun was playing peek-a-boo the entire afternoon. No one was there so I called home but Mom wasn’t home yet. I spent the afternoon watching TV and trying to nap. I did put the candy out for the kids. Around 9 I went to bed and had a good night. Mom spent most of the day driving the candidates around the 4th D...

It continues to be a sad week for the World of UCONN Huskies. Memorial Services and Days of Reflections will be held all week for the murdered UCONN Husky play Jasper Howard. His family came to the campus yesterday to participate and to thank those who tried to save his life. In other work related/College related news Russell Clark the Lab Tech who is suspected of killing Grad student Annie Le is expected to plead not guilty. There is some ruling coming down about sealed documents. I am trying to read the articles as I write this but it is not working. Work is getting better. I just have a ton of readdress mail to deal with and I hope to get that done. We found out that Tevis and Bob lost their grandmother yesterday. According to Tevis’ facebook they really miss her. We as a team are supposed to be doing something but not sure when. Progress is being made for our annual holiday party. We have picked our secret Santa and this year I will be Annette C’s secret Santa. I am not s...

Hey everyone it is after 4 pm on this wet cold Sunday. It has been raining since this morning and the weather forecasters are calling it a Nor Easter. The river in the marsh is very full (and it is so fun to look at even though it isn’t very deep normally). It has been fairly quiet today. Mom has been sick with this cold. She was throwing up for a short time today and right now I can hear her waking up from a nap. She very rarely takes naps or goes to bed during the day unless she is dying. This morning I went to bingo and met the newest Assistant Director of Recreation. His first name is Bob and he lives up the street from the nursing home. I was able to get a little bit of history. He lived and went to school in Trumbull and moved to Milford about 20 years ago. He moved to a few other places and came back to that part of town. He is still getting to know the lay of the land as they say. It also looks like they have new administration coming in overall. Marisa came and she ...

It is Saturday morning. In about six hours I will be joining Liz, Nelson, Stephanie, Audrey, Jason and several of their closets friends and probably Stephanie’s family for the kids’ birthday party. Mom won’t be joining us because she has been fighting a cold all week and it got worse yesterday. Liz urged her not to come if she is sick. Mom agreed. I have to put some finishing touches (read: bows) on each of the kids gifts and get cards for them. This will be the second time I have been to the kids’ house since they moved to this part of Fairfield. The first time was on Audrey’s birthday earlier this month. Liz and nelson invited me to have cupcakes and sing happy birthday to her. She was so cute and shy about it. Jason was just so funny he was bouncing around helping her open the gift they brought and of course showing me around their 300 year old historical home. We even sat in a rocking chair together for a short time and it was the BEST time. I think today will be fun and ...

Hey everyone Happy Labor Day Weekend! I Hope you are all enjoying it. It is currently 70 degrees and a breeze outside. The sun is shining and it is a day I think all of us have wanted for a long time. Alas I am sure it will pass quickly. Right now I am doing laundry and relaxing. I had a headache earlier today and I can still feel a little bit of it but I may lay down again for a bit. Earlier this spent some time with the animals before going off to Bingo. Yes I am watching Junior this entire week while Roberta and Michael are in Aruba. It started yesterday. Bingo went well. I think I had about 10 residents playing and I pretty much did it myself. Marissa and her family weren’t there but I suspect it’s because of the weekend. After Bingo I came straight home. Mom was shopping so I took a little nap. Tonight I have a board meeting for the MYWC in preparations for the General meeting this Wednesday. I was afraid I wouldn’t find the notebook I had been using for th...

Hey this is going to be a short entry tonight as I have laundry to do and things that need doing before I get to bed. Besides I am working tomorrow for some hours and I need to get rested. Things at work are pretty much the same as yesterday tense and testy. I understand that Sue R was yelled at by her boss and as a result Sue has been riding everyone else. She barely talked with me and I know I kept busy and got the mail mostly done. I have just one pile to do and I will do that on Tuesday. I heard from Liz today. She wanted to know the name of my hair cutters place I gave it to her and the number. WE talked about the pictures and how I could get copies. I still will probably have to pay for them. We had the birthday party for Niamba today. WE had pizza instead of wings and of course ice cream and cake. As always it was delicious and filling. All but 2 bills are paid. They are the payment for Debra and the Silkies pantyhose. They will both be paid by the time I go to bed. O...

Hey it is after 11:30 at night and I am not tired which means I will be going to bed late. The last couple of days at work I have been trying to play catch up and I am almost there. Things at work are a little stressful because Gayle is upset they took away Bill and as a result the scanning has gotten behind. Gayle asked me today if I would come in on Saturday and do the scanning of the NOPPS and I suspect anything else. This past week we received a letter/Memo from Sally T about the infestation of bugs in the office (all over) and we were told that there will be a little experiment that everyone had to get their plants out of the office for two weeks to see if the plants are the cause of the problem or is something else. So everyone has been taking their plants home. Its good I didn’t bring mine in. Tomorrow is the luncheon for Niamba. We are going to have wings and fries I guess. I am not sure what else but I am sure I will be satisfied. I usually am. Things at home are pret...

For the second day (or night ) in a row I woke up at 3 to do a bathroom run but never got back to sleep until it was time for me to get up anyway. As I am writing this it is almost 4:30 in the morning and I have the alarm set for 5:30. I had some weird dream about animals, rain, and family. It is only now flashing in bits and pieces so I wouldn’t be able to make any sense to it. I decided I would check out the forums for NCIS. I just don’t understand some of the fans. Some of them are claiming it’s (the show and its show runners) are jumping the shark. There are others who feel it isn’t. That’s okay I am not saying don’t have opinions but they get freaking nasty about it. I decided that I would move on to something else instead so I wouldn’t get myself that upset. I updated my journal folder for September. I set up documents for my letters to Debra. I probably should go through my emails and add the different emails I want to keep into my journals. I did finally ...

Wow this day has been awesome! I woke up around 2 am and couldn’t get back to sleep for quite some time and when I finally did it was time for me to get up anyway. I was getting ready when Mom got up and wished me a happy birthday. While she was reading her paper I took care of the dehumidifier and let her read the card and see the pictures Liz and the kids gave me. I left the house a little after 7:30. It was around 8 when I arrived at the office. I found a beautiful balloon and a card signed by the team waiting for me on my desk. A note from Terry letting me know she would be in late and that we would have something then. She came in around 10 with a cake and hugged me. She told me we would be having a pizza party later. Through out the day many people wished me happy birthday and I thanked everyone for my card. I also showed them the card I got and the pictures. They loved the story I told them of my birthday breakfast. I spent most of the morning working on the lockbox fro...

Hey afternoon everyone! It is after 5 and sunny and 72 degrees out. It has been a beautiful day and also a clear indication summer is waning down to fall. Right now I am surfing the net and catching up with some NCIS forums . (Probably causing some trouble to boot) and kvetching about it here . Mom is at the literary club kickoff party and will be home probably about 7. She was busy cooking the rest of her stuff that she brought when I got home from church today. I suspect the schedule they will have will be like the one they had last year. Instead of monthly it will be every other month. I suspect it will be in October then perhaps December, February, April and the final one in May for the summer. I have no idea what books they have planned but I bet Mom told me and I forgot already. I had a really weird dream this morning and it was about work. I noticed my desk as being cleared off (as empty) and I noticed I had seen former co-workers in the file cabinets yet they were in a...

Today was my birthday breakfast with Liz and the kids. We met shortly after 8:30 at the IHOP in Orange we were seated and our orders were taken. Liz and Audrey had waffles and Jason and I had pancakes. For the next hour and half we talked about summer activities, parties, and Jason starting school. It was a lot of fun. Near the end a few of the IHOP waitresses came over with some ice cream and sang the Happy Birthday song. It was a lot of fun. While I was waiting I got a chance to chat with my co-worker Lee Petrowski. I was so surprised to see her and I finally had the chance to meet her husband Stan. I think they were waiting on their breakfast so I didn’t stay long. They left before we were even finished with our meal. It was nearly 10 am when I returned Mom wasn’t home but she came home a minute after I did. She had gone to the bank and was hurrying back for Senator Kennedy’s Funeral services that were on every channel you could think of. I turned it on from time to time...