KateP's musings

Hello! It is after 5:30 Tuesday. In about two hours we will have our “Phone session”. As you know I am looking forward to it and I just hope I can stay awake for it. I tried to wake up at 4:30 but turned over and went back to sleep until 6. So my plans to start laundry were a wash (you know I had to do that). So when I got home after a while I started at least one load. Today went really well. No huge problems and got most everything done by 2. I was able to work on re-address mail. The piles are still big but not overwhelming. I was able to work on them this morning and then again late in the afternoon. We had a visit from our co-worker Denise and her step-son. She took some time off for their visit and so she wanted to show him and his girlfriend where she works. The step-son and girlfriend live in FL. Apparently they took a trip to NY and it was Denise’s first trip and she along with the rest of the world fell in love with the city. I was able to catch an earlier bus t...

I am so sorry about the confusion tonight. I thought we had said Monday. I even wrote down Monday. Well that’s okay. I am looking forward to the call tomorrow. I am pretty tired and apparently crankier than I realized. Many things are annoying me. Let’s start with how my day started. I woke up early and did some web surfing. Checked emails and tried to get rid of stuff. Emails never seem to stop. Before leaving I woke up Mom to tell her about the continuous invasion of flies. I also wanted to know when my Nephew was coming to put the window in. She didn’t know. Despite the great sleep I was pretty tired for most of the morning. I kept nodding off on the bus and at the desk. I managed to eat anything and drink anything that would kick start me awake. It didn’t really happen until after lunch. Even though I was tired I managed to get most everything done. I just have the postage tallies and the readdress mail to do. I am managing that pretty well but daily more gets adde...

It is after 3 in the afternoon and I am so frustrated it is not funny. This is not how I started my day. I slept later than I wanted to but still had gotten to do the things I wanted. First thing that frustrated me to no end. I found out the “natives” were restless while I was away. The newest edition of the Recreation staff named Shelly (lovely woman too) told me what happened that two of the residents got abusive over a chair. I knew who they were (they both play bingo). So I shared with Shelly my experiences with both of them. I told her that I would no longer tolerate that kind of behavior from either of them. One doesn’t do it often (he pushes buttons at times but the other one forget it) I told her from now on if I have to speak to anyone three times they will be ejected from the bingo games. I made sure the entire room heard the rules. Ms Irene was still bossy and was rude once. She kept quiet the whole time. There was a woman named Mrs. P. She couldn’t really hear an...

Dear Debra: Well it looks like the storm has passed for the moment but more is on the way. That’s okay I will be asleep soon and like I have always told you I love a rainy Weekend night. There is something different about it. I suspect this rain has cancelled the rest of Woodmont Day and the lobster bake that’s being held in town today. I noticed my neighbor across the street returning from Doolittle Park with many of their friends. I did manage to do some things since my last letter to you. I checked out Facebook, moved some emails around, and watched TV. My aunt and Uncle who until this week lived in Chantilly VA for nearly all of my life and the lives of their children moved to Austin Texas to be with my cousin Judy and her family. They arrived safely yesterday according to Judy’s Facebook page entry. Now I have more wonderful reasons to return to Austin. It looks like I will be chaperoning some of the girls in the girls club during the Milford Relay for Life event in S...

Dear Debra: It is now late in the day and there is a sun shower going on here. There is a flash flood warning for Fairfield and New Haven County until 5 tonight. That’s okay because I don’t plan on going out too much for the rest of the afternoon. My morning went very well. The blood work didn’t take long and a short time after that I was on the picket line at West River. Apparently before I arrived there apparently was an altercation. Some couple was driving by and verbally abusing the striking workers. As one of the picketers was heading to family member’s home the couple was harassing him. The police arrived to get more information. Some time later I left to do the canvassing. It was nearly 11 when I arrived at M&T’s office. Most of the people who were walking and canvassing had started at 10. I was still willing to do the walking. So the first route was here in Woodmont. That is until I mentioned the fact that it was Woodmont day and most if not all of the borough ...

Good Morning! It is early Saturday morning and I hope to leave soon for the Quest Diagnostics for that test that Dr. Lu asked me to get before my next appointment on Wednesday. The place I plan on going is here in Milford and is open right now. I am just not fast enough right now. Depending on how long the wait and the blood test takes I am going to the picket line for a little while. I would like to be there a couple of hours but it also depends on the weather. It is overcast right now and I would prefer not to be in the rain. After that I am going to do some canvassing, door knocking for Senator Chris Murphy. He is running for Congress this election. I am going to offer to walk around and help out. Unless they say “we need you to drive not walk”. I may do that for another couple of hours. Mom wants me to get a new tank or a tank of propane gas for the grill. The one we have now is really low. I am going to perhaps Costco to buy one. I am thinking after all tat is done I woul...

Happy Friday! I hope you are enjoying your time away and the weather is cooperating. The sun is out right now and it’s around 80 plus degrees but it is supposed to change for the weekend. Some activities that were scheduled for this week were postponed for another date. Yesterday started off fine it was totally different after lunch. Actually the enclosed Thankful Thursday list explains it briefly. Today was better. G and I discussed the final outcome of my decision to not pursue the matter this time. I have been advised by everyone to document anything and everything. G was not upset that I decided to not pursue (that is one of the reasons I really respect her) the matter. Today I ran into ST (EX-Dir) and she said hello to me and how am I. As you know what I was thinking afterward and what I actually said was two totally different things. I returned the greeting and thanked her. I was a little nervous because it was like a minute or two before my actual break and I was headi...

Dear Debra: I was going to write this before I went to bed but I was exhausted. I can’t believe after writing the earlier letter that I forgot to post it to a couple of other blogs. I fixed that little mistake before starting this letter. The rest of my day went okay. I did have a couple of minor incidences that bothered me. The first incident we were talking about celebrities (Sherman Hemsley and Chad Everett) dying. I was trying to tell a story relating to Chad Everett. I was rudely dismissed by my supervisor whom I have a lot of respect for. She and the others kept interrupting me and asking ‘who cares about Robert Reed?”. I just ended up not telling them the story. I told a few people what occurred. One who had witnessed the incident and a few others who didn’t. Oh and if I hear one more “let it roll off your back” I was going to scream. The other was “S” being agitated because there was mail in the mail slots for the teams. She wanted me to deliver to them. When I did...

1. A Home I love. 2. My family warts and all. 3. A Job I love and co-workers I have fun with. 4. Pay day today. 5. Being able to show support to fellow unions who continue fighting for a fair and decent contract. 6. For rain we had earlier in the week 7. Fairly quiet weekend 8. A supportive supervisor 9. That I was able to be with family who suffered a loss last week. Despite the flaws my family has we have always come together when something has happened. This week has been no different. While we were able to celebrate my nieces run in Pirates of Penzance we also said goodbye to a young man who died on his birthday. My cousin’s grandson was killed in a motor vehicle vs. motorcycle accident ten days ago, He had just turned earlier in the month. this coming weekend I will be on the picket line with the Local 1199 SEIU workers from the Nursing home I volunteer at. The issues that continue this strike is the insurance and pay. The company is making false promise...

                                                                   July 25, 2012 Dear Debra: Today is going much better than yesterday.  Despite the fact I went to bed around midnight and stayed in bed until 6 this morning.  I managed to get out of the house at a fairly decent hour (but I felt not in time for the bus) so I drove in.  I was hoping to get to Quest Diagnostics to get the blood work Dr. Lu asked me to do before our next appointment in August but their hours start at 8.  I am really hungry right now.  I did have coffee but that’s it.  I am going at lunch time. Mom got sick during the night.  I believe...

It is almost 8:30 at night and I should be working on the minutes from last week’s 4th District meeting but I just don’t feel like it. It has been a long day for me and I am rather tired. I woke up at my regular 5:30 and did some writing. I finally write a long over due post in my NCIS blogs. Some of it was old stuff and some stuff that probably should have remained unsaid and unwritten but it was welling up in me because of recent activity on the forums. I finished it up this evening and posted it to all three of my NCIS blogs. It was nearly 7 when I left for the bus. It was certainly warm and was glad I didn’t bring a jacket. The ride into new Haven was uneventful. I noticed I had a different bus driver than the young girl (whom I was overly fond of anyway) I usually have. The bus was full of riders today. I have no idea why. Some of the riders were people whom I have ridden with since I started up again. Some new people I probably won’t see again (at least for a while). ...

Dear Debra: It is 9 at night and my long day has come to an end. The rest of the work day went pretty well. The sun came out and I got most if not all of the daily stuff done. I do have to do the postage tallies and the readdress mail (always have to do that actually) but I can do that when I first get there until the lockbox comes to me. The sun stayed out for the entire ride to the doctor’s office. I had a moment of shear panic when I couldn’t find the street for the doctor’s office. It is on this street but the sign at the beginning of the street that you see from Cherry Street was gone. I went by it twice and had to circle around and try again. I thought for sure I was hallucinating it all. I eventually got there and safely. I had to wait to sign in and then I was able to get the blood test (the results were good) it means I don’t have to go for another two weeks to check it but keep at the same dosage as this past week. I was on my way home by 5. I came home freshened...

Dear Debra: I had a great time yesterday being with my family watching my niece perform here at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts (JORG) at the Storrs Campus UCONN.   I never realized just how big the campus was!   It is a huge city within itself.   I guess it is not unlike Yale University.   The ride up was lovely.   The ride back was “ok”.   We got a little lost and tempers flared but it was resolved.   We had dinner at the Nathan Hale Inn and Conference center right there.   I asked the waiter who served us if it gets crazy on game nights and his response was “Oh yeah”.    The food was good. Mom and I got home by 8 and we did our own things.   I answered emails from friends and the various email lists I belong to.   I also sent out emails to cousins who might want to know about our cousin that was killed last week.   I had one response from a cousin.   I was getting tired so I think I went to be...

Dear Debra: It is early Sunday morning and I haven’t been out of bed long. I am trying to get ready for church right now but I have a tiny headache. I have taken something for it but it hasn’t kicked in yet. I got it last night sometime after the meeting. Mom came home after 5 and we had dinner. IT was cheeseburgers from the grill. Mom wanted to make creamed chicken but the bags holding the frozen chicken broth leaked all over the counter. So I suggested the hamburgers. It was a great choice as I was getting rather tired of grilled poultry. For the next two hours we had dinner and I watched TV and got ready for the meeting. Getting ready for the meeting included getting into a bathing suit in case we went swimming. That never happened. M&R picked me up just before 8 and then we dropped M off and then went over to Telka’s. We were out on the poolside until it got dark. Then we went in and finished the meeting. As we discussed things for the club we also discussed li...

Dear Debra: It is now after noon and I am multi-tasking. I am finishing up the laundry, updating my address books, and my calendars with acquaintances addresses, and birthdates (apparently you can do this through Microsoft outlook). Some might feel this is intrusive and invasive but if I ever need them this is the best way to do it. Besides some of these people are classmates and friends and it’s the whole reconnecting with them that I enjoy. I spent some time with my neighbor Sylvia. I was delivering left over newspapers to our neighbors and I got to see godson Pup Pup (that’s right it’s a 6 year old Yorkshire terrier). We talked about her garden she was expanding, and my cousin’s accident. It would seem Sylvia’s friend saw it and saw his body on the ground. Mom talked with Brother #2 today. Everything is fine. He says that his daughter K, is working in a doughnut shop. When I asked which one she said the only good one. (If you are wondering that would be Dunkin.) I thoug...

Dear Debra: It is nearly 8 in the morning and I have been out of bed a short time. Enough time to start the laundry and have a cup of coffee, and get some emails read. It is a beautiful sunny morning. It was a cool 65 degrees but it’s expected to get into the 70’s. The percentages regarding the humidity confuse me. I don’t know if 65% is bad, good, or horrible. Does that mean its going to rain? Mom is in her office on the computer. She has ordered tickets for tomorrow’s performance but had difficulties with it. I don’t know how to do that because I rarely if ever order tickets on line. She is going to call the box office later and see what the problem is. I asked her what she was planning on doing and she basically said grocery shopping and her ironing. That will also include what ever comes up. She doesn’t have real solid plans I guess. But neither do I. I just got another batch of emails from the Lupus support email group I have been a part of for a while now. I just...

Dear Debra: Friday was just not the best day for me. I over slept that morning; left my ID holder with my license, and work ID and a CC at home. I spilled not only my breakfast but my lunch on my shirt. I was a walking mess. I was exhausted by the time I left the office. I was spoiling for a fight with a driver in front of me. He just cut me off at the Union Avenue and Church Street South intersection. When I caught up with him at the bottom of Church Street South and Sargent Drive I took more pictures and he came to my car demanding to know what I was doing. I didn’t open the window I just looked at him and said having you arrested. What he did was reckless especially in the rain. I had no idea he was going to do that. He didn’t pursue it but I wasn’t going to back down. Despite my late start of the day (I did manage to get to work on time. I drove in to work and nearly clipped a co-workers car when she performed “right turn on red” w...

Dear Debra: It is after 9:30 Friday. The house over all is quiet except for the sound of the ceiling fan on low speed and the radio station I am listening to online. I have no idea how long that will last. The speed from the ISP can vary to the point it garbles videos, and audio programs. The ceiling fan is the only one on tonight as the humidity is definitely gone. Mom went to bed around 9. She had been exhausted from her day. I was planning on heading there myself but it looks like I will be up a while. I have a confession to make. The previous letter you should be getting dated for Saturday is really today’s. I was trying to anticipate what I was going to write about and on what day. It is obvious it didn’t work. May be it did I don’t know. The blog entries looked a little “odd” when I looked at them. I was trying to catch up on some of the other blogs I follow and on some others around the country and perhaps the world that I don’t follow. It helps to get me to sleep. ...

Dear Debra: Yesterday was my “Thankful Thursday post for the journal lists and I have enclosed it for your viewing. I have been making a point for the last month or so to make sure I participate in this every week. My list rarely makes it to 10 but this week it did. As you can see I even write about each of the items. Some of them are put together. I have to confess I start to write the list and full entry the night before and then post it to the blogs when I get up. I also send it to the journaling lists at the same time. Work is going well. We had a birthday breakfast for one of my co-workers. We usually order breakfast from a place in town called “Corner Deli”. You may have heard of it. I don’t know where it is exactly but they do make a great breakfast. I had to borrow money from Mom for it. I don’t like doing that but I wasn’t prepared to go to the bank today. I will tomorrow so I can participate in the lotto pool. The same pool we have not won anything on in the entire t...

Dear Debra: Friday was just not the best day for me. I over slept that morning; left my ID holder with my license, and work ID and a CC at home. I spilled not only my breakfast but my lunch on my shirt. I was a walking mess. I was exhausted by the time I left the office. I was spoiling for a fight with a driver in front of me. He just cut me off at the Union Avenue and Church Street South intersection. When I caught up with him at the bottom of Church Street South and Sargent Drive I took more pictures and he came to my car demanding to know what I was doing. I didn’t open the window I just looked at him and said having you arrested. What he did was reckless especially in the rain. I had no idea he was going to do that. He didn’t pursue it but I wasn’t going to back down. Despite my late start of the day (I did manage to get to work on time. I drove in to work and nearly clipped a co-workers car when she performed “right turn on red” with me nearly on top of her. I can onl...

Today I am thankful for: 1. A Home I love. 2. My family warts and all. 3. A Job I love and co-workers I have fun with. 4. Pay day today. 5. Being able to show support to fellow unions who continue fighting for a fair and decent contract. 6. Looking forward to another entertaining weekend. 7. The fans to keep cool with during the mini heat wave. 8. Friends and neighbors who returned safely from vacations. 9. The rain that followed the mini-heat wave. 10. Receiving more replies then usual for tonight’s meeting. Despite the oppressive heat we have had fans on almost constantly. We have had also at times a cool breeze come through. There is an obvious difference you can feel when coming from a city like New Haven and coming to Milford along the shore. The storms have helped but have made problems for some. For example earlier this week a lightening bolt hit an Osprey Nest about half mile west from my house killing the chick and leaving the residents in dark...

Dear Debra: It is now several hours since our last face to face session. I already miss you. The afternoon went by without incident. I made a concerted effort to stay away from Diva. It was rather easy as she had the rest of the afternoon off but I get the feeling she knows that everyone and I do mean EVERYONE dislikes her. Well probably not everyone I can probably and safely say there are others who just shake their heads and ignore her. The work volume was pretty good. I was able to finish it before leaving the office. I do have the readdress mail. That seems to be never ending and grows a little each day. However, it will never grow to the point in which it makes me anxious, crazy again. I have made several promises to get help if it does. I have to admit when ever I come to our sessions my whole schedule goes south. Its not that I am blaming you it’s just something I recognize. It’s an observation more than anything. I know I probably told you that I had plans to keep ...

It is not even 7 am yet and the temperatures are in high 70’s low 80’s. I am not going out except for bus rides or fire drills. They better not have one today. I have had no indication that they will either way but let’s hope they don’t. We have a staff meeting today. I am not sure what it’s about but it will be interesting. It is after lunch. That will leave me an hour to finish the mail. I hope I have enough time. Tonight will be quiet as well. I will be either on the computer or watching TV or sitting in front of the fans. I did hear that we might get some rain. It would be nice… So would be getting to the bus on Time. See you later,

There is an article on Mom’s class reunion in this morning’s Register. It was also on line and there are some stupid ass remarks that have absolutely nothing to do with the article. I know Mom saw it and that must have been hurtful. I was first made aware of it by one of the 4th District members this morning when she responded to the email I sent out last night. Mom sent the article out to the boys. I have “shared” it on Facebook. A couple o f people already liked the link. Work was fine for the most part. Diva was annoying me without out even trying. She was very loud and getting on everyone’s nerves. People on the outside were annoying me. For example this morning I was at the intersection in front of the building. The light was turning yellow I didn’t go. There was a car in front of me but the light was turning yellow. The woman in behind me got annoyed and blew her horn. I looked at her and just said no. She gave me dirty looks. I said some stuff to her that she could read bu...

Mom was telling me yesterday that she talked with Brother #1 and is making plans to see the finale of Pirates of Penzance at Connecticut Repertory Theatre next Sunday. She just called Brother #2 and he called back and they are making tentative plans. They had only a moment to chat as he was going out for the afternoon. This will mean I will have to straighten or clean this room up for the girls. It sounds like they could come Friday and we see the show on Saturday. I was able to show Mom how to access her voice mail from Optonline.net. I will have to write down step by step instructions for her to follow because she will not be able to remember them. Mom has been cleaning out the cellar today. Twice I shut the light off while she was down there. She yelled once the second time she didn’t say anything. She thinks the smell came from wet rugs. They have been washed and are hanging on the line until it rains later. It has been a couple of hours now. I have been watching t...

It’s time for me to say good night. I fell asleep through a couple of the NCIS marathon episodes and they were episodes I liked. Besides if I go to sleep soon I will get my 8 hours sleep in. It is raining again. It stopped for a short time around 6:30 or 7. It cooled things off a little and I hope it will continue to do so tomorrow. I sent out an email reminder to the 4th District for our meeting on Thursday. A few more people answered. One I knew would be answer and one I was surprised when she said “she might try”. I have tweaked the agenda for that meeting. I have decided that in the future I will set up the meeting through the calendar program and invite the others and then get their responses that way. It would totally be a more organized way. This week is fairly quiet until the end of the week. I have my INR checked tomorrow after work. I have a staff meeting on Tuesday. I think we have it at our regular time. It is usually a forty five to hour long meeting before lu...

I woke up early this morning and did a bathroom run when I noticed something in the trap (yes it has been there abut a week now) so I went down and looked at through some binoculars and saw that it was a opossum. I decided I wasn’t going to do it. That is until I saw it become agitated. I got my sneakers on and went out and found a small opossum. It didn’t go into its protection mode (playing dead it just looked at me). I talked with it and opened the door and it ran for the bushes and to the marsh. I went to look up about opossums and found out “they play opossum” only as last resort they would rather run and or be left alone. Since I have been up I printed up my previous entry, surfed the web, and made coffee. I think I am going to look at Jessica’s Baby Shower registry and see where the IL Monticello is located. We haven’t sent our RSVP yet and pretty much don’t have to until next month. It looks like a nice place. It was renovated recently. The pictures look lovely but I will ...

I have been home nearly forty five minutes from M&R house from the BBQ and game night. WE had fun. We ate and talked and then started playing around 7. There were ten of us and a variety of food. Everyone loved Mom’s cole slaw and I told her so when I got home. Unfortunately I woke her up to tell her that. I am not sure what that will be like in 8 hours. WE haven’t picked the date for the next game night. Roberta and I have a couple of things coming up in the middle of the month. I have had a lot of soda and stuff that now I won’t be able to sleep for a while. I have been surfing the web since I got home. Actually I am feeling sleepy…so I think I am going to give it a try. I have the alarm set for 8 am. Alright my eyes are getting droopy.

I woke up early and saw that it was raining but that wasn’t the reason I decided not to go. I had woken with a headache and decided to stay home. As I write this it is gone but now I am into my chores. I am not sure if I will get to the picket line or not. I don’t want to over do it and not be able to enjoy the game and potluck tonight. I am trying to clear out some emails again. It is an ongoing process. There are a lot I want to keep and of course there are those I shouldn’t keep. In my bid to keep organized though I probably will document the emails for certain files. I am also looking around at the things that I need to still toss or organize in my room. It is beginning to get a little over whelming again. According to Cousin Lee’s post his mother did very well in surgery and will be fine. A number of cousins and friends are sending well wishes and congratulation posts. The heat is already rising. It is like 82 degrees and it is not even ten yet. It was probably a ...

Well I survived Friday the 13th. I had my session with Debra this morning and discovered that we have one more session before she leaves for her vacation on the 20th. We will decide the best dates for phone sessions. We talked about the past week (even though the weekend was starting to get fuzzy). I told her about the incident on Tuesday. I picked up my Coumadin and a few extras at break time. I guess I was still hungry from lunch. It was cereal. I also had cheese and crackers from Adams. It was a little humid this afternoon even though it was partly cloudy. I am expecting the sky to open up and pour. According to the weather site a stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Cloudy skies, Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. I was quite surprised to find the J-Bus crowded. It made the ride a little more enjoyable. I wonder why it wasn’t as full as other Fridays. When I got home Mom and just finished making the cole slaw for tomorrow nights buffet. She also had visi...

Yes that’s right today is Friday the 13 th .   Like I said here in 2011 I am not usually superstitious but trying to get out of the house wasn’t easy.   I had dropped papers and was walking through the door without unlocking it (before you ask it was a screen door and the lock is weird).   I was late leaving the house and was afraid I would miss the bus.   I didn’t miss it but it was close.   The office is unusually quiet for a Friday.    My teammates are here for the most part (the ones in the same suite as I).   I have heard and seen an occasional co-worker in the halls but that’s it. I have been trying to gain access to my credit union but they are not open and I don’t have my old password.   I am going to try again on line to access it all.   I want to start transferring my accounts from the bank I have to the Credit Union because the bank charges like $10 when the account is under $1000.   I was running into some p...

Hey everyone its nearly seven and I am pretty much wiped out. I got to the office by 8 and chatted with the girls. Of course we had diva listening into the conversations which pissed a few of us off. So we moved the conversation to DK’s cubicle. We finished the conversation and then I got started working. I had to deliver a massive box of reports to a co-worker. The lockbox was very low volume and the post office mail wasn’t bad either. I was done by 2 with it all. I spent the last two hours working on readdress mail and straightening up the office. JanetN gave me a ride home so I was home earlier than expected. I took an early morning walk to the bank today and noticed some women in hand made costumes. They were sending out flyers to promote a Vacation Bible Camp in West Haven for kids. I took the information to maybe pass on but thought better of it because not so sure the parents would appreciate it. May be another time would be better. I talked with Sis this morning. She had co...

Today I am thankful for: 1. A Home I love. 2. My family warts and all. 3. A Job I love and co-workers I have fun with. 4. Finally getting the compression stocking earlier this week. 5. Finally lowered my Anemia numbers. 6. Pay day today. 7. Being able to show support to fellow unions who are fighting for a fair and decent contract. 8. Looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend-again. 9. The weather cooling off a bit. I am still trying to organize my desk in my room. It was far too hot last weekend and far too late during the week to do it. I admit I did work on it a little on Saturday. Unfortunately emptying out one section has now cluttered the top of the desk. It is an unending circle. The home is looking great. The kitchen windows have finally been ordered and will be installed sometime soon. Thus ending what could have been a serious breach in family relations. The yard was done last weekend and looks great. My Nephew and Mom resolved an issue that...