KateP's musings

August 30, 2012 Dear Debra: Yesterday got really busy for me so by the time I was finished for the day I was too tired to write. The Volume of the mail didn’t seem too bad until I got a bin of stuff that really belonged to another department on a different floor. I was so close to being really caught up and this seemed to deter that for me. Last night I attended a Jewish wake. I have been to one other before but it didn’t include the prayers. It was at the home of my friend’s brother. There was the traditional food and I read along while the others recited the prayers. It was all very interesting. We were home by 9 or 9:30. When I got home Mom was watching TV. She had been growing tired as her day was filled with shopping for supplies for Chris to work on the front porch and the window. Actually we had to avoid the front porch tonight as he is almost done with it I think. I really wasn’t feeling well when I got home from the wake.. I think I was having indigest...

August 28, 2012 Dear Debra: Hope your day went well. I am sorry that I had to cancel our session for today at the last minute. I should have called you last night like I wrote last night. BTW, those letters along with this one will be mailed tomorrow on my way to work. I got up early this morning and got things done. Mom was up before I left but she wasn’t quite “awake” yet. Apparently she didn’t sleep well last night. Before leaving I let her know that if I could take the pain away I would. However, she reminded me that she needs to go through this and she is right. I realize that I need to give her the space needed and not hover like I usually do. Today I decided to read all the entries of August 28 for the past several years. Some of them were short and sweet some were not so sweet or short. They ranged from Work, Doctor Appointments, vacations, and pen paling. I am pretty much caught up with everything at work. I have a small amount of readdress mail and ma...

August 27, 2012 Dear Debra: I was just heading to bed in my recently organized room and wanted to quickly write you again. You should see this room it is wonderful. She moved some pieces of furniture in the closet she rearranged my closet and put a lot of stuff on the shelves. She organized a few of the desk shelves and of course cleaned the room. She made my bed. Now all I have to do is find each thing look through it and do what ever I need to do with it (write up and save it)... She put knick-knacks along my old stereo too. I have to say I had a pretty good day. I decided to drive into work as I was running late. The drive in seemed unusually light for the first day of school. When I got to work I was greeted by JanetN’s presence. We caught up on each other’s lives. For the first couple of hours I worked on the return mail. One of the girls in Finance brought me lockbox. It was light but lately it usually is light on Monday. I was pleased that Sue R said hello a...

August 27, 2012 Dear Debra: Well Good Morning! It is almost 12:30. I can’t seem to sleep and I think I know why. The late cup of coffee I had at the shower. I was afraid I would be up but it was cool in the restaurant so I didn’t really care. My evening went pretty well. I got to Telka’s house early I thought I was the first one while a few of the girls arrived a minute or two after I did the president of the girls club was there way before any of us. A few more did arrive afterwards We had a lot to discuss. The Duties of the officers (some of them were new at their positions) was one of the first items. Activities that are being planned and we voted in some new members both in the Woman’s Club and girl’s club. Telka will be sending me the new Phone list sometime soon. I signed up to be hostess for a few meetings. What that will entail is bringing either a healthy snack, a regular snack or soda every other month I think I signed up for four different months. ...

August 26, 2012 Dear Debra: It has been a few hours now that we got home from the shower. I will be leaving for the board meeting at Telka’s in an hour. The shower was lovely. I had a good time for the most part. We had no problems getting to the place but during the shower. Mom really concerned me and I tried to tell Liz and she dismissed as nothing and not to be rude. She thought I was angry with Mom. No I was really scared because she couldn’t remember who Chris (the father to be) was married to(the girl we were having the fucking shower for) and when trying to hear conversations she wasn’t catching things and thought something else was being said. Twice she hit me in the arm when I spoke to loudly or too close to her ear. I insisted she not hit me again. I am really concerned because she comes off stupid and pathetic. I had to be her translator. I am really going to get angry if Liz brings this up and lectures me. I will NOT Tolerate their dismissal of my feeling...

August 26, 2012 Dear Debra: I am sorry I didn’t write yesterday but my day was a little crazy. I woke up with one of my migraines and for most of the morning didn’t do anything except wait it out. I made a few phone calls but haven’t heard back from them. By Noon time I was feeling better and up and moving about. I didn’t do very much I was supposed to start my thank you notes for the cards and stuff received from Bob’s funeral. I have managed to gather them and put them on top of the desk. I may start working on them after the shower this morning. I did do some quick shopping for the baby shower I am attending today. I had to get a gift card at Target. It was absolutely crazy there. The main reason was because of Tax Free week was ending. I think the tax free week was supposed to be for school supplies but some how managed to include everything. That doesn’t make sense to me but what do I know? Earlier in the day I got a text message from Jim. He was upset that ...

August 24, 2012 Dear Debra: Well the weekend has officially started. I had to wait for the bus to Jones Hill Road. Unfortunately there was a guy who clearly had issues. If you think I talk too much you should see this guy. I was really hoping he wouldn’t take the same bus I was (like he thought he would) and happily he didn’t. The ride seemed longer then usual. May be the reason was I was tired. When I got home I changed shoes and headed to Sylvia’s house and walked the Dog. As in the past I had trouble with the opening the door. She either needs a new door or a new lock. Anyway, the dog walk wasn’t long. He was heading to the main road and that made me nervous. We headed to the other end of the street. I had him on that retractable leash (I really loath those things). When that was all done I came home and we had dinner. It was Shrimp and mac and cheese. After dinner I started watching TV and started this letter. I asked Mom about the visit from the Hadlocks. ...

                                                                                 August 24, 2012 Dear Debra: Good Morning!   It is a beautiful morning a little warm but still beautiful.   I woke up around 5:30 but stayed in bed until 6.   I had a great sleep and the neck also feels better.   The ankle is still giving me a hard time but I will stay off of it for the day.   It will be a long day as I am working until 6.   I have some rather shocking news.   In one of the previous letters that you got I told you I found return mail in one of...

                                                                                 August 23, 2012 Dear Debra:           I have been ho me an hour now.   Mom was clearing the kitchen up from baking a cake for the me eting.   She was also looking at the mail.   We received more sympathy cards.   One after the other was beautiful.    The one I got was from one of the Harris boys.   He is I believe the eldest of the three boys to my Aunt Marie and their father Ernest.   I never me t their father. ...

                                                                                 August 23, 2012 Dear Debra:           It has been a semi rough morning for me.   I didn’t sleep well last night.   I am not entirely sure why but I was trying to see why one of my favorite sites I visit was not loading up right.     It was intermittently working and it still does.   I am thinking it is the speed my ISP is working on through my computer. I also missed the bus this morning so I drove in.   I really t...

August 22, 2012 Dear Debra: I was just heading to bed and wanted to write one more time. The last two letters are in one envelope and will be mailed tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that things in my office are getting back to normal. I made a huge dent in the work and just have a couple of piles left in the bin that Diva left for me. All that needs to be done is the postage/bad Address tallies from last week and this week. I also have the mail from downstairs to deal with plus what ever comes in tomorrow. I stayed until six. I even managed to get some dishes washed that I have (Yuk) left around. I really tried not to eat a lot of food. I had a rather egg and home fries for breakfast, pizza from Subway, and someone’s sandwich. It was also birthday day. Belated celebrations and I was offered cupcakes and cake. It would probably explain why I am still awake at quarter of 11. I did cut down on the coffee intake and tried water for the rest of the day. I did h...

Please go to my health blog for Today's early entry.

August 21, 2012 Dear Debra: It was wonderful seeing you today. I hope you are able to read and enjoy the letters that have collected in your office. It was fun writing them and then posting them on the blogs. As of this writing next Tuesday at 11:15 will be fine. I am sure you will have gotten more letters by then to keep yourself busy. I got back to the office by 12:30 had lunch and the finished the rest of the mail. Now there is half of a bin that Diva left for me. She had batched the different insurance providers together and dated the envelopes. I tired to show her the tally sheet and she was just not getting the information straight. She repeated three times that Gayle just dropped her into the mix and just said get the checks out. I was about ready to explode. I said a couple of things to her one of them were “Can we get past the dropped into it”. I finally ended up telling her to forget it I would tell Janet when she gets back from vacation next week. I just...

Dear Debra: Welcome Home! I trust your trip home was without incident. I am looking forward to our next session. My hope is that you have received all of my previous letters. I can only imagine what the postman was thinking when he saw them. I do have to apologize for the mix up. I was sure that we decided to on the phone last week that we were setting up our session for today. As I mentioned in our phone conversation today 11:15 should be okay. Things at home are: going one day at a time. As I said so many times today its one day or one hour at a time. I am making sure that I get things done as Jim has asked. When Mom returned my call today she made sure that I knew how appreciative she has been of my helping more around the house. We received more condolence cards daily. Mom says she wants to answer them all her self. Unless they are addressed to me only. Those I will do. Once she gets started. Work was good. Everyone was wonderful today. They were sympathetic an...

August 19, 2012 Dear Debra: Happy Sunday afternoon! I haven’t mailed the last two letters to you yet so I suspect you won’t be getting them until after we meet tomorrow afternoon. This one will probably be with them. It is a cool 74 degrees with some clouds. I can hear the neighbors down the street playing with their grandmother in the street (it is a dead end so no traffic of significance). Mom is downstairs vacuuming the back windows. She seems a little short tempered today. Earlier today she had me help her get to the WUWT site so she could post a message. She couldn’t do it from the links in the email that TM sent her. I was trying to explain and the more I explained the agitated we both got. I was about to yell at her. It finally worked. Before we got to the page I told her I had posted a message to the community and she thought that was a good one. I explained that it was before she had asked me to limit my postings to the web (or what ever social network the...

The following is a letter I sent to a former pen pal.  IF you have read the previous entries you will understand:  I would like your view on this letter.  Please be respectful. I received your letter earlier this week. I am concerned as I thought I explained in my last letter I was out of pen paling for the time being. There were too many incidences that displeased me and caused great concern for my family. Some day when circumstances change I may return to pen paling but for now I am not pen paling. For future references I don’t believe pen pals should be asking their pals for stamps. So if we do become pen pals at a later date please don’t ask me for stamps. I think it is huge imposition. I will not be doing it to others.

August 18, 2012 Dear Debra: I just wanted to check in one more time before going to bed. The Novena at Ethel’s was very nice. As I suspected it started late but not because of Ethel. Her friends who were the leader(s) of the novena were late. Apparently there is some joke about time. Basically they are always late. IF I wrote it verbatim it may get lost in the translation. Have you have been to a Novena? I thought this one might be my first but Mom says she took us to them all the time. Anyway there were a few songs. Then there are prayers (and almost like a rosary citation). It lasted about 35 minutes and then we ate. Most of the dishes prepared were of Philippine origin. I liked most of it but as I said to Mom outside the house it smelled like it was cooked in urine. I am also hoping it wasn’t loud enough for anyone to hear in the house. I definitely don’t want to be insulting. All this food will definitely reflect in my Coumadin level. I wrote a brief and pr...

August 18, 2012 Dear Debra: It is late Saturday afternoon and it’s been a crazy morning for me. I woke up bright and early to find it raining and a skunk in the heart trap. Now there was no way I was going to even attempt the release of this aromatic animal. So a few hours later Mom called our lawn gay to come and get it. He didn’t get here until around 11. Just moments earlier a Mama Deer and a fawn walked through Sylvia’s yard and down our street. I was there returning pans to her and as we were talking they walked through. I called Mom to alert her and she thought I was Sylvia. Later on when I got back from the Post office she told me about the deer. I reminded her that it was me who called her. Mom did some errands while I had some lunch. We got a call from Ethel inviting us to the final night of 9 novenas at their home. It will be about six (something tells me she will be late). We probably will have dinner there as well. Mom made a comment to me this mornin...

August 17, 2012 Dear Debra: It is almost 8:30 and the day is over. It is the first day of the whole grievance process. Jim and Jamie left around mid morning. Before Leaving Jim and I had a talk. In my mind he wants me to start stepping up to the plate. Do more things around the house, taking over more of the responsibilities etc. He was reminding me to make the lists that are rather small and make sure they are done. So that’s what I have been doing since he left. I made some lists for the entire week. I have been checking them off. Some things will probably remain the same (the shared expenses & how dinner is set up). Mom and I take care of our own things after the meal and I clear the table and she took care of putting the food we ate in smaller containers. I spent some time with Liz and Nelson after they were out doing their own things but I didn’t stay long. I was getting tired and wanted to take a nap too. Liz also had some things to do as well. The re...

August 16, 2012 Dear Debra: Well it is after 10 pm. I haven’t been to sleep yet but I hope to be soon. Mom is getting food together to send home with Jim and James. They are leaving early in the morning (I am thinking by 9 or ten in the morning). My neighbor Don came over this evening and checked out the keyboard and he said it died. He has lent me one for the time being but he tells me that M&T who came over this evening to see us said they would get one of theirs for me. He also looked at my modem to see if he could do anything with the speed and strength. He has some ideas. It was faster earlier but now back to what it has been for the last several days. Don also informed me while we were away at the funeral and reception there was some domestic problems going on at our neighbors across the street from Don’s house. It involved the police and family members. Neighbors came out to help not sure if it did or not. It’s been quiet since we have been home. Jim...

Dear Debra: It is 4:15 and we have been back from saying goodbye to Bob nearly an hour. It was a beautiful day and beautiful services. We were surprised that Liz read the second reading (apparently she was too). Despite my aggravations with Nelson last night I rode with Him and Liz from the Funeral home to the church and cemetery. There were so many people there and there is not one thing I could say “this went wrong” or “this was right”. All of it was beautiful. Today would be the day I need to let things go. Everything was right where it should be. Jim’s voice did break during his eulogy but he was a trooper. The kids were sitting next to him in the pew with us. Of course it was hard for me. (But then again when it is not?) All of the Pall Bearers wore the engineer hats that Bob made over the years. The Pall bearers included Liz’s sons Rich, Chris, Four of our cousins: Bill C Chris H Dan H Mike N (family friend) My Friend Roberta whom I drove back to th...

I am thankful my family and friends, neighbors were around to support us during this difficult time. I am thankful the weather was beautiful as we said goodbye to my brother. I am thankful for the home I have so it can be a place to think, live, and protect. I am thankful for the week ahead. I am thankful for going back to work next week.

August 15, 2012 Dear Debra: For some reason the computer was uncooperative last night and I misplaced the letter I was writing last night. I am pretty sure I will find it later but I just wanted to keep you posted. Yesterday as I was starting to write the letter I was concerned because I couldn’t remember what I did. I know I just didn’t sit around all day and do nothing. I can sit here now and tell you it started fairly early. It was primary day and so that’s what I did I went and voted and then drove to the office. I went there to drop off the lobby mailbox key. They have Diva doing it and she is really annoying. I was there for about 45 minutes and talked with the team. I got a lot of hugs and condolences. Gayle seemed to be really busy and I could see really angry about work related stuff so I will probably see her tonight. I went to see SR but she was in a meeting. Apparently one or two co-workers didn’t know about it. When I got home dear friends came by fo...

August 13, 2012 Dear Debra: Things seem to be getting worse for me. I couldn’t sleep right away last night and spent some time downstairs lying on the couch crying. I was aware that I would cry then stop then cry again. It felt like I wasn’t crying right. I came back upstairs and finally fell asleep. I woke up around 8. Jim was still asleep and Mom was upstairs looking at pictures. We had gotten an email from Diane asking for pictures. A part of me wanted to help but when Mom gave me an out I took it. I have also been pretty angry. I was angry that the stupid Newspaper delivery man didn’t do his job yesterday. As a result I had to go and find one at the stores. I was unsuccessful. I was cursing loud enough out of the final store and this little kid with its mother told me that it was a bad word. I yelled back at her saying yeah I know lady. The mother chastised me and I told her the kid should mind its own business. The computer that I am currently using has been reall...

It is the end of another long day. It all started for me around 6. I was woken up by rain by 6. It came down hard for nearly an hour and then the sun came out. Then I cried. Mom got up around 7 or so. We didn’t get a newspaper and we were anxious to get it. It has a very large obituary for Bob. I liked it and Mom liked it but not the one from Cody White . Apparently no one did and a large fight ensued with Cody white funeral home. I have printed out the obituary for you to see the objections. Mom thought it was cheesy and was offended by the ads all around it. She knows it could be better. The ones on newspapers sites were a little better. I went to Bingo this morning and let everyone know what was happening and they all felt terrible. PJ from the Recreation department offered to do run the bingo games but I was okay with doing them. For that moment! I had over 17 players today and that is the most in a long time. Everyone was wonderful and the hugs were great. Today I was cr...

Dear Debra it is after 10:30 Saturday night. Mom just went to bed and I will be heading there soon. I don’t know or think I will be sleeping just yet. I may have to break down and get some warm milk. It has been a long day. As I mentioned previously I did some chores and it was really humid. The thunderstorm that came through didn’t do anything for the humidity. MY cousins stopped by for a short visit. They are going to go to the wake but they have to miss the funeral. They talked about everything. It was a great visit. While they were still here a beautiful floral arrangement arrived from Beachwood Florists. They were from David. I didn’t have a chance to call and thank him for them until I got home tonight. Liz stopped a short time after the cousins left. She had information about the final arrangements. I have mixed feelings about this. They were not accommodating in any way. We wanted to have the wake and funeral Monday and Tuesday. They couldn’t guarantee anything...

Dear Debra: It is early Saturday morning. The sky is getting ready for more thunderstorms. The ones yesterday were short but did wreak havoc on the landscape. Rain came all over and hard. It caused flooding in a lot of places too. I want to thank you again for calling back. It’s been surreal with the loss of Bob. I managed to get some more sleep (maybe two more hours yesterday and a full eight hour last night into today). We went to Ethel’s yesterday and spent time there. Liz has been helping organize and getting things ready. Diane was also taking care of things and asking for help as well. Many friends stopped by and many of my cousins as well. The one thing I didn’t know about that he has been part of a blog that I have been following. It is called Watt’s Up with that? They have been following me as well at my Kate’s Insights. (at least i think) Bob’s Best Friend Frank was there with his wife and although I do understand his need to help he was flipping obnoxious. I...

Dear Debra: Good morning. It’s after 9 now and I have been here since 8:05. I took the bus in and will be staying until 6 tonight. Tonight I am going to concentrate on the wedding uniform for Saturday. I slept well but stayed in bed until 6 this morning. I am still a little achy and my stomach is bothering me again. As I mentioned in my Health blog it’s happened before I just figured I have eaten something that I shouldn’t have. It was really warm this morning but I haven’t been out since I got here. Word has it that we are getting severe weather the first part of the weekend. I just hope it comes and goes by 2 pm on Saturday. Yeah. Same thing I mentioned at the beginning of the letter. I sent a text message to Dave this morning. I called him earlier this week but haven’t heard from him. A part of me is panicking and looking for articles on him to make sure he is okay. I guess I could call him again. I don’t think we are fighting. Then again we will if he doesn’t call ...

Kate’s Thankful Thursday list for August 9, 2012 • I am thankful for my family warts and all. • I am thankful my INR was great • I am thankful for a job I love • I am thankful for a home I love. • I am thankful for the friends I have. • I am thankful for the weather changing constantly • I am thankful for the volunteer groups I belong too. Last weekend we had the visit from the PA branch of the family. They arrived while I was at my club picnic. Everyone got together on Saturday and had dinner. They stayed until Monday. During that time they did go up to Amherst College to drop my niece Kristina off at the tennis camp. I admit it was difficult at times because my other niece is going through Teenage Angst (she continues to think every one hates her). I did manage to get to talk to her about things. Whether or not she act on it is another story. She was wonderful when I fell on Sunday. We were on a jetty/pier that was slippery and I really fell. I think I got ...

August 8, 2012 Dear Debra: It is after 10 pm. Mom has been in bed nearly an hour. She spent most of the day doing some form of painting and cleaning and was just reheating some dinner around 8 (or cleaning up from dinner) when I came in from Rita’s. The fundraiser went well. I got there around 5:30 quarter of 6 and showed the girls how “not to drive”. I did a U-turn the wrong way yet didn’t get hit (traffic was light at that particular moment.). Roberta and Mike joined us a short time later (they went to eat dinner), We spent the next two hours out front waving our posters. Many people came and I think we did well. I even bought a couple of custard desserts. It didn’t help the headache much but they were good. Unfortunately, standing around acerbated the pain in the ankles, knees, and legs. I haven’t been wearing the compression stockings but I will tomorrow. I am thinking the pain was also from my fall on Sunday. It could also be from the foods I had today as well. ...

Dear Debra: It is not even 9 am and the office is buzzing with news from over night.   The first one was about an armed man in the Criterion Theater on Temple Street.   I had only gotten a part of it on the radio the discussions ran the gamut of “right to bear arms” to “He is sick”. I think it even said that he wasn’t planning on shooting anyone. The second one was the New Haven Parking authority will be asking over 500 people to leave Temple Street Garage to make room for Gateway College students to park there.    I knew this would be the case eventually.   I had on more than one occasion heard the discussions over the last couple of years while the new college was being built.   I am glad I got out of there when I did.   I bet it will be hard to get in just for the day. I called Mom this morning.   She is going to have a semi quiet day.   She is planning on painting some chairs in the back room.   She tells me that ...

Dear Debra: It is almost 8:30 and I will be heading to bed soon. It has been a really long day. The staff meeting was only an hour but it was full of information. We were basically told to adhere to our official start time and to take our breaks when we are supposed to. For example this is my schedule: Start: 8 am Morning Break: 10 am Lunch: 12-12:30 pm Afternoon Break: 3 pm. If we don’t adhere to this we will be disciplined and or terminated. Not very cool don’t you agree? That is just one of the items we discussed. We also discussed trying to keep people out of our file room. We are going to have “dedicated people that come in and get the info they are looking for (if it isn’t available on line). We had complaints from many staff members saying the new rules were not going to apply to them. I love that attitude. We did get a visit from Pat W. She was the lady who worked with us while “Diva” was on medical leave. Then when “Diva” came back she helped me out. I showed ...

It is almost 9:30 and I have been here since 8.   I stopped at Paula’s for breakfast and when I got here it was after 8.   The mail was waiting for me.   When I saw the box I groaned.   I was really afraid it was a lot but there were 231 pieces all together.   I expect to be done by the time the second wave arrives.   That’s if Zack is on time.   (He is one of the many Couriers from GOFOR courier service).   If you remember he came very late one day last week because he left when he couldn’t get into the finance office to drop stuff off.   I am trying to figure out a way to speak to him about that without ripping him a new one.   I will let you know how that went. Hey you will be surprised to find out that Wicked Wolf closed last weekend.   I noticed it yesterday and just found the article (Highlighted) today.   There wasn’t much but I will be finding out. I have been there a number of times for meals and parties. ...