KateP's musings

I have been avoiding using twitter lately. Not just because of what is said on there but because it is hard to use. Every time I post or reply to things it is very slow and frustrating because I don’t have all freaking day to wait for it to catch up. I guess it could be my own computer but it is frustrating just the same. Mom left here just before 10. She should be back by 11:30 and I have no idea what she has planned. Actually I think I do. She will be continuing to work on the plans for the meet and greet in less then two weeks. Oh and she may stop at SIL’s house. Apparently she is having a tag sale. I would think she would tell us so that we could see the things that are going. I don’t remember her telling me she is having one. There are things that we may want of B’s if she doesn’t want them. I do not like what I am thinking or feeling but I may be over reacting. I checked the weather report for tomorrow. It is supposed to be cloudy with chance of showers or rain in the af...

We are supposed to get a little more rain over night and some fog. It is supposed to clear up enough for tomorrow after 9 am. The drive home tonight wasn’t bad at all. I was shocked at the water level at the Oyster River. You couldn’t see the marsh reeds and some of the river came on to the road. I am not sure what time the river recedes (I think because it is connected to the Long Island sound). When I got home Mom was working on the weeding vows for tomorrow’s wedding ceremony. She decided to boy one of those already roasting chickens from Costco and serve for dinner. She didn’t like it too much but I did. Reports of the weather were on WTNH (as I would imagine on WVIT and WFSB). Some people had their sewers backed up into their tub and toilet. You know that’s not something I am really looking forward to when that project starts here. The lower level of the mall was closed tonight but movie goers can still go to the movies. I received an email from T regarding the Vetera...

Holy crap!   This rain is causing a lot of flooding along the shoreline including the Milford Mall.   River Street near City Hall has become part of the Wepawaug River that is behind the City hall down town Milford.   There is flooding on Collingsdale Avenue .   You can check the local TV Station .   I guess I won’t be getting home by 4:30.   I showed a number of people and spoke to a number of people about the flooding.   I talked with Mom after I got back from Debra’s.   She asked me what the situation w/TM was about.   I told her it was nothing.   TM was in the middle of a conversation and I realized it and so came home.   She is just working on the agenda/schedule for the Meet and greet next month.   I can’t help but feel she is annoyed with me.   I felt it last night too.   She did snap at me when I was getting aggravated with her when she was asking me about the meeting.   But that was yesterday. ...

Well it is after 8:30 and I have been here half an hour.   I just took my time in getting ready and spent a lot of time on line.   I had to send out emails for the 4 th District this morning.   The DTC secretary already had her minutes out last night.   Unless they were last months either way I still can’t open it because Secretary Claire has the newer version of word.   I let Phil know this morning and I let CharlieC (he is the Vice Chair of the DTC) last night. The drive in wasn’t too bad.   The rain wasn’t heavy but apparently caused an accident near the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge .   The neon signs alerting to the traffic problem included the lane closures. It’s been pretty quiet around here today.   A few conversations but for the most part everyone is working hard for month end that finishes this afternoon.   We have instructions to shut down completely at the end of the day because the system is being upgraded.   ...

The last few days have been hectic and busy. I had my physical yesterday and got to work by 11. I was quite surprised at the low volume for the day. I made up for it today. I was through opening the mail by 3 pm the latest. It was requested earlier this week that I start helping with the scanning. I was given some retraining by Mama Joanie and it was well done. Today I did about two hours worth of scanning. Well over 300 pieces I think. I can only do the scanning if my work is done. The daily stuff gets done but the re-address mail is starting to pile up. I am going to try and get in early and work on some of it tomorrow before the regular stuff is started. You know I am feeling a little guilty. I have been letting a lot of stuff slide this week. Things that really needed to be done such as the minutes to the 4th District, phone calls to the nursing home, and of course the rest of the thank you notes. The biggest excuse I have been using is its late and I am tired. It will not...

Well I have had me a day and it is after 9:30. I managed to get here after 7:30 and before 8. The ride in was little hairy but I made just the same. I have a great parking space too. When I got here I went and picked up the mail and the reports from ITS. When I got back Joanie and every one was starting to arrive and its Mama Joanie’s birthday. I am taking her out soon. She got some cool gift from JanetN. After that I started on the small pile of yesterday’s lockbox that was left over. I was surprised to see it took me quite a long time to get it done. That was okay because I just got today’s stuff about ten minutes ago. I was able to start on yesterday’s bad address and get coffee. I got a call from Nancy who needs me to watch the pups and the house for the week of Dec 21 to Dec 31.I really am looking forward to that. I get to spend time with the pups. I called Mom at lunch time. She was looking for something and couldn’t find it. It was stuff for her hearing ...

As I sit here trying to decompress from Manic Monday I can actually say it was a pretty good day. There were over three hundred pieces of mail from the Post office and very little had to be sent back. There were a few things that have to be readdressed but that can be done tomorrow. I still have to finish the pile of lockbox and then sort and deliver but again that can be done tomorrow as I plan on getting into work early. Today I did a phone survey/interview from a fellow co-worker Kelly P who works in Registration. It was a five question survey on how to make the work place better. I mentioned not having bulk mailings such as the CT medical society (or things of that nature sent to the office but the MD’s homes). When changes are implanted and asked to be relayed to staff members it should be done. I also made mention that peoples attitudes need to be looked at. I let a few people know including Elia V who is a union steward/organizer. She said not to worry about what was said a...

It was cloudy this morning and I asked Mom if we were supposed to get rain or just clouds.   She thought and read it was supposed to be nice.   Should I tell her that it started raining by the time I hit Oxford/Marshall Road?   It was coming down hard and it lasted until I got to New Haven. When I arrived I chatted with JanetN and Terry and then with Mama Joanie.   We are collecting for a cake for her birthday this week.   We got really silly when I found something that Diva put in the wrong place.   Joanie was telling us about the time she (diva) shared her “sexacapades”.   Let’s just say it was yuck factor of 1000. It looks like JudyF and SusanR will not be in today.   I am not really sure of that as I was picking up the mail I noticed they were not there.   That might be good as we enter into Month end very soon.   I didn’t get lockbox until 9 but I was quite surprised by the amount of lockbox thus far.   It was ...

It is after 8 at night. Mom is downstairs probably sleeping in front of the TV. She has been busy and exhausted. I am about to go to sleep myself. My day started around 7. I got up and showered and dressed and then wrote some thank you notes before leaving for the morning activities. I left close to 9 so that I could mail some of the thank you notes and stop at the Dunkin Donuts to get coffee and breakfast. I stopped and gave it to the small group of picket line workers and then headed inside. I had forgotten my volunteer badge and was grateful no one asked for it. I was also greeted by warning signs of a Respiratory infection in house. I spoke to Shelly about it as well. She had also been sick all week and got it from there as well. She feels as I do that when some one is sick they should be kept in their room. I also feel that someone should have called me and told me that there had been a health issue even if it wasn’t a full on quarantine. As it was I had a total of six pl...

I must have been very tired because I posted the same entry today twice. We did very well at the Cancer Bracelet sale at the store today. We were finished by quarter of three. The only things that sort of made it downer were T telling me the way I greet people (I hug them) in the club is making a few people uncomfortable. They went to T and told her and she said she would speak to me. She suggested that 1 I don’t hug 2) or ask first. She asked if I was alright with this and I said of course. I did say they could have come to me but she said they were not sure. If there was a problem then she should have come to the house or called me. The other thing that had absolutely nothing to do with the club was the fact my cc was rejected at the store we were at when I went to pay for something. So I was annoyed with that and when I got home or some time later I went and paid the bill. While I was there I did see M and R who were shopping. They had gone to a police auction and got a lov...

It is early Saturday morning and I have already gotten my lab work done for the physical on Wednesday. It didn’t take long either. I did get a chance to see Dr. Spanolios to tell him about Bob. He felt terrible because he couldn’t remember him and wasn’t sure if he was a patient of his. I have a little time before going to the grocery store to sell the Cancer Bracelets. I will be there until 3 and then I am going to church with Mom this afternoon. In the mean time I am going to write some thank you notes. The first one I thought of was to Mayor Ben Blake of Milford. If you recall he presented a Proclamation for my birthday and called that day Kate Phelan Day. So I have to thank him for it. He really is a great guy and smart. He has a wonderful family too. I was on Facebook this morning its pretty active among my “friends”. State Rep Kim Rose is inviting everyone to her home for a tag sale while she is door knocking. Justin R has now a Facebook page for James Maroney who is run...

I looked up from my keyboard this evening and looked out to see a dark night. It was after 7 pm. I decided to take a look at any site that would give me sun set time. Tonight sunset was at 6:52 pm. The summer season is quickly coming to a close. What in three days right? It certainly went by quickly. Yesterday I found this little gem and tried to share it with folks at work. The response I got was “shut up”. You should see what I got today. Tevis’ gift to me arrived to his house yesterday and he brought it in for me. It is the photo album of my birthday party. It is a hard cover bound book with many pictures. There is a picture on the cover of Mom and me. Through out the book are pictures of the guests, food, and families. I showed to almost everyone. I brought it home to show Mom and I will bring it back on Monday for who ever wants to see it. Work went well. I got the daily stuff done by 2:30 and was able to work on the re-address mail for about an hour and half. I left afte...

I really need a vacation.   I seem to be very tired lately.   I try to get up and do things and the most I do is check emails, check the forums, shower and get ready for work.   I also have the TV on and I sit there and watch it for up to five or ten minutes.   At night I watch TV and do laundry (sometimes) and stay up until 10.   I also get on line again.   Work is fine for the most part I get the work done (well the daily stuff) and every day I work on the re-address mail but there doesn’t seem to be enough time to get it all done.   I realize that I get online but I really try to limit the time I am on there.   As long as there is no stress and I don’t feel stress unless people refuse to do as I ask about the mail:   people have been sending mail in the large envelopes with the delivery address in the right hand corner when it should be in the middle of the envelope.   Home life is fine.   Mom has been antsy about the...

Do you remember when I wrote yesterday I couldn’t find what I had planned on writing and posting? Well I found it. Right now I am trying to get thank you notes written before Mom has a melt down. Work went well. I finished yesterday’s mail early in the morning and then worked on today’s. I was concerned again I wouldn’t be able to finish it all by the time I left but I was. The only thing I didn’t get to do is a lot of the re-address mail. I have gotten some labels ready but I have more to do. Again I hope I can focus on that tomorrow. I managed to catch the 4:15 bus home and it was a lovely walk. I got to see Sawyer for a little bit. Chris #1 was fixing his car door. He was having some problems with it. Mom came home around 5:30. She started getting dinner ready. That’s about the time I got a call from Ethel. She was really uncomfortable with her boarder. So I spent time with her and then brought her home for dinner. He stayed in the house. She wrote a letter asking both ...

I just went into the refrigerator to get something to drink and I found the ice cream container in there. Mom had some late last night and she must have been really tired and put it in the refrigerator by mistake. She could have also left it in there to let it soften. It almost did. She just turned off her light or I would have asked her if that was her intention I am afraid she would say “I did not I put it in the freezer”. I will have to ask her tomorrow. I can’t make it a big deal. Did this stop me from taking a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream? No. It was soft and delicious. The rain and wind stopped shortly after I posted last night’s entry. I just checked weather.com and there is a coastal flood warning for now until 3 am. That’s obviously when high tide is. The Storm that we had is over New London right now and heading east to Rhode Island. It is supposed to get windy again between now and 6 am the rest of the week it will be nice in the 70’s. I don’t expect a lot of ma...

Well I had already written a huge entry and immediately misplaced it. Anyway I was hoping to have all the mail done by the time I left at 2. For all intensive purposes I did. The lockbox mail was extremely heavy and at first I thought the post office mail was too. That is until I discovered the Connecticut medical Society sent two large mailings for the doctors. This annoys me to no end. I should have expected at least the magazines at least the first week of September not this week. I will have to just do what I normally do. I work on them each day. We said goodbye to Diva today. We had a cake for her in a conference room and it was right before I was getting ready to leave. I woofed the cake down saluted her (which probably made a few people scratch their heads) and then went back to the office opened a little bit more of the mail and cleared up. Diva came to me and asked me if I was leaving-resisted a smart ass remark. We spoke a few minutes. The whole take care of you bit and ...

I am sorry I didn’t write yesterday but I just really was busy and it turned out to be awesome weekend. Saturday was a low key day as I had my migraine bright and early in the morning again. I thought I was over it but mid-afternoon I wasn’t feeling that well still. I got my hair done that morning and went shopping for Ashley and Mike’s engagement party and I am glad I chose a gift card. Saturday night my SIL called me to come over to spend time with her. It was 10 pm and she has been having some rather unpleasant situations with her boarder. So I left a note for Mom (she had gone to bed about an hour earlier). A short time later I was there and talked about the situation and gave her some ideas. I met the “Boarder” and he seemed fine so I am not sure if there was serious miss-communication between the two or not. She came to the decision to tell him he needed to go. An hour later I was home. Sunday was the annual fundraiser for Bridges. Every September the Connecticut chapter...

It is quarter after 7 at night and the sky is spattered with orange spots from the sun going down. The temperature is now 69 degrees and now seems warmer then it did when I wrote three hours ago. I haven’t done any of the thank you notes but I did manage to pull an outfit together to wear to the Engagement party tomorrow. I will be wearing a black top and black pair of pants with a pink or dark pink sweater. It just needs ironing. Phil V asked me to get a 4th District Roster together for Claire C. I haven’t touched it yet but I am thinking of doing it. Probably tomorrow night as I barely feel like doing anything. I am going to go watch TV for a while. NCIS Marathon is on USA…

The thermostat reads 73 for Milford. I am here to tell you it feels much chillier I put a sweater on and now I feel better. I woke up with a migraine again. It has been a few weeks I think. I ate breakfast and then had Tylenol® and then got sick. I felt better for a short time but my headache is still there and after lunch I wasn’t feeling all that better. Work went well yesterday. I had to attend a meeting with Patti M and Judy F to go over job duties. I was supposed to meet with Susan but she got busy. I was really nervous about the meeting. I wasn’t the only one having this meeting the scanners and cash posters that work under Gayle all had (or will have ) the meeting. It is just so they know what we do and who to report to if there is a problem. Most of the Kronos work (time sheets and PTO request) will be handled by Judy. I met with Debra yesterday and told her of the events of last week with Mom and I. She felt bad for me. I was letting out a lot of frustrations during...

I am so tired right now. I didn’t fall asleep until 3 and the next sound I heard was the alarm. I turned it off and said “just a few more minutes”. Well those few more minutes turned out to be 45 minutes later. I rushed around and got ready for work. I left hereby 7:30. I stopped for gas and got to the office a little after 8. I got started working. I picked up the mail that DG usually does then I started on my stuff. The day really dragged on for me. I managed to finish the daily stuff and deliver some of the other floors mail to them. I still have a lot of re-address mail to do. More arrived today. Gayle called a couple of people to pass along updates. She is doing much better and sent her love. I would have called but I don’t want to disturb her if she is resting. I think I will do it on my way to Debra’s tomorrow. I had my INR checked and it was 4.0! So I have to take 12 mg’s from tomorrow until Monday. I had to skip tonight’s. It is amazing when a politician dies ...

Tonight the GFWC Milford Young Woman’s Club and Girls Volunteer Organization kicked off their 2012-2013 season at the home of Dr. Telka diFate. The birthday themed meeting included a candle light installation of new members. Members also signed holiday cards for the service men and women in Afghanistan that will be sent over in late November in the care packages. Work continues to be a little hectic. The Central Registration department completed its move and we now have a dedicated tray and space for their mail. The Couriers Service now is aware of the specific location. Gayle had surgery earlier this week and it was successful and she is home already. She will be going back in to remove two more blockages at a later date. This week was the 11th anniversary of 9/11. Although I quietly was aware of it there was no real acknowledgement. What I mean by that there was no official observation didn’t stop and observe the moment of silence and that’s understood. I was also reading wh...

It was a long weekend even though it was only two days. Friday started out okay I had to finish the work from the previous day and then start on what came in that day. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was light because I want to finish up the readdress mail. Everything was fine until later that night. Mom needed help with stuff with her computer. She kept getting some message about her printer not working. So we unplugged stuff and thought it was working. She had some documents she didn’t want to lose in the taskbar. I would ask her to do things with it like move it or save it and she kept “saying no I don’t want to lose it”. Anyway now that I am writing this every detail is fading. I kept getting frustrated with her and at one point I walked away and started mumbling under my breath. I didn’t feel she was helping the entire situation. The computer seemed to just stop. We found out the next day that all she had to do was press the button on the tower to start it up and it was...

I had a hard time getting to sleep. I have got to not have so much coffee in the morning. IF I do I will suffer for it the next day. I did get up early to watch a little bit of HTLJ. I also put the rest of the garbage out and was greeted by maggots (yuck). There didn’t seem to be a lot but I still felt apprehensive bout it. I even thought some got on me. *Shivers*. As it is I got scared this morning when a centipede went scurrying back to his hiding place. I was on my way down to the cellar when it crossed me. IF I can I usually leave bugs to their own device unless they interfere with my life. It looks like we will be getting more rain today. There is some rain coming in from Newburgh NY. That’s just great because I didn’t bring my rain jacket or umbrella. I have to go to the bank this afternoon. The Chairman of the Lotto pool came to me this morning and reminded me she needed our weekly contribution by today as she is going to New Hampshire to buy the tickets...

I really want to go to bed but I need to get some thank you notes written before I get in to trouble with Mom. I haven’t done any since Monday and that was only two. I left the office after 4. I got home by quarter of five. One of mom’s friends from the literary club came by to talk politics. It looks like she is joining the DTC and helping out President Obama’s re-election campaign. While they chatted I freshened up and watch TV for ten minutes. My appointment with Dr. Lu Was a lot longer than I thought it would be. However, that’s not a bad thing. I had cbc done and they were good results. He says I still have to stay on Warfarin for several more months. I see him in two months (get this Halloween night). I picked up the warfarin at the pharmacy but had to wait (patience is really not a strong suit of mine) a while just to see if it was there. It was and I was a little thick because I had asked to be able to pick up in New Haven by the office. Well at least I took it whe...

It is another rainy morning but no real traffic problems. I left the house shortly after 7 this time. It was a light rain all the way in. I got to the office by 7:30. I was chatting with a few people and then started getting a few things ready. Some mail came back to me and so I redirected it to the correct people. There is an article in this morning’s register about the intersection in West Haven that has a deep impact in my family. It is the place where my cousin Michael was killed two months ago. There was a third fatality there this weekend (http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2012/09/05/news/metro/doc5046a676124d1565717055.txt#photo1) I am glad the city is looking into it but the comments at the bottom of the article are really unnecessary. In some cases their views may be correct but Michael was doing everything right he wasn’t do anything wrong. If his mother, grandmother or anyone else in their family read that it would be very hurtful. I got an email from Telka...

I knew I should have left the house earlier than I did this morning. With the weather and traffic I was fifteen minutes late for work. It was raining pretty hard and when I got to the highway in Orange there was a long and slow back up heading toward New Haven. There had been an accident on the southbound side in New Haven. I ended up getting off the highway in West Haven near UNH. I took a few side roads into New Haven that way. The lockbox mail wasn’t too bad but the volume of the Post office mail was heavy. It didn’t help that we had a 45 minute staff meeting. Luckily I was finished with the mail by 3 or 3:30. I also did get online and looked a few things up but I tried to stay away from it as much as I could. I will do the same for the rest of the week. The ride to the Doctor’s was a bit slow but that is because everyone was going home from work. I managed to get to them by 4:30. I got my INR and it was extremely low. I am supposed to take 15 all week long and go back on F...

Well its time for me to turn in for the night. I didn’t get many of the thank you notes done but at least I got them started. I mentioned to Mom that it is much easier to write thank you notes for happy occasions then sad ones. Mom still has her own to do as well. For some reason I can post to one of my Wordpress blogs but not the other one. I have no idea why and it is frustrating. The blog I can post to was turned into one of my NCIS Blogs. I just don’t know what to do. I have also noticed that some websites I frequent don’t load up really well or at all. It really is frustrating. I am hoping it is just the ISP and not me. It just might be I have to update to the latest and compatible programs. Cousin Lee from NJ called this evening. It is his monthly check in with the family. He was telling Mom he was in his attic and found some pictures from years ago. I think it was of our family at the Coloumbe gatherings. Have a great night everyone…

It is a beautiful summer day one of the very few left for 2012. The neighbors have started their Labor Day picnic already in their yard. The rest of the street is quiet. I understand some neighbors have gone clamming. Mom is heading out the door to do some shopping. She is performing a wedding on Thursday so she is in need of more stationary. She was trying to edit and find stuff online and or her programs and having me help her with it but I couldn’t figure out exactly what she needed. The rest of the day she wants to work on her thank you notes from Bob’s funeral. That’s something I have to do as well. I have the list of gifts from the birthday right next to me but I don’t know who I should thank first. I pretty much know what to say but it’s who is first? I think I am going to write up the list in the journal folder. As I mentioned yesterday I have a short work week but a busy one. Usually the mail volume shifts on some level. So that will mean I need to stay off the ne...

Today was the picnic at Bob and Karen C’s home in Naugatuck. We left here around 1 pm. We made a quick stop to get gas and about an hour later we were in the vicinity of their home. After driving around in circles for another ten minutes we stopped someone and he tried to give us verbal directions and then suggested he would come along and help us that way. Once we found the place he continued his walk Mom turned to me and said normally it is never a good idea to let strangers in your car to give directions. The house was beautiful. Karen was waiting for us on the front porch. I can’t begin to describe the beautiful home. They had a beautiful backyard. They had a deck and a set of stairs I was leery walking down. We met his cousins and friends he has known for over thirty years. They were from NY, NJ, and Niantic CT, and West Hartford. It was a lot of fun and food. The menu included pulled pork, chicken, sausage and Peppers, and hot dogs and hamburgers. I didn’t eat all of it and ...

What an awesome start to the holiday weekend! Yesterday was my birthday and although on some level I knew there was something happening I didn’t know where or who was going to be there. The day started off with a relatively stress free drive into New Haven. I got to the office to find my immediate office all decked out with balloons and decorations heralding 50 years. That was done by my wonderful co-worker and friend Terri. She has been a big part of my career at YMG/OPS. After lunch we served the birthday cake. I had one embarrassing moment. I had given most of the Administration staff (management staff) a piece of cake. Except for one that would be Sally T-I thought she wasn’t in. I found later she was. Most everyone knew It was my birthday. The only exception was this one woman who walked in and saw the birthday plates and asked whose birthday it was. I was sitting in my chair with the hanging decorations around my head. I took an early lunch and had my session with De...