Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

It is early Sunday morning.  The laptop is giving me agita again.  Liz changed the name on it to read my name but couldn’t change the password.  For some reason it isn’t connected and I have no idea why.  Well I do now.  Just had to click on the router.  I can be useless with these things sometimes.  Your computer is working (after I finally had to call MB to get the password).

Your computer had some updates and went to the “windows sign in and for the life of me I couldn’t think of the password.  Liz and I went looking for it.  Now we have it taped to the desk here.  I called MB.  He was in CA working.

Yesterday went pretty good.  The Sing-along went very well and although we didn’t get a lot of your clothes into bags we got rid of some old papers and saved some stuff.  WE also started the process of removing your name from the AM/Costco card account and making me the sole account holder.  Its a two step process and the second call should come tomorrow.

Well its time for me to get ready for the day.  I still have to iron the clothes I am wearing to the memorial service this afternoon.

Dear Friends

August 10, 2013


Dear Friends:

Good Saturday Morning to you.  I Hope you are enjoying what seems to be a lovely day.  It is just after 7 in the morning and it already is 78 degrees outside.  I was feeling warm and I just might put on the fan for a little while before I start my morning chores.

Today is a rather bittersweet day.  One year ago today we said goodbye to my brother Bob who had died of a a massive heart attack after moving some light furniture.  He was 63 years old and married to my SIL Ethel and have three  grown wonderful children.  Diane has been posting pictures of her Dad on Facebook  yesterday and  is still performing at the Sacramento Theater in the round The King and I.  You can see her as Timka singing “Lord and Master”.  Ethel is on her way to see Diane while we have a mass said for Bob and then have a gathering this afternoon.

Before we do that though I am going to meet up with my friend Dave and have coffee and “  with our usual catch up session.  He is pet sitting for some friends and is not that far away from here.  Mom has a wedding to perform later on this morning at City Hall so she will be doing that.

We are waiting for my nephew Rob to bring us food that Ethel cooked for the gathering and he was supposed to bring it last night.  He hasn’t yet,  He said he would bring it over and Mom is afraid it is spoiled as Ethel left it on her car.

Well I am going to get some things done so I will say bye for now .  I Hope your Saturday is a wonderful one.
Kate

Very Cool

I got an email from Jim tonight replying to an earlier email I sent last month.  He says he was helping JamesR with Popcorn fundraiser.   Apparently they got more sales than SIL.  He is enjoying that victory.  Anyway he is going to try to come up in a couple of weeks for a visit.  Our Cousin Phil M’s memorial service is on Friday Nov 2.  He wants to go and Mom is planning on it as well.  I was hoping to go but I don’t think I can.  It is the same day as my dental implant.  I would love to see him.  I just hope I am in good form when he comes.

I just remembered I need to call Liz and ask her if she would be able to take me to the Oral Surgeon that day.  I don’t think I will be able to drive myself afterwards.  As it is they have a prescription for me to take a day before the procedure.  The whole entire thing is supposed to be thirty minutes long but I don’t think I could or should go back to work.  I do hope that I can get the office back in order by then. 

Well I better get going.  I have to get up early.

Dear Debra

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 up and read some emails before leaving for my cousin’s services. While I was there my nephew Rich came over to drop off the new kitchen window he promised mom. Apparently she called him again. He promised to come back tomorrow and install it with help. We managed to chat for a little bit and then I had to leave.



The services were at the West Haven Funeral Home across from the green. Mom was already there and so I sat with her. I paid my respects to Michael and then of course to the rest of his family. There were many friends, colleagues, classmates, co-workers from the nursing home he has been working for (the same one I volunteer at). Apparently the day of his accident he was on his way home. I feel terrible because he has been there all the while (the nursing home) and I didn’t even go to say hi. Around 7 the Deacon of their church and a mutual friend of all of ours came and said the funeral. It was a traditional funeral mass. There were the prayers and readings and “the homily” but that was it.



There is a fundraiser soon that’s in his name.( http://www.giveforward.com/inlovingmemoryormichaelfinch - his grandmother says there will be a picnic as well. Mom and I will be contributing to this fundraiser.



I had received a phone call from Brother #2 tonight (we have been playing phone tag since yesterday. He sounded like he just got up. I told him where I was heading (just into the funeral home) and we made plans to talk tomorrow.



Sis was supposed to come tonight but she didn’t show. I really hope she decided not to come because of Mom. If you remember she has been defending Rich’s actions about the window. She needs to stay out of it actually but I don’t think she would appreciate that coming from me.



After the services I came home. I stopped at the garage that fixes my car and told them my breaks are squeaking and arranged to have them look at it. It will be later in the week. They are booked up until then.



When I got home from the garage Mom was getting dinner ready. She left the funeral home shortly after I did and made it home before me. She had made chicken noodle casserole and still had to be cooked. We didn’t get to eat until probably 8. It’s been a long time since we ate that late. It was good.



My key board is really annoying me so I stopped typing for a bit and have since fixed it (it’s really messy underneath the button). I am really going to have to clean it some time. At least it is not sticking.



Okay its time for me to go to bed. Have a great night.



Kate

Dear Debra

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 only chalk this up to the news I received Thursday. My family is hurting at the loss of Mike F. He was just turning 21 the day of the accident. His mother has not had it easy even before this. I know Renee the grandmother is heart broken and I am too.



I sent a message request to the lists I belong to and have been getting responses. It is comforting to get them even from strangers. The messages are Mostly from the journaling lists. They are always known to be supportive of their members.



Mom spent the day at her reunion. She got home shortly after I did. She was telling me they took a tour of the old school and what they did with it. It is now Senior Apartments. There was more of the tour but Mom was growing weary and came home. She isn’t going to have dinner but I am going to make something for myself.



Right now in between writing this letter and surfing the web I am also doing some work for the Woman’s club and making arrangements for Sunday. I had to call one of the girls but she can’t make it. I sent messages to Nicole (former Co President of the Girls Club) asking her if she or her sister Jacqueline could help me out. I haven’t heard from her yet. I had posted a message to the Club’s Facebook page (the link may not work) but haven’t heard from anyone.



My intention for tonight was to get laundry done before the night is out. That may not happen. I am so tired I just might get one load done. The rest will be done tomorrow.



Mom and I received a birthday party invitation from my Niece Cheryl for her son Bryan’s 19th Birthday. It is going to be on the 11th of August. Unfortunately I have a conflict for that. It is the same day we are hosting a Wedding for a club member. I am betting Mom will go ahead of me and I will go there later. I will think more about it when the date gets closer.



Everyone has been talking about the Colorado movie theater shooting. It was half hour away from my friend Miriam and her husband Ben. They live in Broomfield Colorado. I called her parents to see if they have heard from them but they were not home at that moment. It is awful and sad. This guy was supposedly “laid back and kept to himself”. Why did he do this? What kinds of signs could have been echoed? Was he getting help? My Thoughts and prayers go to the people of Aurora and the State of Colorado.



I am going to eat some dinner and then relax. Have a great night.



Me.

I Had me a Day

I got to work and had an unpleasant incident with three co-workers on the elevator. They all moved to the opposite side of the elevator saying “don’t get close to me I don’t want what you have”. I looked at them and said it was fucking rude. Before anyone says it wasn’t to me it was embarrassing and rude. I reiterated what would be the beginning of several “I am fine”. Yet these idiotic morons continue to blame me for two others getting the stomach flu that has already been going around anyway. There are many who do not think I caused them to get sick. As I said in yesterday’s entry I was feeling better by 1 am yesterday morning. The Doctor cleared me when I saw him yesterday afternoon.




To the added stress SR came to me and told me that if I get behind that I need to ask for help. That people are expecting things and need to have it. I looked at her and said first the volume for lockbox on Tuesday was above and beyond what I would normally get and I went home sick. Apparently that didn’t faze her at all. She asked Gayle to get me some help and that was LG. She worked on today’s mail and I worked on yesterdays and we got it done. She opened it date stamped it and put them back in the envelope put them in various piles. When I finished with what I had to do I think it took me a half an hour to work on the stuff she did.



After work was the retirement dinner for JH. It was at the Kelly Gastro Bistro on the corner of Crown and Temple. It started at five and had quite a turn out. We met her family and saw some old friends who came to say good bye and wish JH well. The food was good. I had a salad, bread and for the main course I changed from I think the fish to beef tenderloins with mustard rub, mashed potatoes and vegetable medley and the dessert was Italian cake. I had some coffee too. It broke up by 7:30.



Now that I am sitting here I am afraid to say that my stomach got a “little rumble”. It wasn’t the only food I had today. I had a couple pieces of cheese Danish for breakfast and for lunch ham sandwich on Croissant and some fruit and vegetables all provided by GC. I drank a lot of water today too.



I was able to sit in for the rest of the 4th District meeting and I really should have just gone to bed. I was there for an hour and we were talking about ways for more community service involvement.



After the meeting I was checking emails and found an email from Mom. Her 95 year old cousin died this morning. We attended her 95th Birthday last month I think. The services are not until Saturday I think.



Tonight a member of one of the pen pal lists removed herself from the group after receiving hate mail from another member for not continuing to write the person. The member has said she was polite about it but continued to receive hate mail. So she felt she should leave to stop the nonsense. I am trying to think of what to write to the groups to remind them that this behavior is unacceptable. I have it pretty much down to what I want to say but it may not be received well. This is just great.

Here is what I wrote

The Memorial Service

The Memorial Service for Aunt Rita is this afternoon at St Mary’s Church. I know those of the cousins who still live in Connecticut will attend. If I am right it will basically just be a regular mass and during the service it will be mentioned that this Mass will be said for Rita N.




This Morning I need to do Bingo, see Mom and then probably do some work around here. The mound of laundry is staring at me from the middle of my bedroom. I haven’t vacuumed since Wednesday and even that was cursory.



The weather is sunny w/some clouds. Its about 83 right now. Hopefully it won’t get any higher (I can’t believe is already 83!) today. Hmmm it says we may get some T-storms. That would be nice. If only it won’t make it more humid. I guess we will just have to see.



I am going to get dressed. I want to get there fairly early. I don’t know if I should call Mom now and tell her I am on my way or not. I don’t want to wake her and I don’t want her to feel I am ignoring her right now. I am hoping to spend at least a while with her. It seems Liz spends the most time with her. Mine is the 15 minutes. Well except for Friday. I am going to see if I can park in between the office and the garage then I won’t have to pay and I won’t get a ticket