I survived

Well I survived my first week back at work.  There were a few times I thought I fucked up so bad that I would be in trouble but I survived it.  The issues I spoke of earlier in the week about the mail continued until Thursday when all 14 bins arrived.  Shadow and I were working on them and almost done.  Admittedly she does it much faster than I.  I am concerned about that. I did have computer issues that needed to be dealt with but by Friday I tried to get any personal distractions out of the way.

Most nights I came home exhausted.  I didn’t do much except the important to me stuff.  That would be the cats, my dinners, and walks.  I left stuff to be done to later today. 

I missed the meetings (I didn’t have to go according to Barbara) and I missed the weekly meetup.  I went to bed by 8 on Wednesday.  The rest of the days were late nights. 

There was one hiking meetup that was supposed to be this Sunday but was moved to next week.  It’s in Granby but we are supposed to do it solo.  It’s at the McLean animal preserve which I guess is okay but never been there.  I was going to bale because I would be alone but I will see how it is next week.  It’s about an hour away. 

As I mentioned I haven’t been to the gym since Tuesday but I did walk Thursday, Friday.  I was a little achy and but took the Tylenol and the meds for the day.  I have class this morning with Alex in about an hour and then our session at 12:30.  I was supposed to track the food for 4 days and I forgot to do it for the last two days so I was doing that this morning.  Now I need to get ready for class and get there early to do the In body.  That is to see if I lost anymore and see what‘s doing with metrics. 

This afternoon I need to make some calls and go to the grocery store.  I don’t need much.  I need some more meat and some vegetables, and yogurt and coffee creamer..

 

 

I had to turn the fan up

Yesterday I had to turn up the fan downstairs to circulate the air and I opened the front door.   Felt better but the temperature continued to climb.  At one point it was 83.  I won’t be putting the AC on in the bedroom. I have another window fan in the window by the driveway and have a nice breeze that make it cold at times.

I did some laundry that I need to get going and made some lunch and “small snacks”.  Then I decided to update some of the finance folders on the computer.   

I got a call from JOC early in the day and made plans to walk at 4.  I let her know that I was appreciative of the things she said.  She said we would talk more on the walk.  I missed her house so I had to turn around.  I got a call from an organization looking for money.  I still managed to get there right at 4. The walk was great and there was a wonderful breeze despite the temperatures.  We made plans to walk in the morning.

 After the walk I headed to the gym with a favor to fulfill.  She asked me to mail something for her but it had to wait as I was really late for class.

I got to the gym got changed and went into the room and they moved it outside.  There were four of us students.  It was a tough one.  There were a few moments where I thought I was going to yak. I told Alex my weight and he seemed okay with it (I really don’t think so).  I think before we work out tomorrow night I will weigh myself.  I told him the Fitbit still not working and apparently the MapMyWalk app isn’t either.  I even told him I went on a walk.  

It was after 6:30 when I left there after carrying things back and then chatting with another member before leaving.  I still had to go to the Post office and then I came home.

I fed the cats and fell back onto the couch for a few hours.  I watched the NCIS marathon until the cable system went out .   It was weird  It blanked out a whole slew of channels with the you could be watching this if you upgrade.  I tried to contact Optimum but that was useless.  So I decided to go to bed.  I also complained on the Milford FB page.  No answers until I went to bed and woke up this morning.  However, when I did get up around 10 I decided to reboot the box and it works.  I watched one more episode of the NCIS marathon and by that point I was tired.

I went to bed at 11.  I had to reset the fan.   I am not sure what I did but it works continuously now.  I was able to sleep until this morning.  The kitties chose to sleep elsewhere but were at their positions before the alarm went off.

I had planned going to class before the walk this morning but the earliest one was way too early (6:30 or so) and the next one was 9:30 and it would cut into the walk time with JOC.  I thought it was going to be 9 but when I saw it wasn’t I called JOC to let her know that 10 am is good time still but the classes were off.  I probably didn’t have to tell her but did

I am going to do some reading and organizing before the walk so I m going to go do it.

Dear Friends

September 3, 2013



Dear Friends:


I hope all is well with you all.  I had a very rough start to the day and ended up having to stay home from work.  I woke up with a migraine and had a serious Dizzy spell that lasted what felt like forever.  Mom and I believe it was the food I had yesterday at the two picnics.  When the dizzy spells finally stopped I was able to sleep all day.  I did get up a few times to answer emails and make some calls and try to watch TV but I was too tired.  I couldn’t get over how quickly time passed today.  I had to cancel my volunteering at the Union office for the phone banking today too.

I wasn’t the only one who got sick.  Mom also got sick as well.  She did her own thing today and still managed to go to a Bridges Board meeting and got home just before seven.  Now she is in her pajamas and having tea and watching PBS News Hour (plug plug).

It is clear I have to make better choices for eating.  Whether it be dinners, picnics (really didn’t have to eat a second time at the second picnic), parties, and or meetings.  I don’t know what set these dizzy spells but it is all part of the lupus. 

I did  manage to have a bowl of cereal with milk and so far its stayed down. I have a huge water bottle with Crystal light peach tea in and hopefully that will reenergize me as well. 

Well I am going to crash for now.  I am going to watch NCIS and then see if I can get some sleep for the night.  As I told one of  my Pen pal Club members if I don’t get sleep tonight I will be unbearable tomorrow.  I am guessing I have a ton of mail to do

Good Night

Two Days

I haven’t written since Tuesday night.  Yesterday now seems like it was very busy for me.  I was late again and had very little sleep.  So anything I wrote probably sound or read like gibberish.

I was able to get the mail done in a fairly timely manner and was able to work on other things.  After Work I headed to the store and bought the veggie basket for last night’s meeting.  When I finished with that I went home.  

When I arrived Mom was still at one of her meetings and would come home a little while later.  This allowed me to have a bite to eat and relax until it was time to leave for the meeting.  It also allowed me to read/write some more to Jeannette.  It is turning into a 4 page letter (its pretty much the font I used).  I will send as an attachment first.

I left the house a little after 6.  I had  already called Roberta and she said she would be there by 7. Telka was just preparing for the meeting.  She was setting up the arts and crafts stuff.  As more and more girls came I was given door duty.  I showed the girls where to go and I stayed upstairs had some food and chatted with Kelly when she first came.  As it got closer to 7 Roberta came and then around 7 :30 the meeting started.  

The meeting went really fast.  We talked about the upcoming activities and the chamber of commerce grants (the adults all got emails regarding the interview date).  We sent home made Valentines Card to our our sponsored child for Valentines.  There were no installations so we went for refreshments.  We chatted until the girls went home and then three of us caught up.

It was just about this time when I started not feeling well  I had am not sure what happened but I finally had to go home.  It was nearly 9:30 by the time I got home.  I got the garbage out front for pick up and then chatted with Mom.  I was going to watch TV but instead I wrote some more for Jeanette and then went to bed.

This morning I managed to get up early enough to get the garbage put out.  I took my time getting ready for work and managed to leave a little after 7:30.  The drive in was a bit hard.  The sun was very bright and distracting for me.  I really need to get new sunglasses.  

The mail volume was light.  This allowed me to spend time working on the re-address mail for a good portion of the afternoon.  It also allowed me to write in th blogs, pay some bills, and surf the web for a bit.

I had a grilled balsamic Vegetable/mozz sandwich with soda.  I was trying to find anything that would fill the hungry feeling in my stomach as well as wake me up.  Both seemed to have worked but now the hands are starting to hurt again.

Tonight will be a fairly quiet night.  Its laundry night and perhaps finish the thank you notes that I have left.  I hope to finish the letter to Jeannette.

Well I am home

I left the office in plenty of time.  Traffic was not in the least bit cooperating (what a shock Phelan!).  I got to the Eye appointment on time but didn’t get in until 3:15.  I had to call IMM and cancel today’s INR reading until Monday.  I was finished by 4:30 and everything is normal and I can continue to take the plaquenil. 

After the appointment I drove to Liz’s and spent time there.  They were getting ready to come here to give Mom flowers for thanksgiving.  They were here when I got home.

Before coming home I had to run some errands (dinner rolls for tomorrow).  Mom couldn’t hear me tell her where I was and that my eyes were dilated.  I finally picked up rolls from Trader Joes (Costco had run out).  After that I went to Card smart to get holiday cards and my dinner.  I had Chinese.  After some story telling Nelson and Liz left. 

Not before I gave a tap/hit to nelson because he can’t seem to stop his incessant teasing about me and cooking.  One of these days I am really going tear him a new one.  Liz reminded him of what he does and or doesn’t do around the house and what she does and does do around the house.

Mom is continuing to cook (I offered to help) and Mom said no.  I think she is done for the night but I am not sure (it’s after 9 pm now) and I have been watching TV.

Now that my eyes are returning to normal I am tired and I am going to bed.  I have things I need to do tomorrow.  Laundry early and helping Mom the rest of the day.

Veteran's Day 2012

To all the service men who have served our country over the years and in the future thank you for keeping us safe.   The City of Milford had a parade on Sunday and I do believe they had wreath laying ceremonies in the center of town (where most of our statues are).   I am not sure when they stopped the parade. 

Sunday  MYWC Club and Girls Volunteer Club had a ceremony at the West River Nursing home honoring those who were in the Service We had a program for all the participants, and we had patriotic songs and a moment of silence.  We started around quarter of 2 and finished by 2:30.   We also visited the Veteran’s who chose not to come to the service. ( I guess they felt the Patriots game was alittle more important.

I managed to get to sleep around 1 am Sunday morning.  I woke up before 7 and spent time checking out the forums and emails that came in over night.   There was some really interesting stuff.  For example a blog that lists offers for Veteran at different restaurants.

It was nearly 3 when I got home from the day’s activities.  I was exhausted and my coughing fits were becoming more frequent and extremely annoying.  I think I am allergic to Robitussin’s.  It never seems to work for me.  Around 10 they subsided and I was able to sleep.   

Around 4:30 I managed to go see kitty as I didn’t in the morning.   Her Mom and Dad came home today some time.  I made one final visit this morning cleaned out poop box and fed her again and got the dishes out of the sink.  I spoke with Roberta late this afternoon.  Their flight was delayed and rerouted to New Jersey due to weather.  She was getting supplies for the PITS session at Hopkins tomorrow.

The M ail volume was light today as I expected and it will be tomorrow as well.  Once I was done with the daily stuff and managed to do some of the re-address mail I offered to do scanning.  I spent the last two hours scanning and doing a little web browsing.    I don’t think I will be able to do either of those things tomorrow.    We will see when I get to work.

I got my INR done and it went up instead of down.  I can’t believe it.  So the instructions are to take nothing until Saturday and at that its 12.5 and something else and go back on Wednesday (before Thanksgiving).

All my intentions of doing laundry hit the proverbial brick wall.  I was tired and we had dinner around 5:30.  I have had a few coughing fits but not as much as last night.  I am hoping they will eventually stop.

Mom got sick again

Shortly before 1 am Mom came running out of her room into the bathroom and got sick. I suspect it was the creamed turkey dinner we had. It may have been rich. I don’t know if this has anything with her gall bladder or not. Liz asked me about it some time ago. I couldn’t give her an answer and I am not sure mom did either.




Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep last night. I am going to have to get lots of coffee just to keep awake. The 5 and half cups yesterday is what caused me to not sleep to begin with.



Mom says Olivia is coming today. The room will be back in some kind of order this week. It allows me to concentrate on other things such as my laundry and other things that I can work on.



Okay I just had a frightening experience. I checked my account and for some reason there is no account history and its all zeroes. I haven’t done anything with it since last night. Ok. I am not going to panic much. I am sure it will be back up by 6 am. It better be.



I better get back to bed…Mom is back in bed and probably has fallen asleep again.

Wonderful Wednesday

So far today has been wonderful.  The headache I had yesterday is but a distant memory (thud).  I got up only a few times during the night.  I had forgotten to turn the TV off and apparently so did Mom.  I did get up early and got online a little (actually to finish last night’s entry).

I managed to leave the house by 7:15 and get some coffee (that is really  affecting me this morning).  I got here just by quarter of and chatted with JanetN.  When I came back to the desk there was very little lockbox *Yay*.  So far this morning been working on the re-address mail.  I would love to say I made a dent but looking at it now I would be lying.

The second wave of the mail should be here soon.  I think Courier Jack should be delivering it today.  I am hoping its light as well so that I can catch up on the backlog of stuff here.

I will be doing OT this evening until 6.  It will be the scanning EOB’s.  I hope I can get a lot done as we are down another scanner as AC is off entertaining her Mom from Poland.

I haven’t talked with Mom this morning-yet as she has a full day of meetings and I don’t know what time she will be home.  Probably in time for dinner. 

It should be a quiet night tonight.  It is bill paying night as well as getting some sort of agenda together for the meeting tomorrow night.

The mail was incredibly heavy for the second run.  There are those STUPID journals from the medical society and I am bound and determined to get these out as soon as possible.

I am a little worried about DeniseK.  She got a message her Mom may have had a stroke.  She left her shortly before noon.  I know her Mom well and she is a sweet lady.  So for those of you who are reading please keep her family in your thoughts.

Okay gotta get going…see you at home…

We are going to have trouble

Late winter early spring of this year Mom asked my nephew R if he would put new windows in the kitchen for her. He came and measured and explained it would take some time. He said when they came in he would call. Mom thought he originally said three weeks-he says he didn’t but longer. He also has his own business in Fairfield County (in construction).







Mom is very angry with him and feels this length of time is disrespectful and rude. IF he didn’t want to do it then he should have said “No grams I don’t want to do it.” Any time Mom would bring it up to my sister (his mother) she would defend his actions and behavior. Mom called him today and instructed him to call her or cancel the job. She feels and again I agree with her it shouldn’t have taken this long.






I am pretty certain if I go to Sis’s house tomorrow she will wale on her and tell me how rude and mean Mom is. Now I feel this puts me in an awkward spot considering I just told Sis last week she could share anything she wants with me. I just don’t want to hear how mean and nasty Mom is or “How dare she talk to my son like that.” I am hoping someone other than me tells her its not for her to get in the middle of it.






I have for the most part taken things slow since the last entry. I already have another letter pack for Debra to mail out tomorrow. I will start another and date it for the tenth. Neighbor Don came over and checked out the computer. It isn’t my computer but “bit” the sites are sending out. That means for now I have to live with the audio from the various video streaming places to sounding like they are underwater. It is pretty much like the freezing modes you see in the videos.






Mom went grocery shopping and to church and made Lamb chops, corn, peas w/mint leaves, and mashed potatoes. Now she is watching TOH.






I am slowing working on the cabinet in my desk. The top level is almost empty and will be cleared out tomorrow after bingo. I am really anxious to get this desk cleared out so I can get back to being organized again. I really liked that feeling. I found some old hardbound journals that I used for club meetings, union meetings, and various other things but I don’t know if I want to type them up again. I could probably check the dates or what not. I don’t want to be bothered. I will just put them in the tub upstairs. Seeing these things occurred to me how important to write down dates clearly.






I am expecting to sleep through the night tonight. Despite the fact I fell asleep before dinner. I am still pretty tired from the lack of sleep or early mornings and late nights. It has caught up with me.






Uh oh~ I just heard thunder. It did rain a little when mom came home from the store but it was basically a spit. The clouds are starting to get darker now. I think I am just going to catch up on my Friend list blogs and surf the web.






Have a great night!

Pizza Day

As I mentioned in the previous entry today was Pizza Day in Appreciation for a job well done for Month and FY end. Even though we don’t know the final numbers yet (the numbers are still being crunched) this was MAD’s way of thanking us. They bought 31 or 35 pizza pies of different varieties. I ended up having four slices. For desserts they had fruit and brownies. They gave out bottle water made especially for Yale University. There were lots left over because many people either took off for the rest of the week or had parties of their own. I had my session with Debra at 11:30 so I asked the girls to save me some slices.




We said Goodbye to RachelR today. RachelR is also SR’s Daughter. She has been with us for a long time. She would work with us on school breaks and finally worked with us full time after graduation. Well she is going to be working in the Big City at Mount Sinai Hospital.



The mail volume was okay I worked on all of it until 3:30 today just like yesterday. I barely got online except to check emails, check menus from Paula’s Restaurant. I don’t remember the final tally for the week (I think maybe it was over 1800 pieces all together). I gave a copy to SallyT. Gayle was satisfied that it was a large volume. Maybe this will get the point across that there should now be two people at the job.



My session with Debra was a lunch time meeting. We talked about how well things are going right now and how organized I have become again. I told her about the fight mom and I had and how it was resolved. Debra did share a tip with me. She sets the kitchen timer to 15 minutes and gets things straighten or clean up in that time. Instead of taking on a large amount that can become overwhelming she takes a little at a time and gets it done. We will be meeting next Wednesday at lunch time. For some reason I thought it was the 16th next week.



I have coordinated a time to be on the picket line with BarbaraV from local 34. We are going around 6:30 in the morning and will be bringing coffee and doughnuts and water. It is supposed to be very hot tomorrow. My goal is to stay for two hours but if I have to I will leave early.



I haven’t heard from NatalieM regarding Sunday. I guess it will be okay to go on Sunday. I just hope she will understand why I am out on the picket line tomorrow.



Well I am going to do some work before my brain completely fries. I am a little concerned that I found myself forgetting my train of thought a few times this week. I asked Mom if I should be concerned and she said no.

Exhausting night

Several of us from the office went to Wicked Wolf for dinner. Some of us got appetizers along with our meal. Man did I eat a lot. I had coffee because it was so cold out. While we were there two men from a union from Hartford were noticing us. They were waiting for the rally to begin. It wasn’t supposed to start until about 6:30 7 pm. It was being hosted by this organization: http://local.we-r-1.org/weareone/events/show/16 . Almost every labor organization, community organization came out to this rally tonight.




The meeting was held at the Church on the Green. We had several votes to take both for financial reasons and labor reasons. It went pretty fast. If you want to read more about it here and it will explain the reasons for the rally from the perspective of local labor. After the meeting we joined all the other unions including or sibling local 35. We marched across the New Haven Green and on to City Hall. For the next half hour we listened to chants, speeches, and froze my butt off. I was happy to be there because not only was this to support labor but I was happy to see people I hadn’t seen in quite some time.



As the rally drew to a close I caught up with my band of people that I had dinner with and we walked back to our cars. It was so cold that I couldn’t wait to get home and have some coffee.



It was dark by the time I got home Mom was sleeping in the chair so I got the garbage and recycle stuff out. You know I am looking forward to getting the new recycle bins (they will look like garbage cans) but not at the expense of the people losing their jobs. The bins we do have are old, cracking, and almost broken. The new ones will have a lid on it and hold more stuff. We are supposed to get them in June some time.



My cousin LC from NJ called tonight. He calls now and then to chat with Mom. They were catching up on family news. It’s amazing what time does because up until this past year he didn’t do that. I don’t know if it is because his mother is ill or because our family is getting smaller. Actually it’s the family on Mom’s side. I don’t know. What ever the reasons are I am glad he does it.



I got the minutes from Thursday’s meeting done tonight. Mom looked them over and except for one or two lines she thought they were great. I emailed them to Phil for his final approval. I should hear from him tomorrow morning. I will send them out after that.



I did make the attendance sheet for the meetings. It looks better then the first one I did a few months ago. As soon as I learn how to use the thumb drive I will save the documents. I am tempted to put last month’s minutes on the hard drive and then probably ask Mom for the ones I don’t have anymore. That will have to wait until tomorrow.



It’s almost midnight and I am tired. Have a great one and be careful out there.

Not prepared

I was so not prepared for the cold and snow we got yesterday.  It came down pretty heavy for the hour and melted by afternoon turning into rain.  I was very glad I had my sweatshirt jackets with me to put on under the other sweater jacket.  Today is much different.   It is sunny and bit chilly.

Janet did an awesome job while I was away.  There were some things that she forgot but that was to be expected.  Everyone welcomed me back and asked me how my vacation was.  I told them about locking myself out of the car on the way down.  I am not so sure what they thought of that.  They empathized for sure but you can never tell.

The lockbox was heavier then normal for the first time in a long time.  Jill was explaining to me this morning that while I was away the volume for Friday’s mail was lighter then normal.   I wasn’t able to finish the lockbox so I am doing it now before todays and the meeting at 11.

I met with Dr. Spanolios yesterday and he wants me to get an x-ray sometime next week.  He says I am doing better.   The lungs don’t sound exactly even which means a couple of things.

  I met with Debra yesterday.  The session flew by though.  I was going to read the previous week’s entries but they didn’t print out completely so I just highlighted the week including Sunday’s entry.  I suggested that perhaps I send her the link and she can follow my blog that way.  She says we will discuss next week.  She is going on vacation in April.  I think that’s when I am taking the next one.

Mom was making spaghetti for dinner.  It was delicious.  She had a Bridges meeting to go to and so I cleaned up the kitchen.  After dinner I watched NCIS until 9.

I went to bed at 9 and slept for a few hours woke up and rolled over back to sleep until 6 this morning.

I got ready for woke and still managed to get online for a few minutes and to watch a few minutes of TV.

There are some really scary things going in this world.  The whole thing with Ghadafi and Libya; the Japan Nuclear accident and how that is affecting food and stuff like that.  Locally there is a 12 year old girl missing in Orange.  She has been missing since Sunday morning.  The FBI is involved and it is just very scary feeling.

I am really afraid that we will be involved with another war and this time it will be with Libya (Ghadafi) some are hoping to get us involved or are grateful.  I don’t know if the citizens are ready to go to war again.  Ghadafi was defiant back in 1985 as well and it cost us lives then too.

I am going to stop by the Post office after work and pick up the Passport papers to fill them out.  I do have some questions for them and I hope they can answer them.

I am going to have breakfast/snack so I better go…see ya later.

A beauitiful First Day of August

It really was a beautiful day for being the first day of August. I am not even sure what the temperature was but it was nice and comfortable. It was so much so that I stayed in bed longer than usual for Sunday morning.

When I finally did get up I got online and checked my forums and some emails. I didn’t see much that needed all the attention so I quickly got ready for bingo. I made it in pretty good time.

I got the coffee started and chatted with some of the residents then eventually both Chris and Natalie came in. Natalie did work and Chris helped me set up and serve the coffee and get residents ready to play.

We had 12 or 13 residents play this week and only a few of them won this time. We play about 6 games and I usually go from 15 cents to 30 cents. I told Natalie about it and she suggested that we only play for 15 cents because they are going through too much money. I don’t know how this will work but its going to have to be done.

After the games I went to visit Dan K for about 10 minutes. He looked good but tells me he will have to be there for a few more weeks. WE also talked about traveling and being with family. His goal is to be going on the trip in November with Mike and Roberta.

After my visit I left for Liz’s. By the time I left Mediplex it was far too late for church so I called them and Nelson said the kids were there so I drove over and spent a half hour with them. Liz and Audrey were reading a book while the boys were playing on their bikes. After a while Audrey (who hadn’t given me a kiss hello) went to the store with Nelson and the boys continued to play until Liz stopped them (Dave and Mike were really not paying attention to anything she asked) and Dave or was it Mike were having temper tantrums. I left around 1 and Liz and Jason went down to spent quiet time.

When I got home Mom was waiting for me to help put up the Mirror we had on the wall between our bedrooms. WE decided I would eat lunch first and then put it up. It took about a half hour. It is a little uneven but it works for us.

Mom got ready for the wake around 2:30 and I just relaxed for the few hours before going to State Senator Gayle Slosberg’s home for the BBQ and envelope stuffing afterwards. We met up with several dignitaries such as Former First Selectman Mitch Goldblatt and his lovely wife. The current Democratic Town Chairman of Orange (can’t remember her name). My friend Julie G’s Mom Stephanie was there too.

Stephanie and I caught up on our lives. I did tell her I wasn’t associating with our mutual friend Mary because of the emails she sent me back in December. We left there around 8 and came home.

Now I am just reading some emails and then going to bed.

January 29, 2010

Well it is the end of another successful day. I got almost everything done. I still have the bad addresses to do for the last two days but I can do that on Monday. Some re-addressing mail actually it’s a fair amount of that.

Today we said goodbye to Hazel the temp who has been with us for the last month or so, we found out she was given a new assignment at the Yale Cancer Center and she starts on Monday. We fully expected to have her fill in at Becky’s seat when Bruce began his job on Monday.

My OT went back pretty well I was able to get more of the Refund letters scanned from 11/30. There are plenty more to do which I will do when I get to work tomorrow. While I was on OT I checked some sites out and went on Facebook. I joined Milford down Town it is the newest place to keep up with activities in the city. Anyway when I was leaving I was telling one of the supervisors about it. I may have made the mistake of telling her “she didn’t hear that either”. In other words don’t blab it to our manager. So all night long been worrying about it at the same time telling myself she would not do that.

The ride home was okay. It was extremely cold as it had been all day. The Moon was full and very high in the sky. I was glad to be home by 6:30. Mom was home as well.

Mom called me a couple of times this afternoon to tell me she was leaving for the meeting and then called back later to tell me she didn’t go after all. When I got home she explained she had the wrong time and she wasn’t really feeling all that well.

WE had beefaroni for dinner (homemade) and it was delicious. I cleaned up the kitchen and she relaxed. Afterwards I finished watching NCIS and then attempted to print out the check book register to see if I oculd straighten it out. Let’s just say it is a big pile of papers and I didn’t touch it.


I think I am going to bed. I started falling sleep while taking a bath and it was not very comfortable..

CAn the First week of December be over already?

It is a rainy Saturday morning. It is supposed to start snowing sometime early evening. I have been awake since 9 and probably will keep it low key today. I have some laundry I will be doing shortly and just make sure the room is straightened up.

This entire week literally flew by. All I did is work I think I did overtime once this week. Mom asked me why I didn’t do it today. I was getting a little annoyed because I don’t feel that I need to check with her or give her reasons.

Most nights I went to bed by 8:30 or 9. Slept pretty well once the coughing stopped. I took a lot of the Halls sugarless cough drops.

I went to the library last night to renew Mom’s book but she had already done it and I was going to lose my temper until I heard rather than saw Telka’s voice behind me. Mom had already renewed the book without telling me (after calling me asking me where it was and I told her I would do it). Anyway it was cleared up and I could take it home with me. After that was taken care of I helped Telka dissemble the two displays in the library. Afterwards I came home.

I stopped coughing for the most part early on in the evening I took the Nyquil and
hopefully it has really worked. I think sleeping until 9 says it did.

Well it is time for me to close out for now….the laundry awaits….

Pies and Work

Well hello everyone. It is just about 8 Saturday nigh and I am so tired. I got up early and got ready for the day. As the title of the entry says today was the MYWC Pie in the Sky project with Hopkins School. I left a little after 8 and drove to the school with no problem.

The school is on hills on Forest Road. The campus is beautiful the buildings were massive. They have a beautiful view of New Haven from where they are. I couldn’t help but feel they are so close to town but have a world of their own. The surrounding homes were beautiful and I would have loved to see how far forest road would go. I probably still could.

I met the other students from all over the new haven area (and some from Fairfield county as well) some of the students (there were boys there too) were sophomores and juniors. Their teacher was Mrs. Lane. She was a former Research tech at Yale and now a science teacher at Hopkins. Roberta was there and her leg bothering her. She says she is going to have surgery on it. I was only able to stay until 10. I wanted to be at work by 10:30. I thought I would have a lot of time to get there before the big Game this afternoon. I was really wrong.

The parking and traffic started early especially on the Derby Avenue and Route 34 area. It wasn’t long but the crowds were going to the tailgating and early seats. As I got closer to the office the parking lots were filling up as well. The garages were filled too. People parking on the streets were getting tagged as well.

I got to work by quarter of 11 and found others to be there too. Many from my team were there as well. I could feel my body getting tired (I was not feeling that well either). It was that time for Scarlet’s visit. I worked until 2 and then a brief visit with Miss Annie and then I came home.

When I got home Mom was out shopping. I watched TV for a bit and then had something to eat. It was nearly 3 I think. When Mom finally did come home she reminded me she was going out to dinner with her friend Martha. She got home just before 8.

Sadly a cousin of Mom’s passed away yesterday. We knew her as Sis. She was a hairdresser in town for many years. She has been living in Stratford for a long time. At least I think she has. The wake is Monday and the Funeral Tuesday. Mom will be going to both.

Tomorrow Dave and I will be heading to Stamford for their annual Thanksgiving Parade. It starts at 12 noon but they will be shutting down the streets around 10. He called me just about 8 and told me that we will need to leave by quarter of 9 from his place so that we can stop and have breakfast at McDonalds.

My Birthday

Wow this day has been awesome! I woke up around 2 am and couldn’t get back to sleep for quite some time and when I finally did it was time for me to get up anyway. I was getting ready when Mom got up and wished me a happy birthday.

While she was reading her paper I took care of the dehumidifier and let her read the card and see the pictures Liz and the kids gave me. I left the house a little after 7:30.

It was around 8 when I arrived at the office. I found a beautiful balloon and a card signed by the team waiting for me on my desk. A note from Terry letting me know she would be in late and that we would have something then. She came in around 10 with a cake and hugged me. She told me we would be having a pizza party later.

Through out the day many people wished me happy birthday and I thanked everyone for my card. I also showed them the card I got and the pictures. They loved the story I told them of my birthday breakfast.

I spent most of the morning working on the lockbox from Friday and when the mail came in around 11 I worked on that too. The entire day went by quickly. It was time for my party.

Terry ordered the pizza for 12:30. We had eaten it shortly after it arrived and then around 2 we had the cake. It was then when Tevis (he is really sweet) video taped it and sent it here; I shared it with all my journal groups and the two snail mail groups and of course the NCIS forum on IMDB and several other networking sites.

I stayed at work until 4:20 or so. I had gotten an early morning phone call from Debra asking to move the time to a little later because she had something to do. I called her earlier in the day and confirmed the time.

I had to wait for a bit until Debra arrived but that was okay I made a phone call or two. I called Mom to tell her about the video and to Dave just to say hi. I didn’t realize he would be stopping by the house later on.

On my way home I saw my friend Theresa (she was a resident at West River). We chatted for about 15 minutes. She really doesn’t like Tower One because of the Clicks that have developed. I told her about a few of the residents she might have remembered and she told me she prays for all of us all the time. I need to remember to tell Natalie when I see her next.

It was nearly 6:30 when I got home. Mom was waiting to start the filet mignon steaks she bought for my birthday (and they were well worth the wait). While they were cooking I had two presents on the living room coffee table waiting for me. One was a Timex Watch from Mom and a beautiful plant from Bob and Ethel.


Shortly before we had dinner Dave and Rose stopped by. He brought me a bouquet of flowers and bracelet he had bought a couple of years back. We talked about his trip and about his living situation and after awhile Mom was trying to politely get them to go so that we could eat. They were going to have dinner with Rose’s Mom.

Before they left Dave reminded me of the tubing down the Farmington River over Labor Day weekend. We also made plans to get together for dinner and movie some time. After they left we ate.

Along with the steak that was melt in your mouth delicious Mom had roasted potatoes and some of them were purple. Never had them before but they were good. The other side dish Mom and I didn’t like at all. We are not sure what it was some kind of soufflé. There was also corn on the cob.

After dinner I didn’t do very much (it was after 7 by then so I watched a little bit of NCIS and got online. I also got into my pajamas because I was hoping to go to bed.

Jim called a little while ago. We talked about my birthday and about his new computer, and whether or not I got the tickets for the US Open for Dave. I told him I hadn’t and that I would be getting something else (the Bluefish game tickets). Jim felt it was too extravagant for me to do. WE talked about the kids starting school soon. Jamie starts tomorrow and Emily and Kristina start next week. It sounds like young Jamie isn’t thrilled about school starting. After a bit we finished talking and said our goodnights and hung up.

I am hoping now I will be able to sleep through the night because getting up during the night and staying up is not really that much fun.

Pie in the Sky

It is almost 8:30 Sunday night and I am exhausted. First I did my bingo with “my team”. I was the first to arrive and started the coffee. After a while the girls came and they started getting everyone. I had made the announcement so the residents were starting to come down anyway.

The Bingo session went well. I started the games and the girls finished them. As soon as it was done we headed to Telka’s.

The girls had to do some things first and came later. I arrived just as Donna K and her Mom were arriving. Telka greeted us at the door. Roberta was near by. I was pleasantly surprised because I expected her to be with family today. Roberta had the days mixed up.

We got started on the whole process. Telka gave us instructions and then the assembly line began. The 120 lbs of apples were washed and then we started the peeling and coring while the toehrs got the other ingredients done. The next several hours there was fun, laughter, food, and stories. We even had our pictures taken and we were featured on local cablevision 12 news. NO I wasn’t on TV but it was fun to watch. We made 35 to 44 pies. We even got to have some of the pies because we even took some orders.

Roberta and I left Telka after the second clean up (we had been cleaned up when the media arrived) there were still several pies to be baked. It was nearly four when we got to Roberta’s house. I stayed for a short visit because the sun was setting and all I had were my sunglasses. I had left my regular glasses at home.

When I arrived home Mom was out shopping. I wasn’t sure where she was at first. I looked around for a note but there was none. Only a candle she had left going. I decided to sit down and watch TV or actually let the TV watch me. It is Sunday so most of it was whatever was on the PBS stations. I did watch the News on Cablevision 12 but the segment didn’t go on until 5:18. Mom arrived home shortly after that.

Over the last several hours I spent time watching TV, emptying out the dryer, moving the roll away bed down to the blue room, and writing up my weekly newsletter for the lists. As soon as I am done with that I am going to bed. This week will be a very busy week.

I went tubing yesterday

I really had fun yesterday. I was invited to go to Great Barrington MA to Butternut Ski Resort for tubing. Yes I said Tubing. I have done it only once before and that was in Canada at the Winter Carnival in Quebec.

Dave picked me up around noon and we drove to Torrington and we then drove to Great Barrington with our friends Mary and Steve and their two sons. We drove through Winsted and Canaan and then up to Route Seven through Shifford and Stockbridge then to Great Barrington. We got there about 10 of three.

There were a lot of people there and we got our tickets $15 for two hours. They would write the time we were to finish on our sticker ticket. I did it for an hour or so. Then I kept Mary Company in the car with her son. Garrett wasn’t interested in going down the hill this time. Mary’s husband went tubing for the last 45 minutes. Dave came and asked me if I was going to any more and I told him no. He was persistent (a trait I don’t like).

We went to dinner at Barrington Brewery it was good. I had Chicken Quesadilla (2) and rice and beans with salad, vinaigrette dressing on the side. The others had dessert but I opted not to. I think the cookies and hot chocolate I had earlier were enough.

After Dinner we headed back to Torrington and got Dave’s car and headed home. We were back in Milford by 8 or 8:30. I talked with Mom for a bit and then got into the bath tub and relaxed and the got ready for bed.

Today was bingo and it went well. Virgie was there and the coffee already started. I was drinking the white hot chocolate that I got from Dunkin Doughnuts earlier. We started a little after 10 and finished up just about then. Virgie cleaned up for me and I went to church.

I saw one of the girls Paola from the girls club and her family. I told her what I ssaid to Margaret S at bingo (Margaret has a fan club). She just smiled. After church I came home.
Mom was home already she is doing paper work and having coffee. I think she is actually doing some cooking for dinner.
I am not sure if I want to take a nap first or get more of these letters written or laundry done first. I am just really tired. Well I better pick fast.. I will let you know what I ended up doing later.

Busy Monday again

Hey all it is just before midnight and I was heading to bed. Today was a very long day. I got to work at a good time but jumped right into work. I did make a few stops on the internet highway but managed to get stuff going.

I finished Friday’s mail and sorted it and delivered it as well as Thursday. I wasn’t able to open today’s lockbox but I did get the post office started. One of the reasons for that was because I had so much individual readdress mail to get delivered that I spent a good part of the day doing it. I was having a hard time concentrating on the bad addresses too.

I did manage to make calls for the club. I got a hold of the Beth El shelter and scheduled a dinner for February 7th but as I thought about it and when I got an email from Telka realized it wasn’t a good date. She suggested that I make it for March between the 13th and 20th. I will have to call him back tomorrow.

I am still waiting on the ARC person to call me back and set up the club to sponsor a blood drive. I hope she calls tomorrow.

I talked with Mom in the middle of the day. She was working on papers. She had Bridges meeting tonight at 6. She was home by 9:30 or so. Now she is watching Charlie Rose I think.

When I got home it was close to 4:30. Traffic was a little slow getting home but once I got off the highway it wasn’t a big deal.

I got a letter from my pal Laurie Bunch today. I managed to write her a 4 page letter tonight. That’s like the third time I have done that this week. She talked about her hobbies, her health, and why her letter was late to me.

Someone’s very graphic emails got on to one of the lists. I deleted it and reported it to yahoo.com. Lori T is rejoining lists and causing anxiety again. Some of the girls on Jodi’s lists are callig her a liar and stuff. They want to report her for scamming.

I got my credit card statements. I have more than I expected on the Union Plus. I really need to get rid of that one and fast.

Well that’s about the news for today.