KateP's musings

Good Morning.   It’s almost 7:30 in the morning and the sun is shining and it is 69 degrees.   I really thought I would be waking up to rain but no it’s coming after 1 this afternoon.   It’s supposedly going to last until 10 tonight.   I am glad because this will allow me to go to the grocery store right after my exercise class and I can be home before it starts. I forgot to mention I got my other coffee order that was late and never delivered.   My hope is that this will keep me going for the time being.   I still have the two boxes left of Dunkin pods (I opened the second one yesterday).   Both deliveries had a total of 96 k-pods.    I thought I was going to be getting one of my amazon deliveries (the wipes) yesterday because they wrote me and said it was coming and I am just so tired of the BS from them.   I will have to check the supplies in the cellar before going out this morning. I was able to cancel Paige’s class when an op...

December 8, 2013 Dear Friends:     It has been a long day and the pups spent a big chunk of it alone today so I have to make it quick.       We started waking up around 5 but stayed in bed until 7 or 8.  I showered dressed and got the pups out for their morning walk.  It wasn’t bad out then but it looked like it would be cold and cloudy and start snowing soon..  While I was getting ready I had the Law & Order marathon (mothership) on and left around 9.  I was starting another headache but managed to get something in my stomach.     When I got to the nursing home I saw BoBM.  He was the Staff member on duty.  We talked about the holidays, the impending weather, and today’s activities.  We eventually got ready for bingo and ended up with a really full house.  Twenty one players and I think a few of them were being difficult but I think it was my headache that was making me annoyed more. ...

I can’t believe it is Saturday night.  Today went by awfully quick.  It all started around 6 when I got out of bed and did some surfing on the net.  I spent the morning doing laundry and then around noon time I got ready for the fashion show. We met a little after 1 at Carriage Green Assisted Living complex .  Dr. T was already in her first costume and she looked great.  Eventually the rest of the girls arrived and we set up.  The administrator helped set up the chairs while we got instructions and made some changes to the script.  My sole job was to make sure the girls were ready and to cue the MC.  We started at 2 pm and we were finished by 2:30.  Afterwards we had refreshments including ice cream...woohoo.  Overall we had a huge success and we probably will be doing more things for this place.  This might mean we will no longer be doing activities for WRHH.   Sadly some of the girls chose not to participat...

Well greetings and Happy Easter.   I hope all of you had a wonderful day.   I did despite the lack of sleep I had.   I got up by 8 and did some surfing and then got ready for bingo.   I was going to make DD run but the line was far too long.   It was nearly 9:30 when I arrived at the nursing home. Robin the newest Recreation staff member was on duty today and it was good to see her.   We chatted for a bit and then started to get ready.   We started bingo early (or at least tried) so that I could leave earlier or on time for church.   We also had Communion Distributed as well.   So we ended up playing for 45 minutes.   I left by 11 and got to the church by quarter after. When I arrived I sat with Nelson and Liz.   She was getting ready and then she sat with us.   She was serving communion and not the lectern today.      I really should remember and know my catholic teachings better.   I was expec...

We got to the Big E around 11 am.   Our first stop was the Wine and Cheese shop near the gates.     After that we went to the Mallory Building where we found sheep, goats, llamas, and a small shop where I found and bought two bibs for the two expected baby Rivera’s.   We went back to the wine and cheese shop and got some wine. D&R took the “loot” back to the car and then had.   We actually stopped at the craft area first and then had lunch.   For lunch we ate at the Rhode Island House.   I had the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail (8 Shrimp) for $5.50.   We then walked through the Massachusetts house.    I didn’t get anything here but D&R did (can’t remember what).   We then toured the Maine house and I bought a lobster Roll at Duffy’s for $9.   Outside there was a vendor of pulled pork parfait (baked beans topped with pulled pork.   That came to $7.   That was really delicious.   Then again what...

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...

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

It has been a few hours since I wrote and in that time I managed to clean out the car and go to church and have dinner and almost done with folding clothes. In a short while will go to bed. Cleaning out the car took about an hour or less. I thought it was too hot to haul out the behemoth vacuum cleaner and the little one was not enough power so I might do it tomorrow in between activities. There is a box of old parts from the engine (can someone please tell me why they would leave it there?) that I need to dump some where. I am thinking a dumpster. Mom and I went to the 4:00 mass at St John Vianney in West Haven. It is a really nice church and it has good feeling from it. The church is a modern type church and has been around a good long time. In 2002 it merged with Our Lady of Victory Church in effort to save it from closing completely. Many churches in the Connecticut Diocese are still in danger of closing. You can read the very interesting history of both churches in the link ab...

After releasing the second of two raccoons this week from the trap and having enough coffee to make LJ Gibbs proud I was bold enough to take on a fellow passenger who was being less then gentlemanly. H got on at Cedar Street near the Psychiatric Hospital and was trying to scam the bus driver by getting out of paying the fare. She wasn’t having any of it. She told him to get out of her personal space and sit down. He did but started swearing and talking and I finally told him to watch his mouth. He got mouthy with me but not too loudly. The guy sitting next to him got up and sat across from him (he wasn’t interested in hearing him either) and all the while the bus driver was listening and told him to stop or she would call the police. He was dropping a lot of F bombs and saying his father worked on the buses for the 37 years etc. When he told me he was having a bad day I looked at him and said I am sorry you are having a bad day but I don’t want to hear it. In one of the moment...

It is six in the evening. I have been home a while. We just finished dinner and it was pretty good. Mom made spaghetti and clams. It was exactly what I asked for and it was satisfying. While we were watching the news the weather report came on. It seems we are getting more “wintery weather”. Rain and snow mixed in during the night. There are high winds expected as well. As usual they are recommending people take care and don’t go out if you don’t have to. I don’t need to be asked twice. I heard from Dave today I finally got a hold of him. He was telling me Lyman Orchards in Middlebury is having a mini-winter carnival this weekend. He was wondering if we could do it on Sunday. We talked about it and I would like to go. The time frame would have to depend on the status of the quarantine at the Nursing home. Once we established that I would call him and let him know we started catching up. He has been working. He went to dinner at Savin Rock Roasting Company in West Haven. He...

I was in bed until 8 and then got online before heading into the shower. I answered some emails from Telka and surfed the net for a short time. I got a late start to the shower and to getting to the nursing home. Some of the protesters were outside when I arrived. I talked with Phil for a short time and now I can’t tell if they are winning or what. I went in and made coffee for a few of the residents and had some myself. I managed to get everything set up and ready to start playing on time for a change. WE also ended on time and I made it to church sort of on time. I managed to get here before the liturgy started. I found out the new pastor (or priest) will be arriving on Tuesday to begin his assignment at St Mary’s. After Mass I came home and did some chores. When I arrived Mom was cleaning in the bathroom. When I arrived she must not have heard me at least twice she jumped. I did some laundry and did some vacuuming downstairs. Around 4 Dave came and picked me up and we a...

It is weird how fast the night goes by when you come home late from the work day. As you all know I worked until 4:30. I was able to finish the Post office mail but started working on the rest of lockbox. I also spent some time putting away stuff. I made some deliveries for Gayle and she wondered why I was still in the office. I told her I had an appointment at 5. She did tell me that she is trying to get me help with the mail. She also wanted me to know that next Monday the VIP’s from NEMG will be touring the office so we need to clear everything off. That means all the junk mail that is currently under my desk. All this news really made me anxious. On one hand I do need and some times want the help but on the other there may not be enough mail (I mean once I get the junk mail out of the way). My session with Debra went very well. We concentrated mostly on family stuff. On the possibility of death and what would happen to Mom and what would happen to me? How would I deal with all...

It is after 8 and I am tired. I went to bingo and had a small group today. Jillian came in today. We did pretty well. The residents that usually go to church split this time. One didn’t and the other did. After bingo I went to church. I ran into some old friends from the club and they are doing well. I was home after 12:30. I couldn’t find my cell for a bit. When I did I had a number of missed calls. The only thing is I looked in my car already but didn’t find it. The Woman’s Club Board meeting was cancelled because of the weather. So I decided to get ready for Dave’s party. That too had been cancelled a second time and if I had taken the time to listen to the entire message I would have known that. Dave and I talked and we decided to get together anyway. It was nearly two by then. Once I got there we talked about the “curse of his parties”. It almost never fails to have bad weather in where it has to be cancelled or no one shows up. We ended up having the eggs and...

Today’s entry will be short as I am tired and I want to do some stuff before going to bed. Anyway, today was awesome. I was able to mail the credit card payment before going to work and was able to work on time. The volume of the mail was somewhat light but I still have some lockbox to finish in the morning. The rest of the IT department known as CIS is moving over to the office tomorrow. I am not sure what that means exactly but I think it has to do with the fact that some of the teams are now working on a new system. According to Betty it’s like working on the old Bullet system (a computer system before IDX). Some of the insurance and follow up reps are having a time understanding it even with the training. It looks like the same system that the hospital uses. I went on a 30 minute walk with Terry today and on the way back tripped over a section of the sidewalk and went flying luckily I recovered nicely. It hurt my foot for a while. It felt good to go on it though. The PT se...

On my way to Mediplex this morning I could smell the pungent sign of a skunk. I thought it was to the side of the road. It wasn’t. I ran right over it. The smell came into the car and it stayed with it for a while. When I went back the same way some kind soul moved the carcass to the side of the road. Bingo went well. Nancy was there when I arrived and she seemed tired. She told me the state was still there and so we had to do things a certain way. Not let anyone have coffee until all of us were in the room (Natalie would be coming in-she wasn’t happy about it either). Mom saw my room and she wasn’t happy either. I have been picking it up here and there but she is not rushing me and she needs to learn to shut the door. She did but still. The rest of the afternoon was quiet. I helped Mom with our Dinner and then she went out to the store for a couple of hours. It also snowed for a short time. It wasn’t long nor was it a lot. Mom and I were talking more about her knee surge...

One of the things I didn’t mention last night was Mom will be going into the hospital on the 27th for knee replacement surgery. She is going for blood work as I write this and should be home shortly. Anyway, I have to reread the packet she received last week. It discusses more of what she can expect prior to the surgery and what she needs to do after the surgery. She doesn’t want to be stuck in one end of the house the entire time. She will not be able to drive anywhere and or do any cooking. I told her there are plenty of cookbooks in the house that I can follow (they are indeed nifty little inventions). It is quite possible she may have to stay at a rehab center for what she THINKS is a few days (she really doesn’t know for sure). I suspect it will be longer. She went through a list of what she didn’t want to happen. My thoughts on this it will be a very busy six weeks and I will need to be close by and work on stuff around here. It is a little scary because well there will ...