KateP's musings

It is nearly noon. Mom is on the phone in her office and I am not doing much except for checking emails and forums for various news items pertaining to the Kevin Sorbo fandom. I found one that I posted to a few forums but I discovered that Kevin Sorbo and the very troubled Tawny Kitaen worked together before the Hercules movies. They both were on Santa Barbara together. I am not sure what kind of response it will get but it would be fun. I got some laundry done and fed the cat around 10:30. It is cloudy and chilly. There is some talk there is snow coming next week J I am waiting for the snow. I am waiting for Dave to come and get me I suspect it won’t be until maybe 1. It is now almost 11 and I am heading to bed. The afternoon was some what successful and fun even though Dave and I got on each others nerves. First of all he would interrupt me when I was in the middle of talking about anything. I was asking sales rep at Macy‘s about the card I hadn’t gotten yet and he just ...

Well today has been very busy for me. I got up surfed the net for a bit and then got ready to go feed Junior and go to the bank. I got my hair done around 10:30 and it looks nice. I will get Mom to take a picture of me if you all like. Then near lunch time I got a call from Keri Rowland. It was in regards to the bowl-a-thon and my new position of Secretary for the 4th District. The 4th District meetings will now be held on the 2nd Thursday of the month. I am really excited. I also went and did some practicing for the bowl-a-thon Mom was having doubts I would be able to do it. Which I thought was kind of rude. She had been at the office dropping some tickets for Tess off. Before heading to the alley I stopped at Jennie’s to see if she wanted to come along. Unfortunately, she wasn’t home so I headed via route one to the alley. It was 1 pm when I got started and nearly 3:30 when I finished. I played four games and I think did pretty well. The scores were 160, 130, 129, and 14...

It is now after 10 am Tuesday morning. I have been up since 8 and have already fed Junior and had a snack. I also left my id badge over there as well. I will go back and get it when in a while once Mom leaves for her meeting. I found some boxes of Christmas cards to write out. That gives me 64 people to write for now. Mom suggested that I don’t mail them out until the 10th of December. I am not sure if I will do that. Right now these are for family. If and when I get more I will get them for neighbors and local friends. The pen pals will be getting newsletters. Mom is getting ready for her meeting and won’t be back for a while. I am not exactly sure when she is coming back. Well good news I found the id badge. It was in the car. It was on the side of the seat by the door. I didn’t see it when I got in and drove all the way over to Roberta’s. I found it when I was getting out of the car when I got back home. Well I better get to the Christmas card list so I can get these c...

Well it is the afternoon now. The sun is trying to fight through the clouds. It is according to weather.com 54 degrees. There is a definite chill in the air. It’s nice. Even though I told Sylvia it is very weird. The day started out what I would call rocky. Mom criticized a few things I did and didn’t do. They blew over but it was getting on my nerves. Mom is going to be ironing and then doing paper work I guess. I fed Junior and cleaned out her box and the surrounding mess she made when she was digging at the kitty litter. After that I went to the post office and ran into Dave. We pulled in to the nearest parking lot and chatted. We are making tentative plans to get together but he will call me Wednesday. The rest of the day I split my time between watching TV, and going on the computer and having Mom correct me or bitch at me that wasn’t done right. She asked me to empty the big wheel barrel in Flauscher’s yard that had water in it. I did but it wasn’t standing up righ...

What is with people today? The 14 people at bingo were difficult or I should say a few of them were difficult. Mom was annoying me today and picking at almost everything. She wanted to know exactly when Jim replied to my email. I had told her I had a response from him in regards to the envelope of stuff I sent. She acted like she couldn’t remember. She insisted I wash my hands after using the chlorine bleach and continued to explain why when I said I already did. I saw Liz this evening and we had a venting session. She was very upset that Mom treated her kids like crap. In between we are talking about the party. Nelson made some comments and he made sense. Then when we talked about menus he kept interrupting. Liz pointed out I was getting annoyed. She seemed like she was going to point out everyone else’s flaws. On the way home noticed the traffic on I-95 tonight. It was terrible. I avoided it like the plague. I got home shortly after that and Mom was already home from...

It is almost 4:30 and I have been up about an hour or so. I have been reading my emails from the groups and answering them as well. It seems some people have left Liz Crasten’s list because of the way things are handled there. These same people have opened another forum in which I joined. However, I am going to just watch how things are done because one of the owners I think is the Tricia (the nice lady who thinks she can talk to anyone she wants to the way she wants to) and they all bitched about how they were spoken to. I know I am probably being stupid here considering I am waiting to be approved for this group but it’s the “whole pot calling the kettle black” scenario that was playing out on the list anyway. In another one we talked about Thanksgiving. What we have for desserts and how the day went for some of us. One woman found a mouse in her laundry room. Yuck. I finally got to sleep and woke up again around 8 but dozed until 9. Mom was up doing some stuff she showed m...

It is after 7 and the house is quiet. Jim and Kids left around 6 after we spent the last 8-12 hours in a whirl wind of activity. I woke up this morning around 7. I made sure the rest of the garbage was out and I sat and watched TV. The kids started getting up one by one. Liz called around 8 to invite us all to go to Cromwell to see Stephanie and the babies. Chris was working in West Haven not far from here. All of us except Jim left here around 9 and picked Liz up and then in both cars drove up to Cromwell. The girls and I drove with Liz and we played some games on the way up. Jamie rode with Mom. I think it was around 11 when we arrived. The kids got to know each other and the rest of us got to hold beautiful Audrey Elizabeth. Mom was a little cranky but we discovered she wasn’t feeling that well. Mom had told me on the first leg of the ride (to Liz’s) she had fallen down in her office last night. She bruised her leg and knee again. We stayed in Cromwell for a couple of hours and then...

It is almost 9 a.m. and I am sitting here with my lovely and beautiful niece Kristina. They got here last night around 8 and I am really excited because the girls slept in bed and Jamie slept with his Dad. We had waffles, bacon and eggs, toast and muffins for breakfast. Mom made it and it was delicious. Later on Liz stopped by for about an hour and we talked and chatted. Mom was getting the turkey into the oven but she managed to hear things. Things WE didn’t want her to hear. I just noticed I hadn’t written since Monday. Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday was training for Nina and Daphne who came back helped me. I didn’t get all that I wanted done but I am hopeful the girls will do it for me. Tuesday night I went to Dr. Martin and had a nice visit. He just reminded me to get my yearly well being check up with Dr. Spanolias. On my way home I stopped at Shop Rite on Cherry Street near Liz’s. I wanted to buy the refrigerated pie crust so I could snack on it and I was really close to getting i...

Well Monday is over again. It went by really fast but wonderfully. Today I was training Nina to be my back up. She was wonderful! I felt calm and not nervous because it was basically self explanatory and she deals with the different insurances as customer service rep fro the Medical Group. She will be back tomorrow. I barely got online today because I was busy and the fact that Nina had sat at my desk. I can’t remember anything sticking out to me so it must not have been very important. Miss Daphne came back today from her few days of sick days. She helped out as well. It was great. I was able to get letters folded and have more to do. She says she is still in some pain and waiting to hear form the doctor. I called Mom today and she told me my picture was in today’s Register. Actually it was my backside and it was from the Pie in the sky baking session we had yesterday. It is on B1 local Section of the New Haven Register. I was also quoted. Cool. That will go into my j...

I was dozing in my bed around 7 this morning and heard an awful racket. I knew they were crows and looked out my window and saw the reason they were making the noise. On top of the tree there was a hawk. They were dive bombing it to get flying away. It nearly took them fifteen minutes they would land on the tree next to it and above it. It just flew away and now there is silence. It flew closer to store. I was going to try and look for it with the binoculars but the trees probably would have shielded it. Mom slept through the entire thing. I heard either Pam or Donny next door take off. They were probably awake the entire time. Mom finally got up around 8:30 and went downstairs to read her paper. I am not sure if she is going to Madison today or not. Reason because is so close to Thanksgiving maybe Father Whitson went away for the holiday. What a day! Mom got up and I told her about the Hawk and crows. She seemed to be somewhat disinterested in it. When I was getting rea...

It is quarter of 8 and I have been up only a short while. I did strip the bed to change the sheets and then decided to go online to check emails. Mom is still in bed. I am going to do the room and stuff like that. It is after 9:30 and I am not doing very much right now except updating my checkbook excel. Mom is in taking a bath and will be starting her day soon. I have one load of laundry drying and will be doing more later. Mom left around 10 to go to the CPAC fundraiser preparation meeting. This is the day they are putting together the box raffles (the small gift boxes) and its probably going to take a few hours and then she is going shopping. About 11 I got mail from Jim Amann (D) for a holiday party. In other words (at the bottom of the invitation it says) suggested contributions $250. I would love to but I have other priorities right now. I am tossing that one out.. I also received an invitation to attend an Alumna tea with Ms Sullivan of Linden Hall School for Girls to...

I am so glad today is over and I have the weekend to do the things necessary. I was a so frazzled with myself because I had so much to do it and so little time left to do it. Gloria who was in a state of agitation for quite a while did most of the morning work so that she can get use to it. Unfortunately she got confused a few times of what she had to do. She did take notes over the past several days and she did refer to them but she was bitching saying “they expect you to learn this in a certain amount of time” “They are harassing you to expect that you should hand out every piece of mail. After lunch Gloria had to return to her own work and I finished opening the mail and taking care of the bad addresses and still worked on some of the readdress mail. She asked me when Nina was to join me and I looked at her and told her for the umpteenth time that Shirley will probably sit in the office with her and go over it a while. That’s about the time Caroline piped up and said “She b...

I found two emails in my mailbox from the beginning of the month one was from April A for Write a new pal day and the other from Bruce B to sign a petition for Amnesty International for the petition they currently have in Regards to holding people without charging them with a crime. April’s email had my new pen pal I had to write. It was from November 1. I had no idea it was there. I would imagine if that’s one of the groups I messed up on then my name went on one of those bad pen pal lists. I had no idea it was in the mailbox. My new pal is misty-girl_2009@yahoo.ca I sent her a quick email to say hi and to apologize. While emptying out the mailbox tonight I saw some more emails but I deleted the rest of them. It is now filling up with more emails. I joined another pen pal list that Nicola invited me to join. I have until Saturday to fill out the survey or whatever she called it. Today was another day of letting Gloria work by herself. I thought she did pretty well. I did ma...

Today I worked one on one with Gloria. Gloria did most everything on her own and occasionally asking me and trying to grasp things that I was telling her. I found myself a few times ready to bite her head off and she knew it. We would talk about the feelings and it really was great. I kept saying if I don’t train you right then I wouldn’t be doing my job right. Both Gloria and Caroline who had been filling for Daphne both said that I can’t worry if I did it right. IF I just do the best that I can then that’s all I can do. They both reminded me that each person grasps things differently. Near the end of the day some stuff hadn’t been finished so we will be doing tat first. I am thinking that Daphne will be coming back tomorrow. She really hasn’t been feeling well with her neck (I suspect that’s the reason she wasn’t here today). We also talked about the current issues with the six employee terminations that occurred last month. We agreed that what they did is stupid but the...

Today was another day of training for Gloria and Daphne. The first things I had them do were the charts and then they switched off for the lockbox. They did the same thing for the post office mail. Daphne was getting a little frustrated and I thought I would lose my temper with her but I didn’t. I made sure I was patient with them. We broke for lunch by 1 but because the time was getting late I did the charts. Then I showed Gloria and Daphne the bad addresses. I had asked Shirley earlier in the day if we could have the girls not do the bad addresses and leave them for me. She didn’t want Gloria to be upset by the volume of it. That’s how I explained it to Gloria she didn’t really buy it but anyway they will only do the normal bad addresses and not the extra stuff (like the postage tallying). Daphne left at 2:30 and showed Gloria what I do with the postage tallying and the “no address vs. new address” AKA special project. Shirley says that the girls will not have to do it w...

Well today went really well. It went by fast too. I got to work a little after 8 and just did some letter folding and took care of the charts until Gloria came to get trained. Shirley also came in and asked Daphne if she knew she was going to be trained today. She just gave a quick “if there are any questions you can put them in a container and we can look at them after” meaning if while I am on vacation (not necessarily today). I had a late lunch from Paula’s it was good a chicken wrap. Of course I had dessert tiramisu. But I was still hungry when I got home. I did have breakfast but that wasn’t enough. It rained on and off all day and is now pouring out again. It is supposed to do this all week long. Oh I had the coolest experience this morning. I received an email from author Linda Lael Miller. I had read her blog mentioning that she had lost her Uncle and I sent her a sympathy email she thanked me. It wasn’t a big flowery email but it still was cool none the less. Her Book “The Las...

It is after midnight and Mom has fallen asleep downstairs. How I know that is because I went downstairs to get some juice. I could hear the football game going on the TV. I came back upstairs and watched TV. I got online again and checked emails. I think I am going to go to bed and get some sleep. I have bingo and church to do today and vacuuming. I am hoping I can get some shopping done for the Jason and Audrey. I have been putting that off for so long. After that I need to start thinking about Christmas. I have an idea for two people right now. Well I just went online and read some friends journals. One was of Michael Martinez view on the recent election and political fair tat took place as well as how he faired in Seattle in the recent flooding. I had no idea that happened. Mom went to bed around 1. I am thinking of going downstairs and having some bread. I really don’t want to though. I need to move along and pay some bills that I haven’t paid yet. I better just go...

It is early Saturday morning and the sun is shining. Mom is downstairs reading the paper and will be going to get her flu shot shortly. Today is Veteran’s Day. It is the day in which we honor all Veterans of the wars but especially of WW2. Usually when it is held during the week schools have off but one school in either Seymour or Shelton had a service for them. Most banks are closed. The Post office was closed yesterday in honor of it. In about two and half hours I will be joining several of the girls club and women’s club members and honoring our local vets at the nursing home with some music, poetry reading, and flag folding ceremony and a moment of silence at 11:11 am. I had some breakfast and made my bed and now have certain things I am trying to hold on to and organize on the bed. It had to wait while I got ready for the service. I made sure I made a call to Greg about holiday cards to be added to the next care package being sent out. Mom and I got into another mini fig...

Well today went well. I did get some lockbox which after some serious consideration expected it since the bank was open and the post office not. I managed to get everything I needed to get done. There are a few letters to be folded but will have to do it Monday. I found out that Caroline Williams will be getting married sometime soon. What great news. She is looking for places for her wedding right now. I gave her a hug and wished her well. There was a collection today for Diane G in her recent wedding to her Tony. I wasn’t able to contribute because I didn’t get to the bank in time. This is the second time around for them. J When I left the charts hadn’t been picked up yet. I called just as I left for the day and spoke to “Brett” and he would look into it. I don’t know if they came after that. When I left for the day I just walked to Debra’s office. It was windy and sunny. I didn’t see any signs of the movie sets around town like I did yesterday. I even asked a cop on ...

It is almost 1 am Thursday morning and it is still raining out. Mom is in bed and reading a book no doubt. She has been there since midnight and reminded me that I had to go too. Yesterday was a good day and very busy. I was able to get a lot done and need to do some more stuff later on. The bulk mail and the readdress mail needs to be worked on a little more. I also did some tossing of old papers. I will do more of that today as well. It rained all day yesterday but was in the high 50’s. I was pretty warm through out the day. Daphne wasn’t though so I called Shirley and asked her to have it realigned again. I tried to call Mom a few times yesterday but the voice mail picked up. She had spent most of the day on the phone. She finally called me back around 3. We talked about dinner but I also had to tell her about Lee Tamas who is the Registrar of Milford. While overseeing the election on Tuesday Lee suffered a mild heart attack. I had read about it in the CT Post yesterday and contacte...

It is 9:48 and the election returns are filing in. As I am heading to bed it looks like Jodi Rell has won her bid for re election. John Destefano did a very good turn out. I don’t think Mr. Lamont did well though. I got up around 6 or 6:30 and got ready for work and to cast my vote. I was out the door by 7 and to the High School a short time later. I said hello to my friends and I saw Sylvia and Boppie. I walked through the corridors with the other voters and passed the office. There was a wall of pictures of Teachers. Some of the pictures and names I didn’t know and some I remember their names and was shocked to see what they looked like now from when I knew them. It was too funny. I ran into Keri R on the way out and we walked to the where everyone else was standing. I left and headed to work. I was at the office by quarter of the hour. Ann left me some work to do and a voice mail reminder about the collection letters. I copied the check and delivered it to the finance ...

I am so glad the day is almost over. Well it will be as soon as the emergency district meeting is over. Mike Brown emailed and called us to tell us Bruce B doesn’t want to be chairman anymore. As a result MB will be voted in. I am also getting the fleece jacket from LG. I did not go to sleep until maybe three. The next thing I could hear was NPR’s Morning Edition on the radio. It was 6:50 in the morning. I had to rush around like a crazed woman and get showered and dressed. I had a few minutes to get on line and then was out the door by 7:30. I had stopped long enough to make sure Mom was up for her meeting at 9. There was frost on the car so I had to make sure it was off. Well it wasn’t off all the way but enough so I could drive. It had melted away by the time I was in New Haven. There was also a major accident by KFC (not the chicken place). I got to the office by 8. I popped in to Shirley’s office and did my morning gripe and then got over to my office. Daphne was al...

Oh not again. We got emails on the lists that a girl named Seana Duckworth had died. She was on many lists and this is the second person this week we found out had died. Actually I am not sure if the other one had been confirmed. Of course I posted that we need to be certain of this because someone had posted another pen pal had died and there are questions as to the validity of that claim. Apparently Norma T is alive and well (the validity of that claim went right out the window) I went and checked the Fort Worth paper and there it was. I feel so stupid. Well I am going to bed…I am tired and starting to feel yucky. It is almost 7 in the morning and I have been up since 6:30 I am checking emails right now and responding to a few of them. The sun is trying to come out but I don’t think it will be successful. I will check weather.com later. I had some really weird dreams. The first one I was in old buildings (like in New Haven) and it was a school like setting. The second one ...

I got a call from Jennie last night. Marc accidentally stepped on her bad toe and they were afraid they may have re-injured it so they wanted directions to Milford Hospital. I don’t think I was any help. At first I told them to take the highway then I told him to take Ocean Avenue all the way out past my house to the center. I haven’t heard from them yet. It is still early but I will email them or post to Jennie’s blogs. This morning I made my “to do list” and the schedule for the next two days. I also got to the laundry. I am waiting on a few things to dry and then perhaps get more stuff done. I have been also online reading emails and answering a few of them. One girl name Mary Ann needed advice or to vent. Her husband took off to be with his siblings for a game and just apparently didn’t ask her or even call her back after she called him. I personally think she is being an idiot but the others are blaming the guy. I mean he could have called her back but I don’t know the ...

Today I decided that I would do all that was necessary to prepare for Thanksgiving in three weeks. I told Mom that I would take care of the house cleaning, preparing the table for the actual day. The computer was acting a little weird. As though it froze a few times and wouldn’t move and I resent when that happens. Now as for the Thanksgiving plans I told Mom what my intentions were and I think it pleased her. I think I might have to make a list (elsewhere because who the hell wants to see a boring to do list?) We are not sure of who will be here but I am guessing Jim and us. Mom hasn’t asked Bob and Ethel yet but I think as the time gets closer she will. Once she does that she will start making a menu. Roast beef will be the main course I believe. We are probably going shopping at Costco for some of the basics for the dinner as well as for the house. Mom ended up going to the pre election party and I am not sure when she will be back. I am guessing probably by 9. I found my ...

It is after 10 and I will be heading to bed soon. Today was good despite the fact I wanted to stay in bed because it was raining... It had stopped mid day. I got to work on time and the garbage was out as well. I had the printed pictures to give to Jennie when we met up. I was able to get a lot done. I have the readdress and the rest of the letters from Angela to do. However, because Daphne and Carol will be moving tomorrow I need to make sure certain cabinets and drawers are empty for Daphne’s use. I did mange to empty a few of them today but there is certainly plenty more to do. I did manage to update the birthday list and hopefully will get to do more tomorrow. It is a short day for me so I must make sure that everything is done that needs to be done. Lee Ann and I were talking today. Some of the topics included the gift contribution to Shirley. She urged that I only contribute five dollars and nothing more. I told that in the past we have exchanged gifts. She was adaman...

It is after 10 and I will be heading to bed soon. Today went really well I left here after 7 and managed to get a great parking space and then got to the office by 20 of 8. I started doing my work a little after 8 and through out the day got a lot done. I have almost everything done exception being the readdress mail. We welcomed back Karn McKane from a sick leave and she is doing pretty well. I didn’t get to talk to her a great deal because we both had worked to do. Mary Ann and her staff had a welcome back breakfast. They shared some cake with me later on in the day. Daphne Lynch came in and inspected her new desk assignment today. She was not exactly thrilled there wasn’t a lot of storage. I told her I would empty out a few things and I can do that in the next few days. Ann told me that Gloria O would be moving in as well. Yeah this should be fun. I talked with Mom today she told me she had gotten an email from Jim informing us that Claudia wants to take the kids on a trip...