Ok ... OK ... and just so I don't forget V's birthday on 25th remember, remember MONDAY!!!
Good morning,
This is just me. We’re up early this morning. Won’t V be surprised! But, maybe he is just going to sleep in today because it is a Thursday. He’s done that before. HMPF! We are a little at odds with our kitty because he decided to lie to the right today and is putting too much pressure on my right wrist. Hard to type. Grrrr. Better move him before I tire unnecessarily. Hmm, did that work? Maybe, maybe. He moved, but his tail is now waving at me playfully like he’s going to cause me trouble. Shoot V AND kitty … too many problems … Double Hmpf!
We were woken up by the sound of the train pretty far away. We first thought the sound was an air raid siren because it was so loud and clear. I remember thinking well if the world is coming to an end … so far we’re not hurt. I guess that is not too bad a thought other than the fact that the world coming to an end is so close to my forethoughts. I know for one thing … The next thought I had was that Chief sure was taking up a lot of room next to me. And, somehow he arranges that when I come to consciousness, I am somehow already petting him. I surely don’t know how that happens. I just know I wake up petting. Darn sneaky cat!
There’s stuff to be said over the last couple of days, but we’re just waking up … so let’s take it one step at a time and lightly, k?
The top of the news this morning is that when I got back to work on Tuesday Sr. was there. The first time we talked to her she snapped at us because of a phone message I messed up. Didn’t intend to, but it had been with one of my old clients and Sister had been talking to them and I hadn’t known that. It was just a two minute call, but I hadn’t known something. Couldn’t do much of that … to tell you the truth, I was still glad to hear that sister was back and in charge again. So, we just got scolded proper and let it pretty much go at that. I don’t think we got scolded too much past that, but Sr. was gone yesterday in the hospital. We only know like the rest of the center that she was getting tests done.
I think the other sister was around first thing in the morning, because I had heard through the grapevine that she’d made a staff decision because someone had not come in. Thought … eh. We’ll just mind our own business back here. Next thing I knew it was about 1:30 pm and we heard Sister Tess on the intercom sooooo figured she was back and all was ok.
Going back to Tuesday though. The BIGGGEST thing that happened is that somehow Sr. decided to come back … I think it was because on Monday, we’d finished that report, or at least it was finalized on Tuesday before work. We had left a copy of it on her desk, and we knew she had also from Friday a copy of the first report. I felt pretty good about it, but was unnerved thinking she was going to complain about it. We were right, she complained, but not altogether in a bad way. I think she was a little exasperated. I don’t know how to do a short so-so paper. We usually error on the side of a very precise long report that covers everything. I think it is due because of our mental illness. We have a different sense of what being complete is about. Soooo, beside that … I think she WAS glad that we were finally doing at least something toward CARF and I think she wanted to encourage that we do more. We had told her that we’d stayed home yesterday and wrote the whole second paper (a lot of copy/paste) on Monday. Soooo then the unexpected part was that she confirmed with us that we could take advantage of work done at home and she wanted to know if we would like to work EVERY Monday from home and we said in a heartbeat … Well, SURE!
We’ve been thinking a lot of that ever since. We can’t believe our good fortune. Ahh, John Denver … Yup yup feeling that good. But Chief is down and now missy is laying on our right wrist … I don’t know what’s up with that, but I know that is her normal way to be. Ahh the words “life is so incredible to me!” Well, its still early in the morning for all that … but three day weekends???!!!! That’s almost to gosh darn nice to comprehend. I still have to make sure to dedicate the time to the center. No goofing off! I would actually likely to guarantee two days to the center’s work. I’m realizing that I do need one sluff off day, or at least that option to sluff or work. It seems that it is needed a lot of times on a Saturday morning when I have things that I want to write or talk about. That’s ok. AND this Saturday morning, we’ve been invited out to watch a soccer match. My Granddaughter is playing soccer and she’s only 5 years old … Whooo. Unbelievable!!!
That’s sorta another thing … my oldest son called last night and we’re still trying not to talk so much about their business, but the gist of things got down to that we are going to try setting up with him a period of time weekly that we get to talk to him. Pretty much … it’s going to be 8 pm or so on Wednesday nights after our Multiple meeting. I’m very excited about that. We talked about our problem of thinking nobody liked us. We know or think from our last talk with Dr. Marvin that it has something to do with being a psychotic break. So, we’re going to have to figure out something more to do with that. But, not this morning. We have a Dr. M. appointment tonight. Yup, yup … once weekly now unless he’s on vacation or away from the office. I think that is going to happen twice in the next month and a half, but we don’t know the dates … he told us, but we don’t remember them. I am going to try being ok with that. For the time being feel so lucky to have more appointments that I’m just going to try being ok.
It doesn’t yet feel like things are quite safe yet … It seems like it could be taken away.
Ok, ok … enough of that … better switch subjects. Let me think. What else. We’re going to be staying home one more day a week. Hmm, there’s one more thing that is pretty cool. I wrote down on a card the details, but we pushed up our courage and went up front to Sisters to talk to her about getting a bookshelf in our office. It’s a tight fit between our computer hutch and window, but the fact of the matter is that there is JUST the 33” we need. Pshwoo! At first it was like absolutely no way … We tried not to be dispirited. We stayed with it and waited for sister to work through it. It was a lot of money for a wooden bookcase … $460, but it was solid wood and it matched our other furniture … It was 33” where most cabinets are 36” AND it included delivery. I figured that was a pretty good deal, because it was coming from California. The bad part is that it is going to take 3-4 weeks getting here, but we’ve waited this long.
Part of that whole deal was a big switch in Sister’s thinking. I told her that we would then be able to keep CARF back in our office. She was saying that she had room for it up in her office. But, we said that we could work more directly with it in the back. But, then somewhere in there she looked at the cabinet space she had and her cabinet seemed to be overflowing. So, I think that helped because she realized she could rearrange and make use of that space. Then we talked about how inconvenient it was to have the movable cabinet in our office. It is double big having a front and backside but the folders are twice as big as one side shelving, but we’re not using the back, which means wasted space. There isn’t true room in the office for them. They are sitting in front of our books on the window sill and windows so I can’t reach the cord to open and close our window shades.
She said something about checking out for herself to see if there was enough room. That was the first really good sign. Because I’d worked hard on that issue myself. I moved our big cabinet all the way to the wall and 33” is a tight fit, but it is 33”. I think we showed her the same stuff we were feeling. The Intern and I are sharing the same office when she does Qnotes, because it is the only computer between the 3 back there we are using that is able to do Word Publishing. So with the guest chair she’s using and my big chair back to back there is more room crowd. Plus I have folders everywhere. She still isn’t going anywhere as far as having dead files in the office, but she did say that she has to clean her storage space again.
The biggest deal I think is a sense of ownership with CARF … I think the transition has to be made where they are being maintained regularly, which isn’t as apt to happen with the folders going back up on her shelve. That’s what she said at first that they would come up when I was done, but I said and believe that they should be worked on all the time. On Tuesday too, we had placed an Office Depot order that came already by yesterday. We had ordered several things, but the primary thing was to order 20 – ½” white folders. Nothin special about them … they were like $2.20 each … the generic kind, which seemed to be fine.
Whoops the V-ster! Hmm, he’s getting something … will brb. So, anyway our folders came in last night … We put them up right away on the movable cart and imagined them in real shelves. Sister and I came up with a compromise … and umm no I don’t think she realizes that we bought our own folders. She had asked if the reports were going in the big white folders and we said they could go there too, but we wanted them to go in the out folders … the other folders are like 3” and hard to do too much moving around for. We had also got about 400 sheet protectors without the glare, so we took the three reports we’d finished … included the technology report and we put them all in the folders appropriate and made cover sheets out of client pictures. The cover sheets are for the folder covers on the outside (plastic see through sleeve) and one for the binding. Felt real happy to have the reports done proper … made us feel real special like we had done something worth of being seen. Think we said this before … there is a sense of ownership.
I think it is hard to write reports that we know Sister is going to criticize … I suppose it would be natural then for one’s boss to be critical of reports that she says are “Too good?” Then she tells me stuff like the other Chicago center reports are only one page … and I think … ok what’s the point. I figure doing one page is like a writer blowing her nose. Just not much there to see. HMPF!
We got a few other things too. We got about 2,500 note cards. We don’t like it that sister is just handing them to us 100-200 at a time, so I have to keep going back, because then she complains each time and I in the meantime feel like I’m bustin down her sensibility doors. We also for about the same reason got some clips … you know those triangular ones that are a spring and you push two clips in, but backwards and it opens? You know what I mean? We didn’t have those growing up younger … figure they’re a lot newer than paper clips. But, we love them. Just we’re afraid to use them because then we don’t got them anymore. So, we got like 60 of the baby ones, 38 of the mother ones and 24 of the father ones. Yes, I am psychotic, but its ok I plan on going wild with them!
I got some envelopes too … 50 of them. They are the special kind for sending back and forth mini-tapes. This is so she can send them to us and we transcribe them. Good deal. Then I think the only other thing we got was some pens. We got a dozen of our favorite for about half the price we’ve been paying at the drug store for two, AND for our treat … we got our favorite pens, but in a color package of 7. We didn’t even know they came in colors other than black, blue, or red. And, red was a rare spotting! I like to use best the Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Blue. We are getting the intern into them too, but we started her off for Christmas on a dozen of the same pen in black. We figured she could be the more official one and we’d get to use our color! Pretty big deal, hmm? Hehehe … it’s important though. I leave a blue pen with note cards at each computer and we invite her to use them, BUT we sure don’t want to see our blue ending up on HER desk, and Vice-versa with the black! Hehehehe Yesterday, I told her … we don’t want to make her crazy in jealousy, but … just had to show her our new 7-color package … whoo head rush! We told her you need to make sure your office work always seems fun … or it will one day bury you!
Oh oh … there was one more surprise. Because we ordered over $100 (just barely), we got a free gift from Office Depot … LOVE that company … Next day delivery and delivery is free!!! Anyway our free gift was a nice “vinyl” tote bag with a matching phone book and picture/key holder. I prefer my leather cases, but as far as cases go like this it seemed pretty nice. There was an outside pouch to carry the address book … and it was a good size too. So, we figured that it would go to the client we had the staffing for yesterday. We ended up designing a CD Collection goal for her and a reading goal (music), well and science too, but that’s beside the point. With the CD collection, she has to go on the Internet, go to a lyrics site, find and print songs, then write the Album information on a data base. The folder is for her collection of songs and Album info. We left her most the space on her folder cover sheets to do the decorating … But, we color matched it to the light blue color on the inside lining of the bag. Felt real good about all that. We’d put a picture of the client and her name on it AND a couple of black kitties. That was because when she was in she and I were talking about the kitties, and then later when I was in making an observation, she noted to the class that Ms. Ann had two black kitties and that she’d seen them (showed her blog). She was pretty excited about that
We had gotten this client a bag, because I knew that if she were to get really excited about her goal she would periodically take it home to show her sisters. They are like 18 and 16 and help her stay with the main frame culture of being young women. I was very impressed that when I brought her in to check her reading … she was able to read quite a bit from the song phrase we’d picked out from one of Britney Speres’ songs. She still has to work on what they mean, but that will come too. I was most impressed that yesterday at her staffing she looked at the songs and she was alert and happy and trying to figure them out as the rest of us were talking … she was “into it!” There can be no better compliment then to think you’ve hit home with one of the goals. I am of the firm belief that you should be working at things you like rather than things your not good at. Well, a little of that, but you gotta be looking forward to change to see the real stuff happen. Hehehe we left the bag and folder on her desk in her group’s room. It will be a pretty big deal, because in this environment any one change is so different that everyone’s attuned to it. Every day they go into those rooms and it is spotless with everything in place. I can see them each examining all the pockets now … just makes me giggle to pieces!
Ahh … then there’s our son … we got in a couple of things that are making me think we have all the pieces for the web cam. Yesterday the tripod and tapes came in. So, we got our son’s new address and we’re trying to plan going to the post office by Saturday latest. I don’t know when our friend is coming by maybe either Friday or Saturday?? And, we know we should plan for Dr. M. tonight. So, pretty much a matter of which day can we get there before 6 pm, or 3 pm on Saturday. I’m hoping we can do it … we just have to tape the boxes shut and we have the tape at the workshop. We can do this, right? I’d sure like this to be getting to him.
Hmm, think that is almost it … we’re running out of time this morning. Ten minutes to shower and we know we’re going to want to read over our notes. Anything major we’re missing? Nope … Ohhh one more thing … we just want to say this for the record, cuz we’re so gosh darn proud of her. Our Intern??? She’s going to have a fun day today, because she is going to her first out of the office meeting today, but yesterday she’s all but a slim two Qnotes from being completely done. She would have finished completely, but we needed to pull her off-task to do an “emergency” ICAP. But, we are very, very proud of her work. We told sister on Tuesday how close she was and I showed her where are case files were and I told her Annuals done by end of November, which would free up the interns time. She said that she would like to see her cross-trained to take over in the rooms or work with individuals on goals. Thought that would be pretty neat to become a goal specialist. I liked the idea of giving her experience directly with the clients. I think that is great training and I will look forward to seeing her with the groups. I think she is shy, but confident so it will be very good for all. She’s too much a gem to keep all to ourselves … She’s going to be a client superstar!!! HEHEHE Oh man … life’s sweet!
posted by Ann Marie @ 9/21/2006 06:33:00 AM
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