Ayn's Multiple World

Thoughtful Saturday Morning

Good morning. It’s me. AND, it’s SATURDAY MORNING~! Those are the best times.

There is a whole weekend ahead of me … and it’s all mine! Well, true there was things that Rich said I should be doing … like I should probably pick up here and I’m supposed to go to the zoo and shopping, but that all seems like a lot to do right now. Plus, we brought home work in hope of gaining some time on the projects. I’ve got a ton of Qnotes to be writing and I’ve got an annual on Monday morning. It’s going to be one not attended by the mother, but this is one that will be important to get right. It’s for the girl that’s been taking so much attention of late. She puts a lot of stock into her goals. I know that one goal will remain the same – she’s supposed to journal when she gets wound up and that’s been real good for taking pressure off her moods. But, then one of the girls in another group is going to be getting a book for journaling and I’d like to try that too. Just that this person really needs the other journal. I’ll have to think through that.

Hmm, just thought of something on the side. I brought that little pile of stuff I had to sort through from the bills. I got whatever it took to call UIC the hospital where I had my surgery. I have had a $44,000 bill from them and I thought I better get to the bottom of it, because my insurance was supposed to pay for that. The lady looked up my account and she said … get this … she said that just the day before they had received a big check from the insurance company. AND, I actually owed just over a couple hundred bucks! WOOHOOO!!! The surgery was done AND only for some $200?! Wow! Fantastic news. It made my day!

Wait until Rich and Dr. Marvin here it. They must take part of the money I’ve been paying toward hospital bills into account, because I thought I was going to need paying $1200 as my portion. I think they’ve taken into consideration that I’ve already paid the doctors about $1000 on this year’s bills. Just fantastic news.

I’m for sure throwing this bill away!

Hmm. I just took another look at the bill. The hospital seems to be adding all the little accounts on one bill. That’s a great improvement. I can see including this above bill that I have 9 accounts with the hospital, but most of the balances are very small. It allow me to budget. So all in all I owe about $277. I’ll make sure to pay all the little accounts this time. I still have money to be paying on my rent and car though, so I think the money is going to be scant this month. Hmm, just have to make due. I wonder where I am now with bank account … I think I’d really stressed it out. Better check.

Ouch. I went under … It says I’m at below $17. That’s going to mean an additional $36 service fee. Plus, I don’t know what other automatic payments might come out before I get money in there to cover. I think I better put the $100 dress money in the account today to cover it. I’m over because of books ordered and a couple of amounts paid to MarineParents.com for donations. Hmm, checked I don’t think there is any other auto payments until after the next check goes in … it should get deposited on Monday and usable on Wednesday. The rent check and the car checks went through … nobody said anything about me short changing them … got to get them paid right away. That’s a total of $450 in back owed money, plus $270 for auto doc payments.

I think we’ve got about $1180 worth of bills then, plus we’re going to need some money for gas. I think I bring home $1280 now. So, it looks like we’ll make it, but maybe not too much money toward hospital bills. Maybe pay about $50 toward all the little ones and hope that Rich can help me with gas. NO extra money though. I think I’ll have enough books through the next month … Pshwoo. Being responsible is tough! Ok, that’s enough for now. Pshwoo. That was hard.

Will feel good though to get all those payments made. Money in – money out … Eh! I didn’t want to go dress shopping anyway. Right?

Ok, next subject…

Yesterday was a pretty good day. We seemed to be relaxed through most of it. I had forgotten that yesterday was first Friday. That would have meant no staff training anyway … drat! I missed out on something not there. Oh well, it was nice to have a day off. Oh and one more thing. We’re at 272 this morning. That’s another pound WOOHOO!!!

Ok, now as far as yesterday. We did pretty good … I would have liked to talk to one more client. She’s not causing any problems now, but I would like to think of it as preventative maintenance. I did talk to a couple of other clients who also need attention. I think the plan was to wait for the one until early this week when that journal book comes in. I’ll look forward to that. It’s one of those fun “girl” things to do. It will help her not focus overly on family problems. Most of them are now grin and bear it. Can’t do much about whatever her parents are trying to do to her. That’s a sad statement, but true. The best we can do is giving her a good alternate plan so that when she’s at the center she is having good experiences.

I’ll keep a tab on the other, but I don’t want to get stuck on worrying about things that can’t be fixed. They are longstanding problems. So far she seems to be doing pretty good since she’s been back. She had to have surgery on her foot. Poor kid.

I think I made some headway yesterday on cleaning up the files. I took about a foot worth of paperwork out of them. I did it by taking out anything before 2008. There was a lot of 2007 stuff, and some 2006. That felt good to do. I like that the folders are light again. And, I can open them without dread of not being able to shut them, or having papers torn because it was so tight around the rings. Plus, we went through them and put everything back in the same exact order as we’d planned.

Candice’s stuff was all in some screwy order. Plus, we changed a few things up - like I put the psychological’s on the top of the intake sheets. It’s a small thing to nothing to you all, but it makes them to me more visible without hiding the medical paperwork in the next section for Assessments. Yah Yah, we get just this fanatical.

I really like knowing what’s in those folders. Plus, there’s a sense of taking over ownership when they are in your order. I don’t have to think of oh, this is Candice’s book so that means I have to look such and such a place to find things.

Now the only thing to do is remain tight on the paperwork. I’m getting a pretty good response to the Medicaid sheets coming in, but I’m still backed up with some of the others – primarily medical and dentils. I also this week sent out sheets to get the redetermination forms from the CSO people … I had to address letters to 4 staff over there. Hopefully, I will get some response to that this next week. I don’t expect anyone to drop whatever they got, but I do expect them to handle it. They are supposed to be giving me paperwork and while I know they are hard pressed for time. I know if I stay being a squeaky wheel I’ll get them eventually.

Most of this being done now is for two reasons. I want to first make sure that Rich can get through my folders without stopping for things that aren’t there. No one wants to be told WHAT to do when they already know. At least now if he didn’t see the paperwork, he’ll find EASILY a letter going out knowing that we’re looking for the paperwork. The second reason is that we’re always getting ready for the state inspection. I think that is still due about February and March, but that kind of thing sneaks up on you, especially if I’m behind 40% of those files. A big part of that is also that I’m behind on these Qnotes. I really do intend to make a dent in that project over the next month of weekends. I think it’s the only way I’m going to get that project caught up. I think I’m about 3 months backed up on 22 accounts that means I owe about 66 documents to the file. That’s pretty much scandalous.

Gotta take care of it. It was only March that I’d caught that up before. Hmm, we could probably set as a goal to get 1/3 of them done this weekend. That be pretty good.

Oh, there is big news too ... we got something in the mail yesterday from CARF telling about a couple big meetings for our end of the accreditation – Employment and Community Service. AND< AND<< AND … Sr. has approved me for going to the meetings!!! They are in St. Louis, MO October 20, 21 & 22nd. It’s going to cost sister $700. I told her I would take care of the balance of expenses. Because it’s only 5 hours away, I can drive this time. So that means I’ll have to pay about $100 in gas, plus about $160 in food and drink, and $125 a night to stay at the Sheraton. That will come up to another $500. I will have to be there the night before the meetings start. Hmm, it looks like I’ll be getting there on Sunday and the meetings will be on Mon, Tues, and Wed. That means I will be driving back on Thurs. I like that I will be getting some regular time off, but I’ll still be paid as if I were at work. Hmm, Sr. is going to need paying for the Standards Manual too. It is $110. That brings costs to $810 on her end and $760 on my end.

Pswhoo. I don’t know where that money is coming from yet, but I better start saving.

I will be glad to get into the new standards manual. Since this is the year that we’ll be tested on … it’s the perfect year to be going to a meeting for … This is what we’ll be covering.

Monday, October 20, 2008

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Day One - Wednesday

• Registration/Continental Breakfast
• Welcome
• Introduction to CARF
• Customer Connect
• A: Leadership
• B: Governance
• C: Strategic Integrated Planning
• Lunch (On your own)
• D: Input from Persons Served and Other Stakeholders
• E: Legal Requirements
• F: Financial Planning and Management
• G: Risk Management
• H: Health and Safety
• I: Human Resources
• J: Technology
• Concludes for the day

Individual Consultation Available

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Day Two - Thursday

• Continental Breakfast
• Review
• K: Rights of Persons Served
• L: Accessibility
• M: Information Measurement and Management
• Section 2: Quality Individualized Services and Supports
• Section 3: Employment Services
• Lunch (On your own)
• Outcomes Management
• Section 4: Community Services
• Section 5: Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programs
• Training Concludes

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

8:00 AM - 5:00 PM ECS 202 Agenda

• Registration/Continental Breakfast
• Welcome
o ASPIRE
o New Programs in the 2008 ECS Standards Manual
o Comprehensive Vision Rehabilitation Services
o Medication Monitoring and Management
o Supports for Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder
o Behavioral Consultations Services
o Comprehensive Benefits Planning Mentor Services
o Mentor Services
o Self-Directed Community Supports and Services
o Personal Supports Services
o Center for Independent Living
• Frequently Cited Standards
• Changes in the 2008 ECS Standards Manual
• Risk Management and Strategic Planning
• Outcomes Management

Wow! It looks like a lot doesn’t it. There is this new part they are calling Aspire. I’m not sure what that’s all about, but it’s going to be very handy to go through up-front training in it.

Hmm, just sent a copy of the schedule and costs to Sr. Theresa and then sent a copy to Rich. Figure he should know what’s going on too. I hope that I can save by then I’ve got to be putting $250 aside for the next 3 months – August, September and October … stay tuned to see how that goes. I think I could have put it in this month, but I had gotten behind in rent and car and even wheelchair/CPAP machine.

That meant that I had to put an extra $450 toward that cost from the regular budget. I know that I will have to pay extra medical, for the next couple of months, but this should be doable. It means though that I won’t be able to get any more books until I cover the expense. Maybe what I’ll do is ask Rich to only pay $150 for the next three months – which means that I’ll have to cover the $250 he’s not paying (toward school loans) on my own. That way I don’t overspend – and, he can save up my trip money without costing him. I’ll have to make sure the full school loan is paid without his extra money.

I think sister is planning on getting us a raise in September by not paying the position for Candice and Brandi. Sr. Florine might get a small stipend, but she doesn’t get paid a pay check. So Sister is saving some money there. Usually, the raise is only about $35 – 50 a paycheck though, but maybe an extra $100 a month.

That’ is going to come in handy – really. Enough to keep up with gas expenses.

And, one thing there … during the Administration meeting yesterday … she came out again conclusively (for Holly’s sake) saying she wouldn’t pay for another Q. But, she did concede to after the new money comes in during the fall of maybe getting some for clerical for the Q’s. She’d be back by my office and we would make sure she could speak Spanish. Sister says just for filing, but that’s ridiculous.

Thinking I could use her to be doing some of the Qnotes. So, I would like her to be able to at least enter the raw data. If I get it standardized there is no reason she can’t do it. That way I would come in and just do the summaries.

Hmm, I think I had written out something before as to what I could be having her do. I think I would be able to turn the Client files over to her. She would have a couple of standard letters, and she would send out notes when certain things are due. I think she would still need to get a bigger computer, and we’d have to clear up some more file space for her. I know that she would be doing things for Holly too and she would also be filling in for Rosa on the days that she is gone. All in all it’s a real good deal. I’d like to think she might be available for some CARF duties as well. But, I don’t want to push it at this time. The thing is that Sister sees some need and value about getting more clerical help, which means she’s seen through some of the expense. A clerical would be less than she was giving Candice and Brandi … so she should be coming out well and at the same time provide back-up for 3 of her trusted staff.

That was something yesterday that kinda took both Holly and me by surprise. She said that the place really depended on the work that Holly and us do. And, that we were the backbone of the organization. She said it as we were all leaving the Administration meeting, both Holly and us came together in a non-threatening manner of each other and was able to appreciate that we we’re both being seen as favorable by our boss. She can trust that the two of us are going to get the work done and that we’re not going anywhere.

Mmm, I just got some more coffee and I made myself one of those things – not sure of the name, but where you just put two small tortillas together with shredded cheese in the middle and it get’s melted a minute in the microwave. I’m sure there must be a name for it … just don’t know what it is. I’ll have to ask Margarita.

Hmm, just looking at a cellulite reducing cream that was on the bottom of my AOL mail. I think though that I have a few more pounds before I worry about it. *Sigh* … 272 though! YOOHOO!!

We’re moving … we’re up to 65 pounds lost. Seems good to me! It sure is nice … we actually were looking forward to doing the walk to the car and the walk down Dr. Marvin’s long hall. It’s been rainy out all day, but … it would be really good if we could get out to the zoo today or tomorrow. I know I know QNOTES!!! Ok, beside that though … need to take some break! It’s just 7 am now though and we’re already 6 pages through the day … so figuring we got time yet. Looks pretty wet out there though. Poor smooch face.

Hmm, Rich called last night … I sure like this version when he calls and checks in … it makes the day not seem so long. He’s doing ok, but is in last place. UGH! He says they caught their limit of fish and he caught 3 of the 5 box fish, but that they were about 3 pounds less weight total than the fish the first place team caught. Poor guy. Hehehe. Eh … he’ll be out there fishing again today … I know he can do it. Fortunately, the guys that were winning were the guys that don’t fish often or are on the bottom of the list, which means the first place guys overall like Rich – scores … are just much closer to the average bottom scores. He’s still in there.

He says they had hamburgers last night … they were meeting with another fishy group. I’m not so sure how much they all talked to one another though. It’s always a little uncomfortable getting together with a new group. He said that after the call he was going to go back out with the guys for another hour and talk it up.

Rich says that there was no card game again last night. Bob had tried putting it on Rich to organize and that’s not Rich’s kind of thing. If Bob wanted to play cards … he’s got to realize his position and just do what gots to be done. He’s special!

Hmm, just took out some dishes and plugged in the cell phone. I want it to be charged in 3 hours when Thom could be calling. I hope they get on leave this time on time. I wonder what he’s going to do. I know that he needs to send me a copy of his orders … I think he should be getting new one’s on Monday though so I might have to wait an extra day or two. I need to get his paperwork taken care of for the school loan. He’s not going to want to be paying that right away. He just doesn’t make enough money yet.

Anyway back to Rich … we talked about not going out to naked women clubs. He hasn’t gone one to a long time, but we wanted to remind him hehehe. Yah yah … that’s right … better look over to those flowers. Let’s not make ourselves too silly, k?

Good girl. Just did all the dishes, used the washroom and took our medicine. There are a couple of flies that got in and we need to make sure there aren’t any open food sources or garbage. We’ve got a couple of small (grocery) size plastic bags to throw out, but they’re both tied. Better get that done though today. Don’t want Rich to come home and find as many flies as he saw out fishing! YEEKS!

The living room then looks a little better … need to get another garbage bag out here to throw away some of these extra water bottles. There’s one on the desk, a couple on the coffee table, and maybe up to three over where I read. Ok, that will be for the next time up. Then I think we make sure all the blankets are folded or put away and the coffee table is clear. We need to do something with those extra books. Hmm, and we’re going to want to get out a few more letters to the wounded warriors in the PAL program. Yup, yup … things to do. Hmm, should get a letter written to Betsy an Lynn too. I’m most likely the one that’s fallen behind. Like to see how they are doing. I saw something in reading the MP.com page that leads me to believe that Lynn is really hurting. Maybe I better do that now.

WooHOO!! I got my letters out to a few people. Maybe I’ll hear back something to day. I love getting letters and having that feeling of being caught up with people and what they’re doing. Just makes you feel warm and bubbly.

Hmm, somehow it got to be 8 am now. There’s probably a few more work things to get off my chest. We had the Thinking Group yesterday and had a lot of fun. We were trying to get into the area of teaching social networking – least restrictive and self care … so we came up with the idea that most “regular” people have access to dating services as a means to bridge social contacts. So, we went there and didn’t see what we were looking for in a profile, but when we googled it, we came up with a real nice list of about 50-60 things people can talk about – in general profile questions like who are the 5 most important people you would like to meet? Or, where would you go to for vacation? Or what are you looking for in a friend? You get the idea. We had all the questions stretched out to a higher font so they would be big enough sentences to cut out. Then we put them in a wicker basket and had everyone come up one at a time to answer a question in front of the larger group.

It went over pretty big. They had a great time. Everyone wants to have a turn because I think of the curiosity factor. It would be no different for any of us playing truth or dare. We tried to keep them enthused to be clapping or cheering for all the peers’ answers. Sometimes they fall short on the quieter people. We also worked very hard at catching their attention. I told them we were just going to raise our arm and that meant that without saying the word, “Quiet,” they have to stop talking. Usually, though I got good responses just by saying it once. There are always a few people who like to continue to talk, but we’re working with them on getting them to pay attention. Most often I just say their name and they come around. If you are goin to be up there pouring out your heart you don’t want anyone else grandstanding. It’s only fair.

After the group I went in to sit with Holly, and the two sisters who were just getting out of the staff meeting. We talked and teased … AND that’s when we got permission from sister to go to the CARF meeting. But, mostly we just were waiting on Sr. Florine to go back to the room, so we could help her out. I think we said that before … we like working with her. Sometimes she gets a little off-track and we try to be very patient when she gets or make phone calls while we’re supposed to be working.

Yesterday, Margarita was in the room with her and she was helping her count up beads. That’s the client’s job they are working on … they have to put like 15-25 beads on a fishing string, and then tie the 8” lengths into a round circle. They are a contract job with a customer who uses the beads to sell at craft stores around the country. It’s a pretty cool job actually, because most of the upper groups can do it, they like the work, and the beads are ALWAYs different so interesting to look at and work on. Thing is that they gotta be counted at the end of the day. There are some clients who could work a couple hours and only get 2-300 beads strung, but then there are others in the same amount of time who could string nearly 1000 beads. They might only get paid a fraction of a cent for each one, but a thousand beads could add up to about $35 dollars. That’s worth the clients’ effort. I feel sorrier for the clients who do less and only make about $7, but $7 bucks a day added up can get you stuff too!

They all like getting paid!

There are other jobs that come in, but this one is the most stable. When I got there … Margarita was going over counts – everything has to be counted twice … once before it gets tied in a knot and then the second time right before the product gets bagged together. When I got there I saw Sr. Florine going at turtle speed and that Margarita was still in the back of the shop – which means she’s working on something prior to doing the regular counting work. So I volunteered to help, which is readily accepted. It means doing the counts … tying some of the knots … checking to make sure the knots are holding, and then cutting the string so after the knot there is only ¼ inch string. I find that like amazingly simple work hehehe. Then we added some of the numbers to the counting cards – each client has their own card saying how many they have put together like 27 strings at 21 beads = 567 beads total.

By then Margarita was able to leave and Sr. Florine and I started working together.

I’m at that stage of training where I’m just watching her do the work while I answer periodic questions. The bead counts get listed on the daily sheet with job codes.

So that it looks sort of like this.

Job code Qty Hours
221 27 ½ hour
222 567 1 ½ hours
117 (language) 1 hour
113 (chapel) ½ hour
141 (Adult life skills) 1/2 hour
142 (lunch) ½ hour
138 (computers) 1/2 hour
136 (Thinking Group) 1 hour

That’s about it … cept the part in parenthesis doesn’t get written out. The person who adds the figures to the computer AND the computer knows what those job code numbers means. Everything has to equal out to exactly 6 hours. That’s the length of our daily training at the center. There are about 200 job codes when you add the ancillary and work codes together. The 200 numbers are customer work numbers and those codes get paid money … where the ancillary codes are the 100’s and those just designate whatever the client did for the day.

Every day the codes are different to represent the variety of things the guys are doing and every client has a two-week record that lists all his numbers before getting handed to the secretary for processing. She’s the one that does the client’s checks – though Sr. has to sign them. During the day some of the clients might go out to work at a grocery store or soup kitchen for 3 hours, or maybe a client gets pulled aside for counseling, or maybe a client gets to the center an hour late. All those have to be coded slightly differently. If they were working the code would say 127 3 hours. The counseling would be 135 ½ hour, or the absentee would get listed as 000 1 hour. And, then of course what would be cast during that regular period for the majority of clients would be replaced by these change of numbers. Each group – of the five work independently of the other so that none of their schedules look the same.

In general, we might say that Group 4 does an hour of math a week (counting numbers), Group 3 does 2 hours a week (counting numbers in relation to objects), Group 2 does 3.5 hours a week – (simple addition), Group 1 does 5 hours (adding and subtracting), and the Leadership group does 2.5 hours (adding and subtracting on the calculator). It’s like that for all our program areas. All the groups do most the same codes, but their codes for math for example like the above shows might mean different things. There are 13 main program areas. They cover things like adult life skills, community, work, Math and Money, health/safety/science, self-care, reading and writing, physical fitness etc. And, inside each of those areas, there might be more than one code like in the community group there is stuff for going grocery shopping, to the libraries, to the malls, going on a field trip (other than the above).

Hmm, do you pretty much understand this part? I think it’s not real hard … just takes awhile getting used to coding everything your doing and getting it recorded properly on the sheets. Yesterday, Sr. wanted to go grocery shopping before dinner, so she did the other part of these notes on her own. Basically, she has to write about five notes on different clients every day – to keep up to the double group she has now. We also went through this week on scheduling. Basically, everything she needs to do during the week needs to be listed out on something that looks pretty much like a teacher lesson plan. It’s not real detailed, but it gives anyone looking into the tasks of any given day an idea of what’s going on. It takes a bit of time figuring out from a teacher/trainers point of view a continuous arc of subjects to be covered. We like though if they are going to put in one of the scheduling boxes “140 Personal Skills” that they put something in there like … “listening skills – discuss 5 skills and then play the “telephone game” giving work-related information.”

I had done primarily while working with Sr. Theresa a general plan for each of the groups. Like the part of how many hours gets scheduled for each job code for each group. It’s all different from one group to another according to their needs. It’s more important to Group 4 that they spend 5 hours a day exercising than doing math, while in group 1 they might do only 15 minutes of exercise on a daily basis and one two hour block to be playing games , plus the 5 hours doing math – This week Group 1 did their 2 hour block of exercise playing tennis at the park. They love it! Group 4 was doing things like taking walks around the block. That could take up to an hour on its’ own because some of them have deformities that make walking more difficult. Because of their deformities though, it is more important than ever to be well –exercised. There are other ways to get it done though. Sometimes they might toss around a ball outside, or do dance videos in the multi-purpose room.

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but the program is actually very unique.

There are three meetings that happen on the first Friday of the month – because last week was the fourth of July, it was held this week, even though Rich is fishing. He is the fourth person on the Admin team. It’s Sr. Theresa, the other Q Holly and me and then Rich. After we go through a variety of things then that is pretty much discussed out and then the polished version of that is shared with the staff meeting. Staff Meeting is different than staff training. Sr. does the staff meeting and I do the staff training meeting. Opposite the staff meeting is either Thinking Group or Town Hall. This means Holly and I alternate having the entire group of clients while the DSPs and Sr. meet. Yesterday was my day for the group, and then next month, I’ll sit in the staff meeting instead of Holly. That makes the most use of both of us. Neither of us has trouble and for nearly 10 years we’ve both held center-wide group meetings.

At the admin meetings we have regular topics that get covered such as transportation, safety, program, intake, financial, surveys, etc. Think there’s like 11 areas. I like the Administration meeting the best of all the meetings. I take notes (though Holly takes the formal notes – and I take the formal notes of the Behavior meeting). This is the time you learn about anything happening during the month at the center that you might not have known before. Usually Rich covers the program area from the perspective of the month previous and sister adds most the information of new stuff. Though, everyone intercedes. I like the nature of discussing things, though I’m the quietest one in the group. When the same information goes to the staff, it’s more like reporting – without much comment. I think it’s most interesting because you get to understand the underpinnings of the center, which is kinda real cool.

It’s also important to my position of taking care of the CARF accreditation. During the course of the year, I will take the notes from the meeting and arrange them in a variety of ways. The most important is that I make an accessibility report. I take all the topics of discussion so for example the 5-6 items that might fall under building and grounds, and then I make it into an action statement. For example the first statement might be “Replaced the curb fronts to be disability abled.” The action part might be to “Write letter to alderman thanking her for the work completed.” Hehehe – it after all took two years for the city to get to it. In the process of noting these objectives and action plan – then we divide them into the different accessibility plan … for example there is one area called Barriers to transportation and Finances, but another might be mental barriers. This might combine what’s going on with both the staff and clients to make a positive attitude – such as field trips and staff appreciation day. When you send a staff outside the center to a meeting; it’s the same as conquering a mental barrier. The book when I get done with it will be about 60 pages of typed notes. I really like doing it though …

Again it is one of my jobs to summarize and simplify the agencies tasks over the course of the year. There is so much that happens month to month at the center, that unless you are paying close attention could get confused one year to another. Some major things happened last year because of changes with the roof, windows, doors, electrical and so forth. This year there was less directly, but we had the advantages of new air conditioning etc and have seen a lot of perimeter changes due to the cities work. We’ve just gone through a revision with our internet section and we’re almost up to the changes that are going to occur with the copier. We rent a big standing machine and soon we’re going to have a better fax system and colored copies. I love seeing the changes. You have the idea at the center that there’s always something major happening.

Can you tell this morning that we’re really pro-work at the time being? Hehehe – shoot don’t know how that happened. But, I’m thinking there was a big change that happened with all the staff changes and staff training that needed to be done. It feels like a pulling in or tightening of the systems. Holly gained the task of being in the lunch room during Candice’s 15 minute stint of time, and I added the part of doing goals one hour a day with Sr. Florine. I will see too if I can’t help out the Leadership group after Sue gets back. I think I can show sister how improvements have been made. I think that Sue is basically doing job coaching during the middle of the day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so maybe on those days we’ll take her few strays and cover their goals, or maybe I’ll work with Sr. Florine on those days and on Sue’s big days – I will help her cover her goals. I like the idea of more priority being placed on the goals.

With the new system of updated books, they work in correspondence to another. I put the new summary sheets up front so it’s really easy to keep track of which goals have and haven’t been completed during the given time period. And because they work so well together – same exact format, it is easy to go from one group to another. I think the extra pressure we could be taking off of both groups would be significant. True its 5 hours off my week, but its good experience in working with the clients themselves to see their capabilities, growth and progress.

Pswhoo. I just read over the whole blog note for the day. So far the note is 11 pages and it’s about 10 am. I have to be making a decision soon as to writing or working. Maybe what I will do is write up to 11:30 am – another 1 ½ hours, and then I will work on the Qnotes. I don’t want to put them off, but I figure if I start at noon, it gives me half my day off – and about 8 pm I will then be able to read for the rest of the night. I know … I haven’t gotten to the bank yet or to the town hall. What am I going to do about that? Hmm, do I know how to get to the town hall? Maybe I can put that off one more week. I think Rich is going to be home next weekend and then maybe we can both go in because he’ll know where it is and he has to get a city sticker too. Yah, that sounds like a plan. As to the banking – I think I’m already being charged the fee so it’ll stay put until I can get to making a deposit in a day or two. There’s something scrumptious about being able to work in your pajamas all Saturday. Not that I’m a couch potato, but I might be a desk cucumber. *Sigh*

I know, I know … what on Earth is she going to write about for an additional hour and a half? Hmm? I should know this? Nah. I just like to have my fingers attached to the computer while thinking out loud to ourselves. It’s just the way we are. It’s my most favorite – well except sex hehehe – favorite things to be doing.

I have to admit though any time I get into any particular gear – I usually end up liking what I’m doing.

AHA! 10 o’clock … that means fair game to be texting Thom! We sent him a hello message, asked about his week, and we asked about how his hike went. Remember this is the week he had to work extra hard! I don’t expect him to really get to liberty exactly at his 8 am time, but by now he’s probably got in hand his phone and might appreciate the beep. I don’t know how they charge all those cell phones. They must have a gazillion outlets. They plan for things like that, right? I really look forward to talking to him.

And, speaking of … we had a chance to talk to Maury last night. He called to say Happy Birthday … just in case he forgets later, he wanted to let me know he’s still thinking of me. He’s such a good kid! He said that he was off work a couple hours earlier. He was hoping they wouldn’t dock him short of his hours – or, he wouldn’t like that although he appreciated getting done early. Pretty much everything is going ok. We talked about Thom for a few moments. Maury said Thom called him, Joe and Alex – or at least one of them and they were all present at a boxing meet … so it was like one hi for all and no one got to really talk to him. We filled him in on a little bit, but he didn’t seem particularly interested. I wish I’d be able to tell better stories, but eh … that not be me. Well, I can write stuff, but I don’t know how interesting this all is. Just that I like to write.

Mmmm, we had a snack and put ourselves on water for the rest of the day. We had one of those pastries with the egg and sausage. They are nice … took 50 seconds to cook and was small enough that I can’t get sick on it  YEAH!!! I will have a protein shake for lunch. Not sure … might have to put both bananas and strawberries in it.

Both are aging without much use. Rich bought too much fruit. He’s trying to eat more of it though so that’s ok. The idea of it was good. I’m afraid I don’t eat much fruit during the weekday.

Hmm, did I tell you I was back to listening to John Denver this morning? No, nothing real exciting there either, but I thought should throw it in as a side point of interest.

Hmm, I have to think real hard … because OTHERwise … I might as well get to those Qnotes. Seems like I should say something more of a personal interest than just business. How are we?

I told you I saw Dr. Marvin already. Not sure what we’re going to be working on next. He made a comment to say that we had changed somewhat since Rich has moved in 15 months ago. I was able to paraphrase it like … there’s a lot less time worrying about doing things on our own. I didn’t say it quite that way though. It was a better representation the other way. Pretty much I’m happy with almost everything.

I still have a tough time with staff training and I have an over-abundance of work to do, but I am feeling more appreciated. I have certain services that we offer and they are of pretty high quality all considering. I feel like when I’m teaching Sr. Florine, I’m doing a good job. Of course, she’s an easy student. Can’t say enough of how nice that is. We talked to her yesterday and told her we’d talked to Sr. Theresa and that we were advocating instead of getting more time with Sue, that the better option would be giving her just HER OWN group, and letting Sue go with her group. I don’t think there is anything that Sr. Florine could much learn from Sue.

She’s doing fine on her own … and I like the opportunity we have to intercede from our perspective. Sue does things her own way and Sr. is the same way. She’s too old to be taught someone else’s system – that she would see obvious flaws in. I don’t want her learning Sue’s bad habits like being so involved in the project that she loses sight of where the clients are at.

Hmm, Maybe not so much on personal yet, though the ideas I am thinking are on a personal level of consciousness. I think that Sister is going to need time learning her own clients and what special needs they have. Right now she’s looking at the them from an observer’s perspective. She notes things about the clients, but it’s more from a complaining view than she is interested in them personally. Right now things are a bother to her because things happen that interfere with her learning plans. But, until she takes in the scope of where the clients are at and what their needs are, she’s not really teaching to them directly yet.

I think that one of the things that we discussed between the two of us was teaching them things that go beyond the project at hand. Basically, where is each individual with the task at hand. Like there should be a running list of what they are able or not able to do. So, she can work from the level of their idiosyncrasies rather than just a “class-level” presentation. I want to see her teaching to not only the group, but the individual. We have a real opportunity to take the program in-depth a step farther than what we’d done before. It’s the same mindset as we were working on with the notes of learning progress. I wonder … do I have a copy of that? I’d like to take another look at it.

Aha! I saved something. I’m looking at a 19 page document now. It’s got an overview of all the clients for a period of time. I’m not sure I remember how we were getting things in. But, I remember loving what it was while we were doing it.

It leads back to where Sr. Florine could take us if she remains open to learning and talking. We just finished siphoning the 2007 reports … would be nice after we got caught up with the Qnotes to get back into this project as weekend work. I’d like to get in the perspective of what the clients are actually learning or working through. Here … let me get a copy of the report I’m talking about … If you want to take a close look remember that you can click on the picture to get a full-size print-out.



See what I mean? Pretty cool, hmm. OK, don’t get lazy … we’re going to talk about this a bit so go ahead and read through the page … please disregard the last names are mentioned. We’re still going from the aspect that this is a private blog.

Later if we were ever to publish … we’d have to take the names out. The bottom line what I’m getting to is learning to analyze what real learning is taking place.

Hmm, that’s pretty frustrating. I’ve been playing around with the report, but I was only able to get out 11 pages, before the printer lost touch with reality. And, then I tried to open Paper Tiger and got stuck behind and update that froze, and then when I got into Paper Tiger I found that I didn’t have copies of the Chronological notes on the Paper Tiger, PLUS I didn’t realize that we don’t have the updated Paper Tiger on this computer. That all in all was a huge defeating mess.

HMPF!!! I tried to get it to print one more time but apparently, it is not being cooperative. This is really a terrible printer. I wonder if I can get it returned. It’s just horrible.

YIKES … It’s now 11:30 pm my cut-off time and I’m in a cranky mood. I don’t want to leave having had a bad experience! Let’s try to get Ann to think of something else.

Ok, here we are at someplace else. Pretty much though, I’d like to cut my losses short and get into the job of Qnotes. Maybe it’s best I get them out and then glide into the work.

posted by Ann Marie @ 7/12/2008 12:56:00 PM Comments: 0