The Problem With That Is

The month of Halloween is two days away. That’s close enough for me, so I yesterday began hauling Halloween out of the storage area.

Because Crafty Lady wants to glean her supplies of pink and violet tulle fabric, her plan for tomorrow’s crafts is tutus.

Though I’ve made and worn countless tutus, when I was doing 5Ks, I don’t know that these old ladies would be interested in making a tutu or that their fingers can handle threading tulle through tiny holes in fabric ribbon, the push pull twisting tightening. I know my own fingers struggled at times, needed a rest, when I was making that grass skirt, but I’m down for a tutu as Skelly’s Halloween costume this year.

Having pulled Skelly from storage, my intent was to take his waist measurement, so I’d know how much fabric ribbon to cut and form into a loop.

The problem with that is, Skelly doesn’t have a waist. I'd forgotten …… he's all bones.

If Crafty Lady follows through with tutus tomorrow, I’ll think of something – probably not in a loop but more a wrap around and, if she doesn’t do tutus tomorrow, I’ll come up with something else for Skelly this year.

Believe it or not, we had Thunderstorm warnings yesterday. Nothing came to fruition, but whatever was going on with the weather made for manageable outdoor walking – cool with a breeze.

I had been thinking I’d be the only one anxious enough for the month of Halloween to begin, but saw there’s a neighbor even more anxious than I.

I also noticed management, after having made my White-Haired Neighbor remove her tea lights from the railing, under the rule that nothing is to be attached, has not been enforcing that rule across the board.

Lights attached to rail

I guess this neighbor below thought it pretty/decorative to have woven this monstrosity onto the bars of the rail.

WTF …… it's attached

Elsewhere is a fascinating old style windmill this neighbor managed to source.

A funny thing happened when I popped into the corner market on Monday for eggs.

Refrigerated items like eggs, butter, etc. are towards a rear area of the market next to an opening for workers to enter/exit pushing cartloads of dairy supplies and a spot over against the wall for products being sold at a discount.

Just outside the opening, across from the eggs, is a rack of sweets, like hand pies.

As I pushed my cart past the hand pies towards the eggs, a regular looking guy was in the area of the opening, talking to himself, like he was trying to decide on checking out the discounted items just inside the opening, then seemed to have gotten distracted by the pies …… picking up one, making what seemed to be spontaneous out loud utterances about them. I recall hearing "Ummm …… Apple", but couldn’t make out whatever else utterances he was making.

I didn’t think he was crazy. He seemed glazed over, so I thought he was high.

So, anyway, he wasn’t in my way. I grabbed eggs, checked the date on the carton, turned around to head out of the area when he, evidently having passed on the pies and instead had entered the reduced products section was coming out. He didn’t run into me because I held back, let him pass and, when he passed, his glazed eyes took me in and, with that same faraway here but not here look he had on his face when he made spontaneous utterances about the pies, he uttered out loud, "Ummm, nice tits".

Thing is, I'd recently purchased a brand-new bra …… was trying out a support, rather than the minimizer I usually buy. Having just received the support the day before, this was my first time wearing it to decide if I liked support over minimizing.

"Nice tits" pretty much sealed the deal. I've ordered two more in different colors, LOL.

What’s in the Closet?

Crafts this morning was a drag. The Usual Suspects were all either really sick, not feeling well or injured from falls in their units -- one with a broken clavicle.

Despite the nearly empty session, a bit of tea was served. The most surprising of which was learning Meat Man, formerly Handsome Man, moved out.

He had hinted at doing so, when we last spoke at an event, saying he was done with the rent increases, but I scoffed that he’d not find anything better, financially speaking.

Lo and Behold, he whisked himself away. Scuddle butt is his mom passed away, he moved into her house in the hills overlooking the University; but I won’t know that for sure unless I happen to run into him, or the resident that goes to same church as he, verify details for myself.

I also learned why this time, during the pre-inspection, management opened closet doors to inspect what was inside.

They somehow caught wind of and were looking for items residents hide … like portable mini washing machines residents are not allowed to have.

I’d never heard of mini washing machines until Scary Mary over at Dark Thoughts, said she had one and management told her she’d have to get rid of it. Had I known there was such a thing, for sure I’d have been caught with one hidden in the closet, LOL.

Who knows … now that I know of this time-saving device, I might get one and hide in the car during inspections.

I don’t know if management found any washing machines, but I do know that, when they opened the closet door of the downstairs neighbor around the corner of my building, two little dogs popped out.

That neighbor was hiding two dogs she’d not registered with the office.

I was also surprised to learn Di is in trouble again.

Some of us residents, when they have usable items, will place those items on the table in the Community Room where we usually place canned food, boxed food, appliances, clear containers et al for the taking.

Word is that pre-inspection of Di’s unit found many of those free items in her unit … too many.

Evidently, she doesn’t even use or need what she’s been taking, but takes nonetheless because it’s there for the taking.

After having gotten in trouble over hoarding in the past, made to clear up or clear out, Di is back to hoarding to a degree that management is once again on her case about clearing out her unit and have also banned her from the Community Room, planning to once again lock up our refrigerator, because Di has been, on camera, caught grocery shopping in the Community fridge – taking bottled water Kesha has stored in the fridge for her Tuesday appearances and other items.

So, I guess I won’t be seeing Di again, unless and until it’s when we happen to run into each other on a walkway.

The discussion of Medical Plans came up and, when asked if I had one, I answered "Yes and No" because, though I have been a member of the highly touted "integrated managed care consortium that combines health insurance coverage and medical services into a single coordinated system", since I was in my 20’s, and it was great until doctors were limited on how much time they could spend on patients and Care Teams came into being, mucking it all up to where I can’t get service in a timely manner, it's "Yes and No" because I now opt instead to walk down the street to a neighborhood clinic.

I am so frustrated with the integrated medical care consortium that every time I see their ad run on social media, and it runs a lot, I curse at it, call them "lying liars", but don’t change because I figure I’m old, can’t last much longer, so why bother when medical care is broken all over.

Crafty Lady said that when Kesha brought a group in that promised one-stop shopping at a lesser fee on prescriptions they would bill to insurance providers, she signed up.

All of a sudden, she’s getting monthly notifications of $189 being billed to her insurance for prescriptions she’s never ordered and is getting the runaround on getting it cleared up.

Seems the group that Kesha brought in was a total scam. No telling how many seniors they are currently taking advantage of that might not even understand they’re being scammed.

Crafty Lady has informed Kesha and her insurance of the fraud, as she also continuously tries to contact that one-stop group she signed up with.

Good luck finding anyone who cares. My thinking is the only way to stop it is for her insurer to kick back, refuse to pay the bill and, if they do, it will free Crafty Lady from the scam, but what about the many other seniors, at this and at other senior facilities, that fell into the trap.

My final word on medical care was, "Well even though I hate and complain about the integrated managed care consortium being of no help to me, at least they’re not stealing from me".

So, though Crafty Lady didn’t have a plan this morning and there was only she and our 89-year-old to nuke out a project, while Dream Lover and I watched, our 89-year-old pieced scraps together into a card, while Crafty Lady made a snowflake out of paper bags.

Yesterday was Kesha Tuesday. I’m told she never showed up, so Crafty Lady and our 89-year-old spent the time decorating a few tiles.

And That's the Tea

Crafty Lady called yesterday to say that, after a two-week hiatus, for reasons not known to me, she’d be hosting a Crafts session today.

I headed down this morning and, once again, not seeing anything that I wanted to further clutter up my unit with, I did not participate, just took pics for the Residents’ Facebook page, gathered tea.

The State Inspector is here today and, from the Community Room, I could see the Inspector, Head Maintenance Guy and Manager out on the walkway, heading into units.

The Inspector is not the usual short fat older nitpicking guy I’ve previously observed, but a young handsome guy.

One of our newer residents – 81-year-old Miss Jackie, said her unit had already been inspected and that this Inspector was quick, and seemed easy going, saying "Don’t worry about this, don’t worry about that".

Returning to my unit after crafts, I saw the trio heading up my walkway BUT, they didn’t bother myself or White-Haired Neighbor. They walked into the unit of the weird girl downstairs, underneath my unit, at 12:32 pm, per time on the security camera and exited at precisely 12:34.

Two fricking minutes.

I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it sure shows the difference in how older workers perform vs. younger ones.

I appreciate the Eye Candy, but I’d rather have no eye candy and a worker that doesn’t just rush through whatever he's been tasked with.

It’s a two-day inspection so, if he doesn’t rush through the job and get it all done today, there’s still a possibility he’s not finished with this building yet.

While the Usual Suspects were working on Fall Crafts, I learned that Ankle Annie has vanished. It’s unknown if her mom kicked her out because she got involved in illicit substances – as she freely expressed to her neighbor Dream Lover that she was going somewhere across the street to do that, or whether she moved on her own or, as Talker suggested …… "Maybe she got locked back up".

I also learned that cameras on the property have caught kids from the multifamily complex next door, coming onto the property at night, vandalizing cars – smashing the windows out, looking for things to take.

So now we know how and why that car I’d blogged about, a few days ago, ended up with the window smashed out.

Since then, two more cars in that same area, which is where I also park, have been vandalized …… one being the downstairs neighbor across the quad who parks one car over from mine.

Fortunately, I’ve thus far been spared from the vandalism, but I’m not counting on the reprieve being forever and should probably prepare myself …… look into nearby car window repair shops.

If it happens, perhaps I should consider replacing, whichever window is broken, with a break-in resistant window.

Our newest member of the Usual Suspects – Miss Jackie that I spoke of above, sang a gospel song she made up on the spot that I think only I appreciated because her voice reminded me of Patsy Cline. She tells me that she written gospel songs before, got a bit famous, for a time, from several appearances on the old Gong Show.

I couldn’t verify that online, but I totally believe her.

Crafty Lady kinda sorta had a hissy fit when three of the Usual Suspects, who happen to be event organizers, finished their projects, went out onto the patio area to discuss a Thanksgiving event.

When Crafty Lady learned what they were doing, she got her panties in a bunch, tensed up, said "I guess I’m not invited to that!".

I’ve been told before that she’s sensitive that way, paranoid even …… Once got upset because Talker and someone else were in deep discussion in the room, began acting "funny" towards the two after.

Talker is very intuitive, very much intune, felt the chill, noticed the change in Crafty Lady, went up to her, asked "what's wrong"; whereupon Crafty Lady accused the two of "talking about" her.

Talker had to stroke her …… assure her she's loved, appreciated, everyone likes her, she was not being talked about. Crafty Lady went back to normal, but who in their right mind thinks people are talking about them just because they are not involved in the conversation?

At any rate, though Crafty Lady was busy running Crafts, it was obvious to me she did not appreciate the other organizers excusing themselves, seated on the patio planning Thanksgiving without her because not only did she get snarky with, "I guess I'm not invited to that", she all of sudden began packing things away, rushed us out.

I’m assuming so that she could head to the patio, invite herself to that planning session.

The crafts were mostly finished anyway, so no biggie. We just didn’t get the usual group photo of folks with their crafts, just the individual pics I'd taken.

And that's the tea.

DUH!!

The inspection happened around 10:30 this morning, starting with a knock on the door; and it was like roaches when Manager, Head Maintenance Guy and Assistant Maintenance Guy, exiting from White-Haired Neighbors unit, swarmed into mine before WHN closed her door.

She looked amused and waved as the trio split up in my unit, scattered – again like roaches, in different directions.

The inspection seemed way more thorough than previous years, which I questioned "Why so thorough?"

"We’re always thorough", said Head Maintenance Guy.

"No, you’re not", said I.

For one, they flushed the toilet, said the water does not fill back up fast enough.

They never paid attention to things like that before. Even took the lid off this time, checked inside, ordered a part they said needed replacing and didn’t say I’d have to pay for it.

The A/C was on, which meant water was dripping into the tub from that condensation pipe that was an issue a few weeks ago … where Assistant Maintenance Guy was cleaning the pipe in WHN’s unit, refused to do mine while he was at it, as suggested by WHN, said I’d have to put in a work order.

My response to that was "If they don’t care, I don’t care".

All of a sudden, they now care with Head Maintenance Guy telling me water is dripping into the tub from the condensation pipe.

DUH! "Yes, I know".

"The rust from the pipe could damage your tub".

DUH! "Yes, I know. I’ve been cleaning the stain out for 14 years".

Manager said Head Maintenance Guy would return later, run equipment to clean out the pipe, and he did.

I was told there is a new law that smoke detectors have to be 3 inches from the wall. Mine looks to be about 2 inches, so they’re going to have to come back, uninstall the detector, reinstall it an inch further from the wall.

That sounded stupid, so I Googled it – "is there a law that says smoke detectors have to be 3 inches from the wall?".

"No, codes do not require smoke detectors to be 3 inches from the wall; instead, national and state safety standards require ceiling-mounted alarms to be at least 4 inches away from any wall".

It’s called the Distance Rule … "The edge of the smoke alarm must be at least 4 inches (100 mm) away from the wall. Dead air space right in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling can prevent smoke from reaching the sensor", and it's not a new law, as they said, but has been in effect for 40 years. So, why now is management so motivated to follow the law?

Whether 3 or 4 inches, I hope management gets it right when they return to tear up the ceiling.

Manager was looking at my carpets, so I said, "I hope there’s not a new rule that the carpets have to be changed because, though I’ve been here 14 years, they are in good shape and having to deal with moving furniture around or out for new carpet would be a headache".

She said, "Your carpet looks pretty good for 14 years".

"That’s because I shampoo it myself and don’t let people walk all over it with their shoes on, like you guys are doing right now".

"Oh, sorry", she said, and I heard Assistant Maintenance Guy laugh.

She went on to say the new carpet being installed is brown and cheap, wears out quickly and easily.

Whoa! she said that … "cheap".

Since she was being so chatty, I asked, "Did you ever find out who was messing up the bathroom?" … (the Feces Felon).

"No, but they stopped".

"I wonder why", said I.

"Probably because we talked about looking for him".

Makes sense.

At the end of the inspection, I was told the State inspection would be happening in two weeks.

Like I said … they were unusually thorough this time, so I can only assume it has something to do with the upcoming State inspection.

After all was said and done, I knocked on WHN’s door for a debriefing, saying to her, "That wasn’t so bad, was it?".

She said, "They looked in my closet. Did they look in yours?"

I saw Assistant Maintenance Guy go into the bedroom and later found the closet door completely closed, when I never fully close it, so I assume he did, but couldn’t answer WHN’s question at the time because I couldn’t keep up with what the scattered roaches were doing.

WHN said she got dinged on the tea lights she has attached to her patio railing, was told to remove them.

That is a rule … "Do not attach or hang anything from the patio/balcony railings".

I hope WHN being asked to remove her tea lights isn’t going to cause management to notice and make me remove the Halloween lights, when I attach them to the railing next month.

We’ll see, cause I’m definitely decorating the patio the month of Halloween.

I also hope manager told WHN about the State Inspection in two weeks so, if by chance she’s selected, she’ll be cool with it and emotionally prepared for the State, then Federal, then maybe the County.

BTW …… While chatting with her, she mentioned her unit has more wood flooring than carpet.

WHAT? They’re replacing carpet with wood flooring on 2nd Floor units now????

She let me in and showed me hers.

"Cute", I dubbed her unit. There’s that brown carpet in the main seating area, the rest is wood, which she loves.

I’d hate it …… brown wood flooring, brown carpet is depressing, old ladyish, and I wonder if it’s disturbing for those living downstairs from units with wood floors, no carpet to soak up the noise.

Her unit isn’t the elegant showstopper former Next-Door Neighbor’s was but, though darkish with all that brown and blackout curtains to keep the sun out, she has made it look cute, comfortable, but definitely makes me think "grandma".

Looking around my unit, I don’t think anyone would think "grandma". Maybe, "weird, fun, a little scary" but definitely not "a grandma lives here". Actually, a great grandma.

P.S. Hip Hip Hooray! Blogger is letting me post photos today.

Is My Face Red

Yesterday …… realizing I’d not received this month’s Activity Calendar, I headed for the office to pick one up, detouring by the big bin to toss trash.

Seems the car that parks near the dumpster – the one that had its windows smashed all to heck, was not out for repairs after all. Instead, the owner has replaced it/parking a little white car instead.

Not bringing the original vehicle back, now parking a different one, only deepens the mystery of why that particular car was targeted in the first place.

Kinda reminds me of when my girls were around 10-years old and we were living in an apartment in Compton. The next-door neighbor had a dispute with the landlord, decided not to pay rent.

The landlord did not serve her with eviction papers, did not take her to court. Instead, he had his "boys" sneak into the parking area one night, smash ALL the windows to her car out.

She couldn't prove landlord had anything to do with the vandalism, but we all knew their dispute was related and feeling unsafe, next-door neighbor promptly moved out.

Next time I run into the Talker, I’ll have to remember to ask what she knows about this current situation of windows smashed/different car.

So, anyway, there were two things I’d not realized before I stepped out of my unit, headed towards the office yesterday.

The first thing was that the time was 4:30 in the afternoon. The office closed at 4:00. The building was locked up tight.

The second thing I did not realize was that outside was 105◦, with a heat warning in effect.

So there I was, having trekked across the desert to a locked building.

Not wanting my suffering to have been in vain, I retreated, walked back through the gate, hung a right and a right again, headed for the mailroom to check mail.

Nothing but useless ads inside to be tossed; but something told me to stoop down look towards the back of the box.

Inside is a deep black hole built into the wall. I saw nothing.

Then something told me to stick my arm all the way to the back and feel around.

I did and touched something hard. Something that that felt like what a key to one of the parcel lockers would feel like.

After my rant about the mail carriers depositing parcel locker keys in the wrong mailbox, and residents lucking up on packages that don’t belong to them, you have a good idea where this discovery is heading.

My intention here was to post photos. Photos to show you how deep the mailbox is/how far back I had to reach into the cavern by posting a pic of how deep my arm had to reach in, and a photo of the box and its contents (the two sheets of scrapbook paper) that came out of the parcel locker; but Blogger be trippin. Won't let me post photos. And, for a split second this morning, Blogger would not let me reply to comments …… a message popped up that I needed to log into Google. So don't be surprised if my ability to reply to comments doesn't happen again, and for longer than a split second.

All in all, let me just say …… IS MY FACE RED.

The parcel locker key was there all along, pushed all the way to the back AND, it was the only key at the back of that deep dark cavern. Indicating all the other packages I’d miss had truly been misdirected and kept …… Fortunately for me, just not this shipment.

At any rate, I’m back to completing that layout.

Heading back to my unit, I ran into my next-door White-Haired Neighbor, returning from her son’s house, looking as drained from the excessive temp as I was.

She asked if I’d gotten a notice posted to my door about an Inspection this Friday.

I had …… on Tuesday, the day after I’d shampooed the carpets, which meant two or three people (the Maintenance Guys and Manager or Assistant Manager) would be dirtying up my freshly Monday-shampooed carpets on Friday.

Neighbor said she was worried about the inspection because, where she moved from, after 35 years, the manager hated her, retaliated against her because she’d reported him for animal cruelty. He would pull frequent inspections, go through her closets, open her cupboards, told her he can come in when he wants, go through whatever he wanted.

I told her not to worry. That management inspections here are a precursor to when the State and Federal inspectors come in. They just want to make sure the units are clean and everything is in working order, so they won’t get dinged by the agency inspectors.

She said she was on the County and that the County inspected where she lived before only every two years.

That surprised me … that she is on the County and, consequently, must have been placed here through the program and on the program the entire 35 years she lived at the other place.

How does someone get 35+ years of County assistance?

No judgment. I just really want to know as she seems so able-bodied, well put together, and mentally all there.

The conversation ended with my telling her that though management pre-inspects every unit, that the Federal and State inspections are random. Her unit might get inspected, might not, depends on what the agency inspectors want to do.

She said, "But I just moved in".

"Doesn’t matter", said I and told her that I had an agency inspection right after I moved in back in 2012 and did not get another agency inspection until last year. It’s all luck of the draw, and not to worry about Friday because management just wants to make sure the place is relatively clean, no hoarding, and everything works which, in the past has worked in our favor in getting management to make repairs we'd previously requested but they had been dicking around with, because they didn't want us to point the problem out to the agency inspector.

I don't know why she seemed so worried about Friday's inspection, but it makes me curious to one day get a look inside her unit.

I opened the door and showed her mine, which isn't all that fabulous. Maybe one day, she'll show me hers.

Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N

After driving to Redlands this morning for a dental appointment, after which I stopped by Sprouts in that area to restock on products my sensitive stomach can tolerate; then heading to the medical center in that area for a doctor-requested blood pressure check, after which I stopped by the Flu Clinic and got this year’s flu shot out of the way, I began hearing Peggy Lee singing in my head … her song about us women being able to do it all.

Only thing left to do is a Covid booster, if it looks like that's still a thing and recommended.

In the lobby of the dental office, I grabbed a pic of the GQ-ready outfit an older gentleman was wearing.

Unfortunately, when he turned around, his front side didn’t stand up to his backside; but kudos for the shirt, Jordan pants and Rebook kicks.

The blood pressure reading did not go well. I failed at 146. She did two retakes. Both registered the same 146. Then, she had me stand up for a long long long long time before she took it again. So long that it began to feel like the room as moving, so I leaned on the machine with my left hand, steadied myself on whatever was on my right; but it got me down to 141, which she said was passable …… I snapped a pic of her child’s cute artwork before I left.

I got sick of my long-time primary’s care team overstepping … blocking access, making decisions for my primary who knows what ails me so well that, before her beoch team stepped in, I'd send her a message and she would order the prescription, no sweat.

Last few times I had to contact the doctor’s office – once for a question about whether or not I needed a tetanus shot after I stabbed a finger with a much-used box cutter, and twice when one of those conditions that come out of nowhere to torture us women who constantly wear tight clothing, like the leggings I prefer, flared up; her care team blocked the doctor. Didn’t answer my question about a tetanus shot, told me to make an appointment for an examination; also told me to make an appointment when I was in pain because of the flare up from hell – even acted like I was lying, said "It didn’t show up when you had your blood test two weeks ago", when it wasn’t anything that would show up in a blood test, and which made me question her qualifications/prompted me to file an official complaint.

Not able to wait three months for an appointment, I went to a walk-in clinic down the street, got what I needed, no problem.

THAT complaint worked its way up to my primary. She ordered a prescription that was good for two refills. All I had to do was call the pharmacy next two flare ups.

Since that prescription has run its course, it’s back to the care team telling me to make an appointment, and this last time was it for me because, after that parking fiasco at the main medical center recently, where I had to park at a shopping center and walk, I promised myself I was never going through that again.

So, in addition to getting what I needed at the clinic down the street, I changed doctors to a primary in the Redlands area. I just wish I’d sent a message to my long-time primary to explain the only reason I’m leaving her is because of her care team’s overstepping. I thought, when I processed the change, there would be a place where I could say so but, when I clicked the reason as "other" than what was listed, it went through, no chance to rat the care team out.

So, anyway, before I have reason to schedule with the new primary, or she calls me in, I probably need to get a better BP reading on file.

If the new primary has a care team that sucks as much as my long-time primary’s did, at least there’s parking at her location and, hopefully, a wait time that doesn’t extend into months.

BTW … on the freeway, I spotted a somewhat souped up NatC Car.

Nice try, but it doesn't make it look any better than what it is.