On the 9th Day of Christmas

How I rolled into the Cave yesterday, for the last workout of the week.

I’m way more reserved, with a simple "Namaste", when I walk in on Mondays and Wednesdays.

This morning was the Miracle on Court Street Breakfast with Santa event.

Just in case my Little Stalker was going to be around this weekend, I’d mentioned the event to the Talker. Painted Rock Lady overheard the conversation, was interested, so she joined me in this morning’s adventure.

Little Stalker was in San Diego this weekend, so Talker went there for breakfast.

I did learn the answer to the question of whether or not Little Stalker is enrolled in school, since she seems to always be here. She is in school, and though she appears to always be on the complex, it’s weekends and school days off.

So, anyway, breakfast was pancakes, eggs and sausage.

I passed, enjoyed the hot coffee, took photos instead.

With Painted Rock Lady's encouragement, I got in line for a free ice skating lesson, got thisclose to carrying through, thought better of it and chickened out.

I did, however, ride Santa's Train.

On the 8th Day of Christmas

I awoke to a message that "High winds and dangerous fire conditions are forecast from Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon. We may have to shut off your power to decrease risk of dangerous wildfires".

Are you serious?

Especially when you’ve already notified us of a planned maintenance power outage scheduled for Wednesday.

This is a senior complex. We should be exempt from these.

Color me annoyed as I work out a backup plan for tomorrow morning’s ritual — the morning I’m planning to attend the local Breakfast with Santa event, should I awake to an outage.

Down to my last Canyon Bakehouse bagel, I yesterday put in another Walmart pick-up order and saw they’d learned from the day when the pick-up line extended out of the full parking lot, down the street to the corner of the intersection. The system now requires reservations. Customers pick the time they plan to pick up in hour increments.

I chose between 11 and noon, because it’ll coincide with this morning’s workout ending at 11:30.

Good system, and the fact Walmart came up with it ???? …… I’m impressed.

Needing nothing in particular from the market yesterday, but out and about passing, I pulled in to find the elf.

Whoever is in charge of hiding this year — probably a lazy manager, is making it too easy.

Sparkle was once again in plain sight as one walks through the market doors.

You’d have to be blind to miss her.

Lastly, have you seen the latest photograph of Kyle Rittenhouse and the thread going around on X, formerly known as Twitter about his appearance?

It appears his little pathetic crybaby pudgy self (and yes, that was a body shaming thing to say, and I don’t regret saying that about him) has exploded to twice its previous size.

My favorite comment on his appearance being "I am loving this for Kyle".

His turning to food for comfort reads to me as guilt.

He can pose as the poster boy for the Proud Boys, go on talk shows, write a book, enjoy the celebrity, enjoy and laugh about having evaded consequences, but that something inside that we all have — the voice of reason and conscious, will one way or another have its way with us.

Kyle's Karmic Consequences are showing, giving us an idea of the turmoil going on inside.

UPDATE: According to another blogger, and various other sources I see online, the photo is thought to be altered. Whoever altered it did a good job, and nice to think Kyle could one day ballon up like that out of guilt.

On the 6th Day of Christmas

I received the medical provider’s check in the mail — the one reimbursing me for paying out-of-pocket for that covid booster because they stupidly refused to authorize the charge at the outside pharmacy, even though they themselves don’t provide Moderna.

So that’s behind me and today, when I popped into the market after this morning’s workout, I saw the hunt for our Hometown Elf is back on.

Before I began the hunt, I paused to take a look around, make sure she wasn’t hiding somewhere near the front entrance or hiding in decorations at the check stands.

Lo and Behold, something caught my eye and there she was.

Can you see her?

How about now?

Say hello to Sparkle

Isn’t she cute?

And what did I get for a successful hunt you ask?

On the 5th Day of Christmas

I received word that one of our bingo regulars passed away.

Faith, who was the former girlfriend of Dream Lover, had been taken away by ambulance last week.

A few days later, after being returned home after that medical emergency, a neighbor checked in on her yesterday, found her deceased in bed.

And so it begins, the time of year when the death toll around here seems to increase.

In a previous episode of Tales of the Complex (thanks Bob for that title), I’d written that it appeared Dream Lover was embarking on yet another relationship after the aforesaid Faith.

He and Her Haughtiness, renamed Boebert because she was talking during bingo, sat together at bingo, stayed seated long after play was over, seemed deep in conversation, which ended with Boebert running around looking for a pen so they could exchange telephone numbers.

Dream Lover's by then ex-girlfriend Faith was in the room seeing this.

Though they'd broken up and were supposedly just friends by then, it still had to hurt.

From what I’ve observed since, that budding new relationship was over quick fast in a hurry because, two weeks later, when Boebert showed up for bingo, Dream Lover was already seated.

Inasmuch as that’s not his usual modus operandi to arrive early, be seated, I surmised he was probably waiting for her.

He looked up, smiled when she walked through the door.

She chilled — had a cold look on her face, and though walking directly by him, she deliberately looked past/through him, and sat elsewhere.

He looked confused, and I’d occasionally catch him looking over at her, trying to make eye contact.

I’m sure she could see and feel him doing so, but kept her head down, refused to look up at him, and fled the room the minute bingo was over — I assume to escape his walking over to her.

It was brrrr all the way. The cold shoulder, which led me to two possible conclusions ……. he'd either said or done something she found offensive OR one of the residents in the know had informed Boebert of Dream Lover’s history with women here on the complex.

A history of having battered the woman who was living with him when he first moved in — which battering sent that woman fleeing to a shelter, never to return, and then getting into a relationship with Faith, that came to an end for unknown reasons — all obvious Red Flags.

At any rate, it looks like Boebert nipped it in the bud.

And so ends this episode as we wait to see who Dream Lover is going to go after next.

Maybe he’ll get desperate and rethink having rejected our Karen character, who used to send him love letters and whom he reported to the office for harassment.

On the 4th Day of Christmas

The newest member of our seriously dysfunctional family is well and now home experiencing her 8th day of life in this parenthesis of eternity, after spending the first 6-1/2 days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Delivered caesarian three weeks early, she was kept in NICU because she’d gotten stuck, inhaled fluids, needed to be observed until her lungs cleared out and was taught how to eat and breathe because she was "chugging".

I’ll get to see, hold, welcome and caution Princess to not get caught up in the hype this world throws at you, in person when I drive to Long Beach Christmas Day.

Minutes old

8 Days old

And so, life goes on.

Now, about that pigment or, more appropriately, lack thereof .......

On the 3rd Day of Christmas

I completed my entry for the Ugly Sweater Contest.

As previously mentioned, I started with an old green athletic top then, knowing I already have green felt in my craft kit to work with, I picked up two $0.98 cent Christmas stockings from Walmart, to be cut up, used along with the green as decorations in and around the mirror portion I’d removed from the decor thing I won at bingo.

Then, realizing cutting fabric pieces to make a figure would take hours and hours, I pivoted to downloading an elf template, printing it onto transfer paper, ironing the image to the shirt.

What do you think?

I can already tell it’s going to be difficult photographing faces that approach to elf themselves. I’ll have to depend on someone to get behind the individual, capture the image in the mirror.

Problem with that is these old folks can’t take pictures, can’t handle a camera or use their cellphones, other than to take calls, for various reasons.

That extends to even Red Light, who told me, when I asked her to take my photos for the bingo wins, "I can’t take good pictures. My daughter told me" and the Baker has a condition where she shakes.

Fortunately, Homegirl was present, took the photos I posted yesterday. So, unless either she or Talker, who takes great photos, attend the Christmas Party, I won’t have many if any ugly elf photos for the blog.

At any rate, I like the way the project turned out so much that, if I decide to attend the Christmas Party management throws for us, I’ll be wearing it.

While out and about yesterday, I also picked up a cute coffee mug, to be used as my entry into the White Elephant Gift Exchange portion of the residents’ party.

Since I’d originally purchased two Christmas stockings (because Walmart didn't have red felt), thinking I’d use them in the ugly sweater, but only cut a little out of one stocking, I didn’t even have to wrap the White Elephant Gift. I stuck it inside the remaining stocking.