First thing on the agenda was to de-clutter the unit, in preparation for yet another inspection, by putting all the containers of scrapbooking supplies back into storage.
I’d received notice just yesterday that someone would come in between 9:00 and 5:00, but had advanced notice of the inspection because other residents had spoken of already going through the process.
We have these periodic inspections here at the complex. Supposedly, just two -- a biannual and an annual to:
For me, these inspections have been cursory. After the a/c filter and smoke detector are handled, nothing else is looked at. I’m just asked, “Is everything okay?” I say, “Yes”, and they’re gone.
It’s odd however that, this year, there have been so many inspections, this being around the fourth – each labeled biannual and annual, so somebody somewhere is confused.
Needless to say, I’m suspicious. What exactly are all these inspections for? Especially since other residents have told me that, this time, the person coming in checks absolutely everything … opens closet doors, looks in the tub, turns faucets on, flushes toilets, open kitchen cabinets, test the stove and even open refrigerators.
Opening kitchen cabinets and refrigerators sounds like a welfare check. However, just in case it’s not and what they’re checking for is illegal activity, I thought I’d better label the leafy green refrigerated herbs, so as not to be mistaken for anything other than what they are.
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| Cilantro and Parsley |
I probably should have played it even safer by hiding my two cosplay katana swords, but chose to leave them as they are.
Next on the agenda was boiling eggs for today’s potluck.
I was hoping the inspection would be early and out of the way before I began stinking up the place with the smell of boiled eggs but, on the off chance I ran into the eggaster (egg + disaster = eggaster) I had a few deviled eggs ago, where all 48 failed to peel, necessitating a run to the market for more eggs and a do over, I needed to get the eggs out of the way in case of a repeat episode.
Everything I’ve read tells me to purchase eggs up to two weeks before event, which I did, but it doesn’t always work because, sure enough, the egg peeling turned into another eggaster … all 48, so it was off to the market for more eggs, and a run by Starbucks.
Fortunately, the second batch of 48 peeled easily, and I was busy decorating, with the egg odor mostly gone along around 1:00, when the inspector showed up.
He introduced himself as the "New Head Maintenance Man".
What?!
Here we go again, with Nurse Ratched hiring someone over the Head Maintenance Man whose been with the complex forever, making him once again the Little Head.
This is the third person she’s hired over our regular guy, in the hopes of forcing our regular guy out. They all get fed up with her, leave, the regular guy remains, but he’s getting dangerously close to his own breaking point. So it’s a toss as to who gets fed up and leaves first.
At any rate, the new guy seems nice. We had a good conversation while he did his inspection, which wasn’t nearly as thorough as I’d been told. He did open the refrigerator, to "make certain the lights work". He changed the a/c filter and checked the smoke detector.
I didn’t see him do much more as we chatted, upon learning we'd both spent time living in San Diego.
As he was leaving, he said, “Carpet is the cleanest I’ve seen.”
That’s because I’m anal about it and clean it almost monthly.
“A very neat apartment. I haven’t seen many of those.”
Really?
“You missed the Bird Man” said I.
“Bird Man?” said he.
“Yes, we had a guy who turned his unit into an aviary, letting birds live uncaged.”
“Actually, I heard about him. He took his birds with him but, when we went in to clean out the unit, there were around 100 birds still flying around. We just left the door open and let them fly out.”
Wow!
So after the New Head Maintenance Man left, it took me about 45 more minutes to finish decorating the eggs to look like little turkeys (something I saw on Pinterest) and head down to the Community Room, expecting the 22 residents who'd signed up to attend plus maybe another 10 moochers.
Sure enough, the turnout was around 30, including that strange group of women with the dark aura.
Didn’t seem to matter not everyone contributed as, once again, there was more food than we knew what to do with … turkey, ham, several different styles of potatoes, several different styles of dressing, gravy, rolls, macaroni and cheese, string bean casserole, a few casseroles I couldn’t identify, cakes, pies, cookies.
The baker made potato salad, so I allowed myself that, along with the deviled eggs and a lettuce salad.
I’d had a nice long conversation with my depressed, demoralized, lonely neighbor the day before (more on that later) and urged her to attend. The event began at 2:00, she did show up, but late, around 3:00. Good news is she looks to have made a new friend, because I saw one of the newer residents later return with her to her unit.
It’s what she wanted … company. Well, not everything she expressed to me, but it looks like she has someone to visit with this evening, as they're talking so loud I can hear voices coming through the walls.
You are very creative with your deviled eggs, or should I say turkied eggs.
ReplyDeleteThanks and LOL "turkied". That's a good one. Don't be surprised if you see me use that term next time.
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