Thanksgiving Luncheon

Out of 178 apartment homes on the property, many with double occupancy, last count on those signing up for today’s luncheon was only about 50.

All who signed up seemingly showed up, plus a fashionable little young visitor who so floored me by her ability to walk in heels that I asked her dad if I could take a photo (which photo somehow did not end up on my camera. I did, however, capture the socks and heels).

One hundred seventy-eight units, most with double occupancy, 50 attending isn’t great, but it was more than we’ve had for any other event this year, so the Catered Luncheon, which turned out to be Semi-Catered, was technically a success.

Semi, because The Baker cooked the turkey, new Community Manager and Activity Director made the salad, provided the rolls, green beans, stuffing and our servers were Community Manager, Activity Director, Assistant Maintenance Guy. So, let’s called it catered on a budget.

Fifty residents is not a lot, when compared to the numbers living here, but not everyone is sociable. Plus, there are quite a few residents who we never see out of their unit, except for when they’re spotted doing laundry. There are also the disabled who can’t get out even if they wanted to. Then there’s a handful of miserable others who complain about everything, aren’t happy unless they’re bringing others down and, since no one pays them any mind, they’re resentful and shun activities. Not to mention the control freaks who, if they can't run things, won't be involved. Like next door neighbor, still angry about being impeached as President of the Residents Volunteer Activity Committee some two/three years ago. LOL.

Everything looked delish and I heard no complaints.

Lemonade

Tossed Salad

Dinner Rolls

Mashed Potatoes

Dressing

Green Beans

Turkey

Gravy of course

Pumpkin Pie

Reddi-Whip

Delish as everything appeared to be, nothing tempted me, as I’m in the process of making safe dressing, safe cranberry sauce and, not caring for turkey all that much, safe chicken and gravy to take with me to Long Beach.

All are recipes I’ve tried out before and found very satisfying, substituting ingredients, including olive oil for butter, stevia for honey, almond meal flour and flaxseed meal for white and wheat flours, almond meal flour for cornstarch in thickening the gravy.

I even tried out substituting safe ingredients for non-safe in a pumpkin pie a few days ago, crust and all. I was thinking that if it turned out well, I’d freeze a slice to take with me.

It turned out great. So great that I ate the whole pie, but not all at once. I had a slice with coffee for lunch four days in a row. Nothing made it to the freezer, but healthy ingredients fill one up to the point where I don’t think I’ll have room for a slice of pie to go along with the meal I’m taking with me, so I'll save remaking that recipe for when I next want pie for lunch.

There was drama at the luncheon, but it wasn’t about me. Nothing was said about my tumble, so my dignity is intact -- no one saw. There was also no mention of Handsome Man’s new neighbor creeping me out and Handsome Man coming to the rescue, so that's not on the grapevine.

I did see Handsome Man. He came in late, waved, took a meal to go and went to hang out with some of the guys out front.

I’d earlier seen his new neighbor, camped out on his walker near the sidewalk where smokers go, but he didn’t attend the event and didn’t see me.

So, I’m putting a period behind the fall and Handsome Man’s new neighbor and moving on.

The drama revolved around what I’d missed when I forgot to attend the Residents/Management meeting ─ an announcement that the little pups we sometimes see in the Community Room are no longer to be allowed, one of which is The Baker’s dog Fancy, who is more like one of the girls to us, than a dog.

As it is, the two dogs in question are never brought into the room when there’s food, but management doesn’t want the dogs in there ... period.

The Baker is so offended that her "baby", who is always with her, has been banned that she says she'll not be coming in either. She cancelled Bingo (which is a popular event she initiated) and says that, after the holidays, she will no longer be involved in any events. Which, basically, is cancelling ALL Resident Volunteer Activity Committee (RVAC) events because Apache says he can’t run the events without her as she does all the cooking -- and there's always food at every RVAC event, even bingo, because residents won't come if there's no food -- hot dogs, spaghetti, popcorn, cookies, cakes, etc.

So that’s a wrap on all the latest here at the senior complex.

Next up for me was to have been heading out tomorrow, day before Thanksgiving, destination Long Beach.

However, the day after reading Dkzody’s comment that “Thanksgiving Day is a piece of cake, traffic-wise, like Christmas Day. It's the days before and after that are terrible”, I read an online travel advisory that pretty much said the same thing. That was enough for me. I changed my reservation to in on the 22nd out on the 23rd.

Since then, it’s been all over the news that travel should be on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, plus it’s going to rain on Wednesday, so I’m glad I made that change while I still could. On the other hand, with the news suggesting everyone travel Thanksgiving Day, I’m wondering if it will encourage EVERYONE to switch up and be on the road Thanksgiving Day instead of the day before.

It has crossed my mind several times over the past weeks, and again yesterday, that I should cancel altogether ─ yesterday (Monday) being the last day I could have cancelled the hotel without incurring a $191.54 penalty, which is more than cost of the room.

It’s not like anyone in the family would miss me or vice versa.

Twin 1 and her brood are accustomed to my non-presence, I’m accustomed to being alone ─ last year being my first-time attending Thanksgiving with them since 2011, so it would be no-harm no-foul if I didn’t show up.

In fact, my attending last year was to have been closure for me ─ seeing everyone grownup, having survived their non-conventional flowers in the attic type upbringing with Twin 1 as their mother, all together at one time. So, what behooved me to go again this year, when I’d really rather stay in, warm and comfortable, bundled up in my adult onesie, is beyond me. But so be it.