Pimp My Tee

I think it was last Friday when, while sitting on the couch, I spotted a patch of red through the patio window.

Made me think of a horror movie I saw where, much like here, the powers that be had removed that which was colorful from the community’s landscape … plus the color red specifically was so forbidden that a monster appeared and someone’s life would be ended over it.

It’s probably just a matter of time before our monster — management and/or the Edward Scissorhands Landscaper, finds a reason to remove the colorful tree.

THEN, as I got out of bed this morning, I spied patches of what looked like green grass peeking out through the rocks below.

They dug up the grass, put plastic sheeting in place, covered with rocks, and nature is still finding a way through.

I find that hilarious and can’t imagine what our monster can do about it.

Yesterday was a hard day due to a doctor’s appointment I didn’t ask for, the doctor’s office schedule the appointment with my primary for no good reason other than to piss me off and piss me off they did by sending me messages, a day or so before the appointment, under the guise of Personal Action Plan, wanting to know the main reason for the visit.

After ignoring the first two messages, only to receive a third, I responded "Hell if I know", because THEY scheduled the appointment and then had the nerves to bug me about the nature of the visit, though I knew the nature was just checking in … a cattle call that I didn’t want to participate in but had to if I wanted to continue getting blood pressure medication, which is about all the medical provider is good for.

Unnecessary cattle call it turned out to be, because all the doctor did was take my blood pressure, stethoscope my chest, send me down to the Lab for a blood test, all of which she usually just sends me a notice to get taken care of, no hassle no visit required.

But the thing was, this appointment, in addition to being a waste of my time, was scheduled for the primary's office at the main medical center, where parking is a nightmare.

In fact, I spent an estimated 25 or so minutes, along with a mass of other vehicles, trying to find parking, got so frustrated that myself said to myself, "Screw it", drove out of the medical center area, hit the streets and began driving back home, but saw a shopping center, pulled in, parked by an Aldi’s Grocery Store, walked down Sierra Blvd to Valley Blvd, down Valley Blvd to Medical Center Parkway, crossed the parking area to the doctor’s building, a 20-minute hike, arriving late of course and just waiting for the receptionist to say "you’re late" so I could explode.

Fortunately, scheduling was behind, no one said anything to set me off until the doctor’s nurse took my weight and blood pressure.

Weight could have been better, but was better than I expected, considering I’ve not exercised or dieted to make up for lack of exercise; but the parking situations and having to hike had so frustrated me that my BP was 178 over I forget.

The nurse said, "I’m going to have to refer you to the blood pressure clinic".

"NO!" I yelled, "IT’S BECAUSE I’M UPSET I SPENT 25 MINUTES LOOKING FOR PARKING, GOT SO FRUSTRATED THAT I HEADED HOME, ENDED UP PARKING BY ALDI'S, HAD TO WALK HERE AND PROBABLY WILL NEED TO CALL A CAB TO TAKE ME BACK TO MY CAR!"

I was expecting a call for "Security", but she instead wisely backed off with "okay" and had me wait another 15 minutes in the outside waiting area before calling me back into a room for the doctor, during which time I took the extra BP pill I carry with me for just in case situations, so I wouldn't have a stroke in the doctor's office or on the hike back to the jeep.

Having calmed down by the time the doctor arrived to prove the visit was indeed a waste of my time, I was down to 152/78, calm and back to my friendly self as the Lab later took blood. It helped that when the Lab's check-in person asked me to verify my birthdate, and said, "OMG You look Great" when she realized I was 82.

Done with the Lab, I hiked back to the jeep and, once back home, the memory of having wasted my time and that horrible parking experience behind me, clocked in at 105/48.

The plan for today was to do absolutely nothing. Just rest from yesterday, because yesterday took a lot out of me; but then Crafty Lady asked me to come down to the Community Room, where Kesha had them playing bingo, to pick up a t-shirt she’d made for me.

The resident’s 4th of July party is this Thursday the 2nd. Crafty Lady has made t-shirts for all the organizers, with logos she matched to our personalities, including one for me as the group’s photographer.

I didn’t dawdle in the Community Room … just took photos of the other personalized logos for the residents’ Facebook page, brought mine upstairs, tried it on.

Didn’t like it — it’s white, and white is not flattering to my body type … It adds pounds to my overall frame and inches to my ta tas, which need lessening rather than enhancing, plus I felt restrained in the tee, couldn’t breathe, so I decided to pimp it. The bougies call it Upcycling these days.

Whether pimp or upcycle, a lot can go wrong … I’ve had more failures than successes and was taking a big risk I’d mess up, not be able to wear the tee on Thursday, would have to admit to Crafty Lady and the others that I screwed it up.

A little scared, I went for it, starting with cutting the sleeves completely off.

from this

to this

That's more like it. Trying it on, the tee felt better already … looked like a muscle tee; but still needing that collar off my neck, I folded the tee in half, cut a little triangle out at the neck area.

to this

Pimped up nicely. However, as soon as I find my marking pen … which I had in my hand at one point in the process, and somehow magically disappeared, I’ll use the marker to mark where I can cut the V into a U.

In other t-shirt news, I've added two new ones to my collection.

Store Bought

Image clipped from internet,
ironed on with Transfer