One Down, One to Go

Headed out early yesterday morning to complete the first of the two Virtual 5Ks on my to-do list. The plan was to do the 3.12 miles around a local mall, well before it opened and the weekend crowds arrived.

I chose this particular mall because I’d been charged by one of the boutiques for an online item I’d not received. Upon disputing the charge, I learned the item was in the boutique, waiting for me to pick up and had been for weeks.

Nice, I never received notification the item had arrived.

At any rate, after suiting up, switching fanny packs, grabbing a water bottle, off I go. Passing a church I know to be a Poke Stop, I pulled over, spinned for Poké Balls, caught a new creature, then drove another mile up the road to the Military Museum next to the McDonald’s Museum, were I knew I could spin for more balls.

That was when I looked down and saw one of the flaps on the fanny pack was open – the flap that holds ID, credit cards, driver's license, proof of insurance.

I knew right away I'd missed a pocket when transferring from one fanny pack to another.

Recalculating .........…

Not willing to head to an area soon to become busy without ID, license and insurance info, I immediately turned around and reworked my plan for the day -- headed back to the complex, stopped by the market and, it getting too late to head back to the mall in time to beat the crowds, completed the 3.12 miles on the indoor bike.

Not as much time, energy or calories burned in peddling 3.12 miles, as in walking 3.12 miles but, in a virtual, biking counts; plus, I expended more energy than had I stayed on the couch

Later in the afternoon, I got to enjoy the film Black Panther in the peaceful quiet atmosphere of my unit.

A fun movie, I could watch it again.

Stan Lee made his usual cameo, Martin Freeman -- who plays Watson to that delicious Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock Holmes, had a role as one of two token white people in the all-black film. And my girl Michonne had a prominent role as General of the King’s Army. 

Fun and entertaining as the movie was, it didn’t stop me from crying at the end -- over the fate of Killmonger no less.  He was a bad guy for real, but still I wimped out during that scene on the mountain.

Made me glad those two ladies had driven me to walk out on movie night. I don’t like others to see me cry, plus there were scenes that made me react out loud – laugh, yell, curse, which would have required considerable control to keep in had I been in a room full of others.

No feedback on how my walking out on movie night was perceived. I seriously doubt those two ignorant witches had a clue, or even cared if they did have a clue, that their chitchatting was disturbing to those of us trying to watch the film. I did hear, however, that shortly after I left, one of them left as well. Hopefully it WAS because I’d made a scene and the continuing to chitchat uncomfortable for her.

On tap for today is heading back to that mall, with a stop by those two PokeStops on the way. I can hear Dkzody now, saying I’m crazy to go to the mall on a busy day like this, but I want to pick up that package and I might get lucky that folks are still in church by the time I get to the mall and it won’t be so packed.

Happy Star Wars Day

And May the Fourth Be With You.

I'm the only nerd in the complex, so I doubt there will be any similar greetings making the rounds here today.

Yesterday, the third, was the day I finally got around to catching up on scrapbooking, and I was on a roll.

Creativity was flowing so that it took me no time to construct photos on the title page, minus the lettering. I then got last year’s Dinner/Dance and Halloween Costume Contest photos down on a couple pages, but hit a roadblock when I got to the many photos taken when I went to Long Beach for Thanksgiving. Problem was, I no longer liked the beach themed background paper purchased last year and had planned to use.

After considerable time looking at scrapbook paper online, I found a design that called my name, put in an order, but now I’m on hold until the 12th, which is when the paper arrives.

Hopefully I’m still in the mood for catching up on those photos by that time. Scrapbooking is that kind of craft. One has to be in the right frame of mind, go with the flow when layout ideas are clicking.

In the interim, it’s back to the needlepoint project, only I decided the new pattern is not challenging enough.

I’d been wondering for a while now if there might be a counted cross stitch pattern available based on the movie Black Panther, which movie I’ve not yet seen but plan to as soon as the DVD becomes available on May 8.

I Googled “Black Panther Cross Stitch Kit” and, lo and behold, this came up.

Now, this is what I call challenging.

Fortunately, it's a download, so I didn’t have to wait for a pattern to arrive. I’ve already printed it out, all 15 pages.

Whew! This looks to be a two-year project, maybe more. So, I'm off to the craft store today to pick up floss and get started ... that is as soon as the sun rises and the rest of the world catches up with me because, for some odd reason, I'm up at 3:15 in the morning, raring to get started on my day.

I’m feeling more positive that my buddy Apache will have a birthday party. It’s not going to be the huge event it should be, but for sure there will be cake and ice cream.

You will never guess who the woman who’d tried to palm the event off on me got to bake the cake ... Shadow.

He bakes?

I double checked with The Seer who assured me ... yes, he does. Among all the other things he "SAYS" he's done in the past, is to have a background in baking.

Inasmuch as Shadow is now involved, The Seer has suddenly become not "too busy" and has assured the woman that if Shadow reneighs, she’ll make sure a cake arrives – even if she has to purchase it herself.

I’m bringing ice cream.

Wish I knew what Apache’s favorite flavor is.

Maybe I’ll google the Orange Idiot in Chief’s favorite. Inasmuch as Apache likes everything about the guy, I’m sure Apache will like whatever flavor he likes as well. There is no such flavor as Liar Liar Pants on Fire, to depict all the lies the Orange Idiot keeps spouting. And from his wanting to put up a wall and his support of the Sheet People, I'm guessing the Orange Idiot prefers Vanilla, probably Cherry Vanilla to include his views on women. But I just had a thought -- Orange Ice Cream with Vanilla Swirl. Yes! That's the one. 

The Cure For …

Though I did little more than the usual cook, clean, needlepoint, catch up on recorded television programs, the weekend flew by.

My adventure in cooking this time was organic Gluten Free Zero Carbs shirataki noodles.

I’d tried them seven or eight years ago, but abandoned that alternative to pasta because I didn’t like the taste and the texture was off-putting. Having since learned, the taste and texture is entirely different when prepared properly (drain in colander, rinse with cold water, add to boiling water, boil for approximately 1-2 minutes, remove and drain in colander), I thought to give them another go. In a veggie stir-fry, it was umm umm good. Next, I’ll try in a ground turkey bolognese.

I made contact with none of the residents this weekend, so the status of Jose the Dog’s mom is not yet known. I did, however, make it out of the unit, out of the complex, out of the area, but only because I was forced to do so to keep a standing Sunday appointment with the locktician (beautician who specializes in grooming Sisterlocks) in Rancho Cucamonga. Popping into Walmart on the way back, I thought to pick up nails to at long last hang those bedroom photos and put up my latest medal board.

Why tear up the wall with nails you ask, when hanging strips are an alternative and, upon moving out, there is a charge of $85 per hole?

Well, that’s because it gets hot up in here, the glue on the command strips melt/loosen over time and eventually I’ll hear a ripping sound, which tells me the strip has failed and whatever it is holding is falling or has fallen.

And that $85 per hole is not a typo, it’s not $8.50, it actually is a chargeback of $85 per 1x1 hole.

I imagine management will prorate for smaller holes, but I don’t know for sure.

Either way though, since I’m counting on living here for like forever, I’m going for it. If something unforeseen comes up and I do relocate, there’s always good old nail hole filler.

Back to Walmart … Once inside, I remembered a this I needed to restock up on, a that, picked up a new DVD and drove away with everything EXCEPT nails.

I hate when that happens.

The movie that called my name is A Cure for Wellness.

Billed as “a psychological thriller”, it sounds safe to offer up for Movie Night. However, I’ll have to watch it first to make sure it’s suspense rather than blood/gore, something that will give us all nightmares.

While standing in the home goods isle at Walmart, trying to decide which cutting board to select, to replace my old beat up board, a little lady pushed a cart in front of me and said, “This is the third time I’ve been down this isle”.

Thinking she might need help, I asked, “What are you looking for?”

“Nothing. I have no more husband, my children are grown so” and she shrugged her shoulders as if to indicate walking Walmart isles is what she now does with her time.

How sad is that?

She’s lonely.

Thinking out loud about how my cure for loneliness was to grab my six-month old twins and flee from my mentally, emotionally, physically abusive ex with the clothes we had on our backs, and how good it is to now have peace of mind, freedom of time and energy, I said, “Sometimes no husband is a good thing”.

Lonely as she seemed to be, she must have snapped out of it and flashed on a bad memory because, all of a sudden, she smiled, nodded in affirmation and said, “Sometimes”.

Today is not my day to pop into the Community Room but I’ll stop in for a bit to see if there’s news as to how Jose and his mom are doing.

Energy Vampires, The Aftermat

My Route 66 indoor biking medal arrived in the mail yesterday.

It’s a good thing I qualified for tomorrow’s Valentine 5K earlier in the month, because another rain storm is predicted for today and tomorrow. In addition to which, there is no way I currently have energy enough for a 3.12 mile walk.

Evidently, I wasn’t as fully recovered from the Energy Vampires as I originally thought when I awoke yesterday because, after that post, I quickly found myself still moving slower than usual, breathing hard still and it took me until 12:30 to pull myself together and get out to manage a trip to Starbucks, then Walmart to pick up a frame for Michonne and a just released Madea Boo Halloween DVD.

By 2:00, I was burned out and had to dispense with the next item on my todo list -- the market.

Instead of groceries, I headed home and, after checking mail, lay flat on the couch again.

In the morning, before heading out, I had a phone conversation with the Activity Director.

Refraining from reporting the seniors had sucked the life out of me, I filled her in on what worked, what did not work, who was offended, what they were offended by, etc.

She’s going to issue an attachment to the March Activity Calendar explaining what the sign-in sheet is for… that the program requires verification she’s doing her job and pizzas are going to residents not employees.

She’s going to work on getting three others to police the event on a rotating basis, but said it will “take some time”.

You bet it will take some time. I’ll be very surprised if she can round up even one other.

Activity Director is also going to pay a visit to the guy who had a pizza snatched from his hands, apologize for what happened to him and invite him to come back. If he knows who the woman is, she’s going to have a talk with her as well, telling her behavior like that will get her banned from the Community Room.

You go girl!

I like this Activity Director. She’s made some dumb mistakes – mainly because she didn’t know a thing about event planning, but she’s learning and I like her, otherwise I’d not be putting myself out there for her.

The storm hasn’t hit us yet so, on tap for today is another try at the market before this morning’s energy peters out. Hope I don't run into any Girl Scouts because I'm too weak now to say no -- when energy is low like this, I always turn to sugar.