Cause I'm a woman! W-O-M-A-N

After driving to Redlands this morning for a dental appointment, after which I stopped by Sprouts in that area to restock on products my sensitive stomach can tolerate; then heading to the medical center in that area for a doctor-requested blood pressure check, after which I stopped by the Flu Clinic and got this year’s flu shot out of the way, I began hearing Peggy Lee singing in my head … her song about us women being able to do it all.

Only thing left to do is a Covid booster, if it looks like that's still a thing and recommended.

In the lobby of the dental office, I grabbed a pic of the GQ-ready outfit an older gentleman was wearing.

Unfortunately, when he turned around, his front side didn’t stand up to his backside; but kudos for the shirt, Jordan pants and Rebook kicks.

The blood pressure reading did not go well. I failed at 146. She did two retakes. Both registered the same 146. Then, she had me stand up for a long long long long time before she took it again. So long that it began to feel like the room as moving, so I leaned on the machine with my left hand, steadied myself on whatever was on my right; but it got me down to 141, which she said was passable …… I snapped a pic of her child’s cute artwork before I left.

I got sick of my long-time primary’s care team overstepping … blocking access, making decisions for my primary who knows what ails me so well that, before her beoch team stepped in, I'd send her a message and she would order the prescription, no sweat.

Last few times I had to contact the doctor’s office – once for a question about whether or not I needed a tetanus shot after I stabbed a finger with a much-used box cutter, and twice when one of those conditions that come out of nowhere to torture us women who constantly wear tight clothing, like the leggings I prefer, flared up; her care team blocked the doctor. Didn’t answer my question about a tetanus shot, told me to make an appointment for an examination; also told me to make an appointment when I was in pain because of the flare up from hell – even acted like I was lying, said "It didn’t show up when you had your blood test two weeks ago", when it wasn’t anything that would show up in a blood test, and which made me question her qualifications/prompted me to file an official complaint.

Not able to wait three months for an appointment, I went to a walk-in clinic down the street, got what I needed, no problem.

THAT complaint worked its way up to my primary. She ordered a prescription that was good for two refills. All I had to do was call the pharmacy next two flare ups.

Since that prescription has run its course, it’s back to the care team telling me to make an appointment, and this last time was it for me because, after that parking fiasco at the main medical center recently, where I had to park at a shopping center and walk, I promised myself I was never going through that again.

So, in addition to getting what I needed at the clinic down the street, I changed doctors to a primary in the Redlands area. I just wish I’d sent a message to my long-time primary to explain the only reason I’m leaving her is because of her care team’s overstepping. I thought, when I processed the change, there would be a place where I could say so but, when I clicked the reason as "other" than what was listed, it went through, no chance to rat the care team out.

So, anyway, before I have reason to schedule with the new primary, or she calls me in, I probably need to get a better BP reading on file.

If the new primary has a care team that sucks as much as my long-time primary’s did, at least there’s parking at her location and, hopefully, a wait time that doesn’t extend into months.

BTW … on the freeway, I spotted a somewhat souped up NatC Car.

Nice try, but it doesn't make it look any better than what it is.

Paint Party

I was spared any interactions with Compton yesterday — did not see him hanging out in the car and, insofar as I know, he did not see me.

However, because I’ve the security cam in the window now, I did learn I was incorrect in thinking he does not work.

I got an alert that someone was within camera range around 6:30 yesterday evening, saw it was he heading out, dressed like a security guard.

I’m beginning to see a pattern here, a theme. It seems that every man I’ve lately found annoying has been a security guard; and this one wasn't initially obvious by wearing of the uniform, yet and still pushed my buttons.

I’m assuming Compton works nights.

After his mother became bored with being retired, she got into the same line of work and, inasmuch as she presents very well, she probably got him the job.

In other news, I made it down to the Community Room on Tuesday, to check out what the new Activity Director had to offer by way of Arts and Crafts. Turned out to be pre-printed canvases with ready to print designs.

Painting is a craft I’m not good at, but I gave it a go.

Only 8 residents showed up — 7 of us regulars and a new resident with only two weeks in.

I’m going to call this new resident "Name Dropper" because she was quick to drop the name John Travolta.

Evidentially her granddaughter is an actress. She recounted granddaughter’s filmography — named films and TV shows I wasn’t familiar with, and how, when granddaughter was a child actress, she (Name Dropper) had been on set when granddaughter had a role with Travolta in Phenomenon.

BFD.

Catching up on all the who what whys, I learned Upstairs Lady (resident with the troublesome legs) had taken Di (Apache’s old friend, the resident that had been involved with Meat Man’s son — he in his mid to late 20’s, she her 60’s) had been taken to the medical office across the street when her blood pressure reached 200.

That she (Upstairs Lady) is "Tired of babysitting Di" …… urging her to take the medication she doesn’t want to take because she doesn’t believe in taking meds …… giving her calls and sending texts to make sure she’s okay …… urging her to get out …… keeping her informed of activities because she (Di) won’t read the activity calendar and though no one has seen Di in a while, she isn’t checking on her any further because "I’m tired of babysitting her. I’ve got my own problems".

Not Dead Nancy is reported as back from many months of hospitalization.

When last mentioned on the blog, Not Dead Nancy’s daughters were going into the unit removing things, which concerned Nancy’s neighbors as they did not know if the girls had permission to do so while NDN was hospitalized and questions arose that NDN might not be coming back.

The ones that have actually seen NDN said she’s "lost a ton of weight" but, inasmuch as she wasn’t big or overweight to begin with, that doesn’t sound good.

Conversation inevitably turned to Shadow’s passing and how, as a regular attendee at bingo and other events, not to mention an all-around likeable guy, he is missed and what Bicycle Boy did to Shadow’s shrine.

"The office has a stack of complaints made against him (BB) this thick", said the Baker demonstrating "this" by holding up fingers measuring about three inches apart.

I’m not surprised by the complaints. Nor am I surprised that complaints were undoubtedly made to all the various Complex Managers we’ve had over the years, and not one has acted on them.

When BB and Apache were at each other, management chose BB’s side when there had been no complaints by residents against Apache.

Some at the table had not heard of Head Maintenance Guy’s transferring to a different property.

None at the table were sorry to hear he’d gone or had anything positive to say about HMG’s maintenance skills and abilities.

You, Paranormal John, will appreciate this next update.

Hell on Wheels was in attendance at the paint party, accompanied by her latest Caregivers.

I say latest, because HOW, described as "difficult", has gone through more Caregivers than we've gone through Complex Managers — her Caregivers keep quitting.

It was said that one caregiver reached a point where she couldn’t take it a second longer that day, left HOW alone, hid out in the Community Room, head in her hands, moaning "THAT WOMAN!".

We’ll see how long this new caregiver can take it.

And that, as they say, is The Tea.

It’s Only Money

That’s what I told myself when, in trying to balance my unbalance able budget, that it’s only money.

"Unbalance able" not only because I can no longer get by on all the cheap things that previously were my grocery list — like canned soup, crackers, peanut butter, ramen noodles, frozen dinners, Baker’s turkey burger and fries, Panda Express Chinese food, deli fried chicken and potato salad, but now have to purchase specific quality items (by quality, I mean expensive) and cook them myself, but also unbalance able because, last few weeks, I've had to replace kitchen appliances and this morning learned, at the dental office, I’m going to need a crown.

First to go was the standing mixer. It conked out while I was using it to massage kale.

BTW, did you know you don’t have to massage kale by hand? The paddle in the stand mixer works just as well, if not better.

After replacing the mixer, just in time to mix masa for tamales, the Instant Pot died in the middle of steaming the tamales.

At least replacing the Instant Pot with an Instant Pot Duo gives me more counter space, because I can get rid of the big air fryer taking up space as the Duo is both a crock pot and air fryer.

So now comes an expensive crown, because one of the decades old metal fillings is disintegrating.

Having seen the x-rays, I’m certain this is not a money grab on the part of the dentist, but a legitimately necessary procedure — not like the shyster dental office that took over the practice of my long-time silver-haired blue-eyed dentist Dr. McDreamy and tried to scam me into unnecessary work.

When things conk out or go wrong, it's usually in threes, so Mixer, Instant Pot, Dentist, makes for the three that should announce the end of unexpected expenditures.

That’s probably why I was spared when, on the freeway returning to the complex, two rather sizeable rock came out of nowhere, flew up from seemingly the edge of the freeway, maybe fell out of the open bed of the truck ahead of me, then BAM!!!, hit the car but did not shatter the windshield, causing yet another expenditure, but instead hit the car where I heard CLANG!!!, like metal being pounded on.

Upon inspection, once I reached the complex, I found minor paint damage — no dent, no damaged headlight.

As for the other three, it’s only money.

On second thought, additional expenditures might not be over. There's still a utility bill looming over my head — the result of running the A/C almost 24/7 to combat the excessive heat.

On the 12th Day of Christmas

I’m beginning to worry about me because, since last Friday, I’ve had three senior moments.

First was when, cleaning out the car at the coin car wash, I tossed the second pair of trekking poles that turned out to be useless.

The first sets I purchased wouldn’t tighten. Returned ‘em.

The second set tightened, but kept coming loose and collapsing. I made ‘em work by using crazy glue, but the glue didn’t hold for long.

The third set were keepers — got me through the rough terrain of the Mission Inn 5K. So, cleaning out the car at the coin wash on Friday, seeing the useless second set still in the car, I tossed them in the trash, went on my way.

A day later, when I went to use one pole from the third set, because I felt a little unsteady on my feet, I realized I’d toss the wrong ones — the third set of poles instead of the useless second set.

Next senior moment was when I addressed the Talker by another resident’s name.

Third senior moment was when I arrived at the dentist this morning for my 10:00 cleaning, only to learn my appointment is for 10:00 Thursday not today, Tuesday.

Luckily for me the 10:00 cancelled, so they were able to take me in her place.

I caught a break and it worked out for me but, with three senior moments so close together, I’m thinking I need to slow down. I’m closing in on 80 years of age and need things to slow down.

A meditation retreat would be appreciated — not like at that cold dreary location where a session was held last year, but something at the beach, like was held back in 2018.

I'm not holding out hope for such a session, as the seers/gurus/spiritual teachers have passed on. So, meditation retreats are now as rare as in-person live 5Ks are becoming.

Things will slow down tomorrow, as that’s the day we have a power outage for maintenance. However, Trainer’s Wife tells me they had the planned outage at their place last Wednesday, and 8:00 to 11:00 am turned out to be 8:00 to 3:00 pm.

So, with no TV and TikTok to distract me after tomorrow’s workout, I may be able to finally finish reading The In-Between get started on The Old Gays.

Though I really hate having to go to the dentist, the fact that Umbrella Alley is at the backside of the office made me feel a little better about having to go.

I offered to take a photo for the couple and they accepted, so that’s my good deed for the day.

Indictment Day, Round Two

I love when I wake up and No. 45 is being indicted ........ again but, with 37 Felony counts and possibly more indictments and court cases coming up, I'm gonna need to get a bigger coffee mug.

Had this been a workout day, I would have called Trainer and cancelled, so I could kick back with popcorn, coffee — like Indictment Day No. 1, enjoy the televised show. Unfortunately, I had a dental cleaning appointment, but I did record the event for later viewing.

So far so good with the new dental office. I like the dentist and, even though I had a different hygienist this morning, I’ve liked them as well.

However, that doesn’t mean I like going to the dentist any more than Moving with Mitchell’s kid brother El Hermanito.

So, when it was suggested I schedule cleanings every three months, instead of six, it was a definite NO.

The reason for suggesting such a thing being I had accumulated a lot of plaque in the last six months. That people who accumulate a lot of plaque run the risk of gums being pulled back and end up with that "long in the tooth" look when they get older — in their 60’s/70’s.

"Well, since I’m already 79, I don’t think I need to worry about that", said I.

My next appointment is scheduled for six months, but she did suggest I not only continue with the electric brush, flossing, but massage the gums with a regular tooth brush and purchase an interproximal brush to further clean between the teeth.

Good Lord! So much high maintenance, so much work. It's annoying.

Starting Over … Again

Happy New Year!

How’s it been so far?

A rainstorm came rolling in late Friday, and it literally did not stop raining until yesterday afternoon. Just long enough for a little someone to come knocking on my door to give me a hug.

I was peacefully multitasking — working on that needlepoint project, while simultaneously catching up on recorded TV shows when, all of a sudden, I heard a little "knock knock knock".

"OH NO!" I heard myself say, because I instantly knew who was at the door — Talker’s granddaughter.

She gave me a hug. I gave her candy and off she went.

At some point, Talker is going to ask if I mind the intrusion and, truthfully, I kinda do; but she’s a child, and beside their being some kind of unknown cosmic reason she feels the need to hug me, the fact is I’m not about being unkind to a child, so I’ll grit my teeth and lie to Talker — "Oh No. I don’t mind at all".

Putting patio decorations away on New Year’s Day did not go as planned because the steady rain left the patio and decorations drenched. Decorations will need a few days to dry out, but I don’t think there will be a few days, as rain is expected off/on until Saturday.

In fact, I was lucky to have made it to the new dentist — the all-female office, and back before the weather turned dark, gloomy and more rain came.

That all-female dental office had a cancellation, called to see if I wanted to come in today, rather than tomorrow. It meant I had to miss this morning’s workout, but I was anxious to have them look at the tooth the other dentist (let’s call him Bozo) said had a vertical break and needed a crown.

Guess what.

There is no broken tooth.

I have no need of a crown.

There is a slight grove in the tooth, but not a break.

There also were not the cavities Bozo said needed filling.

I was suspicious of that in the first place because I couldn’t understand how it was the dentist Bozo replaced had just done fillings a few months prior, and now Bozo was finding more.

Like Judge Judy always says, "If it doesn’t make sense, it’s usually not true".

It’s looking like this new dentist is going to work out. She and the hygienist did everything right, said everything right, including saying I still have a lot of silver in my mouth but no problem unless there’s leakage, which is contrary to what Bozo had to say and the Bozo he replaced had to say and the Bozo that took over Dr. McDreamy’s patient list had to say.

I had to start all over again — x-rays, client information form, yada yada yada.

Unlike the last three Bozos, the new dentist was thorough — did the periodontal probe to measure depth of gum pockets, took photos of each tooth, even showed me the x-rays as she discussed what looked good, what might need work.

No pressure. No frightening theories.

So, thus far, I am relieved and happy with this office.

Hopefully, this is the last change in dentist I’ll have to make in what remains of my lifetime.

I'm hoping I won’t outlive her, as I’ve done with past dentists/hygenists, and she won’t sell the practice or retire, because I don’t want to have to start all over yet again.

According to the hygienist, the dentist is in the process of buying her own building and moving the practice to a different area, because where she is now located has changed drastically.

I believe it about changes in the area, because I know the area and was pretty shocked at what I saw.

Arriving early, with time to kill, I drove around to see what I could see and spotted a lot of unhoused people.

Never saw that before in this particular downtown area.

Deciding to park in the CVS lot, a few blocks away from the dentist’s office, sit in the car, read Fawn of Grey Gardens, I'd barely become settled when I heard a voice come over a loudspeaker saying, "This property is under 24-hour surveillance. No loitering is allowed".

Having seen no other Black people in the area, I thought the message was directed at me — that security was watching, saw I’d parked but not gotten out of the car, so I played it off — got out of the car, went in and bought a few things I didn’t need to buy — because I don’t need any more clutter, but they were cute and half price.

While in CVS, I overheard a worker say some guy he had asked to leave just took a swing at him and the police were looking for the guy.

Leaving CVS, the voice again came over the loudspeaker — "This property is under 24-hour surveillance. No loitering is allowed" and I saw an unhoused person on the lot turn round and walk away.

So, it wasn’t about me. It must have been for an unhoused person the camera had spotted on the property while I was sitting in the car.

The dental office is located in an artsy fartsy district previously known for its comic book store, art galleries, art walks, etc.

The actual building the dentist is located in is beautiful — reminds me of buildings one would see in film noir, like the famous Bradbury Building, with the old stairs, elevators, ornate wood and ironworks.

Problem is, the unhoused have taken over the area, making it unsafe for businesses, visitors.

The building itself is locked up at night, but the unhoused have somehow found a way to bypass the lock, been found sleeping in the lobby.

It’s an epidemic, is everywhere, a growing social problem, and no solution in sight.

At any rate, my search for a new new dentist has come to a close. Now if I could just find a physician that gave a damn.

Grey Gardens

Though it looks like it’s going to be a page turner, I’ve not yet had time to get into The Faun of Grey Gardens. However, the thought did occur to me we’ve got our own little Grey Gardens here on the complex.

Don’t know why I didn’t see the correlation between the two Edies before, and characters I’ve blogged about who have come and gone, the current Black Witch, R who won the Halloween Costume Contest dressed as a witch, and who doesn’t like children being in the Community Room, not to mention the Smoker.

What brought about the epiphany was when Red Light telephoned me last night to say her next door neighbor — the Smoker, had vandalized her door.

Story is that Red Light, awake for some reason and sitting in her front room at 3:00 a.m., lights off, heard a rustling noise at her door.

Afraid someone might be breaking in, she peered through the peep hole and saw Smoker.

Why Red Light didn’t make a noise, like bang on the door to scare Smoker away, I do not know. What she said she did was to wait until she heard Smoker go back into her own unit, then open the door to see what Smoker had been doing.

Smoker had ripped apart the Christmas Wreath on Red Light’s Door — a wreath that Red Light had herself made, even attached a little red Christmas wagon.

She said pieces of the wreath were spread out all over the concrete outside the door, and the red wagon was gone — Smoker took it.

After Red Light paused her story long enough for me to finish laughing my arse off, she went on to say she’d call Security, but no one showed or seemed to care. Likewise, when she reported the incident to the office — they said, "We’ll look into it", which Red Light said that’s what they always say and nothing happens.

Red Light toyed with the idea of making a police report, because vandalism is vandalism, but she’s afraid the cops will laugh at her.

She’s probably right.

Asking what I would do, I said "Well No. 1, I’m happy to know Smoker finally went outside. No. 2, I’d play the game with Smoker — put up another wreath, sit/sleep by the door and wait. If I heard her vandalizing that one, I’d quickly open the door and pepper spray her arse. If you don't have pepper spray any old household spray will do."

Of course, she won't do that. I believe she enjoys playing the helpless victim.

At any rate, I can’t stop laughing at what Smoker did.

As for WHY she did it, Red Light is surmising someone has yet again complained about the smoking and cigarette smoke seeping into the complainer’s unit.

"I only complained about her that one time Shirley", said Red Light but she thinks Smoker thinks all the complaints are coming from her, and destroying the wreath is revenge.

So many crazies/witches in my life story and here in our own little Grey Gardens. Hard to determine which witch the song (Ding dong the witch is dead) is referring to.

I'm afraid I'll be having flashbacks and giggling over this episode of our little Grey Gardens every time I think about it.

On another note, I've cancelled consulting with the holistic dentist 12 noon Monday, because the all-female dentist will see me 2:00 Tuesday. If there's a cancellation on Monday, she'll see me then.

Also, my girls turn 55 today.

A lot of people change so much as they age that they no longer resemble photos taken in early years.

I think my girls still look as they did when babies and, interesting enough, in most photos I've noticed they position themselves just as they did when babies — Twin 1 positioned to the right, Twin 2 to the left.

Funny You Should Ask

Finally had a good night’s sleep. Slept all the way through and woke up with a song in my head that I can’t shake — Ding Dong the Witch is Dead.

Right away I’m thinking of Henrietta, Jane, Joyce — the three witches that made my working life so traumatic years ago.

None of the three are popping up on Legacy’s obituary site. Too soon maybe?

The song is still in my head, so hopefully which witch is which will be made known to me somehow some way.

Of course, there’s the Black Witch — the resident who tried to bully me, called me the B word at bingo.

She’s done no damage, is not important enough for a song to be in my head but, if by chance the song is about her, I’ll know soon enough.

There was a ping on the phone at 8:21 this morning. It was a message from the dental office — "Thank you for being a patient. We would really like your feedback. Rate your experience with us here and we’ll enter your name into our raffle to win a $200 gift card".

How’s that for timing.

The plan was to hold off firing the dental office until AFTER I’d found a new dentist, hopefully before January 19 — the date scheduled for me to return for the necessary crown and additional unnecessary work they’d planned to scam me for.

Cats out of the bag now because my reply was — "Funny you should ask, as I’m currently in the process of seeking dental care elsewhere".

As of today, I have two options, both with great reviews and both who appear to focus on quality care, rather than quantity.

In retrospect, I think that’s why so many dentists are scammers. With these dental conglomerates that have offices in many locations, there is the need for each dentist in each location to earn his spot, bring in as much money as he can. Whereas, with the two I’m looking at, they’ve been in business for many years, same location with focus not on becoming bigger and better, expanding, but maintaining patient loyalty.

No. 1 is an all-female dental office. No. 2 is a "holistic" dentist.

Needing a crown ASAP, the all-female office is problematic as they are on holiday until Monday, January 2nd.

The holistic dentists is reading as expensive, but can schedule me for a consultation Tuesday, January 3rd.

The deciding factor will be if I hear from the all-female dental office on Monday and how soon they can schedule me for consultation and the crown work as compared to how soon the holistic dentist can do the work.

No one won the Mega Million last night, so here we go again with my feeling compelled to take my chances until someone finally wins.

I had invested $10 in last night’s drawing, won $4 back. The pot is up to $640 milliion now, so I’ll be purchasing more tickets after this morning’s workout.

Can’t win if you don’t play.

Pizza Tuesday

Thinking less and less about family members not getting along with each other — it is what it is, and feeling better about the dental situation — I’ve decided to fire the current dentist as soon as I find another dental office, I was close enough to being back on center yesterday that it was back to baking shows — starting with The Kids Baking Competition.

When one of the young bakers was asked the name of the spice she’d sprinkled on top of her macaroons, she’d answered "Canine Pepper".

"Canine" as in dog.

Of course, she meant "Cayenne", but her blooper reminded me of an expensive blooper that occurred in 2010, where 7,000 copies of the Pasta Bible had to be reprinted because a recipe for Spelt Tagliatelle called for "Freshly Ground Black People" instead of "Black Pepper".

Many years ago, a girl working in a branch of the office where I worked — called the Public Affairs Department, submitted for publication a citywide booklet that omitted the "l" making it the Pubic Affairs Department.

She was terribly embarrassed and, because she was such a nice person, I was embarrassed for her. As far as I can recall, she did not get fired for the snafu, but the booklets had to be recalled and reprinted at considerable expense.

Looking at the news this morning about people freezing to death, I won’t be complaining about the cold any longer. Especially since, up until today — when it’s beginning to look like rain is coming, we’d been blessed with sunshine while others are dealing with such miserable and deadly conditions.

Today at noon was Bingo with the new Activity Director.

I decided to go down to the Community Room, get a feel for how she's going to work out.

She’s young, seems personable enough.

She arrived on time, but seemed rushed to stick to schedule so, at this point, the jury is still out, time will tell.

I was glad I went because today was my lucky day. I won the Blackout game, covered the card.

Blackout Card

My Prize, Epsom Salt Gift Set

Today was also Pizza Tuesday. So, while we were playing Bingo, residents came in, quickly selected a pizza from the kitchen counter and quietly exited the room.

One of those doing so was our Karen character.

There were at least a dozen or so full-sized pizzas on the table. She opened every single box, stuck her face in, took her time looking closely at each pizza.

I didn’t see her touch them, infect them with her DNA. She just stuck her head in close.

The former Activity Director would never have allowed it.

She'd have told her to stop opening the boxes, just pick one then stay or go.

This young Activity Director could have cared less.

At any rate, Karen's Dream Lover was in the room, so it’s possible her actions were more a stall tactic — hoping he’d turn around, make eye contact so she could engage him, but it didn’t happen. So, she eventually opted to take the very first pizza she’d inspected and exit the room, with one last over the shoulder look back at Dream Lover.

Inasmuch as no one has won the Mega Million and the pot is up to $565 million, feeling lucky because I won the Blackout Game, instead of heading directly for my unit after Bingo, I walked down to the gas station played my numbers.

Hope springs eternal.

The Day After

Christmas Day came and quietly went, feeling more like a normal day rather than a holiday, especially since today is Monday and business as usual.

Trainer is not taking today off, so it's a workout this morning.

The Elf has gone back to the North Pole — not to be seen until next December, but before he left, I was able to hunt him down one last time.

The Security Guard was in conversation with a customer. So, though he saw me, I hurried past his post before he could interrupt his conversation, tell me where the Elf was hidden.

The plan for Christmas Day was to get caught up on sleep.

Sleep last two weeks has been tossing, turning, waking up anywhere between 1 and 3 a.m., meditating, browsing TikTok until I felt sleepy again, then arising at my regular time feeling unrested, bags under my eyes.

Sleep did not come Christmas Day.

Instead, to keep my mind off things I did not want to think about — like family relationships and my anger/frustrations with the new dental office, I stayed busy. Worked on that needlepoint, made more tamales — as I'm down to the last two of those made three weeks ago and, while the rest of you were probably watching Holiday movies, I was watching/listening to the Snapped Marathon.

The day before (Christmas Eve), I binge watched Homicide for the Holidays — featuring family annihilators.

The upset with the dental office began on Thursday, when I went in for a cleaning and learned the dentist I was becoming comfortable with was no longer with the office, and my first interaction with his replacement was his pulling the same padding the bill crap that caused me to leave the last office.

One would think he'd at least get to know me before trying to screw me, but nooooo.

Not only was he coming up with work that, at my age, I feel doesn't need to be done, but he missed the one thing that does need attention — a tooth that is vertically broken, in need of a crown. It was the hygienist who detected it, not Mr. DDS.

It's just so frustrating that, ever since Dr. McDreamy's practice was taken over by crooks with quotas to meet, that I can't find a dentist that is not a crook trying to bring in as much money as he can.

I don't imagine it will do me any good to look for yet another dentist, as I now feel this new breed are all crooks. I'll just have to learn how to manage this particular crook — let him do the crown, dig in my heels and not allow him to talk or scare me into anything else.

At any rate, this frustration with the dental office, having occurred just before the Holiday began, sent me on a downward spiral of filling my head with mayhem and murder, rather than heartwarming Holiday movies/baking competitions and added to my restless sleep.

One of those mornings when I’d tossed/turned myself awake at an ungodly hour, I entertained myself on TikTok and ran across an interesting story about a kid named Jeremy who had a beef with Santa.

Jeremy’s letter to santa started off "Deer Santa. i am riting this on the day after x-mas and i am very sad. i only received 1 of the 2 presents i asked for. Sense you ate my cookys i will asoom that my missing gift wuz a miss take. i will give you 1 week too fix this."

Santa (actually his parents) replied, "Dear Jeremy, I’m sorry you are disappointed with your presents. You asked for two very expensive presents and Santa can only do so much. You need learn to be grateful for what you have, not upset about what you don’t. If you continue to complain I will have no choice but to add you to the naughty list next year."

That reply seems to have enraged Jeremy, who then wrote, "Deer Fahy (fatty), your threats don’t scare me i played your game and you did not deliver. This is nOt Oke. i will give you 1 week and then you will pay. P.S. i don’t know why you care that it is expensive when you have Elf Slaves to make thingS for you. i think you are naughty for having slaves."

Santa replied, "Dear Jeremy, You are being a very bad little boy. Because you cannot be happy with what you have, I have talked to your parents and told them to take away your Wii U. Now you have nothing. Once you learn to be grateful, perhaps you can have it back. I am very disappointed in you, Jeremy. You will need to be an extra good boy this year if you want to make it back on the nice list."

It was at this point Jeremy went completely off the rails, replying, "Deer Santa, i do not like that stunt you pulled with my parents. You are on my naughty list now. Be afraid. You look slow and easy to kill. Enjoy your cookys next year because they will be pOisOn."

I don’t know if Jeremy is a real little boy or if this is a joke but, if Jeremy is real, then the Tooth Fairy had better not cross him.

Lotto Fever and Bad Penny Part 2

And yet again, no one matched all six numbers to win last night’s Powerball, so now the pot has rolled over for like the umpteenth time to raise the pot to a massive $1.5 billion.

I wish someone would win it already so I can stop wasting money buying tickets in the hopes I’d be that someone.

Can you imagine that, when all is said and done, someone will win more money than they can ever want or need.

If I won that much money, I’d keep it anonymous and would be like secret Santa — paying off people’s mortgages.

I’d set up trust funds for nieces, nephews, grandkids, the great grand baby; do something for my twins — purchase homes, set up a business, whatever it is that they want.

There’s a guy in a rickety old wheelchair that I see pushing himself around the area of the market and Pain Cave with his feet.

It hurts me to see him struggling to get across the street and around the area peddling backwards with his feet.

Once, as I was driving back to the complex, I saw he’d gotten stuck on a curb and I didn’t see anyone around on the ground to help him get unstuck.

Not wise for me to stop in the middle of traffic, I drove on, turned into the complex driveway, drove out and went back to help, but saw someone had fortunately helped him out of his predicament. Probably someone driving by on his side of the street, that could just pull over, assist and go.

I’ve often expressed to Trainer that, if I had the money, I’d gift him with an automatic chair. So, that would be on my bucket list for the $1.5 billion.

As for myself, I’m satisfied with my life as is.

Inasmuch as the win would be anonymous, I’d try to stay put where I am, but I would get rid of my current medical provider, have money enough to find myself a caring private doctor, preferably one knowledgeable in the area of holistic cures.

Are you throwing your hat in the ring, buying tickets?

What would you do if you won?

So far, the many tickets I’ve purchased have resulted in nothing, nada, not even a $1 win in return, but a bad penny did turn up yesterday.

Remember that dental office I’d asked to take me off their patient list a while back?

Persistent money hungry buggers that they are, they ignored my no longer wanting to be treated by them and, months later, left a message on my phone to "schedule an appointment to continue your treatment plan".

They must be seriously hurting for suckers, I mean business, because the phone rang along about 5:00 yesterday and "dental office" popped up on the call list.

Thinking I must have messed up and forgotten about an appointment at the new dental office, I answered the phone but, instead of the new office, it was the bad penny turning up again, asking "How are you?"

Irritated, I snapped "I’m fine and I’m no longer a patient at your office".

"Okay. I’ll make a note of it".

No she won’t. If they are so desperate as to reach out soliciting business, they’ll continue to reach out soliciting business, but they won’t reach out to me again because I’ve blocked their number.

Mildred’s Day 25 challenge is "A song you like by an artist no longer living".

I’m in sync with Mildred on this one ….. Janis Joplin.

Coming back from a trip in San Francisco back in the day, I actually saw Janis.

After I was seated on the plane, and just before the door closed there was a big commotion at the door and end waltzes Janis Joplin.

Being a fan, I was like "OMG! It’s Janis Joplin" while those around me only saw what they saw — just another hippy dippy with hair dyed in various different colors, looking like it hadn’t been combed in days, wearing layers of clothing, which made her look fat, topped with a heavy beaded and embroidered coat.

She looked like she might smell bad, but I never got close enough to get a whiff because I was in the cheap seats while she and her crew were led to First Class.

Two weeks after that sighting, I read that Janis was dead from an overdose.

Janis’ Piece of My Heart is raw and gritty.

Faith Hill’s cover of the song is a little easier to digest.

Bad Penny

Remember that dental office I asked to take me off their patient list … the one I blasted in a Yelp review? Well, just like the proverbial bad penny, they’ve turned up again.

There was a message on my phone, timed shortly after 3PM Tuesday, saying they were calling to "schedule an appointment to continue my treatment plan".

That would be the treatment plan the dentist wrote up for an additional $5,000+ worth of unnecessary dental work, over the $3,000 or so he got outa me before I woke up.

I gotta give it to them for chutzpa.

This is the first time I’ve had a dental office call ME in what can only be interpreted as a move to drum up business, rather than my calling to schedule necessary care. 

So, does this mean they’ve milked all they can from us long-time clients of the office before they took over? Are we leaving in droves? Is business declining to where they are now desperate?

I dunno but I won’t be giving them the courtesy of a return call to repeat "take me off your patient list, I’ve moved on".

This week has been moving fast. Can’t believe it’s Friday already, and up until Wednesday it has been a very good week. THEN I had one of those convoluted overwhelming dreams that can’t be interpreted but left me with a sense of there being a disturbance in the force.

That dream was followed by my tossing and turning all of last night, resulting in waking up this morning somewhat exhausted as I try to figure out if this sense of dread/disturbance in the force is related to something going on in the family or has to do with residents here at the complex or elsewhere.

Unfortunately, I can never pinpoint where this sense of uneasiness will land. It's a time will tell kinda thing.

Last time I went through this was when it landed elsewhere.

I still think of him often and fondly. He was so fun.

Picking up mail yesterday, I halfway expected to see that random woman availing herself of our pool again. Instead, it was a resident I didn’t recognize and what I assume to be her three grandkids.

As I responded to a comment by blog buddy Mike, over at Billions of Visions of Normal, that the pool has no cover, is subject to direct sunlight, I’d assumed the water was warm, rather than refreshingly cool, so I asked the kids "Is the water warm?"

They assured me "No. It’s cold".

I don’t know how it could be, unless there’s a special mechanism to keep it so, but afraid I’d tip over and fall in, I didn’t dip my toe in to verify.

Fresh Hell

At the dental office on Thursday, I saw no signs of guilt coming from the receptionist I suspected of hacking my credit card. Maybe because time has passed and she forgot, maybe because she’s hacked so many customer cards that she can’t remember who, and maybe because she’s not guilty.

Who knows, but I did pay cash for the cleaning and will henceforth pay by cash or check to err on the safe side.

Stopping by the market after Friday’s workout, I picked up carrots to make carrot dogs for the 4th.

There must be a plethora of folks in the area with gut issues, because this market carries a complete line of gluten-free products.

Word to the wise …. Not everything labeled "gluten free" is actually 100% gluten free. It pays to read labels, as there's always a triggering ingredient, but sometimes the ingredient is so minimal as to be worth the risk.

At any rate, heading for the gluten-free hot dog buns, which buns are still problematic but worth it to get the taste and feel of a real hot dog, I found they were sold out.

Not wanting to drive out of the area, search other markets, I found a recipe for buns which I’m trying out today.

So far, I'm on my third try at a batter that "clumps" like the recipe says.

If this third batter doesn't work out, then I'm done and will settle for oven baked chicken and potato salad tomorrow.

Heading out to do laundry on Saturday, I paused at the door when I saw a big green iridescent bug hoovering in the open area around the stairs.

What fresh hell is this, thought I to myself as I waited by the door for it to fly away. However, instead of flying away it began flying towards me — probably attracted by my perfume.

I didn’t panic or scream this time. I was calm as I quickly assessed what I had in my hands to defend myself — a laundry basket full of clothes and Shout laundry stain remover.

So, I tried to spray it away with the Shout but, much like that lizard I tried to spray off the patio with water, the bug seemed to enjoy the spray and kept flying towards me, at which point I got mad, and I got serious.

Fortunately, I’d not yet locked the door, so I retreated back inside and grabbed the bug spray. Ordinarily, I don’t bother lizards, bugs, ants outside — outside is their world but, when they come after me, won’t leave me alone, then it’s war. So, stepping outside once again trying to make it to the Laundry Room, locked and loaded with bug spray in hand, I was prepared to do some serious harm; but the flying bug had, fortunately for it, disappeared.

Not to be caught unawares, I held onto the bug spray while going back/forth doing laundry that day.

So, it’s not enough I have to watch for lizards on the stairs, now I have to carry bug spray around to ward off flying bugs — which I’ve research iridescent flying bugs and determined was a June Bug.

On one of my trips to the Laundry Room, I happened to see Karen’s Dream Lover picking up mail.

Lucky for him Karen wasn’t outside, doing her usual picking stuff off the ground. Too bad for her that she wasn’t — missed an opportunity to chase him down.

So that’s my holiday weekend so far — fresh hell, hot dog buns, Dream Lover but no Karen.