Before and After

A few weeks ago, I gloated about Mother Nature finding her way through the plastic sheeting and rocks to sprout patches of green grass peeking out, saying there wasn’t a thing Management or the Landscapers could do about it.

Turns out, they didn’t have to do anything about it, because the sun and lack of water fried the patches of green to dust.

Before

Before

After

Heading out this afternoon, I was met with a lovely new view when I opened the door.

Before

After

When I blogged about my disappointment in Audrey the Venus Flytrap Sculpture being 25 inches, rather than 10 feet tall, commenter Linda in Kansas suggested, “Is there any way you can raise the skull planter up a bit which would help a lot?”

Good idea, thought I, worth a try, and my mind immediately went to the inexpensive and natural-looking way we used, back in the day, to prop items up, make plant stands ……… bricks.

Like this ………

Then, thinking about how much work would be involved in that endeavor, I quickly dropped the idea, began researching modern day plant stands.

Commenter JanF suggested, "dark and discrete which will fade into the background and thus not distract from the skull etc".

"Discrete …… fade into the background" doesn't exactly match my aesthetics of skeletons, voodoo dolls, braids, bright red lipstick that one can see me coming from a mile away, sporty way of dressing, not to mention the eye-catching bright red flamboyant patio furniture.

I went looking for "dark and scary", saw a few gothic plant stands — none that would add much height, switched to looking at tree stumps, and landed on this 18.9" natural wood hand-carved stump that looked gnarly enough and tall enough to get the job done.

Before

After

Looking at it from the outside, though Audrey doesn't stand out, appears to be a supporting character, at least the skeleton is now visible.

My new neighbor/White-Haired Lady, insofar as patio decor, is showing a maximalist side. Obviously won't be decorating for Halloween or Christmas because there's no extra space. I'm the minimalist ……… holding my space open for Holiday decor.

Oh, and P.S., I later repositioned the skeleton to be facing outwards, appearing to look at those on the walkway, rather than sideways.

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

Edward Scissorhands and Other Tales

Heading to the Community Room to take photos of today’s Craft Class for the residents’ facebook page, I caught Mr. Scissorhands in the process of giving buzz cuts to the remaining greenery.

Oh Oh! He caught me taking pics

Didn’t stop me from taking more pics.

The Usual Suspects made bracelets from tongue depressors today.

Crafty Lady soaked the depressors in water, manually molded into shape and the ladies embellished with fabric and stick-on decorations.

One of these bracelets, posed atop a display in Vanity Magazine, is a tongue depressor bracelet. Can you tell which one?

Today’s tea involved one of our Usual Suspects — Di, who tells us her utilities have been cutoff because she forgot to pay, couldn’t remember last time she actually paid a utility bill, didn’t recall getting any notices warning of being $1400 in arrears and of impending cutoffs until utilities were turned off.

That got her attention.

Di is one of the residents that doesn’t make much money, pays about $150 in rent and has a hard time coming up with that. So, she’s really in a pickle, which she’s hoping Kesha can help her resolve … show her how to work out something with the utility company or put her in contact with an agency whose mission is to help seniors in situations like this.

$1400 is a lot of misremembering. I’m thinking about over a year’s worth of forgetfulness because, looking at my budget sheet, I last year paid a total of $892.89 in utilities ($491.37 to Edison Electricity and $401.52 to SoCal Gas).

So, I can’t imagine how long it took for Di to get to $1400 in arrears.

Di is easily confused and forgetful due to a brain injury suffered in an automobile accident. Before that she was a brilliant chemist and still occasionally will have moments of brilliance where she will say something that speaks of quantum physics while misremembering simple things.

I dunno. My spirit is telling me to pay the bill for her, but I myself am not rich and don’t want to step into something that might cause her to depend on me in the future.

Part of Kesha’s job is to help the seniors out by connecting them with resources for medical and rent and utilities. So, I think I’ll wait to see if Di can resolve this issue through other means before involving myself.

Fancy Plants and Funny Money

I’d heard that, due to complaints from residents about and management’s dissatisfaction with the Landscaping Company, that as soon as the contract was up, the company would be replaced.

I think that has happened, and management has contracted with Edward Scissorhands because, when I headed out to the market yesterday, I saw plants and hedges had been somewhat artistically clipped and sculpted into a design.

It’s giving minimalistic, but kinda cute.

At the market, I really liked that they are now offering … "Do you want change (coins from the purchase) back or to donate" to schools.

I opt to donate because coins are so inconvenient …. I never know what to do with them except separate and store because they’re too heavy to carry around.

Though pennies have mostly been discontinued, the occasional I still get go into an old 5-gallon glass water jug that I’ve managed to hold onto for 25/30 years, quarters go into various mason jars, dimes and nickels go into cowboy boot planters.

A few days ago, when I was removing coins from my fanny pack ... coins that I somehow accumulated from places that did not offer the option to donate, I found an Indian Head Buffalo Nickel.

I can’t decipher a date or any markings that would indicate the coin is valuable, but it’s rare/valuable to me and was added to a pocket in the back of my Franklin Covey planner, where I keep funny money.

I don’t even know what half of these are, but I do know some are foreign, two are Susan B. Anthony dollars and the dollar bill looks like loot from the bank that got dye pack bombed in the getaway, was later washed and somehow passed on to me at Home Depot.

I once had a Kennedy Half Dollar, but it was stolen by contract workers management had sent in for repairs, when I lived in a loft building in Long Beach.

I know it was one of the two workers that stole the coin because one of the guys had spotted it, asked if I wanted to sell it. I'd said no, that I was saving it and heard his coworker say, "You should have just taken it".

He did just take it because, after the workers left, the Kennedy coin had mysteriously disappeared.

I hope the bad karma he created for himself was worth it.

Accident Waiting to Happen

That’s what I said when management had the landscapers dig up all the grass, replace with rocks … that rocks would end up on the walkway and seniors would be hurt.

So far, the count is two who have had their walker tip on rocks, causing them to fall and injure themselves — one being Painted Rock Lady.

Those injured have reported the incidents to management, but not a lot can be done, at this stage, unless and until it turns into more than simple scrapes and bruises.

I remember a few years ago, when Nurse Ratched was managing the place, a resident’s foot came in contact with a spot on the walkway that was connected unevenly, she fell, broke her elbow.

She was in a cast and sling for a long while (old bones don’t heal quickly).

All I know from the outcome was that the walkway was immediately repaired and rumors began to fly that she had been drunk at the time.

I don't know if management started the rumor to save themselves or if another resident put it out there; but news of that rumor got back to the resident, who was highly indignant … complained to anyone who would listen that "I wasn't drunk", even complained to me.

I can't say whether she was drunk or not but, the fact remains, the walkway did have a raised portion, an accident waiting to happen for any one of us.

Force of habit, when I’m out and about, I always look down when walking … not so much worried about rocks, more like irresponsible dog owners allowing their dogs to No. 2 on the walkway and/or any other kind of icky stuff I’d rather not have stuck to the bottom of my shoes.

So anyway, the rocks continue to be an issue.

My area is on a slope, which means rocks roll down onto the walkway at record breaking speed, leaving bald spots where rocks are gone, exposing the plastic sheeting covering the ground.

I spotted Head Maintenance guy scooping rocks back to cover the bald spots just last week.

It probably doesn’t help that the occasional adventurous soul will attempt a shortcut across the rocks and go SPLAT! … like when 3-Year-old Great Grandbaby was here for a visit a few weeks ago.

SPLAT!

And just this morning, a delivery person managed the ascent, but went SPLAT! on the descent.

Excuse my sick sense of humor, but this one had me ROFLMAO, as I rewatch ten times.

And don't judge me for using the delivery service you see in the video. I don't agree with their business practices and the way they treat workers but, in this and outlining areas, where everything is either behind locked cabinets and/or not available at all, it's a service I of necessity must utilize.

Other than that, not a lot going on as I sit on my behind getting fat and lazy because the indoor walking pad is making a squeaking noise and it’s too hot to walk outside; but I suppose any excuse will do when one really doesn’t want to get off the couch.

More Life Changes

Today was moving day for Twin 2, who has been living in the multi-family building next door.

How we came to live next door to each other began when I retired while living in that part of the Inland Empire known as Ontario. There was a very bad dysfunctional family situation going on which necessitated my relocating to Long Beach so granddaughter wouldn’t end up homeless.

Things did not work out. It became a situation where I had to Let Go and Let God; so, after a year of wasting my time, energy, money; I applied for and got a unit here in the senior building next to the multi-family building, moved back to the Inland Empire.

Twin 2 was living in Murietta at the time but eventually got a job in the leasing office of the multi-family building, a unit came with the job.

When she later transferred to the main office of the leasing company in Murietta, she remained living in the multi-family building — travelling an hour or so, depending on traffic, back and forth from working in Murietta, living in San Bernardino.

During this time, her estranged partner was living in the condo, passed away, left Twin 2 everything; whereupon Twin 2 rented the condo out to a relative of her partner.

Big mistake.

The condo renter having not worked out — caused significant damage, Twin 2 now winding down with a disability retirement due to her knees and other physical ailments, she decided to move back to the condo in Murietta.

As the condo was pretty much trashed (appliances, cabinets, flooring, water damage, the whole 9 yards) after a lawsuit got the renter out, it’s taken a little over 2 years for Twin 2 to have contractors strip and redo everything. Plus, it took time because Twin 2 is bougie (she didn’t get it from me) and very particular about the cabinets, flooring, appliances, lighting she had installed and in how she’s decorated the condo.

Once everything was in place, including the room for her fur babies, she packed everything up and called in the movers.

I got up early and drove over to give her a hug before she left the area, which made for an emotional day for me.

One of her neighbors has a fun sense of humor.

Murietta is only an hour or so away, but her moving felt like I was losing my last baby girl.

It made me feel better to know she has good friends from her job that live in the Murietta area, plan to stay in contact; and condo neighbors she’s reacquainted with while checking on progress of the condo work.

One work friend, bless her heart, even took the day off to help Twin 2 with the move, said they’re already planning BBQs and to party party party at the condo. Champagne was mentioned, LOL.

I’m happy Twin 2 will now be in an area where she can have more of a social life, but all these life changes are hard for me to swallow.

Another change — not a life change but one worth mentioning is …… Remember when I posted that video where I captured a hummingbird pollinating the Bird of Paradise area on the complex?

Well, this is how the area looked in January.

This is how it looks now.

Bye bye birdies, but WHY? Just WHY?

Had I'd come across the crime in progress, I’d have asked for some of those birdies, tried to repot/regrow on the patio.

Mystery Solved

It’s rocks.

The landscapers returned yesterday, began placing tarp over the dirt that used to be grass.

They returned this morning, began placing rocks over the tarp that used to be dirt that used to be grass.

Other than that, it seems my life of quiet and reflection has returned after a week of twice waking up at 3 am and once at midnight to let Twin 1 into the gate, attending Tuesday’s Management hosted Christmas Party, Friday’s Residents’ Hosted Christmas Party, and manufacturing needs from the grocery store so I could hunt for the elf.

I’d actually planned to attend Saturday’s Breakfast with Santa, but couldn’t pull myself together in time.

With no plans to get on the road, travel to Long Beach, spend time with the Great Grandbabies, for all intents and purposes the hoopla of the Holiday season is over as I return to my regular schedule.

Though I managed to keep my hunts for the elf current on FB and Instagram, so much was going on that I didn’t get to post the hunts here on the blog.

On the 16th Day of Christmas, I was in a hurry, had just popped in for celery, as I was making potato salad, didn't put a lot of effort into hunting and just happened to spot Holly as I was about to leave without finding.

Evidently, elves need TP just like us humans.

On the 18th Day of Christmas, I was working the perimeters of the market, recording section by section, when I finally spotted Holly.

Do you see her?

On the 21st Day of Christmas, store management got tricky with it.

In case you missed it, the first video captured Holly fishing over the fresh fish.

That was cute.

The second video finds Holly hanging on for dear life over Produce.

That's probably it for Holly. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I doubt I'll be making another trip to hunt before she has to pack her bags, meet up with the other elves to help Santa prep for his midnight run.