President’s Day

That is all.

Another Rainy Monday

Not loving having to leave my cocoon, head out on a Monday … in the rain to work out, but I’m glad someone is enjoying the wet weather.

Today is also President’s Day.

Hang in there Papa Joe

Plan for the weekend was to try out a recipe for gluten free Fastnacht's (also known as donut holes), but the recipe looked to be too much work. Not to mention that, when I picked up the can of baking powder — that I recently used in a recipe for gluten free blueberry cupcakes, oat flour pancakes, et al., I happened to notice the Best if Used by date.

May 11, 2022

I’m not wasting anything by tossing this long-ago expired product, because I found it all used up, empty.

I'd like to blame my lack of baking skills on having used an expired ingredient, but fact is cooking and baking in general are just not my thing. I do so only because my sensitive gut requires it.

So, morning workout over and done with, it's back into my cocoon until Wednesday, which btw, the weather people predict it will still be raining.

Trouble Trouble Boil and Bubble

It’s a tough job, so thank you for doing it
and ousting that idiot No. 45

I actually didn’t realize today was a holiday until, heading for the mail center after this morning’s workout, I saw a group of residents sitting on the bench by the Laundry Room.

They usually only sit there when waiting for the mail carrier to finish sorting, so I asked, "Is the mail carrier not yet finished?"

"No mail today, it’s a holiday".

That explains why I’d seen Head Maintenance Guy, whom I thought was slacking off, heading out and off with his two boys and daughter, thought I.

Though I’ve seen quite a few residents out and about today and during the week, enjoying the weather, I’ve not seen the Baker — which makes me think something might be seriously wrong with her ailing husband.

If I don’t see her at this coming’s Bingo Friday, I’ll know it’s bad.

Trouble trouble boil and bubble.

Thankfully, I’ve not seen hide nor hair of my little rug rat Knock Knock.

I did, however, have an interesting interaction with a child about little Knock Knock’s age at the market on Friday.

I’d parked the car, began walking across the parking lot, spied a man putting groceries into the trunk of the car with two little boys that looked like twins standing in the cart.

One of the little boys was staring at me, but I didn’t think anything of it until, as I got closer to pass by, the kid yelled out "HI GRANDMA!"

Not sure I’d heard correctly, I paused when I got to where they were and asked, "Did you just call me Grandma?"

"YESSS!" was his overly enthusiastic response, causing me to think he’d had too much sugar.

"Do I remind you of your grandma?"

"YESSS!"

"Do I look like your grandma?"

"YESSS!"

"Do you like your grandma?"

"YESSS!"

"Well then it’s cool".

His dad was cracking up during the interaction, and dad wished me a good day as I continued on into the market.

Then, while the cashier was scanning my groceries, I saw a baby staring at me from his carrier in the isle across.

Seeing him staring, I smiled and gave him a little wave which made him smile.

His little sister, seeing him staring, took his head and turned it towards her.

The baby wasn’t having it. He turned back and kept smiling at me.

Finally, his mom and grandma began looking to see what he was smiling at, whereupon I finished paying for my groceries and said to the baby, "Stop flirting with me".

Mom and Grandma began laughing and also wished me a good rest of the day as we all began to walk out.

I left the market feeling like the frigging Pied Piper of children in the Inland Empire area.

What is it that my little rug rat Knock Knock, the kid that called me grandma and the baby see?

Are they all souls from past lives recognizing my soul in its current skin suit?

The week was a heavy one for me due to worrying about a family member who is thisclose to being jobless then ultimately homeless.

I’ve occasionally helped this family member out financially, but it’s reached a point where I can no longer do so without hurting myself and thus will have to accept it’s not going to end well for her.

Trouble trouble boil and bubble.

I’ve seen this family member travelling down the road she’s on for many years and can see why — though she’s a nice person, caring, thoughtful, in the end she causes so many to not like her, not want to even be around her but I have never been able to tell her what I see because she gets defensive, shuts down, goes into denial mode.

Not just with me, but with anyone who tries to get through to her.

It was the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tzu who said, "A tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind". When thinking of this relative, of what I've seen for as long as I can remember, the root cause of her issues is that she's a person who is rigid, controlling, cannot bend and those that don’t bend will break.

I think she’s at that point now and I can’t keep carrying the burden of worrying or bailing her out of financial difficulties. I’m going to have to say no next time and let whatever befalls her befall her.

Her latest situation, and her history of causing people to not like her, got me to thinking of my own history with people.

I've always had decent relationships with neighbors, coworkers, ex boyfriends — some of whom might have been mad at me because of this, that, the other, but can't think of anyone who wouldn't smile and give me an unwanted hug should our paths cross.

I’ve had people in and out of the workforce who hated me because of the color of my skin, but even these racist types couldn't help but like me once they got to know me, even while continuing to try to destroy me.

What I've never had is anyone to hate me for the person I am, people to not want to work with me, even be around me.

So, the fact this is a frequent reality for this family member, one would think she would by now have done some self-reflection and adjusted accordingly, but nooooo, she just gets angrier, more stubborn, more self-destructive.

Oh well. Knowing I was going to have to let this one go, and that it’s going to be bad — trouble trouble boil and bubble, sent me out for a nice long walk to clear my head on Saturday.

I walked the college campus, then tackled an incline, known as Devil Canyon Road — an incline that far exceeds the elevation of anything I’ll be facing at the 5K I’m looking forward to in October.

It was tough going, even with the trekking poles. I almost turned back just feet from the top but persevered.

At any rate, training on this incline a couple times a month — weather permitting, and I'll be able to ace the October 5k, no problem, no injuries.

BTW, the crazy glued trekking poles held up, but I carried an extra tube of glue just in case.

President’s Day

No disrespect to Joe (it’s a tough job, somebody’s got to do it, but at least that somebody is no longer No. 45), but for me, it’s another Monday.

Woke up yesterday to find there were no eggs for breakfast in the refrigerator.

I was sure I'd restocked on my last trip and had plenty but, oh well, I made a quick run to the market and noticed the "mask required" signage has been removed. Now it’s just decal lettering next to the entry door saying masks are “suggested” if you’ve NOT been vaccinated.

I’m assuming the policy change is the result of the mask mandate having been rolled back to indicate those of us who are fully vaccinated are no longer required to mask up indoors.

Is it just me who now feels, with the wording of the policy change that, since I’m masked up, people assume I’m doing so because I’m NOT vaccinated?

It’s all so convoluted. No one knows who is vaxxed, who’s not, what’s safe, what’s not but no matter the mandate, it’s going to be masks and wipes for me until I get the all clear — however long that takes.

At least now, with the roll back, incidents of store employees enforcing the prior mask mandate being attacked will cease, but that won’t help the male and female Karens I’ve seen on TikTok and in the news who’ve already lost jobs, businesses, friends, put on a no-fly list, ruined their reputations and lives by acting the fool over being told to put a mask on.

Now that the Tyrant is gone, there’s chatter amongst the resident that there will be changes.

I doubt it because … what’s to change, except one thing different is that Head Maintenance Guy (HMG) is no longer locking and unlocking the mail center — a measure instituted by the Tyrant to put a halt to the constant break-ins.

After mail thieves managed to break in through every key lock, and other types of bars and locks installed as preventive measures, the only thing that worked was when HMG was given the duty to manually bar the security gate from the inside at 5:00 p.m. and manually unbar 9:00 a.m., Monday – Saturday.

I’m sure he got paid extra for it, and I’m equally sure his lazy arse didn’t like having the responsibility. There was even that bruhaha a few weeks ago when he failed to unlock, causing the mail carrier to turn around, leave without dropping mail off.

So, when on Friday, I ran into Next Door Neighbor and Church Lady complaining about having to once again use a key on the handle of the security gate, to gain entrance into the mail center, it didn’t come as much of a surprise that we’d gone back to what did not work before.

HMG probably did not even bother to ask No. 9 (the new manager) if he could no longer have to trouble himself with that responsibility.  My guess is he just stopped doing it.

Is it possible HMG is purposely setting No. 9 up for a fall?

She may not even be aware of all the prior break-ins and how the postal inspector people threatened to cease delivering to this property if management and Corporate didn't find a way to fix the problem.

After a few unsuccessful fixes, it got fixed, and now the fix is undone.

So long as the mail thieves don’t discover the change, we may not see this again.

But, if the mail thieves do come back and destroy the center again, No. 9 and HMG are gonna have a lot of splainin to do. Probably just No. 9, as HMG will throw her under the bus.

If You Build It They Will Come

With news of yet another rain storm coming our way (Round 4) and it not being too chilly, I ventured out yesterday to take care of business.

First was to drop into outgoing mail that check to the Federal Government.

I still don’t get how, after a lifetime of opting for zero on the W4, which always netted me a healthy refund of what essentially was my own money, this year I had to pay over $800.

It doesn’t make sense, but inasmuch as I can’t opt for less than zero, looks like I’ll be spending the remainder of my life giving back.

Second was to catch up with the seniors in the Community Room, observe Pizza Tuesday.

Absence does appear to make the heart go fonder.

Having not seen me in ages, I got a nice reception. Nicest was Church Lady, “We haven’t seen you in a while …  you’re looking bright and full of wisdom”.

My buddy Apache was in the room, as was the Cougar ─ the 80 something woman who’s expressed an interest in him.

I teased him a bit about that and he tells me she’s not the only one ─ Two other women are chasing him, one of which is his next-door neighbor.

I think he’s enjoying it, but living dangerously with his plan to give all three a balloon for Valentine’s Day.

Before I headed out of the Community Room and on to next on my list, Apache got into an argument with Greedy Grabby and her crew over their trying to take more than their share of pizzas.

This probably sounds like I'm disparaging a particular ethnic group, but I'm calling it as I'm seeing it and only applying to this specific group of women who happen to fall into a particular ethnic group  ─ Greedy Grabby is from Syria. All the ladies in her crew are from Syria, and those ladies are really tight, travel in a group and really remind me of gypsies ... swarming into a place, taking what they can get away with. In fact, I just learned, when caught in the storage area of the local senior citizens center, taking coffee, they got themselves banned from the center.

Going to pay closer attention next time I see them in the corner market.

Last on my list was grocery shopping at Sprouts.

That’s usually a 20-minute drive, but that changed when a new Sprouts went up, four weeks ago, only 8 miles away.

In spite of ongoing construction of other businesses, it was a quick in/out first two times I went to this location, plenty of parking. However, all was chaos this last time.

The parking lot was full, orange cones strategically placed to direct traffic in certain directions, and there were armed security guards. Not at Sprouts and not because of Sprouts, but at and because of a newly opened business called “Cane’s” ─ Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers.

The aroma coming from the fried chicken was intoxicating, but not so intoxicating as to warrant armed security guards manning the crowded drive-thru.

I watched as those cars unable to squeeze into the drive-thru lane, and those wishing to park, took up the lot ─ some driving crazy, frantic, ignoring the cones because they spotted an empty spot and wanted to get there first.

With other businesses soon to open, and the lot already crowded, I think I'm better off driving 20 miles to the Rancho location.

Valentine's Day is tomorrow. In case you didn't know, I'm not big on that sweetheart stuff.

President’s Day is Monday. Nothing expresses my feelings about that day like this from facebook.

Happy President’s Day

Or … depending on which side of the fence you stand, Happy Not My President’s Day.

Today I choose just to be happy the fact today IS a holiday did not escape my attention -- as the last two holidays did, because “holiday” means the university is closed to classes and, depending on weather and car battery, the campus today becomes my PokéBall collecting grounds.

Of course, it rained again last night, so outside is not inviting; but it’s early still -- only 6:00 in the morning, so there’s a chance the sun will come up, dry everything out.

I’ve not been in the car since Saturday, so I don’t know status of the battery.

I can’t get to the dealer until Wednesday and, if I do need a new battery, I’m looking at $250 (which is what I paid last time I replaced the battery, on top of the recent $1300 for shocks) because, inasmuch as Saturns are no longer in production, parts are scarce and pricey.

Or so I am told.

Whatever the cost, I am not inclined to budget any of that windfall towards a new car because I like what I’m driving – it’s a practical nondescript car, and my preference in all areas of life is to not stand out too much, be invisible even.

In fact, when I bought this car, I was looking for something no one would want to jack or steal. I asked my daughter about the Saturn I was leaning towards and she said, “Ma, no one will want that dorky car”.

Perfect!

Sold!

The downstairs neighbor moved out yesterday.

Total surprise, as she’s only been here since the latter part of May last year.

She seemed friendly, but I never got to know her well because she was never here. Even so, I’ll miss her … because she was never here, which left me not having to be careful about having my television on too early in the morning, too late at night, too loud or careful of any other activity that would disturb the neighbor underneath my unit.

And when I say never here, I mean never ever.

In the ten months she’s been occupant of that unit, she’s been in it not more than half a dozen times.

Made one wonder and caused me to recall that, back in the days, when I was dating the cop who later became my husband, father of my girls, I was basically living with him. However, in order for him not to get fired, for what the department deemed “moral turpitude”, we had to maintain separate addresses so no one would know we were living "in sin", which everyone knew, but the department would be hard pressed to prove. Consequently, I took a little apartment, kept some clothes in it, visited about once-a-month just to check on things or when I needed time away from him.

The world being so different now, as to what is proper, I’m thinking the neighbor’s reason for not being here has nothing to do with my reason but is travel related. She looked to be the tough strong capable adventurous type so, because of her appearance, I began thinking she might be a long haul trucker, not a flight attendant.

At any rate, she’s outta here and hopefully the quad’s good energy will attract another drama-free non-complainer. Some nice-looking testosterone would be appreciated, as we already have sufficient estrogen in the quad.