A Day at the Spa

In other news, Mildred’s 30 Songs in 30 Days Challenge continues with Day 2: A song you like with a number in the title and Day 3: A song that reminds you of summertime.

Both were no-brainers for me. The Day 2 song because my current favorite is "23" by country/western crooner Sam Hunt, wherein he’s reminiscing about a long-lost love he can’t forget and taking pleasure in having known her during a period in her life that can’t be repeated with anyone else but himself.

As for why this song does it for me is because Sam obviously can't forget this girl, which takes me back to when I crossed paths with a former suitor years later and was told by him "You’re not an easy woman to forget".

Then of course Day 3 would be "Summertime" by Kenny Chesney.

Open Wound Cake

Last night’s episode of the Halloween Baking Competition was cringeworthy. The bakers were challenged with making Open Wound Cakes and some of the creations were so realistic that I was cringing, my body seizing up into a ball.

Even the host, John Henson, was so creeped out at one cake that he lost it.

Another cake that had John cringing, at a loss for words, was a toenail cake.

For inspiration, the baker called upon a memory from when her toe got caught on the laundry basket and the toenail was torn off (Just the thought of it has me cringing as I type this description out).

The open wound looked pretty gnarly, but there was one problem with this cake, a problem I critiqued even before the judges pointed it out. That being though she did a great job with the bloody toenail area, she did not shape the body of the cake to resemble a toe.

At any rate, last night’s baking episode was creepier than any horror movie I could have watched.

I’m playing hooky from the Pain Cave tomorrow.

I don’t like to miss my workouts, try to arrange scheduling around workouts, but Twin 1 has arranged an all-day spa thing for her twin and I ─ facials, rose water baths, massages, the whole nine yards, and tomorrow was the only day the spa could take all three of us together at the same time.

We three are all busy people, with different lives going in different directions, so I've been with Twin 1 on some occasions, and with Twin 2 at other times, but all three of us together at the same time is a rare occurrence.

In fact, the last time I recall was in 2018, when the girls did the Great Donut 5K with me.

As it is, Twin 2 had to get a day off from work to make tomorrow's spa day happen, so my playing hooky from the Pain Cave is a small concession for the opportunity to spend time with my 54 years young babies.

Mildred, over at Mildred Ratched Memoirs, is running a 30 Songs in 30 Days Challenge.

Day 1's challenge is to post a song you like with a color in the title.

Sounds like fun, so I’m in.

The song that immediately came to mind is an old song that was my first and last introduction to country/western singer Blake Shelton.

I say last because I don't much care for Blake's singing voice, but there’s something about this one song that's made Ol Red a favorite of mine.

Happy Columbus or Indigenous People’s Day

My trust and belief is in the Native American version of who discovered what but either way, it’s still a Monday.

No tea to report coming out of Friday’s bingo because I got my days mixed up. Bingo isn’t until this coming Friday.

I’ve been doing that a lot lately … getting my days mixed up. Which confusion can easily be avoided by checking my daily planner but, thinking I know what I’m doing, I forget to check it.

Oh well, there being no bingo this past Friday was a gift because, after that morning’s workout, I was so stiff and sore that I probably would not have made it down to the Community Room.

Trainer not only continued with incline training that day but had me doing pull ups for a full body workout in between sets.

It’s not as easy as it looks and, when I say full body, I mean FULL BODY. The movement is designed to reach and tone everything everywhere — ergo, stiff and sore.

Trainer has also warned me to not expect the treadmill to be in the same location when I show up this morning.

I’ve lost track of how many times the treadmill has been relocated, but whatever.

Over the weekend, I spotted Karen out gleaning the grassy knoll for tree droppings.

I didn’t see her cat, which means she’s complying with management having pointed out complaints and possibility of a lease violation for allowing her cat out without a leash.

I did notice she’s dyed her hair black.

Big mistake.

The dark color makes her look like the witch she is.

After more years of being dormant than I can remember, it appears my metabolism has mysteriously returned to life.

It was a few weeks ago, seeing my leggings sagging a little in the butt area, I decided to get on the scale. Lo and behold, I was down pounds and inches when I took my measurements. This morning’s scale check indicates weight is continuing to fall off.

However, looking at the down to skin and bones condition of my legs, I’m wondering if I’m losing too much weight.

But seriously, I was planning to wear skeleton leggings to the upcoming 5K. However, this purchase was misleading — they are not leggings, they are stockings and arrived with a run in them, so I’ll be returning these and participating costume less unless I can get skeleton leggings elsewhere, quick fast in a hurry.

Jokes on Them

I had three packages go missing recently ─ two on September 30, one on October 1.

The way it works around here is that the mail carrier puts packages into a lockbox, then puts the key to the lockbox in our mail slot.

A good system.

However, the system is only as good as the mail carrier. So, if the mail carrier puts the key in the wrong mail slot ─ which unfortunately often happens when we get a substitution for our regular mail lady, deliveries go awry.

Of course, when I get a key, open the lockbox, find that the package is not addressed to me, I walk it over to the correct unit.

Unfortunately, that does not always work in reverse.

Whoever was getting my packages in error in the past has been the recipient of makeup, bras, a $50 creative memory cover set (that is no use to them without the insert pages), and now two photo deliveries and scrapbook paper.

No way of tracing who received the items ─ unless I catch them with what they’ve confiscated. All I could do and did was file a complaint with the post office — which goes nowhere, does nothing and reorder the items. Only this time in reordering, I paid a lot extra (more than the price of the actual items) to get the photos and scrapbook paper shipped by a carrier, rather than trust the USPS not to screw up again.

The bright side of this latest snafu is that the joke’s on the person who is willing to set themself up for karmic retribution for not doing the right thing because the box the scrapbook paper arrived in is deceiving.

The box is rather large and gives the impression of something grand and glorious inside.

Consequently, it’s tickling me to no end to imagine the disappointment when the person opened the box, saw it was pretty papers they probably have no use for, can’t sell, and the other two packages are non-descript photos of no value.

Joke’s on them.

Except for a rather large jack-o-lantern gracing the patio of a unit across the grassy knoll, I’ve not yet seen any patio displays other than mine and Red Light’s, but it’s early still. So maybe other displays will pop up closer to Halloween.

It appears Wrong Way Witch’s broom has returned to the scene of the splat down.

Actually, I missed seeing a broom so much that I made one by twisting masking tape to look like a handle and gluing straw as the bristles — straw I plucked from a decorative straw bale I had in the trunk of the car (Don’t ask. Besides ... doesn’t everyone keep a big ole bale of straw in the trunk of their car?).

I actually wanted to use a twig from one of the trees as the broom’s handle, but the landscapers and tree trimmers did such a good job of cleaning up the property after the flash flood and on their usual landscaping days that there wasn’t anything on the ground and nothing I could reach in the trees.

Looking online at the witches that did have a broom, the masking tape and straw looks every bit as legit.

More incline training this morning, after which is bingo.

I actually haven’t been feeling bingo lately and somewhat resent wasting the time away from my unit, but bingo is the only time I make contact with others around here, have an opportunity to get caught up on the tea, and they serve really good tea at bingo. So, bingo it is!

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Wrong Way Witch

It appears the GPS on this witches’ broom malfunctioned because, hearing a crash bam boom late one night, I looked out and found she’d run smack dab into the patio door that houses the water heater.

She either lost the broom in the commotion, or the broom took off without her.

At any rate, she’s pretty well stuck to the door for now but I expect, come Halloween night, the other witches will realize she’s missing, send out a search party, find her stuck, peel her off, revive her with some potion, and she’ll be out flying again next Halloween.

As for what else is on the patio, this is what I see from my perch on the couch.

It makes me smile.

This is what those walking down the pathway see.

Hope it spooks them a little.

I was the first in the complex to put up front door decorations, and Red Light was the first to set up patio decorations.

Thus far, it appears we’re the only two in the complex but hopefully our decorations will spur others to get with the program.

Red Light and Talker are still not speaking to each other. In fact, the Talker wasn’t present at bingo last time. Time will tell if her staying away has something to do with not wanting to be in the same room with Red Light.

Also not coming to bingo is Dream Lover. His now ex-girlfriend is always in attendance, so I’m guessing it was a test of wills to see who was going to flee. She won.

Yesterday was Day 1 of restarting incline training in the Pain Cave. Trainer set the pace at 3.4 mph, which is way faster than I ever would or could attack a hill, but I managed it, no problem. So, barring any unforeseen workout injury, I’m good to participate in the Mission Inn 5K.

It’s the First of Halloween!!!

Let the decorating begin!

The rug and candy corn wreath went up on the front door bright and early.

Patio decorations will go up when the weather cools down a bit, or late one evening if a cool down doesn’t happen.

I guess I’m not the only one that was anxious for the First of Halloween as I did see some cute decorations when I was out and about this past week.

One of the ladies working the deli counter of the market, brought in and decorated the display case with her personal stash of witches.

At the medical center, the doctor’s assistant had this planter on her desk, saying she saw on social media that Trader Joe’s had them, so she rushed over and bought one.

Cute, but not something I was jonesing to run by TJ pick up one for myself.

My indoor decorations began to go up when, about a month ago, I ran into a skeleton cowboy. Seeing another skeleton cowboy a few weeks after, I snagged that one as well and, when I two weeks ago saw a spooky candelabra, I added it to the mix.

The shelf speaks to me, what with the skeletons and all year round on display Ex’s Ashes jar, so the shelf is going to be an all-year-round exhibit, displaying my dark side.

Then there’s this gem I ran into at the craft store when I wasn’t even looking for it.

I was really bummed out when, a few days after returning from Long Beach Pride, I could not find my Wonder Woman coffee tumbler and realized I must have left it in the hotel room.

Unable to replace that exact tumbler, I wasted $30.14 on a Starbucks tumbler. “Wasted” because hot coffee didn’t stay hot but a minute.

Deciding to live with luke warm coffee when out and about, the Witches Brew tumbler jumped out at me while at the craft store.

It was kismet because the tumbler was the only one on the shelf and in the wrong location had I been looking for a tumbler. Hot stays hot and the cost was a third of the Starbucks tumbler.