And She Was...

My morning started with Ingrid screaming from her balcony. She was dressed in a lovely short see thru nightgown howling down at the workers below (who probably don't speak English) "It's 6:30 in the morning!!! Why are you working??? Who do you work for?? I'm going to tell the director right now. Be Quiet."

I am sure that the director got an email from Ingrid. I'm pretty sure she gets one every day from from her.

My finance guy's assistant sent me some extra docs. He, so rightly, assumed I wanted Transfer of Beneficiaries (TOD) and how I wanted it set up. Then he also assumed I wanted my brother to have full access to the new accounts so he had that all ready to sign. I'd actually forgotten about both these things so I was delighted. BUT, no DocuSign. ARUGH.

I printed out the page I needed and then the printer and internet severed their connection (no clue who said what to whom). I had to sign and then scan to send back to the assistant and on to my brother. But, when it came time to scan, all I got was sad faces everywhere. If you complete all 37 steps in the right order with your mouth set just so, hooking the printer to the internet is a breeze. Miss one step or move your gaze elsewhere and you are fucked and you have to start from the beginning. Oh, and one part of the process is restarting the router which, of course, takes for frickin' ever to come back.

After buckets of blood, sweat and tears, I finally got it going again. One was 9 pages. I figured the only thing he needed was the first page. Soooooo wrong. So I had to do it all over again. THEN I had to find someone to witness my signature.

I considered ringing Ingrid's doorbell "since you are up anyway..." but figured my dying before the documents were done would be silly. So I went down to the front desk where the receptionist was happy to do it. Then I scanned all the pages in and sent them off. Whew. Done.

When I went to my doctor last January, I bitched about my runny nose. She told me Flonase or irrigation. I tried Flonaise (I have no idea how to spell it and don't care) for a month - nothing. Irrigation is to clear up stuffed up noses, so I went with an allergy pill which worked fine for six months then a couple of weeks ago, it just said 'nope, i'm done' and my nose started running away again. Dr. Google and Amazon list remedies and solutions for 'stop runny nose' that are for clearing out stuffed noses. WTF? So first I did the irrigation. I hate doing it. The first 2 seconds are really uncomfortable. The rest isn't but it's so messy. But, damn, if it didn't work! So then I ordered up some spray that is supposed to help between irrigations. It comes today.

I'm going to be shocked to learn that my doctor, Dr. Google and Amazon are all right and I was wrong. But I checked the filter on my gizmo and ordered a new one. I don't fancy a brain worm. (I've been watching so much Clarkson's Farm, and listening to Peter Grainger novels, that I now have a British accent - at least in my fingertips.)

Today's agenda includes cat food. These two are eating me out of house and home. Amazon is bringing new wet and dry food on Tuesday but their current supply of dry food ain't going to make it. At least the sun isn't out.

Then it will be the usual knitting and farming and baseball later.

Just below my window, for the past two mornings, guys have been working on some project. They are starting about 7 am. There is noise and conversation. Fine by me BUT... they are also just below Ingrid's window. And Ingrid does not believe anyone should make any noise that she can hear before oh, I don't know, 10 or 11 am. Plus, Ingrid lives to bitch to management. I'm guessing the emails are flying already.

This morning, my finance guy is going to call to discuss options for investing my money. It's a dance we do. He recommends and I say fine but first he has to defend his recommendation. I do not need the defense. But, apparently he does. I'm used to it by now - all finance guys are the same this way. As long as he does not try to explain dollar cost averaging, I'm fine. "that sounds fine. I totally agree. that sounds like an excellent plan, thank you. yes, that's perfect. ok. sure." Then we're good for at least a year probably. He and his assistant are VERY good about emails but some things, apparently, need voice consent. It might have to do with crossing state lines. Missouri. He keeps meaningless chit chat to a bare minimum and responds immediately to anything I ask. I inherited him from my cousin and I'm very grateful.

That's really my only agenda item today. It's baseball getaway day. The Phillies play at 10 and the Mariners at noon. Both teams were leading their divisions for a good while but now can't seem to quit losing. At least last night's game featured lots of the Phanatic which was fun.

Julio turns 3 tomorrow.

Ok, so the finance call happened early! He had said 9 or 10 but turns out he meant that in his time, not mine. which is fine and dandy. I'm happy to have it over with. All decisions are made. Docusigns are coming in now. Yeah for electronic signing!

And while I'm waiting for the last doc to sign, I even went into my Google IMPORTANT stuff folder and updated my doc of details. My father kept this for years. Typed out on his typewriter. A list of where his money was, his and mom's and all his children's and grandchildren's addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers and a few other important bits of info. When he died, it was my Bible. My original copy was in shattered bits by the time his estate was settled. I tried to keep my Daddy's List plain and simple and up to date. And, now it is.

And my last doc is signed. Woot! I think I'll go down to the mail room and clean out my mailbox of all the letters from Neptune and the brochures from cruise lines. Also, so oddly, postcards from gutter replacement outfits.

Then it will be time for the first pitch.

My parents had 5 grandchildren. At some point they decided to give each a substantial gift for use after high school. My mother told me years later after Daddy died that the biggest discussion about giving the gifts was me. My brother and sister would benefit from the gifts being given their children and I'd get nothing. Mom said she was fine with that (hahahah Mom!) but that Daddy had really wrestled with the fairness of it. Thanks, Dad - you were always my favorite. Not true, really, Mom.

Anyway... that shit apparently is in my DNA. I have two nephews. One is getting married and I zelled him money for a wedding present this weekend and then thought that was not really fair to his brother who just bought a new house and got no house warming present. So this morning I zelled him. Except. It didn't work. No reason given. Just didn't work. Zelle said he has a valid account but just no send. I checked the limits and I was well within. I have money in my account. I tried sending $5. nope. I finally got him engaged. He sent a QR code which linked to his account successfully but still didn't send the money. Fuckme. The wedding money zelled perfectly the first time. Wild.

So... finally... I called the credit union which is usually a major PIA only this time wasn't too horrible. I explained the issue and was transferred to a guy who knew his shit. He said he could see the attempts and could see that all was fine. "basically, you just hit a zelle glitch". He waved his magic wand And, after a few more log ins and log outs, it worked, he said but I couldn't see it and would not let him go until I did. He was very kind and patient and finally I could see it and so could my nephew. So all's well that ends well.

But a very exhausting way to start the week!

The Annual Window Washing starts next Monday. Right now there are three window washers down in the plaza looking up at our dirty windows. It's quite the endeavor, this window washing. Apparently they have tried it via rappelling from the roof a few times and that was not as good as going from apartment to apartment. This latter is how they do it now. They open the windows and remove the screens and then hang out that open one to clean the others. Move to the next apartment. It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to do them all. The most painful part is listening to everyone conjure on how they are doing it wrong. As a group, old people know best. And those with no real knowledge of the situation, know best of all.

But, it will be fun to have clean windows again.

And it is beyond marvelous not to have a single piece of skin in the operation.

We broke heat records yesterday and probably will again today. I have no reason to go outside and so don't intend to. All is lovely and cool in here.

About 5 last night, the facilities coordinator sent out a note that the pool was fixed and it should take about 6-12 hours to reheat. I swapped some texts with Steve and we agreed to give it a go today. Turns out 12 hours was a hair optimistic. It was warmer but it was still pretty cold. In hindsight...

But, we had a good time and a nice crowd and it was fine and fun.

Elbow coffee was its normal nothing but harmless today. Also a good crowd. It's really a nothing gathering but also a painless way to touch base with neighbors and make sure everyone is fine. Without Myrna, we really don't even see each other much any other time.

I'm still working on my utility room. I have one more item coming from Amazon (Monday) which will take care of the final issue. But it does look much nicer now and is easier to find shit.

I got the invitation to my nephew's wedding today. The wedding is in the middle of October. This is June. Clearly wedding rules have changed. At least I don't have to go. And, according to their website, one of their top two most wanted gift requests is money. Whew. That takes a load off. Also their wedding website let me RSVP so I don't even have to hunt down a stamp and mail this little card back. I like these new wedding rules. In my day...

Last night they had fried chicken on the buffet and I loaded up. So now I have fried chicken for lunch. Yum. Then baseball. My perfect afternoon.

I pulled the Litter Robot out and disassembled it and still the pieces where too big for our shoot. I found a dumpster down in the garage and a push cart so I came back up here, loaded up and unloaded down there. Done. Probably broke a dozen rules but fuck 'em. It's done. I cleaned up the area in the utility room and the rug that catches the litter spills is now in the washer.

Then I went to aqua fit. I did not want to go. It was better than those damn machines and, honestly, I knew Martha would check (which she did since her yoga class is in the gym at the same time). The water was very cold when I got in but, really, it was very lovely in less than a minute. Invigorating. I last took the class a year and a half ago. Now they have music which makes such a difference. And it was good and it was hard. And I thought it was 30 minutes but turned out to be 45! My arms are going to be very mad tomorrow but I'm going to do it again next Tuesday.

I bought a Litter Genie from Amazon and it came with a giant dent in it. So I returned it and bought the plastic one which isn't arriving until tomorrow. PetCo didn't have one but, hey, Pet Smart does AND if I order online and go get it, I save 20% - plus it's cheaper than Amazon anyway. So score score score. Cancel Amazon. Now I'm going to get dressed, take my two Amazon returns and go to PetSmart.

The utility room looks so much nicer and tidier without that gynormous Litter robot.

Things I do not like. At all. Although, I do like the smell of coconut. The texture does me in, tho. I went down to the gym this morning and did 20 minutes on the elliptical. I did not enjoy it.

I know that one day, maybe after I die, they will announce that exercise wasn't all that good for you after all. OR They will have a pill you can take instead.

I watch ad supported TV only for news and baseball so my exposure is limited but I do know that the supplement game is big and growing. Young adults swearing their liver is happier with XXX or YYY are truly the thing now. My liver is unmoved, BTW. And everyone who takes drugs for heart and diabetes will be singing and dancing up a storm. Also, not new, men can't get it up but there is actually a pill for that and all you have to do is sign up for a free account and unlimited sex is yours. So don't think those ads are wasted on me!! Also this is why it is well worth it to me to pay extra for the ad free versions of streaming services.

I have decided, to deep six the Litter Robot. It's too big and too fiddly and I know it's going to quit any day now. So I'm going to just pull the plug. We've had a lovely run but it's time to go back to the old fashioned litter box. Simple. Plus this means I can go back to the light weight litter. Amazon is bringing the new box today. I'll set it up in the same little room and run both for a day or two.

I got the final bill for condo electricity today. $7.25. The Title Company collected $250 to pay this giant bill. So I am expecting a nice refund, lordknowswhen.

I got the sticker for my license plate renewal and I need to get it down and onto the licence plate before I lose it and forget about it. I will be doing that today. No baseball until 4.

First I need a shower. I hate getting sweaty so much. See paragraph 1 above.

I have a Pixel watch that I really like but once in a while I really really like it. Yesterday, when I walked into the Dollar Store, I realized it was not on my wrist. Fuck. I went back to the car. No joy. I had been in the apartment, then tossed something into the trash and then got into the car. So there were only a few places, I hoped, it could have fallen off.

Inside the store, I remembered to fire up 'where are my devices'. I selected the watch and it said the watch was right there... at the dollar store. So back to the car and, sure enough, in the door pocket where I had reached in to get a tissue, it was. WHEW. (When I got home, I traded that OEM band for one of my Google ones - no chance it will fail.)

This morning, I was peeing when the phone rang. The phone was in the living room. I could see on my watch that it was the finance guy. My watch lets me answer but I only tried it once in test a long time ago. But, I hit answer and heard him and told him to hang on a second and he said ok and then I even had time to go get my earphones and turn them on. It was perfect.

I do love this watch. I have an insurance policy for it. But, I just checked, and I'm screwed if it falls off and I don't find it. No more OEM bands.

I did 20 minutes on the bike. I hated it but I did it. Now I'm sweaty. So shower time.

It's only in the last few June's that being a Pride Ally has been a thing and I relish it. I'm not gay and I don't want to appropriate but I sure do want to show support. This year is even better. There's a big basket down at the front desk that is full of rainbow pride bracelets and really nice, quarter size lapel pins that nail my sentiment exactly.



I love that Timber Ridge does this. We have very few, if any, out residents, but a giant portion of the staff is very young and very gay. It would be easy for Timber Ridge to ignore Pride so I am especially grateful that they do not and I'll be wearing my pin every day, thank you.

I got a text from Martha last night asking if I could make her a Pride doll. You betcha.

It's Julio's turn in the sun patch this morning. He turns 3 this month.

This morning I plan to be at the Dollar Store when they open at 9. I have a list. Then right home for the Phillies game which starts at 10. They got the skin ripped right off their ass yesterday. Time for a bounce back. I tried to listen to some of the Mariners game but just could not. I followed it on the gameday website and they finally won in the 11th inning.

My WAY too expensive Litter Robot is acting up. I do like it but I don't like fucking with it. It needs to be taken apart and cleaned up with some bits replaced and I'm just not doing that. So yesterday I looked at replacements. There's no clear fabulous alternative. But, then I got struck by a reality bolt. Here in this apartment, I don't need no stinkin' automated litter box. I now have a crystal clear knowledge of their bathroom schedule and it's steady so easy to manage, plus, there is a shoot down to a dumpster just two doors down from here. So I'm going to just let this Litter Robot go until it dies and then replace it with a simple box.

My last monster/robot flew the coop yesterday so after Martha's Pride doll, I need to crank up that machine again.

Not at much sun today but still... guess we'll have to take turns. Maybe I should put a little calendar up there so they will know whose turn it is.



The house money hit my Stifel account last night so now I can actually see it. Shortly thereafter, I got a note last night from Bret saying the funds should be in my account early next week and telling me about an new condo building headache (he's on the board). What a relief to it is to know that every single bit of it - Bret and the entire building are no longer my problem.

My own new chapter begins.

Last night's ABBA party was pretty fun. The band was perfect for the setting. They looked like a Halloween party gone wrong and they sounded only a little better. BUT they pretty much perfectly matched the impared eyesight and hearing of their audience.



The guy in the Hawaiian shirt was hilarious. His wife (that's her ass there in the bottom left corner) is quite the go getter. She runs the pea patch program here and is always trying to get me to help her teach the middle schoolers how to knit and crochet oh and she has this great yellow lab, Apple, who entertains the nursing unit people and is always everywhere. She was having a good time but not nearly as good as her husband. When the band hit the first note, he started dancing. He cannot stand without falling over and he kept trying to get up and dance. Finally, she took him out in his chair to the dance floor and man, that grin on his face is now probably permanent. They were a joy to watch.

Lots of people danced. Bonny was there across the room, I couldn't see who she was sitting with but she was dancing with all kinds of different partners. Timber Ridge had set up a sparkly photo booth and they took really nice color photos and then instantly printed them - 5x7's and handed them over. Huge hit with everyone.
I left at their first break so I don't know how long it went on but it was just fun.

We have elbow coffee this morning. I just ordered lunch with a pickup time scheduled so that after elbow coffee, I will need to kill 30 minutes. Those 30 minutes I will kill on the bike or elliptical or both at the gym. Then I'll pop over and pick up lunch and eat it while I watch the Phillies hopefully not lose again today.

I have nothing on the calendar coming up any time soon. This is lovely.

I think I'll go take a shower and get dressed and ready for the day.