Condo-Manium Part III

Taking a break from the quiet, slow day, I ran over to the Play Grocery store for bananas and whatever else needed to fall into the shopping cart. At the prepared foods counter I was able to say hi to my friend Delmar, but not able to visit with him. I wanted to thank him for helping me pick out a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. But, while browsing the display, did I see it, yes, King Ranch Chicken. There has been so much talk of it on LPM Blog I had to get some. Then cooling on the back counter was Beef Pot Pie. So I am very happy with those purchases and the fact their hand painted Thanksgiving cookies were half price, so a couple of those puppies landed in the cart as well. Oh and too good to pass up, caramel flavored coffee on sale. All this a few more things and a 5% off coupon to boot. It was a great day at the grocery store.

I got on the elevator here and could hardly get off on the first floor. There is a very sweet older woman who lives on the second floor and she always stands in front of the door, thus I cannot get off and she begins to crowd me trying to get in. There is another lady here that does this, but she is so cranky I usually get miffed with her over the whole impasse thing. On the way in from the store, I was greeted by one of my newer neighbors. I have one of those faces that look like someone else. So she stops me and asks me about my feet. I tell her they are fine. I think she is asking me this because I limp all the time from my hurting knees. I don't even notice I limp anymore, it has become a lifestyle. So this sweet neighbor begins to give me blessings...bless the Lord, your feet feel better...no more bunions, no more pain. No more crutches and a life to be lived as a blessing. And with that, she is on her way to the dumpster with her trash. Now, I am not one to look a blessing in the mouth, but I kind of felt bad cause she has mistaken me for someone else, who is probably still on crutches and sweet neighbor will be puzzled at the setback. I wanted to say something, but the only words out of my mouth was thank you.

I am worried about my anorexic neighbor. I usually see her walking in the halls about 3-4 times a day. Maybe she is on vacation during the holidays. Once I was behind her at the play grocery store. She had like two things that seems to my recall, they were salad related. Of course I had a cart full of things. She looked at me with disbelief that two people would require this much food. She doesn't understand me and the play grocery store, it is all about fun and what they carry that other stores don't have.

There is a woman down the hall that if for some reason I would die, she would be here with a casserole for Roy just about the time my dead body would be gurneyed out of here. She tells me all the time how nice he looks and what a fine man he is. Uh, yea, I know these things. She then tells me in that left-handed way that he is too good for me and that she understands men. Last time I looked honey, you haven't dated anyone the whole 14 years we have lived down the hall from each other. In fact for several years, she just thought I was the sister or cousin or cleaning lady for all that matters. You got to love a man like Roy who has taken Joseph's biblical lead. If she holds the elevator for him and it's just him, he thanks her and then runs up the stairs to be in our door before she gets off the elevator. I have run into her twice in the last 24 hours, each time both of us wearing workout clothes. Yesterday, I was on my way to practice dancing with Peggy...and today...it is comfortable clothes. So, she tells me both times, oh making a fresh start at working out? I would have told her yesterday, I was going to go dance with another woman, which she would never understand and be at the front door with a casserole wanting to console Roy over this development.

There is another single woman who lives on the second floor. She has retired from Exxon but she works contract for them from time to time. Unfortunately while she was younger she was too emotionally tied to her boss and his family and married to her job. When he retired and moved back north, she came to her senses that life and maybe even a chance at love had passed her by. She said she was experiencing post traumatic stress disorder from giving her best to her job and really never experiencing much of life. So for the past several years she has been on an on and off again workout routine. She joined a church and has done a little traveling with newly found friends. I am really happy for her not waiting too late to become a little more fluid and taking some chances at adventure. She is contemplating laser eye surgery. She wears glasses and anytime she talks to men, whether they are married or not, she takes off her glasses. She thinks she is more interesting sans glasses. I think she is giving herself eye wrinkles cause she is squinting the whole time. We don't see her as much anymore cause she is out doing new things and making new friends. To tell you the truth when I first met her, I didn't think she had it in her to adjust and make such dramatic changes.

Our Asian Pacific neighbors have gone back to...China for a short trip. It is a family with two grown children residing with the parents. Now it is usually a quiet place here, but the four of them fight like cats and dogs much of the time. We can hear them when we are in the kitchen, banging stuff and yelling. Or it could be this is their way of cooking. When we see the parents in the hall, they are so soft spoken we can barely hear them say hello.

Weird guy that lives down the hall is home for the holidays. It has been plenty cool and he is wearing these horribly short and tight nylon mesh shorts. Somebody needs to tell him to stop wearing those shorts. This looks like a job for casserole lady down the hall.

Well, that is the happenings around here. I really need to go memorize some lines, but I had this condo report rattling around me for a couple of days. Don't worry, once I get back into the work routine, I won't be blogging so much.