Part Deux Day Out And a 19th Birthday

 

Today it's Princess T's 19th Birthday, they grow up so fast!  I've re-written this Post twice already, I was rambling and fatigued.  Better now, The Man and I got back to Center by having a day to ourselves.  We attended the Halloween Event again and I did get him another Cowboy Custom Hat from Brittany.  I wasn't gonna, but, The Son had given me Money and told us to have a good time with it, so, we did... eating out and getting him his Hat.  It's all we got, but I'd gotten my Halloween pressies on Opening Day so it was only fair.   The Man had a big time Socializing with everyone, he was having an exceptionally lucid day and doing really well.  It's good when he has days like that, we have a good time like old times.   He wanted to go do Environmental Cleanup at the River Bottom since it's the Weekend, we did, and pulled about 25 lbs. of Aluminum Cans out in just a little over 30 Minutes.  It was a balmy Cooler Day, in the low 80's for most of it.   We turned Cans in at the Recycle Center and it paid for our Brunch that we ate out.

The Niece left a Day earlier than Planned, I don't think anything was Wrong, perhaps she went to spend more time with her Younger Sister in Chandler before heading back to Oklahoma?   She didn't say, but I knew her Nephew's Soccer Game got Cancelled and her Sister neglected to tell her so she'd driven all the way out to Chandler this Morning and woke up real early to make the Game.  Then got there and found out it was Cancelled!   Her Sister had made other Plans, so didn't spend any quality time with her so she came back here, but, since we thought she was spending the whole Day with her Sister and the Kiddos, we'd made our Plans and weren't Home either.   The Son and Daughter were here for her to spend Time with, but they said she still left early and didn't say 
Why, we'd expected her to stay thru Sunday.   I Hope everything is okay with Family and Work?   She'd left me a Touching Note Card with a NetFlix Gift Certificate in it. 

On Opening Day of one of the Two Halloween Events Hosted at The Sweet, this Gal {above} was in Line behind me.   So Cute, Loved her sense of Style, her American Traditional Tattoos and that Cute little Handbag.  It's always Fun to meet people in Line while we're waiting to get in and talk with them.   If they attend regularly you get to know one another really well and become Friendly.   At the Halloween Events several Customers will come in Costumes or Themed Ensembles that are Holiday Inspired, that's part of the Fun of it.  But, this Gal dresses like this all the time, it's not a Costume, it's her Lifestyle and preferred Aesthetic and she totally Rocks it and Lives it.   If  you're Passionate and Confident about your Sense of Style and Aesthetic, you will always look good with it and Rock it.   Be authentic to Self and you'll never go Wrong.

The Niece contacted me and let me know everything was Fine and she's just spending Time with her Sister and the Kids.   Her Sister has Two Kids, a Daughter whose Grown and a Teen Son, since The Niece doesn't have Children she's a devoted Aunt to both of her Sister's Children.   This Sister is her Youngest Sister, the Middle Sister has Twins, a Boy and a Girl, and lives in Texas where their Dad lives.   I was Besties with their Mom, who Died of Cancer way too Young, but don't have anything to do with their Dad, not a good Guy.   The Oldest Daughter and Youngest Daughter have nothing to do with him either, just the Middle one, who, like him, has significant and very similar Issues.   So, it's very complicated with their Middle Sister and I haven't heard from her in Years or seen her since their Mom Died and we held a Memorial.  The Oldest Daughter is closer to our Family than her own, so spends more Quality Time with us.

Family dynamics can be so complicated and it's always sad when Families are estranged or aren't at all close.   But, in some cases it's for the best, and for The Niece, it's for the best.  For her own Sanity and well being, and we try to be as supportive as you can be as surrogate Family who Love her like she's one of our own.   The Younger Sister is very self-involved, I have had some contact since their Mom's Death, but not very much.   She really doesn't have a lot of contact or make Time for her Oldest Sister even when she Travels all the way to Arizona to visit from Oklahoma and try to spend Quality Time.  But, I'm glad that Today The Niece did get to spend most of the Day with them after all, she really wanted to, even if it was just with the Two Kids and not her Sister.  I told her I hoped it had all gone Well, even if it wasn't all she expected for it to be.  Her expectations are more realistic now, they've had to be.  If Family doesn't make Time for you, then their Priorities become obvious.

She'll be stopping by early in the Morning on her way out of Town to return to Oklahoma, to say Good-Bye to us and pick up her Laptop Charger, which she accidentally forgot and left behind Today.  She Works from Home on her Laptop, so really needs it.   She's a Computer Programmer and Writes all the Systems/Programs for the Large Company she works for, which does all kinds of Print Work, Globally.  She's a legit Genius too so she and The Young Prince get along and have those Deep MENSA type conversations that are way over our Heads.  *LOL*   I forgot to take some Pixs while she was here, with her and the Family, I had thought she'd be spending more time at our house actually and so we ran out of Time to have the Photo Ops this time, unfortunately.   So, she sends me some Pixs via FB so I'd have some current ones. {Her Below}

Below are some Pixs of one of my Granddaughters and her Daughter, the newest Great-Grandchild... whose Three Months Old already.   I'm glad that most of the Grandkids take loads of Pixs and Share them.   Our Daughters never did, The Son was only slightly better.   The Man never takes Pixs unless he goes Hunting... and I don't want Pixs of anything just Killed, not my Jam.   He is a Hunter, but my Rule was anything he brought Home for us to Eat had to come Home looking just like he'd picked it up at the Grocery Store.  *LOL*   I don't mind Taxidermy, but only Buy Antique and Vintage Taxidermy.  The only exception is when Ivara the Chameleon Died on my Watch when The Young Prince left his Reptiles with me to Care for when he moved to Washington State.  I had Ivara preserved at "Curious Nature" as a Wet Specimen for the Grandson and now he has her immortalized and took her.   She cost me a lot to have put to Sleep when she was Dying and even more to be Immortalized.  Exotic Pets are expensive even when Alive tho'.

 Princess T just wants Pho at her fav Vietnamese Restaurant for her Birthday Bash out, she's very Simplistic that way and doesn't want a fuss.   She probably only wants me taking her and not take this whole Show on the Road.  *LOL*   Well, there's reasons for that of coarse, given this Circus and these Monkeys.  *Winks*   Timmy took her out Yesterday Night to Celebrate and hang out, I don't know about whatever Rusty, her Boyfriend, is Planning.   This is why I didn't presume to monopolize her Time on her Birthday.   Even tho' she's a notorious introvert, she might have Planned something with her Friends and Boyfriend?  I still don't know, she'd told me she wanted Pho if I took her out for her Birthday, so, that's what we'll do for Lunchtime and I'm good with that.    

I let her order her Pressies Online some time ago and she already got them delivered.   She's Sleeping In and The Man said she got Home quite early last Night from whatever she and Timmy did.  I'd already gone to Bed so The Man stayed up until she got Home.  We take turns doing that, she doesn't go Out often so we stay up until we know she got Home safely.  Timmy, Jaden and Matthew or even Rusty have been great about getting her Home at a decent time and safely, but, you still always want to make sure all the Kiddos are Safe and Sound.  I still do it with the Adult Kiddos that Live with us and they're Middle Aged now!  *LOL*  Your Kiddos will always still be your Kiddos and I let them all know that tho' they're Grown Ass Adults living with us, I'd like to know they're Safe, so, just keep us lightly informed.  If you're NOT coming Home, just say so.  If you're going out, they usually volunteer where and with whom, just as a Courtesy too, we do the same when The Man and/or I go out anywhere.  She told me this Morning that perhaps Timmy and Jaden broke up this Morning, they were with her last Night and together... so... Tea Spilling is in order.  *LOL*

In fact, the Adult Kiddos and Adult Grandkids all worry about us as if we're Children, and, I Get It, so, we ease their Minds by letting them know when we're leaving to go out, where, what, who, when we expect to return {if we know}.  If we don't know when we expect to return, they check up on us by Phone to make sure we're still Good and Okay?  *LOL*   Whenever I Work the Night Shift, someone stays up to make sure I get Home safely, and, it is appreciated.  You know if something unforetold happened, they'd be looking for you and making inquiries, then going to the Police post haste.  You wouldn't be that Person whose been missing for Days and nobody noticed or nobody Cared enough to wonder Why and be concerned about you.   I know when I do hear about some Poor Soul that happens to, I'm like, WHAT, absolutely nobody gave a shit about this Person, or noticed their absence, WTF?!  It's tragic, they should have mattered more than that.  I've got Clerk at Stores that notice when I'm missing for a while and get concerned about me!

Anyway, on the Right is the Book I bought, I'd of liked to have Owned both Halloween Books, but, they were expensive Books.  Well, what Books at full Retail aren't expensive now, right?  *Le Sigh*  I am a Book Addict, I LOVE Books and have a vast Library.  I used to Sell a lot of my Books too at the Antique Mall.  Every once in a while I still do but some Vendors Specialize in being Booksellers so, it's not my Genre of Product to have the Book Clientele mob my Space for their Reading Materials.  *LOL*   Mostly now I Sell Cookbooks that I put into my Fiesta Ware Displays as part of the Vintage Kitchenware Vignette.  I Sell them easily, but haven't sorted thru my Library to Purge it for a while, that can be Labor Intensive in Downsizing my Book Stash.  *Smiles*  Neither of these Books could be Sourced secondhand, so, I decided to just Buy one at full Retail.  Some Hardcover become Scarce to Source at all later on and especially if they go out of Publication.  Nobody had it Cheaper, not even Amazon. 

So, my Black Widow Necklace, my Mannequins and the Book were my Retail Therapy Purchases for Halloween.  I always keep a Budget for my Halloween Holiday spending every Year so I can indulge in a few select items.   Princess T was so Sweet, she said that now she's Working, she can Buy some things I want or need, since I've always bought her whatever she needs or want all her Life, Bless her.  Granted, what she Sells at the Antique Mall has funded a lot of her wants since she's been a Teenager, she began Selling Off her Collections there with me when she turned 13.  But, she's always helped me there even when she didn't have a Space of her own or Shared one with me.   So, she's always been about Working alongside me or Selling what she has of Value once she's Over it.   She's already absorbing a LOT about the Industry of Chazza Resale now she's Working at one and eager to Share that Knowledge with me.  It's quite Interesting to hear how the Biggest ones Operate successfully.   SAVERS is quite selective about what they put out on the Sales Floor apparently.

This Antique Mercantile Haberdashery Cabinet so perfectly matches the Two larger ones I already have that Big Kenny is gonna Hold it for me until I can pay him for it next Month.  He's got an excellent price on it and bought it from our Friend Katy, who was one of the Founders of SWEET SALVAGE and recently moved to Oklahoma.  I was supposed to meet her for Lunch before her Move and Buy some things from her but Life got in the way for both of us and Big Kenny did make it out to her place to Buy tho'.   Honestly, so much was going on with me financially to do Home Improvements and Maintenance Crisis, that I had to divert Funds to things like that unexpectedly anyway.  She has the Primo Merch tho' and is like a Twin separated at Birth from me Aesthetic wise so I was bummed, she was gonna give me First Picks at First Cousin Deal Prices.   I Love this Seafoam Green and Kenny always gives me a Friend Hookup too.

I'm being very Selective about the Furnishing I Purchase for The RV Garage Mahal Project to replace all the Furnishings I Sold Off during my own Move here.   I don't care how long it takes to Source the very best pieces, that's part of the Fun of it, but they are needed to Style, Decorate and hold/display the Smalls that I Kept during our Move.  We Sold Off mostly our larger possessions and Katy did the same, since, they were building their Dream Ranch in Oklahoma, so didn't want to have to Store things for a long period of time or pay to Move them.  Plus, the Midwest has a better selection of Antique Furnishings than the West does IMO.  People kept them and more Older Structures exist, here they just kept tearing them down. 

  I'd say Phoenix and it's surrounding Sister Cities, though huge and sprawling, Lost about 95% of it's History due to Gentrification and Urban Sprawl.  A real pity, since, at the turn of the Century Phoenix had more Millionaires than most places with means to build impressive Structures that were Lost.  I saw so many of them go the way of the Wrecking Ball in the early 1970's and many were Lost long before then.  Almost anything that was Historic and Rural was destroyed when the City grew up around it.   The Victorian Mansions were abundant, they probably have less than a Hundred now in Metro Phoenix, only a few more from the earlier 1900's Architectural Styles.  Such a tremendous Loss since I'd of definitely Bought one had they preserved more of them like a lot of smarter Major Cities have for Heritage Tourism.  Preservation here is usually fought by greedy deep pocket Investors and Developers who Pay Off City Officials to tear anything down regardless of Historic significance.

I've taken so long to Create this Post, my Mind has been very scattered and my Moods all over the place.    I'm Bipolar, but my Mixed Episodes are usually rare and mostly I'm Manic and not Depressed, so I have more Ups than Downs usually.   I can't even say this has been a Downswing so much as it's been Pressures and Issues of Life I'm just wearing down under the weight of right now.   I guess anyone would be weary of a lot of shit going sideways and having to just Deal with it on The Fly without sufficient Resources to do so.  I don't like Debt, usually don't carry a lot of it, right now I got more of it than I'm comfortable with.  Yes, I can pay it off and early, but, it's gonna take some time for some of it, not so much for the smaller Loans already close to being Paid Off.  I'd rather pay Cash for everything we need or want tho'.   

When shit comes up that you just can't, well, it gets me out of my comfort zone of being as Debt Free as possible, especially on a Fixed Income.  I don't usually worry about Finances since I Budget well, but, right now it's a worry to me since, I know getting another Job or Career to supplement Income is pretty much out of the question.   I can't be a Full Time Unpaid Caregiver and go get a Full Time Paid Job, not enuf coverage at Home or Hours in the Day to do both either.   Plus, Social Security still penalizes Seniors who qualify to receive their SSN but also need or want to still Work.   I wish they'd lift that restriction, it's not necessary, Social Security is an Earned Benefit we paid into, it's not Charity.  

 I mean $22,320 is not a whole helluva lot more to be allowed to Earn.  I wanna be able to earn an unlimited amount, not a less than Minimum Wage amount... that's ridiculous, the Minimum Wage of Arizona would Net you only $31,200 annually.   So, you'd still be penalized for earning an unlivable Wage to supplement even a Disability Pension.   And, regardless of how much Debt, Medical or otherwise, that a Senior can and often does encounter and have to Deal with on their Fixed Incomes.  All Seniors want to keep their FICO Scores they worked hard to build up, high enuf to get preferential rates when they do have to Finance a major Purchase.   Pretty hard to do that when your Debt to Income Ratio erodes due to not being allowed to Earn more in order to receive an Entitlement you Paid into for the Privilege of being able to Retire in your Old Age.   It's not that I wanna HAVE to or be FORCED to Work until an Age where it's so hard.  I'd be Okay NOT Working, you hear me?  *LOL*

I like to do Hobbies that can Earn me discretionary income tho', becoz a Hobby isn't like Work to me, it's enjoyable and recreational.  A lot of Hobbies cost you Money but don't earn you any Income, mine always do, or, they wouldn't be my choice of a Hobby.  *LOL*   I think it to be a Bonus to earn Money on doing what you Love and don't have to do, but choose to do anyway.   I'd probably do it even if it didn't earn me anything, but, the fact it does, is fantastic.  I did a lot of Volunteer Work for Decades that I never got Paid to do, and that's different than a Hobby.  I don't have to get Paid to do Charitable Work for a Good Cause and for the benefit of someone else.    I used to do at least 20 Hours of Volunteer Work every Week while also Working Demanding Corporate Careers, it can be done, you don't have to be Retired to do Charitable Work.   People sometimes assume all Seniors can and will Volunteer more, that's also a Myth, some can't... or won't... and most have busy Lives and not idle ones.

When I Volunteered, most of our Volunteers were not Seniors, most were Younger Volunteers.   The majority of them also had Full Time Paid Jobs they juggled with their Volunteer Work Schedules.   There were usually more Female Volunteers than Male Volunteers from my Decades of Observations.   Most Volunteers enjoyed doing it and so had done it for Years and not just a One-Off.   I very seldom met a Wealthy Volunteer, but, most of the Wealthy were giving their Money to Charitable Causes, which, whether it's giving of your Time, Talents or Treasures, it's all Valuable and appreciated for whatever Cause is behind the doing of it.   A big Financial Donation is just as valuable as a Volunteer Donating their Time and Talents regularly.   Even smaller Donations done consistently, can make a big impact, so, never discount  your small contributions, whatever they are.  Or, use it as a handy excuse to do nothing at all.

 

Loved the Quote on this T-Shirt, but, they didn't have it in my Size.   And, I got plenty of Wardrobe, so, I rarely pay Retail for any unless it's a Statement Piece now.   We like getting our Wardrobe from Chazzas and finding Specialty or Vintage Clothing opposed to anything Modernly Mass Produced and more Common and Ordinary.   A lot of Statement Pieces now cost too much so aren't within Budget and I'm reluctant to Justify a Statement Piece Purchase when it's expensive.   Rare that I do and it usually is a Brand I'm very much in Lust with, which, there are a scant few and the piece better be Killer and look Ahhhmazing.  *Smiles*   If I Buy One Statement Piece every Five Years, that's about average for me and it's something I'll keep for Years too and wear often to get my Money's Worth out of it.

I just think that most Retail Wardrobe these days is overpriced and not worth what they're asking for it.   And a lot of Designers now are relying on their Brand Name and the Quality isn't there anymore either.  Most outsource the Production of their Brand to Third World Countries utilizing Cheap Labor and even Cheaper Materials to Mass Produce it, then wanna charge a fortune as if it's Couture... forget about it.   A lot of Popular Brands I find almost comical too, becoz they have a Famous Name and Brand that's highly coveted, ridiculously expensive, and yet the Product is fucking hideous or tacky!   Coach Brand comes to Mind becoz Mom Loved the Brand and had some of their Bags back when they were Classy looking and before they went Tacky with the Material covered with hideous C's as the Design and Recognition.   

 Most of their Bags to me are very Meh and not exceptional, especially not for the price point being charged.   Chanel is even worse, their Logo on a hideous or ordinary looking Bag isn't worth several Grand IMO and I'm not Impressed nor would I give it a 2nd look.   If that's how someone wants to spend their Money that's fine, taste and preferences are very subjective really.   What is tacky or tasteless to one person would be coveted by another so whatever.   I know I like over-the-top OOAK Fashions over plain ones, and some folks gravitate towards something Simple and Elegant, it's all Good.   If you Love wearing what you've paid good Money for, then it was worth it to you to Buy it.  If, however, you got it to conform to what everyone else convinced you is Trendy, Upscale, Fashionable or Cutting Edge and you really weren't drawn to it Naturally, then, you're probably not being authentic to Self or perhaps are letting other people tell you how to Be and Dictate your Style.

   *******

Happy Autumn from the Arizona Desert... Dawn... The Bohemian