The Boss Bitch

 We only have Three Days left on our NetFlix Account that The Son pays for but he says he's renewing it for me, Bless him.  I've been watching the newly added NetFlix Comedy Series "Leanne" which stars a favorite Comedian, Leanne Morgan, whose hilarious.   All of the Cast are great too in it and I just Binge watched Three Episodes.  But, with the Adult ADHD, no matter how good something is, I have to take a break or I get really restless and lose focus.   I ate a whole Bag of Popcorn watching it tho'.  *Le Sigh and LOL*

Tomorrow is Payday, The Man's Pension and Disability Checks hit, mine hit Mid-Month, as do our Social Security Checks, if they come on time.  It just happens to be Payday for the Antique Mall's Pay Period too but that Check is paltry again after operating expenses.  The Mall has been real busy but what Customers are buying is Pokemon Cards and shit like that, not quality Vintage items, quality Collectibles, or Antiques.  *Le Sigh*  I don't want to resort to being a Crap Hawker tho', so I'm trying to find our niche that will still produce some residual discretionary Hobby Income that helps us Downsize. 

There's lots I can Sell, but the dilemma right now is, will Customers be in the Market to Buy it?  It's all so random, there's not really any of The Good Stuff that is Trending and people are worried about the Economy and being able to afford what they actually NEED.   I'm not spending freely either, everything necessary has gone up in price, so it leaves even less for what isn't necessary.  I'm even buying in bulk, stuff we use a lot, I just bought 50 freshly made Corn Tortillas at the Carniceria, still piping Hot!  And even at the smaller Indie Businesses prices are already up too.

I'm still one Unpublished Post ahead, whoop whoop!   I've been anchored at Home after The Man got out of Hospital, taking Care of him Post Surgery, so I've needed to Blog more.   He's behaving and taking it easy, so I can't complain, but even that behavior is making The Daughter nervous, her Dad usually is more animated and resistant to doing what his Docs tell him to do.  So, she asked me if I think he's not feeling Well enuf to misbehave?   I was thinking it just gave him a Scare, but then her saying that got me to thinking perhaps he's not feeling Well still and is not wanting to tell anyone... out of Fear too?  

So now I do have a measure of Anxiety about him, becoz he is very despondent and subdued, which, isn't like his usual Self.  It would be understandable for him to be nervous about yet another Surgery just like what he went thru.  He knows his first one took Three times longer than it should have, which, leads us to wonder what complications happened during it that they didn't really say anything about?  You do feel very conflicted about receiving too much information, since on the one hand you might not wanna know and it's better if he doesn't know, especially.  I will know more Tomorrow Morning {Friday in Real Time}, at the Cardiologist Follow-Up.

Then we have another Follow-Up with his Primary VA Doc on the 4th of August.  That is more to get Dr. Kline up to speed on what the Civilian Specialist Dr. Singh is doing for him and to get the new Med regimen he MUST have, Blessed and covered by the VA.   I know Dr. Kline won't be Happy that The Man hasn't wanted to come in more regularly.  But, there's not much they really do for him except prescribe refills on his existing Meds and try to keep him piping along.  When you seem to be stable enough and not having serious problems, it's just too much to drag him in to Docs all the time, it makes him agitated and upset.

Sometimes the Medical Docs don't want to accept the fact that when someone is suffering from Brain Injury or Age related Cognitive decline, or even Mental Illness or Developmental Disability, they are very often resistant to Care.  This makes it difficult for the Caregivers to force someone they're Caring for to doing something they don't want to do or refuse to do, or even MUST do, it's a delicate balance to do what's enough and necessary, but not too much for them to Cope with.  And a lot of the Scheduling of Appointments gets carried away and then you're juggling a Calendar full of them with everything else Life requires of you.

If we don't have to juggle a packed Calendar filled with Medical shit, we'd rather not.   And just enjoy Quality of Life over the chance of Quantity of it being extended by extreme measures that line the Pockets of the Medical Community and Big Pharma, you know?   They'd otherwise run as many Tests and shit, prescribe as many drugs, and be seen as many times as they can get an Insurance Coverage to pay out or a Patient to owe them that isn't covered.   Yes, I'm a huge skeptic of The System becoz if you have no Money, or no Coverage, it's amazing how often they don't or won't then see you if nobody is getting Paid.  Then it's a "You'll be Fine...", even if you will not be.

We just got back from the Cardiologist, Dr. Singh agreed with me that they wouldn't have the Resources available for The Man's complex Medical Conditions to do the next Surgery on an Out Patient Basis, so they will Hospitalize him at Banner for it like last time.  I'm relieved to hear that.  Dr. Singh also said both Arteries were ready to fail so time is of the essence, tho' they corrected the worst one first, they're already scheduling the other one now and will get back with us about when it will be scheduled.  They're putting him on another Cholesterol Med since he has that Hereditary high Cholesterol that existing Meds and Diet don't help enuf and that's what's the problem.  His Younger Brother just had Quadruple Bypass Surgery due to the same Hereditary factors. 

We like Dr. Singh, he'll be seeing The Man regularly now about once every Six Months after this 2nd Surgery, just to keep check on his levels of Heart function.  The Man was Okay with that, it wasn't overwhelming to him.  Dr. Singh has a great bedside manner and we appreciate that since The Man is adverse to any Doc he doesn't Like or who is too Preachy or condescending, this Doctor isn't like that at all, really nice Guy and an excellent Cardiologist.  He's East Indian but his English is perfect and his Accent isn't strong at all, so The Man can also understand him without me interpreting, which is also helpful, since, The Man isn't good with accents.  But most Doctors and Specialists now aren't originally from the United States and are Immigrants.  Yet another reason Immigrants are vital to America.

So, I had a big Issue with The Son last Night and he may have to decide to make other Arrangements.   He's the only one living here who seems Unhappy with his Arrangements, and so I told him that then perhaps he need to make other Arrangements.  I returned his August contribution that is the Arrangement I have with him. With his Autism and his Drinking, he doesn't always get along and play well with others, plus, he gets into Arguments with everyone, and nobody else wants to tolerate that.  Nobody else wants him in their business, coz it's none of his business.

 We all prefer Harmony and no Conflict, period, end of Story.   His biggest problem is he gets in everyone's else's Lane and steps in their Waters.  He presumes to tell everyone how to Live their Life and run their Household, and he's not in Charge of anyone and this is not his Household, and he's not even running his own Life well enuf to pontificate.  I tell every other Adult, not just him, Listen, I been Grown a long time and have always Handled my Business, so, stay in your own Lane.  And if you step in my Waters you better be a damned strong Swimmer.  What Arrangements I make with each individual is none of your damned business, you only worry about OUR Arrangement I have with you.

If he's gonna fuss with and keep upsetting everyone, he's gotta Go and that's just how it is.   So, we had a long drawn out Come To Jesus, mostly about his Drinking, and, I'll give him the chance to be more Harmonious, but if he can't manage it, he's got to Go coz we all need and require the Harmony.  So, anyone disruptive to that has to Go and make other Arrangements.   He's decided he'd rather work on his Drinking than have to leave and be banished from The Asylum, so, we'll see how that goes.  He kicked Dangerous Drugs on his own, and the Alcohol was the next Substance Abuse Issue to tackle anyway to get Clean AND Sober, so, I'm rooting for him being Victorious over it too.  Whatever Pressure needs to be exacted in Tough Love to that End will be put on him tho'.

Other than that hiccup, everything is Swell.  *Bwahahahaha*  It's always something with the Usual Suspects here at The Asylum.  He gave me back the August Money and he'll still pay for NetFlix renewal, so all is now Well in Paradise.  *Winks*  His new Girlfriend he has managed not to Drink around coz she has Zero Tolerance for it since her Dad did Die from the effects of chronic Alcoholism, and she's aware those of us with Indigenous Heritage have a huge problem with the Fire Water.  Which is why some of us avoid it.   If I drank I'd be a raging Mean Drunk and probably an Alcoholic... my Life would likely go to shit due to it, so, I just don't do it.

The Son is cooking me a Lunch before I go to Work now, so, he's in total Sucking Up to Mom Mode.  Which, I will take full Advantage of, Trust and Believe, with any and all of them.  *Winks*   Becoz lest any of The Flying Monkeys here forget, I am The Wicked Witch Of The West... and the Boss Bitch around here.  *Cackle*  And I'm not just "A" Bitch, I'm THE Bitch, and that will be Mrs. Bitch to anyone who dares Cross me.   I've never bowed down to no Man and I never will.  Rack 'em... I've been known in the Corporate World Lives I Lived as a Ball Breaker and they Paid me Handsomely to be the best one they could possibly afford!!!  I'm what Donnie Two Dolls Fears about a Woman and has called "A Nasty Woman"... and I'd be The Nastiest and proudly receive that Moniker.  *Smiles Wickedly* 

And speaking of the Orange Liar In Chief, apparently he's now killing the Messengers if they report the Truth and has Fired the BLS Commissioner following a weaker than expected Jobs Report.  Clearly he wants to replace anyone speaking Truth with those willing to Lie for him to the American Public to hide the Negative Truths this White House is responsible for.  He can't blame it on previous Administrations now, he has to Own what's gonna happen from here on out, so furthering expanding the Big Cover Up now begins.  The "Nothing To See Here" Spin begins in earnest.

Work went well, it was sporadically busy until just before Closing and then it was Crazy busy and we didn't get out of there until half an Hour after Closing!   With long lines at the Registers with the last Minute folks not even coming up to checkout until AFTER we were Closed, most with full Carts of stuff.   Why so many people do that, I don't understand?  Announcements are made from 8:00 p.m. thru 9:00 p.m. announcing when we'll be Closing and how much time they only have.  *Le Sigh*  Three of the Four of us were fill-ins again, but Yolanda and Carrie are very good to work with and have become as regular as fill-ins as I am now when the people whose Shifts it is don't or can't show up!  Carrie came in at the wire coz whoever she was filling in for apparently didn't even call in to say they wouldn't be there!  My Friend Judith was there and it's her regular Shift, but she hadn't shown up last Week.

Anyway, the fill-ins were talking about how much longer this practice is likely to go on with regular Shift Workers bailing on their Shifts, either in advance or with no warnings?   It's hard to say since so many people who have permanent Shifts are either Aging Out now and having a myriad of Health Issues, Dying, or are the flakey No-Shows or on Endless Vacations.   The ones who go on half a dozen annual Cruises or more are on Vacation so much during the Year, that I don't know why they accept permanent Shifts at all, they're not there half the Year it seems to Honor that commitment.  They should just sign up as fill-ins themselves, but, it seems fewer Vendors want a permanent Shift now.  I know I don't anymore, I just can't squeeze it in to Life to commit to a Shift long term now.

Of coarse even tho' The Mall is busy, Sales are stagnant unless you're Selling Pokemon or Sports Cards these days, that's what 90% of the Buyers there are Fixated upon!  *Le Sigh*  Judith, who specializes in better quality Antiques and Collectibles, got frustrated that all Night long, with Three Pages filled up of mostly Help at the Locked Cases, almost all of it was at the Pokemon Cases!!!   In fact, we Log Work done on those Pages and Two and a Half out of her Three Pages was Pokemon Sales! Which is rather ridiculous and disheartening to the rest of us who aren't exclusively Pokemon Hawkers.  *LOL and Le Sigh*   I mostly helped Customers at the Locked Cases holding Sports Cards that Night and did Go Backs of other Merch Customers changed their Minds on that weren't Cards.  And it's time consuming to Open those Cases as they wade thru each Card of Hundreds being Offered.

Most of the time now we take a huge Box of Cards out of a Locked Case, walk them up to the Greeter Desk and have them wade thru it there so that Key Dealers aren't stuck at One Case for so long and can't Help other Customers.  Some of those Customers will spend Hours wading thru Cards, taking up a lot of Employee time and then not Buy anything, or mebbe a $3 Card, so it's a huge Time Waster and makes coverage for other Customers delayed and not able to provide adequate Customer Service due to the "Card" People consuming all your time and all the resources of available Staff.   We had some Customers wanting help with Furniture too that Night, so it was taking Paid Staff away from the Registers all Night too coz they were the Younger Men able to help with large Furniture and load it for the Buyers.  Antique Furniture usually is a hard Turn these days, but this Friday Night a lot of it was being Bought.

Of coarse a lot of those Furniture Customers looked like they were not Locals, you can always tell the Tourist Visitors, mostly by how they dress.   If they come in dressed like Drugstore Cowboys and Drugstore Cowgirls, NOT from Arizona.   But they're in what used to be the Wild West, so I guess they figure that's how you dress when you come to Arizona, I dunno?   I can't imagine anyone dressing like that all the time?  But, mebbe they do in some States?  Just not here. *LMAO*  We had a large group of some Young Adult ones that came in dressed like that and bought most of the Antique Furniture.  The Gals had lots of tacky bedazzling on their Cowgirl duds and Boots, and the Guys had tight Jeans that looked Ironed and Starched, they were so crisp... definitely not the Real Deal Cowboys or Cowgirls.  *Bwahahahaha*  When the Real Ranchers and Farmhands come in they look grizzly and have well worn everything, nothing is pristine or even necessarily freshly laundered and clean.

Let us just say if you've seen Lil Naz and Billy Ray Cyrus in their hilarious Video for their hit song "Old Town Road", they looked rather like Naz and Billy did in that!   *Bwahahahaha*   Yeah, you ain't been herding Cattle or working on the Farm or Ranch dressed like that!  *Bwahahahaha*  The group was large and sweet, no idea where they were originally from since I didn't ask.   I did have a Young very nice Asian American Guy come in who owns Comic Book Stores and goes to all the big Shows. He has some Stores in Vegas too, we were talking about the current Crazes/Trends.  And what you can no longer Source abroad due to the Tariff nonsense, especially from Japan where much of it is still Created.   I told him the Japanese Pickers used to come every Quarter, now they don't come at all.  He said he quit Importing or Exporting due to the Tariffs and won't Sell Online to International Buyers due to it.

 He was looking for Super Hero Action Figures, Anime, and Old Video Games for the next Show he'd be doing.  He found some Old Pokemon Gameboy Video Games.   Those that Specialize in such Resale are a wealth of information and often like to talk about it, so I like to Listen.  Then I know what to Scout for specifically that's a Hot item.  *Smiles*  This Guy was so nice, we talked for some time coz it wasn't very busy when he came in and I was learning so much from what he Shared about his Industry.  Customers like him know exactly what they're looking for to Resell and can be the best Customers becoz they have no saturation point and may have upscale Clients needing specific items, so they'll Share info with you to have more Eyes out there in the Field to Source the more illusive Merch at the best price point.   I'll be the Middleman all day long for my Customers in the Industry.  Then we'll all make Money.  The Thrill of the Hunt is my Rush anyway and I'm on Retirement Time to do it.

I know there's Money to be made Hawking Merch like that, but it's just not my Jam to wanna be Selling it or risking ending up with stuff that doesn't Sell that I don't even have any interest in.   So, mostly we still Sell what we'd have in our own Home or Wear ourselves.  The Comic Book Guy Loved my T-Shirt I was wearing, which is like what we have in our Showroom so I told him my Teen Granddaughter and I have a Showroom there and Sell them.  He was gonna go look and I'm not sure if he bought any, but he said it's good to Wear what you're Selling coz it's great Advertisement.  I told him my Grandchild and I have often had people come up and want to Buy the Shirts off our Backs that we're wearing!  *LOL*   If we're layered with a Tank Top underneath the Tee, and aren't too attached to the piece, yeah, we might do it.  *Winks*

Lord knows I've Sold many an item I didn't intend to Sell, or mebbe didn't wanna Sell, but, if they make me an Offer I can't refuse, well, I can fall out of Love with it, mebbe.  *Winks*   Do I regret having Sold some things, sure, but, you get over it, especially if at the time it just made sense to Let it Go and have the Money instead.   Especially if I have Friends in the Industry who managed to pry something Primo out of my Hands to Sell to them, I always tell them, if it doesn't Sell, I'll buy it back for what you Paid for it.   Then there's no Risk for them and I might just get it back?   While using their Money for a while Interest Free.  *LOL*   And, yes, rarely, but it has happened, especially those who had a Brick & Mortar Shop they had to Close, sadly, and needed to then liquidate Stock, and mebbe some of it they'd purchased from me that I don't mind Buying back at what they Invested in it.   I got my Beloved Victorian Cut Velvet Loveseat back that way from my Friends Victor and Pauline.

They'd bought Flatbed Truckloads of The Good Stuff, and mostly larger items, from me when I was moving from the Villa McManse.  They had a Store and I helped them fill it with fresh Inventory of Primo items I'd spent Years Collecting.  I didn't wanna Store it or Move it, so, reluctantly Sold 99.9% of my Furnishings and kept my Smalls to Move here with.  I didn't have Showroom Space or Time to Hawk it at the Antique Mall piece by piece.  Well, they sadly had to Close their wonderful Store, which was in a Historic Building that got Sold and the new Owners wouldn't renew the Lease and planned to renovate the Property so wanted it all Vacated.   So, they had my Loveseat in Offsite Paid Storage and I happened to ask if it ever Sold and it hadn't yet, so, they let me Buy it back for what it had Cost them to Buy it from me.  I was elated, coz it was a piece I had been quite reluctant to part with.

And Yes, I don't have room for it in the Main House so it's in The RV Garage Mahal, but, that's part of why this Property was Appealing to me.  Smaller normal sized Home to Maintain, huge Warehouse sized RV Garage to hold what I wanna keep and don't need or wanna live around 24-7.  *Winks*  Yep, I'm absolutely Cray-Cray like that with my Beautiful and Primo Things Hoarding.   And that's why I call it Hoarding and not Collecting of The Good Stuff, becoz Honestly, it transcended being a Collection many Moons ago.  *Bwahahahaha*   I have some Insane amounts of say, Architectural Salvage and Architectural Historic Hardware, than any Sane person would have.   I could open a Business just Selling that!  *Bwahahahahaha*   I once Sold 49 Old Architecturally significant Doors to a Fabricator Friend of mine, that's how Crazy my Obsession is with procuring and acquiring such things.  *LOL*  Every Month he asks me if I'm ready to Let Go of some more?  *Winks*

The Man used to complain about my Obsessive Hoarding of such things as Old Doors and Stained Glass Windows.  He'd say, why do we Need to have more of this, you already have acquired so much Honey?   Until he realized how much I can Hawk them for and with a lot of it, I Paid nothing, and often someone Paid me to haul it away!  *LOL*  Also, he'll see how much Resalers are Selling them for in Shops or Antique Malls and say, WOW, no Idea it's worth THAT much!   We have a lot of this Honey!  *LOL*   And Yeah, I always felt the intrinsic Value was Priceless even before any of it Trended in Resale and was in high Demand.  But now, I know all of mine exists and isn't in some Landfill buried and Lost Forever, becoz I Rescued it all from way back in the 1970's when nobody gave a damn about any of it and saw no Value in it.  I just lament all the Lost Historic Properties Razed that it used to be in.

So much of Historic Phoenix has been Lost, they never were good about Preservation and could have benefitted from Heritage Tourism if they'd been Smart about it.  Phoenix had many very Wealthy inhabitants at the turn of the Century that built gorgeous Mansions in the Victorian Era, about 99% were razed, it's terrible, and many were lost in my Lifetime.  I saw them going down and none were ever offered For Sale to be Preserved by those of us who would have gladly Bought them.  Greedy Investors wanted the Location and paid Cash to just tear it all down and build mostly Skyscrapers and ugly Modern Buildings or high density Housing in place of fabulous Old Historic Structures.  They've even tried to Buy Up and Tear Down significant ones like Frank Lloyd Wright Properties.   But the Public Outcry has managed, thus far, so Save some of those from the Wrecking Ball of insatiable Deep Pocket Investor Greed and blanket destruction of the City's History and lovely Old Properties.

*******

May your Summer be memorable in all the best of ways my Friends... Dawn... The Bohemian