The Son had to be at Work by 5:00 a.m. at his Store Today so I drove him, even tho' Tonight I'm working at the Antique Mall from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., so rising this early may be a big Mistake? *LOL* Princess T better get off at or before 3:30 p.m. Today or I'll have to ask if her Boyfriend can pick her up and take her Home after Work. It takes 20-30 Minutes to go to Work for me now, not due to distance, but due to heavier Traffic and all the Construction going on. It used to take about 8-10 Minutes before Urban Sprawl has gone too dense in this area now. We're very near Two Freeways so it was bound to happen tho'. It used to be Commercial Agricultural Land around here mostly or Raw Desert, but the City grew up around us and greedy Developers offered the Commercial Farms a Deal they couldn't refuse for all their Land. After probably greasing the Palms of City Planners and Officials to rezone it all, and so now here we are. Our Mini Farm Community established in the early 1960's is like an Oasis now in the Urban Sprawl.
You can see how much Greener our little Community is compared to what's surrounding us of Residential densely packed Subdivision Hells and Commercial Properties now. Tho' most of those Subdivisions are Lake Properties since Manmade Lakes and Riparian Areas were built within them to attract folks back in the 1980's and 1990's when they were established. Now, newer Development are these massive Apartment Complexes and seas of tiny Cottage Apartment Complexes, since Home Ownership is difficult now. Our Properties more than doubled in Equity in just 5 Years to an Average now of between $700,000 to well over a Million for the Mini Farms in our Community. We got in under the Wire when we Bought just before Pandemic and when Interest Rates were 2%. *Whew, perfect Timing* Now the Retired Bank Executive in me checks current Listings to see how Value is holding up in our Community and to lurk at Neighbors Homes up For Sale. *LOL* The one Below is a Cool Million Three Hundred Thousand on one of the larger Acreages Corner Lot a few Streets behind us, I like what's been done to it, a Thoughtful Tasteful Remodel Update of a Vintage Era Home:
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Right now there's only 3 Properties up For Sale in our Community. This One I Shared is well over a Million and has been Remodeled in trendy Urban Farmhouse Style, a beautifully Remodeled 1973 Contemporary Style Vintage Home with 5 Bedrooms and 4 Bathrooms, on a larger Acreage, probably 3 Acre Parcel Corner Lot, with a Pool Package to Die For, with big Poolside Grotto and Playboy Manse Style Party in the Back Backyard. They spent a lot Remodeling and Modernizing this 3,500+ large sf Home. The other Two are in the high $600,000 range, meaning they probably need a lot of Work and Money to renovate, coz that's now a Bargain to get in here. Home Flippers are now eyeballing that price point and larger Properties now for Selling to the Wealthy who Buy them up to make into Air B&B Party Houses or Wealthier Clients coming from expensive States like Cali, Washington, and the East Coast, where, Arizona still seems like a Bargain and you get more for your Million Dollar Listing Investment. If I was a Player for a Million Dollar Listing I'd Buy it. But, that's a lot of House and Upkeep, tho' for 3 Generations packed together, would be enuf Living Space again. We could use 5 Bedrooms and 4 Bathrooms for our 6 Living here. *LOL*
Okay, so after Lurking at Neighborhood Listings for Blog Fodder, I know that I've definitely bought in the Right Location, Location, Location for the Price I Scored our Property at when the Higher End and Luxury Home Market was still in Crisis Mode, but ready to gain in Value again. *Smiles* The Villa McManse I Sold hasn't fared as well coz tho' it was a Semi-Custom Million Dollar Listing when built, the Market bottomed out. Wrecking 3/4 of the Original Value, and it's recovering so slowly it may take a Generation for them to break even if they paid the original Million Plus for those Homes. Which, I must say, for Million Dollar Listings were not built well and why the Builder, Trend Homes, went Chapter 11 Bankrupt and got sued a lot for Construction issues. I'd only paid $370,000 for the Villa McManse when the Market had crashed and to get my Grandkids Adopted, so I didn't give a shit about the Lawsuits. I knew I'd make my Money when I flipped it and Cashed Out early coz I never intended to stay. Too much House, fabulous interior and Design, but poor Construction and a shitty Community of pretentious fucks and a Devil of an HOA. All to me Negatives and the Homes there had very high turnover, nobody stayed, so would never develop into a Community, just a Commodity to be Bought and Sold IMO. So I did just that.
Folks who can generally easily afford Million Dollar Listings have Money to Burn and buy Homes as Investment Vehicles to make more Money. And most in that Community owned those Million Dollar Arizona Homes as 2nd Homes they only spent a couple Weeks a Year at. So, no telling what their Primary Residences were worth? Most seemed to live permanently in States like California and expensive East Coast States, or Abroad where the Wealthy Foreign Born only Buy Vacay Properties in America to Own some American Real Estate and Buy the Country out from under us. My Brother said that the Wealthy Foreign Born Buy 25 Million Plus Listings in California, coz a Million won't buy you a POS Property there anymore. They tear Million Dollar Listings down in Cali to replace them with the Mega Million Dollar Properties the Elite and only Billionaires can afford. It's beginning to happen here in the better Zip Codes too, they're like Locusts consuming Real Estate coz they have Deep Pockets and can Pay Off the Right folks to do whatever they want and get Zoning changed and weather any Lawsuits filed. They don't have to intend to Win, just drag it out 'til the Opposition runs out of Money and drops the Case.
And these Billionaires and their Corporations don't even Care if they Lose in Court and have to pay Millions in Settlements if they've made Billions in Profits, it's a small Cost of the exploitation of The System to them. No incentives, consequences or repercussions serious enuf to make them stop any of it. And if they Paid Off all the Right folks, well, they know they Own them now and will always have Favor with who they Bought. And so it goes and so I'm very Cynical that it will change for the better anytime soon when so much Money is to be made by the Wealthiest who Control everything and Fund whatever they wanna get done the way they want it to get done.
Regular folk don't stand a chance in that kind of System. And I do think it's why the Far Left is gaining traction and tho' I don't approve of Extremism on either side, it's happening becoz the Ordinary Citizen is getting squeezed and screwed too much now and so can be lured into thinking even Extremism is better than what's the Status Quo right now that puts the Hurt on them. It's Why this Conman Moron Career Criminal got Voted In actually. He told them what they desperately wanted to Hear and Believe, gave them handy Scapegoats to Blame, Overpromised and Underdelivered, Playing them all for Marks as his intended Prey, coz Predators Study and Know about their Victims very well so they have a decent Success Rate of Victimization. And if the Prey think the Predator is their Friend, well, it's the Oldest Ploy for Easy Pickins', isn't it?
Anyway, enuf of Politics, I'm sick to Death of Politics and Religious Zealots right now and don't have a good Opinion of either. I got plenty going on every Day to Handle, so I take it One Day at a Time. And I was really Cranky doing my Chores this Morning coz it's Hot and very Humid so I was sweating like I'd just jumped in the Pool with my Clothes on, very uncomfortable. I have to Work Tonight for 5 Hours and so I don't wanna feel drained of all energy either. But it gives me some respite from Caregiving for a few Hours while Comping me some Space Rent. The Man annoyed me by just sitting there expecting to be waited on, I have to encourage him to do anything at all anymore and propping him up like that to be the least bit functional is fucking exhausting. And I'm exhausted lately almost from the time I Wake Up anymore, no matter how much Rest I get, it's never Enough now. And being Overwhelmed is a Constant so you do get Weary and even Bitter if you allow that to creep in as a Range of Emotion you'll Move thru on The Daily Grind of it all.
I get angry and fed up, coz it never ends and coz he could do more than he pretends he can't do. He's Clever like a Fox too at exploiting his Illnesses and Disability now. Yes, he has limitations due to the progression of his Disease of his Mind and the deterioration of his Physical Body, I Accept that. But... and yes that BUT is what Frosts me, sometimes he'll do or say something that just Winds my Ass up... mebbe on Purpose??!!! He can see and knows I'm overwhelmed and have too much to do and he'll make a request in the middle of it to where then he knows I'll fucking forget what I was then doing due to his distraction and blow the fuck up!!! And then he'll act like I'm the Villain of this Story and he's a Victim of me being problematic. I've already done about 3 Hours of Work before he even rolls out of Bed most Days and does Nothing all Day. Then the Caregiving begins and ensuring he's Medicated, situated, Dressed in Clean Clothes, has something to Eat or he won't eat a damned thing but sneaking Snacks all day. He will not Feed himself anymore, sometimes it's a battle for us to get him Fed now and properly hydrated, he is so resistant and contrary with the Dementia, more so than when it was just the Traumatic Brain Injury.
He will say, "I need a Drink, Honey." Right when I'm trying to Organize our Medications on a Thursday Morning for the next full Week of taking them! And you almost need to be a fucking Pharmacist to do that with the amount he takes, it's literally a BOX filled that is larger than a Shoebox and Three Pages of Meds and Instructions to Check off methodically! That the Docs change up a lot, so I have Notes all over the place on all Three Pages too of Changes! So you can't get interrupted in the midst of it or you risk fucking it all up and forgetting where you were in the Laundry List and what needs to be taken and when! So when he did that Today, I was already Shaking a lot, which I Shake a lot due to a lifelong Neurological Thing, which makes handling Pills harder, I was dropping Pills on the fucking Floor and having to get down there and under the Sectional to retrieve them! *Le Sigh & Dammit... fuckity fuck fuck! As I Shake and drop yet another one trying to keep my Head in the Game, finish up the Task quickly, and ignore his fucking poor timing interruptions!*
Coz then he interrupts me about that Drink he doesn't have, when I'm painstakingly getting up off the Floor after dropping another Pill that rolled under the Persian Rug, don't ask me HOW... no idea... and I accidentally put his fucking Night Meds in the Morning portion of his Pill Box due to his untimely distraction!!! Oh well, I couldn't see which Pill it was to correct it, they all look so similar. So he can just take his Melatonin in the Morning and conk out, I don't fucking Care at this point coz I will be at Work Tonight and the Kids can Deal with it and him in my absence. *LOL* Yeah, it's Funny NOW! *Winks* And... Well, the Fridge isn't that fucking far from his Media Chair and he has his Walker right there! So it's not as if his Legs don't Work and he couldn't Walk his Happy Ass over there to get it himself! So I came rather unhinged and unglued about getting him his Drink, coz I really didn't wanna fight or get over-reactive about a Juice so that he could take his Pills. Or drop them all over the Floor, coz he now had them all in the Palm of his Hand and would forget they were there if he had to get up and Walk to the Kitchen!!!
Plus, while I was in the Kitchen BY the Fridge is when he could have, and should have, mentioned he didn't have a Drink to take his Meds with, Right? He knew he didn't have a fucking Drink there at the Media Chair. I didn't know that coz his Cup he uses isn't See Thru and he had it sitting there, so I assumed he had something in it still!!! He'd been sitting there all Morning and rarely doesn't have a Refreshment at all times. Anyway, it was the little things like that which can be the Straw that Breaks the Caregiver's Back at times. *LOL and Smiles but Sighs* And the Kiddos will get sometimes Pious about it and say for me not to get so Mad at Dad/Grandpa... 'til I turn the Caregiving over to one of them, then it's Otra Cosa when it's THEM Dealing with him and some of his Nonsense and Bullshit. *LMAOROTF* They don't last nearly as long as I do before they blow a Gasket with him. And beg me to take over. *Ha ha ha* Thanks for the Vent... it's Helpful so I don't go Off Rails and Postal over Trifles or catch Charges. *Winks* I try to avoid Caregiver Burnout, it's a Gauntlet tho'... and like being in one of those Olympic Triathlons or Ironman Competitions you're a Contestant of. Only no Medals, Recognition, Monetizing or Sponsors. *Le Sigh*
In Real Time, Tomorrow will be The Young Prince's 26th Birthday on August 8th! My Birthday is on the 16th and I do Plan to have a Me Day doing something, anything, just to Unwind and Decompress. This is Publishing way into Late August coz I'm still Blogging so far ahead in Unpublished Posts but it's Working well for me to so I don't Plan to stop now. *Ha ha ha* It's the only thing getting done with any consistency and voluntary effort, Trust and Believe, everything else takes all of my pushing myself hard to do Daily now. I don't wanna do much of it anymore, I really don't and would rather not if I had Options. But, there aren't any Options and so we Press On, with a certain amount of resentment that the Retirement Years have so much fucking Work in them for me that it's not at all what I envisioned doing once I Retired from The Corporate Grind, I can tell you that!!! *Le Sigh* I had lofty Dreams of what my Retirement would look like, be like, hold for me that would be highly Enjoyable and Carefree. Filled with Travels and things to look Forward to doing... or just Leisurely doing Nothing! Yeah, I was completely Delusional, clearly, it didn't hold that at all.
By the time I even got the last Grandchild Raised I was damned near 70 and Himself was well over 70 and I'd actually been Single Parenting since 2013 due to his Catastrophic Accident and Brain Damage. Plus, even during his long Military Career he was deployed so much every Military Spouse left behind to hold it down and keep it together is Single Parenting most of the time too. But, I'd been an Actual Single Parent for over 7 Years before I even met The Man, so, I had Experience at it and could Support a Family on my own at least. Now most One Income Families can't even make it no matter how much they Work to Provide. You really do require a minimum of Two Incomes and some Two Income Families aren't making it either now. So, at least back then my Income was a good one and sustained us. Even once The Man was Medically Retired and we fought for his Disability Income, that was established at 100% Service Related, but took 18 Months to even begin to Receive. Which was long before he was Old enough to draw his actual full Pensions like Social Security and Qualify for Medicare to pay some of his Medical Expenses when the VA and TriCare wouldn't. So, we are used to an Uphill Battle, it's just more Tiring once you get Older and I'm risking Caregiver Burnout again.
Trudging Onwards tho' in the Arizona Desert... taking it One Day at a time... Dawn... The Bohemian
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