The "Ladies"

I've written before about how much I like where we live. And I do.

I like the area. It's pretty diverse and we're centrally located to just about everything in the city. I like the apartment complex and how it's managed. They're always right on the ball if you have a problem. It's also a 'secure' building, requiring a key or a buzz from one of the apartments to get in the main door. I loooove the apartment, itself. It's spacious, cheerful and comfortable. The rent is reasonable and the utilities...well...our last Cilco bill was somewhere around 80 bucks and the water and garbage pickup are free...can't beat that with a stick.

The neighbors? Well. Since we got rid of the party-hardy, bonehead Bradley students who wore nothing but combat boots upstairs last summer, let's just say it's quiet. I mean quiet.

The main reason it's quiet is because of "The Ladies", bless their little hearts.

The apartment complex consists of five buildings, each two stories. In each building, there are four apartments on the first floor and four on the second. In our building, four of those apartments are occupied by "The Ladies", three on our floor, alone.

"The Ladies" consist of a very active 86 year old who still drives and plays in a couple of local orchestras; an incredible 97 year old retired nurse who, up until she fell and broke her hip last May, STILL DROVE HER CAR (I cringed every time I saw her pull out); an extremely nice 88 year old who, up until she had a wreck a couple months ago, STILL DROVE HER CAR (again with the cringe) and a somewhat reclusive but extremely nosy 70-something year old, who's also a retired nurse. I'm really not sure how old she is. Unlike the rest of them, she doesn't bring her age up every time you have a conversation. heh

"Honey, just wait til you're (insert proper age...86, 88 or 97)....LIKE ME!"

Lemme tell ya....nothin...and I mean nothin goes on around here that one or all of 'em don't know about. Especially the two whose apartments face the parking lot. Once one of them gets wind of something, it buzzes through the grapevine like shit through a goose. And when one of 'em gets goin...well, honey...it's a regular meeting of the minds in the central hallway.

Today, I had a few errands to run. Drugstore, Target, Kroger's. So naturally, when I came home, I had bags of crap. Bags and bags. Three trips worth, in fact. (Why in the hell do I hafta buy groceries that are so freakin heavy??)
And I walked right in in the middle of one of said meetings of the minds.

Not that anyone of 'em bothered to buzz me in the main door, you understand. They stood and watched while I fumbled with my key while trying to hold fifty-eleven HEAVY bags of groceries, my purse and a half-cup of Starbucks.

I think I'm their main form of entertainment.

Anywho, today's topic du jour was my appearance in Saturday's local newspaper and forthcoming tv appearance.

Oh my. The questions flew at me, fast and furious.

On and on and on. One of 'em wanted me to autograph her damn newspaper!
She only laughed when I did, so I think she was serious.
And she was simply astonished that this was my second appearance in the paper and said that she still had the one from last year saved.

"There's a CELEBRITY living here!"

Oh, my gawd.