You Read it Here First

Booting up the laptop this morning, I found the TikToker’s observation that white people have birds right up front and center, front page news feed.

The magazine Newsweek picked up the story, called it a "participatory trend", interviewed the TikToker who said "she noted the pattern seems more common among older people".

"The theory quickly turned into a participatory trend, as others walked through their homes examining, finding nothing, then noticing dozens of birds on wallpaper, figurines, classical ornaments, a table lamp shaped like a peacock, chicken figurines, a bird clock, and a "Black autistic person, whose special interest is birds" leveling the demographic playing field by admitting 500+ bird decorations".

When interviewed by Newsweek, the TikTok Creator indicated "the pattern appeared more common among older people".

What I really found interesting was mention that the decorating observation wasn’t the only bird theory out there, that earlier it was used as a test for relationship compatibility.

"The test involved telling a significant other you saw a bird that day, then watching how they respond. Partners who ask follow-up questions show interest in the relationship, while those who seem disinterested might indicate larger relationship issues".

Well, that sent me down the TikTok rabbit hole as both men and women tested the theory on partners. Some passed, some failed.

One guy dumped his girlfriend because, when he said he'd seen a bird, she completely ignored him, LOL.

I dunno, seems kind of sappy to me, but that may because I’m tainted in matters of relationships; too practical minded, too old, too tired, no time or patience for the care and feeding of another human's feelings.

If a guy were to tell me he saw a bird, I’d be more likely to dash cold water in his face by saying something like, "Was it a bird, a plane or superman".

Meanwhile, Newsweek went on to say "the decorating bird theory continues spreading as 2026's first major viral trend".

Just remember that I, little Miss Smarty Pants, was the one that initially put you readers onto the theory. You read it here first.

In other news, the Baker, a few days ago, asked that if she put together new bingo rules would I print the rules out for her.

Of course, I said sure.

The Baker later texted that the organizers decided not to issue new rules, but rather to "sit and talk to everybody about them".

Interest peaked, of course I had to inquire, and it seems bingo might be in trouble — people won’t shut up while the game is in play, contributions are down making money tight for prizes and snacks.

To help keep bingo going, the Baker’s two daughters have agreed to donate lunches on bingo day to "save us a little money and to remind people that we need some donations to put on our winners table".

All in all, seems there are a lot of takers, not many givers, too many Chatty Cathy’s and I think it just awful that, in order to keep bingo going, because they know their mother loves giving of her time and energy in organizing bingo for the seniors, that the Baker’s two daughters have to step up to save the activity.

Today is Bingo Friday. I’m tempted to participate for the tea.

We’ll see.

By The Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin

Insofar as I know, not a lot going on around here but, still in my hibernating era, what do I know.

I’d have to hang out with the seniors for tea, and I’m not yet ready to jump back into the peopley world.

This month’s Activity Calendar, which is no longer delivered to our doors, no longer emailed to those of us who signed up for Rent Café, but now can be picked up from a newly installed wall box near the office, indicated on Kecia Tuesday, "New Year Celebration. Join us to start of 2026 with food, fun and community".

I wasn’t going to be suckered into nothingness again but, heading out to run errands that morning, I checked the Community Room to see if it was another scam.

Saw it was not exactly a complete scam, but seriously overbilled.

There were only eight of the Usual Suspects in attendance, saw no sign of Kecia, didn’t see any food or fun, but the group said Kecia had ordered Pizza.

I didn’t stick around long enough to find out if it was one large pizza to be shared amongst those in attendance or what, but it looks like what Kecia does is wait to see who shows up at her so-called "food fun" events, then order something for them to eat. Fly by the seat of her pants so to speak.

Remember Thanksgiving, when Kecia's "food fun" turned out to be a small bag of potato chips?

Those potato chips came in handy a few days ago when, looking for a binder for the turkey meatloaf I was making, I came across those chips, broke them up in the blinder, added to the ground turkey.

This morning was my Recertification appointment. I had to gather bank statements, sources of income records, prove to the office that I’m still poor enough to be living here.

The way qualifying income is calculated seems grossly unfair, causing me, on paper, to look wealthy, which I am not.

First, they add up what one has coming in monthly through sources of income, THEN they add any savings one has in the bank to come up with qualifying income.

Problem for me with this is that the same money is being considered income twice. First as what is coming in, and then again if any of that money is not used, but saved.

Do you get me? Did I explain that clearly?

So, anyway, once the Assistant Manager totaled everything up, I came across as a rich b!tch and qualified by the hair of my chinny chin chin.

She said I almost went over, was less than a hundred dollars under the cap.

"What happens when one goes over?" asked I, knowing full well it meant, I’d be kicked to the curb, have to move out of this income restricted community AND unable to afford the high price of living in other communities, who knows where I would have landed.

"I don’t know. It’s never happened before", said she.

I find that hard to believe, inasmuch as we had a few millionaires living here at one time. They must have had a system where us residents knew they were plush, but the office did not.

The three millionaires I knew of have passed away, and inasmuch as management seems to be bringing in more from the county roll, fewer actual retirees, I seriously doubt we currently have any hidden millionaires.

At any rate, I’m qualified, still poor enough to continue living here, which may not be by the hair of my chinny chin chin for much longer.

My sources of income were set to be distributed over a period of 15 years. I’m living too long. Those 15 years are rapidly reaching their dates of expiration, after which I’ll definitely be poor enough to qualify as income restricted.

So, anyway, Recertification is over until this time next year.

Case of the Missing Toe Ring

It was on Sunday the 4th when I noticed the ring missing from a toe on my left foot.

I can’t even tell you how many years I’ve been wearing toe rings. It’s just something I’ve always done, feel awkward without.

Fortunately, I’d not been outside for days, which meant it had to have fallen off inside, so I began searching.

Finding nothing after checking the floor in every room, I checked the bathtub in case it had fallen off in the soapy water; checked all the socks I’d recently worn, maybe it had gotten stuck inside, but still nothing.

After a cursory search of the bedding yielded nothing, I called on Saint Anthony (Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come down, something is lost and can’t be found) and left it at that, because Saint Anthony has always pulled through for me.

Now feeling the toe ring would eventually show up, I stopped obsessing over it.

"Eventually" can be a long time. So, feeling naked without one of my toe rings, I two days later purchased another, in a different style.

Waking up yesterday morning to actual sunshine, though still windy, I pushed myself to do my least favorite chore — laundry.

Stripping the bed to wash the sheets, I tossed the quilts away, began removing the sheets, went in the other room for something or other.

Walking back to finish stripping the sheets, I spotted something shiny.

Oops there it is

Saint Anthony came through once again.

Even though the ring is back in place, having ordered another is probably a good idea because the current ring is suddenly rather loose. Probably why it slipped off.

In other news, there’s a new trend on TikTok. First was the one about people with red hair/gingers being Black. Now some guy has a theory that all white people have birds in their homes.

Dear Readers: What do you think of this hypothesis? Do you have figurines, images of birds, or real birds in cages?

Home Alone

Some of you will recall the now 19-year-old Great Granddaughter that I never knew I had until last year …… adopted away from my prodigal granddaughter at 2 months old, none of us even knowing of her birth, she last year found us through Twin 1’s social media.

Since finding us, she’s become an integral part of our dysfunctional family and texted on Thursday that she was spending a few days with the sister of her adopted mother here in the Inland Empire/San Bernardino.

Googling her location, finding she was a mere 3-1/2 miles away, I picked her up on Friday morning and we "hung out", if you can call it that as it was too cold to go anywhere, do anything.

Both of us run cold, so whereas I bundle up, suffer a little so as not to run up the heating bill, I didn’t want her to suffer. Consequently, the heater ran all day/all night.

I don’t even want to see the bill, not to mention I’ll get a harassing notice from the utility company indicating I’m using more therms than others in the area.

After dropping her back off to her adopted Auntie this morning, back to being Home Alone I reflected on the visit, realized I’m a boring person.

Friday being a bingo day, it would have been fun for her to play bingo with the seniors, but bingo had been cancelled due to so many of the Usual Suspects being ill.

The organizers wisely didn’t want to take the risk of exposing others to whatever was going around, cancelled bingo until the 23rd.

Had this been summer, we could have hung out at the pool — she swimming, me lounging in the jacuzzi OR we could have gone shopping at the mall OR basking in the sun, listening to music at the farmer’s market, she gorging on all the street food, me wishing I could.

As it was, both of us being quiet/reflective, there wasn’t a lot of conversation; mostly she on TikTok, me watching Food Network, then both of us, later that night, rating Queens on RuPaul's Drag Race — which her super religious adopted mom would have thoroughly disapproved of.

Probably why, to put it in her words, "I’m so happy to have met you guys". We’re dysfunctional, but we’re open, accepting, we look, we listen, and we do not judge.

As for what she’s been doing since graduating, with a goal of entering the nursing field, she currently working on getting certified in Ultrasound Technology, but took time out of her studies to participate in the Los Angeles protest against ICE.

When things turned violent …… the person she attended the protest with was hit by ICE with a rubber missile, she wisely opted out of the protest, went back home.

Inasmuch as ICE are a bunch of sickos that will aim for the eyes to maim, or end you for no good reason like Renee Good, going home seemed like a good move.

Sightings

Since first of the new year, I’ve been feeling cold, like a human popsicle, chilled to the bone even when wearing layers of clothing, running the heater off/on, but at least it finally stopped raining …… for the time being.

For a few hours yesterday, we actually caught a glimpse of the sun, which motivated me to leave the den, venture out to stock up on supplies, pick up prints at the drug store and treat myself to coffee from Starbucks.

Whoever is cleaning the windows at Starbucks, needs to switch to a streak-free product.

Inasmuch as every time I visit this particular Starbucks, I see that same Nat C Car, and no one inside Starbucks seems to fit, I’m pretty sure the driver is someone associated with the dental office next door.

There’s parking in the back for the dental office, but the driver is no fool. He or she always parks in front of Starbucks, where the vehicle is safe from vandalism, has eyes on it.

Before running errands, I decided to check into the Community Room, see what the seniors were up to and missed Ernie by a hair's breadth.

He was walking out the back door just as I was walking in through the front door, so I paused to duck behind a pillar should he happen to turn around. He didn’t so, once he was out of sight, I walked into the Community Room found a small cake party to wish long-time resident, the Other Wheelchair Lady, happy trails …… she’s moving to Norwalk to be closer to family.

That leaves us two down in our group of Usual Suspects … Hell on Wheels will never recover enough to return to the complex and now the Other Wheelchair Lady is moving.

I did see Manager out and about on the complex yesterday, so she’s back after a nearly six-month absence.

Inasmuch as things worked so well when she was gone, I’m surprised Corporate didn’t just eliminate the position. She’s obviously not needed, but oh well. We’ll see what’s in store for us now that she’s back.

I stuck around in the Community Room just long enough to take a few photos for the residents’ FB page, was preparing to head out to run those errands when I saw Ernie out on the walkway. I waited until I could slip away unnoticed by him, headed to the car and escaped.

A few weeks ago, before the weather turned cold, I happened to be walking by our Bird of Paradise area and caught a hummingbird in action.

Fascinating. I can’t believe he let me get that close. They usually fly off before I can capture a photo.

Just Sayin