Gardens at Friendswood Lakes

Laura

I live in Gardens at Friendswood Lakes in Friendswood. It's for 55 and over. I moved in here and got a brand-new apartment, picked it out and everything, and I've been very happy. This is not assisted living. In order to be able to live here, you have to be able to take care of yourself. There are no nurses or doctors. This is for those aged 55 and over who can take care of themselves. There are some people here who are older, so they may have the VA come in 3 times a week to clean their apartment. I guess you can have that kind of stuff if you need it, but basically, you have to be able to get around on your own, although there are people here with walkers and stuff. I still drive, but they have a bus here that takes people who don't drive. I think they go on twice a week. They'll take the residents to the mall or to the grocery store or that type of thing. If you need someone to come help you bathe, then you have to do all that through your own insurance. The apartment itself doesn't provide that type of service. I like that it's gated and well-lit. I like that once you come into these apartments, it's like when you're in a hotel. You see a long hallway with a bunch of doors, and it's always lit up. That's what this type is, so I like that. You feel very safe and secure here. Even the trash, you don't go out to throw it. You go down the hall, and that's where you open up for your trash. It's 3 stories high, and I'm on the first floor, so there's a chute where they drop the trash down. You don't need to go out anymore, so you feel very safe. I love the fact that when I drive and go around, I have an HEB 3 minutes down the road. The Baybrook, which is a huge and beautiful mall, is like 10 minutes away. It's very convenient for a lot of things. I just happened to like it too, because I've been here for so long, so all of my doctors, my dentists, and everything are within 15 minutes or 20 minutes away. I don't have to drive far for all my stuff. My daughter also lives 15 minutes away, my mom's about another 10 to 15 minutes, so it's just perfect for me. When it comes to the upkeep, I really wish they would be a little bit better. The structure of the building itself is beautiful, though. It's very modern with crown mouldings all through it. It's a very open concept. It came with ceiling fans with lights in the bathroom and in the bedrooms. The lighting is beautiful, and I like the way they have the windows. It's very pretty and very modernized. They also have a nice pool area. I'm not a smoker, but a lot of people here are, so they have an area there under ceiling fans and a patio that's covered, where all the smokers kinda go. Then they have a huge area where you can barbecue, and it's all covered with plenty of tables and chairs. I wish the exercise room were bigger, but it's okay. They also have a little computer area, so if you don't have your own computer, you can go in there. I think they have four or five computers set up. When you look at the brochures and all that, it's not going to talk about food. It's just not listed or anything, but once you live here, you realize what they do. I'm not a morning person, but a lot of people around here are early birds, so every morning until around 1 or 2 o'clock, they always have everything like hot coffee, hot tea, orange juice, and maybe tea or lemonade. They started doing this about five or six years ago. I wasn't retired then, but now I am, so I enjoy it. Every Tuesday, they have all kinds of bread delivered. It is donated from the stores around here, like ACB Burger. La Madeleine, a really nice bakery, delivers every Tuesday all kinds of pastries, pies, cookies, muffins, and all kinds of stuff. Another thing that they do here is that every month, they give you a calendar that offers all kinds of stuff. Sometimes they'll have a certain day that a free attorney will come in here and talk with you if you've got any kind of legal issues that you want to talk about. Let's say you want to sign up for something, a government-type of thing like food stamps or extra help, then they have another organization that comes in, and it's all on the calendar. They have a water aerobics person who comes in, I think twice a week, out by the pool if you want to do that. They offer a lot of stuff. They celebrate Christmas, and there's always a Christmas party. We also just got through the 4th of July. They didn't do fireworks even though they were going on all around us, but they had a barbecue cookout, and all of it was free. They do Valentine's, too, and every month they celebrate all the birthdays. They'll have coffee, cake, sandwiches, chips, and dips. They provide stuff like that, but if it's an everyday thing of providing meals, they don't do that. I know that some places do that, but they don't do that here. However, they are very generous and do have a lot of other things to offer. For example, they'll just put a notice on your door or at the end of our hallway that says something like Papa Pizza came and delivered 20 pizzas, so it's first come and first served, stuff like that. I don't know if it has to do with my management reaching out to churches or if they came by, but I do know that we have what they call a little personal food pantry. If you live here, you can go, and this is open every day during regular hours. It's a little food pantry, and they have it pretty stocked with everything like cans of chicken and tuna. They don't usually have bread and stuff like that on a daily basis, but they'll have shampoos, soaps, and laundry detergent. It's just kind of whatever is donated, I guess. They also have rice and beans, and a lot of staples like that. That is provided every day, and that's free to us. You can just go and see if you need anything, and just take it. They have bags there, and you can just take anything. During the Christmas holidays, they do something in the office. They have a nice meal for everyone. If you don't get to go, then you can sign up, and then they'll come and deliver something to you. They're really good about accommodating people like that. The food that we get here whenever it is done is always great because it's usually catered from a barbecue place, a pizza place, or a Mexican restaurant. It's just always really good. Once in a while, they'll do the cookout, so they'll do their own hot dogs and wieners, and then they'll provide some side dishes. They'll tell you they are providing food for the 4th of July, for example, and that to feel free to bring whatever you want, and then people would just bring extra stuff. They do water aerobics and some other kinds of exercises, too. I don't even participate, but they do have those. They do workouts in the big conference area, which is kind of like a party room. What they do regularly is play dominoes, cards, and Bunco. There's even a Bunco group here. Sometimes they have an entertainer. They'll have someone come out who plays the guitar and sings songs and that kind of stuff. They also show movies in the big room, and they have popcorn and drinks for whoever wants to go.