Mistakes in Motherhood

Back in August, our old neighbor’s moved to another state and decided to rent out their house. In October or November, in move the renters, who have since been named the Neighbor’s from Hell (NFH for short).

I tried to be nice, I waved and said hi, any exchanges were ignored.

In comes the beater… the beater is a big boat of a car on super thin wheels, raised up with HUGE rims. It’s like a granny can on stilts. Drivers side window is nothing more than a plastic bag and the paper tags on it expired sometime last year. The thing leaks oil like an oil tanker in Alaska and when it gets started, it sounds like a dozen Harley’s starting at the same time. I had to get my alarm desensitized because the vibration was so intense it would set my alarm off.

Then the loud parties started, sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning, at least once or twice a week. On the eve of Thanksgiving, we finally had enough and called in the local authorities to stop it. They turned it down, but I still got to lay awake for another two hours listening to base. Same thing on Christmas eve, but they turned it down before midnight so we let it slide.

Throughout the week, we have other minor annoyances. I put my trash out and they park one of the 4 or 5 cars that frequent the house in front of it, making the garbage men to have to manually dump my trash instead of using the lift. They also have a habit of parking in front of my driveway, leaving just enough room for me to get out as long as I back out at an angle, drive back up, angle out again, drive up again, angle out across my grass & sidewalk. Not cool.

Garbage day comes again, we go to put out our wrapping paper and boxes from Christmas, but our can is full with THEIR garbage! I give them the benefit of the doubt and pay the extra $2 for extra trash pickup. I call the agency who handles the rental, and she defends the tenants making us sound nit picky and like all the problems our our fault for not having a lot of parking between our driveways..?? (We have invited them to park in front of our house to solve the parking issues). Bobby goes next door to be neighborly, not bringing up any of the problems we are having, but just being nice and she seems nice enough… but things just get worse. Now excuse me for not running over to be the welcome lady, but I am not about to go out of my way to be nice to someone who cannot keep her household from being disrespectful.

I start trying to call and email the owner with little or no response about fixing the fence that borders our property. I figure I will get around to it in the springs, but then the NFH bring home a “puppy”, puppy is Cujo on crack and loves to hear his own voice. All day and all night long. Cujo likes to charge the fence barking at my kids, my dogs, me, my guests, anyone walking down the streets, etc. Apparently Cujo’s owners are deaf (explains the loud car & loud parties) and blind, as it does not bother them that Cujo is sticking his head through window screens to bark at the outside while inside. Did I mention Cujo is a freaking PIT BULL???

Tomorrow is garbage day. I take out my trash knowing it will be a tight squeeze because it was half full from when I forgot to take it to the curb last week. However what I don’t expect is that it is full….? Odd thing is, the trash is not my own, it appears to be from a birthday party. I let it slide, take Austin to school, clean house a bit, take more trash out and I notice their two cans are already down on the curb. As usual, it is two full cans, but also a bag and a box all overflowing with trash. Odd, same bags as the bag in my can, same plates & party ribbon, etc. I know I will be stuffed full by the end of the day, and I am not about to pay another $2 for their trash, so I take it out and set it next to their house, in plain sight. 12 hours later, it is still there.

Tonight I am having major concerns about the fence. Yes it needs replaced, now more than ever, but Cujo scared the holy hell out of me. I am thinking of just putting up a second fence right next to it just to have a second layer of protection between us and Cujo, also, I don’t feel like dumping a couple thousand dollars on wood, if Cujo is just going to ram it down. So I emailed the owner again telling him this, but I really don’t expect a response. I have also made a report with the city about the unsightly, unregistered car, but again I am not holding my breath.

I am not about to go over and try to be their BFF, and I am not wanting to waste city resources by placing the police on speed dial (old Bewitched television reference in 3, 2, 1…) and establishing myself as Mrs. Kravitz. So how have you guys dealt with NFHs? Did you make nice nice, strike out, or flood the neighborhood PD station with complains? I am sure this is going to be a regular feature, these guys are clueless!

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Confessions, House Stuff, Insanity, Lame-o, NFH (Neighbors From Hell), Passive Agressive, Ranting. | #

It’s 4pm, 24 hours after I broke the news to the older kids that I quit, and that it was every man for himself. All but one load of laundry has been washed, the rest is put away, except for a basket of the little kids’ clothing.

Tonight I bit Austin’s head off at pickup, he did not get out to the car until 3:40, school releases at 3:15. Turns out the kid we take home had to stay after school, and they announced it on the intercom, but Austin was more worried about hearing his own name and not paying attention that his friend was called.

Anyways, we get home, I am in a foul mood because of waiting in the hot car, drama from the neighbors, working my ass off on laundry all day, and just general moodiness. Matthew was tired, Sophie was tired, I am tired and I just did not want to deal with anything more. I later apologized because I did not need to be as snappy as I was, but when I went downstairs to check on laundry, Austin was obviously upset. I asked him why he was crying and he said all day today he felt really bad for not helping when he was asked to. I also had a talk with Christopher, who was not as remorseful, but he said he did not like the idea of having to earn “privileges” (I was going to require that they do extra chores to earn “credits” to use much like change would at a laundromat).

Well tonight, they actually *asked* if they can work together to make dinner for the whole family as a peace offering. As soon as my jeans are in the dryer I will let them put their clothes in the hampers and I will combine their clothes with my 1/2 loads and start a few more loads tonight. I am hoping with some gentle reminding that we will make life easier on everyone if we work together, that we can keep up this rhythm and become a cohesive unit again.

This afternoon we all went in the back yard together and Austin helped me fix the fence and clean up, Chris cleaned up dog poop, and it was so nice to have my boys back.

1 Comment | In: This is how I roll | tags: Austin, Christopher, Family, Me, Parenting, Updates. | #

I just have a moment to enjoy my last sips of coffee & write this down before I forget before the little miss is tired of eating Kix in the kitchen.

This morning I was making my rounds, emptying the dirty clothes hampers in the bedrooms into a basket to take them to the basement to sort and wash, when I smelled pee in Matthew’s bedroom. He was hot on my heels, curious about what I was doing so I asked him if he had an accident in his bed. He told me he did have a “water dream” as he calls it and did pee in his bed. I told him that it was okay and all that jazz while I stripped his sheets. I finished getting the rest of his bedding and dirty clothes and moved onto my room where I started stripping my own bed.

Matthew lit up and got a huge smile on his face and asked me “Mommy? Did you have a water dream too??” I told him that no, I just needed to wash my sheets because it had been a while since I washed them and he puts his hand on my cheek and said “It’s all right if you had a water dream, no one will be mad if you went potty in your bed, accidents happen”; then he leaned forward and hugged me and patted my back. I was laughing too hard to convince him that I did NOT pee in my bed, but what does it really matter if he believes me anyways?

2 Comments | In: People, Places & Things | tags: Domestic Diva, Humor, Matthew, Me, Silliness. | #