Not Again

The kids went back to school on Tuesday.  It's funny, but only Brandi asked about staying home because Junior's dad died.  I didn't let her.  I told her that they only let you stay home if you are sad about someone dying, and because she wasn't, she had to go to school.  At the bus stop that morning, one of my neighbors asked if I had heard about what happened during the break to some of the kids in the neighborhood.  I said I hadn't, so he told me about this 16 year old boy who was arrested and charged with molesting four different little boys in our neighborhood. 

The first thought I had was that we needed to contact Express Estate Agency because I wanted to move.   I mean, who wants to live in a neighborhood with a child molester.  The funny thing is, this kid has approached Ryan about playing video games.  I think I might have written about it when it happened.  The kid told Ryan that he was on house arrest, and wanted him to come over to play video games.  Ryan, of course, said no, and came right home.  (I believe he was checking the mail for me when this happened)  A few days later, the kid knocked on our door, again asking if Ryan could go to his house.  At this point, Junior asked him what he was on house arrest for, and he said that he was "wrongly accused" with touching little boys.  Yeah, Junior told him to get out of our yard, and to never come back, then slammed the door in his face. 

Turns out there was enough evidence to convict him, which led to a search of his residence, which led to his mother and a family friend being arrested for providing him with pornographic material.  They sound like a bunch of winners, don't they? 

After thinking about it, though, we decided that we didn't need to contact Express Estate Agency.  We decided that we are going to stay right here.  The kid is in the custody of the juvenile courts, and it doesn't sound like he will be coming home.  Plus, my kids are very rarely outside alone.  They usually ride bikes and play football and stuff together, and I know they know how to protect each other.  Someday, I would love to use the Express Estate Agency's services to buy a home instead of renting, but for now, I am happy not to be packing again.  

You all remember how many boxes of elephants and books I had last time we moved.  I don't think Junior's back can take that again.

Let The Sunshine In!

The weather has been so nice the past few days. I have had the windows open, letting the fresh air inside. I have also been trying to get rid of the germs by following Kasi around with a can of clorox disinfectant spray. She is feeling better today, but still hasn't eaten more than a piece of toast at a time, for both breakfast and supper. I told her she needs to stay home again tomorrow to make sure her tummy can handle food. I would hate for her to go and eat breakfast and then get sick at school. I am a true believer in the "better safe than sorry" philosophy.

With it being so nice outside, Brandi and I have been enjoying taking walks when she gets home from school. This afternoon, as she was getting her bike out of the shed, a little girl from the neighborhood walked over and asked Brandi to play with her. An hour later, I had about 10 kids in my yard, including mine, and they were all playing together so nicely. I even let Brandi walk down to one of the girl's house to play there for a while. Of course, I sent Ryan to check on her every so often, because I am just overprotective that way.

I am just so happy that she is making new friends, in school and out. All the drama at school has stopped, and I think it is because of the email I sent her teacher. Mean had been nothing but nice to Brandi, and today all the girls played together at recess.

And that's the way it should be!

They're Finally Moving!

Why is it that now that my neighbors are moving, we are getting along?

A few weeks ago, Paige was outside and started up a conversation with me as I was walking Brandi back from the bus stop. We talked for a little while, mostly about how horrible the management company is. Then on Friday, while getting the kids ready for the party, she walked over and started talking to Junior and I. I was spraying the girls hair outside because I didn't want to inadvertently color my carpet red and black and pink. I also did their makeup outside because the light was better.

Anyway, we were talking about Ryan's birthday, and how they won't be here for his actual birthday, which is November 6. She said they got their house, and will be moving in about three weeks. I would recommend they use a Los Angeles Moving Company, but we are in South Carolina, so that really doesn't help her. It's too bad, though, because this Moving Company in Los Angeles specializes in being affordable, reliable and professional. They also consider customer satisfaction their number one priority. It would be nice dealing with a company that listens to their customers, and tries to make them happy. Maybe the management company we rent from should take some pointers from them. Do you think I should send them the number to the Movers in Los Angeles, or is that too much?

Okay, back to my story. While we were talking, Paige mentioned that she was packing up her clothes and had a few bags of shirts she was going to take to Goodwill. She asked if my girls would like them, to either sleep or play in. Kasi said yes right away, so how could I say no? Paige said once she got them all together she would bring them over.

This afternoon my doorbell rings, and it's her with three bags of clothes for the girls. I asked her to come in, and I showed her how awful my ceilings looks. She said hers weren't nearly as bad as mine, and I told her that I would rather have leaks than mice and snakes.

And speaking of my horrible apartment, I was told by several people Friday night that Junior and I should be able to break our lease because of the management company's refusal to fix things. I was so embarrassed, because we still had to have buckets on the floor in the kitchen catching dripping water. Thank goodness my friends were understanding, because they know what we are going through. I just can not wait until February.

Four more months. That's what I chant all day long.

Four more months.

Being Neighborly

It seems our neighbor has decided to forgive us for the whole demon dog thing. The guy has always been friendly, even after the dog thing. The girl, however, has been a little pissy.

Last week, though, she knocked on our door, asking to use our phone. She was as nice as could be. Then yesterday, while Junior was working on his coworker's car, she walked over and asked if we needed milk and eggs. Seems her WIC was about to run out or something, and they had extra. Junior said sure, so she gave us some.

I guess we are finally forgiven for protecting our kids.

Life's Hard All Around

My neighbor delivers sheds for a living. He was telling Junior yesterday that business has slowed so bad that he is only making about twenty dollars a day, and most days he just comes home early. The one perk to his job is that when they repossess a shed, he can keep whatever is inside if the owners don't come get it within a certain time frame. A couple of months ago, he brought home a hot tub. It supposedly works great, but he can't hook it up because of the wiring in these apartments. For now, he is storing it on his side porch, and looking at hot spa covers. When they move, he wants it to still be in good working condition.

Not So Friendly Neighbors

This afternoon, Junior, Brandi and I went out to look at the garden. The neighbor was outside with her friend, and they had the dog out. After a minute they got up and went in, but left the dog outside. As soon as they shut the door, the dog took off towards us at a full run, growling.

Brandi lost it. She was hysterical, screaming, scared to death.

Junior picked her up, and I went to knock on the neighbors door. When she answered, I told her that her dog, who was biting my ankles while I spoke, had tried to get my child. She said, "oh, sorry". That was it. Her dog continued to bite at my ankles, and she said nothing. So I told her that she may have chosen to have a pit bull around her kid, but I have the right to chose NOT to have one around mine. She got pissy with me and told me that her dog would stay out of my yard if my cats stopped spraying in her yard.

Um, okay. My vicious attack cats versus your pit bull.

I don't think so.

She has no intention of tying up the dog, so I came inside and called the management company. It took me about 45 minutes to get the owners wife on the phone, and when I finally did, i broke down. I told her what had happened, and she said that Chase, her husband, had been out earlier in the week. but they weren't home. She said she would call him and see what to do, and that she would call me back.

Five minutes later she did, and said she had spoken to Josh, our neighbor, and he admitted to having the dog, and was "very apologetic" about what happened. The owner gave him five days to remove the dog from the premises, and in those five days, the dog is not to be outside unless it is on a leash. She said she would be out Friday to make sure the dog has been relocated.

So, when we came home before, Junior waved to Josh because he was outside, and he just turned away. Junior went out to fix the wipers on our van, and the both of them were sitting on their front porch, looking at the lease agreement. I am sure they are looking for a way to get us into trouble. So we are going to spend the weekend cutting grass, and cleaning up the toys from the yard.

Well, Sunday we'll do that. Tomorrow I am going to watch Alex dance.

Progress

A plan has been made.

When Junior got off of work today, I had him take me down to the management company so I could discuss things with them. I walked in, and the receptionist asked if she could help me, and I told her I wanted to talk to someone about my neighbor. As I was speaking, a woman walked from the back hallway, and asked if I was there about the dog. I said I was, so she took me into her office so we could talk.

I told her that I hated to complain, but that something needed to be done. She knew what I was talking about; apparently she had spoken to Junior on the phone the other day. She said that she had spoken to her husband (the guy who owns the company) and they decided to come out on Tuesday to check our water meter. While there, they would happen to "notice" dog poop, and knock on the neighbors door. She said this would be a good way for them to not know that we complained. I told her that I didn't care anymore if they knew it was me.

I found out that once they talk to them about the dog, they will have five days to remove the animal from the premises. If they don't, they can be evicted. I told her I had pictures, and as I was leaving she asked to see them. They were still on my camera, so as I was scrolling to find them, I saw the pictures from where they hit the bridge. I told her that story, about how they weren't in any rush to fix it until Junior went down and started working on it. I realized while talking to her, and I told her this, too, that my neighbors are young. They may not realize that the things they do have consequences, especially for us. They were in no rush to fix the bridge, because they don't have kids who cross it every day. They don't clean up their dog's crap because it's in our yard, so they won't be stepping in it. Well, from now on, I am not cutting the grass on their side of the yard. I am not going out of my way to be nice to them, when they don't care about the things they do that affect us.

Am I rambling now?

Sorry.

Oh, and the water meter? They are coming to check because our water bill this month was really high. She asked if I knew why? I said I sure did, because our bathtub has been running for the past two months. I told her we called when it first happened, and then again a week later, and we were told someone would be out to look at it. She looked in her computer, and we are still weeks down on the maintenance man's list.

She said someone would be here Tuesday to look at it.

Finally. I just hope the dog is outside when they show up.

The Bridge

Last Friday night, around 11pm, the neighbor knocked on our door. He asked Junior if he could borrow a chain, because his dad had gone off the bridge, aka our driveway. Junior walked down there and helped get his dad's car back on the driveway. When he came in he said the railing was gone on part or the bridge.

As you can see in the pictures, he destroyed a good bit of the side of the bridge. Our neighbor said he would fix it on Saturday, which was good because I was not happy about the kids walking over it without the railing. They could fall and get hurt.

I left early Saturday morning, and when I got home that night the bridge was fixed. Junior said that he walked out there sometime in the afternoon, and the neighbor was on his porch with a friend, and the friend looked at Junior and said they would fix the railing on day during the week. Junior said, okay, and walked down with Ryan and started fixing it himself. He said as soon as the guys saw Ryan bringing some 2x4's down there, they decided to help. I mean, really. They should have fixed it first thing. They could have gotten in a lot of trouble had we called the management company. Not just for the bridge, but for still having that pit bull over there. I am trying hard to be a good neighbor, but if that puppy gets much bigger, I will have a problem, because it voids the insurance on the whole duplex, not just their side. I don't want to lose where we live because of them, ya know?