Around 9:00 I heard knocking, and proceeded to yell up the stairs at RP to knock it off and get to sleep, as she has been known to lollygag going to sleep these days and I thought she was kicking the wall, which she has done in the past. She then proceeds to yell down to me that it wasn't her, and that it was the puppies knocking on the door (cute, but not sure where that came from). Since the dogs were sleeping at the foot of the sofa where I was sitting I knew it wasn't the dogs, but I also knew where the noise was coming from. Yes, the damned next door neighbors.
My next door neighbors have been the biggest bane of my existence almost since they moved in - 5 or 6 years ago. A young engaged couple when they moved in, they built the biggest model house that the builder offered but had no furniture (or window treatments in it, which is how I knew there was no furniture) for a LONG time. What they DID put in that house right away was a huge stereo system, with the capability of blaring music so loud MY walls shook. I put up with it for at least the first 2-3 years before one night I got so fed up at 3 a.m. that I called the cops... and shook with fear the entire time. I am a single woman living alone, and some of the people I've seen coming and going over there are pretty shady looking. I have now called the cops a handful of times on them (and yes, one other ridiculously noisy neighbor - another story for another day), and have even had a run-in with the wife over there because they just refuse to recognize that they are bothering anyone (I went out to ask them to turn down the music that had woken RP this past winter and she made a snotty comment about calling the cops - which is exactly what I'm going to do the next time I have issues with them. I'm done playing with these fools.). I grew up in a nice, friendly, QUIET neighborhood where everyone got along, and I really wanted to like my neighbors when I moved here. Now I just hope to tolerate them and not have a heart attack or stroke before I can either sell or rent this place out. Yes, seriously.
I worked hard to be able to afford to build this house. I then worked hard to maintain this house and make it a home. I want RP to be able to enjoy her home, and if you took my neighbors out of the equation I actually love my house, and my yard. It's roomy enough for RP and I and our three fur-babies, we have a roomy fenced-in back yard that is great for the dogs and an active toddler, and we have room to spare to have guests/overnight visitors on occasion. Sure, there are things I wish I had more/less of and things I would do differently if building again, but this has been my home for over seven years now, and I want to enjoy it with my daughter.
But I can't. I find myself looking for reasons to leave and enjoy things elsewhere, particularly if I know the weather is going to be nice over the weekend. Why???
- The crazy neighbors that live next door have gone from being an engaged couple to a married couple with a toddler (just a few months younger than RP) and now apparently a baby. I say "apparently" because there is now an entire second family living in the house with them, and I can't tell who belongs to whom anymore. This second family brought along their dog, making it THREE bully breeds that now live next door, and despite their fenced in BACK yard, they insist on letting the dogs out in the FRONT yard to "take care of business," sometimes doing so in MY lawn. For this reason I very rarely let RP play out front or take the dogs for a walk - something we are all missing out on. I checked municipal code tonight and there is a city ordinance that without a kennel license you are allowed only two dogs in a home in this city, and all dogs must be kept on a leash at all times - both things I will be keeping in the back of my mind moving forward.
- The same crazy neighbors like to have parties. Lots of parties. I could care less if I didn't have them parking up by my driveway, tramping through my lawn, and allowing their kids to play on my driveway and trample through my landscaping. I lost my mind at the beginning of April on two kids from a party next door who were playing Frisbee across the two yards, and the kid kept trampling on my shrubs that were trying to come up. The parents were outside WATCHING and yet said nothing, which pissed me off even more. I had to yell at them three times and even then they kept coming back in my yard.
- Even without the parties the neighbors have no sense of boundaries. Last summer they consistently set their kids' pool up in the front yard - halfway into my yard, and under RP's window. RP and I were still trying to settle into routines and the chick next door has the loudest voice I have ever heard - I can seriously hear her conversations from outside in my family room with the TV on and AC blowing, and of course her kids are just going outside to play at 8-9 p.m. when I'm trying to get mine to drift off to sleep - next to impossible when you've got kids screaming at each other right below your window.
- Just to not pick on the people next door (although, like I said earlier, they are the biggest offenders) there are others in this neighborhood who are noisy and inconsiderate. There is a house on the street behind mine where the dad/husband thinks his garage is his own personal nightclub and he blasts music from it for hours at a time, and at all hours of the day/night. The people across the street from me have at least one party a month, and every time they do the party seriously lasts for two solid days. After every party I have tire tracks in my front yard because apparently parking on the street is hard and they just HAVE to get at least one wheel up on the curb and into my yard, my landscaping bricks are knocked down around the tree in the boulevard (I've honestly stopped putting them back up - what' the point?), and they have about 70 kids running screaming (yes, literally) through this neighborhood until at least 2-3 a.m. when the weather is nice. There's more, but my fingers are honestly worn out from typing it all!
This brings me back to what brought on the rant tonight. The knocking RP heard was the next door neighbors beginning their construction project at 9:00 p.m. in their garage. I don't know what the project is, nor do I care. What I do care about is that they woke up my child for the umpteenth time in her 15 months home, and I am physically and mentally tired of it. I feel bad for RP because I would love for her to have friends in the neighborhood she can play with and share her swing set, sandbox, and other toys with, and ride up and down on the sidewalk on her bike with. That can't/won't happen here - it just isn't safe, and that makes me sad....
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