It's a Good Thing We're Moving...

because I got into a verbal altercation with one of the neighbors today.  One that I've never seen or met before.  And Joey was calling him "not nice" as I went back in the house.  Here is how it all went down:

I was super tired this afternoon after getting home from the gym.  All I wanted was for the kids to go to sleep so I could take a nap.  My nap was cut short when Joey came in my room and proceeded to wake me up.  Still tired, now grumpy, I dragged myself out of bed and poured myself a large glass of Diet Coke, wishing I could inject the caffeine directly into my blood stream instead.  I then leashed up the dogs (I'm watching Daisy's BFF, Ginger), and took Joey outside with me to let them do their duty.

As I stood on our front step right outside the door watching the dogs carefully select the perfect place to pee a large dog came charging at us from the other side of the parking lot.  Joey got nervous as all 3 dogs began obnoxiously barking at each other, and I stood frozen hoping this would not result in a scary dog fight or bite.  Meanwhile, as this dog came running at us it's owner stood watching from his stoop outside his apartment across the way.  He did not call for it, did not chase it down, and did not put a leash on it.  He stood watching, completely unconcerned about the fact that his dog was about to eat my dogs, followed by my child, and then me.

When the idiot neighbor finally did walk up as I was collecting my dogs and child to go hide inside, he muttered a meaningless, "sorry 'bout that."  I didn't even warrant that with a response, just hussled Joey, Daisy, and Ginger inside and waited for him to collect his big, scary dog and leave.  But he didn't. 

We have this large grassy area outside our apartment where all of the neighbors bring their dogs to crap.  I watched out the window as the guy stood on one side of it watching as his dog dropped a deuce right outside my door.  Then the guy said something to the dog, and began walking across the street back to his apartment.  WHAT?!?!  You are not only going to allow your dog to scare the bejesus out of me, my dogs, and my kid, but you also leave it's poop for some unsuspecting shoe to step in?  Oh no you don't, buddy.  Not on my watch.

When the dog was a safe distance away, I walked back outside.  The guy was still standing on his stoop waiting for his dog to join him.  The dog was still wandering on my side of the parking lot, further away from both me and it's owner.  Eventually the dog headed home to the guy, and just before he turned to walk back to his apartment I called out to him, "Oh, and don't worry about the dog poop.  Just leave it there.  That's awesome."  I knew he heard me but didn't bother to acknowledge me, instead he gave his dog 4-5 hard whacks and pushed it inside.  OH MY GOD.  This guy is unbelievable.  I couldn't help myself.  I knew I shouldn't have said anything, but I just couldn't hold my tongue. (big surprise there...)  "Oh, good.  Beat the dog up.  Because it's HER fault.  Maybe you should look into using a F***ing leash!"  Yes.  I dropped the F-bomb.  To a stranger.  In front of my kid.  (Mom of the year, right here...)  I was just so infuriated that this guy was being such a jerk and irresponsible dog owner.  And seeing him beating the dog was the last straw for me.  Because seriously, none of this was the dog's fault.  Not my finest moment, but I got my point across and that is always important to me.  And not to give him any credit, but he did put the dog inside, walk over to the doggie doo-doo station, get a green bag, and search the big grassy area for his dog's crap.  (I watched from inside with the door locked.)  I seriously doubt he did that to appease me, but probably more because we all got notes in our mailboxes last week about proper doggie poop etiquette from the management and I'm sure this guy figured I was crazy enough to report him.

So I've learned a couple of things from this situation:

1. Some people just should not own pets.
2. Joey knows when not to repeat the F-word. (after my last comment, he said to me, "that guy needs a leash mom?)  -he totally left out the f-word part.  He's so smart!
3. I should have waited until the caffeine reached my blood stream before interacting with anyone.
4. It's a really good thing we are moving soon before I piss off any more of the neighbors.

Moving On Up

I didn't post this earlier because I didn't want to jinx myself, but it looks like it's really gonna work out this time, so I've decided to go ahead and make it blog-official... we're buying a house and moving at the end of this month!  I am so excited to finally have our own home again!  Here are some of the reasons I'm excited:

• A yard for my kids to play in.
• Neighbors to become friends with.
• My children will be able to walk to school.
• 2 fabulous playgrounds
• Neighborhood pool
• lots of flat, wide sidewalks for walks and bike rides.
• a designated play-room away from the main part of the house.
• a dining room!!! (finally!)  I've never had a formal dining room before. (I'll probably use it as my craft area though. hehe.
• a whirlpool tub in the "master suite."
• enough bedrooms for everyone. (although the girls will still share.)
• a covered porch with a ceiling fan.
• ceiling fans
• gas fireplace
• 2 car garage
• no upstairs neighbors that let their kids bounce around at all hours of the night.
• knowing that the only dog poop that my children will step in will be from our dog.

Lastly, I'm really excited to finally feel like we are settling into our new life here.  We've been living in limbo for quite a while, often very unsure of what the future holds, and I'm so happy that we are moving forward towards our dreams.

I am not, however, looking forward to packing again.  Or unpacking.  Again.

The Toy Tornado

My husband is generally not one to comment on the state of the house when he comes home from work.  He always notices if I went above and beyond and did something major, (like vacuum) but he typically doesn't pay much attention to the random scattering of toys underfoot as he tries to walk through the door.  Until yesterday.  He actually walked in the living room and said, "Whoa, what happened in here?"  For him to notice the disastrous state of our living space means that it was just that.  A disastrous state.

It rained here in Raleigh all day yesterday.  And I decided early in the morning that it was just too cold, wet, and miserable outside to make an attempt to take my children anywhere.  Plus, I had mountains of laundry to do, dinner to prepare, and 100 Valentine's Day cookies to work on for Saturday.  So I had more than enough things to occupy myself inside the apartment for the day. 

My children on the other hand, couldn't seem to find any one thing to occupy themselves.  They went from one toy to the next, scattering and tossing everything in their path.  I saw toys from the bottom of the toy bucket that I haven't seen since October.  At one point in the afternoon, as I cleaned up the dishes in the kitchen, (again!) I watched Joey actually pick up a plastic container full of baby toys, flip it's entire contents onto the floor, and move on to destroy another area of my living room.  Think I'm exaggerating?  The proof is in the pudding:

The bucket:

And it's contents:

Water in the Wall

Apartment living has its ups and downs just as any other situation in life.  I especially like that there is no maitenence involved.  Something breaks? We make a phone call.  Not 42 trips to Home Depot.  However, I still haven't quite gotten used to having people live above me.  I've never actually met my upstairs neighbors.  I do know that they have lots of obnoxious energetic children, and are awake at all hours of the night.  They are quite heavy footed, and one of their children enjoys running from one end of the apartment to the other around 3:30pm every afternoon. 

I've also learned another interesting fact about the family who lives above us.  They are extremely clean.  Their bathroom is located directly above ours (all units resemble each other in apartment buildings), which is located directly behind the livingroom wall.  So as I sit in my livingroom, I hear the water from the shower upstairs running through the pipes.  ALL DAY LONG.  They shower in the morning.  They shower in the afternoon.  They shower at Midnight.  These people shower more often than anyone I've ever met. 

I thought by now I'd be used to the sound of water trickling through the walls of my livingroom, but I'm not.  I don't think I'll ever be.  Even Joey notices it.  The water starts going and Joey goes to wall saying, "What's that, Mommy?"  And I can't use the word 'shower' to explain it to him, (remember this?) So I usually just say, "Oh, that's just the water in the wall honey." Again.

Mover's Remorse

Remorse is an interesting word.  According to the internet, the word remorse can be defined by deep and painful regret for wrongdoing.  When applying it to my current situation I'd say that's pretty dramatic, but I can't think of another way to describe how I am feeling.

We've all experienced buyer's remorse.  Most of us have experienced seller's remorse.  And now I find myself experiencing a new kind of remorse.  Mover's remorse.  This temporary feeling that I am having is just that.  Temporary.  I know that, and you should too.  But since our return trip to our new home I've been longing for my old life.  The life where I was a homeowner and my kids could play outside.  The life where I could take a walk that wasn't around an apartment complex full of parked cars.  The life where I could call up a number of different friends or family members to get together for lunch, dinner, or a simple morning playdate.  I miss that life so desperately right now.

This is not a post announcing my unhappiness.  I am not unhappy.  My children, my husband, and even my still meaningful relationships with the people we've left behind make me very happy.  I am just a bit lonely.  I did not feel this way when we first arrived here in October.  We had so much fun exploring new parks and places to bring our children.  We enjoyed the warmer temperatures, the amenities in the area, and dreaming about what the future holds for us.  But even North Carolina has a winter and the cold weather has restricted our exploring.  Being inside with nothing to do and no one to call has made me see the harsh reality that my network of available friends is 600 miles away. Kinda far for a playdate.  I'm (mostly) sure that we made the right decision in moving here.  Ron had very little job prospects in Connecticut, and we could no longer afford our lifestyle there.  We are now living a bit more comfortably and he has a job starting this week after 6 long months of unemployment.  But apartment living is hard on a family of three young children. 

I'm trying to focus on the big picture.  We will have a good life here.  It will feel comfortable eventually.  We will make friends, connections, and memories here.  Our children will thrive because I will see to it that they do.  I've already joined a nice group of moms that have frequent playdates.  I've signed Joey up for a movement class at the community center, and I am researching other activities that we can get involved in to help us make new friends.  In the spring we will (hopefully) start house hunting and we will settle into a nice neighborhood.  So the future looks bright.  But when I sit in this apartment with the heat cranked up, the children bored with being inside, and all of our wonderful outdoor toys stacked a mile high in a storage unit it's sometimes hard to remember just how bright.