Meeting with Heads of State

I’d like to say that this situation with my current neighbors has been stressing me out. More than I realized... This past week, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night... thinking about the neighbors and their shenanigans.

After the latest incident when she blew grass all over my car and then had the nerve to yell at me in the front yard about it... when she clearly was in the wrong, I called and arranged a meeting with the landlords. For 45 minutes, I detailed out ALL of the neighbor’s behavior. I told them about the flower labeling, the grass on the concrete, the selective mowing, the 5ft tall weeds. I also informed them of some other things they did not know. Apparently Donna told them her daughter had only been staying there for the past week. Ahem… look at the date of when she moved in. The landlords also did not know that there were 2 dogs and 2 cats next door. Vicki hates cats. Well, maybe not "hate" but she has bad allergies like me. The lease the neighbor signed said "one dog". Oopps... caught in yet another lie. I also told them that the one dog barks and barks and barks, which it does. It's not a soft bark either, it's loud. All I have do is walk through my place sometimes and the dog goes off barking! It's ridiculous. After I got done with my side of the story, Vicki did comment that she knew there was more to the story then what Donna was letting on.

I also found out another interesting tidbit of information: It seems when Donna talked to Vicki, she asked if she could put a lock on the gate to the backyard to keep ME out. LOL Would you like to hear the reason why she wanted to lock me out? Sure, you do!! She told the landlady that she had a nice swing in the backyard and she didn't know if one day she'd come home to find a baseball bat taken to it. LOL! Hmmm... Anyone who knows me would roll their eyes and die laughing. It tells me what kind of world she comes from if people are taking baseball bats to personal property. Sorry, I don't live in *that* world.

At one point Vicki mentioned breaking the lease with Donna. I don't see that happening since winter is approaching and it's difficult finding renters in winter. I asked the landlords if they had any other properties with a house and garage on it. I wanted to put the idea in their head that I was possibly thinking about moving. Which do you think they'd want to keep? Someone who's lived there for 5 years and paid rent consisently every single month -or- Someone who's been there not even a year and is causing problems and lying about it. The landlords are going to have a "chat" with Donna and get a few issues resolved. As I left the landlord's home, Vicki said "Sounds like she needs Prozac" or something... LOL

Just Plain Stupidity or Just Being A Witch?

After the little "chat" with the neighbor lady, I spent over an hour early Saturday afternoon washing and vacuuming my car. During that time, Donna came and went at least three times. While cleaning the inside of my car, guess what I found?! Besides the usual tiny cash treasures, I found my favorite watch! I lost it months and months ago... thought it fell off while I was shopping in a store. I was ecstatic to find my watch! :-)

It was a beautiful day, so I washed my sheets and hung them outside to dry. I LOVE the smell of freshly air dried sheets. Mmmmmmm! While they were on the line drying, I cleaned the upstairs of my house. Meanwhile, the neighbor decided she was going to mow the yard. When I thought the sheets were dry, I started out the door... and stopped dead in my tracks.

Donna had mowed the yard all right! She had blown grass ALL OVER the side of my newly washed car! Not only was there grass on the car, but it was all over the concrete in front of my garage and the area where I normally park my car. Needless to say I was livid. As angry as I was, I calmly walked to the front of the house where Donna and her grown daughter were and simply said to her: "I really don't appreciate you blowing grass all over my car when I just got done washing it." Well, that was enough to get her screaming... yes, screaming at me in the front yard. She first asked, "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!! YOU KNEW I WAS MOWING THE YARD" When I responded to her that all she had to do was face the blower the opposite direction... away from the concrete. Her daughter pipes up... "It's a mulching lawnmower." So freakin' what. You can still face the lawnmower in the opposite direction. IMO, it doesn't matter if I did or didn't know she was mowing the lawn. My car has been parked in the same spot for the last 5 years and NEVER had any of the other tenants blown grass all over my car... clean or dirty. Donna is still screaming at me as I walk away. Actually, she followed me to the back yard. Remember? I was going to take the sheets off? She tried to rationalize her behavior as being "right" and telling me that all I had to do was hose it off. I simply told her "That is NOT the point." Then she said, "Well, it'll blow off when you drive down the road" What? Does she think I'll be going 120? Her final statement to me was (keep in mind my back was to her because I just kept on walking)... in a sarcastic tone "I guess it's all my fault." All I said, "Obviously, it is." and kept on going toward the clothes line. Donna's responses were so ignorant I was very disgusted. (My brother said I handled it a lot better than he would have. He said I should've gotten right up in her face and yell louder than she did. LOL)

Later in the evening, I was sitting on the back porch when the daughter came outside to let their dogs do the potty break. I asked her, "Are you guys going to sweep up the grass? I really need to know how to handle it next week." LOL OMG, she went off on me about my attitude about MY car having grass on it. I calmly replied, "I believe I have a right to have a problem with you blowing grass all over my car when I just washed it." LOL, well she didn't like that and went into the house slamming the door behind her. I could hear her telling Donna, and then Donna screaming about it. Yes, screaming. Btw, they didn't sweep up the grass... I HAD to.

So now I ask you.... Is she just plain stupid? Or is she being a snotty, retalitory witch (replace the "w" with a "b")?

Stay tuned for the next episode of "As The Yard Grows..."

I'm Telling Mom!

I bet you're thinking this has something to do with sibling rivalry, aren't you? Nope. You're wrong. Ever get the feeling you know someone is lying in wait for you? Waiting to pounce... After arriving home from a hair appointment last Saturday, I barely stepped out of my car when my neighbor (Who's name is Donna, btw) came out her backdoor.

While standing there with her arms crossed in front of her chest with an aggessive tone of voice, she *told* me several things. She complained about the grass left on the driveway last week. I pointed out the fact that whenever she mowed, she left grass on the concrete where I parked and pulled into the garage. She boldly denied doing it!

She also informed me that she talked to the landlady about the lawnmowing situation. Know what immediately popped into my head? "I'm telling Mom!" Apparently, Donna complained to the landlady about how I "never" mowed the yard. Then she went on with, "Vicki said..." (Vicki is the landlady) I stood there thinking to myself, "Mom said..." Anyway, "Vicki said... We should take turns every other week mowing the entire yard." I responded to Donna by telling her that I didn't have a problem with that, which I don't and never have. It was at this point I shared with Donna how I had made plans to pay my niece to mow the entire yard during the summer... until she (as in Donna) started playing the lawnmowing games. Yes, I said exactly that! Her response? "Well, you didn't tell me that." Straight-faced (even though I was laughing inside), I told her it really wasn't her business arrangements I had made regarding the lawn. Was she going to pay half? I can guarantee the answer would be NO.

I reminded Donna that it was she who segregated the yard duties with her lawnmowing actions and I just followed suit by mowing the sections she didn't as my own. I thought about calling her out on her passive-aggressive actions, but I didn't.

I brought up the labeling of the flowers. She complained that *someone* picked all the "beautiful roses" off it... Which is another bold-faced lie because when the sign was put on there, the bush was full of blooms. When I replied I didn't pick them, she responded, "Well I didn't either!" LOL, I didn't recall accusing her, but hey whatever. She then had the audacity to blame a neighborhood girl. How many teenage girls do you know who carry around scissors or pruning shears in order to get roses?

Since she got her jabs in, I thought it was only fair that I asked when she planned out doing something with the 5ft tall weeds up against her side of the building. Know what she said? "I work all week." I looked her straight in the face and said, "I work all week, too. And I go to school at night." That shut her up for oh about 10 seconds before she spouted off with: "I've been trying to keep up with it. If you don't like it, you can pull them." Such audacity! First of all, if they are 5 feet tall, there is NO WAY she's been keeping up with anything. Secondly, there is no way I am going to clean her side of the building. Sorry, not with her attitude problem.

Don't you find it ironic (I did) for someone to stand in front of me and tell me she's open to communication... all the while her body language (arms crossed) and verbal tone (aggressiveness) told me the exact opposite?

At one point I even called her aggressive tone into question. LOL! I could tell by the look on her face she didn't like it. She again questioned me about taking turns mowing the yard. I simply responded, "I think we already resolved that." She promptly went into her apartment and closed the door. So much for open communication!

If you're not familiar with the background on this situation, it all started HERE. Then we moved on to HERE. And HERE.

Noah, Break Out the Ark! Please!!

It's been raining, and raining, and raining today. Just when one would think it has stopped, it starts to rain so some. Before long there is lightning and thunder -- Boy, did it ever BOOM! Next thing you know, pea sized hail comes bouncing down from the skies. Rain and more rain.... It's still thundering out as I write this, but the rain has subsided to a light sprinkle. Is Mother Nature just taking a break? Or is there more to come? Here's what the area around my house looked like not even 15 minutes ago:

I walked out my backdoor to see this....


I am guessing that at this point the water was at least calf level. Before I took this photo, I pulled my car forward because the back end was getting covered in water. Curious as to what the front yard looked like, I went out the front door. Here's what I saw....

Notice all the rushing water at the bottom of my driveway? Yes, that's the flow from the back yard down the driveway into the street. There's another flow coming down the hill from the right side of the photo.

These are some photos after some of the water subsided. This is the play fort that used to have a rope swing and tire swing... but the nieghbor's grandson managed to destroy them in the first two months he was here:

A tractor tire behind the garage... Notice how high the water is?


If you notice on the garage door, the "water marks"... add about 3-4" more because the garage is higher than the rest of the yard. That fact didn't spare the garage, though. At this point, the water was still above ankle deep on me. I just got done sweeping out all the water in there. I am really regretting not cleaning the garage yesterday. Everything on the floor is either ruined or wet!


Here's a view of the driveway from across the street. It had stopped raining and the flooding has subsided some....


To find some humor in this, I *just* heard on the TV that the National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning. LOL, I think the storm has passed fellas!!

A Good Stash Week

Yes, it's definitely been a good stash week. Today after getting my hair done, I went to the PO and what was there but the final secret sister gift from Colleen in Austrailia. In the package was:

• Door Blessing, a chart by Cross-Eyed Cricket
• Lace Trimmed Hankie
• Angel cross stitch keychain kit
• Aquatic cross stitch kit
• 2 skeins of DMC Linen floss
• Small beaded notebook and pen with it's own little see-thru bag (made in India) - very lovely!
• Stitched pin cushion that is also very lovely :-)





Out of the kindess of her heart, Julie picked up this Mirabilia Lady of the Flag kit for me. It was on clearance at her Hobby Lobby. It had been marked down three times from $51.15 to $25 to $17.05 to finally $10! I've been eyeing this one for a long time. (Thank you Julie!)

On Tuesday, I received two bird charts compliments of Susie in GA. Unbenownst to me, I already had the one entitled The Nestlings so my plan is to pass it on to someone else who will be able to use it.

On Monday, I received two packages that I had ordered from Ebay. They contained huge pieces of evenweave and linen. As a bonus, one of the sellers sent a complimentary hand-dyed piece of 14ct blue aida. Wasn't that nice?

JoAnn Fabrics had a sale going on. Can't pass up a sale... I was pretty good, though. I came home with Dimensions Celestial Angel (which 12x17") for $6 -- 40% off, and a pair of Ginghers Epaulette scissors for $8 -- 50% off.

The bingo prize from Cynthia also arrived this week. I was very excited to see the scissor fob kit seeing has I've been on a fob kick lately. The prize consisted of Lily's Scissor Fob kit, 2 skeins of DMC Light Effects floss, a skein of Needle Necessities floss, and a packet of notecards.







And finally.... I don't remember which day it arrived, but it did arrive. My first needlework stand. My intention is to use it with Japanese Garden since the scroll frame is 25" wide.