Keeping the Neighbors on Their Toes

I wish I had more nerve than I do to really mess with people. You know, in a fun and mischievious way. Mom did, why can’t I? I think it’s due to brain fog that I don’t. Gimme time.

We live in a typical suburban housing development with typical HOA restrictions and resident HOA Nazis, with the allotted 10.2 feet between the homes. However we live on a corner, read: more exposure to nosiness prying eyes local interest. Except, of course when our car was broken into in the middle of the day right out front…. And nobody knew nothin’, heard nothin’, saw nothin’.

We had landscaping done. Yes, you read that right. We payed someone to come in on 95 degree days to perform arduous physical labor to complete all those jobs we have spent the last 5 summers trying to do ourselves. We had pallets and piles and more piles and tools, and trailers and trucks and people all converging onto our little square of real estate, all accompanied by the standard portable two speaker radio blasting out classic rock. I could almost hear the swish of the curtains as our neighbors across the street peered out to see what was happening next. I’ve seen the raised eyebrows when, of course, we answer Yes to the obvious questions – you’re having that done? Yes. We. Are. And the little wheels grinding in their heads running the mental calculators summing up what they think we are spending and formulating the ways, hows and whens of the funds to pay for all this. It humors me.

I know this because I’ve done it. I’ve watched the furniture trucks pull up and spy the goodies being unloaded. I’ve made the judgments. All those years of watching our neighbors … or better, The Mother, with the deliveries of tangibles. I most likely did it out of envy, since we lived in our house for 3 years with a sum total of one 48" round dinner table with 4 chairs, 1 rocking chair, 1 bed and two dressers, and two broken-down hand-me-down couches in the basement as the sum total of our basic "real" furniture. I got tired of either sitting on the edge of the bed, or at the little table. That being said, my judgment-o-meter was pretty high.   I’ve learned a little since then.

So, when the next person asks about the work we had done in some direct or indirect manner in that blatant, subconscious, off-handed way yearning for something resembling how many dollars were spent, my new answer will be: "We turned off cable."

Comments

[Tulip Girl]

What??? No cable??? There would be issues at my house if we did that!

Can't wait to see the new yard!

[J]

I am starting to believe I could live without canble because it turns out Netflix rocks!

[Stephanie]

Serious issues with turning off cable at our house. I think it might interrupt the space/time continuum or something. But yay on the landscaping! That's awesome.