My coffee pot reminds me of an old man in the morning. I start it working, and it sits there creaking and groaning while it does it's thing. I'm half expecting it to blow up every time I use it now- which would suck, since I defiantly am addicted to my morning coffee. If it does that, it should do it a morning that I work. We have a coffee pot there. I can salvage my brain.
That said, I think Summer may be over now. Even though I knew it was coming, and the "official" start to Fall is just a short stint away, I am not completely ready for it, and it makes me sad. The kids start school again this week, and it will be back to the busy mornings, and busy homework filled evenings. I am expecting even more homework this year, since my son starts junior high. Eeps! I wasn't ready for that either.
On the plus side of this, however, is the fact that Sunday evening, my son comes back home! I'm so excited I just might pee myself. I've missed the hell out of having him around. Every time he went back over to his dad's house this Summer, it broke my heart a little. I'm glad he has his dad around though, for him to go hang out with. I read and hear so often about children whose fathers either up and abandoned them, or whose mothers just won't let their dad see them out of vindiction, or who plain just don't know who the daddy is. It's sad, and I'm so thankful that my relationship with my kids' father is still amicable, one might even call it friendly, and that my kids don't have to suffer like the others do.
My new schedule at work has started this month, and I am excited to receive the information to sign up for the medical plan. I'm not sure how long I have to wait for that, but I'm hoping it's not too long. I so desperately need to get in to be seen by a doctor, a dentist, and an optometrist. It will be so nice to start getting things fixed. And I'm hoping it will cut down on my sick days, since many of those seem to be migraine related. I'm hoping between the doctor and the optometrist, we can get those dealt with.
Anyway, it's a quiet, rainy morning as I sip on my first cup of coffee from my old man coffee pot, and my eyes try to focus on the screen in front of me. I have no idea what I am going to do today, although laundry and a lot of baking are on the agenda.
This is kind of a weird stopping point, but I ran out of things to type, so there ya go!
Ok- here's a rant for you. I'm super annoyed at the label section for Blogger. I try to type something in, like "school", but since I'd used "school helper" before, now it won't let me type just "school". It automatically chooses "school helper". I don't want "school helper"! I want "school"! Sheesh. Is there anyway to turn those auto-things off?!
My enchantment with the human race is slowly dwindling to a point of non-existence. Maybe it's because I'm off the happy-pills, so I am more agitated more easily. Maybe it's pre, during and post PMS syndrome... who knows. Regardless of the cause, people's stupidity is grating on my nerves at a near neck-breaking pace. The race car is the fingernail, and the wall the chalkboard, and that puppy is just flying those sparks down that sucker!
The school parking lot is probably one of my more illuminated irritants. The way these parents act is enough to turn my stomach into knots. The drive-by pick up I am part of, simply because I tried to park to go in, and when I tried to leave, I could not get out of the parking space. But I bring my book to read while I wait, and I am considerate and let people out when they are ready. Especially those who actually parked and went in. But some of these parents are just bullying for the front of the line, to jump up front and get out first. They block people in, do not let others who are finished out, and cause huge congestion areas in an already tight parking lot. Some parents will circle around in the thoroughfares way and stop in the middle once their child comes out. I cannot believe that the school employees (who stand with the kids) allow this. If I ran that school.. heck no. You must be in one of the designated pick up areas. That is for people who are leaving. NO BLOCKING! lol.
Or for instance, right now, as I sit here, there is a parent, who is letting their child - who cannot be more than 2-3- run unattended through the library while they mess around on the computer. This child has run through the back area here twice now, almost ran out the front door (right into the street), and is running aimlessly throughout inside. He is talking to everyone, which normally isn't a problem as long as there is supervision. I like to think the library is a safe place, but you never know. Through all this, the parents have made no notion of noticing the antics of this young man, and it worries me to think about what could have happened if none of us had been standing up front and seen him almost dart out the door (it was one of our employees who stopped him, not the parent). Sadly enough, this is not the first time I've witnessed this kind of "parenting", nor do I believe it will be the last.
Just driving is enough for me to tear my hair out. Just being around large groups of people. The lack of attention, respect, consideration. It blows me away that my children act better than some of these "grown adults" I run into. What happened to compassion and camaraderie? A thing of the past, it seems, and it's sad. I hope that I have brought my children up to at least be somewhat aware and mindful of others. To think before they act, and take into account those around them.
Ok, that is my rant for today. It was something for me to write about, so I got that out of the way. I really need to go work on some of my actual story telling. But I've come to a place that reminds me of dirty water. If that makes any sense. But I will try.
Just a head's up- this is a rant. A long one.
Some of you have heard me complain about the stupidity of my neighbors, and the problems we've been having with them. I just cannot understand the lack of mental capacity in some people- the urge that drives a 30 year old person to act more like a 2 year old.
For the year that we've lived here, they have complained about us having 3 vehicles. You see, I live in a duplex, and we share a driveway. Now, Dustin use to park his Geo out on the road, until it got keyed and the antenna broken off. That was our "crap" car, so there was no way after that that either of the other ones were getting put out there. And although we cannot prove it, I have a sneaky suspicion that our neighbors had something to do with it. So, back into the driveway it went. We park up against the side of our driveway, to where we literally have to crawl through the bushes to get out of our cars.
Well, that wasn't good enough, so they decided they wanted Dustin to park his jeep in this dirt patch in front of their porch so that they could fit in the driveway (apparently she can't drive.....). They even had the landlord come out and have him park there. No problem, OK. So, he starts parking there, and they start blocking him in, and not answering the door when he goes at 4:00 in the morning to ask them to move so he can get to work. Mind you, he is in the union, and if he doesn't get there early, he misses out on work. There has been more than once that he has missed work because of this stunt.
Regardless, the landlord told him to park there, so he has continued to park there. We put up with them blocking us in, parking in the middle of the driveway to block all of our cars either in or out. Then in November, when they parked in the middle of the driveway, Dustin thought he had enough room to squeeze by, so that we wouldn't be sinking to their level by parking behind them, and he misjudged and scraped the side of their car. Now, we are bad bad folks, and didn't have insurance on the car at that time. He went over to her house, and told her he had hit their car. She slammed the door in his face, so he assumed she had heard. Then a couple weeks later, she comes over pounding on the door asking if we had hit her car........ He thinks she means AGAIN, so says no. Then, upon a couple minutes of thinking about it, realizes maybe she meant the first time, so went and talked to her. Apparently she hadn't listened when he told her that we had hit her, and had just realized the scrape on her car.
Ok, so she was a ditz that time, but we've known this.. so we roll with it. He explains to her and her boyfriend that we do not have insurance to cover it, but he is very much aware that he hit it and he owes for it. He also explains at this time that he hasn't been sent out on any jobs lately, and that money is extremely tight, but he will do what he can. We fill out a paper that agrees we will pay for the car. Everyone around is talking about how they only expect it to be a couple hundred dollars for the work. Well, we can do that no problem. Then, two weeks before Christmas, they bring over two estimates that run around $1500. Now, this is quite a bit more than the couple hundred we were expecting. There is no way that he can afford that right now. He hasn't been sent out on a job since the beginning of October. The next week, the boyfriend comes over and starts yelling at Dustin, saying "It's a week before Christmas- I can't have my girlfriend driving around in a piece of sh@t!". Ok, there is a slight scratch on the taillight, a scuff on the back corner bumper, and a teeny dent you really have to get down and look for to see. Dustin looks at him and says "Yeah, man... it's a week before Christmas. I have 2 kids here. Do YOU have $1500 in your pocket right now??". Dude says some threatening words and walks off.
Later on that month, she comes out and tells Dustin that she paid the deductible on her insurance, so they will be coming after him. Good! he says. He'd much rather deal with the insurance company than them at this point. So we don't talk to them about it while we wait for the insurance company to get ahold of us. Meanwhile, they are still parking like jerks, her boyfriend makes threatening and condescending remarks to Dustin every time he walks out of the house. She even took her own son's outside toys and shoved them under Dustin's jeep at one point.
And I won't even get into how many times we've had to call 911 at 3am because someone is over there banging on their door screaming and cursing.
Then, I get accosted by her mother on my way in from work one afternoon, yelling at me about when am I going to pay for their car. Uh.... we've been waiting on the insurance. She starts yelling that it's not their place, and that we owe them. She says the insurance isn't involved. Well, that's not what we were told, and with the way they've been acting, I wouldn't put it past them that they are trying to pull one over on us.
At some point, she sent her daddy over to talk to Dustin. Of all of them, he seems the most calm and reasonable, thank the gods! Dustin explains to him that he hasn't been to work. He even gave them the Hall's number and told him to call and verify it. He explains to dad that he's not trying to screw them over, but with not working, and not to mention the way they've been acting, he's got his own butt to cover. Dad seemed to not be happy, but at least understand.
Ok.. I think I've gotten off the original path with this thread, but they are so frustrating. Some of their antics include the parking directly behind us so none of our vehicles can get out, or in. She shoved stuff under his jeep, for who knows what reason. At one point we had the Geo out in the road for a tow truck to pick up. The Geo is not registered in WA since it has been broke down since it expired. So, Dustin had a note on it to the police that it was awaiting pick up from a tow company, and the tow company had been having problems getting out to get it, so pick up time was unknown. He came home to catch our neighbor gal taking the note off the car.... The Geo is back in the driveway.
*breathe, breathe, breathe*
Today, my daughter is sick. They are parked directly behind us. We have errands to run. Dustin goes over and asks if they can move their car because my daughter is sick, and we need to take her to the doctor. The boyfriend screams exploitative words at him, and says if we want him to move the car to call the cops. So Dustin comes in and does just that. The girlfriend looked pretty abashed when the police showed up knocking on their door. She moved it. The police told them they were acting like 2 year olds. Next time we have to call for them to move their car, both her boyfriend AND mine are getting arrested. That angers me.
I finally broke down and contacted my landlord again today. He says he will interfere. I just hope this doesn't wind up causing more problems for us, since our lease is up next month. I'm kinda worried about that, since there is no way I could come up with a deposit for another place. But, I'll deal with that if it gets there.
Ok, I feel a bit better. Venting is good for the soul! At least for that part of you that wants to go put bullets in your gun! LOL...