Category: Neighborhood

New Driveway & Patio

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They finally got around to our block to replace our asphalt driveway with concrete and replace the patios with new concrete this week. This whole project started in the neighborhood last year but they couldn’t finish in time.

Joe and I were both anxious about not being able to use our garage/driveway for 2-3 weeks so we were pretty pleased when they poured the new driveway and patio yesterday. It takes only a day to dry enough to walk on, but four days to drive on. The problem? They haven’t ripped out the apron portion of the drives yet so that will likely happen next week which means it will be at least two weeks of not being able to use the driveway. I hate having my poor new car out in the elements!

Also, we propped up one of our security cameras in the window upstairs to watch the guys fill the new driveway. They ran out of concrete 3/4 of the way through and it took over two hours before they finished ours so we have a line in our drive that the neighbors’ drives don’t, plus the line isn’t even straight. I’m so angry and disappointed with how it came out compared to the surrounding drives and there’s nothing I can do about it since the association is the one who commissioned the work.

When we took Wookie for a walk last night we looked closer at other driveways that were already complete and some looked great whereas some were crooked like ours, so apparently these guys are not very consistent with their work. Plus it looks like our new patio sinks a bit in the middle. I hope water doesn’t collect there when it rains. No one takes any pride in their work anymore…

That Time I Called 911

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Picture this: It’s 5:45 am and you’re home alone standing in your bathroom naked except for a pair of underwear when your little dog starts growling and barking at the front door. Suddenly the doorbell rings and someone starts enthusiastically pounding on the door. You wait, hoping they go away, but they keep ringing the doorbell and pounding with an increased sense of urgency. You slowly make your way downstairs to see if you can peak through the side window without them noticing and see a big burly guy wearing a white t-shirt and tan jacket. You run upstairs to check if there’s any vehicles parked nearby to explain his presence but there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile the ringing/pounding continues. What do you do?

Well, if you’re me, you dial 911 scared out of your mind. Which is what I did this morning. They took my address, name, number, and a description of the guy and then after checking their computer informed me that it was probably the fire department since they had a call for a carbon monoxide leak in a townhome at the end of my attached building. 911 was cautious about everything, however, and instructed me not to open the door until it was 100% confirmed. They also still sent a patrol car (it drove by just as everything was confirmed and I was opening the door). At that time two uniformed firefighters were coming out of my neighbor’s unit with the guy that, if I had nine lives, reduced mine to only eight today. I apologized for not answering sooner and for calling 911 but they were very understanding, as was the 911 agent who assured me I did the right thing by calling. They came inside to check the CO levels in my house and then promptly left.

In hindsight, I feel pretty silly but I was legitimately terrified while it was going on. I recall saying “please hurry, I’m really scared” to the 911 operator. In my defense, the guy at the door was not in uniform, nor did he announce who he was. I also subscribe to the fuck politeness theory and never answer the door unless I’m expecting someone, so I think it might be time to invest in a smart doorbell.

After calming down a bit, I posted what happened to Facebook and was reassured by many of my female friends that they would have done the same thing.

I really hate how hard it is to see out the front when people come to the door. We only have the side window next to the door which I have a shear drape over, so it’s pretty obvious if I look out there and still not answer, so I usually don’t even see the person. There’s awnings over the door area so looking out the side window upstairs reveals nothing, and the front windows are useless because the door is set back so far you can’t see it. It might be time to invest in a smart doorbell!

New Neighbors

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Last week I met one of our new neighbors. A couple moved in, but I’ve yet to meet the woman, let alone even see her. The most we’ve seen is her car, but on one of the only above 60 degree days we had last week, I took Wookie for a walk and the guy next door (C) was in his garage. He came out to introduce himself and even invited me in to see their place which was cool.

I was surprised by how dark it was in there compared to our place. I think the combination of dark wood floors, the absence of high windows, and them keeping the blinds closed contributed to the stark difference. I much prefer all the natural sunlight we get in our unit. Plus the echo in their place was terrible with all the hard floors and no throw rugs. C assured me they are on the list and I’m hoping they get some soon because even though their TV is mounted above the fireplace (which is not a shared wall), sometimes we can still hear it! I mentioned that in passing to him when we met and he said to let him know if it’s ever too loud. I’m not so petty to march over there every time, though, so long as it’s not for hours on end and/or late at night I’m not planning on saying anything. So far it’s only happened twice more since we met. I’m guessing once they get rugs it might dampen the noise some. He’s a loud talker so you’d think they would want to eliminate that echo ASAP.

He also likes to talk in general so I learned a lot about him and his girlfriend – they moved from the city, he works from home in I.T. sales, and she works in Arlington Heights. They have three cats and a small saltwater fish tank in the dining room. Oh, and he has a motorcycle which he likes to ride daily which kinda sucks because I find the noise pretty jarring.

One of these days we might be able to afford a free-standing house somewhere, preferably with lots of land. I’m only a people person when they aren’t making noise or being annoying, so rarely, ha ha. Although on the plus side at least he’s nice and they put their garbage cans away promptly after pickup.

Rainy Day Saturday & Garage Sale Prep

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It rained all day yesterday and we didn’t leave the house. In the morning I pulled out all the toiletries, medications, etc. and organized them as well as labeled the box with all the first aid related stuff in the hall closet. Oh, and I documented what we have and its location in Evernote. I love using that app to track our stuff. Proof it would have helped – I found two unopened packages of floss. I just bought some recently not knowing we already had plenty.

I came across even more stuff to sell for our upcoming garage sale as well. On one hand I’m getting anxious that we haven’t just had the sale so we can get it over with (I’m not looking forward to it because I hate dealing with cheap people) but on the other hand I’m glad we didn’t rush into it since we’re still coming across stuff we’d like to sell. Case in point: today I went through all my purses and bags and am getting rid of a decent pile. It feels good pairing down our stuff!

I forgot to mention the Dollar Tree is a great place to get garage sale supplies. They have nice sturdy plastic signs that say Garage Sale in red on them and empty white space below to write an address or put an arrow. Friday we bought black adhesive numbers so we can put the street number in that space for the sign outside our subdivision. They also have price stickers. The package includes multiple round stickers, with standard prices on them. There are also some blank stickers as well as some that say “make an offer”. It will make pricing our stuff tomorrow easier.

After a productive morning we spent a good portion of the day playing the Disney Tsum Tsum game we’re both addicted to now. Then we watched Dirty Grandpa which was mediocre. J kept pestering me about seeing it but I think it had a predictable ending and seemed to only exist so the characters could throw around “creative” insults. That’s my take, anyway.

Block Party

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I forgot to mention that Saturday evening there was a block party in the neighborhood. I made two batches of brownies and brought them over. I was a bit dismayed to see a plate of brownies already there but not as much after tasting them – mine were much better. ;)

Anyway, we made conversation with our neighbor across the street and the woman who organized the event but most people segregated off into groups who already knew each other so after eating and hanging out for an hour we left. I always feel awkward at such events. I don’t dislike socializing but I’m not the type of person to approach strangers and strike up a conversation. If someone does the same to me, however, I’m happy to speak to them.