Won't you be my neighbor? Seriously- anyone?

Well, I am up, and I am annoyed about it, so I figured this would be a good time to write about the newest pet peeve in my life. . . my new neighbors. They are TERRIBLE!! I mean, I am sure it doesn't help that they bought the condo across the hall from one of the cutest and kindest couples in the ward which makes the comparison quite vivid. Mandy and Mark were wonderful!! They loved Emma and used to let her pet their cats and ring their doorbell. They were just your regular upstanding nieghbors. They sold their condo to a young couple- but not a very good one. They are a boyfriend and girlfriend with a baby that sounds like a sick cat when he cries. Why does this bother me so much, you ask? I have kids, and heavens knows that they know how to cry- why would the howls of someone else's kid drive me up the wall- that seems a little callous and selfish. Well, the poor boy sounds that way because his parents are both chain smokers.

Now, far be it from me to denote what other people do in their free time, or judge them for whatever dirty habits they have picked up over the years- but one of the biggest draws to this complex for Ross and me was that the sign to the complex clearly states, "Orchard Creek, Non-Smoking Complex." It is right there on the sign in big bold letters- they aren't hiding it! There is also a GIANT box on the contract that you have to initial stating, once again in big bold letters, that if you are to take up residence in this humble little community, you are NOT TO SMOKE IN THE UNITS, OR ANYWHERE WITHIN 25 FEET OF THE UNITS!! Then, just to make sure that the point is clear in everyone's mind, and to be sure that any visitors to the complex are aware of the smoke-freeness of this area, in all the breezeways, the HOA has posted nice little signs stating, once again in nice bold letters (but in a nice font so that it doesn't appear so much as yelling) that there is to be NO SMOKING IN OR OUT OF THE UNITS!!

Either our new neighbors are stupid, or they just like to show a blatant disregard for the rules and have a skewed perception of what common decency entails (maybe both). Our breezeway is constantly littered with cigarette butts, and every time we come in our house from outside, I have to spray febreeze on my sweater to make sure that we don't track in the scent. We know that they and their friends are VERY aware of the rule as they like to put their cigarettes out on the sign in the hall- nice! Ross asked them once to not smoke right in front of our door as we have two little kids at home. As he was asking, the sick cat cry came from within their house, and the guy just laughed at him- nice! We have placed a couple of formal complaints with our land-lady, who is on the HOA, and she said that they will be fined $25 dollars for every reported incident, but that she can't really do too much more since they are owners and not renters- nice! (Just for those of you who haven't caught on to the sardonic nature of this post, none of those 'nice!'es are sincere!)

That, in and of itself, would be enough to provoke a post of this nature. I HATE cigarette smoke with ALL of my heart! it makes me dizzy and nauseous, and it just inundates everything! It sticks to everything and you can't ever shake it off. However, that is not the only reason that I dislike our new fellow tenants. Our condo has the unfortunate placement of being right in front of the parking lot. This has meant, from the very beginning of our contract, that we have had to keep our windows closed most of the time because there is a constanct stream of people walking by our condo. We also get the occasional headlights staring straight into our rooms in the middle of the night. None of this is too big of a deal- we knew it was something we would have to deal with when we initially signed the contract. Well, our new neighbor's parking spot is right in front of Emma's window, and their only vehicle is an old, and very LOUD diesel truck which Emma calls 'The Bear'. She gets scared every time she hears them revving it up. We have to keep telling her that it isn't a bear and that she is safe. This also wouldn't be too bad- I mean who can get mad about them only owning one crappy vehicle? The answer is I CAN!! Especially when he and his buddies spend time on adjusting the exhaust pipe (right in the car-port, another Orchard Creek no no) to make it even louder and more 'Wicked'. Also, I don't know where they go, but they pull in and out of their spot at least 40 times a day- and that is a very conservative average. They are always coming and going- in fact they left just now, and woke up Sara, who was soooo close to being out and letting me go back to bed before Emma gets up- nice!

We are also neither impressed nor interested in their choice of music. For some reason, they seem to think that EVERYONE in the complex wants to hear their heavy rock metal and unedited rap music. WE DON'T!!!! It is all so frustrating, and yet so futile to complain! We are not the only ones who have approached them about their rude behavior, but they continue on. I have never had this many complaints about anyone we have lived near- not even the loud couple who lived above us and used to fight, and then. . . make up. They were dream neighbors compared to these bafoons! Ah- they just returned from wherever they went, and they brought back friends and they are all having a nice smoking party in the breezeway. It is 6:30 people!! Give it (or ME) a rest!

Suffice it to say that we will not be signing a second contract with this complex, and are now in search of a better one. We were ready for an upgrade anyway, what with the new baby and all- they are just speeding up the process a bit for us.