Random musings....

Welcome to my Monday evening random musings! Dinner is in the oven, and since it's meatloaf, I've got time to spare, so I'm sharing with you my random thoughts of the day. Ok, a few of them....I have many :-)

Neighbors.....ah, neighbors. Growing up we had great neighbors, for the most part. There was that weird family who had a tiger in their backyard, but other than that, from what I can recall, our neighbors were always friends. In my parent's neighborhood it is still that way, they have block parties (I even had the pleasure of attending the annual Gingerbread House Decorating party - which was an absolute blast!). Maybe being friends with your neighbors is just a southern thing? Maybe it is just that I am really young compared to my neighbors? In my new neighborhood I have some interesting neighbors.
On the north side is an elderly widower, who is also a veteran. He's a really nice guy and always waves to me. He told me the other day he likes having me for a neighbor. I like having him for a neighbor too.
On the south side is a single lady with the most annoying dogs in the history of man. I learned yesterday that she owns a doggie daycare, which is why yesterday was the first day I had ever seen her. She has a doggie door out back so her annoying dogs can run in and out all...night...long - and bark - - at nothing! You want to know what barking dogs at 3am does to my precious sleeping dogs - just imagine!
Across the street and to the south is a lady who has a young son, probably three or four. I don't think they spend one minute inside the house while the sun (or son - haha) is up. Oh, and they never play in the back yard either - it is always in the front!
But the kicker, and the ones that got me thinking about neighbors are my across the street neighbors - a couple and their grown son. Before I moved in, the girl that lived here told me they owned a landscaping business and were very nice and helpful. According to her, the son did all of the yard work for her. Well, I do my own yard work, so thus far I have not had occasion to meet the son. However.....I met the wife the other day. She came across the street while I was leaving to go to work. She seemed very nice and welcomed me to the neighborhood. Then Saturday I met the husband. He was out doing yard work and I was out front with two of our dogs. (Side note: the backyard collects water, thus making it a muddy nightmare when you let the dogs out, so we let Mimi out back and take Tia and Beta out front. Tia is always on a leash, but Beta is so timid that he would never dream of crossing the street, so I don't put him on a leash. Now, I understand that Beta is a pit bull, but he is not the typical pit bull. Seriously. Up until he graduated from PetSmart Training two weeks ago, he was afraid to even venture out of his kennel for too long, much less meet new people or dogs. Now, however, he is a very friendly dog.) Okay, back to the story...my neighbor came over to 'meet' me, petted and played with the dogs, then told me that his wife was afraid of our dogs and could we please not bring them out front anymore. So, being the nice person that I am, I told him we would put them on leashes if we bring them out front. But my whole thing is....why can't she just stay in the house if she is so scared? She is always looking out the window...I really wanted to say - Newsflash! My dog is not going to run across the street, through your yard, and open your door and come in to your house to attack you. Have you ever known a dog to do that? So today, I took them both out on a leash, and it was a PAIN let me tell you! So now I'm more annoyed than I was on Saturday, but I don't want to be the bad neighbor.....


Paperbackswap.com - have you ever heard about this website? It's awesome! You sign up, post your books that you have already read and want to get rid of, and you can 'swap' books with other members. The only thing you have to pay for is the shipping. For the first 10 books you post, you get 2 'credits' which means you can request two books from other members. Once someone requests one of your books, you ship it to them and receive a credit to request another book. It's amazing! Why didn't I think of this! This week I'm reading "Sail" by James Patterson, and I didn't even feel guilty for reading half of it in one day! Check it out.

Ok, that's enough randomness for now. I can smell the meatloaf, so it must be time to put the finishing touches on dinner.

Happy Monday!