Hopeless Optimist

A few days ago, I noted, with alarm, the neighbors cleaning out the garage.  Oh no, I thought.  They're selling.  I had horrible visions.

This is the large family - kids kept coming in my yard, running around, yelling outside my windows when we were trying to sleep - until I wrote a letter revoking permission for children to enter my yard.  Not only that, Ron had a spectacular blackout a week later, and spent hours raving outside at the top of his lungs. link After that they avoid us.

See, and you thought it was bad, having an alcoholic.  Not always!  [laugh]  I am a hopeless optimist.

So, I'm standing there, thinking "Oh, crap, they're moving.  Just when we all had things sorted out!"  I wanted to cry.  I had horrible visions of vicious dogs barking outside my bedroom, all night long.

However, today, I heard a lot of noise early in the morning.

This is a good example of how the mania works - or just my illness in general.  I was already awake, I woke up on my own.  I had done my God Time, and thinking of cornflakes for breakfast.

I heard a lot of equipment noise, cutting, stuff like that.  I got annoyed, because it was 7:30 in the morning and he might have woken me up.

But I'm already awake, I kept reminding myself.  How stupid, huh?

As we left, I had my moment.  They were laying rebar in the garage and getting ready to pour foundation - he was turning the garage into living space!   It makes sense, with 5 kids already, maybe it's time to expand, and 200 square feet are 200 square feet.  That's two bedrooms, giving him 5 total, if he wants.  Or, it's a really big playroom for the little ones.

I'll remind you the middle boy likes to pull boards off the fence, and they have pit bulls on two sides of their property.  That's a bad habit.  If a kid goes reaching in my yard, I want to bite him.  I'm sure that applies to the dogs (I mentioned this in my letter to the father last year - not wanting to bite him but you have pit bull "neighbors" and your kid is pulling boards off the fence).

I am a bit selfish.  I have seen some bad garage conversions, in lower income neighborhoods.  In fact, it seems, the more conversions, the worse the neighborhood.  They are usually poorly done and obvious.

However, the guy is a contractor.  He has two lovely large windows he's apparently using, so it will look professional and designed.  I hope.

I'm one to talk, really.  I live in an orange house.  I'm one of those "Have to get a letter from the HOA before I do the home repair" people.

Since my kitten is very curious and loves to visit, I decided, wisely I think, to LOCK HER UP in the house today.  No cat door.  I don't want her tracking up his foundation, getting hurt, or distracting someone and causing him injury.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out.  If nothing else, they're staying.