Saturday night we invited our friend Abbie over for a last minute BBQ. Abbie is going through a very nasty divorce and her father just died...not an easy year so far for our Abbie! Anyway, we were BBQ'ing burgers and we needed some buns. We also needed firewood for the outdoor fireplace.
So, against my better judgement we decided to go to Wal-Mart and get both things at once. I really detest Wal-Mart. Whenever I go there I get very tense and stressed out. I won't go into all of the reasons that I get tense, but suffice it to say I am usually grumpy by the time I leave.
Trey and I are walking down an aisle, not really talking..just kind of focused on getting the things that we need. Let me pause to describe Trey & I. We really are the stereotype of "Butch & Lipstick". Trey has very short hair, wears shorts and t-shirts, no make-up, totally cute! I have long hair, wear make-up, dresses, very girly. You get the picture. And just let me stress this-we are not in any way shape or form threatening! Anyway, we are walking down an aisle in the store, not holding hands or anyway and this couple walks by us-typical hetero couple and the guy turns to his wife/girlfriend/friend after looking at us and says "Uggghh...Lesbians!" She leans in and whispers something to him and then turns and looks at both of us. Trey wasn't paying attention to them and didn't really see or hear what was going on. So, I look straight at the woman who is giving us the "evil" eye and say to her quite loudly, "Seriously?" She kind of started a bit, turned a little green around the gills and quickly looked the other way. Of course Trey heard me and she asked what was going on. I told her and she looked at the couple hurriedly walking as quickly as possible away from us and then we just started giggling. The couple had the lesbian fear in them now! What did they think we were going to do? Jump them and tattoo them with rainbows? Hit them repeatedly over the head while screaming "You must accept us!" Incapacitate them and then force them to watch us kiss each other?
Of course we did none of those things. Although we did seriously consider if we saw them again in the store that we would kiss each other in front of them. But that was just me being spiteful.
I guess it hurts me that in this day and age there are still people who think this way. I know there are so many people out there like that..I guess I just live in an insulated world of acceptance. Which in some ways makes me very lucky..I am loved and accepted. And for me a lesson in acceptance and judgement.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Neighbors from Hell
So, when I originally purchased my home it was with my now ex-husband. I wasn't competely in love with the house or the area but at the time I thought it would be me who wouldn't be staying. I thought he would be. I was wrong. He left and I got the house in the seperation/divorce. The house was brand new and in what I lovingly refer to as a "Stepford neighborhood." All the houses are 1 of 2 colors and they all look alike. Most everyone that lives in the neighborhood is retired. There is a HOA ran by the retirees-and those of you that know HOAs know that the President and VP etc live to measure the length of your grass, check to see if the gutters are clean and generally are busy bodies who have nothing else to do but make you and the other homeowners miserable.
One of the things I loved about the house was that behind us there was a protected wetlands. We moved here in February and we loved watching the wetlands come alive with flowers and all of the sounds of Spring. There were all kinds of animals that would wander through our yard-possums, raccoons, squirrels, coyotes etc. It was awesome.
Ok, fast forward a couple of years-and guess what..they built a neighborhood behind us. They built 8 houses and the bottom fell out of the real estate market and they stopped building. There are two houses kitty corner from us. 1 was occupied and the other one stood empty. Until 7 months ago. In moved 4 men. Not sure which one the owner is. They didn't have blinds or curtains on the house for a couple of months so we learned a lot about them. They enjoy having sex with multiple men at the same time. They enjoy painting the walls while wearing only their underwear. They practice pole-dancing in the living room while in their underwear. (They may be exotic dancers. I am not sure.)
None of those things makes them the neighbors from Hell. Just a little annoying but also some free entertainment. However, the most annoying thing they do is they will have parties that start at midnight or later. They will go outside into their backyard and drink, smoke and be very loud for hours on end. Since our bedroom is in the back of the house, we get to listen to it and try to sleep through the din.
Last night was the last staw! We were almost asleep-it was about 12:45AM and we hear one of the guys go out into the backyard and start a fire in his firepit. The smell of the fire was nice. But soon there were 8 people out there drinking and talking. They kept getting louder and louder. They brought out their dogs and got them all riled up and barking. This went on until about 1:30am when the girls that were there were yelling at the top of their lungs about dirt and slivers and the dogs were barking and it was just crazy loud. So, Trey got up out of bed, went to window and said "Usually we don't say anything, but could you please be respectful and keep the noise down." One of the guys-whose name turned out to be Jeremy-started screaming obscenities at her. Calling her every name in the book-dropping the F-bomb. So Trey calmly says-"next time we will just call the cops." She walked away from the window and he continued to scream obscenities at us. His friends were trying to drag him in the house. He then started yelling about how we had ruined his summer and that it was the weekend and it was only 1:30 in the morning and everything was completely F'd up now because of us. She laid back down in bed and we just kinda were quiet for a bit..not knowing what to say. A little tense that he would come out of the house and try to break one of our windows or something. Just as we started relaxing he came back out of the house and started screaming obscenities again. Then all of them got in their cars and went screeching out of their neighborhood yelling. Needless to say we couldn't go back to sleep for hours. The last I looked at the clock it was 4AM.
I am tired and grumpy and feeling a little less at home now. It's not like I can just go complain to the Landlord or move. I own the house..they own theirs. I don't want this animosity-we practically share a backyard. I should be able to get a good night's sleep without being called every name in the book for expecting people to behave like grown-ups. Am I wrong here?
One of the things I loved about the house was that behind us there was a protected wetlands. We moved here in February and we loved watching the wetlands come alive with flowers and all of the sounds of Spring. There were all kinds of animals that would wander through our yard-possums, raccoons, squirrels, coyotes etc. It was awesome.
Ok, fast forward a couple of years-and guess what..they built a neighborhood behind us. They built 8 houses and the bottom fell out of the real estate market and they stopped building. There are two houses kitty corner from us. 1 was occupied and the other one stood empty. Until 7 months ago. In moved 4 men. Not sure which one the owner is. They didn't have blinds or curtains on the house for a couple of months so we learned a lot about them. They enjoy having sex with multiple men at the same time. They enjoy painting the walls while wearing only their underwear. They practice pole-dancing in the living room while in their underwear. (They may be exotic dancers. I am not sure.)
None of those things makes them the neighbors from Hell. Just a little annoying but also some free entertainment. However, the most annoying thing they do is they will have parties that start at midnight or later. They will go outside into their backyard and drink, smoke and be very loud for hours on end. Since our bedroom is in the back of the house, we get to listen to it and try to sleep through the din.
Last night was the last staw! We were almost asleep-it was about 12:45AM and we hear one of the guys go out into the backyard and start a fire in his firepit. The smell of the fire was nice. But soon there were 8 people out there drinking and talking. They kept getting louder and louder. They brought out their dogs and got them all riled up and barking. This went on until about 1:30am when the girls that were there were yelling at the top of their lungs about dirt and slivers and the dogs were barking and it was just crazy loud. So, Trey got up out of bed, went to window and said "Usually we don't say anything, but could you please be respectful and keep the noise down." One of the guys-whose name turned out to be Jeremy-started screaming obscenities at her. Calling her every name in the book-dropping the F-bomb. So Trey calmly says-"next time we will just call the cops." She walked away from the window and he continued to scream obscenities at us. His friends were trying to drag him in the house. He then started yelling about how we had ruined his summer and that it was the weekend and it was only 1:30 in the morning and everything was completely F'd up now because of us. She laid back down in bed and we just kinda were quiet for a bit..not knowing what to say. A little tense that he would come out of the house and try to break one of our windows or something. Just as we started relaxing he came back out of the house and started screaming obscenities again. Then all of them got in their cars and went screeching out of their neighborhood yelling. Needless to say we couldn't go back to sleep for hours. The last I looked at the clock it was 4AM.
I am tired and grumpy and feeling a little less at home now. It's not like I can just go complain to the Landlord or move. I own the house..they own theirs. I don't want this animosity-we practically share a backyard. I should be able to get a good night's sleep without being called every name in the book for expecting people to behave like grown-ups. Am I wrong here?
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