Best News I've Had in a Looooooong Time!

First - my boy is home on 15 days of leave from Afghanistan. I hope to have some pics to post.

Second - I just got the word that the Park is starting eviction proceedings against my Neighbors From Hell!!!!! Can you believe it??? - 16 years I've put up with this shit. I need to update on some of the stuff that has been going on. All of the children are in foster care and the Mom is becoming more and more unstable. Will try and update soon.

At last though - light at the end of the tunnel. Looks like I might have to post that dancing jig video after all!!!

That's not the alarm

Woken up at 10:30 PM last night by the neighbors (from hell) stereo thump thump thumping. I think it was actually the car stereo. This went on for a half hour. Doesn't seem like a big deal until you factor in that I go to bed at 9 to get up at 5AM. I also usually arrive home at 5PM to the thump, thump, thumping of neighbors stereo (the 16 year old drop out that was hanging with Christopher).

I'm going to have to go talk to the Mom. I think I'll inform her that the boy is sneaking out at night (seen it) as well as her 12 year old daughter (caught her)..........She's such a wonderful mother, maybe she'll do something about it...........OK, you can stop laughing now.

I could fight fire with fire. I've got a bangin surround sound system with a big sub woofer. I could put on whatever the opposite of rap is and crank it up. I just can't seem to stoop to their level though. Pissing contests aren't my style.

What would you do?

I wish I could just hit the lottery and move far away from here.

It's Good to be Missed.

Sorry.
Sorry.
Sorry.
I'm still alive and all is status quo.
I don't have any excuse, other than maybe being lazy or disinterested in the things that I enjoy.
Or, not having anything good to say.
I certainly don't want to turn this into a whine blog.
The creative juices haven't been flowing.
I feel like I've been a robot going through daily life.
I get up, work, cook, clean, sleep and do it all over again.
Pretty boring shit.
Although.
I think I'm finally starting to take an interest in my life again.
You're gentle proddings have helped.
I owe Stu a meme.
I'm on Suldog's shit list. (Does reading regularly your blog count for anything?)
K's been a concerned dear friend and I haven't forgotten that I owe her a music DVD either.
It was wonderful to hear from cicibug again! (Would luv it even more if she BLOGGED!)

Thank you my friends.
Next time.......it's OK to hit me over the head with a 2X4.
Sometimes I need that.

Son went back to his old job August 18th.
He's doing great at his job.
Of course, having Mom drive him every day doesn't give him room to screw up.
He still has his moments at home when I want to rearrange his face.
Gawd, does he push the limits of reason and sanity.

We went to court yesterday for his B&E.
He was not arrested when this happened.
According to the summons it was a misdemeanor charge for trespassing in an abandoned trailer and under $250 damage to the 'victim'.
There were no charges for contributing to the delinquency of minors.
Son was the only one that was 18, the others were 15 & 16 years old.
We waited around for 3 hours before being called in.
The clerk was the fastest talking woman I have ever heard.
I was allowed to stay in the room at son's permission for support.
I was not allowed to speak.
Which was fine with me.
He's supposedly an adult now and needs to deal with the consequences of his actions on his own....kind of.
The prosecutor was the same police officer at the hearing for the 3 minors involved.
They went to court in July.
The neighbor, Kirk, has been in trouble before and has quite a record. The prosecutor in his case told him he wanted to send him to juvie. Instead, he got 6 months probation. They all got community service.
I was very worried when we never got anything from the court regarding son.
We finally got a summons in the mail in September.
The officer read through the incident report and agreed to give a similar sentence that the minors received, a six month continuance.
That means: If son stays out of trouble for the next six months, the charge is removed from his record as if it never happened.
After that was agreed to by the court and prosecutor, the officer spoke directly to my son regarding hanging around with minors and that it's inappropriate and can get him in to trouble.
The officer made eye contact with me while he was saying this, I just kept nodding and smiling in agreement.
I had son get a letter from his employer prior to the hearing, we didn't need it.
We were in there less than 10 minutes.
Son did a good job answering 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir' when queried by the prosecutor. (I had given him some advice on how to behave. I only wish he'd be that way with me!)
Luckily, son had not been in any legal trouble prior to this incident, or since.
He got off easy.

Now that this has been resolved, son had better tow the line at home.
He's been warned.
Failure to show respect or screwing up at home will lead to a choice: Eviction or Enlistment.
It hasn't been perfect.
It's better than it was.
In my heart, I still believe he needs to go in to some form of the service.
He has no dreams or goals, at least none that he's expressed to me.
His biggest goal at the moment is to get another car.
He knows he's on his own with this one.
We all know how it turned out last time.

I've moved to a new office at work.
1/3 the size of my previous office.
I'm not happy with the move, and I never got satisfactory justification for it.
I'm making the best of it though.
I've been uber busy at work and have no time to post or even surf while at work.
I read blogs during my lunch break.
That's prolly a good thing though, I'm more productive and don't have time to screw off.
I've also got a great view of the Pru out my window.

Mom is doing better.
Her grief therapist told her she should get a dog, on a Tuesday.
That Thursday I took her to the Lowell Humane Society.
Saturday we picked up Keegan.
He's a cockapoo.
He is a loving puddle of fur.
The first night he spent whining and uncomfortable in his crate.
The second night he was in the 'big bed' with Mom, and has been there since.
He's just over a year old now.
He was living with an elderly gentleman that went in to the hospital and couldn't care for him anymore.

At the pound he was reserved & quiet, almost as if he was depressed.
There were 3 women in the room when we met and he went immediately to my Mom, jumped up on his hind legs and proceeded to hump her.
Love at first sight.
Of course, he has been neutered since, so no more humping.
No one will ever be able to sneak into my Mom's house again.
He barks like crazy when he hears someone come in.

Since there is no such thing as coincidence, I believe this was meant to happen.
My Dad would have loved Keegan, and vice versa.
Point of fact: Keegan lays on the couch in the exact spot my Dad used to sit.
Keegan would also lay on the back of the couch in my Dads den, a room my Mom never goes in to.
He also sleeps on my Dad's side of the bed, when he isn't snuggled up to Mom.
Not to mention, my Dad was part Scottish.
Keegan is a Gaelic name meaning little fierce one, and ohhh, does he think he's so tough!
Two lives were saved with his adoption.
It was meant to be and I believe my Dad had something to do with it.

Although Tabitha will still hiss and growl when Dusty is being a terrorist, there have been a few times lately when Tabitha is doing the chasing. The two of them sound like horses running up and down the hall. It's a hoot to see the lil shit jump right over her when Tabitha pounces. Ahhh, the quick reaction time of youth. I believe I was officially forgiven when Tabitha started coming in to bed with me again. It only took a year. That puss can hold a grudge.

I do have some interesting updates on the Neighbors from Hell, but, I think I'll save that for my next post.

Till then...Luv you all, and I've missed you!

They're Baaaaack

Remember the Neighbors from hell?

They're back.

They snuck in under cover of darkness Saturday night with their moving van. Boyfriend left in the morning giving kisses to his pregnant yet again Skanky Ho. Yes people - this is #7 for her, by at least 5 different men. Son #1 is with his father after being released from the mental hospital where he spent at least a year. Son #2, 15 or 16 is next door now, along with 2 more daughters and a mentally challenged 4 year old boy. There's one more that she doesn't have custody of.

My son spoke with son#2 and confirmed that they've moved back. I wanted to cry. I left a message with the park manager and spoke with him later in the day. He will not be in the office until Tuesday to look at what the court records say. I cannot go through this shit again.

It's been so nice the last couple years, quiet & peaceful. She cleaned up the yard - got rid of the junk vehicles. So much for her selling the place and moving to a retirement home.
I told you they were a bunch of liars. That's why you never got to see me dancing a jig in the street.As long as she was still there, there was always a chance the ho could be back.

The hell has already started. I was woken up at 11:45 PM last night by Skanky Ho screaming for her son out the front door. I get up at 5:30AM, mind you.

To top it all off, son is flexing his "I'm 18 and an adult so I can do whatever I want" wings. What he didn't realize is that I don't have to support his ass anymore and can throw him out if he doesn't want to obey my rules. He wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world.

I'm feeling old, so very old. Yesterday was the worst birthday ever.

Trailer Trash Neighbors From Hell

I'm seeking advice from the internet.

Let me preface by saying, I live in a trailer park. (Hey, it's all I could afford when I got divorced and I didn't want a condo (Read - expensive apartment). It's really not that bad. I live in the newest section (1987) that has large lots and nice "manufactured housing". I'm talking cathedral ceilings, skylights, garden tubs with a separate shower, my son even has a half bath in his bedroom. I have a decent sized yard that allows me to have a nice garden & room for the dog to run.

The drawbacks are that you pay rent & mortgage and....You live fairly close to your neighbors. One side of my home is my yard - the other is my neighbors. Most everyone in the neighborhood is pretty cool, quiet and keep to themselves. That is except for the ones that live next to me.

You've all heard about neighbors from hell, well....I live next to the definition of "trailer trash".

Seriously, I've put up with a lot over the last 11 years.

Here are some examples:

snowballs thrown at my house
rocks and eggs thrown at my house
soiled diapers thrown in my back yard
my son sucker punched so hard it broke his nose and he is constantly verbally harassed
plants trampled in my front garden
loud booming stereo (this is constant and ongoing with many calls to the local PD)
A grown man peeping in my windows (a complaint was filed and he was found guilty, got a slap on the wrist)
constant noise - yelling, screaming, cursing
comings and goings at all hours of the night
Revving engines and exhaust fumes
Listening to mental, emotional, verbal & physical abuse
fish heads left on my doorstep and car

There's more, but you get the idea.

When I first moved in, things were fine. I lived next to a woman and her husband, their grown son lived with them. There was some loud shouting, but that ended when the husband died. Then the son went to jail for some reason and things were quiet, until the grandchildren moved in.

At first it was cool, my son had kids his age living next door. He played with them for a while, until their behavior became a problem. The two boys, 6 and 5 (at the time my son was 6) basically ran amok with no supervision. The only time Grandma was outside was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon to hose down the driveway. A tradition still in effect 9 years later. (I swear, "a broom" is not in this woman's vocabulary, and the words "water shortage" just don't apply to her).

A short time later, their mother, her husband, and their daughter moved in. Three adults and three children living in a two bedroom trailer. They continued to breed and produced two more children. Now, there were 5 children and three adults living in a two bedroom trailer. I found out later that this woman actually had six children by four different fathers, she started having babies at 16. She only has custody of five of the children though. What a surprise.

So, you get the basic idea, loud, noisy, abusive, dirty (the trash and mess are a sight). They have no respect for anyone. A family that represents the cycle of abuse and welfare abuse. A couple years ago charges were brought against the eldest son and friends for sexual abuse against his stepsister and another 8 year old. Nice.

The abusive father was finally thrown out about a year ago. This is the man that I caught peeping in my windows 4 years ago. A man that convinced his wife that I pressed charges because I made a pass at him and he refused. PUUULLLEASE! The guy looks like a 5 foot Neanderthal. I'm talking nasty here. But, she bought it, hook, line & sinker. And believe me, she's no prize, this woman has a face only a mother could love. My son has even commented about how homely she is.

Recently - he's been back though. With his loud Trans Am and loud pickup truck, spending nights here and there. She's just dumb enough to take the SOB back. Then I'll be able to enjoy the sounds of him beating his wife and children again.

Basically, it's hell living next to these people. I've complained to the park manager till I'm blue in the face. They were supposed to be evicted 5 years ago. They're still here. It's a park rule that "guests" cannot stay more than 30 days. The Grandmother is the one that owns the home. The daughter and children are considered guests. They've been there 10 years! The manager and owners are nothing more than slum lords that want to sit back and collect the rent checks. No help there.

This family is like the Munsters. They don't come out until 8 o'clock at night to play in the driveway, right next to my open living room windows, during the summer. Then they make all kinds of noise. Just at the time when I am winding down and want to relax. I've been woken several times at 11PM by pounding base of vulgar rap music. Nothing like being woken up by Eminem rapping about fuck this and fuck that. There is the occasional toddler in pajamas at noon time dancing on the car without an adult in sight. I'm talking quality parenting here.

I want to make one thing clear - I HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO THESE PEOPLE. I mind my own business and have even lent them tools and helped them out on occasion. I've called the police department countless times about the loud music and fighting that never seems to end, but only when things become completely intolerable. I let a lot slide.

So, imagine my surprise when I got home tonight to find that "someone" had gone on to my property and shoveled 4 feet of snow on to my doorstep. No shit, it was 4 feet high at my front door. The tracks in the snow show that two individuals went on to my property and shoveled snow from the driveway on my steps. Do I need any other evidence to think that it was the delinquents next door? I think not. Nevermind that I left my house at 6:30 AM and didn't return until 7PM to find 14 inches of snow in my drive, plus what the plows left.

My son wants nothing more than to throw rocks through every window and beat the shit out of the eldest boys. I have to say, I don't blame him, I'd love a piece of that. He & a friend spent 8 hours today snowblowing and shoveling driveways in my parents neighborhood. He worked so hard that he woke up shouting that he couldn't feel his leg 20 minutes ago. He was writhing in agony at the muscle spasms in his thighs. But, I'm also afraid that these same freaks will burn my house to the ground while I'm at work if he does. It serves no purpose to get into a pissing contest with these losers.

I'm at a loss here.

I can go to the police department tomorrow and file a complaint. I have no proof that it was my neighbors and nothing will come of it. Complaining to the park manager is a joke.

So, what do I do? What satisfactory recourse do I have? How do I get these total waste of a human life things to leave me alone? Does anyone out there have neighbor horror stories and how they dealt with it? Ideas? Anyone? I wish I could deal with them as tactfully as MM dealt with his Really Big Home Improvement Store problem and get the satisfactory results that he did. Help me people. I'm just left of going postal here.

Diary of a Manipulative Mom

I had a goal this weekend. I had a goal to clean off my porch which had accumulated so much stuff it was difficult to get from the front door to the back. I had a goal to clean out the shed. I had a goal to get rid of all my unused and unwanted stuff that was just taking up space. I was determined to reach that goal.

I knew I couldn't do it alone - it was a big job. I had to figure a way of getting help to do a tough, dirty, sweaty job that had to be done. The only help in sight was my son, his friend, and his friend's brother and sister that were hanging around playing.

I announced my plans. I promised some kind of reward, whether it be pizza or burgers & dogs....I stopped short of cash - teens are expensive these days. The four agreed to help. The 6th grade sister of the friend claimed she didn't need a reward, she liked cleaning. I liked this girl.

We dug in with vigor. I handed item after item and directed which pile it would go to: shed, trash or give away. Things moved fairly quickly. A half hour passed and there were was the discovery of a couple water guns beneath the boxes of Christmas decorations, clothes and books. The boys proceeded to do what boys will do while, I'll call her "J", and I continued to sort. "Boys can't pay attention for very long. They get bored so easy...Unless they are playing video games". This was one sharp little girl. Did I say I liked her?

I gave them a break for a bit and hung up some laundry. J parked herself on the grass and chatted with me while I did. The late summer heat forced sweat on my brow. The sounds of boys giving chase and laughter wafted on the slight breeze. It was a moment I paused and relished. I will not have many of these days left. I have not had enough of these days.

My son doesn't have a lot of friends. It seemed, that any time he made a friend in our neighborhood the Munster children next door got a hold of them and turned them away from my son. (I should interject that I live next door to the neighbors from hell - A Grandmother, Mother and 5 children living in a two bedroom, 14x72 mobile home. I have more horror stories than Steven King. Someday I will tell them to you). It was nice that he had re-connected with this particular boy. He is polite and softspoken, as are his brother and sister. I could tell from their interaction that they come from a family of love. Being told that they were going to host a family made homeless by Katrina only confirmed this.

Once the laundry was done, I put everyone back on task, the first of many times. Four hours later, we were done. The kids had a nice seating area where they could watch TV and play video games and I had a clean porch and shed.


I then moved indoors to empty the dishwasher and clean off some counters. I was followed by my ragged troop. They settled down to watch a movie while I kept working. I set to the counters, once the sink and dishwasher were empty. A generous spray of cleaner on the empty counter drew J like a moth to a flame. She stood in front of me with eager eyes. My hand held the sponge in midair. Our eyes met.....She was like a rabbit eyeing a carrot. "You want.." "Yes please!" She wasn't kidding when she said she liked to clean. I really like this girl. I wonder if she'd like to adopted.

Once everything was complete, we were still all hot and sweaty. What's the best thing on a hot summer day after working hard? Besides, an ice cold beer.

Second choice? ICE CREAM of course! A phone call home to get Mom's approval and we were off. I took them to a local place where the regular sized cones of homemade ice cream are so huge that a cup is mandatory with your cone. I swear a regular contains an entire pint of ice cream. I couldn't even finish a kiddy cone!

The five of us claimed a picnic table and indulged. Farts (not me of course!), giggles, general silliness and sloppy full faced ice cream bowl dives ensued. What? You think I was going to let them in my new car with drippy, melting ice cream??? As we enjoyed our cool summery goodness. I thanked them all for their tremendous efforts and saw each of them blush, when I said I couldn't have gotten it done without such a great team of hardworking kids.

Once home, they each went off with their bag of treasures: 4 models, a rabbit fur coat half eaten by the squirrels that got into the shed, a black dry erase board and markers, and an old SuperNintendo with games.

What makes the entire day extra special is that my son hadn't had any meds. Medication that helps him lead a normal life. Medication that allows him to think before he acts. Medication that I should have mailed away for sooner. I was waiting on a delayed mail order that would be delivered Monday. I was responsible for him not having any medication for that day. A point he voiced loud and often when I reprimanded him. I chose to save the one day of meds I had for Monday so he wouldn't have to miss school. There were trying moments where I had to reel my son in for his hyper, out of control behavior. There were moments where I had to shout at his cursing because he was showing off for others, trying to be the tough guy. I bit my tongue so hard it bled and I pulled patience up from the tips of my toes that I didn't even know was there. I overlooked a lot, including the fact that he took full advantage of the fact to behave badly. He knew it too, he didn't protest much when I said it was time for everyone to go home and the day was done.

I may have overlooked, but I did not forget. I would not let him forget either. I would deal with his transgressions Monday, when we were both better able to discuss them. Then we will move on.

It was a long, hard day with lots of bad, and good. The good is what I want to remember 5 years from now.