Delayed Reaction

I've been having a delayed reaction to Heath Ledger's tragic death. While I was completely shocked and saddened when he passed away this January, seeing him as the Joker in The Dark Knight really had an impact on me. I also saw Brokeback Mountain yesterday for the first time. What an incredible talent he was. It's just so sad that his life ended so soon and that he left his daughter behind. It all seems like it didn't have to happen. Here's one of my favorite scenes from The Dark Knight. I think it really gives you a taste of how great he was. Prepare to be a little scared if you haven't seen this yet!

 

Tags: heath ledger

Neighbor News

Great news about my annoying neigbors!

I spoke to a friend of mine who is friendly with zoning/property maintenance manager in town about our situation. So he talked to him for me. Apparently the guy thought this was worth looking into because he sat outside their house for 2 hours and observed all their shenanigans!

The owner was slapped with a notice stating that they needed to get their act together in 30 days or they'd be issued a summons. They got in trouble for the number of cars in the yard, the bicycles up against our fence, running a moped repair business, among other things. Apparently, this was kind of a big deal. The town doesn't take kindly to these situations especially when there are many people living in one house. It's just unsafe.

So, this is why for the past almost two weeks, it has been so peaceful and quiet! Only 1-2 cars in the driveway, no mopeds, and like no people at all. They still need to move the bikes but this is a great start.

Tags: life, house

Surreal Life

Jay has a very good relationship with his ex landscaping boss, Fred (Jay did landscaping for about 10 years with him during HS and college.) Fred is like a father to him and Jay is like the son he never had.

On Jay's birthday, Fred's mother passed away. Several people commented on the connection because Jay was also close to her. When they landscaped, Jay and Fred with have lunch with her everyday and Jay has kept in touch with her ever since.

Fred was the sole heir to her estate. Her house is about a mile from ours and in the same town as my in-law's. It's a great house with great features like an in-ground pool, cabana, fireplace, formal dining room, 2 car garage, super private property etc..

All Fred talks about lately, and it seems we talk to him daily, is that he wants us to have the house and that he'll do whatever he has to do. He shows us around and says "This is the baby's room, this is your pool. You might want to get new cabinets..." etc.

Tonight we're having our realtor look at our house since we did lots of work to it. We want to get an idea of what it could sell for. Fred wants to be sure we get we what deserve on our place. What baffles us is that he's said that he's made his decision and he doesn't want strangers in his mother's house and that nothing would've made her happier. He's already told the neighbor's about us!

This all just seems like a dream because our current house and this one are in completely different leagues. In fact, our lot is only 1/3 of the size of his house!

We know how much he loves Jay and that he is very wealthy, so maybe he really is being THAT generous as to let us have the house for very little money. He knows that we are just starting out and don't have an excess...

It's so very weird. June, my mother-in-law, thinks he's going to surprise us somehow or maybe he'll tell us that his mother left Jay the house...

Jay and I keep trying to not get our hopes up but Fred makes it very hard!

He's constantly "selling" us on the house by telling us how great it is and jokes that are mail is already coming there. He apologizes for some of the junk that's still there, assuring us that he'll clear it all out and that "his guys" will do all the landscaping before we move in and that he'll get a new pool cover! He had a neighbor that's a flipper approach him and it pissed him off. He knows Jay and I would take care of the place and not just tear it down.

I think his father had this home custom built in the 50's and this is all very emotionally driven.

Kudos to you for reading all that!

Tags: life, family, blessings, house

Neighbors Break Good Fences

We live in a great town and neighborhood. We never thought we'd get our own little place there, but somehow we did. The only problem I have is our back neighbors. Their entire large backyard is gravel and they park like 5 cars back there, one of which is always right next to the back of our fence. Why? I have no idea. And they like to work on it while it's parked there and they always have their music blasting. These folks are classy. They have an indoor style leather couch out back and on the front porch and they stay outside all year long and as well as a full size refrigerator. They have a dirt bike that they ride around on in circles back there because it's probably illegal, but most of the time they just rev the engine for an hour at a time. This is incredibly loud and when my windows are open, my house smells like gasoline. I've almost called the police on them for that and you can bet your butt that I will when the baby comes. My biggest gripe of late is their encroachment on our property. The car being so close to the fence and the fact that when they grill, they have the grill next to our fence. Why?? They recently put up a clothesline that they actually use back there as well. One of the ends of it is tied on our tree. I've noticed for a while that our fencing is leaning in towards our yard and it's been a cause of concern. I just discovered why. They have tires and 3-4 bikes leaning up against it! Now I'm pissed. They have zero concern for their own property let alone ours. Their fence on the other side has missing pieces so obviously wrecking ours doesn't seem to bother them. What rights do I have? Especially now that they could be ruining our fence? They don't speak english so I can't even talk to them. The fence isn't super high and we step down to the yard from the house so I always see what crap they are pulling. There's no avoiding it.

Tags: house

Plum's the Word

Just wanted to give a quick update on our plum. That's right, plum. According to the million websites and books I've been reading, week 12 = plum. That's the size that the baby is. The first time we saw the baby it was the size of a blueberry but more resembled a jellybean that just sat there.
Jay and I got to see the little plum for ourselves on Friday. I had an ultrasound done and it was just amazing. This little baby was bouncy and rolling all around. It's hard to believe that that's going on in my belly right now and I don't feel a thing. It'll be even more exciting when I do.  We also heard the heartbeat. It was good and strong; 158 beats a minute. So, all looks good so far and thankfully I'm at the end of the first trimester which is a good thing.

Tags: baby, family