Bits and Pieces

Today was a so-so mini day. While I stopped working on my project for a bit of lunch I heard glass clink and water pouring...

Confetti had knocked over my vase of flowers and water was all over my project, the floors on both sides of the counter, and one of my favorite books from childhood: "The Teeny Tiny Witches." Needless to say I was less than pleased at this state of affairs.

I managed to not kill my cat, save my book, and rescue most of my project. However I couldn't do any more work on it for the remainder of the day while things dried. So I don't have anything to show you.

Hopefully I can get it presentable tomorrow.

FH came home long enough to pick me up and drive me over to a restaurant where two of my local mini friends were having dinner prior to tonight's meeting. Then he went back to work until I called him to pick me up. He works right around the corner from where our group meets, so if he needs to work late we carpool. Hopefully soon we'll have a second working car again.

Dinner was good. And I taught my red velvet cake to the club.
Everyone had a good time, especially since we glossed over the usual "business" part of the meeting and went straight to playing.

*****

I know some people are wondering about the whole inspection deal with our house, so here's the situation. We rent our home from a corporation that owns the 85 houses in the neighborhood. Every year they have to estimate the cost of repairs and damages done to their properties so they send their twit, I mean inspector, to the neighborhood.

I'm not sure how renters in other countries behave, but usually the normal situation in this country is people don't care about places they rent. It didn't used to be this way, but it is now. Most of the people in our neighborhood are good people, who do care but we'be had a few who didn't.

There was a woman who lived across the street from us who did not take her dogs outside to poop and then didn't clean inside when they went on the floor. The people who lived in our house before we moved here never told the maintenance men that the dishwasher leaked, so before we could live here the foundation had to be cleaned, sealed, and new floors put in.

It's absolutely crazy. And really disgusting how some people choose to exist in these houses. FH and I grew up being taught that if something doesn't belong to us and we are using it to take care of it. That's why the property manager and the maintenance crew like us.

If something breaks, we tell them. If it breaks due to something we did, we pay for the repairs. I clean things. Our pets are cleaned up after. We helped them get baby trees for free when the neighborhood lost 20 in the storms last year. Oh yeah, our rent is always either one time or a week early.

I don't think we will have to worry about the inspector when he actually bothers to come back and follow the signs to the office. The maintenance crew comes by enough to know what our house is like. If I know them they'll tell him to skip our place and point out a house they know is bad. I bake for these people and take care of the house. They like us. ;-)

That reminds me... I need to ask them to come change the lightbulbs in the livingroom. The ceiling is vaulted and we don't own a ladder. This crew will happily change any lights for us, but we only ask them to get the ones where a ladder is required.

During spring, summer, and fall they mow all the lawns unless you tell them you want to do your own. They trim hedges too and weed around the houses and fences. Anyone can plant anything in their own yards. Several people have gardens enclosed by decprative fencing in the front yards. The crew just mows around them. Last sumer they all got fresh veggies from our patio garden.

In the winter they are only required to clear the sidewalks of snow, but for any resident who asks they will do driveways if they have time. They make time to do the driveways of the elderly residents here. I'm not the only person who bakes for them ;-)

It's also the only rental neighborhood that allows pets, with no limit. Some places try to say you can have only two cats at a time. Lots of places won't allow rabbits. When we found this place we were extatic because we didn't have to worry about the critters.

Sometime in the next couple of weeks they're going to come and pull the nasty, smelly bushes out from under my front windows so I can plant flowers. One of the crew is an excellent gardener and she and I have been tossing around ideas about what I can plant in the space. She's responsible for the new landscaping around the office and the entrance to the neighborhood.

So other than the occasional bad neighbor (or kids) and the twit inspector, this really is a great place to live if you have to rent. As long as we're in this area and until we can afford to buy a house, we're going to stay right here.

*****

Almost forgot. I took my stash of Kat's Hats to the meeting and everyone oohed and ahhed. I think more witchy hats might be coming to the states in the future. ;-)