Hello Neighbor

When I was growing up we lived in what some would consider a poor neighborhood in the lower valley. I'm obsessed with looking at homes for sale so I looked up the house we lived in and it last sold for $89,000. It was a small three bedroom, one and a half bath house with a garage we never used in the backyard. It was perfect for us and it was happy. I grew up with a friend two houses away, more across the street, and some down the street. We seemed to know everyone on the block and everyone on the block waved and said hello when they saw each other.

Fast forward to the house we moved into when we moved it on up to the east side. I became friends with a girl across the street the day we moved in. The other girls across the street became best friends shortly after. The boy and girl who lived behind me invited me to jump the fence and play a week later. Again, neighbors being neighborly was the way to go. If we drove or walked down the street everyone we passed stopped what they're doing and waved.

When we got married we lived in an apartment and didn't really talk to anyone regularly but everyone always said hello or waved. When we had Gibbie we moved to different apartments and there were a lot more families and more friendly conversations. We then started thinking about buying a house. We didn't keep in touch with anyone from the apartments when we moved.

We've lived in our current home for well over a year. I've seen the lady who lives to the left of us once, her kids a handful of times as they came and went. The Hubs says the lady is married but I've never seen her husband. The family to the right of us has a son a little older than Gibbie an another a little younger than Gibbie. I've seen the kids three times, the family a few more times. They've had birthday parties for their boys and we haven't been invited to any of them. I definitely should have invited them to Gibbie's last birthday but I never see them at home. (Next year I'm just going to tape the invitation to their door if they're not home.) There is one other lady two doors over who actually talks to us and knows our name. She even gave Gibbie a Christmas present! Other than that the only interactions I've had with my neighbors is when the girl down the street got her boyfriend to knock on my door because she thought I broke into her car (with my arms full of mail and toddler to boot). (Also, if you want to know about the paranoid girl down the street just go back to this post right here.)

Is it me or is the world getting less neighborly? Or maybe it's just the neighborhood I live in. I always wave and smile and say hello anytime I see someone outside. I get an occasional response but more often than not people pretend they don't see me. Does this happen in your neighborhood? I'm seriously considering baking a few pies and passing them out to see if maybe people are just too busy with their own lives or they genuinely don't want to be friends with their neighbors.

Sister, Soul Mate, or Twilight Zone

I have found the bizarro world version of Rue. I'm not sure if this woman is my sister, my soul mate, or maybe I've stepped into the twilight zone. Have you heard of A Slob Comes Clean? As much as I hate to admit it, this woman's blog speaks to me on levels you can't imagine.

Like "Nony," the author of the bog, I always assumed that I'd become a cleaning kind of person when I moved out, got married, had a kid, got used to sleepless nights, and on and on and on. It has never happened. I've tried the Fly Lady method which worked for about two weeks. I spent $13 on the Motivated Moms app last year (it's cheaper this year). I've tried just doing one room a day. Nothing worked for me. The truth is, I walk into a room and I want to cry because I don't know where to start. A few weeks ago I did wake up one day and realize that if I didn't clean the play room I was going to burn it and it has stayed pretty clean but it's only a matter of time before it explodes and I just can't handle it again.

Anyway, here's my confession of the day. I can't clean, I don't clean, I don't like it, I don't wanna, and I generally just won't do it. So, I'm giving Nony at A Slob Comes Clean a chance (and a promo). I got her book, 28 Days to Hope for Your Home, and I'm going to give it a try. I've been reading the last few blog posts and listening to all of her podcasts and I'm really hoping she's going to be the one to make me realize what I need to do.

Also, just marathon cleaned my kitchen because people are coming over today! Gulp!