Sometimes I think people overcomplicate things on purpose, for the sake of drama or having something to say or do.

Anyway, when I got home from work Friday (after my laptop had died at work, rendering me done with grading for the time) my daughter was finally not really that feverish so we took her with us to Texas Roadhouse. She didn’t eat but half an apple sauce the day before. So that was a pretty good meal, then we came home and watched some stuff, I believe, but saved Rings of Power for when Isaac got home. But the big drama was our neighbors.

Remember last Monday when I told you how the guy walked right into my house? Yeah I fumed about that all week and realized I should have said something then. I may have also mentioned how his wife “asked” us to watch her daughter so they could go out. (What she really did was “Hey Justin is going to coordinate with you all to find a day you can watch our daughter so we can go on a date.” That’s telling, not asking!) I sent her what I considered a reasonable text, saying how we looked at the calendar and we don’t have any Saturdays in October (which is what she asked for) that are free. And I don’t: this weekend we had friends over to brew and a party later on, next weekend Ash and I run a race, the kids have 3 total games, and in the afternoon we are going to a friend’s house to watch the FSU game. The next weekend Is our anniversary, then the weekend after, Elliot has a soccer tournament in Thomasville on both Saturday and Sunday. Anyway, details aside, I told her maybe a Wednesday night but then forgot Isaac’s last meet is this Weds and then next, his only weekday flag football game. So she was frustrated and came at me.

This woman accused us of using them, saying it was one-sided because any time my daughter went there to play with theirs, this woman looked at it as babysitting. I don’t think she understands how friends work! When kids play, yes the parents are sort of supervising, but she phrased it like she was doing us a favor every time. Keep in mind, her kid was over here a lot too but I certainly never looked at it that way. This woman pretty much discredited any time her kid came over here and made it sound like they had been hooking us up with free babysitting forever now. Ash and I were so flabbergasted by this accusation, it was comical. When she said she was nobody’s door mat and she didn’t like what I was (supposedly) doing, I saw my opportunity to tell her about last week.

I said, ‘well, I didn’t like when your husband walked in my house unannounced, helped himself to beer without asking, and left his cigarettes in my driveway.’ Her response? She said my husband gave him a standing invitation to watch football. Yes, he did, but that means you send a quick text saying you might stop by. It doesn’t mean you walk in like you live here and take stuff and leave trash everywhere. Her understanding, or misunderstanding, of proper etiquette had us laughing in disbelief.

Because she chose to do this over text it was pretty awkward; she kept saying “ok so no watching Dakota in October until you figure out how to be a friend.” She essentially got mad because I wouldn’t rearrange my schedule to help her out with FREE babysitting. Oh and not to mention that when I said maybe Elliot could do it for a minimal fee, she said, “Oh no we wouldn’t want him babysitting.” Because you don’t want to pay or you don’t trust him? I think I know my son!

I don’t like confrontation in any way but after weighing pros and cons, I ended up saying what Ash told me to: “well, it was fun while it lasted.” Honestly, they need us more than we need them. She kept saying how she has other friends but in reality we know that isn’t true. The only reason I stuck around was for my daughter because she and the girl were good friends, but the parents were low tier friends to us anyway. They didn’t bring much to the table. We provided neighborly services to them like taking trash cans in when they weren’t home, loaning out our son to mow their lawn, etc. (Yes they paid him but far less than any service so they’re really going to miss that cheap lawn care; the husband doesn’t ever do work!) They didn’t do shit for us, to be honest. I asked her to get the mail while we were gone once and she forgot for a few days then when reminded, she said it didn’t look like much and left it. Come on!

So yeah, that was the big drama of the weekend. Ash and I took a long walk Friday evening and after talking to him, I see a lot of the nuance happening here and as much credit as I used to give her – since she seemed more reasonable than her husband – I realize that although they’re in their 40s, they are quite stunted. She is petty and he’s a drug-addled loser, So hey, no big loss for us. I felt bad for my daughter and I tried to explain it in a way that would make sense to a 9 year old. My boys got it right away but she struggled a bit. Luckily, she was able to hang out with a new friend on Sunday and here’s hoping they “get” it a little more. It seems like they do. She went over there and when the ice cream truck came by, I told the mom I’d throw her some cash but she said to just get her daughter next time and that is how give and take works!

OK, long drama aside, a good weekend. Isaac had an early flag game that they should have won but had a bad snap on the extra point attempt. Elliot worked all 5 games that day and earned a decent amount of money and some Zaxbys on the way home. We brewed a milk stout and had folks over to watch/bottle share. In the evening, we went to a party for a woman in the brew group but didn’t stay too awful long. Our friend’s son had come to watch the brew process and basically stayed all day until 11 that night. Long busy day!

On Sunday morning, I felt totally fine and as my husband left to run 11 miles, I got the house sort of cleaned up then did a very hilly six miles. But I did it in a reasonable time so I was feeling pretty good. My body aches now but hey, that’s how it goes. We made burgers and then watched football and I did laundry and honestly, I was so happy for my daughter to hang out with a new friend, I barely worried about the neighbor falling out. I found myself in a bit of a foul mood in the afternoon but regained composure in the evening as we put our gravestone decorations back out (took them down when the wind was bad) and were greeted by a nice sunset. Fall has arrived and the late hours are nice and cool. You can’t complain about feelings too much when you realize just how beautiful the world can be.

************

For the prompts, I sometimes like to let the first thing that comes to mind be my song and for this one, of “harvest time” and the like (farming, etc…) this song popped into my head: