My Love Hate Relationship with Apartment Living

Hey y'all!!!

So, I have this love-hate relationship with apartment living. I know, that might be normal, but lately it's been really bad.  Up until recently, it's been mostly a love relationship.  I love not having to worry about maintenance, and everything that comes with not having to be responsible for a house and all it's trappings.  I also love the convenience of our current location in relation to the girls' school and church and everything.

Z and I lived in an apartment right after we got married and it was not a good experience, and we really didn't want to live in an apartment again. Our experience this time has been much better, with the exception of the last several months.  Our apartment is on the end of the building with only one other apartment connected. Our upstairs neighbors.  They are young guys, who while out of college, are still somewhat young and stupid, for lack of a better way to say it.  They are loud at random hours in the middle of the night, waking us and the girls up and they like their weed.

Normally, I wouldn't have a problem with marijuana, given that those indulging are of age, but in an apartment setting it doesn't just affect them.  See the biggest problem we've had in the last few months, really almost year, since they moved in is that every time they decide to smoke, it filters down into our apartment through the vents.  And it's really strong.  The girls have complained of stomach aches, their behavior changes, they complain about headaches, and they don't sleep well, complaining of nightmares on the nights when the neighbors are smoking.  I know that nightmares are not typical symptoms of marijuana, but headaches are and when your head hurts, it can cause nightmares.

I started this post almost 3 weeks ago, one day when it was really bad and I had complained to the apartment manager.  My biggest beef with that conversation was that she tried to tell me that marijuana smoke was no different than cigarette smoke and that there wasn't much they could do about the problem, especially without a police report.  I was so frustrated that night, that I called the County Sheriff's office and ran the scenario past a Sheriff, who instructed me to call every single time, immediately upon smelling the smoke.  I had to do that about a week and a half ago, one night after Z got home from work.  They had their windows open and you could smell it outside.  Unfortunately, the smell dissipated before the officers could get here, but when we talked with the officers, they said not to hesitate to call if it happened again.

Things had been mostly good since then, with only whiffs here and there, but nothing that was overly potent or that I could definitely say was marijuana.  At least until this afternoon.  The girls and I were at a class at church after school, and when we got home to eat dinner before going back to church for their piano lesson, I walked into a "smack in the face" wall of marijuana smoke, giving me an instant headache.  I checked to see if the neighbors upstairs had their windows open and they did.  I immediately called the County Sheriff's non-emergency phone number.  They sent out two Corinth Police Officers.  The officers spoke briefly with Z and me upon arrival and then went upstairs to talk to the guys.  I started hearing lots of slamming doors and needed to make sure I could get the girls out to the car to take them over to piano lessons.  When I went outside to check, I noticed that a third officer had arrived in the meantime and the smoke was really bad at the stairs to go upstairs.

I knew the officers needed to talk with me, but needed to get the girls to their lesson.  Thank God, our lessons are at church and we have friends who could sign them in.  I left the girls with my friend Ashley and headed back home.  When I got there, one of the officers asked how I was, and I said good with the exception of the headache from the marijuana.  He said he got a "nose-full" of it too.  At that point, he relayed that they had issued tickets and confiscated the marijuana that they found in the apartment.  He stated that they did not tell the neighbors that we had complained, just that they had gotten a call.  At this point, I don't care if they know or not, but I'm pretty sure they know it was us.  He also told me that the guys are moving out in December when their lease is up.  Thank God!!

Z stopped in at the management office to relay what I had told him about the doors slamming and the smell.  The manager actually apologized for everything!  I'm glad she apologized, but I'm actually more glad to know that I'm not crazy and they really were smoking marijuana.  She also told Z that they were moving out in December.  I'm just glad we only have to deal with them for another two months.

See here's the thing, I know that because we are choosing to live in an apartment for the time being, I know that there are things that we can't control about our environment and that we just have to accept.  Cigarette smoke is unfortunately one of those things, as is random dog barking, and people who walk really heavily in the apartment above us.  The problem I've had up until today is figuring out where the line is for having to just put up with something because we choose to live in an apartment and where our rights start as tenets.  It can't always just be that we have to deal with it, because what someone does in the privacy of their own "home" is none of our business, at some point, I have to start speaking up for my right to comfort in my own "home".  Today I won that fight, and I'm pretty DAMN proud of myself!!!

Lesson learned: Don't back down and don't feel bad about being "That Neighbor" when it involves something illegal and the health and well-being of your family.

That's all for now!

Thanks for stopping by!

{Becky}

Weight Loss Wednesday

Hi y'all!!

It's Wednesday, which means an update on my weight loss progress.  I know I missed last week's update, I wasn't feeling well and didn't do much blogging last week at all.  I've lost 3 pounds in the last two weeks.  I'm so happy that I'm still losing and not hitting a plateau.  Here's the progress pictures from this week:

Here's a comparison picture of before and today.

How are your goals coming?

Thanks for stopping by!!

{Becky}