The Shrieking Shack

Here we are in our new home, relaxing....and the dogs next door are left alone all day so they bark (pretty much non-stop all day), my daughter has recently discovered her vocal chords and the higher pitched section of her range and the cat has decided to howl (yes, howl, not meow, not meew, not yowl, but HOWL) because he doesn't have food in his food dish. Yep. Welcome to the Shrieking Shack everyone...it doesn't exist in Hogsmead anymore. It's here. At my apartment. Where I'm living....weeeee!!!!

I don't even know our next door neighbors names yet and they are already annoying me. I like to think I'm a fairly easy going, easy to get along with (even if we won't ever be busom buddies), but they are trying my patience. First off they have two dogs that bark when someone isn't home and whenever someone comes up the steps to the apartment (we have a shared landing so they bark whenever we come home). It isn't the dogs fault that they are left alone and are lonely and we actually can't hear them in the bedrooms so...I can live with it. The BIGGEST pet issue for me is the poop. I'm sorry. If you own a pet it is your RESPONSIBILITY TO PICK UP THEIR S***!!!! Do NOT leave it around for the neighbors to dodge and step on. GRRRR! If I had a dog I would pick up their pet poopy and take them on walks every day...not leave them in the apartment and take them out to the landing on a leash so they can reach the grass and stand there smoking a ciggarette until they do their business. It pisses me off. It also makes me mad because I feel like I'm going to be the obnoxious neighbor who tattle tales on them to the management, but I don't want to have to worry about stepping in doggy poo everytime I go outside. I would also like to let my daughter run around in the grass too. Sigh...

To add to the noise level, yesterday they were playing their music so loud that their bass was felt through my walls. It was during nap-time which was part of the reason it annoyed me so much then, but I also don't want to listen to their music! I haven't even met them...

and I already want to strangle them.

Projects

I'm a project hoarder. I truly am. I have so many projects in my 'to be finished' stash I can't even count them all. At least 10!! My goal is to get at least half of them done before we move again; despite what my inner voice is saying to the contrary. That's the goal. I want to lesson my project load by half by the time we move again in July. We're moving regardless of whether or not my husband finds a new job. If he finds a new one then, "YEAH! We're moving out of state!" If he doesn't then, "YEAH! We're moving out of this frigging apartment...to another frigging apartment." Either way though, we're moving. So of course this means that I've started packing already.

No, you didn't read that last part wrong. I've started packing already. I think I have 10 or 11 boxes packed and stacked in the second bedroom. I'm really anal retentive this way. As soon as winter is over I'll probably pack all of our winter gear in a box too. When we search for new jobs if we find one the first thing I do is to go on Rent.com and search out prices on apartments. Then I go and find out about the city, where the best places to live are, where the apartments are in comparison to the high school, what the mean income of the state is, if there's a state income tax and how much it is...etc. I have checklists. I have checklists of places to search for jobs once a week. I am totally nuts; but my husband just says I'm "driven." Isn't he such a good guy?

Back to the topic: projects! I think, for my own curiosity I will try to list what I have to do in categories...

Cross Stitch - 3 stockings (one is in the finishing stages), 3 wall art ones, 1 from my great grandmother that she never finished. Total: 7 (YIKES)

Sewing - 2 jackets that need sleeves, 1 skirt, 1 pair of pants, 1 jacket to put together entirely, 3 Halloween costumes for next year (not sure how much that counts since I just got patterns today), 2 quilts that need quilting, 2 quilts that need to have more blocks put together, 1 angel wall hanging, 4 pants that need hemming or buttons or pockets fixed. Total: 17 (Oh. My. Goodness. What was I thinking?!!?)

Craft - 1 beaded necklace, 1 set of letters to string up for my daughter, 2 picture frames to paint. Total: 4 (Much better than the last two!)

Grand Total: 28 So, I need to bring that number closer to 14 by the time we move. Okay, so that's...5 months so if I do 2 to 3 a month I might achieve my goal of finishing half. We'll see. Maybe. Is this possible with an 8 month old?!?