A Review of Our First Year In Our 'hood

It has been a little over year since Wendell and I bought our first home. We've had quite a bit of fun making it "ours" and like most new homeowners we started out with a BANG! Planning, buying materials, choosing colors and painting. It only took us a couple of months to burn out, we slowed our roll resting on idle many times.

Seeing the fruits of our labor blossom hasn't been the only excitement we've had over the last year. We've met some colorful neighbors and have had a rather active block. You may remember the fire last year that ruined our car. There was also a couple of older ladies busted for providing some twenty somethings with their prescription drugs; a neighbor who was shot in the rear as he was being "robbed"; and most recently ANOTHER fire! There's even a police car parked in front of our house to deter criminal activity. Although I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the recent fire or not. All I know is that it's taking up my parking spot!

Apparently we had a crazy mofo living in our midst. He BURNED DOWN HIS OWN HOUSE!!! When he was questioned by police his response was "It was time it happened". You can read more about his statements here. Apparently he has also confessed to starting that fire last year which cost us a car, so you can imagine my disdain towards this guy. I don't think anything has been proven to that affect, but a confession is good enough for me.

Now, we don't live in some run down 'hood where crime and thugs run amok. Wendell and I are lucky enough to live in between to extremely quiet homes. One is owned by a little old lady who is now living in a Senior center, so the house is empty. The other house is occupied by 4 college students who are on the tennis team and are rarely ever home. We don't have to put up with any noise and we get to make all the noise we want!

We have several friendly neighbors who we make idle chit chat with from time to time. There's a couple across the street who we talk to on a fairly regular basis, Gary & Eddie. They're awesome! And they keep a close eye on the neighborhood, which I like. Wendell and I have spent several weekends away from home, so it's nice to know someone is keeping an eye out.

This year is going to continue to be exciting for us. There are still several changes we want to make around the house before we have guests come in for our wedding. And of course there's all that comes with planning a wedding. We're just hoping it's the good kind of excitement and not the kind that wakes you up at 2:30am during the work week and that's accompanied by sirens and red and blue lights.