Bah Humbug!

Okay.

First there was the move.

And, yes, it was a good thing.

We were very excited to move into our lovely new home.

But, you know, moving is moving. We still had to pack everything we owned into boxes, transport it across town, unpack it, and reorganize... all the while working full time.

Then, as we settled into our lovely new home, we started to notice that there were places around the house that stayed wet, even after days and weeks of no rain. We notified the builder and then we proceeded to go back and forth trying in a desperate, aggravating, and decidedly unsuccessful attempt to get him to investigate and resolve the issue.

Our frustration continued to build.

Winter came nearer and nearer and we feared that freezing temperatures might damage our foundation as it lay standing in water (not to mention our fear of developing mold). So, we broke down and hired a fellow ourselves to place a system of French drains around the house. This cost a ton of money that we would much rather have spent on landscaping and decorating. (We are going to try to recoup it by making a claim on our warranty but I don't know how that will work...)

Then...

Well, we have wanted to give Annie, our ten year old Boxer, a fenced back yard for years, but it just has never been feasible. Our old home was on a big slope and was quite woodsy.

Here we have a level stretch of back yard that we have been dreaming of fencing since this past summer when this house was only a place to drive by and dream about.

The back yard is a reality for us now and - although it isn't the most expensive or aesthetically appealing option - we decided to go with a chain link fence. Our idea was based on the fact that it requires no maintenance and that if we placed a fortress of Cypress trees around it no one would actually be able to see it anyway.

We'd place Cypress all around and then under the trees we'd put some roses, maybe a few azaleas. It would be lovely.

And, as I said before, NO maintenance.

Clearly, it was the perfect choice.

Or so we thought.

As the workers were finishing the installation yesterday some frantic neighbor from down the street came knocking at our door and proceeded to tell me that we could not place the fence due to covenants. I kindly informed her that we were not part of the home owners' association, that it did not extend to section 3 of the subdivision, that this very fact was the whole reason that we chose to purchase our new home. We did not want to be restricted by an HOA.

This was when she proceeded to tell me that just because we weren't part of the HOA didn't mean that we didn't have covenants.

What?

If there are covenants that we are bound to they were NEVER disclosed to us before or during closing.

Wasn't that kind of a BIG oversight on somebody's part?

Now it seems we will be facing a battle to keep our fence.

One of the workers told us that an individual was driving by and that they stopped, got out of their vehicle, and took pictures.

Good grief!

I'm sure there was an emergency meeting at somebody's house last night.

The local HOA hotline must have been burning up.

I guess we are officially the riff raff that moved into the new house next door.

Nice.

Maybe we should find a beater car and put it up on blocks in the front yard to see just how upset we can get them.

As much as I love our new home at this point I honestly wish that I had never even seen the darn thing.

Really.

Truly.

To top it all off, just after the neighbor left (while speed-dialing the builder to tattle about our breaking some covenant that we never knew existed and which I still don't believe even applies to us), Joanne was taking the dogs out and they spazzed over something and pulled her down the front steps.

We thought she broke her wrist, so we spent two hours in the ER only to find out that it was just a nasty, painful bruise.

What else could possibly happen?

Maybe I shouldn't ask.

At least school is over until January for both of us.

I know that a lot of people are going through a lot worse and we should just try to find things to be thankful for, but I'm not feeling it.

Bah Humbug!

I guess I just haven't been blogging because I don't have anything nice to say!