The Five Year Plan — slackermama . com

It’s a funny thing. Before we moved to the area of town we currently live in, we lived in a rental house in a nicer part of town. Before that, we lived in an apartment in the same area. They were considered “luxury” apartment homes, though, being fresh out of college and newly married with a baby, we were hardly wealthy. But the apartments were pretty nice. But when housing prices in Reno started to soar out of control, I knew our chances of being able to buy a home in that part of town were slim to none. I knew we needed a house, however, and started to look in the other parts of town. We looked out in this neighborhood way back when we could have bought our current house for over $60k cheaper than we actually purchased it at (and let me tell you, that hurts). Kile wasn’t as wild about the thought. He’d been in Reno several years before me and remembered when this area wasn’t as… nice as it is now. But I knew we wouldn’t be staying there forever and we just need to get our foot in the housing door.

Now that we live here, we’ve virtually switched roles. I’m the one who is upset with the neighborhood and my husband actually thinks its not that bad. I didn’t have a problem so much until this year. This year, my son entered first grade and things changed. I feel like I was lulled into a false sense of security with kindergarten. But first grade has opened my eyes to the truths of this neighborhood in a way that our living here for two years before hadn’t. Put simply? This neighborhood kinda stinks. For one thing, we’re hell and gone from just about anything you can think of. There’s a gas station/convenience store/express-style fast food joint down the road for anyone who doesn’t mind paying out the nose for such things. There’s a McDonald’s relatively close for those who don’t mind dining with wannabe gang members. Anything else requires a little bit to a lot of time in the car. Considering in our old neighborhood we had any choice of dining options and stores within minutes of our doorstep, this is a step backwards in my opinion.

For another thing, I’m a little annoyed with our neighbor. I don’t want to complain too much, because he’s a nice guy. But on the other hand, LOOK AT THAT DRIVEWAY! And people? You should have seen it YESTERDAY. That there is a drastic improvement over how it looked yesterday. Yesterday, his entire driveway and most of his grass there was covered with crap. I think he basically just took everything out of his garage and now has piled it on his driveway. Why? Not entirely sure. But the mere fact that there’s less of it today encourages me to think that this isn’t a permanent deal. However, that kiddie pool there has been there since last summer and the other side of his house was piled with crud for months on end until just recently. And yeah, he’s still got his Christmas lights up.

Then again, I’m not sure I should complain about that. Yeah, our lights are still up too. But, at least our lights match our trim, right? RIGHT?? (I’m considering starting a “Christmas Light Watch 2007″ theme, much like Amy’s “Tire Watch” theme.) Anyhow. It’s not just that. It’s the neighbors who party until all hours of the night. The neighbors who park their RV’s out front of their house for like 6 months at a time and I SWEAR someone is living in there. The neighbors whose dog comes and poops in my yard (I know my pipsqueak dogs can’t make poops that big… barf.). I know we’re not that great. I just yesterday removed the reindeer from our lawn so I know we have a long way to go before we’re eligible to be “Neighbors of the Year”. But still. I’m a little disheartened when I see someone has TAGGED the sides of houses and fences and mailboxes.

And just yesterday? They (they being the police and the principle of the elementary school) put my son’s school on lockdown. That’s a code red, people. And I didn’t have any idea until I heard the principle come over the loudspeaker just before the bell rang to say that the lockdown had ended. Uhm, hello? I’m standing out here with my infant son and the school has been on lockdown? Where was the phone call telling me about this?? Come to find out, there was a “disturbance” in the neighborhood surrounding the school, hence the lockdown. Cuz, you know, that makes me feel better. What sort of disturbance? I have no idea, but my guess is someone, somewhere, went off their nut and had a gun.

So this is my long-winded way of saying, we have a five-year plan. We’re going to move within five years. We’ll either move to a nicer part of town or move to a different town altogether. The idea being that we’ll live someplace else by the time Liam enters school and by the time Harry goes to middle school. And hopefully by then, the housing market will have rebounded around these parts and people will actually be buying houses again. It’s kinda hard to move when you can’t sell your house, you know.

Get the word out: