The babysitter worked out wonderfully. We had a great time at the match. Six U.S. goals. A patriotic display. Brendan was even on TV! He's got video extracted from it, I'm sure he'll post it at some point. Bridget thinks it's hilarious that her dad was on TV (because we're dorks and DVR-ed the game even though we were there).
***
Then, today we decided it was too nice to stay inside, so we went to a park down the road a bit. On the way home, Brendan noticed a boy walking down a pretty busy road alone, and so, we decided to stop, turn around and see what the deal was. He was pretty scared and just wanted his mom, and was about 3. Oh, and he crossed the street on his own, too (it's a four lane road). So I tried to converse with him in Spanish, and Brendan called the police. Four cops later, we had finally understood what his name was, they took his photo with a digital camera and went down the road to where we first noticed him and came back with some of his family. I was a little worried that they wouldn't want to talk to the police but thankfully everything seemed to work out. He was with his grandfather, uncle and brother and lived all the way in Stafford. No wonder he was so confused and scared. Bridget totally understood that the little boy was lost and we helped him find his family. It all ended well.
***
And then, just now, three police cars rolled up to the house next door. There have been people over there working lately -- mowing the grass, painting, running power tools out back. As far as I'm concerned, as long as someone is actively caring for the property, it's a good thing. Brendan said that he heard some beeping while he was out grilling, so it's probably just an alarm going off. Again, it's all a good thing. There just hasn't really been too many quiet moment here at home today.
There's been a lot said about the amount of foreclosures in Prince William county (I think I've said a few things myself). Most recently, there was an article in the Post that touched on Woodbridge, Dale City and Manassas.
As the surge in foreclosures continues and banks repossess more and more houses, property values are declining -- but not everywhere, and not by equal measure, Thompson and other real estate agents said. No part of the region is untouched, but most foreclosures are clustered in certain neighborhoods and several troubled Zip codes. Rather than a sea of slumping housing, Northern Virginia has an island chain of hot spots.
The article does not offer any new insights. The comments, however, are another thing. My personal favorite was this gem:
bbcrock wrote: How could someone in all honesty buy in an area 90 minutes outside the city and NOT expect it was a slum? Really. Who is going to want to drive in at 5am every morning? Desperate people with no options. I'm sorry, I just don't feel bad for the exurbs- they should still be farms. 3/22/2008 9:51:56 PM Recommend (12)
I'd like to give that person a big old one-finger salute. What a complete ASS. I must have missed that memo. Because there are no slums INSIDE actual cities. And 12 people have recommended the comment. WTF?!
I actually do have a point here... The people on one side of us may or may not have been illegal. I don't know. It was none of my business. I do know they overpaid for their house and they just up and left one day (as I've mentioned before). When they were living next door, they kept up the property quite nicely. Then, foreclosure. The house is still empty. But maybe not for too long.
On the other side, the hillbillies were annoying as hell. Their house was bordering on looking like crap. I do not know the immigration status of the people who live there now. Nor do I really care. They keep the outside clean, are quiet (aka not running all over my lawn like little Bobby Hillbilly) and generally seem like decent people.
Of course now we have more people up the street who, dare I say it, are bordering on white trash. Dude is always working on his damn Monte Carlo or totally awesome bright blue Isuzu with awesome gold rims. His buddies are always stopping by in the middle of the road on the opposite side of the street to have some loud yelling conversation. Plus they run the cars up and down the road and around the block and have marked the shit out of the street. I don't expect the spring and summer to bring any improvements there. Oh, did I mention they live obscenely close to the playground? You'd better bet that I'll be all over the police complaint line when things do not improve.
So what's my point here? (Besides, you know, getting all of this out of me and feeling a little better after venting some.) My point is, not all white people are fantastic neighbors. And not all non-whities are evil.
Very early this morning, at about 6:45am there were a few loud knocks at the front door. The baby was already up, so at least I was awake. It was the police. They found a little three year old girl walking alone down the street. I hope they got her home.
Neighbors! People are moving into the hillbilly's house. I noticed them last week, but have been holding off saying too much just in case it was a big fake out.
I love the Farmer's Market. I've been trying to go every Sunday and now that the summer produce is in full swing, there is just such an abundance of good stuff. This week:
The county came and cut the grass next door this morning. It's a good thing, too. It was seriously out of control. I suppose it's not a unique story in Northern Virginia -- overpay for a house (and they did) on an adjustable rate or interest only loan (just guessing) and be overextended and either file bankruptcy or face foreclosure. Looking at the recent sales in our neighborhood, there are a lot of banks taking ownership. Good times.
What a beautiful meadow. Oh, wait. That's actually the front lawn next door. As I mentioned in March, the neighbors on the other side of us (aka not the hillbillies), up and left one day. The house is just totally empty. The yard is ridiculous.
This is a picture of our relatively freshly mowed lawn compared to theirs. Normally, you'd be able to see just about all of the green electrical box that's sticking up near the sidewalk. Now, I know I tend to exaggerate just a little (sometimes) but honestly, the grass is above knee height.
I called the county Neighborhood Services and filed a complaint. They sent me a letter saying they were looking into it, and they did send out a truck on Sunday. Still, I'm not sure what they can do. No one is living there. I suppose they could cut it and issue a fine. Don't know if they'll get paid. How crazy would it be to have a lien on your house because you didn't cut your grass?
I thought maybe they were in foreclosure or something, but it's next to impossible to look that stuff up and not pay for the information. It does, however, look like the hillbillies' house is in foreclosure. From what I could tell anyway. That can't be good for our property values.
At this point, I'd just like to have people living in both houses. I'd even take little Bobby over no one.
And last night there was an insane screaming match going on at one of the houses behind us. Doors slamming, yelling about keys, all kinds of craziness. What kind of neighborhood is this turning into? Seriously.
Oh, and there's also someone around here who likes to ride his ATV around on the streets. Nice. Called the police on that guy, too. Not that they'll do anything but it made me feel better. I'm seriously turning into that neighbor. Good times.
Maybe we shouldn't have moved. Although, it's a little late to be thinking things like that now!
In other news, Bridget will be 1 next Monday! Yikes.
The hillbillies' house is back on the market. We had thought that maybe they had actually sold it. The other day I noticed a car and a couple of very normal people poking around. Alas, they were Realtors and put the for sale sign back up. What's ever more discouraging is the price that they are now asking. It's so insanely low. I think they are just trying to unload it and so are coming in under every other house that's for sale in the neighborhood.
I'm worried for two reasons:
Obviously it effects us. If we ever wanted to sell in the near future (not that we plan to), then the price that they sell for has a direct bearing on what we can ask and
I don't know if it will work. The price is so low that people might think that there's something wrong with the place. I care about the house selling because it's not good to have so many totally empty houses around us.
Nothing in our immediate neighborhood has really been moving at all. Saw a few people riding around looking this weekend while we were out doing yard work, but it's not looking too good. Our assessment went down this year. Ugh. I don't feel like we overspent per se, it's just not a good trend.
It looks like the hillbillies have finally officially moved out of their house. This weekend they had a big moving van parked out front. The only annoying part was that the kids were all running around and being loud. Hopefully that was the last time.
I think that we're actually neighborless at this point. A few weeks ago the people who live on the other side of us made a few trips back and forth with a pickup truck and left a lot of bags of garbage on the curb and I haven't seen them since. There's no sign up though so I'm not really sure what the deal is.
I really don't think that Brendan and I are that terrible to live next to; hopefully it isn't us!
