Vess 2011

For some reason I take a lot of satisfaction in opening the blinds each morning and letting sunlight flood the house. The sunshine sets a 'happy' mood for the day. The only drawback is when it highlights the fact that I need to dust...darn the Arizona dryness!
I love this time of year because we get to enjoy it getting dark outside earlier. I close all the blinds and turn on the lamps in most of the rooms and things seem to calm down...most days/in my dreams.
Right now we are watching Full House re-runs and watching Lyla attempt all kinds of tricks on the family room floor. It was a good day ...our good friends from the old ward came over and we got to catch up a bit. We only moved a few miles away but life is busy so we haven't been able to keep in touch the way we had thought we would.
Kids need to get tucked in and then it's my turn...

But first, let's get real. When we moved in our yard was...to say the least ...overgrown. We trimmed everything including a vine that was draped over half of our fence and on parts of the house. It was green and pretty but not for us. We took a hedge-trimmer to it and have since maintained it, which is frustrating to spend time on it since it's not even rooted in our yard. We contemplated throwing it over the fence, but who does it belong to? It seems to come from all directions. We aren't even sure who started this 'vess' (our term for vine-mess 2011). Rather than cause a possible rift, or 'vift' (vine- rift) with the new neighbors we will just suffer in silence. After all, we plan to be here for a while and would hate to have neighbor troubles. So...we maintain this 'veast' (vine-beast).

All was well for weeks...and then...I walk into the kitchen with the girls one day and Emma runs to the back door and yells, "Mom! They threw dead vine over our fence!" Acknowledging the "over-reaction" factor that exists in our family I put a few things away first and walked over to the window when I realized she was still staring outside. Sure enough! Our neighbors right behind us had thrown a dead portion of the vine still connected to what was left living in their yard back over into our yard. Wow, right? They didn't even cut it, just tossed this 5 foot dead chunk of vine right over the fence. Emma was totally dumb-founded. "WHY would they do that?!"

I had no words. But I knew Brady would. Emma insisted that Dad would have to throw it back over the fence. I down-played and said, "It's fine. No big deal. They obviously aren't happy that we trimmed our vine because it killed their part so they are letting us help them take care of it." I was under her magnifying glass, for sure. I had to handle this right. Not the way I wanted to, let's be honest. She could not believe the mess they made and all I could say was, "Well, we are just going to cut it and throw it away and say nothing else about it." She said, "Right. Cause we definitely don't have anything nice to say about this!"

After we calmed down I had to sneak off to call Brady and give him warning cause I knew he would react the way I wanted to! For added drama I sent him a picture of it. It was just weird. Who does that? If you know you have to deal with people often why would you cause a stir? Honestly, we haven't spoken to them, but I'm sure toys will end up over the fence in the coming years so we have to keep it nice. Silly things like that make me wonder what people are thinking...it just seems like burning a bridge...why rock the boat? Anyway, the hardest part of it all was explaining to Brady why we had to be good neighbors and let it go especially for Emma's sake. But you better believe when he got home from work she was running straight to him to inform him of the scandal that was Vess 2011! He responded to her, through gritted teeth, "We aren't throwing back, because that wouldn't be right. We will just get rid of it." Should we be embarrassed that Emma reacted that way??? after all she learns from us...hmmm.

And yes, I realize that this story is absurd and of no real importance, but if it helped the kids learn a little about being a kind neighbor, then...that's what matters, right? ???