Who *are* the people in my neighborhood?

my neighborhood has changed a lot in the past 13 years since we moved in.  beside the barber who lives a few doors down from us and the couple who lives up the street, we are now one of the oldest families on our block.

the yellow house catty corner from us has changed hands several times.  when we first arrived in the neighborhood, a family of a mom and her adolescent boys lived there.  9 years ago they moved and had an auction.  i got a cute creamer and some fentonware at the auction, and hubby got a beat up wagon with assorted junk.  hubby and FIL also got a tin barn that matched the doll house i had as a little girl.

the couple that purchased the house was older.  i remember they renovated the outside of the house, but ran out of money to fix up the inside.  the house was sold to a young couple (whom i called the hippie family becos they had at least 3 different beater microbuses during their stay).  they fixed up the inside, had 2 more babies, but lost the house in foreclosure.  another young couple lives there now.  i see the lady of the house tinkering with her flowerbeds.

the house next to the yellow house is a half-double.  the side closest to the yellow house had another hippie couple, friends of the young couple in the yellow house.  they also had a couple microbuses and a couple of kids.  they recently moved out.  maybe they live with the yellow house couple. a lady recently moved into this side of the house - i saw her and other women moving her stuff in - a guitar, ski boots, an ugly lamp.

a couple whom i dubbed "the pirate people" live in the other half of the double.  they have a jolly roger hanging in their window, hence the name.   for months after they first moved in, their porch light was a red bulb, and i used to wonder if if they sold drugs becos the light was on during odd times in the night (red porch lights, in my area, sometimes indicate drug activity.  pink lights, on the other hand, indicate support in fighting breast cancer).  at first we thought they moved out too becos the jolly roger vanished as did their porch flag, but apparently not, becos the flag was up for the holidays.

the people who lived in the house next to us moved out 2 years ago (also foreclosure).  they knew the gentleman who lived in our home before us.  they were tough cookies, and i thought they were okay, but it wasn't until we talked to a neighbor down the alley from us who told us how troublesome this family really was.  thieves (the boys stole bikes, tools, and a neighbor's skateboard and blantantly lied about it), fights (cops, children and youth), neglect (when their youngest was 2, he wandered down the alley nearly 2 blocks, in just a diaper.  when a neighbor returned him home, the mom screamed at her 5 year old for not watching him. o.O )  

the house sat empty until last fall when the house was finally put on the market.  it sat for several more months until this spring, when the price dropped to $29,000.  there was a bidding frenzy - i actually saw a couple who own one of the most expensive homes in town interested in it  (and their's is on the market as well!).  we don't know who bought it or for how much but then there was a flurry of activity as contractors gutted the place and did a complete renovation.  a couple weeks ago the property when back on the market with the asking price of $84,900.  according to the summary, we live in "a quiet and desirable neighborhood".  quiet - that's debatable.  desirable?  not sure about that either.  there's a young couple interested in the property, and supposedly they close in july.  should be interesting.

the house across the street is a double - couple on one side has lived there for nearly 10 years.  lady on the other side - maybe 2.  the half-double next to that one has an old lady on one side, an older gent on the other.  the half double house 2 doors down has become my old neighbor's house - always on the porch, talking loudly, smoking.  

yes, these are the people in my neighborhood.

we have 4 more years left on our mortgage.  we can't wait until it's paid off, so we can move into a larger home, with a bigger yard, in a quieter neighborhood.  

i can't complain tho.  our monthly payments are cheap.  our yard is larger compared to most homes in the neighborhood.  we have a detached 3 car garage, so we have off street parking (which most homes don't have).  most importantly, we have a roof over our heads.  can't complain about that.