To Which I Replied, "Seriously?"

I was walking Ben home this afternoon and passed by my next door neighbor's house (the one who we share the side yard with). His wife was outside weeding and said hello. I said hi and then apologized once again for the mess (a necessary mess, but a mess nonetheless) in our yard.

Her reply? "Oh it's not the mess that's bothering me. It's the NOISE."

(insert record scratch sound)

OH wait, it gets better.

"My daughter and I have been up at 7 every morning for three days because of all the noise. And it's not even the hammering and banging and the big machine. It's them throwing things in the truck!"

Okay, for real? And I did not say any of the following, but I should have.

a) Do you realistically expect any kind of outside home project to be completed silently?

b) Did you not just replace your roof which I had to listen to for three full days?

c) Did you also not just replace YOUR deck last summer which I ALSO had to listen to for three full days? (not to mention, you tore up your fair share of the side yard and hill in the process?

d) Oh boo hoo. You have to be awake at 7a.m.? Wah wah wah. I was up at 6!

Instead I said, "Well, it'll be done soon and hopefully, it'll look a lot nicer for you guys too."

Here's the thing. I like these people. They've been nothing but nice to us since we moved in... but sometimes they just say things like this and I can just tell they put up a nice front most of the time, but go back inside and whine about how annoying and stupid and young we are.

My next door neighbor on the other side just had a cement patio poured a few months ago and rebuilt HIS deck last summer. YES, it's true I can't stand him... and YES, the noise and mess was annoying, but in the end, his backyard is a lot nicer to live next to. So it was worth the week of annoyance.

Also, might I add, the first two years we lived here, I heard nothing from this neighbor except how awful the guy we bought our house from was to live next to. How he threw furniture and trash bags in the yard and peed off the side of the deck and threw wild parties. Can't they just be grateful we're not him and that we're making our house look nicer?

Seriously.