It's the little things.

There are SO many other things happening at the Asylum right now that I wouldn't know where to start so here's a little bit of Saturday.

I parked up in the front of the building because I was going to load up some boxes to take to storage. I've done this, unfortunately, many times in the 2 months we've lived in this hell hole.
I walk in to get the cart and a lady asks me if I live there, and I said yes. She told me "You're not supposed to park there." I said "uh...I'm just going to load up some stuff."
"It doesn't matter. Alma says unless you're handicapped you're not supposed to park there. She says you have to park somewhere else. I got yelled at for it by Alma so I thought I'd tell you."
Instead of saying, "Well is Alma here right now?" I just said thanks.

Aaand since I don't care what arbitrary rules they have in place I went to my room, got my boxes on the cart and brought them back down to put in my car. Like I always do.
And do you know who was parked there in the place you're not supposed to park unless you're handicapped? Alma.
I don't even get a hello from the woman (because we're not allowed to speak to anyone who works at the building and they're not to speak to us....plus, rude) so I also did not get "yelled at" because that would have been absurd. Just like everything else that happens at the Asylum.

*****
On my way up Sad Santa was asking for 4 quarters. I didn't have any on me but since I could actually understand what he was asking for I told him I'd be right back down and I'd see if I had any.
I did but I need them for laundry. I grabbed some of my less useful change instead to give him. I can guarantee it was going in to the vending machines so it didn't really matter if it was quarters, unless he was going to do laundry....which I find unlikely.
It wasn't until I gave him the little bit of change that I realized he was asking to change a $1 coin for quarters. He tried to give me the coin but I told him to keep it since I don't need it and I wasn't sure I'd even given him a full dollars worth of change. I was pretty sure it was enough for a soda at least.
As I was walking out, a guy with a dog (who I'd seen walk away from Sad Santa in the parking lot and throw his hands up) was shaking his head saying "He always gets ya, that guy!"
Well he hadn't got me yet but at least this one time he wasn't asking for anything but an exchange.

*****

I also saw the angry kid and his angry mom from downstairs come out with their not at all angry dog that we hear get kicked on occasion. The dog looked untrained but healthy and happy so at least there's that. 

Nice(ish) while it lasted.

Say you're a landlord and someone needs repairs done in their home, what do you do?
You fix it.
OR, if you're the Longmont Housing Authority, you tell them they have to get out.

But I'll back up a bit. Last Tuesday or Wednesday, I think it was.

They've patched the roof a couple times I believe. I'm not sure they're very good at it but since I haven't been up there I don't know. Someone came to give an estimate for the ceiling repair. We took down the shower curtain so they wouldn't have to. We're thoughtful like that. We didn't put it back up because someone else was coming the next day to give another bid.

Then comes 3am.

Jason: Do you hear that?
Me: Yes...
Jason: What is it??
Me: I think it's the shower.
Jason: *up and about* It's not the shower!!
(The rest I'll not share as it's not very suitable for a family audience.)

We hadn't put back any of the buckets because nothing had been dripping. We didn't put back up the curtain because we were just going to have to take it down again.

Jason did, however, start working on one of his paintings that somehow ended up directly under the dripping water.

Delightful. The subject of the moist painting? The key to hell. It was very fitting to the rest of the week as it turned out.

 

This has all led to us being told that we'll have to leave if code enforcement determines that our unit is uninhabitable. They're also saying that we'd have to "vacate" in June when the roof is being replaced. This was never mentioned before.
I've asked 3 times what their understanding of our lease terms are but we get no reply.
I guess the Housing Authority doesn't put much stock in signing a lease.
"I know [2 staff members here] explained that we wouldn't likely fulfill the year term on your lease because of the planned rehab." Um...nope. We signed a lease. They signed a lease. There was no mention of "oh by the way, this is completely irrelevant." We wouldn't have signed it if that was the case.

Yesterday when it was snowy and rainy I assumed we'd have a leak. We didn't. Pleasant surprise. We're hoping maybe the patch has settled. In the meantime they're offering us a unit we can't actually fit in so we'll see what they decide for us since apparently we don't matter in the slightest.

I've asked what exactly is going to happen to the rest of the people living here while they "rehab" the building but I have received no answer. We're in a shit spot but at least we're able to function a lot better than 99% of the people here. They can't just be told to "vacate" their homes.

“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Prov 29:7

  

The love.

Today Ruby said that Jason and I reminded her of her daughter and son-in-law.
Why? "Because when you look at each other you can see the love & friendship between you."
And then she went to church. Of course. :)

Just a few minutes ago the stereo started playing for no particular reason. Interesting. 

Water water...nowhere.

I thankfully just got OUT of the shower but now...the water won't turn on in our apartment. So that's new. It's too bad the ceiling isn't overflowing anymore. Just kidding. That also sucks.
Nobody needs water on a Saturday morning, right? Sigh. I'll just brush my teeth in the parking lot or something.
If it was planned, a little notice would have been nice. But who knows what's going on.

The slamming of everything continues under my feet though. Old reliable. 

The way to a neighbor's heart

Despite the crap parts of the day, things turned out alright on this Friday the 13th. (Side note: We live close enough to the tire place to walk home. Convenient, eh?)
Jason made Eggplant Parmesan tonight. He doesn't cook often, but when he does it always turns out pretty wonderful. We found this bottle of wine when he moved in and we've been saving it for something special, so today was as good as any. It was good too!

A friend came over and had dinner with us but we still had more than enough to share so Jason took some down to our helpful neighbor Ruby. She had a guest, Paula (who lives right across from us), so he took some for her too.
A little while later Ruby was at our door with a thank you note from her and Paula, and a thank you plant. And of course....a "god bless you." She said nobody had done anything so nice for her since she's lived here. She's a peach. I suspect she does a lot more for people than she gets in return so I'm glad she enjoyed her food.

Living the Safe Life

After much bitching and phone calls (Jason's doing, not mine) someone finally came to check the electrical stuff today to make sure it's not going to burn the place down. What with all the holes in the ceiling exposing the moldy insulation and falling ceiling tiles, it was worth a look.
In our unit, the hole in the ceiling is near a hanging light. They said it was ok. No water mixing with the electricity.
I don't know what the verdict was with the hallway. Things aren't falling out of the ceiling as much now that things have dried up. Out of sight, out of mind, no doubt.
Pretty though, huh?

In other news, Sad Santa has gotten more vocal as of late. He tends to yell randomly and at nobody. Jason's impression of it sounds very much like the Tazmanian Devil.

He's less Santa-like lately because he's not been wearing his red coat as often. I can't understand a single word he says when I do hear him talk. The guy he was talking to at the elevator today said he was asking him for money to buy him a soda, which apparently he does for him a lot.  

There seems to be many disgruntled folks around here. Sometimes we can hear them talking out in the back where people go to smoke. A few people were discussing the lack of security in our secured building.
When we were moving in the LAST of our stuff a few days ago a couple guys waited by the door and followed us in. That's what people do when they want in. Doesn't take a lot of effort. Some will wait like they're waiting for someone but some will just stand there looking like they're waiting to be let in. We were carrying in the top of the god damn heavy glass table and the tall guy says "where's that goin??" I want to say "none of your business creeper!" But I did not. They gazed at us weirdly as we got in to the elevator and thankfully did not get in with us. Thanks huge table for taking up room. I'd prefer to have fewer people following us to our apartment when they are not supposed to be here. It would likely be a more secure building if it wasn't a "secure building."
They lock the bathroom and laundry room doors at night here because they had issues previously with people letting folks in at night to sleep in the rooms that were left open.
I don't mind so much if there are random people hanging out in the lobby but when people are walking the halls for no reason then I don't care for it. We have enough people coming and going for nefarious purposes without extras. If I wanted to start doing meth, I think this could be a good place to start looking.

There's also this...out in front of the building. Soo is there just a stop in the parking lot? Drive thru? I don't know. We live IN a hotel basically, why isn't this happening inside? Mystery.

Hmm...

It's a common wonderment around here to think "Hmm, I wonder if that person sells drugs out of here." or "Hmm...I wonder how many or what kind of drugs that person is on." or "Hmm...I wonder if that girl is of legal age."