sleep-deprived, insomnia grumbling

it's late. i'm tired. but yet unhappily awake.

after some tossing and turning in bed trying to disregard sound of snoring i move to the guest bedroom in hopes of finding some peace.

it takes me a while before i feel sleepy, and when i am finally ready to welcome much needed sleep i hear talking next door (the guest bedroom is adjacent to a duplex). not much at first, but it then begins to build. lots of talking. laughing. running of feet. some shouting. louder and louder. until i am AWAKE, yet again.

after our first home-buying experience here, i have come to realize that taking into consideration the other types of homes present on your street is of great importance. i've decided that when we buy another home, i want to be absolutely certain that there are no renters living on our street. i know. that sounds harsh. we were renters once too. but, realistically, you don't know what to expect. i'm tired of the high turnover. how about i get to pick who lives next door?

a brief neighbor history...our first year in this house, the duplex next door had a quiet family on our side and 2 low-key dudes on the other. then the family with the baby left us. they were replaced by a family with older kids. aside from the occasional verbal scream fest fights coming from inside, they kept to themselves. they lived there for 6 mos. then there were some recent high school graduates who moved in had parties almost every weekend (on the plus side, they did express their willingness to turn the noise down when we asked them to and when they brought the party inside they weren't noisy at all). they only lasted 6 months. the 2 dudes on the other side finally parted ways and that half sat empty for a long time. both sides sat empty for awhile (yay for me and my sleep-deprived brain). then there was a family with older kids that moved into our side and an engaged couple plus another roomate on the other side. so within 3 years, the duplex on our side have had a total of 4 different tenants (including the current residents). within 3 years, there have been a total of 6 different tenants for the whole duplex.

this is the part where i start sounding old (if i don't already). it's now approaching 2 a.m. and there's still plenty of noise and activity on the porch. plenty. i don't know why mom is not bringing them inside. either she doesn't care or she's out of town (most likely the 2nd option). please. at least go inside. i'm kind of stuck on finding a new place to sleep. if i go on the couch i can still hear them. maybe i'll turn on the tv. i may have to crash with emma in her room.

i want to live on a street where when i want it to be quiet it's quiet (a statement out of grumpy, sleepy, frustration). i just want to be surrounded by quiet (again...a sleep-influenced comment). i want to move to the street west of us. they don't have any rentals on their street. or maybe they should designate streets by noise level: quiet, low noise, medium noise, loud noise, party-central 24 hour noise.

and there's suburbia! or the country...lots of land between one house and the next. actually, that sounds lovely right now, but i think i don't think that feeling would last long. and i'd probably feel trapped, constricted, and start to hyperventilate if i lived in suburbia land. having to drive everywhere for everything. all the houses looking exactly alike. everybody driving the same exact cars. everyone eating the same food from the same chain restaurants, because that's the only thing close-by. i can't do it. i like the unique qualities all the homes in my hood (rentals or not). i love the people that my neighborhood draws-different backgrounds and histories. plus, i'm a city girl at heart and living too far away from city-like amenities and comforts will drive me bananas.