Neighbors!!

[smalltowngirl]

So, I live in a neighborhood that is mixed retired people, some young people, mostly working class or professionals such as teachers. The houses are close together but I would not call it suburbia, b/c everyone knows each other and talks to each other.

The neighbors next door (our doors are pretty close) are AWESOME. They LOVE our dog, buy her treats...when we were carless for a bit they offered us rides and were really sweet, they bring in our recycling bins if we are not home, etc...but it gets to be a bit much. They know our comings and goings, they bring in my trash barrel even if I'm HOME and didn't run out to get it RIGHT AWAY, and they literally sat in their lawn chairs by the fence and watched us when we did work on our house the past few weeks.

I totally adore them but I'm feeling myself get really bitchy about it and that's not good either. Like, I know everyone watches you when you leave the front door...that is the nature of our neighborhood. But I feel like they literally want to know where I am at all times...sort of like living next door to they your parents.

I have tried to sort of distance myself, but I don't want to seem unfriendly. Its a tricky balance. I guess I'm feeling a little violated by the lack of privacy, but I'm not sure how to try to get them to back off a little without seeming mean. One thing I've tried is just not divulging as much. For example, a few weeks ago my bf and I were gone all day, and I could tell they REALLY wanted to know where we were all day, but didn't come out and ask. So I very casually was all "Yeah, I know, we were gone." That kind of thing.

I know they are probably bored and they have a son who is really busy and they think of us as their own kids, but does anyone have advice on how to handle this delicate situation?

[scaredsi11y]

[happyhats]

we have next door neighbors SORT of like this, but not nearly as nice. They do things like knock on our walls when dd cries or kicks the wall at night, they've even called the cops TWICE to complain about her crying (um, she's a toddler, and we're talking crying for ten minutes or so at a time, seriously). At the same time though, they come outside almost every time we come home and stop to talk to us just about everytime we are going to leave.

We were once pretty polite, but the cops incident left us pretty peeved, and I've since noticed that they always want to discuss what other neighbors are up to, etc. Now we are civil and say as little as possible.

That's not necessarily advice, but it is commiseration.
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keep it simple

[tasted]

do the cops even respond when someone calls to complain about a crying child being too noisy??

now there's a waste of police resources.

[BlueJedi]