Screwed

Follow up on the previous post, we got royally SCREWED by our landlord.  Our rent did not increase $26 a month, it increased $56 a month.  Claimed we were have "supposed to paid $15 a month for a pet fee and a $15 a month maintenance fee" the previous year and they forgot to charge us.  Didn't budge a single dollar, basically told us we were screwed.  Point of order:  What the hell did we pay a $250 non-refundable pet deposit for if they are going to now charge monthly?

Screwed isn't the term for this one.  Karen's mother passed Tuesday morning.  We have not been in contact with her or Karen's sister Pam since September 2016.  We got a call from our nephew at 7:30am saying she wasn't going to make it through the day.  Um.  We didn't know she was in the hospital.  OK?  Later that same afternoon I get a phone call from an old friend of Pam's who informed me of the death and the time of death.

Then she went into that "I know I'm not family" spiel and eventually it turned to "Pam can't afford to do anything except donate the body to HPU Medical and get the ashes when they are finished with it."  I replied quietly and evenly, "I'm sorry."  

She hadn't mentioned anything definite to me, but I was SURE Karen was going to do something toward her mother's final rest, but this morning we awoke to a newspaper obit with the message that there would be no services and the body was being sent to a crematorium.  Then to top it all, Pam's son posts a "full obituary" on his own little Facebook page this morning, with names and dates, etc., purposefully leaving out Karen (oldest daughter), our son Josh (grandson) and his three kids, who are her great-grandchildren.

That explains my own post on Facebook today where I proclaimed that the Karen A.T.M. has closed permanently and customers should find alternate sources for emergency cash.  Speaking of cash.  No.  I shall not go there.  Not now or ever. 

Future Shock

Tomorrow we venture to the leasing office to renew our lease here for the 18th (and FINAL) year at the Terrace and I'm afraid I'm going to sound off over everything that has not been handled as promised by the "new" owners own set of rules.  I have a neighbor whose car has been broken down since she got arrested around Thanksgiving '17, yet it's still parked in front of her apartment with 3 flat tires.  I snapped a photo of it last month with no license tag (it was being used on the "newer" ragged car she was driving) and the manager came over and give the tenant a "heads up".  Next morning the old car had a plate on it again (albeit expired) and it's still sitting in the driveway.

Their second or "newest" car has been sitting across the parking lot for three days unable to be moved because it appears someone has driven it into a ditch or culvert, ripping off much of the exhaust system.  The donut tire on the front of the car is canted at a super weird angle which tells me most likely that the front end is damaged beyond the ability to drive it as well.  Seeing "Sugar Daddy" making an appearance yesterday to look at the damaged vehicles proves to me that this woman once again has two wrecked cars in the parking lot, neither able to be driven.  She only calls Baby Daddy when she needs cash money homey.  I don't recall seeing him in a few years actually.

There's also the "102 Jamz" Nissan in the parking lot, which has had a flat tire for months and has not moved.  I see kids playing in the car and an occasional adult accessing stuff locked in the trunk, but the car does not and can not move.  Pretty sure when we signed our lease last year one of the main new rules for this complex is all vehicles parked on the property must have valid license and inspection and be able to be driven.  So really.  WTF Terrace?

Don't get me started on 18+ year old carpet and paint inside.  Or the early 1970s stove we still use here.  We did finally get our bushes trimmed, I can finally see my own car in the parking lot again, but only after several calls to the office.  Was actually informed that the crew had been sent to "another property" when they stopped here, but hey, at the time this place was full.

They tell us that the market value for our townhome is well above the price of a beginner house and they are trying to raise the rent accordingly, but by law are not allowed to raise it more than a couple of percent a year, so we are going to make tracks out of here before the next lease is due, possibly buying something of our own for a change instead of paying "full market value" for a rental with no return.

Really getting tired of the neighbors here.  Not the neighborhood.  Not the location, but the neighbors.  Same neighbor with the trashed cars has a fire pit behind their apartment and sit outside partying some nights.  That explains the charred remains of burnt wood often spread all over the parking lot.  And the pile of charred wood that is piled in front of the dumpster along with full baby diapers and other signs that cave people live in this complex.  I can't understand how the same folks send the same kids to the same dumpster, to have the same result, garbage on the ground around the can.  I can only imagine what the inside of their places look like.

It's not all of the neighbors, mind you, my next door neighbor of 16+ years is a gem and a friend.  Next door on the other side is a young inter-racial couple with a tiny baby.  They've already had the police and Social Services visit a few Sundays ago after he struck her and she called the po-po.  Saw where he was charged with assault on a female and he quickly moved out.  It's been a month or so and now he's starting to try to weasel his way back into the apartment, making numerous visits recently.  Funny.  He doesn't come by until one of his or her relatives comes by to take the baby.  

Enough of this.  Back to music, rasslin' and more music!