Bad Neighbors

It is my day off for the week. I got up when Josh did this morning at 5. Although I was wishing for a bit more time to sleep in, I feel I got more done this morning than I did in all of last weekend. I am also starting to feel more calm about getting everything done. Sometimes I just need to have a "girl" moment before I can let it go and move on. Why is it that women feel the need to take care of everyone? To do everything and BE everything at all times? I ask myself that a lot... because I know it's not just me who is always trying to juggle (unsuccessfully) so many things.

However, leftover bits of my panic had left me in a foul mood on my drive home last night. No real reason... I just was grumpy. I arrived home (extremely happy to be home to see Josh and the cats) to discover my neighbor's dog had pooped in the stairwell and the neighbor hadn't cleaned it up. I know exactly which neighbor is the offender because of the size of the poop. That may be a bit too much information, but logically... only two neighbors walk up to that section of stairs (because there is nothing up here/no reason for the downstairs neighbors to come further up). One neighbor has a giant lab mix. The other neighbor has a tiny little dog I refer to as a "purse dog" (you know what I'm talking about... the kind of dog people stuff in a purse and carry around instead of letting the poor thing walk like a normal animal). The poop was tiny, so obviously it belonged to the small dog, not the large one. If you don't want to clean up your dog's poop in your own house, that is your business. It's gross, but it's your business. If you want to leave it on the floor, fine. You can do that because it is your house. But in a communal area that everyone uses it is not only rude it is disgusting to NOT clean up after your animal. That is just basic courtesy. So when I saw the dog poop on the stairs I somewhat lost it. I came inside my house, dropped off my bag, said hello to Josh and explained what I was about to do, then grabbed a roll of paper towels, went out in the hallway and scooped up the poop with some paper towels and then laid it directly in front of the neighbor's door displayed on a paper towel. I am not sure if there is a more clear way to say "Here's is your dog's shit, clean it up next time," but I'm hoping the message got across. I do not appreciate it. And obviously... I won't tolerate it.

I was spoiled having my own house back in the states, and not having to deal with apartment type neighbors. I haven't had to deal with people who I share walls/floors/stairwells with in a long time. I'd forgotten how annoying it could be. I'm slightly surprised by my actions. Maybe it's because I'm older so I've got more audacity, or maybe I just don't give a shit (literally) if my German neighbors like me or not. Or possibly I can blame my mood. Either way... there was a bit of retaliation against the little purse dog and it's non-English speaking owners. And I don't care how awful that makes me appear.