Our 1st and 2nd apartments

My cousin Janet's blog about her previous, crazy neighborhood got me thinking about some of the more colorful neighbors we have had. As I've been doing odd jobs around the house today, several of them have come to mind. Mind you, this is not a comprehensive list, and I am going to concentrate mainly on those that were acquaintances, not dear friends, as that would take volumes (because I'm soooo popular). But I will try to keep them in chronological order. So you don't get too bored reading, I think I'll do installments.

Our first apartment:
Calvin: He lived across the parking lot from us. He had a cash flow as well as a tranportation problem. He'd often ask us for rides to the store to go buy diapers, but then once he redirected us to a friend's house. He had us wait in the car while he went in and came out with...nothing, no diapers. We were pretty dumb, but I think I know what he was buying. We tried to avoid him after that. Once he came over when Ryan was working nights and wanted to sell me a pair of his wife's shoes. I declined.
Michelle: Calvin's wife. She had three children, one of whom was Calvin's. She also would ask for rides to the grocery store. Ryan was always amused when other shoppers would ask him if the three very cute African-American toddlers in the shopping cart were his. After a while it was easier for him just to say, "Yes, thanks."
Blooh-Blah-Blah: Our next door neighbor. He was very nice and always said hello. The problem was that he had a very deep southern accent, and everything he ever said to us sounded like "Blooh-blah-blah-bli-blooey"-- hence his nickname. Once he had accepted flowers that my father sent me and had them in his apartment. I'm sure he thought I was the biggest idiot when he told me about them; "Blu-blot-blowers" and I responded something like "Oh yes, it is nice today." He tried several times to get me to come get them, and I maintained airhead status, "Oh yes, hi to you, too." Finally, he went and got them and gave me a look that meant he felt really sorry for me for being so stupid.
El Camino Man: He and his wife Rosie lived in the apartment underneath ours. He drove a yellow El Camino. Very surly and never said hello. I'm pretty sure he beat his wife and his two children, but we never knew for sure enough to call DCFS.
Tow Truck Man: We never actually spoke to Tow Truck Man, but he lived in the complex directly behind ours. Every morning around 6am, he would go out and start his tow truck to let it warm up. The exhaust would climb directly up to our bedroom window. So, although we didn't know him well, his memory is well kept.
Shauna: She was a single mom with several children in a two-bedroom apartment. I forget how many. She also needed rides frequently, several times to the emergency room with a child needing stitches. She often both answered her door and came to knock on ours in her underwear (not attractive).
Flirty Guy: I can't remember his name, but he liked to knock on the door after Ryan left for work and tell me all about his workday. His special skill was that he could rotate his hands in different directions at the same time. It made him very valuable at his company. I should have been more impressed, I guess. I usually had somewhere I had to be right away.

Our second apartment:
Frederico O'Malley: This isn't actually his name out of respect for his privacy, but his real name was equally mixed culturally. We had the 'basement' or lower floor apartment and he was just above us. He had a habit of feeding stray cats right outside our window, which happened to be just below his balcony. Then they would come back and mew for more during the night. Thanks, Frederico.
Ann: The elderly woman who lived across the hall from us. She called us Faye and Brian. She would come over weekly and give us $2 to go to the store and buy her some 2 liter bottles of rootbeer. It was the only way she could burp and get rid of her stomach discomfort. She gave us lots of gifts, like a bejeweled portrait of the one-eyed-playing-card Jack. We didn't typically hold onto them, but wished we had when one day she asked for that particular one back. One morning, I heard her moaning through the wall of the bathroom. We had to go find the manager to let us in and she had fallen in her bathroom and had lain there all night long. But she was a trooper. We got a little rootbeer into her and she rallied!
Della: She was in love with Ryan and always made him cakes and treats. She was in her eighties and asked for help with her laundry because she couldn't get her detergent to dissolve. Ryan helped her and discovered that she was putting all the clothes with the detergent into the dryer. She was never actually getting any water on them. So, after that, Ryan did her laundry for her for a while. She gave herself daily abdominal injections of aloe vera juice. She offered to give us some too, but we could never really derive the benefits of it, so we declined.
Sheldon: He was an elderly man who would bring us samples of his coleslaw dressing that he wanted to market to Kraft. He was always tinkering with it and making it more and more delicious. That is the only period of my life where I have regularly eaten coleslaw. He also wanted us to invest with him in a windmill project (like we'd be living there if we had any money!).
The Indian family: Quiet, nice people who filled the entire hallway with pungent cooking smells, sometimes to strong it would make your eyes water while you tried to get your key in the lock.

Oh the memories. Tune in next time for the 3rd and 4th apartments, followed by our first actual house. I don't think you'll be disappointed.