HOA Ignorance

As summer was starting up around here, I thought it would be fun to take Ellie to the pool here. Unfortunately the HOA rules state that all children must be potty trained before entering the pool.  When I asked if an exception or a compromise could be made, I was told I would have to bring it up at the HOA meeting held monthly. So last month I attended the meeting. When I spoke with the presidency, I said I would like to spend time in the pool area with my daughter. Seeing as the current rules don't allow her to enter the pool, I wanted to know if something could be done; i.e allowing me to bring a kiddie pool into the pool area so she can enjoy the water or changing the rules to allow swim diaper. They told me it would need to be discussed.

 (P.S. my personal thoughts about what's going on are found in parenthesis.)

A month goes by and we hear nothing. The night before the July HOA meeting, Jake receives a message on his phone stating that our request to take a kiddie pool into the pool area was denied. So off I go again to the HOA meeting to ask if I will ever be allowed to take my daughter swimming.

I enter the clubhouse and say that we had received the denial information yesterday. Pres: "you didn't receive a letter?" Me: "No I didn't." Some guy: "Sorry, I forgot I had to inform you of our decision so I just called." My question is the current rules don't allow un-potty trained children into the pool. I would like to use the pool but can't because my child would want to enter the pool and besides me using the pool in front of her would be cruel. Would they be willing to make an exception if she were wearing swim diapers?

One lady asked what were swim diapers. (Seriously? What are swim diapers?) The maintenance guy told her they were diapers for young kids to use the pool. Public pools allow them, especially since there are swim classes for children as young as 1 year old. So the first lady says, well that makes sense. Swim diapers should be allowed in the pool then.

Me being stupid but since we already were yelled at by the previous HOA presidency because exact rules/procedure wasn't followed, I wanted to make sure I was covered so I asked, "Just to make sure, even though the rules state a child not potty trained can enter the pool, if she wears a swim diaper I can take her into the pool? You will allow the exception?"

"You mean she isn't potty trained. (Why else would she need a swim diaper?) Didn't you say she is almost 2 years old? Why isn't she potty trained yet?" (Are you kidding me? You don't have kids or grandkids do you?) "Well, we have denied other requests from other owners so it wouldn't be fair to grant you the exception,"

So I asked if they would consider amending the HOA rules to allow swim diapers on children not potty trained. Any bets on whether or not they get back to me in time to use the pool?

Drying Clothes

You know those times in life when you all of the sudden become extremely grateful for the nice things in life, like dryers? I had one of those this past week.  I think it was Monday or Tuesday when Jake informed me that the clothes dryer had given up the ghost. We ended up hanging socks that had just been washed. (FYI, if that's not something you're used to, socks hung to dry feel really weird.) I called our landlord's agent and informed her about our problem and she started working out the details to get us a dryer. She was told and in turn she told us, Home Depot would be delivering a new dryer on Friday.  At first I was a little worried as Stef would be here and I didn't want the delivery interfering with any plans but there wasn't much we could do.

Thursday morning, I had just taken off Ellie's diaper so we could hop in the shower. We walked into the bathroom when Ellie stopped on the rug and peed. Really? The diaper hadn't been off more than 10 seconds. So we jump in the shower.  After we were done and out, I set Ellie on the bed all wrapped in her towel and walked into her room to grab a diaper.  When I enter my room again, she has wiggled out of the towel and is sitting on the bed. As I pull her over to put the diaper on, I notice a wet spot on the bed. She has peed again. It only went through the blanket and bed spread and not the sheets, so I only have to change out that stuff. Then I realize I have used the blankets on our bed that Stef was to use while sleeping here. Luckily there is almost never a shortage of blankets in Gledhill households.

Friday morning I receive a call from our landlord agent and she tells me Home Depot messed something up and somehow the order wasn't placed so the dryer wouldn't arrive until Tuesday. Over the weekend, we used almost all the blankets we had in the house between our bed and Stef's bed. Ellie finished off all her clothes, and Jake and I needed some wash done. The dryer arrived yesterday morning at about 10, the earliest they deliver, and I started the 5-6 loads of laundry to be washed; sheets, blankets, comforter, clothes, towels, etc. I really feel that's all I have been doing and it made me very grateful to have clothes dryers and to have one in our place. It would be miserable trying to find places to hang all that stuff and wait for it to dry.

Our new place

Can I just share that it is always an adventure to move to a new city and into a new place that you have never been to or seen? Well, I previously had a lay-over at Denver Airport but most people say that it really isn't part of Denver because it's so far out there. But you know me, I love adventures. We live in the city of Denver and if you know the area, we are just south of Cherry Creek, a few miles away from the University of Denver (where Jake goes to school).

We have saved a ton of money in gas because there isn't much of a commute anymore. I only drive to the stores in the immediate area (so far) and the school is about 5 miles away. This is a huge difference compared to my previous 15 mile drive one way for work and Jake's previous commutes to wherever he was working (the last job was in Park City).

Anyway, so my first impressions of our new townhouse were quite good. Although the buildings are fairly old, the outsides have been taken care of very well and I am sure semi-recently updated. Inside is about the same; new carpet (so new that Jake was the first person to vacuum them and I have still managed to vacuum 10 vacuum containers and a new filter's worth of carpet fuzzies), new kitchen cabinets, and I am sure a recent paint job.

The layout is simple. The main floor is the living room/dining room with attached kitchen at the back. There is a half bath and wash/dryer area also. I say "area" because they are shoved in a back corner of what could have been a closet only they can blocked off by some white leveler blinds. Upstairs is 2 bedrooms (master and secondary) with 2 full bathrooms (master and extra). My favorite part is the upstairs where there is (get this) WOOD PANELING on some of the walls, one of which is in the master bedroom. Also there are these great old double doors to the master bedroom. Here are some pics.

Downstairs living area (yes, I know it messy). To the right is a hallway that leads down to the bathroom and back around to the washer/dryer and a way into the kitchen. Even with the bad lighting, you can see a little of the kitchen table in the back left. Behind that is a counter that separates the kitchen.

If you look, you can see Ellie's play pen (see the Tupperware box and chair blocking off the living room.

The doors to the master bedroom. If you look above them you can see a little of the wood paneling. The next 2 pictures are close ups of the doors "knobs".

Next is the picture of the master bedroom. Again notice the wood paneling but I love the side column things. There is almost a small side (about 10 feet) room set in the master. The doors are to the left. In the master and to the back right is the bathroom. I love it.

This is the master bathroom. Notice you can see the door frame. It is so tight that if the shower door is closed then the bathroom door doesn't close because of the towel bar. There is a sink and cabinets to the right.
Even with all this, there is a pretty big closet. I actually have gotten used to the place. The goods definitely out way the bads. Now if I could say the same for the HOA and the landlord. But that's another story.