Whitey, The Selling of Cars, and Drug Dealer Drama

It's funny to see everyone's skin on the first sunny day of the year:

White central.

These pics were taken like a month ago. And it's been stormy and cold ever since. Although today is turning out to be really lovely. I already went out and weeded for half an hour this morning. I'm sorely tempted to plant my gladiola bulbs today, but should I plant something I won't be able to see in August?? Plus, I need marigolds to surround my glads to kind of hold them up, and 1) I don't want Ben to get mad at me for buying flowers that, again, I won't be able to see a lot of and 2) I don't have a car to go and purchase said marigolds.

Yeah, Ben sold our sedan yesterday afternoon. It's something he talked about like a month ago, something to the effect of, "It needs a lot of work, and I don't want to put all this work into it and then have it die within a year or two afterwards." I guess he felt like the timing is right, since we're going to China and won't be using our cars for the next eight months or so.

So he put the car on Craig's List, and some dude from a car dealership called him up HALF an hour later. He came to Ben's work and took a look at it and offered wayyy more than we thought it would ever be worth. Ben came home, told me about it, we drove to the dealership, turned over the title, signed some papers, and got a check. And that was that.

I'm kind of in shock. Goodbye, little Jetta. You were a really great car. And you were paid off. Sigh. I would have been just fine putting a little money into you so that you could still be part of our family.

And now I'm stuck here at the house. The good thing about being stuck at your house, though, is that you don't go spend money. I'm always tempted to go grab lunch at Fiesta Ole. I probably have funded one worker's entire yearly payroll with how often I go over there. So this will force me to stay home and eat Kraft Mac and Cheese (which Sades still calls Crap Mac and Cheese. Not because she hates it, but because it's easier to say, I guess. I think it's so cute, so I don't correct her yet). Vomit.

Back to the Whitey pictures:

I love watching Micah run. It's soooo cute.

Sadie and her compatriate, Katie:

Poor Katie. Her mom's boyfriend got arrested last week - I have a suspicion it was for domestic violence. He was screaming at Katie's mom (Let's call her "Meth." Because I think that's what she uses and what she sells) soooooooooo loudly one afternoon. Their windows and doors were closed in their house, but he was so loud that I could hear it clear inside MY house, with my windows and doors closed. I expressed concern to Ben, who said I should call the cops, but what would I say? "The neighbor is yelling." Heck, sometimes I yell at my kids, right? And no one calls the cops on me.

Soon after the yelling, Meth came running out of the house and ran around the corner. The boyfriend (Let's call him Plumber. Because he has a plumber crack that's always showing. It's gross) got into his car and took off after her, peeling out. He came back to the house in just a couple of minutes. I was like, dude, whatever. And I got back to my busy life in my house. I was talking to Lex on the phone, and I got up to do something in the kitchen, and I glanced through my front windows and saw Plumber handcuffed, struggling, screaming, being held by FOUR policemen. He was yelling at some lady on the sidewalk - I'm guessing it's Meth's friend or something? Maybe the one who called the cops? She stood there staring at him calmly, smoking a cigarette. There were five cop cars all over our street. Plumber calmed down enough to be put in the back of the cop car and sat there talking to the cops for a long time, also smoking a cigarette, from time to time standing to hitch up his too-big pants.

Some other guy (maybe Katie's birth dad, maybe a relative) led Katie out of the door, put her in his car, and drove away. She was crying.

And guess what? Someone paid Plumber's bail, because Meth came home with him early the next morning. Later that day, they could be seen cuddling on their front porch together. Ah, love. Neat.

We saw several drug deals going on between Meth and various people over the next couple of days. We called the police on some of the license plate numbers we could read and write down. Nothing happened.

Yesterday morning, there were seven cop cars on our street. Two guys I've never seen before (they looked and acted like tweakers) came out of Meth's house and kept gesticulating toward their car's backseat. Upon much spying, I realized that Meth was in the back seat of this car. The cops stood around a long time, talking to the tweakers and to Meth. An ambulance and fire truck pulled up. But then again, I had stuff to do, and by the time I could check back outside, everyone was gone.

Yesterday afternoon, Katie knocked on our front door, asking if I could watch her for an hour while her mom went to "group." I rolled my eyes, said "sure," and let her in.

I haven't seen Plumber in several days - I'm really hoping that he just left Meth. They make each other miserable. And they make our entire street miserable.