Don't Mess With Momma Bears!

I need a rant.  I don't do this on my blog, mostly because I don't have a ton to rant about.  

But tonight???  OMG!

Today, I went over to a friend of Olivia's house to ask if it would be okay if Olivia played at their home while I was out doing a favor for my mother in law.  She agreed, and I packed up the boys to run my errands.

I had a lovely drive out to Leduc, watered the plants, took the boys to the mall and got Grady's hair cut.  I went to Safeway, got some produce (I needed salad greens) and came home.  Logan brought in the groceries, I went to the back to tell Olivia I was home and to come home for dinner soon.  While Logan was putting away dishes, I went out to check on my garden.

Then the shit started.

I am a huge proponent of getting to know my neighbours.  I want to know who lives around me.  In my little block, there are six units.  I have managed to get to know four out of the six of us.  One neighbour, on the back corner, I have never met.  But now I know what type of person lives there.  

Olivia and her friend, Chloe, were sitting on the grass, probably 25 feet away from his yard.  He leaned over his gate and told the girls that he's "sick of seeing you kids playing around my yard" and told them that they should play in front of their own yards or in their yards.  

Okay, here's something:

First, they were in the common area.  It was there that they were sitting on the grass, eating popcorn!

Second, they are two little girls.  Six and eight.  Seriously?  Make you feel good?  Asshat.

Third, our fenced in yards are quite small.  Definitely not enough room for active kids.  The area they play in is safe, no cars and such blowing through there.  We live on a busy street, near a busy intersection.  I love that they have the space to play over there.  

So, I decided that Tuesday morning, I will be calling the management company and getting the official skinny on the deal.  I figure this will happen again and this time, I will be armed with the knowledge.  Don't worry.  I KNOW what the rule is, I just want confirmation and I want the company to know that this man is harassing small children.  

Yeah.  So, that was the plan.  

FUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!! 

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Different neighbour if you can believe this. Called out at Olivia and Chloe, while they were  just scootering around on the back square. This time I went out to find out what the F was happening. Apparently, drunk and bat shit crazy is just the shit I needed today.

I went over there, my typical nice self. Only to have this insane bitch start blabbing off about the kids, ALL of them. Then she starts saying crap about Chloe's mom, about how Olivia was on her knees, watching under the gate while Chloe was being beaten. I'm like WTF!? So, I keep trying to get her to talk, meanwhile she's pointing at the kids, giving me weird gestures, saying things about them.

I figure I'm not getting the coherent story because she's not wanting to say nasty things in front of the kids, so I send them all to my house. In the meantime, the story gets crazier! Now she starts telling me that she's sure the mom is a crack whore, and to ask the little girl where her mom is. She said the last time she saw the mom was at 1:30 today and she hasn't seen her since. I was a little taken aback because I'd dropped off Olivia around that time and Chloe's mom was there. As far as I knew, she was there when I came back to tell Olivia I was home! It dawned on me about fifteen minutes later. She thinks it was ME!! I was the crack whore who came and then left. But by this point, she's so wasted she doesn't realize that it was me. And that I'm not Chloe's mom!

So, I have now figured out what was going on, so I kindly walk away saying I'll look into it. In the meantime she's been telling me how she's called 311 (???) (She had told the girls that she'd called the cops and they were in trouble) because she "didn't know what else to do". She also tells me about how my neighbour (Chloe's mom) must have another family somewhere else, because she has four kids. I said, no, she only has two. She was like, well she must have another family uptown somewhere. Then she tells me that she once saw my neighbour about three months ago, down near her (the drunk lady's) condo, yelling and crying over "Jose" who was being arrested. I told her, "They are Irish. They just moved over here a year and a half ago" trying not to laugh at the sight of my Irish neighbour yelling for Jose! Frig!!!  She tells me that it has to be something.  She's seen this all before.  That I should ask Chloe where her mother is.  While we are talking, on of the condos in the row she's talking about has Spanish style music going.  So at least I know that there could be a "Jose" in that section.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, I figure out that I'm going to get nothing coherent out of the woman and I come home, tell the kids that everything is okay, it's not their fault. She's just a bit crazy and stay away from her. I took Olivia upstairs to get her story, make sure that she hasn't seen any abuse (I doubted about anyway) and then talked to Chloe, to make sure I understood the situation. I figured, I'll call my husband, rage about it, get over it and move on.

Nope. 

I find out that two of the other kids who were there, have gone to their parents who have now gone over there. While THEY were there, she pointed out Chloe and called her an "idiot". She told them that THEIR 10 year old son (who by the way is an amazing little kid) was a fat annoying kid. My friend lost it on her. 

I had to go tell Chloe's mom that her daughter had had this happen and was crying at my house again. I didn't want to do this. I had to tell them about a situation last night, that while she wasn't involved, needed to give her side of the story because the police had been called and Chloe deserved to tell her side of the story in case the police wound up on their doorway because they'd seen her with the kid that DID actually steal my OTHER friend's stuff.

I went over with Chloe's mom to show her where the lady lives, and she asked the lady what happened. As sweet as you please, she lied through her teeth telling the mom that she'd NEVER yell at children. (In the meantime, I've already found out that this isn't the first time this has happened) So I took Chloe's mom over to talk to the other parents, get what was said there, because she'd yelled about Chloe WHILE the other parents were there. She went and got Chloe and went over to see what she had to say then. The lady had the BALLS to tell Chloe's mom that she never did that and that Chloe is lying. Chloe was so indignant when they came back here. She started to cry! This lady is saying that 6 or 7 kids, ages 6-12 are ALL lying.

Okay. So. I'm not a shit disturber. I'm not. But twice in one day, some asshat has given MY child crap for being in a PUBLIC area of my complex. These kids have played out there ALL summer and now, less than 48 hours before they head back into school, this shit starts? Really? I admit, I'm totally not a confrontational person and I really did treat this lady with respect and listened to her, trying to get her story. Apparently, I should have gone over there, yelled my effing head off and perhaps I'd have gotten a bigger response. I don't know. This sucks. I love my neighbourhood. Until today, I felt totally safe letting my children play out back. But now. I'm shaken.

I'm depressed, I'm anxious, I'm upset. My children should never have to encounter this from ADULTS! I'm calling the management board for SURE now on Tuesday, and I want to get this sorted out. I want to be able to go back to these people if this shit happens again and TELL THEM the rules. I'm already sure of the rules, but a little back up will be nice. I will be walking back there tomorrow, taking unit numbers and launching a complaint. I'm not putting up with my kids being abused by strangers who apparently have nothing better to do than harass small children.

I'm seriously pissed off. The funny thing is that if you saw me right now, you'd never know it. Inside, I'm just writhing. I want to rip their faces off. I didn't know that this would be my reaction. I've never had this happen before. 

I kind of like it! LOL