Thursday, July 14, 2011

Overly interactive neighbor or am I overreacting?

I apologize for the length of this yet wanted to provide enough detail so that your opinions could be formed to help me determine if I'm just overreacting or if the neighbor is crossing the line. Here goes: I have recently and only temporarily moved in to my boyfriends house and everything is fabulous, except for one of his neighbors. I have expressed feelings of discomfort to my boyfriend and while he agrees that his neighbor is crazy, he is too nice of a guy to really say anything. For the past 4 years my boyfriend has lived next door to a family of 4. There is a husband, wife, daughter and son. At some point the wife confided in my boyfriend that her husband is crazy and she and the kids are planning on moving out once the youngest, her son, graduates high school. Over time she continues to give him little nuggets of info about her crazy husband and periodically brings baked goods and bakes treats for our dogs, though her family has no pets. In the past six months she has brought over more than 50 name brand shirts from a designer outlet store for my boyfriend. Following her sons recent graduation her husband was out of town for a few nights. In his absence, she allowed her son to throw a big pool party, complete with underage drinking. At one point, close to midnight, she came over asking to borrow some ice and when my boyfriend explained he doesn't have an ice maker, we use trays, she asked to borrow a couple. When there was a possible threat of cops coming to her house to break up the party,she rounded up all the trash and put the cans next to our trashcans in front of his garage. The next day she sent my boyfriend a text and then stopped by to tell my boyfriend what was going on, and to give him another bag of polo shirts. He ensured her he wouldn't mention it to her husband and thanked her for the shirts. Although I am clearly home all day, she does not come over unless he is home. We have only had a few interchanges and she gave me a couple dresses, which I followed up with a thank you card and personal thanks. She seems to dart from her car to the front door when I'm around and it makes me wonder why she seems to avoid me and then comes over multiple times a day when my boyfriend is around. When we decided to leave some clothes we were going to donate on top of a shopping bag full of clothes she left at the front door, to try and send her the hint, she moved the bag so that it was directly in front of the door on the welcome mat and then took the bag from the new phone book that was on the step and hung it from the doorknob with a box of turnovers. I'm trying my best to ignore her and to maintain the neighborly relationship between my boyfriend and his neighbors but I can't help but feel uncomfortable by her constant gifts, unsolicited advice, unsolicited and detailed personal information, and frequent interruptions. We've tried to ignore her when she rings the bell but she just calls, texts or comes back later at all hours of night/day. When my boyfriend and I talk about it I feel terrible because he can't control her actions and yet I feel like something needs to be said or things will continue to be weird. He is under the impression that she's just crazy but harmless. I find it odd that a middle aged woman thinks discussing her marital issues with her twenty-something neighbor is acceptable. I can't help but shake the feeling that there are some deeper issues going on with this family and I'd rather they not involve myself or my boyfriend. I want to be respectful and ensure that the relationship with the neighbors remains friendly, and at the same time feel like this lady is overstepping her neighborly boundaries and taking advantage of my boyfriends kindness. Her most recent gifts include nutritional weight loss drinks, bars and supplements because she remembered his mother saying he was trying to slim down. She was also kind enough to drop off the dvd explaining the pyramid process and how he can supplement his income by selling the products. Im reaching my tolerance level...Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated!!

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