Super quick 2015 recap: After moving to downtown Dallas, BFF & I had a blast. I joined the local CrossFit and other than my never-ending fight against my weight (which I was strongly maintaining!), things were great. In October, my band slipped and wreaked all sorts of havoc. The biggest issue was that my hardcore acid reflux came back and medication (5 doses per day!) was not cutting it.
Doctor suggested surgery to fix. Turns out, the best acid reflux surgery option for me was gastric bypass. I struggled with that for a bit, but now I'm on board and ready to feel better. So, I proceeded with the surgery option and have been stopped cold by insurance.
And now it is time for 2016...
I have been waiting for 2016. If you know me at all, you know why. Since I went to the Olympics in London in 2012, I have been eager to go to Rio this year. I can't believe it is finally coming! That is one of the reasons I want to have the surgery as soon as possible. I want to heal fully before I head out of the country. I still have a month or so before I start to worry about that so, I will just put a pin in that concern.
Patience while waiting for the insurance to be worked out is not my strong suit, however I know that getting upset about the situation or bothering the case workers isn't going to help. I told them I would check in with them on Wednesday afternoon. In the meantime, I want to think of things I can do to be productive.
1. My major overall goal is to not gain any weight before surgery. That would be counterproductive and ridiculous. However, right now it is difficult because working out is uncomfortable and one of the only times my reflux doesn't bother me is when I'm actively eating. Both bummers.
But I also know that it would be way more uncomfortable to work out if I gain weight. I can't CrossFit or run right now, but I can Jazzercise and walk. So my goal is to do those things on a regular basis starting with Jazzercise today.
My food goal is to not eat like crap. Is that fair? (FYI...I went to log my breakfast on My Fitness Pal and the site is under a "heavy load"...a heavy load of people with new year's resolutions!)
2. My number two goal is to be ready when it is time. My parents are coming to stay with me during my recovery. I want to have a schedule set and everything (protein powder, recipes, vitamins, etc.) purchased and ready to go.
I bought a super fancy Vit@Mix. Post surgery, I have to eat pureed foods for a while and mushies for months. I will likely have to have smoothies in the morning for upwards of a year. The week before surgery will be an entirely liquid diet.
Today I made my first morning smoothie. I made it with orange juice, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, (2 slices of banana as I'm trying to slowly learn to like them), lemonade flavored protein powder, vanilla greek yogurt and ice. Not bad!
This brings me to the story of the day. I live in an apartment as I have my entire adult life. I strive to be a good neighbor and hope the same of other people. I know that living in an apartment, you have to give up some things that you wouldn't in a home. For instance, my unit is above the workout facility so sometimes I wake up at 3am to the vibrations of someone running on the treadmill or dropping weights. I overlook the pool and some evenings try to fall asleep to people partying outside. Sometimes dogs bark. Sometimes people leave their stinky trash outside the trash chute.
When I moved downtown to the higher density apartment building, I learned to sleep with a sound machine and occasionally ear plugs if I need them. Sometimes, you have have to just figure out how to make it work.
In the last few months, my neighbors have started knocking on the wall presumably when they feel I'm making too much noise. The first time it was when I was chopping potatoes. It was a Sunday morning, probably around 9:30am and I was preparing something for the slow cooker. I know that raw potato chopping makes a noise, but come on now. In order to be a good neighbor, I tried to chop quieter.
The next time they knocked, it was again on a Sunday morning, probably around 10:30am and I was putting away dishes. My plates are on the heavy side and they do clink and thunk when I put them away, but again...come on. Again, now when I put away dishes, I do it gingerly.
New Year's Day, BFF came over in the morning, it was about 9:00am and was frying bacon (so no real noise). BFF was talking to her parents on the phone in the living room so I called my parents on speaker in the kitchen while I cooked to say Happy New Year. During that, the neighbors knocked again. BFF suggested that maybe they aren't knocking for noise, that it has all been coincidence because this time they clearly couldn't be knocking for us.
This morning, I fired up my fancy new blender at 7:15am to make my smoothie. It had been going 10 seconds when I got the knock on the wall. I finished up, but I was so frustrated. I'm a good neighbor. Heck, I'm a great neighbor. I understand that the blender is loud, but it is only for a minute and I have to be able to live!
My parents suggested that I ignore it and just live my life.
My boss suggested that I leave them a note on what I was doing when they knocked to show them I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary.
BFF suggested I contact the management office preemptively and just let them know what is going on.
I'm never going to contact them directly. I'm way too non-confrontational for that. Plus as a single woman living on my own, I'm always worried about being vulnerable. I go back and forth between (1.) documenting when they knock and what I'm doing at the time so if I'm confronted by them or the office, I can show what is going on or (2.) sending an email to the office letting them know in a nice way what is going on in case they are contacted.
Let me know your thoughts on what you would do.
Hugs!
8 comments:
Oh. See. As I am non-confrontational as well, I am also passive aggressive. Do you see them ever? Do you know who they are or what they look like? I would honestly go over as soon as they knock next time and knock on their door. If they have the balls to answer, I would act very innocent and be like...Hi, I was just (making my smoothie, chopping taters, standing in my kitchen doing nothing but silently contemplating life) and I think I heard you knock. Were you knocking for me? And then if they say yes, and tie it to noise, just tell them that you try to be respectful but can't really do any of those things quieter and you just wanted them to know you werent trying to disturb them. If that is never going to happen, then writing them a note is the next best thing.
I'm nervous with you for your bypass, but I think it will be better than you think and hopefully help you over the next few years really meet your health and fitness goals. You are smart and educated and have a plan.
xoxo
I am also non-confrontational. When I lived in a condo, I had the opposite problem - neighbors making too much noise. I finally had enough and banged on the door of one playing her music too lout. She actually told me I should move my couch! THe other was a guy that liked to play his guitar in the wee hours of the morning. One night, I'd had enough and I went down there in my jammies with bedhead and banged on his bedroom window. It scared the poo out of him. Both of them quit. So, as hard as it is to confront them, it will make your life easier if you do. I'd advise being kinder than showing up in your night clothes though.
Lori
It's always good to talk to your neighbors and make sure you are on the same page. They won"t be able to resist you ;-)
I'm also nervous with you for your bypass. Praying you hear from insurance soon!!!!
XO
Gosh, I'd flipped the script a long time ago. I can't stand rude, inconsiderate, or ridiculous neighbors like this. Go knock on their door and clarify, because really, the knocking on the wall has to be much worse than hearing a potato getting cut up.
It makes me wonder if they are hearing something else (maybe from above them?) and attributing it to you. Like once when we were staying in a hotel, the front desk called and told us they'd had complaints about our dog barking. I told them I could hear the dog barking too, but it wasn't coming from our room. It was several doors down the hall.
I don't think it's a bad idea to talk to them about it, nonconfrontationally, and also to keep a list of what is actually going on the times you hear them knock. It does seem pretty silly to bang on the wall for a sound that lasts a minute, like the blender!
Yeah, it's happening enough that you need to go knock on their door the next time and see what's up. I think if they haven't confronted *you* directly yet then they are probably not super aggressive people, so it's worth a shot to have a face to face conversation. And if you feel comfortable doing so, ask them to knock on your door rather than the wall if they genuinely feel you are being too loud.
It sounds like they are knocking each time they hear you make any noise, which is ridiculous. I think you should talk to your property manager and ask them to address it. Most apartment complexes have quiet hours (usually 10:00 PM to 6:00) and the expectation is that no noise should be heard from unit to unit at those times, but during the day, the standard is usually that you can't be disruptive. Loud music, TV, voices, etc. are issues, but normal household noise like a blender or closing the cabinet door shouldn't be a problem.
As a tenant, you need to safeguard your rights - so I would combine both suggestions: "try" to work this out like civilized folk, speaking to neighbor(s) directly (I like Amy's innocent query "Were you knocking for me?"), but you also need to report to mgt...
These things can escalate!
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