Club Cul-de-sac

May 24, 2011

The house we bought is in a cul-de-sac, did you know that? We are learning quickly that this has granted us automatic membership into a special club in our neighborhood. Everyone talks about the homes in the cul-de-sac–it’s kinda weird. “Oh, you live in the cul-de-sac with all the fun people!” Or my favorite, “Anything goes in the cul-de-sac.” That’s what we were told when I mentioned a certain blue razor scooter that kept getting left on our front lawn. It has since been replaced by a Little Tikes tricycle–one of the chunky, plastic ones. It’s there and then it’s gone and then it returns again, and in between there are kids running through our yard constantly once 3pm hits and school gets out. I am learning not to cringe even if I was brought up to never trample over grass. “Anything goes” in our cul-de-sac apparently and I am sure I will be grateful when Greta gets a bit older and we have equally understanding neighbors.

The perks of our “membership” in the cul-de-sac club are outstanding. We love our neighbors. The very first week we moved in, so many of them came by to introduce themselves and give us cookies–which really helped me through the oh-dear-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into unpacking phase of moving. We had neighbors invite us over for dinner the second day we moved in! Our next door neighbors–the Grahams–are as good as they get. When we were out of town and a few shingles blew off our roof in a wicked windstorm that went down, Charles (the father) climbed up on our roof and nailed a tarp down to make sure no water got in. THEN, he gave Chris spare shingles he had to fix our roof when we got back. Last Saturday, after Chris had spent hours outside mowing and trimming, we were on our way out to run other errands when Charles started aerating our lawn. He explained that he had rented the machine and there was still time left before he had to return it. As good as they get, huh?

We feel so blessed to have such great neighbors and we wanted to make sure they knew how much we appreciate them. So on Sunday, we invited their whole family for dinner. All 7 of them! The Grahams have five children ranging in age from 17-9 and they are just as sweet as their parents. We extended our dining room table and I pulled over the two ottomans from the living room and my art chair from downstairs. Greta sat on my lap and ate all of my food and then walked around to visit everyone. We talked and laughed and swapped stories and built friendships over salad, pasta and meatballs.

Home ownership really sunk in that day. Like, we’re here to stay and we are actually making friends with our neighbors and doing neighborly things. I just hope they aren’t keeping score, because they are way ahead…did I mention they brought over flowers from their garden?? Presh.

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Becka says:
December 31, 2012 at 9:48 pm
I didn’t even notice how old this is…. but I have to tell you, we bought a house last June……. in a cul-de-sac.. As I was unpacking, warm peanut butter cookies were brought over by a neighbor, I was massively pregnant, so it was perfect, there are always toys on my lawn that don’t belong to my child, my one neighbor to the right is a contractor and offers us help anytime we need it with our house, the girls across the street taught my 3 1/2 year old how to ride a razor scooter and we even set up lawn chairs out there and have cocktails sometimes… with a firepit. Cul-de-sac living cannot be beat!!! I don’t know that I could even have a house on a through street ever again. :) Btw… I love your blog and am setting up to do your 3×8 frost poem right now for a friend!
Cheers!!
Becka (a fellow cul-de-sac mama)
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Mrs.Grinder says:
June 27, 2011 at 3:04 pm
i just caught up on the past few posts! That light is AMAZING! i remember when i was young growing up, my parents lived in the “cul-de-sac” (however in TX we pronounced it more “kul-da-sak” haha) and they were totally the cool kids.. so enjoy it! your house is BEAUTIFUL!
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Lily says:
May 24, 2011 at 6:06 pm
gorgeous!
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Mrs.Grinder says:
May 24, 2011 at 5:26 pm
i just caught up on the past few posts! That light is AMAZING! i remember when i was young growing up, my parents lived in the “cul-de-sac” (however in TX we pronounced it more “kul-da-sak” haha) and they were totally the cool kids.. so enjoy it! your house is BEAUTIFUL!
Reply
DoublClik says:
May 24, 2011 at 2:31 pm
Hey you’re at 99 followers! 100 is a biggie! Eee!!
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Linda says:
May 24, 2011 at 9:43 am
That’s awesome that you have such great neighbors! I completely understand about what you mean to live in a cul-de-sac! We absolutely love it! When we bought our house, we really didn’t think much about the advantages of living in a cul-de-sac, but there are many. The neighbors are closer, kids run around between everyone’s yards, and play in the street because its safe! Fireworks are fun to do in the summer too! It’s great!! Glad you like your new membership! :-)
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