Oy Vay is All I Can Say

We had a fantastic day, my little one and I, at least until I received a frantic telephone call from the lady who owns the unit we live in. Have I mentioned how much I HATE condo association nazis? Especially the ones here??? The first part of our day was spent hanging out at the library with some girl friends of mine and their kids. After that we all went to lunch and the kids got to hang out some more while the adults talked. It was nice spending time with the girls; they are hands down two of the coolest women I've met in the whole time I've been here in South Florida. Good friends are difficult to come by in these parts, and I've been blessed with more than one so I count myself among the fortunate. After lunch we all parted ways and Bebe and I went to a mystical sort of store that I love. I have been frequenting the place for many years and am familiar with the owners. After I browsed the store for a bit I settled on some candles, oil and incense that I needed, chatted with one of the owners, then left for home. It was on the way back to the house that my cell phone rang. Not recognizing the phone number that showed on the caller ID, I let the call go to voice mail. I have a fairly strict policy about not answering calls when I don't recognize the number, as most of the people with whom I converse on a daily basis are programmed into my cell. To say that I'm glad I did NOT answer the call would be an understatement, as I need to gather myself before I call this woman back. I like the woman who owns the place where we live and I have no idea what to say to her. Also, I have a distinct feeling that I'm not going to like what she is going to say to me. Apparently, the commandos aren't satisfied with the package I completed for them (which contained any and all relevant information they should need for us to stay here) and want me to fill out another one (like I do nothing all day and have time to dick around with a bunch of people who are so obviously just trying to make it impossible for renters to stay here). They are also giving the unit owner a hard time and threatening all sorts of legal fees, which I sincerely hope she doesn't expect us to pay since we signed nothing agreeing to pay legal fees arising from her not proceding along the correct avenue when we moved in. The bottom line is that we would never have moved into this place had we been aware that the association would require an additional $1000.00 on top of the large sum of money we paid to the owner when we moved in (first, last, yada yada). We were not even aware that the management company had an issue with renters living here. It seems funny to me that I grew up in an area where the average home would cost a person wanting to move there close to a million dollars. I lived in a house with a huge backyard and went to a good school in a nice, suburban area with very little crime and a killer high school basketball team. I look at the people who live here and I laugh that so many of the residents walk around with their noses in the air acting like they're the balls because they live here. We live in nice townhomes right next to the highway, a marina, a garbage incinerator, and an ugly main road. Our health insurance went up right after we moved here, with the reason being that the area we now live in is more unhealthy than the one we moved from (although health insurance companies need little reason to raise their rates anyway). The real estate market here is shaky at best; there are places in here for sale that aren't selling. People who bought theses places as investments are getting into trouble because they can't sell the units and are renting in an effort to keep them. So, if the management company wants to act like a bunch of immature jacksticks, they can enjoy managing a community full of foreclosures and empty units. Sounds like paradise to me! As for us, we'll probably have to move yet again, hopefully into a less controversial environment.