Grrrr

It's almost three in the morning and I'm up waiting for Nathan to come back inside. We awoke fifteen minutes ago to the piercing sound of our house alarm blaring through our quiet neighborhood streets. Yes, I said quiet. Contrary to what one might believe, it's usually quiet up here. Living up here is like living in the North Pole to a child -- the feeling of living within a well kept secret, and it's one of my most favorite neighborhood feelings. The neighbors are incredible and I feel a sense of community I never knew existed growing up. But back to crime.

For those of you who don't know, our house is vacant and uninhabitable at this point, which is why we live next door in an apartment. Convenient, yes. I wouldn't have it any other way. The house is armed with motion detectors and an alarm, which is why we are up and thankful to be. Without it, someone would be adding an arsenal of tools to their collection. An arsenal of our tools. We've always been thankful for our families during this process, but at this moment I am ever grateful. I think it was Al, Nathan's dad whom he calls "Safety Al", who suggested we get an alarm, but at this point two years later, I cannot seem to remember. Regardless, we have one, and we owe many thanks to Safety Al for suggesting it, and to my parents who are paying for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Now more than ever, three months away from moving in, losing anything, tools especially, would have been devastating.

Nathan and I both jumped up in bed, blinked confusion, then ran to our general post-alarm positions; Nathan at the back window overlooking the back of the house and yard, myself turning off the alarm to wait for Erker Security to call. They did shortly thereafter Nathan was yelling "I see you mother f*cker" out the window. He did indeed see the asshole running from the back of the house to the alley, away from view, but proceeded to get dressed and run outside for the police to come.

Basically, tomorrow morning Nathan was scheduled to take down the scaffolding at the back of the house and return it with the help of his dad (Safety Al). Just now, someone climbed said scaffolding, pushed aside our "window" (plastic and an old storm window), and started to head in before being what we hope was scared shitless from our alarm. Ironic, eh? Last night scaffolding is up, first night someone breaks in. The police came and from what Nathan said, were really very nice. Not much they could do, but they scanned the property, vowed to keep an eye on the building (we love our police), and asked about the rehab. For all of those wanting to meet a special someone, rehabbing is a great conversation piece. You almost can't seem to escape. Yet, I digress. It's now 3:35 a.m. and Nathan is back in bed, so I too would like to get the rest of my nights sleep.

*Safety Al is a fun term used by all. We in no way endorse the use of any negative name calling (with the exception asshole-burglars intending to steal our belongings) on this blog, nor do we dislike Al. We love Safety Al more than anything.

**Yes, I have changed the title of this post three times now.