Monday, June 7, 2010

Cup o' Sugar

How do you know if you're a noisy neighbor? I mean. We've never been called out on it, and we don't listen to loud music or scream at each other, but I still wonder. Our walls make me curious. We have a single lady living next door and we never hear her. Not one peep. Until.... she sneezes, or coughs (I can't really tell what it is to be honest). Or when either she or the upstairs neighbor close their sliding door. Or when the child upstairs is upset. We hear that. I can hear the laundry going in the hall, but no tv's or music or conversations from any of the condo's. Why is it we hear some things and not others when I honestly think a sneeze is on a quieter scale than say a movie. I'm probably wrong.

I wonder this because sometimes we watch a movie late. Sometimes Bird gets in trouble for pooping (love re-potty training wherever we go). Goodness knows everyone in the whole complex can probably hear the insanely loud Sun Chips bag I just opened (you know, the new biodegradable ones, awesome.. but absolutely ridiculously NOISY). And sometimes a certain husband likes to joke about potty things. Farts & "dugans" in particular. I think he'd be embarrassed if our kindergarten-teacher-neighbor-lady heard him. Then again she probably hears that all day from the young ones. And come to think of it Andrew's probably more embarrassed that I'm writing this.. and then again if anyone KNOWS him, they already know this.

Anyway, the point is not potty humor. Or how much our future children will love their dad because he throws "sock bombs" and gives them "covered wagons" ...because he will, and I already know they'll love it. The point is how do you KNOW if they can hear you? We've asked but I think people are polite in those situations. They feel considered when you approach them with something like that, and then wipe the slate clean since you were being considerate and no longer want to yell at you or pound the wall if you're being too loud.

We probably are quiet as mouses.. or meese.. or what have you..

But I still wonder.

3 comments:

quietrope said...

i remember living in an apartment and wondering if the neighbors could hear us or not. I always thought we were pretty quiet, but like you said, you never know how thin the walls are. Anyhow, one day, we were down in the common area and our neighbor asked us what was so funny last night. They could hear us laughing. Thats when we realized just how much they could hear. We were extra quiet from then on.

Ashley said...

it is pretty strange...i kept putting off ferberizing beckett because his room shares a wall with the neighbors. i finally just let him cry, and at first is was for quite a while. we asked them if they heard him and they said they had never heard him cry at all. on the other hand, we have our downstairs russian 70-something neighbors who are pretty dang loud. we can hear their door slamming, shouting at each other, and tv everyday (outrageously loud). we came to realize it is because they can hardly hear to begin with so we don't worry about being too loud.

Lacey said...

I've always wondered that too! I thought I was pretty quiet until I realized that I could hear all of my landlord's conversations from next door when my windows are open....and they usually are...so I'm sure that they can hear us and our tv as well!