Vegan Pita Bread and $1200 later

About a month or more ago, you may remember that a branch from my tree hit my neighbors roof and put a dent in their gutter.  Because there was no damage to my property, my insurance wouldn’t cover it.  They claimed that the damage was $5,000, they had to file a claim with their insurance company and will have to have their fireplace rebuilt – which is on the opposite side of the house, by the way.  Fast forward two weeks after that, and they had AN ENTIRE TREE fall onto my driveway.  Because the bulk of the tree was on my neighbors property, I only chipped in $200 to have it removed.  You know, being neighborly and all.

It’s been stormy, but it’s the fricken summer for crying out loud.  The day before yesterday Jacob texts me – you got a certified letter from the neighbors.  Awesome.  See those two deadish trees?  I say deadish because it does have fresh greenery coming from the bottom of the tree, but nevertheless, they have been lacking leaves for the better part of 10 years.

Apparently my neighbor is “deathly afraid” any time there is a storm because she fears for her life thinking that one of those trees is going to snap into her house, killing her, her husband, daughter (who doesn’t life there) and cat.  I wish I was exaggerating.

She basically called me “negligent” because “I have knowledge and have admitted” that the trees are in fact dead. Which they are.  But they are also strong, and I had no fear of storms (as I haven’t had any fear for the last 10 years).  She basically demanded that I have them removed “QUICKLY.”  She works from home and those trees being present within her eyesight is causing her anxiety, so much so that it’s affecting her livelihood.  Again, wish I was exaggerating.

So I had my tree guys out – and asked that they just cut them down far enough so that she won’t have a heart attack (and less money since they are not grinding out the stump).

Hannah and I were both working, so Jacob was in charge.  He texts me and says that my neighbor is DIRECTING the tree guys on what trees to cut, how far down, what shrubs to trim ALL WHILE LEAVING HER WITH PRIVACY.  How do you demand I cut down two fucking trees AND leave you with the privacy they provided?!  Luckily, Cory and Brian (my tree guys!) ignored her as best they could – because, um, pretty sure she didn’t hire them so how the hell she though she could direct them is beyond my comprehension.

In between phone calls I was able to eat this delicious breakfast though!  Um, this breakfast is pretty much perfection.  Egg white, spinach mushroom omelet, leftover steak and the most delicious mango and blueberries.  6 smart points of deliciousness.

Did you guys know it’s national ice cream week?  The lobby of my building hosted an ice cream social – basically 10 different kinds of ice cream, with 20 toppings – all free.  I walked on by to meet my sister to get our walk in.  Only to get a couple blocks back to my office and Haagendazs ice cream was being handed out on the street corner – for free.

I walked away from both, and fixed my 8 point lunch.  Rotisserie chicken pita with Bolthouse Farms salsa verde avocado dressing – you guys need to find this dressing, it’s so good and only 1 smart point per tablespoon.

On the side I had veggies staws, and fruit for dessert.

Can we talk about this pita bread?  I normally make mine with yogurt, but when Hannah and Jacob were vegan for a few days (it didn’t last long!) I made a batch of vegan pita bread, and they are delicious!  Light, fluffy and tender on the inside – the dough felt amazing.  Best part?!  Each one is only 2 smart points!

[mpprecipe-recipe:18]

So I came home last night after work, and this is how the trees look.  By the way, a 200 pound man was able to scale the tree, without it swaying at all.  Apparently my neighbor wasn’t happy with the height of the tree stumps because she feels that it will hurt the resale value of her house.  Which kind of wants me to leave them like that forever.  Becuase I don’t care.  I live in the sticks, with only 6 houses on my block and maybe a car an hour goes down my street.

Pretty sure that doesn’t look like a diseased tree to me.  Like at all.  Good news is that I’ll have plenty of firewood for my woodburning stove this winter!  It only cost me $1200 to get it! 😛

If anyone wants to come over for a giant bonfire, you are more than welcome!  I’ll light up the grill 😀

So I had every excuse to skip my workout, but I powered through and did 40 minutes of Day 2 of Insanity – this was 15 minutes after I was done, so not as sweaty as when I finished, but I was sweaty, even in our air conditioned house.

After my workout, I made a delicious taco salad.  This salad is 7 points, and because I still had some to spend, I used a serving of tortillas for dipping – with copious amounts of hot sauce.

So after my flooded basement this past weekend, and this unplanned expense, I am a bit pissed off. But then I have to remind myself, there are worse world problems.  I still have a roof over my house, central air, food in my pantry and fridge, so it’s all good in the hood.

But I am going to do what Tony did whenever he got mad at people.   My neighbors are now dead to me.  I can’t even imagine how Tony would have reacted to the situation.  I never responded to the letter, just chopped the trees down, and plan to never acknowledge their existence.   I’ll be hanging out with my fun neighbors on the other side of me