It's 1:26am, do you know what your new neighbor's up to?

I live in a duplex. I've lived here for over 6 years now; I hate moving. The duplex is actually a two-story house which was (I'm assuming) converted into a duplex sometime in the 60's (at least based on the dark wood paneling, gold counter-tops and hanging lamps serving as ceiling lights in the bathroom). I live in the bottom half of the house, with the other half of the duplex above me.

During the 6 years I've lived here, I have had several neighbors; however, since mid-2007 I've basically had a vacant airspace above me. I've grown used to hearing nothing upstairs. I could listen to music 'til all hours of the night, let the kids scream at the top of their lungs and not be concerned when my 10 year old drama queen wanted to scream about my "murderous" ways because I took away the cable tv.

Then last week my landlord mentioned he had rented out the upstairs apartment. I immediately began to mourn the loss of my "solo" existence; I was going to have to deal with the noise intrusion of another and curtail my own explosions of sound from below. I warned the girls an upstairs neighbor was imminent and tried to mentally prepare myself for her arrival. I did take heart in my landlords description of her: "She's a cute little old lady who works at Wal*Mart in the Valley." Little old ladies aren't loud, right? And maybe she has the "grandma" trait which allows kids to do no wrong so she'll understand my kids occasional squabbles. I tried to tell myself it would be ok.

This afternoon I got a text from my landlord that the new neighbor was going to start moving in today; sure enough, when the girls and I got home for the day, there she was sweeping out the garage upstairs, with a jam packed u-haul out front. Being neighborly, I figured I should go introduce myself and the girls; so the three of us walked up to say hello and welcome her to the house.

Ok. I admit it. I also had an ulterior motive. See, I forgot to tell you one thing about the upstairs half of the duplex. Upstairs, instead of wall to wall carpeting, there is wall to wall hardwood floors. When the unit is full of furniture, it's tolerable (more things for sound to bounce off of and fade out), though still loud; but when the house is empty (like it is just prior to move in) it's downright deafening. I figured if I let her know up front how well we can hear the goings on up there (you can often hear casual conversation) and introduced her to my obviously still in bed before ten children she'd realize she shouldn't move around loudly after a decent hour. I thought she'd get the hint and cease the moving in process after say 9:30pm? Certainly no later than 11.

Ha! Tricks on me. I've been working on this blog now for 30 minutes and in that time I've heard my new neighbor move several large items into the house (clomp, clomp, clomp, screech, thump - "Damn it! I scratched it J-"). I've heard her break something; judging by the sound, this something was rather large. I've heard a vacuum, the sink run 4 times, and I'm pretty sure she's currently dancing directly over my head.

I'm concerned about the future of this relationship between us. She hasn't even lived here 24 hours yet and I'm already irritated. I really freaking hope this is an anomaly.