Yard Nazi's on the Prowl....

Our Yard....read post and you will see why I am posting pictures of our yard!
The front yard.....
This is what a ticket looks like....read on!

Being in the military is an awesome thing. I am truly proud of my husband and what he does and what he stands for and I love being able to travel to so many places around the world, but there can be some down sides to being in the military. The biggest is being away from family and missing out on so much such as, births, birthdays, graduations, family reunions, and Holidays. Those are just the major things that we miss out on, we also miss the little things like going to grandma and grandpa's house after Church for dinner or lunch or just having the luxury of going to family's house whenever we feel like it too. My kids really miss their grandma's and grandpa's and it breaks my heart each and every time we miss another occasion with them.

But like I said, being in the military is great...we live in base housing and I don't know if most of you know, but base housing is free. That's right we get to live in this decent house and not pay rent or utilities. Here in California that is awesome because when it gets 100 degrees outside I can make sure my air is on and running and not worry about the PG&E bill. We have rented a house off base for a year, so I have been there and done that! Anyways, there are some stipulations to living on base. You can't go through and paint the house or remodel anything...cause it's not yours. You can't water your yard on certain days (to conserve water) and you can't let your yard grow tall EVER! You also can't leave toys out in your driveway and the days it's windy you are suppose to lay your basketball hoop down. They actually have yard inspections once a month to inspect your lawn and the front of your house. If your front lawn looks bad, then they have the right to peek into your backyard and check it out too. Yes, they even give you a ticket if you are not up to standards on your yard. Now to most people this doesn't seem so bad, but when your husband is away for seven months to Iraq (last year) and you are busy with three kids and just keeping up with them and your house is alot....then it's a big deal! While Steve was away to Iraq I received TWO tickets for my yard! The first one I deserved because I was unaware of when yard inspections were, but the second one...they gave to me because I forgot to sweep my driveway after mowing! Yep...that is how they got their name- YARD NAZI'S! It's almost like they have nothing else better to do then go around and write tickets for minor reasons.So today is the 3rd Tuesday of the month (Yard inspection day) and I am driving down my road and sure enough there she is.....the yard Nazi. So you could imagine the knot in my stomach when I see her with her little clipboard writing out a ticket, luckily at someone else's house...but she was making her way down to my house. So I get home and decide I am going to leave my door open because if she writes me a ticket for my yard, I am going to have a little "chat" with her. Well, she never came to my door, which means I didn't get a ticket, so we are clear for this month once again. Things have been fine since my husband has been back, but while he was gone I hated the THIRD TUESDAY of every month cause the Yard Nazi's were on the prowl....rain or shine!!!