I believe you have my parking space...that is MY parking space...

People do get very possessive about their parking spaces, but here at my building they are all a little nuts about it.

Wendy parks in the front yard - there's no other way to say it.  Since I've been here, she's parked her big, red SUV right in front of the door.  It's one of the many issues I've had with the place, having to dance around the car to get to mine, the pulling in with blaring music that shakes the house...many issues.

(Wendy's placement of her car was also one of the reasons the Feng Shui person I'd talked to originally told me to move.  Apparently a big red SUV blocks the positive chi from entering the apartment space.  Who knew?)

Josh (when he had his car) and Dan (when he was here) would also park in the front yard over the path from the sidewalk, leaving three cars to chew up the front yard (which Wendy would constantly bitch about, but her car was fine).

So I just parked my car in my spot by the public path, which was okay, aside from my objections to having to dance around the big SUV in a regular way.

Today, as I was doing some yard cleaning, I had a revelation.  With Josh's car gone, and Dan's car gone with him to wherever he went to, the only cars regularly in the driveway were mine and the SUV.  Which was driven by Josh more than anything, since Wendy's been a very rare presence here in the past year or so.
So I foot measured Dan's old spot near the front of the driveway, and I found that my car fit without going over the pathway or the end of the driveway.  I then dragged back the markers for the end of the driveway, and waited for Kaitlyn to come back to explain my plan to her first.

I asked her if she'd heard of the concept of "chi" and energy flow, but it made sense to her after I'd explained it.  I told her that the car blocked positive energy into the apartment building, with the suggestion that with Wendy, it had been an intentional act.

Landon, their three year old, then dashed out of the house and into the yard.  I pointed out that it was also a danger to Landon, since Josh wasn't the most careful driver in the world, and Landon had recently become a runner in that crazy way only 3 year olds can be.  "Good point," she said.

Josh was driving down the road, and pulling into the driveway.  "Wait," I said.  "You'll feel the shift as soon as he pulls in."

He pulled in, and she looked at me with wide eyes.  "You felt it, didn't you?"

She nodded.  Josh looked at me from the driver's seat, confused.  "What?"

I pointed.  "Try parking in my spot."

He looked even more confused, but turned the car around and backed into my spot by the path.  He got out of the car, and looked at me.  He started twitching and looking at the bare spot in front of the house.

I could feel an actual shift in the house with his car in the driveway.  Call it crazy hippie stuff if you want, but it made a difference.

Not ten minutes later, I get a text from Wendy.  "That has been my parking spot for 11 years and I am not giving it up."

We chatted by text for a bit, and she told me that the plan is for both the boys to have their own cars in a month or two, and that she would be spending more time at home when that happened.  So it was a massive inconvenience to change the parking situation.

Of course, she also said that in January, and that hasn't happened.  She also told the landlord that she was moving at the end of June, and I have no faith in that either.

So my solution to the issue is going to be stained-glass style window film.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MYLEKS/ref=gno_cart_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I'm going to completely cover the kitchen window, and the lower parts of the living room windows.  I'm considering just covering the windows entirely.  This way, I don't have to look at the front yard at all (or across the street, which has their own issues), but can simply enjoy the stained-glass effect of the clematis.

Cutting off the outside world with faux-stained glass seems extreme.  On the other hand, the view out the front windows is nothing to write home about, even without discussing the disaster that is the front yard.  And adding to that the cars and the continued digging up of the yard...

So I'm ordering the full window treatments.  It's only been a couple of hours, and the big jeep is already back in the chi-grinding front spot.  Blocking it all out is going to be the only way I'm going to make it through the summer, I think.