A Prisoner in My Own Home. YIKES!!!

I’ve been imprisoned within the confines of my own home and I have no one to blame but myself. I usually don’t post personal issues, but darn it, I need advice. Help.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like being in my house, I get a lot of work done. But this is getting to the point of insanity. I did this to myself. My ‘pushover’ nature, inability to say 'no' and try to be nice, has now caused me to sneak out of my house, not answer my phone, and hide when I hear a knock.

It’s not the police or the paparazzi (Yeah, I wish) or even another stalker. Ok, maybe it is, but this is … my neighbor.

I was given the sign, and I ignored it. It started when she moved into the small one bedroom apartment in the house next door. The house is the same size as mine, but theirs is divided into three units. It started when she parked her SUV on the street blocking any view I had to pull out of the driveway, and also causing a danger because it was parked so close to the intersection, people could not safely pull out on to the road. The police had her move it to her driveway.

That was September.  We spoke. She understood my dismay. She apologized for being crass at first and not moving her car. And I thought, it was a nice woman who had a bad week.

Don’t get me wrong … she is very nice. Jump to October. I find her crying on her porch. Sobbing. She lives with her sick father and he needs medicine and she didn’t have money to pay the co payment or get milk. So, yeah, I know you're cringing, I gave her 20 dollars. She cried and was happy. Then I pulled the fatal error, I gave her my number and told her to text me if her father needed anything.

I know, I hear you yelling at me now. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”

My daughter said, “You shouldn’t have. You’ll regret it. Never feed the strays.” I defended my decision and said she was in a bad way. Well, that bad way only lasted a couple hours, because she was texting me for more money. I declined, then she texted for cigarettes. I declined.

But it didn’t stop. She has texted her father needed food and she had no food, so I went and got her some food. Yes, I did this. Always she said, “I’ll give it back to you. I promise. Monday.”

It’s now January, and not only have I gotten her milk, bread and smokes numerous times, taken left overs to her dad, got her food, she has borrowed pans, utensils and spices … never to give them back. I don’t expect any of it back, I just want it to stop. She’s not a mean person, she is a lost soul. And I’m a sucker.

As you can see I have included screen shots of the texts.  But alas, it has stopped, her phone is shut off. She now knocks on my door early in the morning, mid afternoon and at eleven at night. Saturday she knocked at midnight and told my daughter that not only are her and her father living there, but now her adult son, adult daughter and two grandbabies. She begged my daughter for milk and cereal. My daughter gave it to her. She said, “mom what was ai supposed to do, she had a baby on her hip.”

Tonight she knocked on every door at eleven PM for toilet paper.

It’s not weekly, it’s daily and sometimes hourly. There are four adults and two children living in a two and a

half room apartment and she says there is no money or food for the babies. I can’t leave my house without her asking for something. It’s getting insane.

As I stated before I am not looking for a payback or return of items, just a return to normalcy. I have continued to say no, but she continues to ask. If anyone out there is reading this, I am open to a solution.