They like me! They really, really like me!

I have become the most popular person on the block. Neighbors who have barely acknowledged me in the 3 years that I have lived in this house are now introducing themselves. They are walking down the alley when they see me come home so they can ask me about the house. They are all in love with the new color. I guess we now know that they all thought my house was the dud of the block, the embarrassing one, dragging all their property values down. But now I have gone from ugly duckling to swan with the best-looking house, so now they all like me.

It's like I'm reliving the day I won $1,000 in 8th grade. I was not popular, but I was known because many of us had gone to school together since kindergarten. Most days, I wasn't on the school radar. But the morning I won $1,000 on the radio, everyone in school wanted to talk to me. They all wanted to know how I was going to spend the money and what Mike in the Morning said to me and when I would get the check. My teachers all heard about it so my big win was discussed in most of my classes. I really liked being the center of attention for that one day. By the next morning, people had stopped talking about it and by the time I actually got the check, nobody cared or even remembered. So, I wonder how long it will be before all my neighbors stop caring that I prettied-up my house and go back to remembering that I don't mow my lawn much and I don't do any landscaping and my driveway is a cracked, weedy mess. But for now, I'm enjoying being the most popular person on the block.

Except yesterday evening, I caught a guy taking pictures of my house. (Maddie is very useful in this way -- nobody can stand out front without her alerting me.) When he saw me at the front door, he came up to me and complimented me on the house. He asked me where I came up with the color combination (Sherwin-Williams suggested the green and cream colors as the accent and trim colors for this red). Then he handed me his card and asked me to e-mail him the exact color names because he wants to paint his house in the exact same colors. I guess I might as well send him the information because I can't stop him from painting his house red. I just hope everyone remembers my house is the original and his is the copycat.