Making Friends and Keying Cars in Round Rock!

Hello, y’all!

Living in Round Rock was one of the best places we lived in! One thing is our group has grown. While at Stillwood, Chip and Levi were born. Meaning…they’re apart of my life now! The Round Rock house was a 3 bedroom, two story duplex in a circle on Leslie Court. It was me, my parents, Pudge, Chip, Levi, Bill, and Johnny (Bill’s husband, at the time). The layout of this place was small but enough for us. You walk in, it’s the living room. All way to the right was the small dining room and kitchen. To the right again was the laundry room and garage. Back to the front door, literally turn to the right was the stair case. You go up and the first door to the right was my parent’s room. Then to the left is the bathroom. Next to that to the left was Bill and Johnny’s room and next to theirs was the kids room…yup, all 4 of us in one room, it worked!

First off…this was the only place I actually was friends with the neighbors. I finally had fulfilled a dream, to have neighbors and be friends with them. It was pretty cool that the circle was filled with families. I remember when I got home from ballet practice, I saw the kids sitting outside the house, right across from us. I always saw them but never said anything because I was scared. They knocked on the door and I’m pretty sure I was changing into my house clothes. Then, they were waiting outside for me when I was finished. Two grown kids were there, Tyra and Josh. They seemed like adults to me, because they were tall and older. In reality I think they were in 8th grade, while I was in 4th/5th grade. They eventually introduced me to the whole street, I had made about 10 new friends. I was overwhelmed but happy, I had a circle of pals!

Some games that we played as a circle were hide and seek, tag, territory, and kickball. We also just hung around each other’s houses too, like just in our driveways. Also, gathered in my background too. Not sure why mine was the meeting place, haha. My favorite neighbor of the group was Adalie. She lived at the house right next to me. She was 5, a little kid! Not sure who went to whose house to make the first meeting but, we were best of friends! We did everything together. Pudge and her even had crushes on each other, so cute! She’d come over for dinner at my place and I’d go over there too. I still “keep up “with her to this day, we follow each other on Instagram, after a few years of searching. She just graduated high school, which is insane…I knew her when she was in kindergarten!

Another memory was our staircase inside! It was a decent amount of steps and our favorite thing was to slide down it. Me and the kids would lay a comforter down and use it as a sleigh(?). It was so fun, felt like we were on a roller coaster! In addition to that, one of the funniest things about the stairs was Levi. He couldn’t walk down them. And how he’d get down was by going on his stomach, like his back was facing out. Too hard to explain, but it was so funny because you could just hear him every time he was coming downstairs. I feel like at this house, me and the kids really bonded here, made many memories! We also used to play in this playhouse the kids had out front. There was also this Indiana Jones whip toy we had, we tied it to a tree branch and well, we swung on it too many times and it was stuck there for the rest of the time we lived there. Even after like a year or so we moved, it was still there.

Some memorable moments I had with my neighbors were countless. But, here are some that stood out to me. I was playing tag once with the group…it was mainly girls at that moment. Tagging each other like usual and now I’m it. I tag the closest girl to me, which was Chloe. I APPARENTLY tapped/touched her shoulder for too long and well that blew up everywhere. She yelled out and said to me, “ew gross…I’m not into girls like you. I’m not a lesbian!”. I was so lost because we were literally playing tag, I tagged her like normal, and why did she think I was into girls. I was so upset like why would she say that to me, it’s not true. I didn’t even know what to say, I was mainly in shock and annoyed, like you had no reason to say that, haha. That moment always stuck with me! We rarely talked, because she was the mean girl of the neighborhood. I even saw her a few years after we moved, at the Barnes and Noble. She looked the same. We made eye contact for a split second, she hesitated in the glance but looked away. I wonder if she recognized me. Also, side note…there was this guy who was best friends with Josh. He was always around and such. They introduced me to him and I heard them call him Katie. I was like huh, interesting he has a girl name. I remember we went looking for him one time, so we can hangout and I asked for Katie, the just laughed at me. I eventually figured out/asssumed, his name was KD. Like why! Haha.

There was an older kid, the brother of Pudge’s friend. He seemed so much older but I think he was only a couple years older than me, he was already going through his growth spurt. I liked hanging around him, we always talked. I remember I was sitting on the curb in front of my house, with him, talking, while we were watching the neighborhood play. I went inside for something, my mom and aunt made a comment about me being next to him and implying that I liked him. I was like, what no! At the time, I wasn’t into boys yet or even liked anyone really…barely understanding the concept. I think I did like him, just couldn’t understand it. I remember being happy to see him and talk to him, weird, haha. A couple of years ago, I ran into him on a dating app. My heart skipped a beat, because he looked the same. Still lived in the same area and yeah…I wonder if he remembers me, hm.

Halloween was pretty fun here. I don’t remember much, but one of them I invited my friend over. I say friend but she was actually mean to me sometimes, eh. We went trick or treating around the block, it was fun. We spent 2 Halloweens here, one I was Twister (the game) girl and 2 I was a vampire. Both simple costumes, lol. I remember I wanted to be Darth Vader and Indiana Jones, so badly. Yet, I knew nothing about them! They definitely seemed cool, though!

Across the circle and to the right from us, lived Chase and his family. Chase was Pudge’s friend. They bonded over video games and guns. Well Chase’s parents, Monique and that guy that works at that one company, didn’t like us. We had our Snow Cone trailer parked in front of our house and they always reported us, not sure why. It’s not like we bothered them or anything, but they always reported us because of something. Chase had 2 older brothers, only like a couple-few years older, Marshall and the other. I can’t remember the other one. But, Marshall (I think) would always come around our place and just bother me or Pudge/Chase. He always had something to say. We would talk about him often at home and whenever my mom would ask about him, she’d call him Fruit’s Basket. I didn’t know why for the longest, she told me it’s because he acted fruity. He was talking to me one time and I told him that my mom called him that, he got some mad and was like that’s not my name and I was like yeah I know but that’s what she calls you, that’s your new name to me, haha. He was actually pretty cute, hm…is that why I like “fruity” guys now? Hahaha.

Last 3 then we’re done…totally unrelated but very memorable! Okay, so remember how I mentioned our first house (Putnam) got taken over rats, so did this one. It started off with hearing them squeak in the walls and ceiling. Then our neighbor, started seeing them in her kitchen and living room, chillin. We knew if that was happening on her side, it was gonna eventually happen here. The rats got louder. They eventually set traps in the ceiling and you could hear them go off at night, the rats would be flopping. Well, on Thanksgiving we wake up at like 4 something to start prepping. That morning, my mom and aunt were up and I remember hearing screaming. I ran downstairs and there’s they were with a broom screaming with disgusting at the ceiling. There was a rat stuck in the air vent and his tail was sticking out. It eventually got its tail out but still…that was disgusting! They eventually got into the garage and into the house, then we moved. 

Jessica, a name I can’t stand, because of this one neighbor. One day, the house between Chase and Adalie (2 houses from me), became occupied. A new family moved in next to(right) Carter (left), remember they’re duplexes. It was a girl and her mom, I think. She was around my age or a year or older. Her name was Jessica. She was cool to hang with at times, but she was so dramatic for no reason. She’d be mad at me for the simplest things. She was also very brutal (looking?). She’d stomp everywhere and you could hear her too, because she wore the same flip flops and it would echo in the circle. 2 instances with her. 1, we were running and playing and well she bumped into Carter(he was like 5/6) and knocked him over and stopped on his arm. She ended up breaking it. It was insane! Next, she made me so mad and annoyed, that I just stopped playing with her one day. She came to my house and was like hey, what are you doing? Can you come out and play? I was like, I’m busy. She was like, busy doing what? (Scoff/annoyed). I said, busy ignoring you. And then I shut the door on her face. She stomped off all mad everywhere, haha.

Next, Johnny and his crime. Him and my aunt were already going down hill. Fighting all the time and arguing…so much more, I just don’t remember, I think because I never paid attention. Well, Bill had a childhood friend over one day and I remember they were playing games I think on the TV. Well Johnny was out and he came home, he saw Bill’s friends car parked out front. I answered the door and he told me something. I remember Bill and her friend hiding at the top of staircase, I yelled up to them, saying that Johnny was here. I remember Bill shushing me because obviously he could hear me right through the door. One thing led to another and Johnny keyed the friend’s car…all on the side and on the hood he wrote, “Wife Stealer”. He drove off and we called the cops. It’s a memorable moment for sure, because all these years later (12+) I still remember what he was charged with, criminal mischief. Eh, blah blah….yeah yeah. 

So, that concludes the latest blog of my adventures of living in Round Rock. Definitely a fun yet crazy place to live! Lots of memories I didn’t mention…I’ll talk about them next time. Onto the next house which is the…Leander home!

Until next time,

Zelly :)