Biting my Fingernails

I'm biting my fingernails because as I was bringing Eric home from school I saw the neighborhood association lady drive by. This must mean she's checking for infractions and violators of the code of the HOA. I'm biting my fingernails because this means in the next few days we'll be getting a letter. Our lawn is not bad by a longshot. But there are a few weeds in the flower bed and a few more weeds in the lawn. I *think* our palm trees are "up to code" but not 100% sure on that. I can only sigh. There are lawns in the neighborhood that are completely dead. There are lawns that have more weeds than grass. We have actually fertilized and treated for weeds more than once and I don't know what more to do short of doing so again and KILLING said grass. I knew about the HOA when I moved in so I shouldn't complain. But what I really want to do (but won't) is write my own letter and say.

Dear HOA,

I have 4 children that I have to feed, clothe and run every which way. I have to keep my house in some semblance of order. My husband has a highly stressful job. We have way more things to worry about than weeds. If you are concerned with the property values, perhaps you should concentrate on the house down the road that has literally no living grass in the lawn. Or the one that has a patch of weed flowers that takes up 1/4 of the lawn. What about the one with the palm tree with NO green left on it? We are trying. We play by the rules. LEAVE US ALONE!!!

But I won't write that letter. Instead I will sit here and fret until said letter arrives and then I will rush out and pull every weed from the flower garden and I guess out of the lawn too because I'm afraid to put any more chemicals on it. This effort will be meaningless however, because they will be back before the HOA checks again. Then the cycle continues.