Within a month of moving into my house, I was ready to move out. I loved the area, and the neighbors were nice. The house was everything I ever wanted, but I didn’t feel like it belonged to me. The Homeowner’s association wanted me to do things their way. I was tired of looking at a house that was just like everyone else’s. I couldn’t paint my house a lovely rose color, but I could paint my air conditioner. To be honest, the air conditioning unit looked prettier when painted, but I was the only one who thought that. I was told I had to get rid of the paint, because it wasn’t allowed. The man told me if I had read the rule book, I would know I couldn’t paint anything without their permission. I laughed and asked what they were going to do? He told me I could be fined, and I shrugged. I asked him if he was going to pay my mortgage, and he stuttered. I didn’t think he was. If he wasn’t paying the mortgage, he had no right to tell me I couldn’t paint my house rose, or paint my air conditioning unit. I wasn’t going to paint my house, but I wasn’t going to unpaint my air conditioner. I told him if he preferred, I would put a small fence around the air conditioning unit so he didn’t need to look at it, but I wasn’t removing the paint. He shook his head and told me he would return, and I didn’t doubt he would be. I had won the battle with the air conditioner, but I was sure he was going to wage the war.