A Ghost on the Stairs?

When I was a senior in college, my supervisor Judith asked me to house-sit for her. She had a beautiful old Victorian style home that had been renovated. I also got to take care of her sweet golden retriever named Perry. I was very excited to have some time away from my dorm room. It was a nice and brightly lit home, so ghosts were the last things on my mind when I agreed to stay there.

On that first night, I stayed in the guest room upstairs. I was reading a book and resting in this big soft comfortable bed, and Perry was sleeping on the rug beside the bed. Suddenly, I distinctly heard the sound of someone running up the stairs. The stairs were right there outside the room, so it was very loud and distinct. I leapt out of the bed and felt like my heart was leaping into my throat. I thought that a burglar was in the house and that I had just heard him run up the stairs and he should be right there in the doorway. Perry had jumped up too and was barking at the stairs. It was extremely scary.

But nobody was there. I know that I heard something. I don't think that I believe in ghosts, but I just don't know about this. It was definitely the sound of someone running up the stairs in the house. The dog sensed something too, unless she was just following my lead. After I looked around the house and made sure the doors were locked, I got Perry to get in the bed with me. It was hard to convince her to do so... I think it was a no-no with her owners.

There was another room in the house in which the doors would not stay shut. It was my supervisor's step-daughter's room. If I shut the door, it would pop back open. I thought that maybe it could have something to do with air pressure, but I watched the door after shutting it. I saw the door knob turn! Then Mark came over and he saw the same thing happen. It was very strange.

Later that year, we were visiting my supervisor at this same house for a Christmas party. We heard a few little bumps upstairs and my supervisor said "Oh, that's our ghost." Apparently, she felt that the house had a ghost!

If it wasn't for this incident in college, I would say that I don't believe in ghosts. I can explain away the door opening, but it's hard to think of what I could've heard coming up the stairs. I wasn't dozing off, so I don't think that it was my imagination. The houses were close together, so I tried to think that maybe someone in the house next door was running up those stairs. But it sure sounded loud and I thought someone was right there with me. I actually felt a presence. What do you think it was?

The Rat

When we first moved to Maryland and lived in the 100 year old farm house, we had a severe mice problem in the house. Then, when we had two cats, someone must have told the mice because they disappeared. We were surprised one winter when we heard scratching in our kitchen closet.

At first we thought, oh, it's just a mouse. We opened the closet door and our cat Tansy immediately ran into the closet. Then, we looked up at the top shelf. There was a big rat inside of a container standing up on his hind legs! He wasn't very scared of us either.

I believe that Mark grabbed a broom and I climbed up on a chair. I think mice are cute and I don't like to hurt animals, so I think that we were going to try and chase the rat out. (Rats aren't quite as cute as mice) He wouldn't cooperate, though, and ran out of the closet and hid. We couldn't find him anywhere.

We went upstairs at bedtime thinking that we would be fine since the rat was downstairs. Then in the morning hours around 2 am, I heard this horrible loud squeaking. He had somehow got up the stairs and was in the hallway outside our room! We closed the door so that he could not get in after being unsuccessful once again at catching him.

I won't go into detail because it's sad for the rat, but we could hear the cats after him all night. Then the next day, I couldn't find the rat anywhere. I eventually found the deceased rat later that afternoon. Then we never saw any more rats or mice for the rest of the time that we lived in that old house! It was a creepy experience with the rat. Maybe he wouldn't have, but I kept having visions of him getting in my bed! Yikes!

Even though our house was old and rather haunted looking, I never felt any strange presence there (besides the mice, bats and rat). I've never really believed in ghosts , but I house-sat for someone while in college and had a very strange experience. Something happened that made me seriously wonder about the existence of a ghost. Maybe there is a logical explanation for the strange things that happened. I'll write more about it tomorrow and see what you think!

Spooky Stories

In the spirit of Halloween fun, I'm going to write about "scary" things that happened to me in the past few years. For tonight, I'll write about our "pet" bat.

When we first moved to Maryland, we lived in a 100 year old farm house. I had stayed up late watching a movie, so it was past 1 AM when I walked up the creaky stairs to our bedroom. As soon as I turned on the light, something swooped down at my face and I could hear it squeaking. A bat had found a way from the attic through a hole in the closet ceiling.

Mark and I looked around for the bat that was hiding in some other part of our house after he flew from the room, but we decided to go back to sleep when he was nowhere to be found. Then later, I felt him swooping at my face again while I was in bed! I pulled the covers over my face, but could still feel him swooping at me!

We ended up closing off part of the house and chasing the bat around towards the front door. Mark was chasing after the bat with a laundry basket over his head...very cute. We finally got the bat out, but I looked around and couldn't find Mark. I looked outside and there he was sitting on the front steps with the laundry basket still on his head. It's such a funny memory now, but it's very creepy to have a bat swooping at you!

Tomorrow I'll write about The Rat. On Halloween, I'll write about a haunting incident that made me wonder if there really are ghosts!

Cleaning the House

I had company today, so I got up at 7am this morning to clean the house. The carpet had to be steam-cleaned because it had spit up stains all over it...very lovely. MB has been spitting up more with the teething. I cleaned only the living room and kitchen, but that was enough to wear me out for the rest of the day. I still have a problem with lack of energy. I know deep down that regular exercise would help me, but I have yet to get started. I think that I'm going to have to get a few exercise dvds to get me going and give me a way to start without leaving the house. Sigh.

New Clothes

I finally broke down and bought some new clothes after my only two pairs of jeans that fit split open at the seams! At first I assumed that it happened because of my excess baby weight, but they really were just worn out. I actually bought them to wear when I was in the early stages of pregnancy about three years ago. So I feel like I've been wearing maternity clothes for three years!!! I don't think that I will fit into my before the babies clothes ever again, so I will be getting rid of those. I had been holding onto some things, but I think I would feel better jut getting them out of my sight. If I do get my weight down, I'm still going to be shaped differently as a mommy, so those things probably would never fit right. Besides, it will probably make me feel better about myself NOT to come across those certain items when rummaging around for something to wear. It's silly, but I am looking forward to wearing my new clothes. Kohl's had a big sale, so I really found some good deals.

That's really not my most exciting news. We went on our mini-vacation to Strasburg, PA and stayed in a red caboose that had been converted into a motel room. It was really like staying in an RV, and MG really loved it. MB had a good time, too. He rode on his first little kids' ride... a Thomas engine that played music and rocked back and forth. We visited the National Toy Train museum and rode the train at the Strasburg railroad. It was fun even though MG wouldn't sleep much the first night. Metal Mark and I had to drink lots and lots of coffee to stay awake the next day!!!

MB has four teeth now! He only woke me up once last night, so I'm feeling much better and getting more much needed sleep. Yay!

Goin to see the trains

We're going to take a second trip to Strasburg and Lancaster to see the trains in a few days. MG remembers our first trip and talks about it all the time. One day last week we needed to go to the grocery store, and I made the mistake of saying "We're going on a quick trip." She thought that we were going to see the trains right then! Now I've started liking trains a lot too.

I've made a few changes to try to help MB through his teething extravaganza. I've been giving him orajel during the day unless it's very bad. Then I give him infant tyenol. Then, at night I have to give him infant motrin since it lasts eight hours. Linda brought to my attention that he may need protein added to his diet. I've done that too. The combination of things is working. He got me up only once last night! For the past 5 weeks he has been getting me up at least 3 times a night. Three of his teeth have just poked through at the same time, and he's working on another. Poor kid.

Two Sweeties

This is the most recent picture of my two sweeties!! We recently went to the zoo and saw zebras and giraffes, so MG had to hunt out all of her stuffed zoo animals for the picture!

Melt My Heart

Today MB said "Ma-ma!" very distinctly when he saw me earlier. He's said it a couple of times before, but this was the best and I knew that's exactly what he was saying. It's so very sweet when a baby first says your name. It melts my heart. He's been saying "Da-da!" for MM too. It's very sweet.

No News is Good News

I've made it without looking at any major news web sites today. It probably helps that we weren't at home. Today was MG's trip with her preschool to the zoo. MM took off from work and we all went. It was fun, although I was walking around like a zombie. MB got me up four times last night!

Here is a positive news web site that I just found today. I'm going to read it for a change. It's www.happynews.com. I do like knowing what's going on in the world, but it's just been overboard on the horrible things, and I got extremely sad about it. Most news sites do not report many (if any) positive stories.

Well, I think it's time to break out the baby motrin for MB. I've tried baby tyenol and orajel, but neither seems to be strong enough (or last long enough) for a kid who is getting all of his teeth at the same time! I feel bad that the teething hurts so much, but also feel sorry for myself feeling exhausted all of the time. Sleep, sleep, sleep....oh how I love thee.

Randall Update

I heard from my brother that Randall (the little guy who was shot in the arms accidentally) was interviewed by the news recently. Here is a link to the story with a picture of him. He was very excited to be on TV.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?s=5450920

Tired of the Violence

I'm so very sick of the violence going on. The murders of the little girls in Lancaster is just sickening. I really truly hate guns for many reasons. A gun in the hand of a maniac is devastating. A gun in the hand of a hunter not paying attention can kill or maim a person or livestock. A gun in the hand of an aggressive idiot can shatter a little boys arm or a life.

Hunting has started back up here, and I cringe every time I hear a gun go off... especially if we are taking the kids on a walk down the road. It's not that I'm against hunting...although the idea of killing a defenseless creature in this way isn't at all appealing to me... it's just that I've had too many acquaintances and family members who have had close calls. And none of these were people intending to cause harm! So many accidents!

Now I don't know what the answer it to keeping guns out of the hands of a mentally disturbed person. I guess if a person really wants to do such a horrible thing, he or she is going to be able to get a gun and do it. I have read some discussions on this stating the importance of recognizing signs of mental illness in order to try and help a person before they go off the deep end. People who let intense depression go on for years and years can actually have hallucinations. Some people are very closed minded to getting help when they really need it (and when they are able to do so). Then it gets so bad that they might lose touch with reality and can't do anything about it then. I don't know if this is what happened to the person who murdered the little girls or not. It's really hard not to feel hatred toward him whether he was mentally ill or not.

Fun at the Farm

Today we took MG and MB to a farm that had all kinds of Fall activities. MG got to pick out a "great" pumpkin, ride a horse (for the first time) and play in this bouncy slide thing. Oh, and I almost forgot the pedal tractors.

The funniest part was when she got in the bouncy slide thing. She had to go through it by herself and didn't know what to do when she came to a rope ladder. We kept looking in the windows and trying to explain how to climb it. Eventually, a brother and sister about 5 and 6 years old, got behind her and started lifting and pushing her up the ladder. Then an older girl came along and was cheering her on. It was just so funny and cute. Those kids were very sweet to her, helping her and showing her how to do it.

It's fun seeing MG get so excited about Halloween. I always had such a good time going trick-or-treating and to fall festivals when I was growing up. I want to make holidays fun and special for my kids too.

We all ended up with that stinkin cold. I think that maybe the kids had two different colds that ran into each other. I've felt like the grumpasaurus today. We're catching more colds now that I'm taking the kids to more activities with other children. I'm still nursing MB, so I never really take anything for a cold. So my sinuses feel like they're going to explode. There's probably something that would be ok to take, but I'm always afraid that it will get into my milk and bother MB.

Well, I'd better go! Hope that you all have a great week!