Is It Real?

Since Halloween is nearly here I thought that I would post some of my favourite ghost photos (from the web). I can't say for certain if these photos are real, but you all know where I stand on the subject. I firmly believe in them. I have had numerous experiences through the years and living in this house has been an adventure in the paranormal. I can't honestly say that I am always comfortable here when I am alone, thanks in part to my own active imagination and to what I refer to as our 'Little Girl Ghost.'
She has been responsible for many, many strange occurrences....I can't even count the number of things that have gone missing, only to turn up somewhere odd. Like, for instance, the can opener turning up in the bathroom or something that you just put down disappearing almost in front of your eyes.
About a month ago, something happened that scared the life outta me. I wanted to blog about it, but I was (am) afraid that talking about these kinds of things, writing about, dwelling upon it can only make it worse.
I was getting the laundry off of the landing leading down to the basement. There is a small cupboard hanging on the wall above the landing, and a small shelf just below that. There are skates, and shoes, skipping ropes and bubble wands on the shelf and in the closet, and on the shelf. Nothing else. Tools, extension cords, building supplies are all kept in the basement.
Imagine my shock when I was hit across the head by a heavy piece of wood with rusty nails stuck in it. It hit me so hard that I was woozy. I actually thought for a split second that I was being mugged (on my laundry pile. Oh, the humiliation) or attacked by some intruder. When the fog cleared and I could focus my eyes again, all I found was this piece of lumber.
It didn't fall from the shelf. It was never on the shelf, or in the cupboard. Nobody could even tell me where the chunk of wood came from. It hit me flat across the head, too, and I narrowly avoided a mangled nail cutting me open. Instead, I got a nasty sliver on the back on my skull that gave me an equally nasty infection. Trust me, it was bad.
The very first month or so that we moved in weird things were happening. Cold spots. Whispers (I heard some last night). My dryer, which is nearly brand new and is in perfect working condition, has been known to turn off/on by itself.
The dogs absolutely will NOT go into the basement. Ever. They stand at the top of the stairs and cry while I do the laundry. Shawn actually got locked in the back room when there is no possible way to lock the door from the inside. It only locks on the outside, with one of those old fashioned slidey things.
The new house feels safe. I don't get that sick to my stomach feeling when I walk in, the way that I do here some days.
I will miss this little house. It holds a lot of wonderful memories for me - for all of us. KC has moved out, and the new house will probably never feel like home to her. Her bedroom is here, the late night Buffy-a-thons were here, Pork Chop is buried here, in this yard.
Hopefully, our Girly Ghost will stay here, too. We won't miss her.

Laugh For The Day

Testicle Therapy -
Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole. The ball hit one of the men. He immediately clasped his hands together at his groin, fell to the ground and proceeded to roll around in agony.
The woman rushed down to the man, and immediately began to apologize. 'Please allow me to help. I'm a Physical Therapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you'd allow me, she told him. 'Oh, no, I'll be all right. I'll be fine in a few minutes,' the man replied. He was in obvious agony, lying in the fetal position, still clasping his hands there at his groin. At her persistence, however, he finally allowed her to help. She gently took his hands away and laid them to the side, loosened his pants and put her hands inside. She administered tender and artful massage for several long moments and asked, 'How does that feel'?
Feels great, he replied; but I still think my thumb's broken!
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We are still packing and purging, and as much as I hate the packing part, the purging feels good. I have given away every single thing that I haven't needed, from bags and bags of clothing, to furniture, to the fridge that we will no longer need.
The new place is coming along nicely. The kitchen cupboards are waiting to be painted, but the house is ready otherwise. Kayla has been playing happy homemaker and setting it up the way that she likes. I don't mind at all, that kid should be an interior decorator. Seriously.
I guess that I best get my butt in gear. I have so much left to do not much energy to do it.
Sigh..

All Growed Up

Stuff

So much to do, but it is windy and wet outside, so I am stalling. I am still in my nightie, thinking of things that need to be done instead of actually doing them.
Shawn and I decided to redo the kitchen cupboards at the new place. They are a hideous, sticky, greasy, 80's throw back mess. I have a feeling that I may have taken on a project that is bigger than it looks. There must be 25 years of ick on those cupboard doors. They need to be sandblasted or something before I can even think of painting. Yuck.
Kayla has been painting her butt off. The girls' tv room is now a light pink instead of an almost white. The owner had painted, but he painted over wallpaper and you could still see the border going around the room, under the watery white. Jessica is less than thrilled about pink, but it was a mistint, and half price. That makes pink my favourite colour of the moment.
Shawn and I spent half of the day yesterday waiting for the cable/phone guy to come by yesterday, only to find out at about noon that the appointment had been cancelled. We were only sitting in the new place for four hours. Actually, I spent most of that time hanging out on the only piece of furniture that we have there - an air mattress. Shawn did home improvements while we waited - like fixing the door casings, which were so off kilter that none of the doors closed properly.
Tomorrow will be an even busier day. Kayla is having her graduation ceremony! I have no idea why the high school holds the grad in October. It makes is infinitely more difficult for the grads that are attending college to come back. They always hold them on Thursdays, too.
Kayla doesn't want to dress up. She will be wearing a cap and gown, so she sees no need to put on anything fancy underneath, were nobody will ever see it. Lol. She is my girl, after all. I would like to buy her some new shoes, though. Converse, of course. No heels for my baby.
It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating KC's graduation. I can still barely believe that she almost done her third year of college. (Well, she finished advertising and then went back for dental assisting). She is now doing her externship with our family dentist.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that Heidi and Jethro can make it...They are out of town packing up their own house, getting ready for a move of their own.
Grandma Lynn had knee surgery, and she is kicking ass with her recovery, but is still not quite ready for a night out. Kayla is so upset that Gramma can't make it..I can't even tell you how sad she is.
In more Kayla news, she asked me last night if I would be upset about Geoff being a part of her life again. Umm, no, not really, but I just know that he will not be able to make this commitment to her. It has been almost 10 years since our separation and subsequent divorce, and he has made zero effort to see his kids. I have not blocked him in any way, this has been his choice.
I know that Kayla is 18 now, but she wears her heart on her sleeve, and I will be heartbroken for her if this does not work out. I seriously doubt that it can. Geoff has a wife that makes life hell for everyone around her. There is not person in the family that likes her. In fact, most of the family refuses to even allow her into their homes. I hate that things have turned out this way.
I wanted things to be so different when we parted ways. I wanted the girls to have Geoff in their lives, but it just didn't work out that way.
Anyway, I don't know if I will ever be prepared to share celebrations with Geoff, but I have no problem with Kayla going out for coffee with him. I just hope and pray that it works out this time.
So, that's life in a nutshell. Jessica is doing well, she is tall and rosy cheeked, looking like a million bucks. We are knee deep in boxes and trying to purge the garbage that we don't need out of our lives. Easier said then done, in all reality.
Kayla will soon be an official high school graduate, we will be in a new home, with a fresh start, and hopefully life will get back to what passes as normal in our house.

Communication Breakdown

I hate moving. No, I mean, I really detest it. Big time.
We have to be out of here by the 31st of this month. It is sneaking up on me and as usual, I am ill prepared.
We do have another place to call home. It is 3 bedrooms, with a den, and an en suite set up for our main floor master bedroom. The rent is more expensive, of course, but that is what you get when you rent a place with central air and a built in dishwasher. I'm not complaining about the rent, mind you. We looked at some really interesting houses before we found this one.
There was the house for $1400 a month. It was an old Victorian-type place with a large living room, rotting floorboards and no driveway. Not just a missing driveway, but no place to even stop your car to unload groceries. It was on a hill so steep that climbing the cement stairs would have been like climbing a ladder in an old musty barn. (Trust me, I know about these things).
There was another house on the same road, that was advertised as a 4 bedroom with a large yard. What the ad failed to mention was that the owner(s) wanted to keep the living room for their own use. A home office in what would have been MY home.
Oh, but that's not a problem, is it???
There was another place that was cute as a button. Sweet fenced in yard, huge shed (fort) and the bikers that lived next door? Oh not Lance Armstrong kinda bikers, but patch wearing, beer swilling, dirt bag kinda bikers. The garbage spilled out of the house and into the yard next door - our potential space. The home owner also wanted to use the shed (fort) and basement to store HIS stuff, so umm...where would mine go?
There was the 50's style bungalow on a quiet street with parking for 4 vehicles. Oh,and don't mind the guy in the basement.

Sigh..
You can see what I was up against when Kayla found the cute lil war time home on kijiji. I called one second after the listing posted. (No kidding, I really did) and made an appointment for the next day. I liked the hard wood floors and the fact that my wee lil nephew Ryder and my kinda sorta niece Claire would have room to play and run in the back yard. I loved the brand new bathrooms (BOTH of em!) and the fact that the fridge was huge and much newer than my own. The landlord seemed to be very professional, congenial, and easy to deal with. He even agreed to let us break our last months rent deposit up into three payments so that we could afford this move.
We signed the lease and we given the keys on the 19th of September...So, like a spazz, I actually moved a few things in. Just some basics - a couple of gallons of paint, rollers, paint trays, some bed linens (ready for the 1 st night without searching), food for Jessica, (always have to be prepared when you have a diabetic in the house), some new towels, etc.
Imagine my surprise when Kayla and I stopped by the house a few days ago to find all of stuff gone. Oh, wait, they left the brand new shower curtain behind. I guess that it wasn't the right style for someone...
Yup, it was all gone, the paint, my bedding, all of it. When Shawn called the landlord (after a frantic call from me) he was told that the land lord thought that it was all...garbage.

Huh?

Brand spanking new towels, paint, candles, everything except my bedding, still in the package was garbage?
So, of course, thinking that it was garbage, the food was eaten, the paint supplies were used, the candles went missing, and my king sized bed sheet was used as a drop cloth.

A drop cloth!

It has taken two days and several phone calls to get our things back. My bed sheet is still paint stained, the paint supplies are used, and the candles are open....oh, but I did get a brand new package of juice boxes, two bags of crackers and some potted Mums for the garden.

I am still seething.

This was nothing more than a blatant invasion of privacy, and, as far as I am concerned, a case of theft. We have already signed the lease and given the owner our money.
We are BROKE. I have $30 to my name and I have no way of paying for another house in the next 4 ish weeks. It would take weeks, at the very least, to get our money back in court ( I am reasonably certain that we would win in court..Sounds like theft is a lease breaker to me) but that does little to help us in the here and now.

I hope that this was some kind of fluke. I do. I want to get into this new home and make it my own. I just need my privacy and a sense of security. My mental health depends upon it.

I really, truly, hope that this was just a case of miscommunication and not a sign of things to come.