Haunted House

Amidst school, packing, work, and general insanity, we've been looking for a house lately. You see, I decided during the summer that we were getting out of this apartment before I am forced to do bodily harm to someone .. nobody in particular, just someone .. 'cause this place is hot cramped and crowded and hot and small and loud and did I mention ...hot? I'm not sure who designed this apartment, but I'm pretty sure they were sadists.

It's set up so that, for the tenant's convenience and comfort, there is absolutely no air circulation. No way to get a breeze without running through the apartment, which just makes ya hotter actually, not to mention that ya tend to run into stuff when ya do that 'cause it's so cramped in here, not really a lot of running space. It's been pretty chilly here for the last couple weeks, but I can't turn the heat on in the mornings, 'cause it's hot water heat .. which really sticks around even after you turn it off .. and I only need it for about an hour before I start getting the heat from downstairs, then of course in the evenings when everyone comes home and turns on their heat, I get it from all sides and it's sweltering hot in here. So, when it's 30 degrees out, I have the windows open and the fans on, trying to cool it down in here.

Anyway! So I decided we are leaving, gave myself a time limit and made the announcement to the cats .. 'cause there was nobody else here .. WE ARE LEAVING NO LATER THAN MID-DECEMBER! and i shook my fist for emphasis. The cats yawned and looked terribly unimpressed.

So I set out in search of a house .. not another apartment, a house, with a yard and space and air circulation. After about a month and a half, I found one. It's in a good location, quiet neighborhood, priced right, huge yard, etc etc and I was all excited 'cause we were gonna be able to be out by mid-November, a whole month earlier than I'd planned!

The lady told me that they were going to do a bit of work on the house before they rented it out, 'cause they'd just bought it, and she'd let me know when it was done. Perfect!

So, a month passed .. and no word. So, I called her just to check in and she told me that it was going to take 5 months, at least, because they'd gotten in there and decided that it needed more work. That was also fine, I was willing to wait for 5 months as long as I knew it was mine.
Then she tells me how 25 people are interested in this house and for me to just keep calling to see when it's done .. which tells me that she's telling everyone the same thing and whoever calls first after it's finished will get the house. So now, besides being a little disappointed .. I'm more than a little ticked off because I've wasted a month that I could have been looking for something else. That was information that she could have shared with me earlier ... but oh well.

So .. once again I'm searching. Then ... while talking to daddy one day, he says that he and my favorite stepmonster have decided to retire here .. yay! Then he says .. that they'll buy a house here and I can rent from them .. *more YAY's, cheering and a happy dance around the living room ... hoping no one can see in the windows*

So we started looking for houses, got a realtor involved, and Pookie and I borrowed grandpa's truck and went to look at a couple houses. The first house was great! Huge yard, 3 bedrooms, lots of storage space, and some gorgeous knotty pine panelling and hand made shelving out of the same knotty pine, in a convenient area, quiet but not far from town, and good air circulation.... I wasn't sure I'd ever get Pookie out of there. She laid claim to one of the bedrooms immediately ... I half expected her to erect a flag and claim it in the name of Pookiedom.

The second house was .. well, how can I describe it ...

HORRID

It was tiny, the floors were slanted, the realtor said .. OMGosh look, the bathtub is on a hill! It had the most horrendous carpets I have ever seen, not just the shape they were in, but the colors too .. I'm hoping someone that was colorblind lived there. They would all have to be ripped out and replaced .. immediately. The windows needed to be replaced about 50 years ago, there was no yard, a briar patch behind and beside the house, horrible.

So we left, quickly.

On the way home, we made a quick stop for some burgers and then headed back down the mountain, fleeing from that house. A friend called to see how it was going. So, while juggling the phone, driving a truck I'm not used to (an automatic .. how can ya have a truck in WV and it be an automatic? there's not even a gun rack! I really need to talk to my grandfather about this .. that's just un-west virginian). So anyway, I'm juggling a burger, the phone, trying to drive the truck on a twisty turny road .. and telling Bri about the houses (he also drives a huge big manly truck that has a wimpy automatic transmission and no gun rack .. what a dork *grins* but we love him anyway).

"So the first one was great, big, lots of space, yard, knotty pine panelling (yes I'm obsessed, I've never seen anything so pretty) nice kitchen space and right out in the open so I'd be more likely to keep it cleaned up (long story, suffice it to say I hate cleaning the kitchen and mine is hidden from view so .. come to your own conclusions) blah blah lots of praise, etc."

During the conversation, Pookie's munching on chicken tenders and eavesdropping, as usual .. asking a million questions about who's on the phone and if she can talk to them. I continued talking ..

"the second places was horrible! you wouldn't believe this house. It's tiny, nasty, in a crappy area, the road it's on nearly swallowed the truck, it looked like a pothole, but I think it was alive. The house was awful, tiny little rooms *kenzie is still chattering and listening* .. the windows are bad, the carpets gave me a headache just to look at and the place is being haunted by the ghost of little kitty pee-a-lot, the bathtub is on an incline .. not even a little one, it's really noticeable ...blah blah blah"

I notice suddenly that my daughter is in hysterics, she's got her mouth full of chicken and can barely breathe because she's laughing so hard. I got her to swallow what was in her mouth and take a drink.

She's still laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks, gasping out the words "little kitty pee a hahahahahahahahahahaha" it was that little kid laugh, when they run out of breath, eyes watering, face red, gasping in the air just to dissolve into hysterical laughter again *giggles* which of course made me start laughing.

Bri is still on the phone asking what's she's doing, I tell him, he starts laughing (he thinks she's a riot already). So, finally we hang up .. Pookie is still giggling all the way home. Ever since then, every time I talk to anyone on the phone about the houses .. and mention that place .. from wherever she is in the house I hear

"MOMMY, TELL THEM ABOUT THE GHOST OF *lots of giggling* LITTLE KITTY *snorting and laughing* PEE-A-HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

*grins* it takes so little to amuse her ... I wonder where she got that from?