From the archives: Day 3 on the Island - Is this house haunted?

Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoy this Halloween post from two years ago... when we had just moved in to the house on the island. 

(This post was originally posted on 10.31.09 on Love in the Time of Foreclosure at ChicagoNow)

We're in the checkout line at the hardware store buying a Swiffer with the help of Friday Harbor local and LITTOF reader, Joy. We had been looking at space heaters but balked at the $30 price tag. I am just looking for something to make the house warmer, cozier, homier.

Our friend Chris will be arriving soon in a Budget truck with our stuff from storage... all the way from L.A.

Yep, he's driving our stuff up for us. By himself. All the way... from L.A. And on the truck is our bed. Which means we could move into the house from the cabin. Which means we have to find a way to heat the place up a bit. Hence the desire for a space heater. But that will have to wait.

So we're paying for the Swiffer when we tell the woman at the checkout line that we have just moved here. We tell her that we're caretaking a house for two years and describe the house to her. She knows it. (It's a small island.) When I tell her that we're living in it, she stops, looks up and with wide eyes says, "You're living in it?!"

"Yes. Why?" I ask knowing the answer. I can feel it. The way she's looking at us.

"You know that house is haunted, right?" She says. Matter of fact.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! There had been mention of a 'friendly' ghost in the upstairs room but I hadn't given much weight to that. Simply because I don't want to believe that there actually could be a ghost up there. It's an old house. Yes. I've lived in old houses before. There's always the possibility of paranormal activity (if you believe in that sort of thing) in an old house, but I choose not to think about that.

But this woman is serious. Adding to my already overactive imagination.

"Oh, it's haunted," she states.

I laugh. Nervously. Is she messing with us? I mean I will believe anything anyone tells me. But she really does seem serious about this. She tells us that several prior owners had sold it because of strange noises.

Now this just seems ridiculous. The last two owners ran it as a B&B and the last owner didn't sell. It was foreclosed. (I know that's another piece of irony for another time.) When I mention that it was a B&B she says that the ghost was part of the charm.

More nervous laughter.

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm freaked. Trying to be cool, but totally freaked. I ask if she knows the backstory of the ghost and if there's anything we should do to appease it. Or if there's anything that might anger the ghost. If there's a ghost I do not want to anger it. Joy makes a joke about garlic. And the woman with the ghost story says, "It's not a vampire."

Silence. Then, I ask...

"Seriously, you're not joking? It's really haunted?"

"It's an old farmstead," she replies. As though to say, Of course it is. What do you expect?

What do I expect? I guess I expect to feel safe. To not live in a haunted house. Silly me. I look at the man waiting in line behind us who has just overheard our entire conversation. He's smiling and says,  

"There's no such thing as ghosts."

We pay for the Swiffer, say goodbye and thank you to Joy and get in the car to head back to our possibly haunted house. Before we even leave the parking lot, I'm crying.

"I don't want to live in a haunted house!"

It's all at the surface now. My fears. My tears. My paranoia.

What the hell was I thinking?! I really thought I could do this? Live in the country on an island in an old farmhouse that is now apparently haunted?! What the heck is wrong with me?! Why on earth would I want to do this?! Yeah, let's move all the way to the edge of the world as far as seemingly possible from friends and family and into a haunted house on an island. That's a great idea! WHAT THE F---?!

Bob is being calm and completely patient with me. I'm trying my best to quiet my fears but at this moment I have no idea what to do. There's no doubt about it. I am completely and totally freaked out of my mind. I can't do this! I cannot do this, I cry.
Apparently Day 3 is my meltdown day, I tell Bob and we laugh. It was bound to happen. We both expected it. So here it is. Triggered by a ghost story.

When we get home I sit down and write an e-mail to four friends that will be visiting us in November. Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:

Bob believes in ghosts but says he doesn't sense a presence in the house. I don't know what I believe. I just know that I'm a freakin' scaredy cat.... and I'm creeped out at night. Bob said this is probably the safest place I've ever lived in my entire life. He's right, I'm sure. But it all feels strange.

I do hope to get past this because right now I'm ready to bail. Again, scary movie plot.... all the previous potential caretakers bailed on the opportunity. The only ones that made it were the ones that had no other option. Us. And here we go.

Can we coexist with the ghosts? Are there any or just my wicked imagination? And what the heck has happened to my life? It's completely and entirely unrecognizable.

I miss you guys so much.
I miss L.A.
I miss our old life.
I miss the sun. Yes, it's cold. Bring warm clothes. Wool socks. Weather-proof jackets.

The responses I got made me feel so much better. Michael shared that he had lived with a ghost and it was fine once he acknowledged its presence. He also wrote this:

Meltdowns are good. They get rid of toxins. One of my favorite quotes is from Helen Keller, where she said "the only way out, is through". I've always thought of a meltdown as something I just have to go through in order to get out of whatever it is that has me stuck.

You're strong. Trust.

Thank you, Michael. That made me feel so much better.

Chris arrives with the truck and a bottle of wine called The Ghost of 413 as a housewarming gift. It makes me laugh.

It's pouring with rain again and dark by now... so we decide to wait until morning to unload the truck. That means one more night in the cozy cabin. But first, dinner. We decide to eat in town because we hadn't prepared anything and I was not in the mood to be in the house.

It's great to have Chris here. He brought the metaphorical L.A. sunshine and a much needed friend "fix." Talking always helps. For me, for sure. So after calmly talking about the possibility of the house being haunted and sharing our own paranormal experiences, for some reason I felt more grounded and less jumpy. At least able to sleep. Comforted by the presence and support of a friend. And relaxed by the help of red wine.

Is the house haunted?

I don't know. For now, I choose not to think about it. I choose to just move "through."
Happy Halloween, everyone!
P.S. This post is entirely true. And just happens to coincidentally have occurred the week leading up to Halloween. Perhaps making me even more jumpy than I might normally be.

P.P.S. Please let us know in the comments if you have ever had any experience living with a ghost. Do you even believe in ghosts?

The new logo: red and turquoise love

Why, yes. I did get a makeover. Thank you for noticing. I just felt it was time. My old look began to feel, well, old. And kind of drab. Unpolished. In need of professional assistance. 

how it went down...

I'm reading a new post on Baby By the Sea and am blown away by the blog's new look. I'm immediately struck by blog envy. Check out that logo. I love it. It's fab. Fabuloso. I want a new logo. I want my blog to look that amazing.

So I ask Baby By the Sea’s Jennifer Furber who created her inspiring new logo. The response comes of no surprise. Sara Jensen. Sara Jensen of Friday Harbor. Sara Jensen of Lost Bird Found.  Of course Sara is behind Baby By the Sea’s fabuloso new look. 

the back story

Sara and I met last year via Twitter. Out of the blue I received a tweet that went something like this: 

"I think we live on the same island."

And she was right. We did. We began a Twitter friendship. I followed her. She followed me. You know how it goes. But it took us forever to meet for real... which you wouldn't think would be so hard living on a small island with not even one stop light. 

We were both surprised we hadn't crossed paths in real life. Only on Twitter. Until the day I walked into her office and introduced myself. I was 35 weeks pregnant at the time.

We didn't really hang until after Malcolm was born and we went to her husband Thor's birthday party on South Beach. We ate delicious Korean BBQ short ribs (one of my favorite dishes) and hung out on the wind-whipped, beautiful stretch of driftwood blanketed beach that is South Beach on San Juan Island. 

Malcolm happened to be only 13 days old. He spent the entire party sleeping in the Moby wrapped tightly to my body while we whale watched and hung out with other Islander parents of young children. The kids were climbing all over the driftwood like little monkeys and building driftwood forts. I honestly don’t remember much of what was said at that party. I was a little sleep deprived at the time. But… I remember thinking: Sara Jensen is way cool. I’m glad we met.

 

We had only just begun to know each other when Bob and I broke the news that we were leaving the island. Returning to Chicago. The island is small, but it’s full of amazing people. Sara is one of them. So hiring her to create a new look for LITTOF was really a no-brainer.

And I LOVE what she did. The blog looks much happier to me now. 

It was Sara’s idea to use the logo to tell a story. And I think it's brilliant. It actually tells our story. 

Here it is in a grey and red version:

We’ll be making a few more tweaks to the blog to make it look even better. Spiffy-ing things up.

Well? What do you think of LITOF's new look?

Are you getting your Love in the Time of Foreclosure?

Hi LITTOF readers!

I'm just posting quickly to remind readers that all the new Love in the Time of Foreclosure action is happening over at ChicagoNow.

We're only 4 days away from our move to the island and a lot has been happening. In case you missed some of the action, here are the LITTOF posts from the last week with links to catch you up:

-
8 things that helped us turn our personal housing crisis into opportunity - I am a guest blogger today at Magpie Girl.

-The island awaits - This Friday we begin our trek to our new home for the next two years on the San Juan Islands.

-WBEZ and Love in the Time of Foreclosure - Jeanne Power from Chicago Public Radio wrote a really nice story about us on the WBEZ Blog.

-Al Capone in the Time of Foreclosure - The Chicago mobster's Wisconsin hideaway sold at auction last week.

-One way to save money: Commit to a year of no clothes- This post was inspired by blogger Rachelle Mee-Chapman who has made a pledge to spend no money on clothes for an entire year. Could you do it?

-Top 5 reasons to leave your home on the market during the holidays - wonderful advice and insight from my mom - The Real Estate Mom

-The Insider's Guide to Bankruptcy: The IRS - What we have learned about our IRS debts in bankruptcy.

If you're a regular reader, might I suggest you sign up for the RSS Feed? I hope you will.

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Thank you!