Halloween Special: our haunted house

I keep forgetting to post about these... but it might be perfect timing with Halloween today (well, technically tomorrow).

After we moved into our new house we had some bizarre things happen.

MY CRAZY PHONE...

One morning at like 6AM I hear this beating on the door. It was just after Tom left so I figured it was him and he had forgotten something (and I was too sleepy to not wonder why he didn't use his keys), so I got up... still in my little pjs... and opened the door.

It was the police.

Imagine me... bleary eyed... in my pjs... looking at the cop like what the freak?

He's like "Ma'am, did you call 911?" And I'm like no way sir. I just rolled out of bed to answer the door. I've been sleeping. And he's like "are you sure your not in trouble?" As if he's waiting for me to wink and let him know all hell is breaking loose inside... and I'm like "no..." So we talk for a minute and he decides everything is fine and he leaves.

I watch as he walks away and notice there is TWO police cars parked in our little circle. So now all our brand new neighbors think we are trouble for sure.

So a few days later, I get another knock at like 7AM. But I'm prepared this time. I grab a sweatshirt and at least cover my bra-free self. I tell the police this is so weird and they tell me that it happens when there is water in the line. The static it causes sounds like numbers and will actually dial.

This rings a bell. My phone has been ringing lately and when I answer it all I get is static.

So I call the phone company and they come out. Turns out there is a beehive in the phone box causing all sorts of havoc. Wonder who else they managed to call?

MAYBE IT WAS JUST BASIL...

The next story happened around the same time... it was warm enough to start thinking about yard work, so Tom cleaned out our garage. The last owners left a few things in there. So Tom started going through it to see what he wanted to keep. He finds this garbage bag stuffed in a corner and opens it.

Inside is a big plastic bag with a bunch of little plastic bags filled with some green herbs. It was totally POT!

So we are laughing and joking about it. I call my brother and tell him the story... and of course he tells my dad... who calls me. I'm not sure why the conversation was so awkward... but it was. Yes I found POT. How do I know its POT? Um, just a guess?!?

So my mom starts in... and she's like what if someone dumped it there to hide it and they are going to come back? And then they break into the house and hold us hostage for it if its not there? Oh jeez... we've gone from funny... to not so funny.

I'm like 85% sure that's not the case (the previous owners were a little out there... so I'm sure it was theirs)... but the seed has been planted.

So we leave the pot in the garage for like another month. And then dispose of it.

And now I have a POT story. Which is always awesome.

THE SECRET ROOM...

When we found the pot it made us wonder what else was hidden in our little house. The basement had a storage room with a few things left in it. When we moved in we noticed right of the bat there was a locked toolbox in there. Brandon insisted this is how some people keep a gun, so we had to pry it open and see what was in there.

After all that hoopla... it was a child's tool set with a chainsaw, table saw, and goggles. So not what I was expecting.


So... anyway, back to the search for odd crap in the junk they left. It was mostly paint and painting supplies. Tom got creative and started checking things like in the tiled ceilings, etc.

Under the stairs there is another storage area. It's unfinished so its all cement. Its the most scary place in our house. We don't even keep anything in there! Tom was checking it and noticed there is a wood plank nailed to the cement wall. He was curious why and looked in the crack with a flashlight. It opened into a small space under the garage.


A whole space we had no idea existed for months! It only had some tomato cages in there... but how bizarre is that?

So the house has officially been compared to:

1. Mothman Prophecies: the odd phone calls with static
2. Pineapple Express: the pot story that started funny and ended crazy.
3. Stir of Echos: the hidden room (except ours didn't have a dead body!)

Sometimes life is just crazy! But, we still love this house and all the fun it has brought.

Happy Halloween from Spiderman!

Baby asher...

I was looking for a picture of Ash today and found some fun baby ones on my work computer (yes I'm posting this from work, but technically its my lunch [that side note is for all the people I work with]).

Since I started this blog when Ash was a year, I don't have any baby pics of him on here, so I thought I'd add a few.

Here is Ash at the hospital:



Here he is when we took him home:



And then when he got home from the hospital after his surgery (about 7 weeks):


he was so glad to be home!

And then after a few months (in his matching shirt with his pops):


His first Halloween:


Some of my all time favorite baby pics:




And some of Tom's favorite pictures:

Asher conversations...

Asher says WHAT? after everything I say.

He acts like he can't hear you and after everything you say he says "what?". And then you repeat what you said and he still says "what?".

I honestly think he just needs to digest what you are saying and think about it for a minute, and to earn that minute he throws out the "what?".

The bad thing is he does it so much that sometimes I can't take it anymore. So I'll say, "I know you heard me." Or something like, "what did you think I said?"

So this was the conversation with his dad...

Tom: You need to clean up your room little man.
Ash: grr... blah... grr. (mumbling something incoherent)
Tom: What?
Ash: I know you heard me.

Speeding ticket...

I got pulled over for speeding today. Asher was surprisingly underwhelmed by the whole situation. I thought he'd be so excited to see the policeman.

After he got my info and went to write the ticket, Ash was over it and ready to leave. I told him we had to wait for the ticket.

Ash: Will he bring two tickets? One for you and one for me?
Me: No. You don't get one. Just me.
Ash: Oh. Well, I can't clean up your mess momma.

Touché

He has been having a hard time cleaning lately and I always remind him that myself and his teachers can't always clean up after him.

Recipe - Stacy's Famous Phili Clubs (k&hf)

Amazing sandwiches that take hardly any time and everyone LOVES... and since I made these out of the blue I take credit for them by always making sure to call them by their name...

Me: What do you want for dinner?
Tom: Those sandwiches you make.
Me: Say it by their name.
Tom: Not a chance.
Me: Do it.
Tom: Fine "Stacy's famous phili clubs." Now will you just make me a sandwich?

Ok... that might be an exaggeration...

1/2 pound hickory smoked honey turkey deli meat
1/2 pound honey ham deli meat
3 slices of onion (cut in half)
1/2 container mushroom slices
3 1/2 hoagie rolls (1/2 for Ash)
swiss cheese slices

saute the onions and mushrooms.
cut the meat into 1" squares.
add the meat to veggies in pan.
sprinkle with season salt, pepper, and garlic powder

I section this mess into four piles in the pan and throw swiss cheese slices on top of the piles. Then cook until its melted... and put the pile in a hoagie.

You can mayo the hoagie... or add bacon... tom likes his with tomatoes.

Yummy and so easy.

painfully clear...

It's becoming painfully clear that I have no time anymore to do any blogging.

I've worked so hard all summer on web sites and I *almost* want to gag at the site of my computer.

Until I can find the will power to stay on long enough to dump my camera... (hopefully soon)... enjoy some more pictures I took of Asher [whilst pretending I know what I'm doing].








and just because I adore her... maybe just two more of Addi's eyelashes...



Don't you wish you had eyelashes like that?