Gonna Let Her Do It

I've been here now for about two weeks. And I've decided I'm going to let Jennifer come and do the house blessing she was wanting to do.

Sounds silly, huh? But really. What can it hurt?

All she's going to do is sprinkle some salt water, use a sage smudging stick, put some dried lavender bundles over my doors. I like lavender, so I didn't argue when she asked if she could put a little dried lavender in each room, especially since she said it'd make it smell good and she'd keep me in it.

Why the change of heart from joking about it and just nodding and smiling to going to call her to come do it? Well....

I can't quit getting spooked. Especially at night. I know that's probably just me getting used to being on my own and all, getting used to sounds. But it sometimes feels like someone is watching me. Like I'm not quite alone after all.

Last night, I was sitting on the couch with my legs stretched out, my laptop in my lap, leaning against the armrest. The TV was on some sitcom I wasn't really watching. And I swear something was breathing right next to my ear.

It scared me to death. I looked through the whole townhouse. Nothing.

And while I can laugh at myself today, I'm still calling Jennifer. Why not? She said it'll make things safe, make negative energy go away. Maybe I'm projecting from the past. So yeah, I'm calling her today.

Just as Strange

So I went to see the landlord today, about what the woman at the library had said about where I live. All I ended up with was more questions.

He asked me how I liked my townhouse, was everything okay, that kind of stuff. I told him everything was fine.

And I told him about what the woman at the library had said, how strangely she acted when I told her where I was living. How I hadn't been able to get anything specific from her and just the name of the townhouses seemed to make her uneasy.

I told him about what she'd said about the rent, and asked if there was something that I should know about my townhouse.

He laughed. He said that there were some people who believed that my townhouse, G9, was haunted. The people who had lived on either side had moved because they claimed to hear things in G9 when it was empty. Voices, banging, something hitting the wall or running up and down the stairs, that kind of thing.

He also went so far as to tell me that he kept the price so low because that way, once locals started talking, people would be less inclined to leave. That way, ghost stories wouldn't be the deciding factor.

He said he'd stayed there for a while himself, to try and see if any of the stories were true. He hadn't noticed anything odd.

He reassured me that it was just stories, just local gossip. Nothing was wrong with my apartment and everything was just fine. And just like that, I got ushered out while he went to lunch.

I called Melissa. She jokingly suggested we get an ouija board or something. Called Jennifer. She thought maybe it would be a good idea to have her come and do a house blessing, just in case. She's really into that kinda thing. Not so much that's she's kooky but enough that she does things like bless houses and such.

I told her I'd think about it. She also mentioned the fact that I hadn't yet really talked to any other tenant and that I should try to, see if my rent really was super low. And see if anyone else had a month to month lease instead of a yearly one.

Not a bad idea really.

Something Strange

I was reading over my previous entries. Boy, I sound boring! Who's going to read this?!

I said something about how pointless this blog was to Jennifer. She launched into her "it's good therapy" bit again, and told me that "you never know. Someone might find you interesting."

She had another good point - what does it matter? Who cares if someone does or doesn't read my blog? I'm writing it for me. Just me. And if others like it then great if not, whatever.

I have to admit...it's comforting. Like my diary when I was kid.

Something odd happened today. I went to the library to see if they had a new Nora Roberts book I've been looking for and one of the older women who work there struck up a conversation with me. We chatted for a while. She asked a lot of questions but wasn't overly pushy. I didn't mind telling her my job, that I was recently divorced, why I was divorced, or anything.

But things got weird when she asked if I had found a place to stay. I told her I was living at Oak Leaf Townhouses. She got this strange look on her face and asked me if I found the rent high. I told her no, not at all. In fact, I was very pleased because it was very very low! Only $300 even a month.

She still looked strange and asked me if I knew how much the townhouses there usually were. I told her no and she informed me: depending on bedrooms, from $575 to $725. Some units were for the disabled and were cheaper, others were cheaper because pets were allowed while some units (like mine) let pets in. And they were all priced accordingly.

This struck me as very strange. Before I could ask her for more information as to why mine was so cheap - I have the feeling she probably knew at least some local gossip about it or maybe she could give me some other info, as she seemed worried about me - someone came up asking for her help and she had to go.

I couldn't find her again before I left.

Monday I think I'll pay a visit to the landlord's office and see if I can get some information out of him. He didn't say anything to me about why the rent was so low. Didn't even hint that the price was unusual.

Makes me a little worried, but mostly, curious.

Settling In

I'm getting settled in. Haven't updated for a couple days.

This weekend was a blur. Melissa and Jennifer came by to help me unpack. That was a lot of fun, but we seemed to just gossip more than we worked. My mom drove nearly 3 hours to just bring me one of her delicious casseroles, and a cake. She said she was sure I needed real food. She was right, as usual.

They all three stayed the night Friday, and Saturday. It was like a big sleepover. I had so much fun with them. We went and explored the town. My mom proved once again that she's not only as fit as any of us, but probably more so. I really need to invest in a treadmill or something.

They left Sunday afternoon and I just relaxed. I spent the day straightening things, organizing, watching TV. I really enjoyed the peace and the quiet.

Monday I talked to the paper and sent them my article for consideration. We'll see what they say. Spent the rest of the day listening to music, munching on pizza, and sending off queries and proposals and various other things to find work online. I've got my hopes up.

Today I answered some emails, did some work - got hired by a marketing firm, yay! - and explored the town some more. Picked up a new skirt at the little shop down the road. It's so cute! All girly but not over the top and really pretty. I might wear it tomorrow when I go by to talk to the people at the bank and see if I can talk them into hiring me for ad writing or something.

Spooky

First night here, and it's a little bit spooky.

There is no one living in the townhouses on either side of me. I turned the TV off so I could work a little bit on an article I want to sell to the local paper about the new renovations on the local diner (just couldn't help myself. It's the kind of story a town like this would love.) but it was so quiet. Too quiet.

I'm used to some kind of noise. Cars, people, something. Our nice big apartment in the city was never totally quiet. If the neighbors were home, I could hear music and if they weren't, there was traffic.

There's nothing here. Everyone is home and in bed. There's no cars going by, nothing. Just the hum of my fridge and the sound of the central heat/air unit kicking on. That's it.

It's spooking me so I've gotta turn the TV on. I'll find something boring, like an infomercial or C-SPAN and just have it as background noise without being distracted. I think that'll help.

I haven't hooked up my radio yet. I was going to put it downstairs in the living room, but I think that at least for tonight, it's going to be plugged in next to my bed. I won't be able to sleep in quiet like this.

And every creak and sound the place makes as it settles is spooking me even more. Maybe I should have taken Melissa and Jennifer up on their offer to stay over. But I wanted to be on my own.

Oh well! I'll get used to it!

Moved In

So I finally got everything moved in. Boxes, boxes, and more boxes!

I'm excited. I was staying at Melissa's - she lives about 40 minutes away, and is the closest - until everything was ready. And now it is!

Papers signed, utilities on, and as long as I pay the rent, the townhouse is all mine. I'm really looking forward to it.

Starting Over

Ok, so Melissa told me what I was supposed to do with this blog. Basically, whatever I want.

Jennifer suggested that I use it to try and move past what all has happened. Kinda like a shrink, but free. So I think that's what I'm going to do. Maybe it'll do me some good.

I just moved to Lason's Pond. I rent a nice little townhouse. It's great. You walk into a nice sized living room, through to the kitchen, there's a half bath, and then another door to a little patio. The stairs are near the front door and upstairs there's two bedrooms and a full bath. I got a couple hall closets, plus the one in the spare bedroom which is now my office.

I really like my little townhouse. My furniture is a mixup - some of it is brand new, some of it second-hand. All the brand new stuff is coming from my old house. The second-hand stuff I bought. I love it all. This is the first time that I've had my own place.

I went straight from living with my mom to living with Melissa and Jennifer in the apartment just off my college campus. Then I moved in with Billy. William T. Jones. Billy. My now-ex husband. I don't want to talk about him now.

So this is the first time I've been on my own. It's really cool, exciting, a little intimidating. There are other buildings around, but no one lives on either side of me. My townhouse is G9. No one is in G8 or G10. There are four townhouse units to a building. At the prices I don't know how any of them could be empty! This place was a steal!

I'm from the big city. I started out in the suburbs, went to the city in college and lived there with Billy. Now I'm in a small town. It's extremely quiet and laid back here. Everyone smiles and says hello. People start talking to me in the grocery store like I've been here for years. I love it. There's a bowling alley, a movie theatre, a few stores, a rec center, a gym, and that's about it. Library, few restaurants, park. I'm loving it.

My mom thinks I should get a cat. I can have one, but I don't know yet. I miss having animals yes. Billy wouldn't allow it. But I'm not sure if I can afford what I want yet.

See, I worked in the city as a freelance writer. Journalism mainly. I wrote for newspapers and a few magazines, worked onsite at a lot of places. I was doing pretty darn good. Now that I'm here, I can still work for a couple of those places as a telecommuter, but I'm going to have to find other things to do. I want to get into writing for websites and online magazines, things like that. If I can do well enough, maybe I will be able to work from home and on my own hours instead of having to show up at an office as a contractor. It sounds great to me.

And it'll give me the time and space I need to try and get my life back on track.

New Beginning

So, here I am. I'm Kara. Now what the heck do I say on this thing?