Home sweet home

You know how the swarms of flies in the original Amityville Horror were an early indication that the house was probably not the best place to raise a happy, healthy family? We've been feeling the space crush in our little rental for a loooong time, but I'm now beginning to feel Amityville levels of dread about being stuck there. Were it not for the prize location, I fear we'd be in abject misery. OK, I exaggerate a wee bit, but we may just need a little dose of paranormal activity to finally force ourselves into finding a more suitable dwelling and the means to afford a more suitable dwelling. In the past week alone, we have faced:

• Ants (they've been on the kitchen counters and cabinets for weeks now - they are bionic - the bait discs + cinnamon have no effect - now that their populations have thinned down a bit, I've just learned to live with them and work around them, but still, it's GROSS);


• A flooded kitchen sink;


• The ceiling light in our bedroom turning on automatically in the night repeatedly (4 times!) Sunday (perhaps that one is paranormal??); and


• A dying mouse - scratch that - Rat. Well, it could have been a mouse swollen full of poison pellets, but it definitely looked more Rats of NIMH than Mrs. F/Brisby! At least I thought it did in the 1 & 1/2 seconds I looked down upon it before fleeing the room screaming for Cesar.

There's only so much more I can take y'all!