Haunting at Hickory Hills

Let me start out by saying I don't believe in ghosts. At least, I don't think I do. But there have been some pretty strange things happening in the apartment lately, and I have no explanation for them.

Wednesday, June 19
When I first moved into the apartment, John and I put up a wire shelf in my closet. I embarrassingly needed more room for my clothes, plus it was nice to have extra storage space. Currently, my laundry supplies, hats and a box of athletic shoes/gear are kept on the shelf. Last week I bought a package of toilet paper and set it on top of the box until it was needed. And there everything peacefully sat, but then....

I'm in the shower Wednesday and I hear a big boom. When I open the closet door, I see the box and toilet paper have fallen off. Strange. I put it back and think the vents must have blown it off or something (I had the air running while I was in the shower so the mirror wouldn't fog).

A few hours later I hear a boom again. The box and paper towels have AGAIN fallen off. I put them back and notice there are absolutely no vents in the closet. I deduce that since the box is up against the wall, a neighbor must have banged in that spot causing everything to shift.

Later that night, John is over and I've told him about the mysterious falling box. A little while later, we hear the boom. Box and TP are on the floor. John refuses to open the door and fix it, though he swears he's not spooked and there's no such thing as ghosts. So the next day, I put the box and paper back up, made sure it was really sitting level, and it hasn't fallen off since. But that doesn't mean things weren't still happening...

The box of athletic gear and toilet paper that kept falling off.

Friday, June 21

I'm sitting in the living room eating my breakfast. I only have 5 minutes until I have to leave for work, so I don't bother turning the tv on. I'm just sitting in the dark, munching on some toast when I hear ticking. The ticking starts to increase faster and faster until "whoong," gong sound. Time's up.

I know what this ticking is. It's the timer to my scattegories game. I had taken it over to John's grandma's so we could play when Emily was in town. This was mid-May. The timer was at the top of the box because I remember it going off when I put the game away. This was mid-May. I had never heard the timer go off since that time, until that Friday morning. Weird.

Again, I think it must have something to do with vibrations through the wall. Maybe my upstairs neighbor stepped heavily right above the box. My games are stacked shelf to ceiling, this could make sense.

I'm sitting at home that afternoon after work,when I hear the timer go off AGAIN! Twice in one day?? I facetime my sister to tell her what's going on and see what she thinks. As we talk, I also remember that the tenant before us broke her lease early. Why? Why did she leave? We don't know. But could it be because there's a ghost?

Saturday, June 22

Forgetting about the timer, I open the coat closet to get my purse. The timer goes off again. Now the ghost is really playing games with me, and I am not in the mood for scattegories. I go and take care of the business I was heading out to do. I get home and start to relax when I hear the timer AGAIN!

That's it.

I rearrange the games so that scattegories is no longer in the corner. I haven't heard the timer since.

Scattegories sat in the top, left corner of my coat closet when the timer kept going off. I have since rearranged the games.

Am I starting to believe in ghosts?

When I was talking to Megan, she said from her experiences (watching Long Island Medium), ghosts aren't out to haunt or hurt. They usually just want you to realize something or find something.

So, I decided to do some google searches on hauntings in Hickory Hills (my apartment complex). I found an article about a woman who "committed suicide" in my apartment complex (doesn't say which unit). She apparently shot herself while her boyfriend was in the shower. Now I'm wondering if I'm supposed to be solving her death. Was it really a murder? Should I be looking for clues? Call up the old boyfriend?

Megan also said that she thinks super natural stuff happens to those who don't believe in it, so that they will become believers. So yes, I believe in ghosts. Leave me alone now, ghost.

(For the record, my google searches didn't turn up anything about ghost hauntings in Hickory Hills.)

Me and the ghost. We're friends. All is good here!

I don't want any of this to stop you from coming to visit though. My other sister, Sara, said the ghost is probably friendly. After all, she likes games. And Scattegories really is one of the best there is.

I Know How To Pick 'Em

Warning: You may not want to read this post while you're hungry. There are a lot of food pics, as every main attraction in Pittsburgh has to do with food.

A lot of couples that I know seem to have weekly "date nights." While living in different states, date nights were pretty much impossible for John and me. And it hasn't gotten much easier since moving here.

Between AT&T, LA Fitness and Target, John and I rarely have the same night off, and we almost never get a weekend. But for some very odd reason (perhaps the universe is no longer against us), we seem to get the same days off! We don't even request it, but nearly once a week we are both given a day off that we can spend together. And we (mostly I) make sure it's put to good use! Some of our recent "date days":

A Day Out In Robinson
On one date day, we drove out to Robinson to go to a restaurant that we've been wanting to go to since before I moved here! It's called Burgatory. Helluva burgers and heavenly shakes! Our anticipation build up was not at all for nothing. We created our own delicious burgers... chosing our meat, rub, cheese, toppings, etc. and enjoyed some unbelievable shakes!
    
Then we went to the Robinson theater and saw "Now You See Me." A very fun summer movie with a sub-par ending. Definitely worth seeing once, though.

Local Eats & Treats
On another date day, we decided to stay nearby and celebrate Pittsburgh. We started the afternoon at a cute cafe we've had our eye on. It's called the Tomato Pie Cafe and located right next to the park I like to run/walk in. After eating the pizza (decent), we decided to walk it off at the park. We found a neat little course that has 20 different work out stations and was clearly put up back in the 80's. We plan to go back some day and dominate it!

  
That night we went to the re-opening of Point Park. Point Park is where the Allegheny and Monogahela Rivers join into the Ohio River. The "Point" has been closed for the past 7 years, as they have been renovating the park and fountain. But we were there for the grand reopening! It coincide with the Three Rivers Arts festival, so we also got to eat some tasty food and enjoy a FREE concert--Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. SO GOOD!
    

For The Record...
This date day was a "John" day.
He recently bought a record player, so we had to go get some vinyls. He found a record store in Squirrel Hill, and we made the trek out to Jerry's Records. We spent a good amount of time browsing through the thousands of records and finally decided on a few. (I got Paul Simon's "Graceland" album, of course. John got Huey Lewis' "Sports," Jackson Browne's "Saturate Before Use" and a Van Halen album). Although we have since found a better record store (see below), I'm hoping we'll go back to Jerry's every so often. There's a cookie and cake shop nearby, and that made the whole trip--S'mores cookies!!
  
After our record purchases, we headed to the ball park. John used his "special" tickets that he got when he purchased season tickets, and they were awesome!! The seats were cushioned, there was a nice indoor bar/concession area, we got foot-long hot dogs (too much hot dog) and we were SHOWN ON THE JUMBOTRON!!! It was during the 7th inning stretch and for me, the highlight of all our date days.


Picky, Picky
And our most recent date day, was a "Jessica" day. I have driven by an orchard just up the street from me a few times, and I've been pestering John about going. Today, I finally got to go, and we picked our own strawberries! After we filled our bag, we were walking back down to pay when we ran into one of the farm owners. We were asking him questions about the apple trees when we told him it was a our first time to the orchard. So, he put us in his little cart and gave us our own private tour. Apparently his dog has to ride shotgun, so John and I shared a seat in the back.
They also have some animals, which John got to feed. He seemed to enjoy that part most.
  
Then we went to "The Attic." It's a record store that's a lot closer to my apartment and a lot more organized than Jerry's Records. We both like this record store more, but there is no cookie shop nearby. I ended up adding James Taylor's "Greatest Hits," Mumford and Sons "Live From Bullhorn" and Joni Mitchell's "For The Roses" to my collection. John decided on a Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, Rascals Greatest Hits and another Huey Lewis album.
Then, we went to see Man of Steel. I was pretty bored throughout the movie, although it did make me proud of Kansas--about as American as you can get. The movie was followed by dinner and homemade strawberry pie with our fresh strawberries. It was amazing.