Have you ever had a reoccurring dream that caused you to ponder the cause with no answers? I have had this experience and I would like to share this reoccurring dream with you today. The ghost in the attic dream has caused me fear and confusion and I still don’t understand why the ghostly figure haunts me. Maybe it’s something I experienced as a child or is it possibly a repressed memory or emotion. Nonetheless, let me welcome you into this terrifying dream that has caused me to wake up in a cold sweat on many different occasions.
The ghost in the attic dream starts off no different than any other dream. The setting is usually based in a warped reality that is familiar, but somewhat different. The people in the dream vary between present and past relationships. My wife is always in the dreams and is probably the only consistent person other than the unknown ghost. The setting is usually where I currently live, but that’s the only part of the dream that is the same. The house is never the same, but it is always an old derelict house in need of work and has three to four levels.
The dream usually starts with my wife and I being excited about our newly purchased home and our accomplishment. The odd thing is that when we start to explore the property; I start to realize the state of the property and start to feel overwhelmed with stress and worry. As I previously mentioned, the house was derelict and that would be an understatement. The walls have holes in them, windows are broken, holes in the floor, peeling wall paper, and the list goes on. The house looks more like something you would expect from an old western movie or an abandoned farm house leftover from the depression era.
The irony of this is that I am so bad with my hands. I can change a flat tire or perform a basic oil change, but that is about it. Anything to do with carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, or whatever else can go wrong with a house is out of my league. So why would I buy a property in a state of disrepair with plans to renovate it myself when I know I don’t have the ability to do so. This is one of the many unanswered questions from my dreams.
Typically during the ghost in the attic dream all if fine, but I am discontent with the situation and have no readily available solution. We start to evaluate the property and come up with a plan of attack because the problems are numerous and we are about to move in. More often than no we start with the kitchen which is funny because I don’t have a clue what I am doing. My wife and are start patching up holes and fixing pipes with things like duct tape. Weird is an understatement at best.
At some point during the dream we venture upstairs to the second level of the house which is quite the same as the lower level. There are exposed holes in the walls, peeling wall paper, broken windows, and etc. Now this is where the dreams vary, but end up with the same conclusion. Sometimes the house becomes miraculously furnished or sometimes it remains unfurnished. Either the way, we make our way up to the third level. .
The attic is full of dusty boxes and old furniture as you would expect from a house in its condition. Nothing is really different from the rest of the house except for there are no holes in the walls. The attic appears exactly as it should and does not need repair. There is always a small staircase to a fourth level that I choose to walk towards. I go up the stairs and open the door. I see antique dolls and a bunch of old dusty boxes. There are anywhere between 5 -10 dolls just lying about the room as if they were stored away and forgotten about decades ago.
I instantly see dollar bills flash before my eyes because the dolls are antiques and I want to cash in on my newly found fortune. I pick up a doll, and suddenly realize I am not alone. The ghost of a young girl appears and is quite displeased with me for entering her room. She appears before me and is between the ages of 7 and 10 years old. The ghostly figure of a girl is Caucasian with blondish brown hair and dark eyes. She is wearing a white dress that looks more like a nightgown that is very dingy. Her skin texture is dark grey with dark rings under her eyes. Her look is sinister and would make the bravest person skin crawl. Her appearance is fuzzy and almost translucent, but she is clearly standing in front of me staring at me.
During some dreams the ghost in the attic is violent and psychically hurts me by pushing, biting, hitting, or scratching me. Other times she is more content with tormenting me by scaring the hell out of me. She will do thing like suddenly appearing or moving items before my eyes when she is not visible. The one thing that I am sure of is the ghostly girl’s goal is to get me out of her room and for me to leave her belongings alone. Once she appears, I usually exit the room quite quickly as you can imagine.
We never actually leave the property though; we always stay knowing that the young girl’s ghost is upstairs. I usually don’t return to the room, but sometimes I do and end up being tormented around the house. At some point during these reoccurring dreams I usually wake up with a fearful yell and startle my wife sleeping next to me in bed. I then explain to her that it was the ghost dream again and she rubs my back till I fall back to sleep.
But lately, things have changed and I find myself bragging about the ghost upstairs in the attic during my dream to family, friends, neighbors, and even strangers. The house is still in disrepair, but I don’t seem to care. I am still afraid of the ghost but it has become a novelty to me. For some reason, I actually want to taunt the ghost in the attic and get a rise out of it. Maybe even actually create some type of communication between me and the little girl’s ghost. I usually wake up confused and a little frightened. This is such a stark change from my original dreams. I sometimes wonder what my dreams will morph into in the future.
I tried doing some research on Google concerning the ghost in the attic dreams. Believe it or not, there are a lot of resources on the internet to assist you with analyzing your dreams. According to the websites that I found online, there are unresolved issues in my past and they are haunting me. I sure do wish I knew what they were because I am not a fan of scary movies much less nightmares. Maybe someday I will make peace with my unresolved issues and my reoccurring dreams will end.
Even while writing this story and welcoming you into my subconscious mind, I wonder if the little ghostly girl will visit me tonight and how I will respond. One thing is for sure, she will continue to haunt my dreams until I discover what is hidden behind the closed doors in my past. At some point the cause of these dreams will be exposed, but until then, the little girl and I will continue to play this frightful little game.
We have all been confronted with a financial obstacle at some point in our lives that we have had to overcome. If you are one of the few lucky ones that have managed to navigate life without debt or concerns, all I can say is ”God Bless You” and keep it up. For my wife and myself, the early years of our relationship was bliss, but once we decided to get married and have children everything changed.
The American Dream quickly became the typical American Nightmare. We went from a two income household to a single income household with an extra mouth to feed. Our bills quickly became a concern because we had student loans, a mortgage, car payment, and etc. The initial plan was for my wife to return to the workforce after three months, but we are on our eleventh year and we are still surviving on a single income. Well, that’s not entirely true. Let me explain.
It all started with a random conversation with a new co-worker over lunch one day. He mentioned that his wife makes $60,000 a year at home reselling vintage items on EBay and at flea markets. I remember thinking that’s crazy, and then conveniently forgot about the conversation until the spring when I stopped at a yard sale. While looking around, I decided to pull out my cellphone and cross reference some of the items that a senior couple had laid out on the table.
The first thing that I grabbed was an Asian handheld folding fan that was priced at $0.50. I started searching through EBay and found the exact same fan listed and sold for $20.00. I remember thinking that it can’t be this easy. I started riding around to various yard sales and buying items that I thought I could sell for a profit. My wife thought I was crazy, but she did realize that there was potential for additional income and at least I wasn’t just sitting in front of the television as usual.
We started bringing an extra income from reselling primarily vintage items and we decided to take it to the next level. We started attending local auctions and estate sales. Like anything else in life, you need to start small and build your way up. I started with buying box lots and the cheaper items in bulk that no else wanted. I would then go home and sort through a car load of junk that only cost me $20-40.00. The usual hull would bring in roughly about a $200-300.00 profit once the marketable items sold and the rest went to Goodwill. Every time we sorted through the box lots, we would learn something new. We would find an item that we didn’t realize the value of and would gain knowledge for future auctions and estate sales. Before long, we moved on from box lots, and started buying single items ranging from $1-$50 with an expected minimum profit on 3X.
It should be pretty obvious from there we shot to moon. Well, not exactly the moon but $30,000 isn’t too shabby. We expect to hit $60,000 in the next 3 years but we still have a lot to learn. Most of our lessons were learned the hard way and I want to share those lessons with you so that you can avoid the heart ache and struggles that we experienced.
Depending on where you live in the United States, auctions or estate sales may be preferred choice when people downsize. In Pennsylvania, auctions are everywhere. Just use AuctionZip.com and enter in you zip code and I suggest searching the 30 mile radius. When I am in Florida visiting family, I use EstateSale.net. Auctions and Estates sales are different beast, but they both fall under the same principle. Buy something cheap and sell it for more. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work in a perfect world.
Please remember to double list your items. Create an EBay store once your sales support the cost and open a free store on Etsy. When listing your items on either online store front, make sure you weigh your items and list them in accordance with their weight and dimensions. We used to guess the shipping cost and use a flat rate. Huge mistake because to ship from the East Coast to the West Coast is extremely expensive and you will end up losing money. I remember being confused looking for the profit in our PayPal account after shipping 30 plus items.
If you are selling online, you need a lot of boxes and bubble wrap. Never ever buy bubble wrap from Walmart or Staples. Their prices are ridiculous and borderline immoral. Simply just go on EBay and search for bubble wrap, you will see pliantly of rolls for sale for about $20-25 for 400 ft. Boxes on the other hand is a bit more challenging. We prefer to ask stores for empty shipping boxes, but if there is no other choice, you can also buy these in bulk online.
Once the money starts rolling in and you become your own boss, make sure you pay your taxes. Some states require sales tax to be collected which isn’t too difficult. Any online retailer that you decide to use within the United States will send you a W2 once your sales have past $19,999.00. If you choose not to pay your taxes will they come looking for you? Honestly, I don’t know and don’t want to find out. But just remember, four successful sale years could total up well past $60,000 in back taxes. Just remember, when you become your boss, you must pay taxes.
I hope you have found this information to be helpful on how to become your own boss and I wish you good luck on your newly gained knowledge.
Most of us remember when our lives were forever changed, the day that our hormonal chemistry changed and we stepped into the world of puberty. For some of us, this was an exciting time filled with new desires and misadventures. But for others, this was a difficult and stressful time while trying to discover their self and psychical awareness. The one thing that we all had in common was the inability to control our sexual attraction. This attraction may not have fit into the social norms, but these social dating standards were meant to be changed and I am proud to have taken part in the revolutions.
To fully appreciate this story of love and heartbreak, you must climb into my Hot Tub Time Machine and proceed to the year of 1993. During this year Snoop Dog released, “Nuthin’ But a G Thang “with Dr. Dre and the original premier debut of Jurassic Park swept across movie screens. This year was no different than any other year, but to me at the age of 17 times stood still.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have just sat back and enjoyed every moment of that era. Instead, I had only one thing on my mind and that was girls. Most if not all adolescent’s boys have this weakness, but some can surely control it better than others.
This sordid tale of heartbreak and despair took place in the suburbs of Baltimore in the state of Maryland. I grew up in a middle class family and never was left needing for anything. My mother was an elementary school teacher and my father was a successful auto mechanic who later taught at a trade school. My high school was typical, actually the best in the county at the time even though I didn’t appreciate this fact due to self-indulgence. The school was primarily white which led to a problem, we were black or should I say African American to remain political correct.
My best friend from early childhood was white, while the rest of my friends and associates were as racially diverse as you could imagine. I didn’t see black or white, I just saw people. The Jewish population was extremely high, but I didn’t even become aware of this fact until my mid-twenties when a co-worker made an anti-Semitic joke about the area. I just saw people for people and the innocence of youth is bliss.
My parents never really approved of interracial dating and were always displeased with my attraction to a different race. But as I stated earlier, some things aren’t controllable in life and this is one of them. I made multiple attempts to date young white girls throughout middle school and high school, but for the most part it was unsuccessful. It wasn’t due to my looks, but more so due to bad timing. If I had been born just a measly 10 years later, my entire dating experience in high school would have been different. But nonetheless, I found the love of my life even if it only lasted two weeks.
It all started with a little letter folded into a square that was addressed to me from Sarah. She was a beautiful girl that stood about 5’4 tall with strawberry blonde hair. Her braces made her appearance ever so more seductive, but I knew even then that braces weren’t supposed to be attractive. I had noticed her many times in the past, but figured that she was out of my league and I decided to save myself from rejection. What a mistake that was, I could have found love sooner if I only had more courage.
All it took was one letter and I found myself thrust into my first interracial relationship. I loved the late phone calls into night and writing of letters back and forth. All I could think about was Sarah and I must admit the feeling of puppy love is the best feeling of all. You can’t imagine life without that person even though deep down you realize it isn’t a realistic emotion.
Our relationship blossomed as we held hands walking down the hallways and moments of embrace with empty blank stares from some. It was my turn to show affection in public and I was determined to do so every chance I got. I would look forward to that romantic but awkward kiss that made me feel like I was flying high in the clouds above. There was only one little problem, her father did not approve. Our relationship was secret from her family and it was a matter of time before my world came crashing down around me.
After dating for about 2 weeks, Sarah walked up to me in school looking quite upset. She informed me that her father instructed her to discontinue the relationship, but we both decided to continue in secret. Unfortunately, this didn’t work. A few days later Sarah’s father decided to confront me at my part time job at McDonald’s.
He wasn’t a big man, but he was a man and I was just a boy in love. He confronted me in the parking lot berating me and voicing his displeasure. He never made a racial statement, but the tone of situation was clear and his hatred was in his eyes. Just when the situation was about to become volatile, a car load of my friends just happened to pull into the parking lot. As they walked over to see what the yelling was all about, the situation was over. Sarah’s father knew he was out numbered and made the wise decision to leave.
Unfortunately, his message was clear and the relationship was over because my first love was a forbidden love . She lost access to the phone at home and was forbidden to associate with me in school. My heart was heavy with despair and for a brief moment in time I couldn’t imagine life without Sarah. But as we all know, life goes on and I eventually found a replacement for the void left in heart by Sarah.
Why do we go to the funeral when people die,
Is it that we find comfort in holding hands with people while we cry.
We wipe our eyes and sniffle with a sigh,
Because you will never be able to say goodbye.
They speak with clarity and try to be fair,
But to tell the truth they would never dare.
While standing there rubbing your hands through your ever thinning hair,
You realize one day you also will be there.
So we celebrate their life without despair,
Until it’s our turn to be laying ever so peacefully up there.
I am just another middle aged guy with a wife who is absolutely mesmerized by the Walt Disney franchise. She has begun to spread her fascination of Disney onto our little girls and it’s all they talk about. Even right now, as I type this blog, I hear “Love Is An Open Door” playing on the television. I will admit Frozen was a good movie, but my gosh, must I endure this movie for another 4 years since the older girls have moved on but the youngest has just fallen in love with Elsa.
What’s All the Hoopla about Disney World
My lovely and loyal wife’s passion with Disney does not just stop with the movies but also includes Disney World theme park. This theme park is not just the most magical place on earth, but also one of the most expensive places to visit. But what is a good husband and father to do other than fulfill his wife and children’s dream of visiting Disney. Not once, not twice, but over and over again. I wish they would take some inspiration from Frozen and just Let It Go, but that will never happen.
Let me explain why I have become so anti-Disney over years, because this was not always the case. I had the great fortune of growing up in a middle class family that was able to visit Disney World twice during my youth. I remember begging my father in the late eighties to purchase a Goofy hat that was fairly expensive and him succumbing to my poor puppy dog eyes. Those family trips we took to Disney World are priceless to me and nothing will ever take them away.
I returned to Disney World as an adult in 2004 with two children from an unsuccessful marriage and my girlfriend who is now my wife. The cost of the trip was somewhere between the cost of $1800 and $2400 including a few bells and whistles. We decided to surprise the children by waking them up in the middle of night and telling them we were headed to Disney World via the airport. Quite an exciting event since they had never flown before.
The trip was absolutely awesome other than the fact that it rained everyday around 3:00pm with a significant temperature drop until the next day. That didn’t stop us from having the time of our lives. Disney World was still fairly priced and you received a bang for your buck. The dining plan was still fairly priced and it included everything from snacks, sodas, and restaurants if you took the time to make reservations in advance. When I say restaurants, I mean all the restaurants except Chef Mickeys which was worth the additional cost.
I remember standing there at the age of 28 caught up in the hoopla watching the fireworks go off at Magic Kingdom one night deciding that I was daring enough to dream a dream. I was amazed with Disney World and wanted to buy some stock when I returned home. I didn’t unfortunately because it only cost $30.00 a share back then. It now goes for $140 a share. My loss is someone else’s gain I guess.
We are going to jump forward now to year 2020 with me disenfranchised with Disney World and this is why. The theme park has lost its way and is being led by greedy corporate America and not Walt Disney’s dream. The cost to visit Disney has more than doubled and this does not include any bells and whistles. It doesn’t even include a meal plan. It’s gotten so bad that Disney heiress Abigail Disney came forward and voiced her dissatisfaction with the direction that the Walt Disney executives have chosen.
While planning our next trip, we agreed to forego the meal plan because it is just too expensive and we will pack sandwiches instead. I then mentioned drinks and she told me what the budget was for refreshments. I looked at her like she was crazy as she informed me that the sodas were over $4 a bottle. At this point I said WTF and that I was done with Disney World. Somehow in less than 20 years I went from eating steak dinners with grilled tuna appetizers to tuna fish sandwiches and bottle water for double the price. Something is very wrong here.
Walt Disney World at some point will be brought back to reality when they lose their most loyal fans. Disney was built upon the American dream and it feels like they have turned their backs on hard working middle class American families. They are more intent in bringing in travelers from abroad who are willing to pay a higher price to visit Disney World. Their share price currently is phenomenal, but I suggest this will change over time because I am a true believer in supply in demand. But this demand won’t stop until people like me put their feet down, refuse to give Disney World another dime and spend their hard earned money elsewhere.
