Oh! So that's what I've got here in north Georgia! The past 2 years they've been hibernating inside the metal track part of one of my windows and a couple of dozen usually find their way inside. And the other week one landed on me outside and I tried to gently move it off to a plant and that little stinker BIT me! I'd never known of ladybugs biting anyone and it was certainly the 1st time it happened to me! It HURT too! I had to get out the Benadryl spray to make it stop stinging. So is there a way to tell the difference between this biter and the ones we mean when we say "ladybugs"? Thanks!

Hi Pal! I'm lousy at remembering birthdays, etc. What I did was buy a daily planner book where you can see the whole month at a glance and write down events. I had to do this and I keep it on my coffee table. I write birthdays in red ink. I forgot my new DIL's bday once and can I tell you how bad I felt? Other than her not supporting your relationship w/your partner, it sounds like you two are friends and you want to keep it that way. I know you're not seeking advice, but I think you need to pull her aside and tell her, "Sorry about my snarky email, but you know I'm lousy at remembering birthdays, but I did think of you." Maybe she'll apologize for her petty email too. I don't expect a party for my birthday, but I do expect to be remembered by those close to me, just as they are remembered. My family and friends are big on sending cards, and IMO, they are such a treat to get in the mail! Nobody is doing it because they're obligated either. Another thought, some of us and maybe your friend also, had birthday parties growing up, and a LOT of them. I had several surprise parties, the last being a teen. So as we grow older we still want the world to stop on that day. lol. And when it doesn't, well it's kind of depressing, even though we know that is how life is as we get older. Even if your friend said that in jest, she was still wrong to do it. She should know by now you are bad at remembering birthdays. To keep the harmony between you, I'd remind her. Oh, and next year don't buy her a Halmark card, buy her a Papyrus card. :) That will make her shut-up.

I guess I tend to be on the "spirit sensitive" side and have encountered all sorts of activity. The earliest I remember was when I was 4 or 5, on Christmas Eve at my grandmother's old house. The room seemed full of people rustling and whispering and one woman even sat on the bed and sort of "petted" me. I stormed into the living room where the grownups were and complained that "the people" were keeping me from falling asleep and that they would ruin everything because Santa wouldn't come if I were awake. Of course, the grown-ups chuckled and advised me to go back to bed. It was quiet when I returned and I learned later that Grandmother's house had been the town funeral home and that my room was where the bodies were laid out for viewing. Visitation, indeed! As a teenager, I saw a young girl in that room with her back to me, who seemed to be unaware I was watching her. Suddenly, and I mean so fast it wasn't human, she whirled around and rushed up to me, glaring and then glided through the closet door. Yikes! Note to self: don't sneak up on ghosts. They don't like being spied upon. I lived alone in an old apartment with a disagreeable, mischievous spirit. In the sunroom, I would tie all the matchstick blinds the same length and come in the next day to find they had been rolled up and down at different heights, all re-tied. Things were always disappearing and reappearing in other locations, if at all. A friend of mine named the ghost "Lucinda Huggins" to sort of keep things light while I tried to be patient with the tricks and mild hostility I was sensing. I pretty much let Lucinda have the sun room--it got too uncomfortable to hang out in there. One time I did a calligraphy project for a friend's birthday and I left it out to dry overnight before erasing the lines. The next morning, I found that Lucinda had poured ink over the whole project and screwed the lid of the ink bottle back on. Dang! After I left that place, I was chatting with a client and learned she had lived in that same apartment. She looked at me strangely, "So....did you have any encounters with the.... little spirit?" The next old house I moved to (it would probably be helpful if I didn't keep living in old houses, lol) was full of action, all mostly harmless. There was "someone" in the living room but he/she seemed warm and inviting to me. The most active "The Boot Ghost" who walked up and down the upstairs hall very loudly. Never saw anyone, but it was nerve-wracking when you were alone downstairs wondering if it was the sound of an intruder. Then there was the "Squeezing Ghost" which was like the Old Hag Phenomenon. You'd just about drift to sleep when suddenly you were being hugged tightly by something dark and awful and...knowing. Terrifying. Got me twice and my husband 3 times, one of which he found his feet being lifted. We moved from there to a 100-year-old house around the corner and I keep my antennae pricked for any presences and there are none. Like kframe19, it feels so odd and lonely! Been here for 7 years and the only strange activity seems to be a ghost cat, which will rub against your legs if you're sitting at a table and jumps on the bed and walks across you. Infrequently I'll see a little cat-sized shadow pass by a doorway. But that's it.

Can somebody hand me a towel? I'm drooling puddles on the tabletop here. This house is a-freakin-mazing. Unpainted original woodwork? Original light fixtures in storage? Intact built-ins? Be still my beating heart! Where I live, in its current condition that sucker would be priced at a quarter mil. Fully restored? Half a mil easy and probably three-quarters if in a desirable location. Without being able to see more of the exterior structure I'm not sure I could label it as a certain subtype of bungalow (and it's quite big for a bungalow, too) but I wouldn't tag it as a Tudor by a longshot... there are so many different influences that my instinct is simply to call it "Arts & Crafts" and leave it at that. (I'd have no problems with a haunted house, either. I get on well with ghosts - have had one before - and hang about with a passel of psychics and clergy of various flavors anyway.) That bathroom with the green plaid wallpaper above the tile is just begginging for a Bradbury, Trustworth, or Carole Mead frieze. Mmmm... (Did you know that Vandykes.com has vintage-style medicine cabinet kits that will coordinate nicely with that style of woodwork?) Re: the servants' bathroom, is that painted tile or scored plaster? If you decide to pull out that mini tub, either keep it with the house (goodness knows you have enough basement space to store it) or sell it, don't just pitch it - those are VERY hard to find! I'm guessing that's a 4-footer or perhaps even a 3 1/2 foot? A new 48" cast iron clawfoot runs about $1300 plus freight. 42" ones are almost impossible to find. The three sinks in the basement are very interesting, considering that a family of that economic stature would have been able to afford a gas or electric washing machine (and would have been mighty proud of it too!). I wonder if someone had a hobby that required multiple sinks - is there evidence that the spot it's in was ever used as a darkroom, perhaps? It looks like probably only the center set of taps is original. If I were physically able, I would grab a house like this in a split second. It is absolutely one of the loveliest houses I have seen for a long time, the "bones" are impressive and comparatively little has been done to screw it up! (There is little as pathetic as a thwarted old-house nut, except maybe a dogless dog person.) As for the mortgage, what about a FHA 203(k) rehabilitation loan?