Well, it's an interesting year...

I can't say that it's a bad year, but it has been challenging so far. Slightly not as easy to stay ahead of the game, but it is not as easy as past years. It does demand discipline, and attention, and frugality, to an extent.
It does seem that everyone that you would normally owe money to, wants more money. Insurance companies, Utility comapnies, general services...as in food, clothing, etc. It does take some attention to keep ahead.
I am still managing to save, invest, and have that emergency fund, but all of those listed above are grabbing for it. You just have to pay greater attention to what you are spending, and stay a step ahead. So how do I do it???

Let's think about it. What are you trying in times like this. I will tell you what I am doing.
1: Looking for the best investments.
2: Saving that money in accounts. No matter what.
3: That includes keeping money in that emergency fund! That's a must.
4: Eating at home, and getting deals on that at the store.
So far I really haven't had to cut back too much on the normal spending, but it is different. Different brands, different buying times, and amounts. Just kind of moving the needed buying times around, and finding ways to get money back on that necessary buying, like a cash back credit card. I pay it off every month, but in the past I would not have put anything on a card, but now it makes sense because I use that cash back to go towards paying the bill. That seems like a win/win. It seems like I am staying ahead, but those bill collectors are pretty greedy.

So how are you doing? Is it easier, about the same, or a little bit of a struggle? Be sure to let me know in the comments. I am interested.
I think that keeping money for you is mandatory, after all, who are you working for?

Hoping for a Good New Year!

How do you feel about 2025?
For me it's feeling hopeful, different, enthused, gratifying, doable, and positive so far, and I am actively working to keep it going. I began the year looking for discounts that I might be entitled to, such in the gas bill for the home (which I did get), a free energy audit also for the home that may also include money to help with improvements. I learned that I could get a discount on the internet bill, but that won't come until June. A increase in salary, which never hurts.

Second, I had 2 Bank CD'S come due in one week, then another came due 1 week later. I decided to combine them all into one large CD since the rates have gotten a little smaller than they were last year. I like CD's because they are not risky like other things that I could be investing in. I was very happy with how they all did last year, and combining them into one will help with the .9% loss in interest rates.

Third, I now have a stock portfolio. I have always been adverse to doing that because I knew nothing about stocks, but with the help of Robinhood I now have one. It's just starting out, but it has already earned money in just the first few days, so I'm hopeful.
I let them pick out the stocks, based on my fears, and they are doing well so far. They gave me free money to pick a stock when I signed up, and out of those I picked Amazon, because we all buy from them, so I figured it would be a good one. I am happy to say that it is also doing well!
I will soon be adding more money to that as well. I feel much better, and not as afraid of stocks anymore.

Fourth, and last. I am not one for making New Year's Resolutions, but I had been thinking about eating better for awhile, and I have started on that path. My diet wasn't horrible, but there was a lot of sugar in there in the way of snacks.
We all know that better food choices will help with health problems, which luckily I haven't had any major problems, I know the foods I picked will also help with the minor problems.
What did I pick? More salads, healthy crackers, and humus (which I have never had before), fruits, raisins, healither breads, and so far they are serving me well. I am not as sad about missing the Oreo's, and other cookies, and candies. I will also be adding more fish.
In closing, I don't know if any of this will help you, but I can tell you that it all makes me very happy, and hopeful for the year to come. It may not all turn out roses, but I have done what I could to give it a good start, and that goes a long way to making things better.
So, with all of that said, How are you doing in this New Year? I hope that you will find a little inspiration in the reading of this, because if I can do it, so can you!

Strange Happenings in the Old Haunted House

I thought I would share another occurance that happened in the Old Haunted House.
Take a look at the short YouTube Video HERE.

Who's ready for Christmas!

It's a wonderful time of the year, if only you let it be. Sure we all have other things going on, but if you give it a chance, the Christmas Spirit will come visit you too. Doesn't making someone else happy make you feel happy too? Too many, I see, are only concerned whith themselves, and what would they would get out of something, and have forgotten to look outwards.

Try decorating for a start. I see so many people who actually do nothing because they are not "in the mood", but what if they did... What would be the reactions from neighbors, and the kids when they see your house all decorated? Wouldn't their joy then trasnfer into you?
If you give it a chance, you might make yourself happy too, and admit it, everybody likes to see holiday decorations. Especially your neighbors.

We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

What do the Spirits see when they come to visit your House?

Kids love Halloween, and Halloween decorations, and so do many adults...So wo don't want to be one of those neighbors who disappoint!
I will never understand those who do not decorate for the holidays. Especially when there is a chance that you make others happy.

I do like decorating for the Holidays, and I believe so do those who see it. I always encourage others to do the same, and keep the neighborhoods family oriented.

Is it an Spirit Orb, or a Bug in the Basement? Paranormal Short

Captured from one of the basement cams a couple of days ago. It's in front of the creepy wall opening down there. What do you think?

Decorating for Halloween in the Old Haunted House

To many, Halloween is the second most fun holiday of the year. To some it is number 1.
I do like decorating for both, and then some, and this video shares some of my most favorite scenes in the Old Haunted House.
Maybe you can find a little spooky inspiration for yourself in this video, and let me know in the comments.

Spirit(s) in the Room? A Haunting

Every now and then something in the corner of the bedroom bothers the dog, and not just this dog, but also my past dog. At times both found something in that same corner that disturbed them. Take a look, and see for yourself.
A few seconds into the video you will see the dog looking at something, and an orb passes by.

You can find the live ghost cams at dddavids GhostCams Live 365 Days A Year.

Live from the Library in the old Haunted House!

For a few hours we streamed Live from the Library of the Old Haunted House to see what we could capture. You are more than welcome to report your findings too.

The Ghost are real. The Videos in this paranormal vlog are from Real Live webcams (Ghost Cams) set up in a 100+ year old Victorian Haunted House, for the purpose of capturing evidence of a haunting, of spirits, of the afterlife, of the paranormal. The public is encouraged to view, and post captures, and experiences of events in the Facebook Site. You may also repost and share the photos you capture with your other favorite Ghost Hunting sites. The cams run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

dddavidsGhostCams In Search of Puppy Spirits

As many of you know, my Boston Terrier Wesley passed away in late December of 2020. This video is being made in hopes of contacting him, Maxwell, my other Boston Terrier, or even possibly Adam, my Cocker Spaniel from days gone by. If you watch closely, I did get some orbs, and streaks of light passing by, especially when talking about them, so I take that as a positive sign they are still around, at least occasionally. Let me know what you think, and/or saw in the comments. Oddly enough, all were 12 years old when they passed away.

The Ghost are real. The Videos in this paranormal vlog are from Real Live webcams (Ghost Cams) set up in a 100+ year old Victorian Haunted House, for the purpose of capturing evidence of a haunting, of spirits, of the afterlife, of the paranormal. The public is encouraged to view, and post captures, and experiences of events on the Facebook Page. You may also re-post and share the photos you capture with your other favorite Ghost Hunting sites. The cams run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

Feng Shui, and Healing Protective Crystals Can Improve Your Life

For whatever reason, at the beginning of this year things seemed to be going into a negative place, so I took charge, and brought back Feng Shui, and healing, protective Crystals back into my home, and life. I can tell you that it has improved my situation, outlook, and mental well being.

Some of my favorite objects.

 

The Plague Doctor Today we are going to add another bit of Gothic Decor...

Another quick and easy craft to make for the front porch, or anywhere in the home!

Adding a little more Gothic Decor to the Front Porch. I thought the Plague Doctor would be very fitting. It's very easy to make, and takes very little time to do.Please "like", and subscribe if you have not already. Everyone counts!

Hello again from the Haunted Basement. In Search of the Paranormal

In this video you are left by yourself to go ghost hunting in the basement. After about a half hour I left for work, and didn't get back until the very end of the video to turn it off, so whatever you saw, or heard was not me.

As always, Thank You for watching, and please come back for more!

Trick or Treat The Live Ghost Cams get Visitors

How could I have forgotten to post the Halloween Trick or Treat cam captures? Better late than never, and not so far off from Halloween 2020. I wonder what that will be like.

Attack of the Creepy Crawler!

Just one of the weird night captures from one of the webcams.

Feng Shui, Geopathic Stress, and me...and you.

This year I have been revisiting the ancient art of Feng Shui. If I remember correctly, I practiced this as best I could before I bought my home, and when I got my home, I set it up with what I remember to be good things in good places, but with time I have gotten a little distracted from the practice.
You too, may be looking to get a little more control, and order into your life. A cleaner, less cluttered happier home sounds good to most everyone, right? Well, let's do that!

What made me wish, need, and/or feel that I needed to get back into it was what I saw going on in my neighborhood, which in a nutshell, has been negative in nature. My neighborhood seemed sick. I thought it best that I should "protect" my home, and well being, and so I have begun, once again, reading, studying, and buying, or making things for this purpose. During this time I also learned about Geopathic Stress, which is a distorted or disrupted electromagnetic field of the Earth (Schumann Resonance / Waves). While there are positive stress lines, so too there are not so positive lines. Some people think that vibrations rising up out of the earth can cause negative happenings, and emotions. What I am now attempting to do it learn how to identify the bad Geopathic Stress areas outside of the house. I am not too good with dowsing rods as of today...

The remedy I am going to use (besides the Feng Shui, and Crystals) is made out of copper. A copper pipe driven into the ground, to be exact, so as to turn the identified black negative line into a more harmonious white line. Copper is a conductive material and is cut to length to resonate with the particular frequency of the Geopathic Stress being remedied. They say the results from clearing Geopathic Stress are instant, providing quick relief for those who have lived with the effects of Geopathic Stress for some time. As I believe my neighborhood has. It will be my yard that I will be looking for stress lines in, but I am hoping this will, in turn, have a positive effect on the whole neighborhood. Fingers crossed. This can also be done inside the home, and I have already done this, as best I could. Weather permitting, I will soon be outside to see what I can find.

Between the re-visiting of Feng Shui, placing of Healing Crystals, and identifying the Geopathic Stress areas in the house I actually do feel better. I have also been attempting to rid the house of some clutter, and unused things, as well as clean it (another basic Feng Shui principle). While reading about Feng Shui, I can tell you, it is very easy to get caught up in all of the Chinese protective statues, and such, but I am going to do my best to stay with the basics of color, earth elements, keeping tidy, and clean, and simple.

I am also determined to help the neighborhood get better, for everyone's sake. According to some Feng Shui practitioners I could just as easily place a Bagua Mirror on the house to send back the bad energy created out there, but that does not really fix the problem, if you are looking for a harmonious neighborhood. So I will be using other cures outside this year. Things like a Mirror Ball, wind chimes, and a whirligig strategically placed in the yard. Objects with Movement like Mobiles, colorful flags and “wind-dancers” activate Chi energy in a beautiful, mesmerizing way.

In the house, as you can see from the photos are different rooms that I have been working on. In most of these I have added things I think will help the neighbors, and more, also. It could be something happy hanging in the window, nice new curtains, or crystals. You can hang a clear faceted crystal in your window to attract the sparkle of the sun and its full color spectrum into your space.
Crystals from the earth such as quartz or amethyst are an important source of Earth energy that bring a sense of groundedness to your life. You can read more about Healing Crystals HERE.
If you are looking for a new beginning I would have to say, start with cleaning, and de-cluttering. Then get a compass, and follow the map at the top of this post (it is helpful to print it out), and look for the colors, and earth elements you can add to that specific area of the room. You only need a little item, not cover the entire area with it.

Today I cleaned out from under my bed (in Feng Shui it is very bad to have things under the bed). Feng Shui would like the area under your bed to be completely clear so Chi energy can circulate and nourish you as you sleep, so all of my shoes now have a new home. As you can see, it is very sensible advise, things under the bed gather dust, and dirt, and that is not healthy, neither is a dirty house. Clutter in the home does not make us feel good either. So it is probably time to get to work on living a better life, and include those around you in the neighborhood (even if you would rather not). Positive attracts positive. Believe me, I am doing my best to live these words.

At this point in the journey, I can let you know that I do feel better. If I have accomplished nothing else, the house is all clean, and straightened up. I gave a lot of unused clothing to charity, threw away thing I have not used for a long time, including broken things. I have also made the house look a little brighter, and happier.
Remember: With every Feng Shui Chi adjustment, your Intention gives them their power. Place the objects with your intentions firmly in mind to do the best job of anchoring or activating the blessings of Chi energy in your life. I hope this helps you too. Let me know in the comments.

Basement Ghost? A few of the Spirits Captures on Video.

Just a few of the strange occurrences, and ghostly happenings captured on the webcams set up in the old Haunted House.


Please check out all of the Videos, and Subscribe for more!

The Real Haunting, and History of the Octagon House. Ghost Stories, and ...

The Octagon House, Washington D.C.

The Octagon House, built between 1798 and 1800, was designed by Dr. William Thornton, the architect of the U.S. Capitol, and completed by the year 1800. Colonel John Tayloe, for whom the house was built, owned Mt. Airy plantation, located approximately 100 miles south of Washington in Richmond County, Virginia.

Tayloe was reputed to be the richest Virginian plantation owner of his time, and built the house in Washington at the suggestion of George Washington.

In 1814, Colonel Tayloe offered the use of his home to President and Mrs. Madison for a temporary "Executive Mansion" after the burning of the White House by the British.

Colonel Tayloe and his wife Ann Ogle had fifteen children and two would die on these stairs. These two daughters both apparently were in love with inappropriate men (one was even a British officer!) and after quarrelling with their father, both fell from the stairs to their death.

Their deaths were years apart but the similarities in their accidents could lead one to believe that Tayloe went to an early grave not out of grief, but from guilt.

Dolly Madison, is a very popular ghost in Washington D.C.; she has the most hauntings attributed to her in the whole District! How Mrs. Madison came to the Octagon is just another example of the significance of the Octagon in its early days. After the burning of Washington and the Madison’s flight from the city, the presidential couple needed a place to stay while the White House was being rebuilt.

Colonel Tayloe offered them the Octagon and the Madison’s graciously accepted. In was in the second floor circular room that Dolly Madison held many of her famous soirees and balls in the residence. Her lingering presence is detected in the smell of lavender in the house, Dolly Madison’s favorite perfume.

After the Madisons vacated the Octagon and the Tayloes passed on, the house was used as a boarding house and for government offices. It was during this period that the Octagon gained its fourth ghost, the ghost of a gambler who had rooms on the third floor. The man was a notorious cheat and was shot and killed in a card game. The story goes that as he fell to the floor, he tried to keep himself upright by grapping onto a bell rope. It didn’t work. That final bell can still be heard occasionally.

The oldest of the Octagon’s ghost legends is that of the mysterious ringing of the servant’s call bells, just one of the legends linked to the African American slaves who once lived there. When the house held bells to summon servants, the spirits of the dead slaves would announce their presence by ringing these bells loudly. The ghostly bell ringing is believed to have first occurred in the mid-1800s.

Virginia Tayloe Lewis, a granddaughter of John Tayloe III, grew up in the house and recorded this family memory in an unpublished manuscript: "The bells rang for a long time after my Grandfather Tayloe’s death, and every one said that the house was haunted; the wires were cut and still they rang… Our dining room servant would come upstairs to ask if anyone rang the bell, and no one had.

The Haunting of Volo, H Wallace Gale Died in the Civil War, and then He...

H. Wallace Gale (1842 - 1863) he was 21 years old.

Son of Gardner Gale and Louisa Williams Gale
H. Wallace Gale served as a soldier in the Civil War, and is said to still be walking the grounds around the Volo Antique Mall. Experiences of guests and workers have happened so often, that Discovery Channel’s now ended Ghost Lab had decided to investigate the claims.




Soldier Details:
Historic Volo Cemetery
Wauconda Twp, Lake County, Illinois
Tombstone inscription: Inscription:
Co. D 92 Reg. Illinois Vol.
Burial:
Volo Cemetery, Wauconda, Lake County Illinois, USA
Gale , H. Wallace
Battle Unit Name:
92nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry
Side:
Union
Company: D
The 92nd Regiment, Illinois Infantry was organized at Rockford, Illinois, and mustered in September 4, 1862. It mustered out at Concord, North Carolina, June 21, and discharged at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1865
Soldier's Rank In:
Private
Soldier's Rank Out:
Private
Alternate name: H. W./Gale

As you walk toward the grave of Civil War soldier Wallace H. Gale at the Volo Cemetery, you just may feel a burst of cold wind.
Wallace Gale it is said haunts the Volo Antique Mall, which is right next to the Volo Cemetery.
The building that houses the mall is owned by the Grams family and once was a dairy barn built in 1848 by the Gale family. Wallace Gale, who grew up on the property in an old farmhouse next door to the barn, starved to death in Tennessee while serving in the Civil War.
His body was returned to the homestead for burial, and you can see the tombstone from a window in the antique mall.

Over the years, mall visitors have reported seeing a young boy staring at them from outside the window on the fourth floor. Others claim to have seen perfume bottles floating in the air, and images of a soldier.
The family, employees and visitors to the mall kept their allegedly haunted grounds a bit of a secret, until the Discovery Channel — which hosted the now-canceled television show "Ghost Lab" — learned about it.

According to the show, a shadowy figure was captured on film sitting on some furniture inside the mall. The shadowy figure, some say, was the ghost of Wallace H. Gale.
Televised in November 2009, the show prompted more guests, workers and the family to come forward with more ghost stories and, since then, mall visitors have sent in photos and stories about creepy experiences, mostly at the mall or the grounds nearby, including stories of white dogs walking through mirrors, dolls found in strange places and a boy peering through the fourth-floor window — from the outside.
The Original Dairy Farm, and Farm House

What happened to the Frog Boys of Mount Waryong, A Unsolved Mystery

We have a strange, sad, and unsolved true mystery for you today. It is a mystery about 5 boys, and what happened to them. They are known as the Frog Boys.

The story begins when boys decided to spend the day catching frogs in the streams of Mount Waryong, South Korea, on March 26, 1991. It was a national holiday so they didn’t have to go to school. They never returned to their homes. Their remains were found 11 years later in September of 2002.
A massive manhunt followed after the boys didn’t come home. National newscasts kept the country up to date. Volunteers joined police to help try and find the boys. Over 8 million flyers were distributed all over the country, and a reward of 42 million won ($35,000) was promised to anybody who could locate the boys. Some of the Frog Boys’ parents became so determined to find their sons that they quit their jobs so they could devote all of their time to searching.

Authorities received over 550 false leads, and at one point, a man called the police and lied that he abducted the Frog Boys. “I have kidnapped the boys for an exchange of ransom, and they’re dying of malnutrition,” he said in one of the phone calls.
The area where they were said to go, Mount Waryong, was searched many times, and yet it is exactly there, that they were found. The children were found in an area they knew well. They were only 3.5 kilometers away from their homes.
The case went nowhere until September 26, 2002, when a man looking for acorns in Mount Waryong found scattered pieces of children’s shoes and clothing. He called the police, and after they searched the mountainside, found all five bodies of the Frog Boys in a shallow pit. At first, the police suspected that the boys had froze to death. It was cold and rainy the day they went missing, and the boys might have gotten lost. The fact that their bodies were so close together might have been because they tried huddling for warmth.

Though it cannot be proved that the boys were murdered exactly where they were found. It cannot be prove that their remains were not hidden somewhere else first. It cannot even be proved that they were all killed at once in one violent session, or that they were killed one by one over a period of time. The number of people involved is unknown.
They were found in a huddling position. Maybe to mislead police? The huddling position did make them think at first that the boys got lost and died together of hypothermia.
The five boys were laid to rest on March 25, 2004. Their families donated their skulls to medical science for research and maybe too in hopes to find out more about the trauma to their children’s skulls.

Experts found two bullet holes in one child’s skull. Three of the five skulls had blunt-force trauma. It is possible that they were hit unconscious with an object like a tool. What kind of object/tool, who wielded it, and why, that is the mystery.
“The three skulls were caved in and showed a number of sharp cracks and holes, the investigators said.”
Police found a 5cm long loaded shell and two 1cm long empty shells near the scene. They sent them to a lab to find out if they are related to this case.

Some questioned why the boys had taken off their clothes. It is very hard to have a definitive answer as to whether the boys willingly undressed themselves or whether they were forced to. No further developments have taken place since the boys autopsy in 2002.
According to then-South Korean Law, the statute of limitations expired 15 years after the crime so in 2006, this meant that even if the prosecution found answers they could not bring a suspect to trial. In 2015 however, South Korea removed that obstacle paving the way for further investigations in infamous cold cases.
During the investigation, police followed many leads and tips. Some were obviously false, some reported sightings, and some people even confessed. Police began an investigation into a call made to a daily newspaper a day before the bodies were found. The paper reported that a man said “You will find remains of the five frog boys in Mt. Waryong.” This man gave the location before the remains were found.

Did the boys accidently stumble upon someone who killed them. Meaning, was it random murder? Was it premeditated murder? Where is the person, or persons now? To date we do not know.
Rest In Peace: U Cheol-won (13), Jo Ho-yeon (12), Kim Yeong-gyu (11), Park Chan-in (10), and Kim Jong-sik (9)