A curse upon us

When Colt and I first moved into a current apartment, which in actuality is an old...old house fixed to be split into two apartments in downtown Boise, Colt immediately went exploring. Now I must preface that we love older homes. The character they have and the unusual-ness that we encounter with them. Granted, living in older homes comes with its drawbacks. For example, our cold water faucet runs (yes there are seperate faucets for hot and cold), and we cannot get it to stop without turning off the water beneath the sink. The shower periodically becomes extremely hot for a short period and then returns to normal. And of course the possibility that something crazy happened in this exact place many years ago! All small adventures we endure to live downtown and in a unique place.

Colt went exploring and found the entrance to the upper part of the house, which for apartment purposes has been boarded up. I stayed behind because my pregnant state prevented me from climbing up the hole in the ceiling and hoisting myself into an unkown, unstable upper section of an old house. He came back with tales of a devil worshipping room/"black mass room" and other unsettling markings. A couple days later I woke up went out of our bedroom on my way to the kitchen and I stopped in my tracks facing a creepy picture strategically placed by my husband so that I would see it. It was an old class photo presumably in the 80's of an all girl class at a private school - because every child had a catholic type of plaid skirt and blouse uniform. It was faded and dirty. The photo in combination with what was found in the upper part of the house, I can only conclude one thing; One of the girls in the photo was murdered by her classmates in the upper part of the house. Others came and tried to contact the disturbed spirit of this girl through demonic means.

Take a look at the photos of the sealed and cursed rooms in the upper part of the house:

"Seance Candle"

Do Not Enter the "Door to HELL"

"Black Mass Room"

Now that Colt has opened the sealed part of the house, the girl's troubled spirit now haunts us - Its good that we are friendly to the disembodied residents of our home, well we like to think so.

Anyone else have a Ghost adventure or experience with the paranormal??

Transitions...not so easy

Colt and I have had Cash in our home for 2 weeks now. We thought we were adjusting just fine. I was getting up during the night to do feedings (Colt helping out where he could), taking turns changing diapers and hanging out, etc...but today we had a hard dose of reality. Colt went back to school yesterday and is gone every day now. I get to stay home but I realize how much I relied on the company of him and his assistance. Colt came home today exhausted, the lack of consistent sleep has caught up to him and I have been overwhelmed with being alone and having only Cash to watch over. I never thought not working would affect me the way it has. I guess since I have been working, having a job all of my life, being on maternity leave now is totally new and somewhat unnerving.

Aside from figuring out our daily schedules, I realize that there is still so much to learn. You just hope that you are doing the right things and pray that your child is happy. It is overwhelming and scary and confidence goes out the window. Then there is that moment when you look at your child and realize he is so amazing and then you think maybe it is all worth it.

Perhaps this is how parenting is. You think you have the hang of it and then BAM! your confidence is shaken to the core and you question everything...until you realize that you are maybe not as terrible as you think you are. I must say it is an adventure but one I am happy to be on.

Calvin Cash Crane is by far the cutest baby ever...

So, it has finally happened! Cash came as an early Christmas present to his mom and dad, considering that Michelle's due date wasn't until January 3, but Cash just couldn't wait to be born. I think he wanted to open some presents himself on Christmas morning! Our baby boy was born on December 20, 2009 at 11:42 p.m. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 inches in length with a pretty glorious head of auburn-colored hair.

Sunday afternoon on December 20, Michelle began having contractions less than 5 minutes apart and so we decided to go to the hospital just to be safe. We expected them to send us right back home, but Michelle had gone into natural labor and was admitted around 3:00 p.m.

At 11:42 later that night, little Cash came into our lives after about 10 hours of labor. Michelle had a perfect delivery and we feel blessed to have such a precious boy in our family. We stayed in the hospital for the next two days and were able to come home Tuesday afternoon. Kota has been very curious about his new friend but is being a very good dog and not getting too jealous.

Cash sleeps alot and I've noticed that he tends to sleep like me: with his right arm above his head and his left arm across his chest. It has been a very humbling and spiritually uplifting week for us and I can honestly say that I have never been so tired and so happy at the same time!

Michelle is recovering well and has never looked more beautiful than she does now. We are blessed to share a wonderful love between us and now we have a little boy to share that love with!

Blood, sweat, and tears...and paint

When Colt and I moved into our current rental facility, the 2nd bedroom (which we knew would be our child's room) was more like the Joker's hangout spot where he liked to chillax and get high with his buddies. You know, black light chill zone. Unless we wanted our boy to have seizures and create mayhem in an unknown large city in the future, only to be chased down by some self-righteous vigilante, then we knew we had to change it. We agreed to move in with the stipulation that we could paint that room. Now 5 months later we have finally taken care of that! It is now a calm and soothing, luscious Dandelion green with a subtle creme edging. I, being the expert - born and raised in a professional painter's home (and working my butt off for him), could not be a good assistant besides having the critical eye. But I must say that Colt did a great job! He taped everything off, cleaned the brushes, mixed the paint, let alone actually paint the whole thing...aww my father would be sooo proud! I know that my father will now try to recruit him to "take over the business". That will be two fathers, now, trying to persuade Colt to take over the family businesses.

Colt is such a hard worker, he did our baby's room while going to school and never getting behind on his schoolwork. He also had to endure me nagging him to clean the brushes good and watch the lines on the wall and 'remember 2 coats!' We are very excited to have our little boy come into our lives and this was a big step to make it more realistic...he is actually coming!

Check out the before and after photos....and yes we chose green...and no it was not because we are naming our boy Cash (or was it??)

I'm a good blogger...

So, I last updated this blog last January and now I am just getting around to posting a new thread. I guess you could say that I'm pretty good at this stuff! Anyway, things have been pretty busy for Michelle and I. In just a little under 2 months we will be welcoming our little baby boy (Calvin Cash Crane) into our family and we're getting pretty excited! We've got a baby room full of toys, clothes, and baby paraphanelia that needs to be organized so that we can re-paint the room (the room currently looks as if The Joker used to hang out there...the walls are entirely purple).

Michelle has taken up knitting as a new hobby since she's been pregnant and she's getting pretty good at it. I'm still plugging away at the seemingly endless college career I've been at for years now. However, I recently registered for my final semester and I'm set to finally graduate in the Spring with a degree in Communication/English with a Journalism emphasis and a History minor.

School keeps me pretty busy most of the time, but I'm also writing a book when I have a little spare time. I am no longer writing for BSU's The Arbiter since my semester is pretty full as it is. It is something I miss now and again but I hope to come back to it in the future.

Well, thanks for reading...I know you've got nothing better to do!

Hellooooo! La, la, la...

This is the my first entry (obviously) into the blogging kingdom. Hopefully, it will serve as a starting point for my wife and I to allow others a small glimpse into our life and the things that we enjoy and strive for.

Recently, I've noticed the tremendous amount of family and friends with personal blogs and I thought that it might be fortuitous to attempt to live my life in a manner that might elicit aspects that are pleasing to read about. In reality though, I simply wanted to create something that friends and family would be interested in reading and give something to help them keep up with our lives.

I started school again this semester, and though I am not pleased with the classes I am taking (or not taking, as the case may be) I am happy to understand that I have an opportunity to advance my learning in at least some degree. I've also been asked to serve in a mentoring capacity to a new journalist.

For those who do not know, I have been writing for Boise State University's school newspaper, The Arbiter, for the past three semesters. This will be my fourth semester with that great publication and I am grateful for the experience. I feel honored and humbled to be asked to mentor a new writer and I hope that my experiences might help him realize his potential and hopefully increase his love for the written word. Consequently, if anyone is interested in my articles, you can find them at http://www.arbiteronline.com/. Just search for C. Colt Crane and they should pop right up.

My wife, Michelle, is awesome...that much is apparent. She works hard and is good at her job. I admire her talents and her desire to help others and I hope that I might be as caring as her. Anyway, I hope to continue writing about my thoughts on a frequent and regular basis, but until I can think of more to say...this will have to suffice for now.