Episode 15 • Halloween Special 🎃 👻

[00:00:23] Hey, welcome to Left Leaning Ladies. I'm Whitney. I'm Amy. I'm Lisa. I'm Sasha. And as you can tell, we're in our spooky downstairs bunker for Halloween. So we hope you enjoy this kind of funny episode. I see you got a little friend back there, Lisa.

[00:00:52] Yes, isn't he cute? He's got the same hairdo as my husband. And Meredith, who's your friend? Still a kitty. It's not one of your 10, right? He's cute. I mean, there's so many at this point. I don't even think I'd notice if you had another one. Even if it was a ghost or skeleton cat.

[00:01:21] Over there, just live in the stereotype. Yeah, I do fit the stereotype, but it's fun. Oh my gosh, you just got a new puppy. I did. What's the puppy's name? Her name is Junie Bell. I'm really not a dog person, but she's so cute. It's really not a dog. Yeah, like she's a chihuahua. It's like this big. Yeah. In her little belly.

[00:01:50] I want to hold her. She's so cute. She's already playing with all of the cats. And I'm going to train her to go in the litter box so I don't have to deal with the puppy pads. I was going to say, she's going to think she's a cat. Yeah. Like, I'm just going to raise her as a cat. It's going to be fine. I would think that one of them would have decided that, you know, it's their mom and is in charge and starts bossing it around or something. I mean, it's small enough the cats could boss it around. I mean, she's bossing the cats around.

[00:02:17] Like, they understand that she's kitten-sized, but she smells weird to them. Right. And she's probably a lot louder. I know Chanel has always been around cats. She, all the cats were there when she came. So she constantly is just laying by the cats and she doesn't know any different. So when I bring her to my mom's house, my mom has cats and she's just walking around like nothing's going on. And the cats are like, oh my God, what are you?

[00:02:47] Because she'll make a noise. And I have a new snake. His name is Skeletor and he has a skull-shaped marking on his head. So he's kind of Halloween-y too. And he's a corn snake. I love the name Skeletor. I used to play with Skeletor in Castle Grayskull. That is definitely aging me. I don't even know what that is. I do, actually. I do. Now he's whispering to you.

[00:03:16] You might have to take his arm off of you or he may keep falling upon you. I'm just a hired help. Y'all set this up. I'm just here to talk. He thinks he's main character right now. He wishes he was a left-wing lady. He does. All right, y'all. I'm going to ask you a question to start us off. And then we've got our big skull cauldron here. We're going to get some questions out of it. It should be a fun little Halloween podcast. So I hope you're ready.

[00:03:45] So I have a really interesting question for you. Everyone needs to answer this. You have to spend the night in one of these. A haunted house, an abandoned hospital, a cemetery, or a creepy old forest. What are you choosing, Sasha? Haunted house. She already lives in haunted house. Right. I mean, I'm assuming it still has plumbing. So I'm definitely going wherever the plumbing is. What do you think, Meredith?

[00:04:14] So is it a house that you say is haunted or is it like an artificial haunted house? Because that changes my answer. It's a real haunted house. What does that mean? Are they real ghosts or are they like? It's not the one that you pay to go through for Halloween where they jump out and try to. So I would pick the haunted house because I don't believe in it. There you go. Exactly. There you go. We'll have plumbing. We'll be fine.

[00:04:44] There's some strange thing happening. I was giving her CPR. I think I was giving her CPR. Stay in the life. Stay in the life. She said, what is that mean? I mean, because like a real haunted house, it's like one that's like a real exhibit or like what people claim is real. I just love you so much. Meredith, you're one of a kind. I love it. God bless her. Is that a compliment? Yes. Yes. It is. You're so smart.

[00:05:14] She's like, so technically. I mean, I used to live in one and I never saw anything. So that was just my life. It didn't want to haunt you. No. I think mine's different. What do you think, Chelsa? Where would you live? I would go to a cemetery. You would go to the cemetery? Yes. I mean, I would just. There's no plumbing. If I have to shit all shit in the woods, does a bear shit in a cemetery?

[00:05:44] Does Chelsea piss on a gray cornfield? I've got standards. Can't go without plumbing. What do you think, Amy? Probably. I say that I would want to do the abandoned hospital because that would be really cool. But I'm such a fraidy cat. I'm real big and bold when we go on like ghost tours and stuff. But if I actually like encountered something, I'd probably die.

[00:06:13] I worked in a hospital and when they would have like clothes down the wings and you'd have to like go up there to get something. It was so fucking scary. I would never want to be in a hospital. I got walked out of Memorial Hospital when they shut down for COVID and everything was dark and, you know, the security guards frog marching me out because, well, that's a whole nother story. But anyway, it was really creepy. I actually have a story about this hospital.

[00:06:41] So when my husband was in the hospital, I had to live at St. John's in Springfield. So they did not have a family lounge at all and I had to sleep in the waiting room. And I just kind of made myself a bed. But anyway, they didn't have anywhere for me to shower because none of the rooms had showers at that time. So they took me down to a part of the hospital that was shut down. There was nobody down there.

[00:07:08] It was dark and led me to this bathroom. And it was all pink tiles. And there was a giant clawfoot tub in it. And then the shower stall. And somebody's scrubby was in there. Who a scrubby could that have been? I don't know. Probably what was taking a bath in the bathtub. I swore that I was going to.

[00:07:33] I tried not to look outside of the shower curtain because I was afraid I was going to see like some elderly woman standing there like by the tub dripping wet. It was so scary. Did you get in that tub? Oh, God, no. That's the scariest thing about this whole podcast. Absolutely. God, no. No, because then there would have been an old lady holding me down. It does sound like American Horror Story. It does. Yeah, it does.

[00:08:02] So I assume you throw this up to your husband frequently to show just how much you actually love him. Yeah. You took a shower in the deadly shower. And he should appreciate this forever. Yeah. Absolutely. 100%. Well, I would choose the forest because I think without walls you could get away with, you know, you could get away from things. So I would choose the forest. Have you ever seen the Blair Witch Project? Yes. Or Slenderman. I didn't know. Blair Witch Project. You want to talk about that, Amy?

[00:08:32] Oh, my God. When the Blair Witch Project came out, we went and saw it. And afterwards, I called Whitney and I'm like, I cannot believe that these college kids were killed in this. I just can't believe it, Whitney. This is ridiculous. I just can't believe this happened. It's so scary. Like, every time I hear, like, rocks crumbling, it just terrifies me. And she's like, girl, it's not real. And I'm like, Whitney, it is.

[00:09:01] It was all caught on film. They died. And she's like, girl, the main character is in a Steak and Shake commercial right now. I was like, what? She has always been my voice of reason. That was the funniest thing. I got grounded for ordering it on pay-per-view without parental consent. You must have been really young, though. Yes. And I really thought it was real as well. Yeah. We were in college. We were in college.

[00:09:32] Oh, he's getting handsy over there. She broke his arm. He's not broken? No, he's fine. Well, that was a heck of an arthritic crunch. He's a skeleton. Well, I thought we would go around and choose some fun questions out of the cauldron. And I'm sorry, I didn't have a cauldron for your side. So we'll be doing all of the questioning. But you guys just sit there and look pretty. Yep. As you always do. Oh, God. I'm not going to be able to read this. Can you read it with your young eyes?

[00:10:02] I can't see that at all. Which vampire, ghost, or zombie? Which one are you choosing? Wait. Or the old... Am I hanging out with him? Yeah, in what context? That's my question. Actually, it's Amy's question, but... But now you've got it, so whatever. Now it's mine, so... If you had to make love... Oh, my God.

[00:10:34] Zombie? I should have never given a question. A zombie, a ghost, or a vampire? A witch? Do you want to make love to a witch, a vampire, a ghost, or a zombie? I would say a ghost. I'm going to go vampire. A witch would indicate probably female, so I wouldn't go there. Vampires? I don't like people with weird teeth. Well, shit.

[00:11:03] I do get a lot of shit from my teeth. I can't believe we're friends. Zombies, you know, things fall off of them. Also not good. So we're probably going to have to go ghost. Yeah. I think it could be romantic. If a vampire's not? No, if a vampire's not romantic. He's going to suck your... Have you not seen... In a sexy way. Yeah. In a sexy way. Edward didn't. Edward didn't. Yeah, I'm saying. He stopped himself. You guys are all from that Twilight age. No, no.

[00:11:32] I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was thinking vampire Lestat. Oh, that's... Yeah, that's who I was saying. That's a good job too. From... What is it? True Blood. True Blood. Yeah, Eric True Blood. Eric from True Blood. No. I like him. I'm waiting for him. Definitely a vampire. Meredith, we already know. There's only one option, Meredith. Okay. Well, a ghost could be a woman. It could be a vampire. A vampire could be a woman too. Which if I had to top, ghost if I had to bottom.

[00:12:09] Please move on. I am obsessed with Meredith. Oh my God. You surely have been netting each other. I thought it would be reversed since the hat... The witch hat would have to stay on. Okay, Whitney? You didn't answer. No, I said vampire for sure. So you're making love to a vampire. Heck yeah. I'll stop. Yeah. Oh, okay. We don't answer. All right. Sorry.

[00:12:38] I missed that. I was giggling too much. I'm going to ask a different one. Chelsa done took us over the edge. It doesn't matter what you ask now. I'm impressed you can see that. Yeah, I have my glasses on. We need like an NSFW. Okay. What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? And did you actually finish watching it? Mine is The Grudge. I have a lot of opinions on scary movies. Okay.

[00:13:08] There's different types of scary movies. I think some of the good newer ones, I can finish watching all of them for one. For two, they're mostly just disturbing. But Hereditary, have any of y'all seen that? I've heard of it. So what did you watch? Do you like gore though? Because I don't like gore. I can watch gore, but I'm not really that big of a gore fan. And I'm also really sick and tired of scary movies that are just giant metaphors. I don't know if y'all watch scary movies, but that's like a really big thing right now. Yeah.

[00:13:37] Where the whole movie is like not even real and it's just a metaphor for somebody's like addiction or grief or so on. Yeah. And I want supernatural bullshit. Yeah. Amen. So Hereditary, that's a really good one. Very disturbing. Sinister, the first one. The first one is really good. It's about a demon who haunts this house and he convinces little kids to kill their whole entire families on video. I do love demon movies. I do love demon movies. You do? Yeah.

[00:14:06] Alien movies I think are pretty scary. Like Signs scared the shit out of me. Signs is terrifying. Yeah. I love it, but it scared the shit out of me. I was not scared by that movie and I'm a big baby. I'll tell y'all one that I just watched that is scaring the fuck out of me because it's really so real. You guys already know about it because we talked about it on the signal chat. Oh, oh. Leave the world behind. Oh, that's a good. I don't consider that a scary movie though. Well, it's scary enough for this old lady. No, it is.

[00:14:35] Psychological stuff gets me. Because it could happen. Right. Yeah. Well, they made that movie to make it look like something that would actually happen. I mean, to a T. For sure. If you have not watched that, watch it. What do you think, Lisa? Do you watch scary movies? No. Never? Never. Okay. I watch, as I told you before, my list of movies I haven't seen is ungodly long. I don't watch anything. Documentaries, stuff like that.

[00:15:03] The annual once a year rom-com. The news with Donald Trump is her scary movie. Yeah, for sure. I just, I'm scary enough. Yeah. I just, I don't watch a lot of movies. It's just not a thing I do. Um, I'm mainly disturbed if people throw up. So, like, I've watched, I think, most of the Conjuring films. And I, I'm just disturbed at that one scene where, like, uh, she, that, the woman, the

[00:15:33] Bashzib or whatever her name is, she gets possessed and it makes her puke. And I can't stand that. Um, but gore, I'm just kind of like, eh, you know, maybe, maybe I'm desensitized. I, I don't know. But. Some gore is just so unnecessary. Well, like, like Friday the 13th and, and Nightmare on Elm Street, that stuff wasn't scary to me because it was serial killers, you know, like, but like demons and like The Exorcist was terrifying to me when I was younger.

[00:16:02] Um, Rosemary's Baby, that is an amazing movie. I read the book. So scary. I did read that book. So at least I have some idea what you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. That. There's, there's this book too. It's like kind of a, like a, like a, like a, like a scary book, but it's called The Slob. I got curious because I heard that it, like multiple people have said that it's like the worst thing they've ever read. So I listened to like the audio book and I was like, I don't think I'll ever be the same.

[00:16:33] Don't, don't read it. Wow. Wow. That's a good book recommendation. Not do not. Don't do it. I remember in college, I was reading Rosemary's Baby and I was surrounded by people in a building and it was scaring the crap out of me. Like it was, it's such a good book. My mom said that was playing when she was having my little brother on the TV. Oh my God. I don't know. If he turns out a little weird, we know what scared me was the human centipede.

[00:17:04] I did not watch that. That was bizarre and disturbing. That one's nasty. Yeah. And I don't like gore. Since I had Rosie, I just, I don't know. No way. Necessary murder. I'm not, I'm not a big fan of, especially like women and children or animals. I can't do it. No. Yeah. Not animals. I used to be able to handle more gory movies, but yeah, becoming a mom changes you. It does. What was that movie, Jason? Can you hear me?

[00:17:28] About the, the, the guy who like turned into a fish or something. Tusk. Oh. Did you guys see that? I've heard of that. Oh, don't watch that. Don't watch it. It'll never get out of your head. But I do remember when Paranormal Activity came out. Oh yeah. Okay. So my husband was in, he was deployed, but he had come back from on leave and we went to the movies and then he was leaving the next day. Oh my God.

[00:17:57] And I was, good plan. We did. Cause we're dumb. And so he leaves. I am there by myself for what? Like eight more months. I slept on the couch. Oh my God. I had someone come over and cleanse the house. And I don't even believe in that shit. But I was scared. When the ghost, when the kid, she thinks it's the kid and he's the, he's playing ghost. And then the sheet falls to the floor. I get goosebumps now thinking about it. Yes. That movie was so scary.

[00:18:27] Is that, is that what it was like to grow up? Not quite. Not quite. I didn't know if she would want to talk about it again. And have people go look for her. I'm obsessed with it. All right. I have another question. Are you going to choke again? Best Halloween candy and which can go straight in the trash? Shit.

[00:18:55] Sasha, what's your favorite Halloween candy? Put me on the spot. I like Reese's cups. Reese's. Reese's pieces. Warheads. Ooh. I love a warhead. Those are my favorite. That's making my mouth salivate. Just saying that word. Throw it in the trash. I don't know. Not picky. Well, go ahead, Meredith. Okay. So like S tier would be like the Tootsie Roll pops.

[00:19:20] And then I would say like A tier would be like the Kit Kats and stuff like that. But all the way at the bottom, I would say it's like those weird like caramel things that are weirdly disshaped. And like they're usually in a lot of like really old people's homes. Werther's? The Werther's? Werther's? A yellow wrapper. I love those. I have a whole pack at home. Me too.

[00:19:50] The caramel apple ones. The caramel apple ones. I have the coffee ones. They have like coffee and caramel. I love those too. They're so good. We'll eat like a whole bag. Yeah. I want those cheap, nasty, orange and black wrapped peanut butter kisses things. Because you can't get them anytime other. Yeah, you can get a Kit Kat anytime if you're not too cheap to buy it. But you can't get those good peanut butter kisses. I totally agree with you, Lisa. They're actually happy. They are. And they're like peanut butter.

[00:20:19] And then they got a little like squirt of real peanut butter in the middle. I love those things. I've never had those. I've never had those. I've got to have those away. Now those are you're going to find at some old people's houses. You throw those away. Yeah. I don't like it. I don't like the taste of it. Those are good. Are you guys fans of candy corn? I like candy corn. I love it. With peanuts. If you eat it with peanuts. Yes. With peanuts. They're okay. Oh, it's so good. It tastes good. But I'll eat it just with candy corn. Okay. Yeah. I can see that. That makes perfect sense.

[00:20:45] If you melt candy corn and put it in a nice shallow pan and then you put a bunch of roasted peanuts on top and bake it until it all sticks together, that's really good. Oh my God. You should totally bring that for us to our next. She says you should make that for me. That sounds yummy. I made you some pumpkin bread. You did. Yay. I feel like we've got all the fall feels. Yes. Yes. Chelsea's at home. I made 24. Yeah, we don't believe you. That's why you're over there.

[00:21:15] I don't know what's happening. But I made 24 loaves of pumpkin bread so far this week. Oh, wow. And I got two. Wow. I have more to loaf. I'm going to put on my sweater. Sweat away. Get my cup of coffee. Coffee? That's what I mean. And eat the pumpkin bread. Like a cable-ness sweater. Just the whole loaf. Just the whole loaf. I'll dip it in the can't believe it's not butter.

[00:21:42] You all laugh, but I do have a picture of her eating a whole loaf of bread. We were at an event and there was no food and I was starving. I was like, oh my God, I have to eat something. So I went and bought French bread from this sweet girl and was like gnawing on it. I was so hungry. You got to do what you got to do. No. Hey, no judgment. Sometimes I like to gnaw on a whole loaf of bread. Yeah. If I had oil and pepper. Oh, I should answer this too.

[00:22:08] I like any candy, but I don't like Tootsie Rolls. Oh, I love Tootsie Rolls. Like I like the flavored Tootsies. The Tootie. The Fruities. Tootie Fruities. Yeah. They're like colored. I love those. Those are awesome. Lisa. I love those. Tootsie Rolls taste like harvest season. And Jolly Ranchers are good too. I forgot about Jolly Ranchers. Because every grain elevator in the world has a box of candy for the farmers or the truck drivers that are bringing in a load. Oh, I love that.

[00:22:36] And there's always Tootsie Rolls in those boxes of candy. Oh, I love that. So it always tastes like harvest season to me. That's interesting that your mind just goes straight to that time of year. I can't imagine eating a Tootsie Roll in June. That just wouldn't work. Wow. I feel like the Tootsie Rolls are like when we hand them out at the parades, like the kids are the least happy to get those. They hate them. Yeah. Really? But the adults love them. Yeah. I love them too. Tootsie Rolls. Oh, I did not know that.

[00:23:03] The powers that be in Hillsboro despise them because they say that they're hard to clean off the streets. Yeah. They're smushed down. Wouldn't rain do that? Rain clean it off? Eventually. Not like they're concrete. I love you so much. Rain. They're very particular about their streets in Hillsboro. Apparently. By the way that you drive on them, it wouldn't seem so.

[00:23:32] All right, y'all. Would you spend one night totally alone in a supposedly haunted house for $10,000? Yes. Easily. I already did it. I do it all the time. Yeah. Especially if you guys were there. That would kind of not be totally alone. Oh. Totally alone? One person. Absolutely not. Not one person. I wouldn't either. No? There's no fucking way. I'm not by myself. Hell yes. I've done it.

[00:24:01] For one thing, if I didn't, my God, my husband would probably choke me to death. He's like, if I left $10,000 on the table because you're a big sissy, that wouldn't fly. That's free money to me. Yeah. I would just basically take a book. You'll be fine. I would get. You can phone a friend. Get really stuck. Can we say that? We can say that. Get really stuck. Get really stuck. That's true. Just get really high. I feel like that would make it worse. Not for me. Like 10 times worse. Not for me. It chills me out. No way. I'll eventually fall asleep.

[00:24:30] I'm not going to really spend a night alone in any house by myself, but let alone if something's already happened there. No way. I mean, maybe for $100,000. What if it was a murder house? Obviously, I am a much bigger money grubber than you are. Yeah. I would. There's no way. Oh. I have to do this because she's blind. Oh. Oh. Pumpkin spice. Do you feel it's delicious or overrated? Overrated. I think it's overrated. Overrated. It's good.

[00:25:00] It's overrated, though. Good, but not that good. Yeah. I like it. Well, I'm a basic bitch, and I love pumpkin spice. Me too. And I want more pumpkin spice. I'm an- They even make floor cleaning smells like pumpkin spice. Oh, my gosh. I like my whole house to be pumpkin spice. I'm an apple pie girl. Ooh. Yeah. Oh, see, I'm not an apple pie girl. I like cinnamon. I like cinnamon, too. Okay. I like cinnamon, too. You know the biggest ingredient in pumpkin pie spice is cinnamon. That doesn't shock me.

[00:25:31] That wasn't a little-known fact at all. Shit. I do like the- I get excited when Dairy Queen gets their apple pie- Or I'm sorry, pumpkin pie blizzard. Those are really good. I'm not out of it. It's out. Oh, it's good. But they do have a cinnamon cookie dough, like a brown sugar cinnamon cookie dough blizzard. I was just there. That sounds good. They have it now? Yes. All right. So when you leave here, Staunton Dairy Queen. I don't eat-

[00:26:00] I just don't like those kind of blizzards. No? No. My girls eat, like, that cookie jar and the brownie. I'm like a- I like the banana split. That's all I ever eat. Well, you know you can get a banana split blizzard. What? That's what I get. Oh. The banana split blizzard. They used to have a Hawaiian blizzard and had fruit in it. It's so good. That sounds good. That's one of my favorite blizzards, too. Yeah. All right. What you got? All right. The way she looked over here like-

[00:26:29] I didn't know if it was my turn, but I'm just going for it. Okay. What is your ideal fall night? I feel like we can all relate because it's pretty chilly now. Yeah. So what is your ideal autumn night? Mine is sitting around a campfire with my friends, eating a bowl of chili, my family recipe chili, and just being with my friends. Just letting- I just- I love a campfire. And I love tending to a campfire. I do, too.

[00:26:58] I also love soup on the stove, having the windows open, and watching scary movies. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely campfire. I would say campfire and like- or if you're inside, turning on the electric blanket and just having all the cats flock to you. I actually do not enjoy a campfire at all. I feel bad for my husband because he really likes having the campfire, and I just don't.

[00:27:28] But I would love to just be inside, you know, with warm soup, maybe baking, you know, cookies or something like that, and watching like a really feel-good movie like Hocus Pocus or Practical Magic or something like that. Why do you not like a campfire? I do not like the way that it makes my hair and my clothes smell. I can't do it. And- You can shower afterwards. It's not permanent. So it bothers me so much, though.

[00:27:54] Like, if we do have it, we have to go straight to the washing machine and put our clothes right in it, like, and jump immediately into the shower. Like, it really bothers me. Do you have a very sensitive nose? Yes. Do you? I just shit my pants. Oh, my God. When she coughed. Sometimes my inside thoughts come out.

[00:28:27] You need a self-reflective. Her sweet, sweet salsa. I'm so sorry. I should have stayed home. I should have been at that meeting, maybe, instead of- What meeting? Never. Never mind. Oh. All right. We'll do one more, maybe two more. That's it. Okay, guys. This is fun. This is fun. I kind of like this. Do you decorate for Halloween?

[00:28:55] And if so, are we talking cute pumpkins or full-on haunted house? I love to decorate for Halloween. We start August, and it's amazing. Oh, my God. We have so many giants, and I really like to do our yard. It's amazing. I really, really love to do our yard, and we do it for St. Jude. We do skeletons for St. Jude. So, really, if you're listening to this episode, go to Skeletons for St. Jude and donate, because

[00:29:22] they raise money for the kids of St. Jude, and you just decorate, and you put a sign out, and you raise money. And it's been really fun. We really like to decorate. I mean, you guys go all out. I went over and looked around in your yard one night, and they had just put up another 20-foot skeleton. It's really something to see. And its eyes move, and it talks, and there's multiple things that talk. It's pretty cool. And what is the scarecrow called? A worry crow. Worry crow.

[00:29:52] That thing's terrifying. Yeah, they're all kind of freaky. I really love it, though. Like, it just, every year, I just look forward to that. My birthday is November 1st, so we always used to go out and do something for my birthday. Like, we'd go to a haunted house or something. So, like, this is my favorite time of the year. I love it. Is it your favorite, like, over, like, the holidays? Yeah, I think it's just, like, because it's the beginning of all the holidays and all of that family time.

[00:30:22] We spent so much time at the farm. All the guys were harvesting, but we would have, like, big family dinners and stuff. So, this was just my favorite time of year. Cool. Do you decorate? I do. I do. And I like vintage Halloween decorations a lot. I'm not, like, a cutesy Halloween girl. We do the inside and the outside. I grew up with a mom who went all out for Halloween every single year. So, that's just, like, the norm for us, you know. But I'm not as good at it as she is.

[00:30:53] Since my kids have grown up, I decorate for nothing. I used to, every holiday, you know, we had the dishes, we had the this, we had the lights, we had all that. But I don't do it anymore. It's just not worth it with just two of us at home. Why bother? That's valid. Fair enough. We mainly just carve pumpkins and put them out, but nothing crazy. You're going to get a lot of Halloween trick-or-treaters this year. I know. Like, we might have to step up our game, actually. I do decorate.

[00:31:23] It's amazing. Mostly the inside, but I do put some things out on the porch. But I love decorating the house for every season. And I love changing out the colors. And I don't have as much time as I used to have for all of that. But, yeah, this year I'm, it's always a tradition that I change the colors of my house every year. And so, normally it would be done by this time. But I'm just getting started because we had some other renovations going on.

[00:31:51] So, all my Halloween stuff is out. I just haven't put it out. But, yeah, I have way too much Halloween stuff. Way too much. And you had a Halloween tree, right? Didn't you have a Christmas tree that was decorated? Yeah. That was amazing. Yeah, we do that every year and put Halloween things. Like, I've done, I always, I have to have a theme. Like, I'm a theme girl. So, when. That tracks. Yeah. One year we did, like, New Orleans spooky. Like, you know. That's cool.

[00:32:19] Like the voodoo and all of that stuff. And that was pretty cool. And then one year I did cutesy, like pink. And I, when I was taking the pictures for it, because I also share a lot on social media for home interior and decorating and things like that. I knew when I took the pictures, I'm like, I'm never doing this again. I remember when that was popular. What's your theme this year?

[00:32:44] It's going to be more, like, witchy theme and more, like, going into, like, the rusts and the black and the white. That's what we're doing. So, I have a pilgrim costume if you want me to come and stand. I've been dying to wear it. If anyone needs a pilgrim. I have a hot dog costume. Nice. There will be a protest. There's a protest in Hillsboro on Halloween. Oh. Just saying. Anybody that wanted to show up wearing a costume and having a sign. Knock yourself out.

[00:33:13] I literally, I went to the Edwardsville one dressed as Link from The Legend of Zelda. And some kid that was riding their bike rode by and called me a slur. Wow. Oh, Lord. I was like, eh, you're not wrong. That's what my son wants to be for Halloween this year is Link from The Legend of Zelda. So, where do you fall on costumes? Did you, like, always like to make them or buy them or where do you go on that? We used to dress up. Yeah. I mean, I used to, like, take all the time in the world to sew my own costumes.

[00:33:43] I even went to the emergency room once because I sewed through my finger. So, that was really fun. Yeah, you can't get that shit out, you know, just so you know if you ever sew through your finger. Oh, I definitely sewed through my finger. Wow. Yeah. I love to make Halloween costumes. That was always the greatest part. I could see you making some badass costumes. We had a ball making Halloween costumes. What were some of your favorite ones that you made? Oh, gosh. We've had so many.

[00:34:07] One year, my son was an alien in a spaceship that actually had lights that blinked when he walked. Wow. And all this kind of stuff. One year, he was a Hershey's Kiss. He was the most adorable Hershey's Kiss that ever lived. He was two at the time. Aw. So stinking cute. We've done all the classics. One year, my oldest son was a just disgusting mummy, and he had this giant pencil stuck through his face.

[00:34:35] And it was so gross that his little sister wouldn't walk with him. She's, like, made Daddy walk behind a few blocks because she didn't want to be around that pencil face. Yeah. Aw. So we've done all kinds of crazy ones, but that's always a good time. Did you guys do, like, family costumes? Oh, Lord, no. You never did that? No. Okay. My husband's not a dress-up-in-a-Halloween costume kind of guy. Oh, poor Kyle. He's always honed into it. That's just not. Aw. He's been a wolf. He's been other things, too.

[00:35:04] I can't recall off the top of my head, but. That's a good question, though. Like, what was your favorite Halloween costume ever that you ever dressed up as? Mine was a cow. My stepmom made it, and I was a chubby little girl, and I was dressed as a cow, and I walked in the New Douglas Halloween parade. And I was the best. The best cow there was. When I was little, I was Dorothy Gale, and I had a little basket from The Wizard of Oz. Yeah.

[00:35:31] And these little red slippers, and my mom did my hair. And I had a little stuffed toto that my kids actually still have. It was cute. And then a few years ago, I was Coraline, because I love Coraline. Oh. I love Coraline. And I actually had blue hair, so. We are huge fans of Coraline. Me, too. Me, too. I was a broom once. Wow. I was a broom with a witch riding me. Oh. And the witch's arms did this. That's cool. That's fun.

[00:35:58] My dad was a pretty mechanical guy, so I had some cool ones. That's awesome. Oh. Yeah. Oh, I thought I said. Oh, Link from what? That was your favorite? Oh, yeah. Definitely. Well, growing up as a really tall kid, I think I was Chewbacca. Like, you're shitting me. That's what the boys on the bus called me was Chewbacca.

[00:36:27] Like, they made fun of me and called me Chewbacca, and we go, I can't do it, but you know, you do it. And they're tweeting me voluntarily in Chewbacca. I love that costume. Wow. I do not remember that. Oh, my God. Do you have any pictures? I don't. It's so funny because I was in the 80s. Like, I was like, I think it was that costume for like five, six, and seven, right?

[00:36:54] And so your parents didn't take a lot of pictures of you back then. No, no. So no, I don't think there are any pictures. But as I got older, I do remember like being Princess Leia, my mom, you know, braiding my hair up into the little space buns. That was kind of a cool costume. And then when I was in college is when I really started to like sew my own costumes. And I was always like, you know, a medieval princess or, you know, but it had to be like medieval because I wanted a very intricate costume.

[00:37:24] I've been a beer maid, you know, all the things. I dressed up once. Like, I was like maybe seven. And I really, really wanted to be Charlie Chaplin. But if I took my hat off, I was Hitler. Wait, you were seven? You really wanted to be Charlie? Yes. Because my mom would like play it on the TV. And I don't think anyone's ever said that ever. We're back to a conversation about old parents, aren't we? Yeah. Like, let's see if I can find the picture.

[00:37:53] But I could not take my hat off. Oh, my gosh. If anybody does have pictures, let's put them. We'll stick them in this thing. That's pretty funny. What about you? I am. I love like the Salem witch trials and like stuff like that. That's why I have the pilgrim costume. But I was.

[00:38:21] I've been like a scary, like a scary cheerleader. It was always something gothic. Always something dark and gothic. What were you last year? You dressed up last year, too, didn't you? I don't think so. Yeah, because I didn't go. Oh, well, we that was for the parade that we were suffragettes. No, I know that. I was there for that. Whitney, we were suffragettes. Hold her hand.

[00:38:50] We were together. You went with a different friend somewhere to watch a band. And you dressed up. Oh, I dressed up like I was Maverick from Top Gun. Ooh. Yeah. That was a fun costume. She's like, remember when you went with your other friend? I haven't forgotten. I did get a little, yeah. I picked up on that. I picked up on that. The energy shifted. For sure.

[00:39:21] To be fair, I was invited. I didn't want to go. But I do like her other friend. She's very sweet. I like her. I'm teasing. Weren't we the twins from The Shining one year together? Must have been enough. No, it got me confused for another. I don't think so. Yeah. I wasn't there. I know we dressed up as something together. Because it was up at Tilly's.

[00:39:50] No, that was your other friend. Wow. No. It's like when you, like, remember a memory when it was actually with your ex. Yeah. Like, you got me confused with another bitch. Right, right, right, right, right. Whitney's like, you've got me confused with another bitch. Go play The Shining with someone else. Oh, my gosh. Okay, last question, you guys. Get serious. All right.

[00:40:20] This is a very serious topic. I'm going to put my little baby out for. Oh, okay. This is what a baby would look like if I had a baby ready. I'm not sure if we got it. Oh, we might not be sure. Yeah, yeah. Oh, sorry. That is one cute baby. Very cute baby. Its head is so big for its face. He's adorable. My daughter brought this home. Her grandma that recently passed away was so into Halloween.

[00:40:50] And she bought this little guy for us. Aww. Yeah. He's so creepy for a sentimental story like that. She loved Halloween. All right. You're going to put on your thinking caps for this. What is an experience that may or may not have been paranormal that you experienced when you're just like, what the fuck happened? Something that you can't explain. Okay, I have one. Okay.

[00:41:20] So, when I was young, we lived in my dead aunt's house. And my mom had these boots for me, my winter boots, and it had snowed. So, she went downstairs. They were full of rat poison. What? So, she just dumped them out and all the poison was on the floor. And so, she just left it all there because we were in a hurry. We had to go. So, she took the boots with us and we were gone. And when we got back, everything was cleaned up. It was all gone.

[00:41:50] And to this day, we still don't know, like, who cleaned it all up. Like, who cleaned up that mess? We got home and it was all cleaned up. Like, it would, nothing, everything was gone. And I still wonder, like, what was that? The mice who were storing the food in the boots came back out whenever you dumped it and put it away. Put it in their other hidey holes. Maybe. There's nothing mice like better than mouse poison. You find piles of it all the time. You don't find dead mice. You just find the piles of wrap. That's so weird.

[00:42:20] I have one, but it's kind of sad. Okay. A couple years ago, my brother and I and our friend Raven, she brought over, like, a spirit box. I think that's what it was called, where you try to channel ghosts. And we went into, because I live in the house that I grew up in. We took my dad's guitar upstairs to, like, one of the creepier rooms and we were trying to channel him. And on the spirit box, it's, like, she caught radio waves of an acoustic guitar. And then, I'm so sorry.

[00:42:50] I had to leave and I love you. Aw. Yeah. I have chills. I know. And I thought that was just too much of a coincidence. Yeah. Wow. So, spirit box, okay. Ouija board, no. Yeah. All right. We got the rules. Which actually doesn't make any sense. It really doesn't make any sense. Because it's, like, the same thing, but different. But we listen to Sasha's mom. That's right. No Ouija boards. Or I'm in trouble. That's right. So, I actually grew up in a haunted house, too. But it's weird because I don't believe in it.

[00:43:20] So, just taking you back. My family's a little kooky. Like, a little kooky, right? And so, we moved into this house when I was five years old. Almost six. And a lot of weird stuff happened in this house that I never saw. You know? And it was to the point where, like, things would move all the time. If we had somebody stay with us, they would see people in our living room. And, like, people watching them while drinking.

[00:43:48] They, like, the entity would be drinking a cup of coffee just watching them. And it wasn't just one person. It was, like, everyone who stayed with us saw this. But, again, like, I never saw it. Right? So, the only thing that ever happened to me that I still remember to this day, I was in my bedroom. And my brother, who's only a year and a half older than me, was there. And then my two friends who live down the street. And we were all just talking like little kids do. And we had these bookshelves in my bedroom.

[00:44:16] And there was some toys. Like, my brother's toys were in there, too. And all of a sudden, we're just talking. And a car flew off of the bookshelves onto the dresser. And we all saw it. Like, all four of us kids saw it. Nobody was around the bookshelf. So, we run into my parents' room and tell them. And we're all, like, very excited about it. Like, what the heck? You know, we can't explain this.

[00:44:44] And, of course, you know, parents, they want to just calm you down. But, yeah, to this day, like, I know it happened. Everyone in the room knew it happened. So, unexplained. Very cool. Yeah. And then, of course, we had a dog, Gatsby, who would stare at a spot on the wall and bark incessantly. My dog wouldn't go in certain rooms when he had two eyes that he could see out of. Yeah. Now he's blind and he only has one eye.

[00:45:12] So, he doesn't really know where he's at. Right. Aw. Poor thing. I know. What about you guys? I'm trying to think. I don't think I've ever had an experience that I thought for one second might be paranormal. Oh. Cool. I mean, so, I was young. I was, like, maybe, like, this happened repeatedly from when I was, like, four to seven years old. Like, I guess I just used to hallucinate things.

[00:45:42] I would frequently wake up and these crab-like things would be all over me. And I tried to, like, like, I understood that, you know, some things are real and some things are not. But they felt they had a texture. They had a weight. They had a feeling. I don't know how to explain them. But my little kid brain nicknamed them butterflies. So, when I told my parents that I was scared of the butterflies, they were just like, ha-ha, who cares? You know? You know?

[00:46:14] But, yeah. They didn't go away until we moved out of that house. But I don't know. Like, some kids just see things when they're little. Yeah. So, I've been told. My – I mean, not to tell his business, but my brother had what was called night terrors. And so, they were very real episodes. Oh, yeah. You know? And what – you're seeing them for real. The stuff. And it's very frightening. I've had where, like, I've been asleep and had sleep paralysis. And that is terrible.

[00:46:43] That is terrifying. I hate it. When I was under a lot of stress whenever I was using a lot and would be so scared of, like, who would find this out or whatever, I would have terrible night terrors and sleep paralysis, and then I would see people walking, like, in our bedroom, and I would just be laying there frozen trying to get Steve to wake up. It was really freaking scary. Wow. I can't imagine. I think it was just, like, the demons of addiction haunting me. Wow.

[00:47:13] I think the only thing that has happened to me, as much as I want something to happen to me that I say out loud, there's actually two small things. So years ago, I was staying in this house that is in our town, and it had been haunted. And these three grown men that lived there were scared to death of this house. They would hear saloon music, and there was all kinds of things going on.

[00:47:40] But they continued to live there because they were young. And we went and stayed there while they were out of town. And there was nothing happening. And I was like, oh, come on, you know. Come on, ghosties. Show us what you got. And I was washing my hands at the time, and the faucets just gushed, like, turned all the way open. And, yeah, I about died. I think that would freak me out, too. Yeah, it was very scary. I would be done.

[00:48:09] And then right after my cat died, my cat and I were so close, Mr. Big. And the night that he passed away, and then that night, I felt him get up onto me because he always slept, like, in the crook of my arm. And I felt him come up and crawl up my body and, like, settle down. So that was, like, his little goodbye to me. But that was really cool. And then my grandma, she actually passed away in her basement.

[00:48:38] And she, every once in a while. In this basement? I would hear. Could you be more specific? And did you just hear that? Yeah. There's a lot of thumping going on. Yeah. My mom's just dancing a jig. It's fine. She's alive, by the way. Yeah, she is alive. But we would smell cigarette smoke down here because she used to sit at a table. So it wasn't.

[00:49:08] Wait, it was down here? She actually died right there. Should that have not been disclosed before we agreed to this deal? Well, she's never haunted. We always just smelled. What happened? Wait, so is this her skeleton? What happened? Grandma, get off of Lisa. She's a little handsy. This is taking a deep turn.

[00:49:34] Were you supposed to disclose this? It's not like she's here. I don't know, girl. Did you hear all that noise? When you're talking about her, she's like, bitch, shut up. I'm going to hide your ass. What if all the things just fell? Like when we wanted to get her attention when she was down here. She lived down here for a while. And we'd like hit a broom on the floor. She and Sasha just keep looking at each other like, shit, let's go.

[00:50:05] We just keep making eye contact like, are you safe? Are you hearing this shit? Grandma smoked down here. Grandma. There used to be a ceiling tile that had like a big nicotine stain on it because she would sit at the table over there and smoke. And that's when we would smell cigarette smoke all the time when we would come down here. But she never like appeared. But we're still hearing the creepy sound. So that's my mom probably chasing her cats. Hopefully.

[00:50:35] Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, with that, now that we know that we've got a confirmed ghost down here with us. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. So thanks, Grandma Betty. We're dedicating this one to Grandma Betty, who was here with us for this episode. And we're happy that you're here, Grandma. That's right. Grandma Betty was like... People look back at me. I would say your grandma. She leaned a little forward, didn't she? Yeah. Ciao.

[00:51:05] Okay.