"Three reasons why I was up at 4:00 a.m." or "A friend in bed?"

1. My faux down Ralph Lauren pillow* (who knew!) turns rock hard half way through the night with a giant dent where my head is. I awoke hardly able to move my neck. Yep, five hours later, still stiff.

2. My dog, the bed hog, insists on sleeping between my husband and I, horizontally! Plus, she throws off so much heat it's like having a nuclear reactor under the sheets. For weighing only 13 lbs. she's practically impossible to move.

3. Once I got back from the bathroom and adjusted the dog I was wide awake and sore. As I tried to get comfortable I noticed a strangely sweet smell in the room, like freshly baked sugar cookies. Seriously it was all I could focus on, it was definitely there and it was strong!
Now, I love ghost stories (even though they scare the shit out of me) so I know all the lore. For the next hour I laid in bed wide awake with my eyes peeled, sniffing the air. I was convinced there was a ghost in the room. I tried to rationalize it was a pleasant smell and must be a friendly ghost but there's no reasoning with an irrational me. Finally around 5:15 a.m. the smell faded and I fell back asleep.

I've been convinced that every house I've ever lived in has been haunted. I thought I caught a break because I've lived in this frickin' house for two years without an incident. I had become pretty confident there weren't any ghosts there, until now. Crapity Crap Crap! Let the paranoia begin, again.

*In Ralph's defense that pillow has to be 12 years old. I've bought many different ones over the years, but to paraphrase Pearl Jam "...Can't find a better (pillow)."