Swine Flu Bugaboo

I've been so impacted by all of the chronic bad news anymore--and now the swine flu! I think the stress is starting to unravel me.  My nerves seem to be on edge; I'm testier than ever.

I'm home alone a lot and even the increasing creaks and pops our house continually makes have me questioning my sanity.  Today was an exceptionally noisy day.  Plus, something seemed to keep catching my eye but every time I'd do a double take, nothing was there.  It didn't help when I heard the doorbell ring but opened the door to find no one.  Funny thing is, the little metal stand on the porch was rocking as if it had been knocked into.  We had some strong wind today, but not quite that strong.

This house has become so amazingly creaky.  As I worked away at my computer, I could swear someone was walking down the empty upstairs hallway.

Even the stair banister creaks when no one is anywhere near it.

I guess I understand how floorboards creak and pop in reaction to the weather, but a banister?

It makes me wonder if the original owners of the house had little kids who repeatedly went against their mom's warnings and slid down the banister, only to arrive at that abrupt and painful conclusion.  Ouuuccchh....

Kids being kids, I can imagine them not learning their lesson and clambering up the stairs to do it all over again.

Maybe they sometimes opted to skip the banister altogether and just slide down the stairs on their bellies.  Kids seem to find stairs so entertaining.

But you know, it's not just the floorboards or the banister... it seems like everything in this house is coming apart at the seams.  Or maybe I am.  I hear noises in the living room when no one is there...

The kitchen table creaks as if flexing under an invisible weight...

Even the empty guest bedroom creaks though completely uninhabited...

I suppose as long as I don't hear something totally unexplained--like the piano playing on its own--I'm doing OK.

Still, after I left my computer to check out some of these noises today, I thought I actually heard my keyboard clicking on my way back to my PC.

I think perhaps my insomnia has also contributed to the wobbling of my sense of reality; I seem to be seeing pink blurs out of the corners of my eyes.  Sometimes I even sense something like a "whoosh!" as I enter a room, nearly as if someone else just quickly vacated.  I know, it's nuts.

I think I've been so concerned about the swine flu pandemic, and so worried about being anywhere where I might be exposed to it, that the stress is really starting to impact me.  But what are the actual odds of my being exposed?  I'm very careful to wash/sanitize my hands all but continually when out and about, I steer clear of high-risk areas and I don't have any little kids running around.

I have to get a grip and remind myself that the swine flu is not going to come to me! I mean, it's not like the swine flu is going to show up on my doorstep and invite itself in, right?