Without a good deal more descriptive information, we'll never identify your bug. I suggest visiting Gardenweb's Insect forum at the link below. If you post a picture there (image uploading instructions are at the top of that page), someone will qucily identify it and then we can give you recommendations on controls.

Here is a link that might be useful: Insect forum

yes, I thought that. I guess I will have to take a picture of one next time I find one. I thought maybe someone else had a funny bug also, that would be like mine.
blech, i so don't want to take a picture of one.
ewww.
thanks,
renee

Could it be a box elder bug? See the link for photos.

Here is a link that might be useful: bug, not too scary

What about a western conifer seed bug? These are pretty creepy looking and have recently become an indoor pest in the Northeast.

Frieked me out when I first saw one! And don't squish them! They stink!

Here is a link that might be useful: western conifer seed bug

YES! that IS it! The Western Confifer Seed bug..
Ok, luckily I have never squished them. I always flush. I HATE squishing bugs.
Does anyone know how they get in?
-renee

ooohhh I have them too--I don't know how they get in, but since they are always around the perimeter of the room, I'll bet it's through cracks around the windows and doors. I use the "catch in a paper cup and take outside" method of extermination. Thanks, Scampi--I never knew what they were.

Ya, the article that Scampi attached did mention they think they get in through the windows and doorways and cracks.
Makes sense for us to have them as our property is totally lined with pine trees and that is where they live and breed.
At least it didn't mention anything about them eating wood, phewww!
-renee

Glad I was able to help ID it. Aren't they just nasty??? We also have a lot of mature pines near our house and I think they get in like ladybugs do. These old houses weren't designed to keep the critters outside that's for sure! :-D

We call them stink bugs, for a very good reason. Not sure where they come from, but they are harmless, I think. Just ugly and stinky. Poor things....

I can't look. Sorry. I'll dream about it. Good luck getting rid of whatever they are though.

Q: Why do Texans wear pointy-toed boots?

A: So they can squish the cockroaches in the corner.

Our house is over 150 years old and we have had about every kind of creature you can imagine. One of the most common is brown recluse spiders. I had seen them crawling around ever since we moved here, and never paid much attention to them, thinking that black widows were the only dangerous spiders in this area. Then I heard about brown recluses, but still didn't pay much attention until I saw some pictures. That's exactly what those little brown fast-crawling ones here are. Even worse, I saw some photos of what can happen if the bites are left untreated.

I don't let them freak me out, but I am much more careful to avoid them now.

frenchgirl....

I have that problem with dreaming about bugs as well. I dream that they are IN the bed. I also sleep walk.

One night, my husband says I got out of bed and started walking out of the bedroom. He asked me where I was going and I said, "to get the knife". He asked me "what for?" and I told him, "to kill the bugs in the bed. I'VE HAD IT!"

He told everyone that story. He figured it would help with my defense if I ever did something to him in my sleep!!

from a washington state U web site

"This three-quarter inch brown colored bug has the habit of entering buildings in the late summer or early fall as it seeks a protected site to spend the winter. These bugs do not bite or sting, and they cause no damage to the home. They do not reproduce in the home nor do they feed once inside your home. They live off fat reserves and during the cool season they are semidormant. They will give off a pungent order if you handle them and they also make a buzzing sound when flying. This unwanted houseguest is the western conifer seed bug or Leptoglossus occidentalis. "

so they won't harm anything.