Guess where

Guess where I am going for the weekend? Yep GETTYSBURG...
you know what I am going to do there..Yep..GHOST HUNTING....
stories to follow..

Updating

Wow, I checked the date of my last post and realized it has been almost a month since I have updated. Is anyone still checking to see if I am alive ha ha

I really don't know where the days are going, but time seems to be flying by. I have to admit it has been a really long winter and I am so happy to see spring is finally arriving in my town.

I am finally feeling better after suffering a bad case of seasonal depression this year. I think it was just a variety of things that started before the holidays and just keep going.  You probably remember me losing a friend around the Christmas, and also making contact with someone from my past. Finding that person hurt me more than I realized and it has really shaken me to the core. Twelve years is a long time to hold old feelings, but they were there just under the surface and it took me awhile to deal with them again and put them where they belonged.
Of course becoming a grandmother again has been a positive thing, but somehow has left me feeling old. Sigh..I just don't know where the time has gone. It seems like I should still be the young mother and not the grandmother, but time did slip by and here I am.

Noah is growing like a weed and is keeping his mommy busy. Cody of course is growing right along with him and I can't believe he is going to be five in May.

My hubby and I spend some time together this past weekend and went on a day trip to Richmond VA to some of the Civil War battlefields. I will post some photos and tell you about them in my next post..

Getting back to normal

Whew, Things are settling down and getting back to normal after the birth of my new grandson, I spent most of last week with my daughter helping her out. I had to go back to work yesterday so reality is setting in now. Yuck.
Everyone is doing fine and my older grandson is adjusting to being a big brother.

Now I am ready for spring so that we can get out and do all the things I love like ghost hunting ha ha.

Dean and I are making plans to go to Gettysburg again in June. Hopefully we can get the same cabin we usually do. There are still lots of historical areas of the battlefield I want to take photos of and I am looking forward to just having some down time. Of course June seems forever away, but I know it will be here before I turn around good.

I hope to get back to my blogging a bit more, I have been neglecting it the last few months. I do however post on facebook and if you would like to join me there just send me an email to Autumnsbutterfly@yahoo.com  tell me who you are and that you read my blog and I will tell you how to find me there. (that email address is NOT associated with my facebook account)

Check it out

Mike and Julie from Above The Norm turned me on to a new show that is airing on Fox Tv on Feb. 9. It is called Past Life
"It is a new drama series that investigates the world of the unexplained through the eyes of a doctor and a former detective who must work together to solve decades-old mysteries."

I can't wait to see it. If you like this type of show, you should love it. Here is a preview.

This Book Called Life

Life is moving along as usual around here. Still no grandbaby which surprises me. I thought for sure my daughter would have had him this past week. As of last Tues. she was dilated 3 and effaced (thinned) 50%. She lost her mucus plug on Thurs..and here is is Monday and nothing. Of course she is not due yet, but all the signs are there. He is just being stubborn like his family (we wont say which members but the list is long ha ha). She has another appointment on Thurs this week so we will see what they say.
Work is going smoothly. Thankfully all the holiday rush is over and things are returning to normal there. We have to have our dates down for when we want to take our vacations soon. We are thinking of the second week of June and maybe the third week of Sept. Plans as of now of course are to head to Gettysburg. While there last year I bought a guide book that list a lot of places I haven't found yet and they will provide some great photo opportunities. June also is warm, but not to warm, and Sept. is cool but not to cool..So they should work out great.
In other news my mom took a fall this week and broke her arm two places. She has to have surgery on Thurs to have a metal plate put in it. She got the bright idea to stand on a little stool that she had a plant on and reach up to dust a book shelf.  I really worry about her, she just turned 75 and her mind isnt what it use to be. Thankfully my son was there when she fell and was able to drive her to the hosptial.
I had a blast from my past this week on facebook. I was able to touch base with a couple of people I hadn't heard from in a long time. One was a lady I will tell you about in a future post.

Hello World

Hello World, yes I am still alive. Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. Is anyone still checking to see if I have a blog?
Lots has been going on since my last post, but most of it daily boring stuff. Also I have had a little personal stuff going on that I had to sort out in my head. I am feeling better now and thought that I better get back to the world of the living. All I will say about the last month and what was going on is it involved someone from my past who was part of the problems that caused my ex and I to split up. I had not been in contact with this person in almost 12 years and it brought up a lot of hurt and pain to hear from him again. My husband knew that I found this person and he understood it was something I needed to do (we didn't see each other just so everyone knows) to have a final closure on a painful time in my life. Now that all of that has been hashed out this person and I have agreed not to contact each other again and let the past stay in the past. I am going to stop feeling sad for things that are no longer a part of my life and be a happy. I have a new grand baby coming in about three weeks, I have a wonderful husband now and life is good..
I will try to get back to my regular blogging soon

And so it begins

All I have to say about this Christmas season is ba humbug.  I know it is terrible to feel that way, but I honestly hate this time of year. First of all working retail sucks. We don't have enough help this year, and by the end of the day all I want to do is come home and sleep. That leaves me feeling as if I don't have enough down time. I don' want to come home and just sleep. I want to relax, read, surf the net. Sleeping is just that sleeping. I get up and go back to work. I want ME time.
Also our annual have a friend or relative die season is here. If you have read me for awhile you know that every year for the last five or six years either a family member or friend has died between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Well it happened again this week. One of my mom's sisters died. She had been ill for awhile with cancer and went into the hospital Thanksgiving day, and died on Monday. The same day another one of our family members died. This time it was the adopted son of my cousin. Actually it was his wife's nephew. When the young man was a young child his parents were killed in a car wreck, so his Aunt (my cousins wife) and my cousin adopted him. I've never been around this young man since they live in a different state, but for some reason that we (our immediate family) doesn't know yet, he choose to take his own life this week. On the same day my Aunt died. This means my mom's older sister lost not only a younger sister but a grandchild.
Sad week all around.
On the immediate home front. My husband and I are once again sharing a car. His is broken. We have someone looking at it on Saturday, hopefully it will be an easy fix. If not we are screwed, since we have no funds to fix it. As it is sharing one car  sucks. Dean and I are working different schedules, so I am going in early or staying late. At lest I guess I will get a lot of books read.
I haven't done any shopping and do not have even one thing that resembles Christmas in my home. I probably will give in and put out a few things, but may skip the tree this year. No one come over to see it anyway. With my grandson in school now I rarely see my daughter except on the weekends and I am working those until after the holidays. The adults in our family have opted not to do Christmas this year, but I will buy for my grandson. If my kids get anything it will be cash (If we have any that last week).
Anyway that is life here. Sorry for it to sound so down around here but that is the way it is.
I hope your season is going better

Long time no type

Hi everyone
yes I know it has been awhile since I updated this blog and I have no excuse other than I have just been to tired or lazy to both when I get home from work. Thanksgiving was good for us, we all gathered at my mom's house for good food and family time. Since then I have been almost constantly either working or sleeping. My grandson got sick over the weekend and I went with my daughter to get him seen at the DR on Monday. It is his ears and a cough and cold, no flu thankfully so I guess that h1n1 shot did what it is suppose to do. Work is crazy as all the shoppers get ready for the holidays/ We don't seem to have enough help this year. With the economy the store is not hiring the extras. I'm tired already and we sill have over a month between the shopping and returns. I just want to know Is it January yet?
Our computer connection is on the blitz here and I have a tech coming out tomorrow. In the mean time I am on the lap top, stealing time off an unsecured network. I hope to have my own server back up tomorrow and if I do I will try to do another quick update

what do you think

If I put GTYZBRG on a  license plate would you know what it said or would you think it was gibberish? Send me a reply

Halloween Fun

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. I certainly did. I had intended to write a post in time for the big day, but it snuck up on me and now it has come and gone. I had to work today, but did manage to find time for a little "clowning around"

When I got off work I hurried over to my daughter's house so we could take my grandson out trick or treating. He had a wonderful time with the little boy next door. They are just one day apart in age so they really enjoyed going trick or treating this year

(My grandson is the one in the green hat)

My ex husband came by and gave out candy to the trick or treat kids while my daughter and I took out Cody. When we got home we all joined in the fun of giving away the candy.

Yeah Candy!!

Cody clowning around in my wig

Maybe he will be a famous make up artist some day

So What Do You Think?

Out of all the blogs I read, I haven't seen anyone mention the H1N1 flu. Are you worried about it? Do you plan on taking the vaccine?
It seems to be the hot topic in our area, and we are currently out of the vaccine. My sister who is a nurse did find a dose for my daughter who is 6 months pregnant, so she took the shot. We were really torn about it, but from all the news reports the flu is very very dangerous for pregnant woman and the majority of them who contact it have a high chance of both the baby and them-self dying. That is a lot more frightening than the shot.
The schools here were lining up kids for the shot last week, but my grandson had a fever from a cold and sinus infection and no one seemed to know if it was safe for him to take the vaccine. At his age he has to have the mist and will need it in two doses. By the time he was feeling better and my daughter had made plans to go get it for him they had ran out. It looks like it may be several weeks yet before our area has it back in.
I don't mind admitting, I'm a bit nervous. I don't want my grandbaby getting sick.

So what is the talk around your town?

Holiday Chit Chat

Halloween is almost here!!
And I am ready!

Don't waste your money

I went to see the movie "Paranormal Experience" today, and guess what

IT SUCKED...

Don't waste your money on this film. It was the worst thing I had seen since "The Blair Witch Project". Not only did it not have a real plot, it was down right boring at times and by the time the movie was half was finished I was wishing I had brought along a book to read.

What a day

Today was one of those days..You know the kind that you are just ready to see come to an end. It started off with my husband calling me as he was driving to work to let me know that his car was blowing smoke from under the hood...Great I thought, just what we need. He managed to make it to work and took a quick look. Water had blown and we think it might be a busted hose. I told him just call and get a tow. We will have to deal with getting it checked out over the weekend.
At the end of the day I called him to let him know I was going to come pick him up from work so as soon as the tow truck gets there we can head out to dinner. I haven't been to the grocery store since before our vacation and cooking tonight was out of the question.
He informed me that he was on the phone with the dispatcher and I thought cool, they will be there by the time I was..WRONG...TWO...Count them TWO hours later the tow truck finally arrived and we were finally on our way to dinner.

We soon arrived at the local Cracker Barrel, found just a few people eating (it was now after 8 pm). Got our order in, got the food in good time, and ate..but that was it..We got the food and ate. The waiter never came back by, not once. I had already run out of tea, and had to take a sip of my husbands water to wash down the corn muffin that went down the wrong way. I coughed several times trying to get the tickle out and he never came over. Finally after both of us had the forks and napkins on the plate and I was reading the book I had brought along the waiter showed up with the check..

Guess what he didn't go home with tonight....Yep you got it..NO TIP
I know I probably should have left him a couple of bucks, but I honestly did not feel like he deserved it. I have got more attention from the kids in a fast food line than we did this guy. Maybe if more people would refuse to tip for bad service those giving it would take notice.
As for the car, it is sitting outside in the parking lot where it will probably have to sit for a couple of weeks. I think I have mentioned before in this blog that we don't have credit cards, so we will have to save up now to get it worked on. After the recent trip that isn't going to be this pay day

Sigh

Walking among the dead

On Sunday night Dean and I met up with fellow blogger Linda from" Are We There Yet?" and her daughter Amanda and Amanda's friend Darci  for a "ghost hunt'.

 We had booked it earlier in the week via the Farnsworth House Inn. I had been on a tour with this tour company before and enjoyed it so I was looking forward to the hunt. We had been told we would be using real equipment and taken out and shown how to use it to "Hunt" Ghost. The area we investigated was interesting but the guide we got was young, giggly, and more interested in sitting on a log smoking cigarettes than participating in the tour.  I have a review of the tour on my Ghost Hunting Blog so please stop over there to read about the tour. I did take a tour later in the week with a different company and both my husband and I got some photo's of "interest". I have them on that blog. . Even though the Farnsworth House Inn  tour could have been better, it was fun meeting the "girls" and putting face with the name.Linda and I are talking about meeting again at Gettysburg in the future.  I believe Linda is planning on doing a post about the tour on her blog  and she has some photos from that night that you have to check out..SPOOKY...so be sure and go by to visit her.

Watching The Sun Go Down

We arrived in Gettysburg early in the day on Saturday and when we arrived at our campground our cabin was not ready for us. This was a bit inconvenient since we had plans to go to the Apple Harvest Festival and no pets were allowed but we made the best of it by taking about an hour and driving out to the battlefield.Since we camp near the Pennsylvania Monument this was our first stop.

We had never climbed to the top, so we left Lucy (the dog) in the car and started up. It was a lot of stairs but worth it when we saw these beautiful views from the top.

After walking around awhile we headed back and soon settled in at the cabin.

We finally arrived the festival where we found lots to see.

Of course what would an apple festival be without APPLES!

And APPLE TREES

We opted not to buy our apples this day but did get some before we came home from the Round Barn

The prices were very reasonable and we got a half of a bushel for just $11.00.

(This photo was taken after we got home)

We arrived back in Gettysburg before dark and was able to get photos of this beautiful sunset

(See yeserday's post for an additional photo of the sunset)

We were tired but happy as the first day came to an end

Apple Pies

With my trip to Gettysburg coming up in just a few days my thoughts have turned to apples. Yes apples, I know I am a civil war buff, and a ghost hunting enthusiast, but today I am thinking with my stomach.
The National Apple Harvest Festival is taking place this weekend and we plan on being there.
Of course with a harvest festival for apples, guess what I plan on buying. Yep. Apples.
So that brings me to the thoughts of what I will do with them.  When I was growing up I can remember going to my grandmother's house for family reunions. We always had fried apple pies. Hers where made from dried apples, but I am sure I can find a way to convert the dried mixture into fresh apples.
When I get home from the trip I will try and find some other recipes to share with you, but today I leave you with this one. It is my grandmother's recipe and is probably close to 100 years old.


Grandma's Fired Apple Pies

1 pkg. dried fruit
pasty dough
1/2 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 c. Water
Oil for frying

Cook the dried fruit in the water until tender,making sure they do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the sugar to taste and mash with with a potato masher. Have teh pastry dough ready. I use Bisquick, its simple and tender. Roll the dough out very thin into a circle about the size of a coffee cup saucer. Spoon about 2 T. of the fruit filling onto the center of the pastry and fold in half. Crimp the edges with your fingers to seal in the filling. Heat a large skillet and add about 1/4 inch of oil. When the oil is hot, fry the pies one at a time, until golden brown on one side then turn the pies over and fry until golden brown on the other side.
Delicious hot or cold.
Makes 6-8 large pies.

Please note. I stole borrowed this photo from the Internet and in no way take credit for it.

Snips and Snails

Do you think it would be really really wrong of me to put a pink dress on my new grandson when he is born?  (can you tell I want a girl)
Sigh!

On the serious side, I do have to admit I am disappointed.  I know when all is said and done and Noah gets here it really won't matter. I am going to love and spoil this child, and think of him as my own, but I would have really loved to have a little girl to dress up and play with. I feel like I have always been cheated out of the chance to be a girly girl. My granddaughter is so far away. Girls just have more to choose from when it comes to clothes and accessories than a boy does.
Also Rebecca had her heart set on a girl this time. It really hurt me to see the look on her face when they told us it was a boy. She had not planned this baby, and really did not want it. She has had one emotional up and down after another in the last 4 1/2 months, and had really just started to accept the idea of a baby and started to get a bit excited at the thought it might be a girl and then boom. The air was just let out of her balloon.  I tired to cheer her up and took her shopping, but the both of us were walked around going..DUH...
She has three big totes of baby clothes left over from Cody so she really doesn't need a thing. Let's face it, a blue sleeper is still just a blue sleeper. We left the store empty handed. Sigh.

Oh well at lest she won't have to spend much money, and the boys can share a room. That part will be good for my husband and I since I will probably never live in anything bigger than a two bedroom apt. I can fix up the extra room in a boys theme for them, where as if I had a girl I would have had to paint and decorate with a neutral color and curtains.  Also I like the way Cody and Noah sound together, it slips off the tongue easy..
But maybe I can dress them both up as a princess, just once..At Halloween..Ok..Just once!

Chit Chat

This day is flying by and there is a million things I want to do. I never seem to have enough hours in my day. I slept late and then got up, turned on the TV, checked my email, Wrote a letter, checked the blogs etc. Finally I decided I better motivate myself and did some laundry. I got one load done and another in when I realized I needed to run to the store. I know a lot of people boycott Walmart but it is still my store of choice when it comes to buying odds and ends, because like it or not they are just plain cheaper on there prices. I had the afternoon to myself so I strolled up and down the isles taking my time and looked around.
I found a storage container just the right size to use for my upcoming trip to Gettysburg. I plan on putting things like paper plates silver ware (the plastic kind) a spatula matches, Aluminum foil and that kind of stuff in there. I am bad to throw things into bags, and then when it is time to use them I can't find them. I hope this organizes me.
I also bought a new knife for paring. I probably have a dozen but I haven't bought a new one in a long time so it was an impulse buy. Once in awhile we just have to have something for no reason. I also bought a new house plant to kill  for the living room.

Other than that I just got odds and ends. As I was putting my things into
my car an elderly man approached me. He quickly told me he was not looking for a ride, but claimed he had just got off the bus (the station is about a half mile away)and that they had told him there was a shelter with in walking distance. He went on to say he was homeless. I told him no there was not a shelter nearby, and I suggested he go over to the end of the parking lot where there is a drop off shed for one of the local thrift stores. I explained to him perhaps they could help him since some usually is there. He started to ask me another question but I cut him short telling him that was all the help I could give him. Got in my car and closed the door.


Rude? Heartless? Maybe, but I have heard this EXACT same story by other people in this same Walmart before. It really irritated me, because I know it is a scam. They are just trying to get people to give them money. With this in mind I drove up the front entrance of the building where I saw an employee going in. When I told him what had happened he told me they already knew about the man. Since I had my window down I could hear what he said to the lady at the door checking bags....Are you ready for this
He told her I was RATTING OUT the old man in the parking lot..EXCUSE ME! RATTING OUT? I believe I was reporting someone who was clearly stopping customers and harassing them. There are big signs all over the parking lot that states NO SOLISTING OF ANY KIND. I think this means trying to get people to feel sorry for you and hoping you will give them a hand out.
Now mind you I could have very well gave the man a dollar and went on my way. I wouldn't have missed it, but the point is if he really was down and out and needing to find a local shelter why didn't he simply go inside and ask for a phone book. He could have got the number of several places in our area that would help him. Heck they probably would have even come to pick him up. No phone you say? Well I am sure the walmart store manager would have called for him. Also just for the record, there is a grocery store, two chain store hardware stores a large buffet restaurant and several small stores all in the strip shop with Walmart..
It makes me wonder just how much money he made today.
To top it off as I was sitting at the light waiting to leave. Another guy was standing there with a sign that said HOMELESS HELP PLEASE...
What part of help your self and get a job don't people get..GEEZE!


*Note* I am not making light of those in our country who truly are homeless and need real help. It is these men (and women) like I met today who try and scam others that make me angry. It really does give those in real need a bad reputation and causes people as myself to not want to deal with a person who is down and out. This makes me sad because the next time someone might really need my help and I would turn a deaf ear because of these people.

Guess Where

Guess Where I am going four weeks from today?

Yep you got it..

GETTYSBURG!

Can you tell I am just a little excited!