Hadassah House Ministries

My niece Stacie is a truly wonderful young woman. She, along with her husband John, have a created a ministry to girls and women called Hadassah House. The vision of Hadassah House was given to Stacie in order to reach out to females of all ages, to let them know that through faith girls can recognize they are chosen by God, called for a specific purpose, and equipped to complete that purpose.

Perhaps Stacie’s screen name on MySpace says it best, “Complete, Lacking Nothing”. When I saw that, I was really surprised. I have known people who feel that way about themselves, but I have never seen anyone choose a screen name to let the world know it. I was even more surprised when I read her blurb about herself. She told a story of struggling with fear, insecurity, low self-esteem, and rejection as she was growing up.

She said she was an extremely shy and timid child, and had very few friends. I knew she was shy around me, but since she lived hundreds of miles away and we saw each other only two or three times a year, I just attributed that to her being a child amongst adults she barely knew. But, I could just not believe it when I read that she had always considered herself to be ugly and friendless. I always thought she was a very beautiful girl and well liked by everyone, not just us, her family. I am happy for her now that she can call herself “Complete, Lacking Nothing”. I feel that way about myself, too.

On the Hadassah House Ministry website, Stacie writes in her testimony “I no longer deal with the rejection, insecurity, and intimidation that haunted me for the first 29 years of my life. God has completely delivered me from low self-esteem, and I am confident of who I am in Christ. I know that He loves me, and He has called me for a specific purpose, and He will "Complete" that purpose in me!

Part of that purpose is to help girls, teens, and women realize that they, too, are special to God. He has a special name for them -- just like He does for me, and He wants them to see themselves the way He sees them. It is my desire to see girls learn who they are in Christ at an early age so they will not walk in the intimidation and insecurity that I walked in for so long. I want to see teen girls build strong relationships with Jesus so they will not be moved by what the world around them has to say about them, but they will serve Him with all their hearts, that He may complete His purpose in them, and raise them up to be leaders in their generation. Finally, I long to see women become everything God has called them to be. No longer will they be pushed around by the lies the enemy tells them, but they can stand firm knowing God created them with special gifts and talents for the body of Christ, and He has equipped them with everything they need to fulfill their purpose.”

I am excited about Hadassah House Minsitries and what they have to offer to girls and women. But, like any other new venture, they are still struggling to fund their mission. They have several specific needs, from prayer to a building or office, to sponsorship of girls who are not able to pay for materials for the program. If you would like to find out more about Hadassah House and what they believe, and what needs they have, click here.

The End Of The Story

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about what Jim and I had to go through to finally get our bonus check from our former employer. When we picked up those checks, we saw that they had deducted $24.78 from Jim's check for electricity that we had already paid.

So, the next day I wrote a letter to them and included a copy of the receipt showing the electric bill had been paid, requesting that they send a refund check. Well, I am happy to say that we received our refund in the mail today. We have ALL of our money, finally, after only six months.

Let this story of our misfortune be a lesson to you all---keep your receipts and documentation until you are satisfied with the outcome of the situation.

Jackpot!

In Pennsylvania, you cannot buy beer in a convenience store. They also do not have beer stores. So, if you want to buy a six-pack of beer to take home and enjoy, you have to go to a pub or a restaurant. Jim asked me to pick him up a six-pack today so he could have a beer when he gets off work at ten. I went to Fairfield, about five miles west of the campground, to Ventura’s.

Ventura’s is an Italian restaurant that makes the best pizza in this area. When I went in to get the beer, it smelled sooooo good in there. So, when I was paying for the beer, I asked if they had any gluten free dishes on the menu. The guy running the register started to say no, but the owner had been passing through and heard me ask. He came up to the register and asked me what my allergy was.

I explained to him that I was allergic to wheat, and could not eat any product that has gluten in it. He told me that he is a nutritionist, and understands allergies, and celiac disease. He said that they use HIGH gluten flours to make their pizza dough, but that if I would bring him some flour he would be glad to make a pizza for me anytime I wanted to come in and eat with my husband!

Ok, so the other day I wrote about how I did not miss eating pizza. Maybe I don’t, but I DO miss eating pizza WITH MY HUSBAND. So, I am going to be taking some flour to Rob at Ventura’s, and I will let you all know what happens.

Oh, yeah, and while I was out, I also stopped at the convenience store and bought a scratch off lottery ticket. I won $70. Yippee!

Gluten Free Pizza

I have not missed pizza at all since I found out I couldn't eat it, but then I know how bad I feel when I eat the gluten. So, because my husband Jim was whining about not getting to eat pizza anymore, I decided to try to make one at home for him. Now, he is not a celiac or even gluten intolerant, but since there are only two of us living here, and I am the cook, I have told him that he has to eat whatever I can eat. I am not into cooking two meals every night. And it won't hurt him to eat what I eat.

With that in mind, I started looking at recipes for pizza crust, and found that I did not have all the ingredients listed in any of them. So, as all good FabGrandmas do, I improvised and used what I had, loosely following a recipe in the Bette Hagman's book, "The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Fast And Healthy." Here is my recipe, based on hers:

1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbl olive oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup warm water
1 pkg dry yeast

Mix together all the dry ingredients except the sugar in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, vinegar, 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar. Put the water and yeast in a measuring cup, stir to disolve the yeast. Add the yeast water to the bowl with the liquid ingredients and beat with a mixer on low speed. Add about half of the dry ingredients and beat well with the mixer. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix in with a spoon until it is smooth. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes (25 minutes for quick rising yeast). Stir it down, and spread on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with olive oil. This will be a thin, runny dough compared to a wheat flour based dough.

I baked my crust first at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes before adding the toppings. After you add your toppings, bake for another 12-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

The texture of this was not as chewy as "real" pizza dough, but it did have a nutty, "wheaty" yeast flavor and was crispy and brown on the bottom. And not bad for a first try. Jim liked it, and ate four pieces of it. As long as he is smiling after dinner, I feel like I succeeded.

My First Attempt At Gluten Free Baking

Last night I had my first attemtp at gluten free baking. I made a chocolate cake, loosely following a recipe I found online, using the things I had on hand. It was made with a mixture of millet flour, brown rice flour, and tapioca flour. I added some eggs, some olive oil, some xanthan gum, some baking powder and salt, and some cocoa powder. I did not have enough sugar in the house to put in as much as the recipe called for, and I am glad I didn't because it was sweet enough without it.

When it was done, I let it cool off, and served it with raspberries and whipped cream on top. Jim liked it enough to eat two pieces of it, so it passed the test. Now if I could remember just exactly how much of each thing I used...

Making Meals Ahead

Jim and I are working the evening shift at our job this season. This means that on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday, we get off at eight o'clock. On Friday and Saturday we don't get off until ten o'clock, and that will change soon to eleven o'clock. It also means that we are not eating the way we should, mostly because I don't feel like cooking anything when I get off work so late. This is made even harder since I am a diabetic and also recently changed to a gluten free diet.

Today I took a couple of hours to do some things in the kitchen so that we can have a light meal when we get home, or that we can grab on the run when we get a slow minute on the job.

First, I cooked three days worth of meats, packed them in plastic containers, and put them in the fridge. I made our favorite "Chicken and Salsa", then just cooked some ground beef and some italian sausage. Making "Chicken and Salsa" is easy. You just skin your chicken pieces, brown them in some olive oil, add a jar of your favorite salsa, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes. Served over rice, it is a delicious and filling meal. It is really quick to make, but even this is too much to attempt when you don't get off work til ten o'clock. It keeps well in the fridge, then just microwave for a couple of minutes at meal time.

Next, I cooked up a batch of rice. I have found that when I store cooked rice in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator, it keeps well and heats up fast. I made enough rice to last four or five days. I can serve it with anything and it is gluten free.

After that, I chopped up tomatos, mushrooms, red onions, green onions, and lettuce. I made a big salad with some of it, then put the rest of each item in plastic containers in the refrigerator, so that we can make a salad quickly when we need one. I also boiled a dozen eggs, peeled them, and put them in a ziplock bag in the fridge. They'll be gone way before they have a chance to go bad.

Now that all that is done, I can make a quick batch of chili or ghoulash with the ground beef, and spaghetti with the italian sausage (gluten free noodles, of course). I can have a side salad with a meal, or I can make us a chef salad with boiled eggs, turkey or ham on top. It only took a little time to do this, and it will help us eat better this week.

How To Enlarge Your Breasts Overnight

I hate shopping. And of all the things in the whole world that I hate shopping for, I hate shopping for bras the most. It really irritates me that I have to spend so much money on those items of clothing just so that my breasts won’t flop around and look “unladylike” to others.

The other day, I had to go shopping for bras. The last time I bought some was about three years ago at a flea market in McAllen, Texas. I got some really nice, brand new Vanity Fair bras with the tags still on them, for $3.00 each. I picked out my size 38C unpadded underwire bras, paid for them, and took them home. They fit.

I have worn size 38C unpadded underwire bras since my youngest daughter was born 32 years ago. I have never had to try bras on at the store. I just bought them in the right size, took them home, and wore them until they wore out or sprung a wire, then went and got some more. That is exactly what I expected to do when I went to get some more the other day.

But no! At my first choice of store, Target, there was not even one bra in the store that was a size 38C unpadded underwire version, in any brand. I even considered getting one that had just a little bit of padding, but nope, no 38C’s. I thought to myself, I must be in the world capital of size 38C boobies. So, I went to another store. Wal-Mart.

One thing I hate worse than shopping for bras is shopping at Wal-Mart for anything. But, because I was down to only two size 38C unpadded underwire bras, and one of those has a broken wire, I had to go get some new ones somewhere.

Since we were in Frederick for the day, I went to the Wal-Mart there. I found a couple different brands of bras that had my 38C unpadded underwire versions, so I grabbed up four of them, took them to the register, paid for them, and took them home. I felt victorious, that even though I had to go to Wal-Mart to get them, at least I had gotten my new underwear and it would be over with for another year.

When I got home, I changed into my nightgown and started cooking dinner for my husband and me. We have a new trailer that we just got in December. In my new kitchen, the microwave oven is installed above the stove top, where I have to reach over my head to put thing in and take things out. I was cooking steamed asparagus in the microwave that night.

When I reached into the microwave to take out the bowl of asparagus, I accidently poured the hot liquid from the bowl down the front of my body. I rushed into the bathroom and took off my clothes. I put cold water on the burn, then put on some Carmex. The pain stopped, but I was left with a two and half inch long red burn mark right between amd slightly below my size 38C breasts.

The next morning, as I was getting dressed for the day, I attempted to don one of my new size 38C unpadded underwire bras that I purchased the day before. Now, I don’t know how other girls do it, but I have never learned how to put on a bra and fasten it behind my back. No, I have always hooked that sucker on backwards, then turned it around to the correct position, and commenced pushing my 38C’s into the cups. It's like I am a contortionist at the circus every morning. But this day, that action was hampered not only by the pesky burn between my breasts, but also by the fact that even though the tags said “38C” on them, the dang thing wouldn’t fit.

It wasn’t even big enough to fasten, much less turn around on my body. What? I looked at the tag again, just to make sure I had picked up the right one at the store. Yes, it did say 38C on the tag, but the thing was just not big enough. Had I grown overnight? I mean, I have worn 38C unpadded underwire bras for 32 years, how could I have outgrown them in just one night? I soon realized that not only did that bra not fit, none of the ones I bought did. And then, I realized I would have to go back to Wal-Mart. Damn!

The next day, I went to the Wal-Mart in Gettysburg with my Bag O Bras from the other Wal-Mart. I had my receipt, but I had taken the tags of one of them. The sullen clerk at the Customer Service desk told me “I will take this back this time, but we normally don’t take bras back if the tags are torn off of them.” Oh, thanks, I’ll remember that one.

After I got my money back, I went to the lingerie department. I quickly found the size 38C unpadded underwire bras in some different brands from the ones I had bought the day before. I took them to the dressing room to try them on, and guess what? They didn’t fit, either. Now I knew. I HAD grown overnight. Just as I had suspected. I got dressed and went back out to the sales floor.

After trying on several bras, and irritating my burn along the way, I discovered that I had really blossomed into a size 40D in just 36 hours. So, now, I am the proud owner of six size 40D unpadded underwire bras. I hope I don’t grow any more.

   

 

A New And Improved Gluten-Free FabGrandma

For most of my life, I have had some, um, very embarassing problems with my gut. But, since my father and most of my siblings had the same problems, I just thought it was normal, that some people were just, um, that way. My husband and his daughter would laugh and make smart remarks about my, um, problem.

But all that has changed very dramatically for me in just a week. About two weeks ago, I received a life changing email from one of my cousins. In that email, he described his symptoms, which included diahrea, pain in his legs and back, tiredness, "brain fog", and constant hunger, just to name a few. He told about how he had been diagnosed with Crohn's disease back in November of 2006 and had been taking medication for it ever since, but getting no better. He said he finally did a google search with all of his symptoms and "allergy", and found a lot of information about Celiac disease.

Celiac disease runs in families. It is 95% heriditary. It is the most common genetic disorder in the world. It is caused by an intolerance of gluten, which is found in wheat products. It presents itself with a host of symptoms, which can range from constant diahrea to constant constipation. In children, it can cause behaviour disorders, ADHD, failure to thrive and/or failure to gain weight. In adults it can lead to other endoctrin disorders like thyroid disease, diabetes, lymphomas, and a greater risk of liver cancer, the disease that killed my father at the age of 62.

Because a lot of my cousin's problems sound like my own, I decided to try a gluten free diet for two weeks, just to see if celiac disease could be MY problem. I am writing today to let the world know, that I think it is.

I no longer have to take pain releivers every night before I go to bed because my legs don't hurt anymore. I am not hungry all the time. I am able to think better and my eyes seem to see things brighter. And I have been diahrrea free for a week. Even after eating salads, (I used to think I was allergic to lettuce), even after eating braised liver, (I used to think I was allergic to liver, which I love), even after eating eggs for breakfast (I used to think I was sensitive to eggs). All this time the culprit has been the croutons, the gravy, the toast! It is such a freedom to NOT have to be sure I am near a bathroom, the closer the better, when I decide to eat something.

I have found some pretty good gluten free products at the local grocery store. At the Rose Garden, they have an entire gluten free section. At Dunlap's one of our favorite restaurants in town, when I asked the waitress is there was any flour used in preparation of the braised liver, she told me she had some other gluten free customers so she understood my problem. Yes!

I have sent my cousin several emails thanking him for sending me the information he sent. But, just for the world to see, Thank you, Jimmy! I really appreciate it. And, um, so does Jim!

Shopping With FabGrandma

My son Seth and his wife Sarah are expecting a new baby in September. As the Fabgrandma, I am so very excited about this addition to our family. They went a couple of weeks ago and had an ultrasound done, and found out that they are having a boy. So, while I was out shopping today, I decided to look at some baby things.


I found these cute little onesies for the amazingly low price of $2.88 each, so of course I bought a many as I could, hahaha. I think the little guy will look adorable no matter what he wears, but these things are too cute!
I especially liked this red one and the little shorts that match it. It reminds me of an outfit I had for my son when he was a baby.
This is a close-up pic of the little applique on the shorts. It says "Puppy Love". I know it won't just be puppy love for me when the new Mr. Owen P. gets here.

Happy Campers At Last!

My husband, Jim, and I live full time in a travel trailer and work in campgrounds for a living. We have been doing this for more than six years and really enjoy the work we do.

We subscribe to a magazine called Workamper News (WN). It is a listing of jobs in campgrounds, resorts, marinas, national parks, and other places for people who live in RV’s. We had seen an ad in WN for several years for a campground on a river in Virginia. Their ad offered wages for every hour we worked, a free full hookup site to live on while we worked there, and a completion bonus. To qualify for a completion bonus, you make a commitment to stay a certain length of time on the job, and once you complete your commitment, they pay a bonus equal to 50 cents for each hour that you worked while you were there.

We applied for the job, and went for an in person interview, and were hired for the job in March of last year. We loved working there. In the years that we have done this type of work, that job was the best job we have ever had. We loved the campground, we loved the people we worked with, we loved the people we worked FOR, we loved the people who came there to camp. It was a fun, beautiful place to be. We made an agreement to stay until November 13, 2007, which we did.

While we worked there, I kept a spreadsheet of the hours we worked each pay period, because our bonus was to be calculated based on how many hours we worked. My husand and I used that spreadsheet as a morale booster. Whenever we were tired, or had had a bad day, we would look at the spreadsheet to see how our bonus was adding up. We left on November 15 headed back to Georgia for the winter. We fully expected our bonus to be paid with our last paycheck. It was not.

In December, I called to question when we would receive our bonus. The general manager said he would check on it and call me back. He called me on January 12 to tell me that our bonus would be paid “on the next pay period”. So, we expected to receive it by the end of January.

January 31 came and went with no check received or direct deposit made to our account. I called several times, leaving word each time for the general manager to call me back. No one ever returned the phone calls I made. I was concerned that maybe they had mailed the check and it was lost in the mail. But, we HAD received our W-2 forms from them, so I knew they had the correct address.

I continued to call every so often, always leaving a message for someone to call me, and making sure whoever took the message knew that I was calling because we had not received our bonus check. In March, we were on our way from Georgia to Pennsylvania for our next job, and stopped in Williamsburg so we could visit our daughter and some friends for a few days. We arranged to have dinner with a couple we had made friends with whom we had worked with at the previous job.

Of course, the subject of the bonus came up at dinner. My friend, Lynn, said “You should compare your last paycheck stub with your W-2 form amount.” She did not say why I should, but because she put that little bug in my ear, the first thing I did when we got home was look at the two documents. Yes, the amounts on them WERE different, and the amount of the difference was exactly the amount of the bonus we never received. So, now we not only had not received the bonus, but the employer said we did by showing it on our W-2 form! This fact opened up a whole new problem for me, as I was not going to pay income taxes on money I had never been paid. I was more determined than before to collect that bonus!

The next day, we had breakfast with two other couples we had met while we worked there. I purposely did not want to talk about work with them. I wanted to have a fun, enjoyable breakfast with friends. One of the girls brought up the subject, though, and asked we had ever received our bonus. I said, “No, we have not, but I am not going to give up on this. We worked for that money, and I intend to get it.”

After we got to our new job, I got a Cingular Wireless Aircard so I could have internet access at my travel trailer. I searched the internet for information on employment law in Virginia. At the Virginia Department of Labor website, I found that if you were promised a bonus before you began the work, the employer is legally obligated to pay it. There was a form there for you to fill out and send in, with whatever documentation you had, showing what was owed you, and the state would help you collect the money. I downloaded a copy of the form and saved it on my computer.

However, first, I had to send a demand for payment letter by certified mail. I wrote the letter, and sent it along with a copy of the ad from WN showing a bonus was offered, a copy of our work contract showing a bonus was offered if we stayed until November 13, a copy of our last paycheck stubs, a copy of our W-2 forms, and a copy of my spreadsheet. I advised them in the letter that they had until March 30 to make payment or we would take further action. I received the signature card back from the post office showing that they had indeed received the letter.

After they received the letter, I got a phone call from the general manager. He asked me “So you are saying that your W-2 reflects that we paid the bonus but you never received it?” I said, “Yes, that is correct.” He told me he would forward the letter to the downtown office. I never heard another word from them. On April 5^th, I filled out the forms from the Virginia Department of Labor and mailed them in, along with copies of all my documentation, which now included a copy of the letter and a copy of the green card that I got back from the post office. My husband and I were very hopeful that we would have our money soon.

I got the froms back from the Virginia Department of Labor on April 12^th, with a form attached that said “Your claim for unpaid wages has been received and reviewed. It is being returned for the reason noted below:

"You had a written employment agreement in place with your employer. Although we are unable to assist you, you may have recourse through the courts”. What? I thought the website said they would help us! What a bunch of crap!

Jim and I discussed this some more. I searched the internet some more, looking this time on the IRS website. I was sure there was SOMETHING we could do that would not involve us actually going to Virginia to file a claim in small claims court. After a lot of research, I found some information on the IRS site about what to do if you have received a fradulent W-2 form. So, the next time we had a day off, Jim and went to the IRS Service Center in Frederick, Maryland, which was the closest one to us.

When we arrived at the service center, I showed the clerk all the documentation we had and explained to her that we felt we had received fraudulent W-2 forms from our former employer. She looked over the contents of my folder, listened to my story, and finally agreed with me.

She went into another room and called the place we worked last year. We don’t know exactly what she said to them, but when she returned, she told us we would hear from her if she had any news for us. That was one week ago, today.

Yesterday, I had a message on my cellphone to call George, the manager of the IRS Service Center. The message said “We have some new information that sheds new light on your issue.” When I called him back, he told me that he had our bonus checks in his hand and we could come pick them up!

So, after only 5 and half months, 14 unreturned phone calls, a certified letter, 2 forms with copies of everything sent to the Virginia Department of Labor, and two sixty mile round trips to Frederick to the IRS Service Center, we received our long overdue bonus checks today.

When we arrived at the IRS office, all of the employees there came out to the lobby. They were all smiling, and all of them shook our hands. They said it is not very often in the course of their jobs that they can actually make people happy. They usually have to deal with people who were fleeced out of money by their employer and the person had no documention to back up what they were saying.

The clerk who had handled this for us told me that it was my legwork that helped them help us. She said that if I had not had so much documentation she probably would not have been able to collect the money for us. She said that after talking to us last week they knew that we were honest and were right that our former employer owed us the money. It was so fun to talk to those people. Then we went shopping!

Some Photos of Granite Hill Campground

Now that spring is here, this place is getting really beautiful. The photo to the right is the spring house near the trout pond. They stock the trout pond for a trout tournament each year. We saw the fish truck here last week.





This is looking across the trout pond to the center of the campground. The leaves are not out yet on the trees, but it is still very pretty.







Here are some tulips blooming near the office. There are flowers everywhere.








These tuplips are beside the driveway coming into the park.

This is part of the barn. It pre-dates the Civil War and was used as a field hospital during the war. It is a very interesting design, called a "bank barn", introduced by German immigrants.

Gumbo Day

It has been so cold here in Pennsylvania, with lows in the 30's and highs in the 50's, and the wind blowing at around 30 mph, so I decided to make it a Gumbo Day. Gumbo Day for me means I get up around 8 a.m., and start chopping the veggies. The chopping is the hardest and most time consuming part of making gumbo. Here is a photo of most of the ingredients laid out on the counter, ready for me to get started. The things missing are the shrimp, smoked sausage, ham, and rice. Oh, you will see a cookbook in the photo with the veggies. Don’t worry, it is used only as a guideline, to remind me what to do and when. If you know anyone who makes gumbo, you will know that each cook puts in her pot whatever she has on hand that day. Some people put chicken in their gumbo, but I personally think that ruins the whole thing. If you are someone who just has to have a recipe, the book is “The Frugal Gourmet” by Jeff Smith. Mine was printed in 1990, but it may still be on the market.

Any good Gumbo starts out with the Cajun “holy trinity” of chopped celery, onions and bell pepper. Those three vegetables are the beginning of most any dish Cajun or Creole. Today I added a poblano pepper, a couple jalapenos, and about half a bulb of garlic. I love garlic, the more, the better. After chopping everything up, sauté in a large pot like a Dutch oven or stockpot in some olive oil for about 20 minutes or so. This is when your kitchen will really start to smell GOOD!

Meanwhile, in another pan, on low heat, brown some flour in some more olive oil until the flour turns a nice brown color. This is the roux. If it gets too dark, or burns, you will have to start over. Making the roux is a slow process, but it will be well worthwhile to do it right. When the roux is that beautiful brown, add the “meat” from a 16 oz can of tomatoes that has been drained. I usually give them a little squeeze to get out a little more of the juice. Stir well after you add the tomatoes, as the mixture will make a thick paste, sort of like lumpy gravy. When it looks like that, this is the time to add some basil, thyme, parsley, black pepper, (and red pepper if you dare), a bay leave, and a little bit of salt. Stir well and remove from heat, and set aside for a bit.

While the veggies are cooking down, heat up two cups of water in the microwave. Add three or four cubes of Shrimp Bouillon, and stir like crazy to dissolve all of the bouillon grains. Pour this mixture into the Dutch oven with the veggies. Add a total of three quarts of water to the pot. Stir well, then get about two cups of the liquid out of the pot, and add it to the gravy mixture in the other pan. Stir to combine the liquid into the gravy, then add the whole pan of gravy to the Dutch oven. Add a dash of tobasco sauce and a large dash of Worchestershire sauce to the pot.

Usually I add a pound of sliced okra, but I did not have any today. I did have a bunch of fresh mustard greens, so I chopped them up and added them in, along with about a cup of chopped ham and a cup of diced smoked sausage. Put the lid on and cook for several hours.

About twenty minutes before serving time, add a pound of peeled, deveined shrimp, and two cups of diced smoked sausage. Cover and simmer on low for fifteen minutes, then turn off the heat. Serve over rice with tabasco sauce and red pepper for those who just have to have the extra hot. Yummy!

And this, folks, is what it is all about: My sweet husband enjoying a big bowl of Gumbo and Rice, with a big grin on his face. Don't you just love it?

I'm Working With Teens, Ya'll!

In my working career, the only time I have had the pleasure of working with teenagers is when I was one, it seems like a hundred years ago. Until now, that is. The job I have this summer at the campground is offically called Night Shift Supervisor. All that means is that I am the only adult working until closing time.

I have been on this job for a little over a month now. Until Friday night, all was going well. The young people who have been on the job with me have all been very mature and concientious about their work, and very pleasant to be around. But, as we all know, there is always that one person in every bunch who will try our patience, no matter what age they are. So, let me introduce my PITA for this season.

Let's call her, oh, Kelly, just for the sake of giving her a name. She is seventeen years old. She was hired to run the register at the candy counter, which we have in an attempt to keep the flood of sugar hungry kids away from the front desk during check-in time on Friday nights. This was her first week on the job here.

She is a friendly girl, but she probably told me sixty times how "cute" my accent is. I am a fifty four year old grandma from Georgia, working in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Yes, I do have a very accute southern accent, with a long drawl, which I can not help because I spent fifty years living in the south. But I do not like to be singled out for the way I sound. I find it rather embarassing when people point it out. And it could have possibly been the way she said what she said that offended me. And, it might possibly be because of the fact that this is the first time in my life that I have been north of the Mason-Dixon line, and in a place where the Union Army won a major battle in the Civil War. I kind of stand out here ANYWAY. It's not that I am trying to hide the fact that I am from the south, but I am not so sure I want it pointed out to everyone.

The first time Kelly made a comment about my accent, I very graciously thanked her, and told her I liked HER accent, too. The second time, I told her, "Oh, honey, I don't have an accent--YOU do." Which usually works with other people. Usually, other people get it when I say that, but this girl kept up with the remarks about my accent all night long. Every time I had a customer at the front desk and had to speak to them in the course of the transaction, she would say something about the way I sound when I talk. It was very distracting, because I had to go through all the baloney about the southern thing with every person who came in that night. After a while, I just ignored her, but it did not stop her from doing it.

I am trying to think of a nice and proper response to give this young lady next week when she comes to work and starts this up again. I personally think it is rude to point out peoples differences, even if it is such an obvious one such as my dripping sugar accent, maybe especially if it is. I have tried to NOT sound the way I sound, but why should I have to? And, if I were Kelly, and my Night Shift Supervisor had asked me very kindly several times to knock it off, I would have.

Michael Visits Gettysburg

My ten year old grandson, Michael, has lived in England for the last seven years. His Dad, my son, has been in the Air Force for thirteen years. They recently were transferred to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, which is the reason I am now living in Pennsylvania. My husband and I looked for a job close to Andrews so that we could spend a little time with Michael.

Michael, his Dad and his step-mother, Sarah, came to visit us this week. We took him to Gettysburg to see the battlefields. The photo above shows him firing a cannon. The one below of him and his Dad was taken at Little Round Top, where he was reliving the battle, hiding behind the rocks while he reloaded his musket.We took him to play mini golf, and fishing in the lake here at the campground where we work. It was cold, but he never ran out of energy. He wore out four adults in the two days he was here. I was sad to see him leave, and can't wait for him to come back. Wow, I finally get to be the FabGrandma!

Gettysburg Ghost Tour

Wednesday night the other members of the Granite Hill Campground staff and I went on a Ghost Tour. It started out at the parking lot across the street from the National Soldiers Museum at 777 Baltimore Street in Gettysburg. Gettysburg is called the most haunted city in the United States, because so many people lost their lives here during the Battle of Gettysburg. The tour we took focused on two places, The Gettysburg Orphanage and the Jenny Wade House. The photo above is of Bob, our tour guide.

Back in the days of the civil war, if your father died, you became an orphan. The story goes that Amos Humiston, a Union soldier from upstate New York, died of his wounds on York Street, clutching a photograph of his three children. Because he had no identification on his body, and his unit had already moved on before he died, no one knew his name. A reporter for a Philadelphia newpaper latched onto this story and turned it into a public interest story. He published the account, which was passed on to many newspapers, until it reached Humiston’s wife. She came forward to claim the photograph. The reporter then started a campaign to open an orphanage in Gettysburg to care for the children left behind by the many soldiers killed in the war. Shown above is a photo of Amos Humiston's three children.

Philinda Humiston was named the first Matron of the orphanage, and moved with her children to Gettysburg. She was kind and took good care of the children who lived there. When she remarried, she left Gettysburg.

The new Matron, Rosa Carmichael, was an evil woman.There is evidence that Rosa shackled children with chains to the walls of the cellar. She would also chain them to a rail fence in the hot sun, leaving them all day long to suffer sunburns, with no food or water. Children were locked in outhouses and sheds on the property in the winter, forced to stay out all night in the freezing cold. The two pictures above and below show chains used to shackle the children in the dark, damp cellar of the orphanage.

Many people have claimed to have seen the ghosts of children in the cellar and yards of the orphanage house. Others have felt something tug at their hair or at their clothing while they were walking through the cellar. There are many photographs showing orbs, ectoplasma, or ghostly outlines of children that were taken at this location. Although I did not see any ghosts while there, I did feel the sadness of the place. The chains and shackles are still there.

A short walk down the street brought us to the Jenny Wade House. Jenny was a twenty year old woman, who was the only civilian casualty of the Battle of Gettysburg. She was staying with her sister, helping out because her sister had just had a baby. Jenny was in the kitchen of her sister’s house, making biscuits, when a stray bullet went the wall of the house and struck her in the back. She was found dead in the kitchen.

Because of the battle raging around them, the family laid Jenny’s body out on a slab in the cellar of the house for two days. There are many stories of Jenny’s ghost haunting this house. There was also a story told about her father, who was getting forgetful, and did not believe his daughter was dead. He would often walk into the cellar looking for her, thinking Jenny was just hiding from him. Years later, people say he still comes into the cellar looking for her.

There are also spirits of children from the orphanage across the street, who come to play in the house, because the occupants of the house during the time they were alive, were kind to them and often allowed them to come in and play there. Photographs on the walls in the Jenny Wade house show the ghostly images of children in the background and in mirrors in the house.

These last two photos were taken at the Jenny Wade House. The first one is of a depiction of Jenny's body laid out in the cellar. The second one is part of a painting showing Jenny's sister and other family members at her wake, while they waited for the battle to cease so they could bury her body.

I don't know if these ghosts exist or not. I know I didn't see any on this tour. If you are ever in Gettysburg, take the tour and decide for yourself.

A Short Tour Of The Battlefields Of Gettysburg

Yesterday I went on a bus tour of the battlefields around Gettysburg in preparation for my job at the campground where I am working. Since we sell tour tickets in the campground office, we need to know what the tour entails in order to tell our guests.

Like most Americans, I had heard about the Battle of Gettysburg since I was in grade school, but until yesterday, I really had no idea how bloody it was. What started out as a halfday fun trip for me ended with sobering thoughts of the thousands of young men who lost their lives there fighting for their beliefs. I found it hard to hold back tears at times.

The tour takes you on a drive through the areas closest to town where the battles occured during the three day battle. There are many buildings still standing that were in existence at the time of the civil war. Each of these buildings has a six by nine inch bronze plaque designating it as a Civil War Building. I was surprized at how many there are. This is a bank barn and farm house to the west of town.

The tour guide told us about the statues of men on horseback, monuments to the generals of the battle. If the horse has all four feet on the ground, that means the rider made it safely through the battle. If the horse has one foot raised, then that rider was wounded in battle. And, if the horse has both front feet off the ground, that means the rider was killed. What an interesting way to depict the outcome for an individual. The genral depicted in this monument was a lucky man.

The Lutheran Seminary was established in 1827. It sits at a high point with a long view to the mountains west of town. During the first day of battle, the Union generals used the cupola of the middle building as their observation tower.

This is the view from the top of Little Round Top. The hill was the object of the battle on the second, and bloodiest day, of the Battle of Gettysburg. This view is looking west towards the Applachian Mountains. The fields below were scattered with the bodies of more than 5400 men at the end of the day. The creek running through near the line of trees was known as Plum Run. After the battle, it was renamed Bloody Run, because so much blood was shed it caused the creek to run red.

The view from Little Round Top towards Devils Den to the east. The National Park Service is cutting down some of the trees, and replanting others, in order to restore the area to the way it actually looked at the time of the battle. In this area, in the middle of the area in view, the trees are being cut because this was a wheat field at that time.

The Gettysburg Train Station, where Abraham Lincoln arrived in November, 1863 to give his famous speech. The building has been restored to look exactly the way it did then. Mr. Lincoln got off the train and walked down the street to a house in town where he spent the night before the ceremony dedicating a national cemetery. That dedication speech is the now famous Gettysburg Address.

Note: most of these photos were taken out the window of the bus, so they may be blurred. KE

The Rose Garden Natural Foods Co.

On Wednesday, we had to do laundry again. The laundromats here at the campground are not open yet, so we had to go into town again. The laundromat we went to is in a little strip mall in town. After we got our clothes in to wash, we started looking around at the other establishments in the strip. The Rose Garden Natural Foods Co. is a neat little store. They sell organic fruits and vegetables, as well as a very good selection of vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements.


Jim went in and bought some vitamins. I went in and asked if I could take some pictures, so the employee I spoke with went to the back and got Kitty, one of the owners of the store. She was a delightful woman. She told me she used to live in Woodstock, Georgia but moved from there years ago. She and her husband had come up to Pennslvania to visit some friends, and on the way home they decided to swing by to see Gettysburg. They loved it so much they decided to move here. They opened the Rose Garden Natural Foods Co. at the suggestion of their grandchildren 10 years ago. They have been at this location for about seven and half years.

The vegetables they sell here are organically grown so they have no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers used in their production. The selection available the day I was there looked very good. When I asked Kitty if they ever get swiss chard, she told me that she had just told her husband the night before she was going to order some. She took my telephone number and offered to call me when the order comes in! Now that is what I call GOOD SERVICE!

Ever since my husband's bout with cancer, we have tried to eat more nutritious food and those with fewer chemical additives. He takes a lot of vitamins, and we both use a lot of herbal supplements for various things. We are really happy that we stumbled upon this store. We will be going there a lot while we are here.

I also make my own homemade soaps. They have a very good selection of oils including coconut, almond, and grapeseed. I use all of


those in making my soaps, and they are very hard to find.

The Rose Garden Natural Foods Co. is located at 30 West Street in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. They are open Monday thru Friday from 9:00 a.m.until 4:00 p.m. and on Saturday from9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. If you go in, ask for Kitty and tell her you read her at FabGrandma.

The Sound of Frogs

Yes, that is what I said. The field next to our campsite are alive with the sound of frogs. I thought at first it was crickets, but being a girl from Georgia, I knew that it is too cold for crickets. When I asked the locals, they said that they are called "Snow Frogs". I have never heard of snow frogs, but you never know, that might be what they are. When I wake up in the middle of the night, that is what I hear. They are very loud, so sometimes it keeps me from going back to sleep. I guess it could be worse, it could be jet planes like we experienced last year at Holiday Trav-L-Park in Virginia Beach. I will take frogs over jets any day (or night).

Chirping Frogs

|

Weikert's Egg Farm

While I was out yesterday, I also went by Weikert's Egg Farm. It is at 2559 Fairfield Road in Gettysburg, about 3 miles from Granite Hill Campground, where we are working. I have been seeing their sign every time we go somewhere since we got here and have been wanting to go see what they have for sale. So, while I was on the loose alone, I went in there.

They sell eggs and BEEF, which is surprising because I would have thought eggs and CHICKEN. The eggs they sell come from free walking chickens. That means the chickens are not in cages, they can walk around in the chicken barn, eat as much a they want, and lay their eggs in a nest. I didn't get any eggs while I was there because I didn't need any but I will be going there next time I need them.

They advertise their beef as "Naturally Fed Beef". To quote from their flyer, "Unlike most commercially produced beef, our cattle are fed an all natural diet of corn, hay, and wheat without any special feed additives to speed up the animals' growth. This means there are no hormones, implants, or any other artificial substances used to enhance growth.

In addition, the crops grown on the Weikert Farm to feed the cattle are also grown without the aid of chemicals such as pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers." end of quote.

I was glad to see this advertisement because Jim's endoctrinologist, Dr. Singh, told us he should not eat beef because the beef on the market has too many hormones added to it for someone who has a thyroid problem. Ever since he told us that we have cut our beef consumption drastically. I MIGHT buy a pound of ground beef once a month, and only use about a half pound in a pot of chili. So, I bought one rib steak from them yesterday and we split it. It really did seem to taste better than what we are used to getting at the supermarket.

Weikert's eggs were priced from two dozen small eggs for $1.50 and up, depending on the size. They have both white and brown eggs. Their beef prices were comparable to what I would have to pay at the grocery stores in town. T-bone steaks were $8.89 per pound, Rib steaks were $7.99 per pound, and Chuck roast was $3.49 per pound. They also have beef by the quarter at $1.05 per pound live weight. For more information, click here for their website.