October Reading

October is National Book month

Did you know that?

Its a great time....and excuse to read

as if you really needed an excuse.

I love the fact that my children love to read.

Amber was just telling me that she is reading Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.

We both love the movie and she said she is really enjoying reading the book.

I love that we have a love of reading in common.

I love that we can recommend or not recommend books to each other.

The boy has just finished Saving Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

He loved it. 

In fact he said it was his second favorite book he has read....Harry Potter being the first favorite.

I think its because it has dogs in it and he loves animals.

It made my heart happy every time I saw his nose buried in that book.

And every time he rambled to me in the car about what was happening in the story 

I couldn't help but smile.

Reading is a wonderful adventure you can take with your children.

I think it is very important to NOT make reading a chore or a requirement

I personally think that when you make it either of those things children grow to dislike it.

Encourage reading for pleasure.....for the sheer joy of traveling through your imagination.

This month take your children on a trip to the bookstore or local library.

Let them wonder through the stacks alone.

Let them pick a book that they choose.

Not you.

Not school.

Even if you think its above their reading level.

Don't discourage. 

Make reading a part of family night.

Talk about books at dinner.

Enjoy a good book yourself.

Turn off the TV.....ugh I know thats hard you know how addicted I am.

and sit for a little while and read with your child.

You won't regret it!

Got any plans for October reading?

Creepy Ghost Photos

So being that we are getting ready for the Halloween season.

Well I am getting ready for the Halloween season.

I have been searching online for ghost photos.

I use them in my Halloween decorating

which I will share with you next week.

Some of them are so blatantly fake.

But some are down right creepy.

I got the chills looking at some of them which I will share with you.

 I know this one is fake and I have no idea where it originates from but it is creepy as hell to look at.

 This one is supposedly taken at the Amityville Horror house and is said to be one of the Defeo boys who was killed by their brother in the house. The photo was taken by a professional photographer who was working with the Warners....there to investigate the haunting....and everyone agrees no child was in the house at the time. Extremely creepy whether it is a fake or not.

The Brown Lady ghost is one of  the most famous ghost photographs. The photo is thought to be the ghost of  Lady Dorothy Townshend taken at the Raynham Hall mansion. Legend has it that Dorothy was unfaithful to her husband and although legal records show that she died in 1726, it is said that the funeral was a fake and that her husband locked her in a remote corner of the mansion until she really died many years later. Her ghost still haunts the mansion.

This very creepy and interesting  photo was taken in 1919. It is a group portrait of Goddard's squadron. The men had served in World War I aboard the HMS Daedalus. That extra ghostly face creepily peeking over that one guys shoulder is thought to be that of Freddy Jackson. Freddy was accidentally killed by an airplane propeller two days earlier. His funeral was held the day the photo was taken and some members of the squadron believe he did not realize he was dead and so he decided to join in on the group photo.

With photoshop and other photo editing software out there it would be awfully hard to believe that a photo is real but even if they are faked some of the photos I have seen could have you sleeping with the lights on for weeks.

Do you have a ghost story to tell?

I am going to feature some real life ghost stories the month of October so if you have any you want to share please email me at serendipityslibrary@gmail.com

I watch too much TV

This is not a new realization.

I have always known that I watch too much TV.

I have recorded and watched I think every Pilot episode of the new fall shows

These are the ones I have watched

A Gifted Man

New Girl

Revenge

Person of Interest

The Ringer

Up All Night

Whitney

Prime Suspect

Plus I have watched all of my favorites

Parenthood

Fringe

The Office

Glee

Modern Family

Grey's Anatomy

The Mentalist

Supernatural

How I Met Your Mother

I am looking forward to Grimm and American Horror Story both of which start in October

And I am waiting for House to come back and Living Dead which I am sooooo excited for.

Here are my reviews for the new shows that I have watched.

A Gifted Man - is Eli Stone with a doctor instead of a lawyer.

Eli Stone did not make it and neither will A Gifted Man.

New Girl - Super cute and kind of funny. She reminds me of Amber a little with her goofiness. I will keep watching it.

Revenge - Loved it. I loved the story and I loved the atmosphere of the Hamptons. I will definitely keep watching although I have no idea how they are going to make this last multiple season as someone is already dead.......

Person of Interest - Another keeper and not just because Ben Linus aka Henry Gale aka Michael Emerson is in it....although that is reason enough. It has a lot of action and an interesting story line.

The Ringer - I want to like this so bad because I am a huge Buffy/Sarah Michelle Gellar fan. But I am undecided. Out of respect for the actress I will give it a few episodes before I give up completely. Right now I am confused about what the heck is going on.

Up All Night - Not funny and its a shame because funny people are in it.

Whitney - Terrible....will not last.

Prime Suspect - Very Good a lot of action and Maria Bello is a Philly suburb native so I will watch just for that reason. I will keep watching but once the rest of my shows start I may have to cut this.

I wasn't going to watch Desperate Housewives because I am so over that show but then I found out its the last season so because I have been watching it since the beginning I will probably watch it.

How do I watch all of these shows you ask?

The awesomeness that is my DVR

I pretty much record everything and then i watch it when I can. 

Usually after the boy goes to bed or on the weekends.

Plus I am a multitasker 

I will put a show on while I am cleaning, ironing, cooking or whatever.

So have you watched any new TV shows?

What are your keepers?

Things that scare the hell out of me

Vampires, Zombies and Werewolves do not scare me

Maybe its because we have romanticized the hell out of those beings

Trust me when Salem's Lot came out it scared the piss out of me

and still does

But with Twilight, Trueblood and The Vampire Diaries 

Vampires are now sex symbols and not at all scary

Here is a list of things that are scary to me and I don't see any way to make them not scary!

1. Clowns - I am shaking while writing this that his how bad clowns scare me. I hate them they are evil and it should be illegal to have them at parties unless all attendees sign a written consent....and the police are there to protect the guest from the manic hiding behind the makeup.

2. Spiders - I don't like them. They are creepy and weird. I don't like them in movies when they crawl out of dead peoples mouths. I don't like them on TV when that one crawls on Peter Brady because they stole that ancient tiki thing. I don't like when when crawls across the floor or God forbid the ceiling where it could drop down on my head at any time!

3. Demons/Possession - Blame it on the Catholic upbringing but anything having to do with demons or possession scares the hell out of me. After seeing The Exorcism of Emily Rose if I woke up and the clock read 3 AM I would wait in fear for the demon. The Exorcist to this day still scares me to the point where I even consider going to church again. 

4. Aliens - Aliens scare me probably because I believe that they exist. I really do not think we are alone in the universe and eventually they will come to destroy us all and take over our planet. In the meantime they will keep stealing us from our beds. The movie the Fourth Kind is way scary. In Signs which wasn't a particularly scary movie but when that first alien flashes across the TV screen I jumped out of my skin. Fire In the Sky I think is the scariest of them all those aliens gave me nightmares for weeks!

5. Strange Beings (Like the Mothman, Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil) - Weird beings that have been seen by people completely scare me. The idea of some strange creature with red eyes dropping down on your car and predicting some disaster.........crazy creepy! When I have to be in work by 6:30 AM a few days a week that ride in is like one giant stress filled trip. The roads are dark and deserted and I just know some creepy red eyed monster is looking at me through the trees. Bigfoot forget it if I was ever walking in the woods.....which if you know me would never happen because I don't like nature walks.....anyway if I was walking through the woods and saw some massive hairy man ape thing I would die literally I would have a stroke or heart attack and die.

So these are the things that scare me....what scares you?

Why Amber is the Coolest Person I Know

Amber is pretty much the coolest person I know.

I take full credit because I am her mother.

Amber has always been a very confident person.

She has no problem being weird.

Which I love because neither do I.

She is always quick with 

a smile

a joke 

a laugh

a hug.....and she gives the best

She will talk to anyone

about anything.

Which is sometimes disconcerting.

She is friendly and makes friends easy.

Very rarely do I ever hear her speak about someone in a negative way.

I know she does sometimes.......everyone does.

But it is certainly less frequent then most.

Amber has no problem making fun of herself.

Her laughter is contagious.

She has always been the one to except the person others won't.

Sometimes I wish she would stick up for herself more.

Like when someone calls her fat

which she is NOT.

She is talented

smart 

funny

beautiful....inside and out.

She can't sing but does anyway.

She bites her nails which is gross.

Her presence actually changes the air

it becomes lighter

fills with laughter

Amber loves food

she loves to eat

and isn't ashamed of this fact

while some her age may put on airs 

she just eats

she doesn't take herself too seriously

being goofy is her trademark

that and talking super fast

All of these things add up to why she is the coolest person I know

I used to worry about all of the things I have not accomplished in my life

I had big goals and never worked to reach them

but when I look back at my life I now know that its Amber and Christopher

that are my success story.

Do you believe in Ghosts?

I love anything and everything Paranormal.

I always have.

I would LOVE to go on an investigation with professional investigators.

Although my family would disagree 

I would love it if my house was haunted

To me the show Ghost Hunters is the best show about ghost hunting

The way they investigate to me is the way I would do it

I am what I call a skeptical believer

I believe in the supernatural but I am very skeptical about some of the evidence

I think there is a lot of things that could be explained away

and all though I love when they find legitimate reasons for certain things 

I am so excited when they find something they can't explain

Some of the other Ghost Hunting related shows seem so scripted and obvious in their discoveries

Like Ghost Adventures.....ugh I hate that show the host is the most obnoxious human being

basically they run around yelling and acting like a bunch of idiots.

Paranormal State is another show....its not bad.

I kind of feel an obligation to like it because Amber goes to Penn State 

and the group Paranormal State are former Penn State students.

It leans a little towards the religious with a lot of demon type investigations

which is cool.....sort of

Locally there is a place called Fort Mifflin which is one of the most haunted places in America

I have been looking into tours and I am hoping to go sometime in October

I will share my experience with all of you if I do get to do one of the tours.

So how about you? Do you believe in Ghosts?

I love Halloween

I am not one of those people who likes to rush the holidays.

In fact nothing annoys me more then walking into a store and seeing Christmas decorations out

when its only October

But I love Halloween

and I can not wait to put my decorations up.

I don't know if its my love for all things creepy

but putting those decorations up make me so happy.

I think I mentioned that my brother Michael and his wife Letitia

are having a Halloween party this year.

I am so excited

Its going to be a blast 

We are going to set up a haunted house in his family room and scare the

bejesus out of the kids

another favorite thing of mine!

So I have been trolling the internet trying to fill my halloween decoration fix 

with photos of decorations

I thought I would share them with you.

I am thinking starting next week I may try to feature a post on something haunted

to get you all in the mood

Well enjoy the lovely scary photos

have a Thrilling Thursday!