It's a scream! Yo Ho...

Mom, this year I want to be a pirate for Halloween...

"Sure Brady - no problem.. Let's go to the store"

We go to the store and only find Pirates of the Caribbean merchandise - it wasn't really what Brady had in mind.

Hay Mom, this shirt is kind of cool - what about this hat. Can I paint my hair black?? Sure Brady, no problem.

You should get the long pirate hair -- no way Mom -- I am NOT gonna wear that !!! We'll just paint my hair black.

Halloween day arrives. Brady gets home from school and starts to get ready to go to a Halloween party with his friend Taylor.

The shirt works out great.. Do you want me to iron it... NO Mom... Pirates don't have ironed shirts. It's pretty see through - I'd better wear a t-shirt and be modest.

Oh... your such a wonderful young man -- good thinking!!!

I really hate this hat... I am not wearing that - let's just paint my hair black.

OK... fine....

Do you like the black hair?? - Not to mention the black eye liner under his eyes... weird... Yo ho!

Oh yeah! Don't you just love my necklace? Cool..

I have my sword ready - I'm done.

Don't you think maybe you should put whiskers on your face? NO WAY!!!!
This is it?? You're Done?? You're not gonna wear the hat??

Right Mom, I'm done... Now can I go now??

This is all a young teenager will wear to scare off the girls..
Just kidding... He has to keep it cool - to catch all the girls.. LOL


Brady and his friend Taylor that I swiped off of Bakow Babble. Thanks Cherie -- I hope you don't mind. It is a very cute picture. Taylor looks very nerdy... oh, wait he is a nerd for Halloween. They had a great time together.

House with Scariest Decorations. Hee Hee

We voted this house for "scariest decorations." HeeHee

One of my blog friends posted this scariest house - I thought it was soooo very funny and REALLY Scary!! She let me post it on my site too. Scrappy Girl, you are great and really funny!

Here is her blog - where I stole her picture:
http://fourseasonsfarm.blogspot.com/2008/10/bootiful-night.html

Scaring up some fun for Halloween!

Best Witches everyone!! We hope you have a fangtastic Halloween!

Tonight we worked on getting our pumpkins carved. I decided to carve a pack of wolves - I imagine they are Jacob, Seth, Leah -- oh, you know my favorite wolf pack. I just couldn't resist. Today I finished listening to Eclipse on CD. I loved it. I had forgotten the heart break for Jacob at the end of the book. I finished as I was driving home from work, trying my darnedest not to cry too hard and keep my eyes clear of tears. Oh... poor Jacob. I absolutely love books on CD...... Like Ann Marie said - I will probably get New Moon on CD..... I'm ready to listen start to end (I LOVE TWILIGHT).

Don't you love my wolves? (I hope one day I will be able to imprint too)

Brady concentrating really hard on tracing his pattern.

He decided on a scull and cross bones... Hmmmm I'm so surprise (not).

Brady is going to be a pirate for Halloween tomorrow. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I had to make more cookies for a party Brady is having in his Spanish class. (I just love my new mixer - it's a very professional feeling and is slick - love it!) Brady signed me up for sugar cookies. This time I made spider cookies. I'll tell you how I decorate them.

First - frost with white frosting.

Next, pipe circles of black frosting - like this. Nope.... they don't have to be perfect circles.

Next, run a tooth pick from center out the the end of the cookie like a spider web.

I then put a plastic spider on the web to finish it off. Make sure you tell everyone the spider is plastic and not edible.

Come in for a "Bite".

Have a "Spooky" Day!

Keep Children Safe from Sex Offenders this Halloween Season!

This is a plea to all the bloggers I can reach with this message. As we send our children out on Friday to go trick or treating, I hope everyone will take the time to check out your state's Sex Offender Registry. It is very important that you are aware of the dangers around your neighborhood. We can keep our children safe with knowledge!! We have the power and ability to see this information from the safety of your own home and computer!! The way be safe is to be wise enough to check out these databases that are available to us. Do it today!

The state of Idaho's registry is at this link:

http://www.isp.state.id.us/sor_id/map_search.htm

All you have to do is put in your address and search between 1, 3 and 5 miles. I was really shocked to see how many were within those radius of my home. If you don't live in Idaho, use a search engine and query Sex offender registry of ______ and insert your state. It should come up. There are lots of sites that require a credit card -- that should be a warning red light... I never give my credit card for this type of information because I really don't know who is on the other side and it could be a scam. You should be able to get this information for free... Don't pay for it!

As you can see from the photo below - my house is the green bubble. There are 32 registered sex offenders within 1 mile from my home. On the actual site, you will be able to click on each of the red bubbles and see the photo and address of each offender and what kind of crime they are convicted of.

There are 92 sex offenders within 3 miles of my home. You can barely see my green bubble anymore. The yellow bubbles are juveniles who have been convicted.

There are 192 sex offenders within 5 miles of my home.

I hope this is an eye opener to each parent reading this blog. Keep your children safe! You have the power if you use it.

In regards to this..... I have recently had my own personal nightmare.

In March 2008, out of the blue, I received a letter in the mail to Sondra and Hailey Murray (I know who is Hailey?? -- I don't have a daughter). This is what the letter said:

Dear Sondra and Hailey,

Hi! This is Scott! How are you 2 doing? Fine I hope! Are you still working at Computerland? If so let me know. I hope you are my old girlfriend! The operator told me you live in Meridian. I want you and Hailey to come stay with me for the weekend anytime you want to come and stay with me you can! Does Hailey have a job or did she get married? If she got married then you can come and stay for the weekend with me in my apartment. I'm guessing you work Monday - Friday and have Saturday & Sunday off. If so when you get off work on Friday then you can drive straight to Pocatello and arrive at my apartment. My apartment is the last on the left south west upstairs apartment. I love & miss you!! I hope you're doing just fine! If you decide not to come and stay for the weekend with me then just write me a letter & tell me what you've been up to and what your plans are for the future. Let me know who Chris married! Take good care of yourself!!
Love always, Scott

P.S. Write me in advance and let me know what weekend your gonna stay with me. That way I'll be sure to be at Home! Love ya!

The back side of the letter said:

To: Sondra & Hailey!

Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Filled with Fun, Joy and Happiness!! I miss you both and want to see both of you!! I remember when we used to love each other! I wanted to marry you!! I still think we should marry each other! This is a marriage proposal! Will you marry me??????

Love forever, Scott

To say I freaked out a little bit is an understatement. For one thing -- Scott was never my "Boyfriend". He was a guy I dated a couple of times - until he attacked me - pulling up my shirt violently. It was very violent and scary. I never went out with him again. Shortly after I dated Scott - I moved to Logan, Utah. I came back to Pocatello several years later when Jason was a baby. I saw Scott at a church dance - he was the DJ with his wife. Yes, I knew his wife and I still have a wedding invitation from them. I knew he still liked me by the way he googled at me during the whole dance (I was there on a date). It was eerie and I didn't like him because of his attack when I dated him. OK - that was 28 years ago - and out of the blue I get this letter in the mail.

I decided to google his name and what I found out was that he is a VIOLENT SEX OFFENDER. I can't put the link here because I cannot harass him by law.

YIKES!!

I called the sex offender registry and filed a complaint. Scott had just been released from prison from a 15 year sentence. He sent the letter only 2 weeks after being released from prison. I was pretty scared for a while - that is when I purchased a taser... It will shock the heck out of anyone.. It's way cool. Plus, my home is very secure and safe - always!!

The FBI and sheriff's office called in Scott and told him not to contact me again or he would go to jail again. The FBI was involved because he wrote another letter to someone who works for the FBI (and she didn't even date him once - she knew him from church when she was a little girl). I felt confidant that I would not hear from him again.. Now 7 months later, last week I received 3 more letters within a week to Sondra and Hailey Murray. The letter says basically the same thing as above, except he told me he was getting re-baptized, wanted to have 3 more children, moved his clothes to one side of his closet waiting for mine, he wanted to marry me in the Idaho Falls Temple, detail by detail of the dates I had with him during 2 weeks of dating - anyway it was scary due to the intensity of the letters.

The scary thing is that he has my address. I am not quite sure how he knew I was single - other then Dad's Obituary that stated my maiden name of my city. He thinks I had a baby girl (not a baby boy) - from when he saw me at the dance. That is the only way I can think he knew I was single and lived in Meridian. Anyway - that's my saga...

I contacted the police/sheriff again and sent them the letters. The arrested him and is in jail again on a $5000 bond. The judge issued me a no contact order. But, you never know what will happen when he gets out of jail. Hopefully this has deterred him from contacting me again. I will continue to keep my family and myself safe. Fortunately for me I live 4 hours away from him. He lives in the town I grew up in - Pocatello Idaho not where I currently live...

Lastly my plea is for EVERY SINGLE GIRL within in the reach of my blog to always google who you are dating (Before you go on a date with them). I know Scott currently attends LDS dances and goes to an LDS ward... Take care of your children!!! Take care of yourself!! Be safe.

I am OK - so don't worry about me. I have been on an emotional roller coaster this past week as you can imagine. I didn't know if I should blog this... but I think it is an important message - especially if I can save someone from this kind of situation.

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Book Review for the Bishop's Bride

Here is what the book says about "The Bishop's Bride"

Andrew McCammon, a widower, knows that he shouldn’t be nervous going in for an interview with the stake president. They are friends, after all, and have worked together closely over the past few years. But something is still niggling at the back of his mind . . . In one sentence, his stake president deals Andrew two of the biggest shocks of his life: First, he is called to be the new bishop of his ward. The second is even more alarming—he has three weeks to meet a woman, fall in love, and get engaged. What follows is a sweet, hilarious, and thoroughly enjoyable story of one man’s faith and obedience, intertwined with a series of delightfully bizarre events that guide the right woman to him.

What I think about the book:
Well.... I didn't like it (sorry). I feel really bad about writing a bad review. The reason I read LDS novels is to be inspired and entertained. For me, this book was really hard to follow as it had so much going on. I hated the Relief Society President, Gina.... I would feel sorry for any person in a ward like this with no charity. I felt everyone was very selfish and not helping the one person in need. All they did was demand this person in need to continue to provide service for everyone when she was going through a personal tragedy. I didn't like the pressure going on and the demand to get married and in the end it really happened within three weeks - no matter the personal tragedy Jeanette went through.. I just couldn't relate and there really wasn't any romance - just a bunch of demands on this poor girl - who really did marry Andrew.

As I thought about how selfish the people were, I didn't have a good feeling. I really believe LDS people are more loving and giving then portrayed in this book (at least I hope so). This book could have been so much more entertaining... It was a great concept, but put together really bad. Sorry to give a bad review. I wouldn't waste my time reading it.

Motivational Monday- “Fulfilling Family Responsibilities”

Families are to become self-reliant so they can provide for their own physical needs and help others. To become self-reliant, family members must be willing to work. Work is physical, mental, or spiritual effort. It is a source of accomplishment, happiness, self-esteem, and prosperity. Parents should strive to be self-reliant and should teach their children likewise. Being self-reliant will enable them to help those in need.

Fathers are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. Parents see that the family has a clean home, wholesome food, clothing, medical and dental care, educational opportunities, instruction in managing financial resources, and, if possible, training in how to grow some of their own food. Parents should teach their children how to prepare their food and how to preserve it for later use.

Parents should be willing to work hard to provide for these physical needs. “And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked” (Mosiah 4:14). Parents should plan and prepare to provide for family needs in times of illness, disaster, unemployment, or other difficulties. If the father has trouble providing for the physical needs of his family and if other family members are unable to help, he may seek assistance through priesthood leaders.
Children can help provide for the physical needs of their families by helping their parents with their work, studying well in school, taking care of their clothing and other possessions, keeping themselves and their home clean and neat, and maintaining good health.

Family members should improve their ability to read, write, and do basic arithmetic and should take advantage of every opportunity to obtain knowledge and improve skills. They should obey the Word of Wisdom and eat healthful foods. Where possible, families should store a year’s supply, or as much as possible, of the basic items needed to sustain life. Family members should avoid unnecessary debt, save for the future, meet all of their obligations, and use their resources wisely, avoiding waste.

Parents should teach their children to share with others. Nearly everyone can give something, no matter how little they have. One way to help those in need is by fasting each month and contributing fast offerings, which are used to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and relieve the afflicted. We show our love for the Lord when we help others. He said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40).

“Fulfilling Family Responsibilities,” Family Guidebook, 12

Deal of the Day - SPOOKTACULAR!

My mixer has been on it's last leg for some time. I have been checking ad's regularly and saving to purchase a new one. I wanted a big one that could handle all of the cooking I do. I have been tired of the little ones I have had in the past. Small ones or ones not powerful enough to mix divinity, good whipped cream, bread and other items that need a good mixer. I've been shopping around for the best price and finally I have found one!! Yippie!!

In Sunday's paper, I found a big mixer for only $99.00 after the $30.00 rebate. It was in JC Penney's ad. On Friday, I decided to go to the store, check it out and purchase it. When I got there, I couldn't find the mixer. There wasn't a sign, I didn't bring the ad and I just couldn't find it. Finally a sales associate came to my rescue and we went to check the ad. I couldn't find the mixer I saw in the Sunday ad. I thought.... maybe it was in another store ad and I was mistaken. So, I left the store empty handed.... Darn! I wasn't too happy that I made a trip to the mall (which I hate) and didn't have the ad in hand. What was I thinking???

When I arrived home, I pulled out last week's Sunday ads. I looked through several and finally came to JC Penneys. Wait.... this wasn't the ad the clerk showed me... AND IT WAS AT JC PENNEY'S... THE MIXER.... I was a little steaming mad that they let a customer leave the store because their sales associate was clueless to what was on sale and apparently had the wrong ad.

Saturday morning, I got dressed and drove down to the dreaded mall again.... There it was... The item I have been looking for.. Sweet Success...

Regular price: $299
Sale price: $129
Mail in Rebate: $30
Savings --- Ready --- $200.. Yippie!! I am so very excited.

Here it is!!

Commercial Size mixer!! I am very excited!!

I pull it out of the box and look everything over. I haven't ever had a mixer this nice!! Love it!! Love it!!!

Old Sunbeam mixer - on it's last leg... versus my new commercial mixer. I've played around with it and now I get to COOK with it.. Oh, the things I'm going to make!! It was such a great deal that I am glad I have been looking around and found such a great deal! It makes me so very happy... I am sure it will make me feel like a professional cook - oh the joy!!!

Brady's week - it's a scream!

Today, cross country teams across the city competed in the City Meet at Eagle Island. It was a great day for the race! Look at all of the beautiful fall leaves in the back ground. I really am enjoying the mild autumn days we are having, plus a great day for the race. This is the last race Brady will be in for the season, next week is the state race but I don't know if anyone is attending from our team this year. Our team was quite small compared to some of the other schools, I believe we came in 3rd place in a couple of meets.

Brady and teammates warming up before the race.

Here are the runners for the JV Boys team. Quite a lot from the city schools. Ready, Set, GO! (Bang goes the gun)... Ooop's someone tripped within the first 100 feet... (Bang, Bang and the runners stop).. Let's start again... Ready, Set, GO! BANG! and they are off!

A shot of Brady along the trail. You can see that he is still quite a bit smaller then the other runners. Freshman vs... sophomores, juniors and seniors.... He'll continue to grow and watch out by the time he is a senior. He really holds his own - compared to these taller and older runners.

After the race.... You can see the shine of the sweat on Brady. This is the first time I was able to get a spot at the finish. The runners were spent.... exhausted... and some even throwing up... I couldn't believe how it was - especially the girls - so many throwing up at the end of the race. They really push themselves so very hard. Wow!

Back at our tented area after the race ... some of the team discussing their times, how they did AND drinking water. Brady finished the race at his personal best for the year at 21 minutes and 11 seconds. I have really enjoyed watching him compete this year. It's been a blast!

As discussed in a previous blog, Tuesday night Brady had a choir concert. The pictures aren't that great due to the lighting and because I am so far away. Zooming my camera makes it kind of blurry in this lighting. I really enjoyed the Fall Concert. The director (teacher) is Jack Brown.

The New Dimensions Jazz Choir started the show (below). They had 2 guitarists and a drummer with their choir. The solos were awesome. They sang: " 'S Wonderful" and "The Night We Called It A Day". This was by far my favorite group of the night. It was the best!

Next the Filias Concordiae Treble Choir (below)... What a name - but I took it right from the program. They sang: "Sing Alleluia, Sing", "Sanctus" and "The Tiger".

Next was Brady's Choir - the Concert Choir (below). You can see Brady right up from the music from the Piano Player - very blurry... Oh, Well. Plus, Mr. Jack Brown stood right where I could NOT see Brady during their songs... Which was a little frustrating for me.. I like to see my guy.....

The Concert Choir sang: "Confitemini Domino", "The Wind" and"God's Gonna Build Up Zion's Wall"

The last choir was "A Cappella Choir". They sang: "Sing Praises", "Deep River" and "Gloria".

I was pretty surprised at the music selections. Mr. Brown is from the south - like Georgia and really grew up on Southern Gospel Music - which he loves. The music they sang really reflected the teacher's musical taste. It really was wonderful... and I love spiritual music!! It just was surprising that he could really have the children sing spiritual music from a school. Usually that is a huge taboo with all the politics associated with anything you do now days. You always have to be politically correct.. Well, I for one was very happy with the music. It was a great evening.

Just a side note... this is Brady's first year in any type of choir. With his musical abilities, I really forced him to take choir. I really hope that he will take it all the way through high school and be in the musical plays throughout his years. I'd love it if he makes the Jazz Choir in the future.

Homemaking Meeting - Fangtastic!

Tuesday evening I was triple booked! I had a church homemaking meeting, Brady had a choir concert and we needed to get his seminary devotional ready. Usually I work every Tuesday night, I have one business that I clean in the evening and it just happens to be every Tuesday night.

There are lots of people in my ward who constantly put a guilt trip on me because I never go to homemaking meeting or other ward activities planned on Tuesday nights. It kind of makes me mad that they place guilt on me, when I am making a living for my family. I do the best I can for my family.... I am not there to please everyone - especially from people who have no idea what it takes to raise a family on your own as a single mom... (sorry to go off there). Due to all the guilt ... I decided to change my evening job to Monday night so that I could go to homemaking and other ward activities that seem to always be on Tuesday nights. Now, we will have to have family home evening on a different night then Monday night. Hmmmm

I signed up to make a "tile" with a comment from Pres. Monson. They also had a turkey dinner planned and I signed up to take a vegetable (the recipe is already posted).

Monday night, Brady came home from school and told me that he had a choir concert on Tuesday night. What?? I couldn't believe it -- it wasn't on my calendar which is very unusual for me... Plus he had his seminary devotional on Wednesday. Of course things didn't work out for the one Homemaking meeting I was going to attend.... My priority will always be my children ... of course I was going to attend the choir concert.

Since I cleaned my business customer on Monday night I had Tuesday open to get everything done. Tuesday I had 2 houses to clean, came home and made the cookie dough and put in the fridge, put together the tic tac pumpkin poop, picked up Brady from cross country, then baked the sugar cookies and the vegetable dish for home making.

6:15 PM we left to take the vegetable dish to the church and let them know I couldn't come, but would try to stop by after the concert. When I got there, they had several table displays up for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I had my camera and took some real quick pictures. Here they are and they are amazing. One of the sisters in my ward owns a floral store called Petals and Stems and she designed the tables for us.

The Halloween table. They had dry ice under the gourds and small pumpkins - putting a dusting of spooky smoke on the table which you can't really see. The napkin was made into a ghost which was a very clever idea! Here is a close up:

Here is the Thanksgiving or harvest table. I didn't take a close up on this one.
Here is the sparkly Christmas table. It was much prettier then what my pictures show. I was in a hurry to get to the concert and just took a couple of real quick pictures:

She put gold thread over the arrangements and table to make it look sparkly. It really was beautiful - better in person them these pictures show.


I loved how she hung crystal snow flakes from this arrangement. It was very elegant!

We had a great time at the concert and I'll blog that later. When we made it back the meeting was almost over. I did pick up my project to finished at home. I've never done a tile with a saying on it. It was pretty easy, but I think I could have lined it up a bit better.

After the choir and stopping by the church - I still had to frost all of the cookies for Brady's devotional. I also had to clean up the kitchen before bed - It was a non-stop day. I'm glad it's over.

I've been tagged......Come in for a "Bite"

You've been tagged. I, http://simplymormon.blogspot.com was too, so now I'm passing along the blessing. :) You're, apparently, supposed to tell us 7 things about yourself that we didn't know.

1. I was named after the actress: Sandra Dee. However, when my Mom was pregnant they mispronounced her name to Sondra Dee (My name). I loved watching Sandra Dee in the movies when I was a little girl. OK - I know I am old -- there are probably lots of you younger generation who have no idea who Sandra Dee is.... LOL

2. When I was lots younger - I loved doing gymnastics. I could arch my back (while lying on my tummy) and touch my feet to my head. I took 4th place in a city gymnastic meet in 9th grade. However, I really didn't get involved on the gymnastic team in high school - I don't know why...??

3. Also when I was younger, we used to build an ice skating pond in our back yard. We started ice skating when we were toddlers. Mom and Dad had ice skates with 4 runners (Like roller skates) but they were blades so we could learn to ice skate at a very young age. I grew up in Pocatello Idaho - yup it was that cold!! We would water down the snow with our hose and then drain the hose (so it wouldnt' freeze). We kept doing it every couple of hours every day until we had an ice skating pond. That was our favorite thing to do all winter long. I still love to ice skate when I have an opportunity.

4. I have never had a speeding ticket in my whole life.

5. In my lifetime, so far I have had 5 operations - plus 2 babies. I hate doctors.

6. I have naturally curly hair. While growing up - I always had ringlets in my hair. I had them in every school picture until 8th grade. After washing my hair, my Mom would wrap my hair around her finger and pull her finger out and I had a ringlet. I always wished for straight hair.. even today I'd love to have straight hair.

7. I never wore pants to school until 5th grade and I believe my Mom made me a couple of pant suits (polyester) to wear. We always wore a dress to school and if it was really cold (OK - Pocatello and building an ice skating pond in our yard).. really cold - we could wear pants under our dress while we walked to school and then had to take them off. I was probably in 8th or 9th grade before wore a pair of Levis to school.

As a side note -- I don't feel like I am really that old - I'm only 46 years young. My how times have changed. When I started working for a computer company, I was 25 years old and the computer was a huge monster in a air conditioned computer room. Now we have a little box that links across the world.. Crazy!! Enough talk about how it used to be... I am beginning to feel old -- LOL!!

I tag everyone who reads this...

Fire! Fire! Fire! I want my "mummy"

A couple of months ago, I attended a city meeting proposing upcoming changes to the downtown area. They proposed taring down 2 houses and building a parking lot to house additional parking needs as the downtown area re-vamps. It was a great meeting and exciting to see the new changes the city will be making within the next few years.

The best thing about this meeting was that they actually listened to me about the traffic problems we experience living downtown. Luckily, they listened and implemented a turn lane when they moved the traffic light from Idaho street to Broadway. It's going to be a huge blessing in moving the traffic along. Yeah!!

I knew that they were getting ready to tare down the 2 houses as they were cutting down the trees, brush, fences and salvaging parts off of the houses. What I didn't know was that the fire department had planned a training exercise by burning a house down.

Saturday when Brady went out the back door of our house he saw the fire. This is what you see just outside our back door. That's my fence - fire and black smoke.

I ran over to check it out and take pictures. Our fire department just received a new truck with a ladder. They were trying it out and training with it.

Here are pictures from the fire. You can see they took off lots of stuff/siding from the house to prepare it before they lit it on fire.

Then I left and came back to watch a half hour or so later. Most of the house was gone except the back side.

Then a fireman came with this poker looking thing (like from my home fire place tool kit) with a long handle and started pushing the remaining structure down.

And then it was down...

Then they let the ladder truck take it from there... Wooooosh! Lots of water power. It was awesome!

It sure was an exciting day - a house on fire without effecting the life of a family.

That was our exciting Saturday event! There is still one house to be torn down. I wonder if they will burn it too... Then a building will be torn down and a new beautiful building will be built and a new parking lot. Yes... I am getting closer and closer to our downtown. They keep coming closer every year. It makes me wonder if they will ever take over my block and I'll have to move. Who knows.....