Happy Halloween!

The Halloween party was over, and Mark was going home. It wasn't quite afull moon; but as that happened just a few days earlier, it was still quite bright even when some of the light clouds changed it from a near perfect circle to a blurry glow. Mark was not suspicious, but he was tired, and therefore had no problem deciding to take the shortcut home through the cemetery, even on Halloween.

It was just an ordinary cemetery, and with the moonlight, there was no difficulty crossing. At least not normally. But this was no normal night, because shortly after he entered the cemetery, the moon became uncovered, and he heard what sounded like a faint voice in the distance softly calling"maarrk, maarrk." It seemed a little strange, but he figured it was just a typical night noise, even though it stopped when the moon was again covered with clouds.

A few moments later, as Mark approached the center of the cemetery, the moon again peeked out from behind the clouds, and he heard the call, this time closer: "Marrk, Marrk." This time he got a little nervous, and started walking faster. The moon was covered; it again became uncovered. Even closer he heard "Marrk, Marrk." He shouted "Who is it? What do you want?" But the moon was again covered and he heard nothing. Mark started running.

The moon again became visible. "Mark, Mark," went the voice, sounding even closer. He ran for his life, tripping over tombstones, getting scratched on bushes and briers, and at last reached the edge of the cemetery and heard loudly right in front of him "MARK, MARK." He looked down . . .

. . .and there was a big dog wearing a muzzle. "MARK, MARK."

Top Halloween Costumes for Kids

1. Spiderman
2. Princess
3. Witch
4. Vampire
5. Monster
6. Spongebob
7. Ninja
8. Athlete (football, baseball, etc.)
9. Ghost
10. Power Ranger
11. Angel
12. Pumpkin
13. Batman
14. Yu Gi Oh
15. Pop star
16. Barbie
17. Harry Potter Character
18. Pirate
19. Clown
20. Firefighter

Today we had some early Trick or Treaters from the daycare that rents space in the basement. They were all so cute! We had a lot of Spidermans and princesses. Amanda is going as a Vampire (Gothic Vampire) and I’m thinking about dressing up in a white trash bag with the words WHITE TRASH across the front. What are you and your kids going as this year?

Tomorrow evening Amanda is having a ghostly sleepover. It’s going to be a small group (a total of four 10 & 11 year olds). First I’m going to stuff them with pizza before piling into my friend Diana’s van and heading over to the Haunted Hayride and The Trail of Terror. After returning home we’ll be doing a scavenger hunt in the back yard (I hope the raccoon family that has taken residence in one of our trees won’t mind too terribly) followed by snacks and the movie The Sixth Sense (I wanted to watch The Ring but was out-voted).

The One You Feed

A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, "In every life there is a terrible fight – a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion." A child asked, "Grandfather, which wolf will win?" The elder looked him in the eye. "The one you feed."

UNSOLICITED FAXES RECEIVED BY BOGUS COMPANY

My office received one earlier this week and found it very strange - it is an April invoice and indicates it is billed to Kevin Batesman out of Collon, Utah PLUS, it is in the amount of $6000.00 for business lists. Believing that they had made a mistake I simply filed it in the circular file cabinet.

Just a little while ago I received another unsolicited fax from Forsythe Date Equipment Co. This time I decided to do a Goggle search on them. This is what I found...

Forsythe Data Equipment Co.
Unsolicited faxes received by South Plains businesses

If you have received an unsolicited fax like the one here from Forsythe Data Equipment Co. out of San Diego, California, your BBB advises caution!

Your BBB office received one this week and found it very strange - it is an April invoice and indicates it is billed to Kevin Batesman out of Collon, Utah PLUS, it is in the amount of $6000.00 for business lists. We think the "hook" is to get credit card and bank information from the recipient because there is a credit application that comes with the cover fax. Even though it says to fax the information, no fax number is given. We were afraid that someone would snail-mail the credit card information, not realizing this was a "bogus" invoice, to the address given.

We have checked our national database and find no listing for Forsythe Data Equipment Co. and no phone listing for the company either. BBB San Diego has no information in their files.

Best thing to do is warn your office staff and file this one in the "round" file!!

Forsythe Data Equipment Co is faxing 9 pages of bogus invoices totalling 6,000.00 to individuals in different states. This is now the second time this "company" has wasted my ink and paper. And since they block out the fax number on their fax form I can’t even block their fax number from my fax machine.

From the very moment we were born, we were dying. So why sweat the small stuff? Learn to accept things for face value and enjoy life. Cherish every moment as though it were your last because this is your last time you will see today. ~ Unknown

Q: How many women with MENOPAUSE does it take to change a light bulb?

A: One! ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out. And,once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CUPBOARD for the past 17 YEARS! But if they did, by some miracle, actually find them 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE STUPID LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE AFOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS DARN HOUSE!

I'm sorry.... What was the question?

"I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom." ~ Les Brown, 21st Century Motivational Speaker

TRUE OR FALSE

Can you guess which of the following are true and which are false?

1. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
2. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button.
3. A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 years.
4. People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.
5. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart!
6. Only 7 per cent of the population are lefties.
7. Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.
8. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until they are 2-6 years old.
9. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.
10. The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
11. The average housefly lives for one month.
12. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.
13. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.
14. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.
15. Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day.
16. Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.
17. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
18. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
19. John Travolta turned down the starring roles in "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Tootsie."
20. Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.
21. In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.
22. Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in case there is a crash.
23. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.
24. Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are used in vein transplant surgery.
25. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins.
26. If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

Believe it or not, they are all TRUE! Now go back and think about #16!!!

"We are all designed for a specific purpose; we all have something for which each of us, and each of us alone, is responsible. " - Naomi Stephan

"Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, a gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation; others, in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every man, on the foundation of his own sufferings and joys, builds for all." -- Albert Camus (1913-1960), "The Artist and His Time"

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." ~ John Lennon (1940-1980)

Good Advice!

Live every day as if it were your last. Do every job as if you were the boss. Drive as if all other vehicles were police cars. Treat everybody else as if he were you. ~ Unknown

A Moment for You...

Give yourself the gift of time. No matter how busy you are, you can always find time for others; remember that you’re worth the "trouble," too! Time to relax, replenish and renew can be as essential as air and water, as healing as a hug, as uplifting as a prayer. It restores. It recharges. It gives you serenity to spare and share. So allow – promise! – yourself a few just-for-you moments each day. Do something you enjoy - or do nothing at all. However you spend it, it’s never a waste of time. Because you’re worth the effort...

7 Days of Inspiration

Take one a day...and feel great all week!

Day 1 - Let a dream take shape!
Day 2 - Don’t underestimate where confidence can take you!
Day 3 - Practice compassion with yourself, too.
Day 4 - Follow your heart. It’s your compass.
Day 5 - You are an extraordinary person!
Day 6 - This day is a journey. Make regular rest stops along the way.
Day 7 - You make someone’s heart dance.

Just For Fun...

We crave it, we indulge in it, but how much do we really know about the rich, sweet treat that is chocolate? Test your knowledge of America's favorite dessert in this Chocolate Quiz. I got 2 out of 10 right, I'm blaming that on this diet that I'm on.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations." ~ George Bernard Shaw, 20th century playwright and literary personality

You've failed many times, although you don't remember. You fell down the first time you tried to walk. You almost drowned the first time you tried to swim. . . . Don't worry about failure. . . . Worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.-- Sherman Finesilver, US District Court Judge

Beauty of a Woman

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair.
The beauty of a woman must be seen from her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
The place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.
It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows.
The beauty of a woman
With time, only grows...

The ultimate test: If you were another person, would you have yourself as a friend. ~ Unknown

Life's mathematics

Add your friends
Subtract your enemies
Multiply your joys
Divide your sorrows
and draw a circle with God as center
and love as radius

~ Unknown

Understanding Soldiers from Iraq
by Spc. Ken Comstock

People think they understand
(but they really have no clue)
the life of a soldier
and what it is we have to go through:
Crying families, crying children,
"Daddy, please don’t go away!"
Smiling, you say, "Things will be fine,"
while inside you’re crying, praying to see another day,
fighting for those who cannot
and for those who burn what you swore to defend,
constantly questioning life’s purpose,
hoping it will all make sense in the end.
There’s no one to talk to
except the angels that guide us through the fire,
frozen in a silent scream,
being led by God’s divine power.

I have nothing to do
but wonder why I am here.
Is it out of pure patriotism,
or is it strictly out of fear,
the reasons why I do this?
For faith, sacrifice and love,
and to defend our nation?
When push comes to shove—
hunger, homesickness, anger, sadness, fear,
thirst, exhaustion, loneliness, and disgust—
sometimes I feel small, helpless, and alone,
in a world hard of finding trust,
with nothing to do
but wait for another day.
God is my refuge,
and to him I always pray.

We are soldiers; men of honor
holding steadfast and strong without fear.
Even though most of us soldiers
are not yet old enough to have a beer.
Even so, we will be haunted
by the images left in our heads,
by the phantoms, the ghosts
and the nightmares we will have in our beds.
You will look upon us as a child,
but men we are—more so than some,
and we will continue to grow
even when the fighting is done.

Always being asked:
"Why put yourself through that?"
If only I had an explanation;
If only they could think back
to a time long ago
when a Man suffered for all our sins…
Are we as soldiers
any different from Him?
Maybe then
their understanding may begin.

Spc. Ken Comstock, 23, was riding in a Humvee near Samarra, Iraq, when it hit an explosive device. His forehead was smashed into 500 pieces, and he barely made it home to the United States, where he is now recovering. A week before "it happened," he emailed a poem to his mother, asking himself why he was there and pleading with people back home to try to understand what he was feeling.

If you would like to read more about Spc. Ken Comstock check out this page: http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/Ken-Comstock.htm

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.~ Herm Albright

EXCUSES

I promise you cannot read these and not laugh out loud! These are real notes written from parents in a Mississippi School District. (Spellings have been left intact.)

1. My son is under a doctor's care and should not take P.E. today. Please Execute him.

2. Please excuse Lisa for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.

3. Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.

4. Please excuse Gloria from Jim today. She is administrating.

5. Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.

6. John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face.

7. Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was kicked in the growing.

8. Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins.

9. Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side.

10. Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels.

11. Please excuse Pedro from being absent yesterday. He had [diahre] [dyrea] [direathe] the shits. [Words were crossed out in the parenthesis]

12. Please excuse Tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea and his boots leak.

13. Irving was absent yesterday because he missed his bust.

14. Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father's fault.

15. I kept Billie home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I don't know what size she wear.

16. Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday.

17. Sally won't be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral.

18. My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the Marines.

19. Please excuse Jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well.

20. Please excuse Mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps.

21. Gloria was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover.

22. Please excuse Brenda, she has been sick and under the doctor.

23. Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night.

So True!

The following quote from Mother Teresa is so true.

The world is upside down because there is so very little love in the home. We have no time for our children; we have no time for each other; and there is no time to enjoy each other. That is why there is so much suffering and so much unhappiness in the world today. Everybody seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for what is bigger and better and greater, and mothers and fathers often do not have time for each other, let alone their children. In the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world. ~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been.- Mark Twain

Long Awaited Regulations Will Protect More Animals

The USDA is now drafting a new set of regulations under theAnimal Welfare Act. This is the first time that enforceable,legal standards of care will be extended to birds, rats and mice,even though they have been entitled to them since 1975. But thereis tremendous opposition from interest groups representing animalsellers and users, so it is urgent that USDA hear from you insupport of strong regulations.

A few years ago, lobbyists for the animal research industrypressured Congress to amend the Animal Welfare Act to eliminatebirds and virtually all mice and rats from the definition of“animal” under the law. However, some birds, rats, and mice thatare not specifically bred for use in research are still coveredunder the law.

The USDA is now requesting public input before it proposes thenecessary new regulations. Help ensure the proper protection forthese animals - submit your comments today.

Click here to send prepared comments to the USDA.

Great quote!

To err is human, but when the eraser wears out ahead of the pencil, you're overdoing it. ~ Josh Jenkins