Author: Sandie D

I always have a hard time explaining who am I. I resort to the I am a mother to 2 beautiful adult daughters I have the most handsome grandsons and the loveliest grand-daughters. I'm married to an amazing man since 1980. The most important thing about me is that I am a Born Again Christian. The Lord has gotten me through so much in my life. So, I want to give Him the credit for all of my blessings. I'm also a blogger and I enjoy writing. blogs about my faith, family, and food.

Happy Thanksgiving and Week Of!

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Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless

First off, I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I will be covering a few different topics in this blog that pretty much involves things that happen the week of Thanksgiving.

  1. The first thing is the most important thing and that is what I’m thankful for. I could name alot of things I’m not thankful for but there are even more things i am.
  • I love my family even when I get grumpy and go on my venting sprees. Sorry all. It is who I am. I have my imperfect moments like we all do.
  • I’m thankful that I can worship God in a country that lets me have that freedom.
  • I’m thankful for the rain, snow and the bright sunny days.
  • I love to wake up to the birds chirping and singing a new song each morning.
  • I’m thankful for my dogs, bird and fishes.
  • I’m thankful that I have a freedom of speech. Even if others don’t like what I think or say.
  • I’m thankful for the friends that God has put in my life, even if some are for a short time.

2. Thanksgiving should be a time to spend with your families if you choose to do that. It is a national holiday and in my opinion businesses should be closed. But there are some stores that will be open on Thursday and Friday.

ImageIf businesses choose to be open that is because usually there is a demand from the same public that is yelling about them needing to be closed. For example, when I worked at a local grocery store, I volunteered to work on Thanksgiving. They would only be open if they had enough employees volunteered to cover shifts. I usually had no problem.

But there would be no need to be open if the very same customers that were grumbling about us having to work would do their shopping before Thanksgiving. On the average of 1 in 3 customers would tell me each year how sorry they are that I had to work and that the store should be closed. But yet, here in front of me is the customer who decided they forgot something and needed last minute items. It goes back to supply and demand.

This goes for the restaurants that remain open and serve their customers who choose not to cook or have no other place to go. Most of the people that work have families too. Businesses such as Walmart and Kmart are open on Thanksgiving. The reason for that is because they know that customers will shop and someone has to wait on them and to be there to open the store. I know I sound cynical, but it is what it is. If someone is upset or angry that a business is open and making their employees work, then don’t shop there. If people stopped shopping on those days, there would be no need to have people work it.

I had to admire the way Lins Marketplace was with us. That’s the grocery store I worked at for a long time. Everyone has a choice to work or not work on Thanksgiving. They show how much they appreciate their employees in many ways. You will see them open part of the day because the employees are giving their time to serve their community.

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 3.  During the week of Thanksgiving, there is alot of focus on Black Friday. I normally don’t do Black Friday, but there are a couple items I can’t pass up on this year. My grand-kids are only getting one gift (toy) each and one outfit. I want to get them all at the same place. Since I have been very limited health wise this year, I will do it all in one day and in one swoop. But there are things that drive me crazy about this whole Black Friday and shopping on Thursday (Thanksgiving).

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. And I understand why businesses offer good deals and it is a time to boost their sales. I dread Black Friday and I don’t look forward to it. If people are doing Black Friday all I ask is that people be considerate of others. This is suppose to be a time of thanksgiving and celebration of the birth of Christ. It’s too bad that it has turned into a commercialism extravaganza. People will gouge each others eyes out for a bargain. It’s a mad dash of craziness and you have to watch out or you will be trampled in the process.

Every year people are hurt, walk over, beaten, slammed and sometimes killed on Black Friday. I  guess I would have to ask myself if that bargain i really worth someone else’s life.?

Question: Why Is Black Friday Called Black Friday?
Answer: Black Friday is the name given to the shopping day after Thanksgiving. It was originally called Black Friday because so many people went out to shop that it caused traffic accidents and sometimes even violence. This was first recorded in 1966 by Earl Apfelbaum, a dealer in rare stamps. In his ad, he said “‘Black Friday’ is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. It is not a term of endearment to them. ‘Black Friday’ officially opens the Christmas shopping season in center city, and it usually brings massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing.” The Police Department coined the phrase to describe the mayhem surrounding the congestion of pedestrian and auto traffic in the Center City downtown area. (Source: The Chicago Tribune, “Black Friday – Why and When?)You can continue reading the history of Black Friday if you follow this link… Black Friday- What Does It Mean?Stores that will be open on Thanksgiving in my area.  You may want to call the stores to verify the hours. My source is from the Huffington Post and Retail Industries website and the companies websites. Not all places may be listed. Just what I could find info on.

  • Wal-Mart: Most stores will be open 24 hours on Thanksgiving.
  • Kmart:  -6 Am-4:00 PM on Thanksgiving Day, Kmart will re-open at 8:00 PM and stay open through 3:00 AM on Black Friday (and then re-open again at 5 AM…
  • Sears: 7 a.m. until noon on Thanksgiving
  • The Gap: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
  • Old Navy: noon to 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
  • McDonald’s locations across the country will also be open on Thanksgiving
  • Golden Corral® has special Thanksgiving and Christmas hours. Hours vary per location.
  • Denny’s is open on Thanksgiving and they have a Thanksgiving meal.
  • Black Bear Diner is open on Thanksgiving
  • Not sure if Chuck A Rama’s is open or not.
  • Cracker Barrel will start serving Turkey Dinners at 11 A.M. They will be open at 6 AM and close at 10 PM.
  • Harmons will be open from 6 AM – 4 PM and the pharmacy will be open from 10 AM-2 PM
  • Lin’s Marketplace will close at 1PM
  • Smith’s will be open until 6 p.m.
  • Albertsons is open from 6am to 5pm
  • Kohls is open, but check the store for the hours. They are going to vary depending on location. Most will not be open until midnight though…
  • Family Dollar is open from 8am-5pm
  • Michaels is open from 4pm-11pm
  • Walgreens Drug Store– They are open Thanksgiving and Christmas
  • Some Chinese restaurants are open on Thanksgiving as well. Call around to see which ones are open.

Places Closed… I may add to this list… 

  • Targets will be closed on Thanksgiving and will reopen on Friday morning… I don’t know the time they open. Shoot, I may have to do some of my shopping there just because…
  • Carlitos Mexican Restaurant in the Albertsons Plaza on Sunset is closed…
  • Banks and there will be no mail delivery

As I did this list, it seems to me that commercialism and making the almighty buck is more important than family. I choose not to go out on Thanksgiving. I will go to my daughters house. And people shouldn’t grumble about businesses being open if they are going to go shopping there. Someone does have to be there to wait on you.

Hateful Thoughts During This Election

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President Obama and Mitt Romney

I know this is going to strike a nerve for many. But this is something that gets me going every-time I hear all the posts on Facebook, Yahoo and Twitter.

Each of these types of social networks have people that post the most hateful and demeaning messages about the political parties. Most of the comments coming from people who I always thought were Christian and they are calling those who didn’t vote for Romney idiots, entitled, satanists and lowlifes. And these are just a few of the lesser of the mean ones.

Today in our local newspaper there was a vent that went like this;

I would like to know when the GOP decided that Social Security was an entitlement. I have had the government taking Social Security taxes out of my pay check ever since I began working.

This quote from whoever sent it in says exactly what I think. Since when is Social Security an entitlement? What gets me even  more is that I know a WHOLE lot of people who are Republicans that get Social Security, Food Stamps, Unemployment, State Medical and so on… Does that mean that there is a difference in the assistance  they get over the ones a Democrat gets? I would think not. But I guess there must be since so many rude and hateful comments are coming from those who think it is an entitlement only if a person is a Democrat.

This is one of those other things that gets me and I think is one of the most hateful things going out there. Some people have posted in comments on social networks and yahoo comments that if a person is really a Christian, they would never vote for a Democrat. They aren’t really Christians and are working for the devil. I have seen some friends loose friends because they voted for Obama  They told a couple of my friends on my friends list that they only allow Christians as their friends and since they voted for Obama, they are fake Christians. REALLY!!!

There is For those who need direct links on Snopes to the Lies… There is alot of  the mentality of  this good -bad mentality going on from both parties. I don’t vote based on party affiliation. I vote for the person. I read and study all things, not just what is on Fox News. They are pretty one sided from everything I hear. I don’t listen to the photo-shopped pictures that is spread all over Facebook and beyond. I’m registered Democrat but I don’t always vote that way. I’m not stupid or uninformed. I never post a picture of something unless I have checked it out on Snopes and find out if it is real or not. 95 percent of the time, it is someone making it into something it isn’t. Here is a link to a news station on Fox in Phoenix. This is a good place to go to listen to all those things that people are listening to and passing to others.

  • Claim– Obama wasn’t born in the United States- Thank you Trump for this crap…  Read More
  • Claim- Obama didn’t put his hand over his heart during National Anthem… Read More
  • Claim-  Obama’s campaign was funded by Hugo Chavez… Read More..
  • Claim- Hundreds are healed by touch from Obama... Read More.. . 
  • Claim- Obama was a foreign  exchange student… Read More… 
  • Claim- Obama is Muslim.. Read More… 
  • Claim- Obama goes to Columbia… Read More... 

I don’t understand the hateful messages and uniformed messages posted by many of his supporters though. These posts were the turning point for me to not vote for him. If his followers had so much hate and was being so judgmental  I wanted no part of it. In actuality, I did a write in. I didn’t vote for either one of them. When Billy Graham put out his statement, only one name came to mind that fit that description of who our president should be. I choose Jesus Christ. He is the only one that has my best interest our all of our best interest at heart. He isn’t affiliated with any of the political parties. He is already on the winning side and I know this. I know that my vote counted with Him.

Here are some lies about Romney… Not many, but I will provide links to those pages so people can read them…

All of the links above and the comments have created alot of hate messages and behaviors from others who don’t vote the way they want someone to vote…

Crazed woman who ran over husband who forgt to vote…

Then this last week on Yahoo, there is a story about a woman who runs over her husband because he didn’t vote… He is in the hospital in critical condition and she is in jail. Read More…

My final thought and I’m pretty sure by now, you are all ready for that is, that no matter who people voted for, We are America.! We are One Nation Under God.! America Will Survive! We all should pray for our nation and our leaders!Everyone should be respected no matter what party they belong too! God will Prevail no matter who is in office!

These are the issues I find important:

  1. Healthcare
  2. Education
  3. Jobs/Econmy

Cell Phones and Outsourcing..

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ImageMy day started off pretty much the same as usual. Well, I have been sick, but that is what it is. But then I had to go get my niece so she could go to work. First we had to stop off at the cell phone companies office..I bought a new droid and I was giving her my old one…

We went through the whole process. The lady reactivted the old phone for Bridgette and got her the number for it. I didn’t think I would have a problem. Should have been simple enough since I have upgraded my phone a number of times. Instead it turned into a nightmare from hell!

I dropped Bridgette off at her work and I was not in a pleasant mood at that point since my car was empty and I had no money for gas. I get home barely and I noticed something was going on with my phone. I tried to call my friend Lisa and she was gone out of my contacts. There wasn’t anyone under my L’s. I didn’t think a whole lot about it till a little later when her husband came over.

I tried to call someone and all my contacts were gone. And in thier place was my nieces contacts. Let me tell you all one thing, she has some not too good language that she stores her friends names under. I was shocked and was wondering what the heck happened to my phone. The only contacts I had was about 10 of them. All my settings and ringtone were gone too.

I called the boost store and asked him and I have to say that I was not very pleasant at all! I’m livid over this whole thing. I know it isn’t Brigettes fault, but still, I had her not so good friends in my contacts.

I tried for over an hour to get ahold of customer service. If I could have reached out and chocked someone I would have. By now, I’m not just ticked, I’m at the point of wanting to torture someone. The kind of torture where you want to pull thier toenails out. Ok,well maybe not that bad, but close enough.

ImageI finally got this woman on the phone who could barely speak english. I tried to tell her what the problem was. She told me ‘I understand you are upset, I never heard of this before”. She kept apologizing and I kept wanting to jump through my phone and touch someone. She wasn’t making it any better. Finally after about 30 minutes of explaining, she puts me on hold to talk to her supervisor. Click! This is all I heard. After 90 minutes on this stupid phone that has none of my contacts, she drops my call. Thankfully she called me back 30 minutes later. But in that time, I got to stew some more while trying to contact a person again.

She told me she had a solution. Yeah, a solution finally after 2 hours of this ordeal. She told me to get a different google account since my phone is sync’ed with my email. Now let me tell you, I wanted to choke her all over again. I was having a very anti- Christian moment with this woman from whatever country she was from. That is a whole other topic for me to go on a rant about.

The last thing she told me is that she is sorry about the inconvenience and that she understands. That is something that gets me everytime. Don’t tell me you understand or know how inconvenient this is unless you know me personally.

Bridgette is going to come over with the SD card in her phone to see if she may have something on that. I sure hope so. And this woman was NO help at all.

AZ Trip- Part 3 (Road Signs)

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I won’t say what the thing is at The Thing… The reason for that is because that is the biggest draw for the place and the curiosity and the build up with the signs is what is fun… This is the way Wikipedia explains it…

The Thing? is an Arizona roadside attraction hyped by signs along Interstate 10 between El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona. Teaser ads, such as The Thing? What is it? and Mystery of the Desert, entice travelers along this sparse stretch of desert highway to stop, just to find out what the mysterious Thing? might be. Such billboards are similar to signage seen in the South as drivers approach the South of the Border near Dillon, South Carolina and Rock City near Chattanooga, Tennessee.

There is alot of things that you will find there including bathrooms and a Dairy Queen… You will find souvenirs galore and western wear too… I have to say the gas was terribly high considering all… If you find your way down there… Make sure you gas up in Willcox or Benson… Better yet Tucson if you can…

We ended up making a game out of trying to get pictures of the full boards for The Thing… This kinda reminded us of the old  Burma Shave Billboards... I don’t remember them myself, but I remember the history of them…

Not only was there The Thing, we also stopped off at Picacho Peak and took pictures of Nickerson Farms… This use to be a special place for our family… When we went to Tucson from Phoenix we liked to visit my in laws  and we would stop off at Nickerson Farms and eat there… Now it is nothing more than a boarded up and run down restaurant… One day I’m sure it will be taken down… When you went in there you could get rock candy and local honey…  Sitting outside of Nickerson Farms is an Adult Store… When I took a picture of the signs, that showed up and was not how I thought it would turn out… Not sure if that was funny or not… But it does show how the times have changed… To think that was once a place where our family spent time and looked forward to on our trips is now an adult book store… It isn’t in the same building, but close enough…

Also outside of Nickerson Farms is an old train that was custom made… There has been some tagging going on with it, but it is still pretty cool looking for the most part… It’s sad that people have to destroy things by tagging them…

Nickerson Farms History:

Nickerson Farms was an American roadside restaurant franchise that existed between the mid-1960s and the early 1980s. It was started by a former Stuckey’s franchisee who did not agree with that chain’s rules and regulations. Nickerson Farms had as many as sixty restaurants located along Interstate highways, mainly in the Midwestern United States. Each Nickerson Farms location had a full-room restaurant, with a gift shop. Honey, collected from on-site beehives, could also be purchased at Nickerson Farms stores. [1][2]

The majority of Nickerson Farms locations sold Skelly gasoline and other petroleum products.

Here is a pretty cool page that shows more pictures of the Nickerson Farms we went too… It is listed in some Ghost Town pages…

Trip to AZ- Willcox, AZ- Part 2

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Last week I tried to find out when the church services were at the Willcox Church of the Nazarene… Man, was that a hard task… I called the churches telephone number… There was no answer and there was no answering machine… I then decide to try to call Harry Myers that lives right next to the church… He was one of my pastors when I was younger… There are no answer for him either… Then I call the Chamber of Commerce… Now, I’m thinking they should have some kind of information for me about the church… They did help me out by calling the Methodist pastor and then they called me back and told me to call a guy named Kevin that worked at the internet company… Kevin then told me that they were in between pastors and the time for the services… OK! I finally got some information and intended to attend the church service on that Sunday…

We went to Willcox early in the morning… We wanted to go get some breakfast and I wanted to take pictures of my old high school… I also wanted to go to the cemetery where some people I knew was buried… We had a number of things going before the 10:45 service time… But we made it and we were even able to drop by the cemetery in Benson to take pictures of headstones for my daughter Jessica… Her husband has relatives buried in there…

We got into Willcox and went to the TA for breakfast… Once we were done there, we drove out to the high school I went to back in 1980… That was a long time ago and I was thinking the school must have changed alot in that time… It didn’t!… The only thing that was different is that they were adding on and renovating because last year they had a huge fire that gutted the inside of the main halls of the high school… This was on a Sunday and nobody was around, so I wasn’t able to go inside… But everything was basically the same… Even the little picnic tables and cement benches between the classes where we would hang out and gab before school and during lunch… I have looked over and over again for good pictures of the school… I guess I just needed to drive down there and take them myself… So now I have a number of them…

After that we drove over to the Cemetery… I was looking for Mattie and Dinks grave… They were awesome people… It is because of Mattie that I write poetry… They will always hold a special place in my heart… I never found their grave sites, but I did find Christina Leaches… This girl was only 14 yrs old when she was killed by a drunk driver… I took pictures of her grave site and sent it to her mom… It seems like she has many visitors and was loved a great deal… She had a very nice area and people left flowers, angels and gifts… Christina loved to dance… My heart goes out to her family… I know they miss their angel girl everyday…

We left the cemetery and went over to the Nazarene Church off of Taylor Rd… Funny I remember this even now… It was so long ago since I took the back roads… But we made there with time to spare… One thing that was kinda comical at the cemetery was this noisy little bird… His legs were bigger than he was… I had a hard time trying to get a pic of whatever kind of bird he is… But he was fast and very loud…

After I took a few pictures of the outside of the church, we went inside… I was thinking it would have been awesome to be able to see Harry and Dixie Myers… I was told on the phone from Kevin that they don’t come to church often because of Dixie’s health.. I was planning on going to their house though, just in case… As we walked in, there was a guy singing and a couple sitting a couple pews back from the front… Harry and Dixie was the couple…  Harry had a look of shock when he seen us standing there… We hugged each other and caught up a bit…

When I last seen them, Harry was running his pilot car service and Dixie was doing great… She is in a wheel chair now and she said it was a very long time since she felt good enough to go to church… She woke up Sunday morning and told Harry she wanted to go… He got her dressed and they went together… After talking to them a few, I found out he was the one doing the sermon for that Sunday… Kevin didn’t know who was filling in since they had alot of fill ins … This was a treat for me…

Before church started, some of the congregation came in… Harry and Dixies daughter Cheryl and her family joined in… Cheryl’s testimony from many years ago is one that made a huge impact on my life… We were given a chance to share what we would fear most when we stood before God… She told everyone at that revival meeting that her greatest fear was that she missed an opportunity to share what Christ has done for her and what he can do for them… I carried that with me all my life… I could only imagine a close friend or family member standing beside me in front of God and never talking to them… Then God asks me about what I did for Him… I tell Him… Then He asks my friend and they said they didn’t know they had to do anything or believe… This is the reason I take whatever opportunity to witness that I can…

So, back to the people coming in… In walked this other older couple… He came up to introduce himself and as soon as he came toward us, I knew who it was… He extended his hand and introduced himself as Charlie Rose… Charles and Mary Rose are the parents of one of my friends in school… Mary Susan and I would hang out quite a bit… It was great walking into the Nazarene Church… I will always have a connection to that church… I was saved while going there and I was baptized there…  I will always have the principles of a Nazarene…

After the service they had potluck… They invited us to stay, but we had to get on our way… We were in the area to visit my parents and we needed to get that way… We did make a quick stop at a house we use to live in… One was from my high school days… It is still the same color and such… The other was a house we rented from George Nickels that owned a TV shop… They house is in horrible shape and should be torn down… It should be condemned .. We first moved into that house when my husband was released from the Army… My daughter Jessica turned one there and she learned to walk… There were alot of firsts for her… When I seen the house now, I was shocked it was still standing considering how it looked… Of course I took some pictures of it.. What I liked and miss in the church I go to now is that they have a real altar… They do the alter calls and you can go forward on bended knee and pray.. Usually on Weds we always had prayer time…

I was thinking that I would go back out to the cemetery to see where Mattie and Dink were buried at… I asked Harry where she was buried and he said the cemetery  lol… OK .. Yeah, I knew that… I asked him were at in the cemetery ,.. His answer was simple ” I will have to look at the map”… For some reason I thought this was funny… I know that only the shell of their body is there and that their spirit isn’t there… But was thinking if anyone knew, he would know, lol… RIP sweet Mattie and Dink…

Overall, it was a great trip down memory lane… Church was a God thing and couldn’t have been better… It was like coming home… One other side note is that in the picture of Charlie and Mary Rose, they have their great grand-daughter… She was born on the same day as JJ… They are both turning 5 on Nov 5th..

Trip to AZ- Tombstone (Part 1)

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Since Chuck and I hit a number of areas and there are a number of highlights I will post this in parts… So this is our Tombstone Experience…

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Chuck and I went to AZ to see my parents and go looking around the area… We stayed in Tombstone at a little place called Crazy Annie’s Bed and Breakfast… It was a interesting and fun place to stay at… The owner made sure to keep with the theme of Tombstone and the decor… Our room was named after Soap Sud Sal… We really enjoyed our stay and when we go back to AZ, we will for sure stay there… They offer a community area with a hot tub, TV and tables to eat at… They also own a saloon and there is a steak house across the street from it… The area for this is known as the red light district…

When we first checked in, it was pretty casual… They treated you like you have known them all your life… We got our key and we asked about a place to grab something to eat and drink… We checked in at the saloon… I know it was crazy… But it goes with the theme… But I found it nice that the ladies that were sitting at the bar invited us to join them for karaoke .. The bar tender is known as the voice of Tombstone and had to go do his night job and have fun… We were extremely tired and I needed my meds, so we passed…

In the morning everyone was sitting around in the common area, dogs and all… This place is a pet friendly place… Gotta love a place that loves pets… But we met the owners dog Rosco… He is a wiener dog kind of dog… He is a dog that they rescued… We also met Toots and her parents… We just sat around gabbing and visiting before looking around the town… They offered a continental breakfast also… We had no complaints… Well, we did but it had nothing to do with Crazy Annies… We couldn’t pick up a phone signal to save our lives while we were down there… But that is a mixed blessing… We  didn’t have calls every 5 minutes and we could do what we wanted to do…

If you happen to find your way to Tombstone, you should try to get a room here… They only have 4 rooms and they are clean and I can’t say enough good things about Crazy Annies Bordello… We didn’t spend much time there during the day because we were all over the place. but our nights were perfect… One of the things also about this place is that the rooms are quiet… You can’t hear the people in the rooms next too you, even if they have dogs… We were very pleased that we chose this place to stay at… Here is some contact info for anyone who may want it…

Crazy Annie’s Bordello
95 South 10th Street
(corner of 10th & Allen Streets)
P.O. Box 1624
Tombstone, Arizona 85638

Owners:
Carol & Joe Pauli
(520) 457-3847
info@crazyanniesbordello.com

One of the things that we learned about was there was this ghost town that is still original that sits about 10 miles outside of Tombstone… One of the locals was telling us about Fairbank AZ… Then there is Gleeson and Pierce… Chuck and I have decided that we need to have a couple extra days to take in the whole area to see these Ghost towns… We just ran short on time…  From what the local guy was saying is that there was this little girl that died when she was playing near the San Pedro River… Everyone thought her dad was the one that killed her and they waited for him to come into Tombstone… One day he came in and he was shot on the corner… Her grave is really the only grave site that is maintained today and people still visit… Next time we are down that way we plan on going there… We ended up going to the Bird Cage… It is the only place in Tombstone that is still original… That is the only tour we paid for… We looked around and such… I found it interesting that they had a sidewalk prophet… He was handing out pamphlets to anyone who would take one… I took 4 of them… Never know who I may meet up with who needs to hear about Gods plan of salvation… We never got to look around at boot hill because of all the other running around we did… My main thing was to visit my parents and sister and to go to the Nazarene Church in Willcox that I grew up in… I was saved and baptized in that church… I will do a blog posting of that though…

On the last night in Tombstone, we sat at the table outside our room and just visited with the owner Joe… They made you feel like family… We did bring home a little rescue dog and Joe was great with him… Parker loved Joe and Carols dog Rosco…

You can flip through the pictures on the slideshow at the top of this post to view Tombstone and Crazy Annies…

My Thoughts on Halloween…

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Halloween
Would Christ Approve? I say NO!

For those of you who know me, you know I do not celebrate Halloween… I have my own reasons for not celebrating this day… For me, I don’t because of the origins of the day… I will go into that more in a few…

I can’t wrap my head around the idea of how throughout the year, we tell our children to be safe and not talk to strangers… We tell them to not cross the road or accept candy from anyone that we don’t know without permission from the parents… For some reason all of that goes out the window on Halloween… We send our kids door to door to ask for candy treats…

This is something that gets me even more… Those who know the origins of Halloween will say that they know what it is about, but my kids love it so much… We don’t dress them up in scary costumes… We only dress them up as cute princesses or pirates or kitty cats… I have no problem with kids dressing up in costumes… The thing that bugs the heck out of me is that  even though they know the history and meaning of Halloween, they still participate…

I’m not going to come down on anyone who chooses to celebrate… But, me being a Christian and wanting to please Christ, I can’t see doing this… Even Christians try to justify sending their kids out collecting candy… They will rename it “Harvest Festival”… No matter what you call it, it is what it is… It is Halloween… It is celebrated on October 31st just like Halloween… Kids and adults dress up and go through the motions… You just don’t see witches for the most part or devils… Even though I have seen that at some Harvest Festivals…

My daughter Jessica and her Family…
My daugher Beckiah and her family…

I have been pretty darn proud of my daughters Jessica and Beckiah… Well their hubbies too… They don’t celebrate Halloween either… Now JJ, doesn’t understand why he can’t, but he will in time… Kids can dress up in costumes and have a party and still have fun and not have it be based around Halloween… I think many times when people say that kids are missing out it is more that they don’t get it… It drives me nuts when the schools do all the Halloween stuff and of course the kids who don’t has to participate… I think there needs to be other options for these kids instead of staying home… Others make them feel like they are missing out… The kids don’t think about it until someone will look down at the kids and tell them, “I’m sorry you can’t dress up and have fun like the other kids”… OK, now that person is the one making them  feel bad because they made it seem like they are being left out… This one gets me too and a family member is great at driving this home… When they look at the child and tell them that they have mean parents because the parents decided to tell the child the truth instead of lying to them about the holidays… For example, my daughters both told my grand-kids the truth about Santa and the Easter Bunny… But the kids know that those symbols are not the true reason for Christmas and Easter… They still enjoy it, but they don’t get lied too… Now when my girls were younger, I didn’t know all the history of the holidays… Once I gained the knowledge, we no longer took part in those things… I know I may be hitting a nerve… But I can’t just sugar coat what I think and what history says…

If people want to celebrate, then by all means do it… But I think there needs to be some respect to those families that choose not to… My grandchildren are very much NOT deprived of anything by not celebrating Halloween… To those who have a problem, then that is your problem… If my grandkids and their parent’s don’t, then it shouldn’t be a concern… What’s important to them and me is that we are pleasing God, not what the world thinks is an atrocity for not letting kids go door to door trying to get candy and treats…

As I said earlier, I will post what the history of Halloween is.. I will also include some followup links if you would like to read more about it… And if I have offended someone, well, “it is what it is”…

History of Halloween…. 

Halloween is one of the oldest holidays with origins going back thousands of years. The holiday we know as Halloween has had many influences from many cultures over the centuries. From the Roman’s Pomona Day, to the Celtic festival of Samhain, to the Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls Days.

Hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and Northern France, lived the Celts. The Celts worshipped nature and had

The Celts celebrated their New Year on November 1st. It was celebrated every year with a festival and marked the end of the “season of the sun” and the beginning of “the season of darkness and cold.”many gods, with the sun god as their favorite. It was “he” who commanded their work and their rest times, and who made the earth beautiful and the crops grow.

On October 31st after the crops were all harvested and stored for the long winter the cooking fires in the homes would be extinguished. The Druids, the Celtic priests, would meet in the hilltop in the dark oak forest (oak trees were considered sacred). The Druids would light new fires and offer sacrifices of crops and animals. As they danced around the the fires, the season of the sun passed and the season of darkness would begin.

When the morning arrived the Druids would give an ember from their fires to each family who would then take them home to start new cooking fires. These fires would keep the homes warm and free from evil spirits.

The November 1st festival was called Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”). The festival would last for 3 days. Many people would parade in costumes made from the skins and heads of their animals. This festival would become the first Halloween.

During the first century the Romans invaded Britain. They brought with them many of their festivals and customs. One of these was the festival know as Pomona Day, named for their goddess of fruits and gardens. It was also celebrated around the 1st of November. After hundreds of years of Roman rule the customs of the Celtic’s Samhain festival and the Roman Pomona Day mixed becoming 1 major fall holiday.

The next influence came with the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain. In the year 835 AD the Roman Catholic Church would make November 1st a church holiday to honor all the saints. This day was called All Saint’s Day, or Hallowmas, or All Hallows. Years later the Church would make November 2nd a holy day. It was called All Souls Day and was to honor the dead. It was celebrated with big bonfires, parades, and people dressing up as saints, angels and devils.

But the spread of Christianity did not make people forget their early customs. On the eve of All Hallows, Oct. 31, people continued to celebrate the festivals of Samhain and Pomona Day. Over the years the customs from all these holidays mixed. October 31st became known as All Hallow Even, eventually All Hallow’s Eve, Hallowe’en, and then – Halloween.

The Halloween we celebrate today includes all of these influences, Pomona Day’s apples, nuts, and harvest, the Festival of Samhain’s black cats, magic, evil spirits and death, and the ghosts, skeletons and skulls from All Saint’s Day and All Soul’s Day.

Additional Links to Other Sites: 

This link expresses all of my thoughts about Halloween… They put it into words perfectly… Click here to read more... 

One last thought… The only good thing about celebrating Halloween as a Christian would be that you can take this as an opportunity to witness to those who come to your door… It’s the one time of the year they come to you, lol…

Slave Days and Bullying

Published on by Sandie D2 Comments

Since I did a piece on Bullying, I decided to share an experience with you… This isn’t as much about me, but about those I went to school with…

I loved my school and had many friends from all walks of life… That was great for the most part, but there were times it became a problem…

Our school had this ritual for freshman’s each year… What would happen was a two part thing…. First off there was Slave days… If you are wondering what that means, it is what it is… The upper class man would put the freshman’s on the block to be sold as slaves… Whoever bought you, you had to do that they said to do… Even if that meant humiliating yourself by wearing diapers or whatever unimaginable things… I was very lucky because my sister’s boyfriend or friend decided to spare me from having to do part two of this horrible ritual… So Brian bought me and that was that… He had a heart of gold and never made me do stupid things…

Before I continue I want to share with you the definition of what and who a slave is…

  1. (v. i.) To drudge; to toil; to labor as a slave.
  2. (v. t.) To enslave.
  3. (n.) A person who is held in bondage to another; one who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who is held as a chattel; one who has no freedom of action, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another.
  4. (n.) See Slav.
  5. (n.) One who has lost the power of resistance; one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as, a slave to passion, to lust, to strong drink, to ambition.
  6. (n.) An abject person; a wretch.
  7. (n.) A drudge; one who labors like a slave.

So, I will continue now!

Now if you didn’t get bought for Slave Days and made to do stupid things to embarrass yourself, then you were initiated for initiation days… That was even worse… They would have an assembly and those who weren’t bought would be ordered to do what they were told in front of the entire school…  I had a couple friends who had to go through the humiliation in front of everyone… When their names were called I told my friends they shouldn’t go… They did anyhow because they were afraid they would get in trouble… My one friend, no names mentioned was told to dress up as a dog and eat from a dog bowl in the middle of the gymnasium… Another guy was to wear his gym shorts with a rope attached to the back and then he had to climb to the top of the rope… I was ticked… I didn’t stick around after that… I left and told my friends there is no way they should have gone along with that… This was back in 1980 and I still remember how humiliated and demeaning that was for my friends… I remember the tears on the faces of the other classmates as they were being told what to do and be put on the auction block… I don’t know if Willcox High still does this ritual… But if they do, shame on them… A lot of the classmates thought I was being sensitive… OK! Yeah, I will give them that one… What is wrong with treating each other with some dignity…

I should add one thing too… On Initiation Day, somehow the list of kids who didn’t get bought got lost… They were guessing to some degree on who was on the list… One of the girls did come up to me and told me I was on the list… Let me say that my language was quite colorful and I was less than impressed… I’m sure there were a whole lot of students who heard my thoughts on that…

After 30 years when I think of my high school years, I always think of that first… There were good things like the Hot Pickles at Rays Market, El Taco, and McDonalds… I was there when that first was built… Us students were happy over that… I loved Carters and cruising… But in my mind the Slave Days and Initiation Days were the worst… Then the way they would pick on this boy named Stevie… He was large and a lot of students were horrible to him… He eventually lost weight, but I know he had some horrible times in school…

I went to Google to see if there were any pictures by chance of slave days or someone posting… And it was sad that there were links to questions on yahoo just recently asking for good ideas to embarrass the two slaves they bought on slave day… This was a post a couple years old… I can’t believe that schools still do this and they get away with it…  I know… I’m a party pooper… This is the post from someone named Deborah:

Tomorrow is Senior Slave Day at School…?

tomorrow is senior slave day at school and i need ideas as to what to make my slaves do… i have 2 slaves that i bought at a auction about two weeks ago and i don’t know what embarrassing things to make them do…… please help 🙂

I wish I was still able to comment or I would have said that it is a horrible ritual that belittles a person… I have also noticed when goggling this topic to find images that some schools will call it “Rent a Student”… OK! So the name has changed, but the purpose is still the same… Some people don’t see what the problem is, but knowing people who had to be put on display because you didn’t get bought on “Slave Day” is not fun, it is humiliating… I can’t even imagine what it would be like for the slaves’ way back when… They lived every day that way…

I hear some people trying to justify it as a way to raise funds and nothing is wrong with it… I find alot wrong with it and just because it is for a fundraiser or activity, doesn’t make it right…

Here is a link to a video of a young man that was sold as a slave in a classroom activity…

But I will get off this topic now… I could go on and on about this topic and how inappropriate it is…

Cyber Bullying- Three Lost Lives

Published on by Sandie DLeave a comment
RIP Amanda Todd
RIP Amanda Todd
Stop Cyber-Bullying 

Amanda Michelle Todd (died October 10, 2012) was a 15-year-old Canadian teenager who committed suicide  attributed to cyber-bullying through the social networking website Facebook. On 7 September 2012, Todd posted a video on YouTube in which she used a series of flash cards to tell of her experience of being bullied.

This is very sad when I think about this… This video has been all over the internet and was posted on youtube… Amanda Todd took her own life because she was bullied to the point where she couldn’t handle it anymore… There was no place she could go without being bullied… She was tricked into showing her breasts to someone online and in turn he put that image all over the place… She though he liked her and that wasn’t the case… After that, she was picked on without end… She couldn’t go to school, Facebook or around town without someone bullying her…

I don’t understand what people get out of picking on others and bringing them down they have with this girl… This is something that is happening everyday all over the world… Something needs to be done about it.. It isn’t cute or funny…

RIP Jamey
RIP Jamey Rodemeyer

Here is another case of bullying where a young man took his life… His name is Jamey Rodemeyer (March 21, 1997 – September 18, 2011) was an openly bisexual teenager, known for his activism against homophobia and his videos on YouTube to help victims of homophobic bullying. He committed suicide as a result of constant bullying.

Just because someone doesn’t agree with someones choices or lifestyles, it doesn’t mean they deserve to be bullied… Rodemeyer encountered bullying throughout middle school because of his bisexuality. Anonymously posted comments on his Formspring account included hate messages such as, “I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it 🙂 It would make everyone WAY more happier!”. Despite this, he used his experiences to make videos on YouTube under the username xgothemo99xx to help others who were experiencing similar situations. He also made a video for the “It Gets Better” project, a website dedicated to preventing teen suicide.

Here is a link to a video from his local news station…

More information on Cyber Bullying: 

Harassment by computer is a crime in several U.S. states (see computer crime). It is distinct from stalking in that stalking typically requires two or more contacts, whereas harassment by computer may be a single incident. It is also different from regular harassment, because the offense typically encompasses a range of crimes that would not be considered harassment if conducted in person.

Connecticut was the first state to pass a statute making it a criminal offense to harass someone by computer. Michigan, Arizona, and Virginia have also passed laws banning harassment by electronic means.

Harassment by computer statutes are typically distinct from cyber bullying laws, in that the former usually relates to a person’s “use a computer or computer network to communicate obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious, or indecent language, or make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, or threaten any illegal or immoral act,” while the latter need not involve anything of a sexual nature.

RIP Tyler Clementi

And lastly, here is Tyler Clementi… He committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge…

Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an eighteen-year-old student at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010. On September 19, his roommate, Dharun Ravi, and a fellow hallmate, Molly Wei, used a webcam on Ravi’s computer and a computer in Wei’s dorm room to view, without Clementi’s knowledge, Clementi kissing another man.On September 21, the day prior to the suicide, Ravi urged friends and Twitter followers to watch via his webcam a second tryst between Clementi and his friend, though the viewing never occurred.

Ravi and Wei were indicted for their roles in the webcam incidents, though they were not charged with a role in the suicide itself.

Clementi’s death brought national and international attention to the issue of cyberbullying and the struggles facing LGBT youth.

You can read more about Tyler by following this link…

In my view, nobody should be bullied or put down for what they believe .. I’m not going to agree with everyone and they won’t with me… But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be respected…

The information I posted below I found on Wikipedia..

Schools

The safety of schools is increasingly becoming a focus of state legislative action. There was an increase in cyberbullying enacted legislation between 2006-2010.

In 2012, a group of teens in New Haven, Connecticut developed an app to help fight bullying. Called “Back Off Bully” (BOB), the web app is an anonymous resource for computer, smart phone or iPad. When someone witnesses or is the victim of bullying, they can immediately report the incident. The app asks questions about time, location and how the bullying is happening. As well as providing positive action and empowerment over an incident, the reported information helps by going to a data base where administrators study it. Common threads are spotted so others can intervene and break the bully’s pattern. BOB, the brainchild of fourteen teens in a design class, is being considered as standard operating procedure at schools across the state.

Protection for victims of any age

There are laws that only address online harassment of children or focus on child predators as well as laws that protect adult cyberstalking victims, or victims of any age. Currently, there are 45 cyberstalking (and related) laws on the books.

While some sites specialize in laws that protect victims age 18 and under, Working to Halt Online Abuse is a help resource containing a list of current and pending cyberstalking-related United States federal and state laws. It also lists those states that do not have laws yet and related laws from other countries. The Global Cyber Law Database (GCLD) aims to become the most comprehensive and authoritative source of cyber laws for all countries.

Children and adolescents

Kids report being mean to each other online beginning as young as 2nd grade. According to research, boys initiate mean online activity earlier than girls do. However, by middle school, girls are more likely to engage in cyberbullying than boys do. Whether the bully is male or female, his or her purpose is to intentionally embarrass others, harass, intimidate, or make threats online to one another. This bullying occurs via email, text messaging, posts to blogs, and web sites.

The National Crime Prevention Association lists tactics often used by teen cyberbullies.

  • Pretend they are other people online to trick others
  • Spread lies and rumors about victims
  • Trick people into revealing personal information
  • Send or forward mean text messages
  • Post pictures of victims without their consent

Studies in the psychosocial effects of cyberspace have begun to monitor the impacts cyberbullying may have on the victims, and the consequences it may lead to. Consequences of cyberbullying are multi-faceted, and affect online and offline behavior. Research on adolescents reported that changes in the victims’ behavior as a result of cyberbullying could be positive. Victims “created a cognitive pattern of bullies, which consequently helped them to recognize aggressive people.” However, the Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace abstract reports critical impacts in almost all of the respondents’, taking the form of lower self-esteem, loneliness, disillusionment, and distrust of people. The more extreme impacts were self-harm. Children have killed each other and committed suicide after having been involved in a cyberbullying incident.

The most current research in the field defines cyberbullying as “an aggressive, intentional act or behaviour that is carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time against a victim who cannot easily defend him or herself” (Smith & Slonje, 2007, p. 249).  Though the use of sexual remarks and threats are sometimes present in cyberbullying, it is not the same as sexual harassment, typically occurs among peers, and does not necessarily involve sexual predators.

I will be adding a personal experience from when I went to school for tomorrows blog… Even though it wasn’t me being bullied, some of my friends were… There was no facebook then..

Dr Stuff and Children with Cancer

Published on by Sandie D2 Comments

I had a very old and dear friend that is also like family to me ask me how my appointment went and she was asking about what is going on medically and the whole home health thing… My friend is a nurse and I took a few pics for her and for anyone who wants to know what I do each day at home with my home health stuff…

Well, I went to my cardiologist today… I really do like my new one… He is at the hospital and I have to say that I haven’t ever had a problem with any of them over there… They are testing me for this thing called Pheochromocytoma… I think they can stop adding names to my diagnosis… But now they are adding a new Dr because today my blood pressure was 180/126… That is becoming a norm anymore for me… But not a good norm… So now I get to see Dr Mercado here in St. George… My friend Shirley M says he is awesome… I don’t know really what can or can’t be done about this… I do have to say it will be nice… Because I very much do NOT like retaining fluids… But they want me to continue with the IV’s so they can do medicines and stuff… I have had a piccline since April…

I think I’m starting to get an infection though where they put my line in at… Not the main part, but where they have it sewn in at… So I get another visit from the home health nurse… They are pretty good though… I haven’t had any issues with them either…

I don’t really go into my medical stuff too much, because I don’t think the world needs to know everything about me and I don’t really like or want to have alot of questions about things that I’m going through… This is a bit out of my normal… Since so many have asked, this is why I’m posting this… I just say “it is what it is”…

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There are so many others that have it so much worse than I do… I have been following a number of little warriors that are fighting cancer… When I liked a page for the Jessie Rees Foundation, it opened my eyes up to these small children and their families that have cancer… What I go through is nothing compared to these troopers… It is very sad and humbling when you get to know these children and their families…

There are a few kids that have really touched my heart and I pray for them all the time… I always go to their pages to see how they are doing… I’m never been so humbled as I am when I go to these… I will post the links to some of these kid’s… They could all use your prayers…

  • Jesse Rees– This little girl is in the arms of Jesus… She went to be with him this January… She inspired her family and her friends to give Joy Jars to children who have cancer… What an inspiration… She did more in her 12 years than most do their entire life… Her life long theme is NEGU (Never Ever Give Up)… Her dreams are making a difference in thousands of lives… Please check out their page… I must warn you that you will see sweet faces of children who NEGU…
  • Landon Bland– This little boy went to be with the Lord last month… I followed his journey for only a month… In that time, I felt like I got to know him and his family… Landon loved to play with Legos… His family loves the Lord and when I have my down days, I go to his page and feel uplifted… His family started up Landon’s LEGOcy in honor of Landon… Landan for some reason just touches my heart… Maybe it’s because he reminds me of my grandsons and his story hits home… This horrible disease can enter into anyone’s life…
  • Kaleb Gunter– Kaleb is 18 and he was diagnosed with Leukemia just a month ago… He is in LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City… He has a long road ahead of him and they could use all of your prayers and thoughts… Kaleb is from my city and he is heading into this fight with God, his family, friends and community around him…Kaleb has  Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells.
  • Bella Rodriguez -Torres – Oh, sweet Bella… She has been fighting cancer a number of times and she is only 9… She has been fighting cancer since she was four years old… This little girl has gone through so much… Click here to read a story about her on CBS… I’m impressed with this girl drive… She collected hundreds of band-aids to bring to her hospital and pass out to kids… These aren’t just plain ones… They have cute little characters on them… Way to go Bella…
  • Cole- This little boy is in need of a miracle… They have given him only weeks to live… I can’t imagine what their families are going through… It breaks my heart when I see what he has gone through…  His family is asking for prayers for no pain and for peace for Cole… Just makes me want to cry…
  • Alivia– Oh my goodness… Last night  I was praying for her and just looking at her very sweet and loving little face… Cancer is so cruel… They have given her only a few weeks too… Why does cancer have to be so cruel… I would give my life if any one of these children can live… This little girl I think is only three years old…
  • Lane Goodman– This boy seems to be the sweetest young man who loves baseball, family and friends… I just started following his story and OMG… It makes me want to cry and reach out to him and give him the biggest hug… He is having a very hard time keeping his platelets up and has been bleeding from his mouth… He is only 10 yrs old… One of the pictures is of him in bed and holding his grandmothers hand… I can’t even describe how that made me feel… That could be any of my grandsons or grand daughter…

These are only a very small percentage of children who have cancer or who have gone to be with the Lord… When I see and read about these children, I can’t help but feel very blessed… I have the stuff I go through, but it is nothing compared to these young children that are fighting for their lives…