Tables/Chairs and Volunteers

As you all know, we are having the Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction for Troy Wendt on November 9th from 6-8pm. We are in need of a couple things if anyone could help us out. We still need more tables and chairs for people to eat on and to display the auction items. Also, we are looking for a few people to volunteer their time at either the ticket table when people arrive, serving the food or at the auction table. If you could help out in either of these areas, it would be greatly appreciated! You can call Maren Urkov or Susie Packer for more information. Thanks!!

Garage Sale items needed

Ashlee Dwiggins friend was killed in a car accident last week and leaves behind a husband and a 5 month old baby. She is having a benefit garage sale in her friends behalf THIS Saturday from 7-12ish. If anyone has any items they would like to donate to the garage sale, take them to Ashlee's house or call her to make arrangements. It is going to be in Mesa on Val Vista and Brown if anyone wants to go to it.

Auction items needed!!

So, as you all know, Susie has been working hard on this dinner and silent auction for the Wendt Family on November 9th. If you would like to donate your services, a basket, or a tangible item, please contact her. She is still needing more items. Thanks!

Pimp My Dinner

My friends started this blog of their favorite dinners. www.pimpmydinner.blogspot.com It is a fun site to look at to try new recipes. If you are anything like me, I get sick of the same old meals every week so I love to try smoething new. Here is my personal favorite I'd like to share with you. It is yummy to put the chicken on top of a salad or eat it in a burrito. When I do burritos, I melt cheese on tortillas(the cook them yourself tortillas) and add chicken, lettuce, rice and pour dressing over the top. Try it out!

NOTE: This is NOT the actual recipe from Cafe Rio. If you havent ever been there, it is a MUST!!!

Yummy Cafe Rio Chicken Salad or Burritos

In crock pot:
chicken (i have used anywhere from 2-4 pounds and the only noticeable difference with less meat is it's a TEENSY weensy bit spicier)

7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (pour onto chicken)
Sprinkle the following on:
1 cup sugar
1 heaping tsp dry ground mustard
1 heaping tsp cumin
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
pour over all 1 1/2 cans coke (I buy the 2 liter and just pour 18 oz or so)

How long you cook it depends on your crock, tenders or breasts and if they are frozen. I've done frozen breasts on high and they were done in like 4 hours, but my crock pot is crazy.

Once chicken is done, take ALL chipotles out. Shred meat and put it back in sauce and keep warm until ready to serve.

Dressing:
I put the following in the blender:
1 ranch dressing envelope
1 cup mayo
1 cup milk
1/2 bunch cilantro (cut most of stems off)
3/4 fairly good size jalepeno (seeds removed, that is the spiciest part)

2-3 tomatillos

dash of salt
blend away!

Rice:

White rice cooked, then I add chopped cilantro ( use the other 1/2 of the bunch)

squeeze some limes on it and toss.

For those that care... the chipotles in adobo sauce are cheapest at Walmart (i think by like almost 50 cents a can) and even if you use five pounds of meat, i'd still just use one can.

Spaghetti Dinner/Silent Auction

SAVE THE DATE!!!

Friday November 9, 2007
6-8pm
Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction to help the Wendt Family.
$5.00 per person or $20.00 for family
To reserve your spot and pre-purchase tickets
www.wendtfamilybenefit.org
100% of the Auction proceeds will go to the Wendt Family!!!!
Please email susieq@packerfam.com if you would like to donate anything for the auction or if you have any tables or chairs we can use for the evening.

Items that are needed for the dinner
*Folding Tables
*Chairs
*Items for Auction – please email susieq@packerfam.com if you would like to donate anything for auction

Here are some ideas:
*Desserts
*Theme baskets
*Party Bouncers – if you have a connection
*Pest control
*Airline tickets
*Babysitting
*Yard Work
*Any other Service
*Gift Certificates

100% of the Auction proceeds will go to the Wendt Family!!!!

There will also be a Harmon Elementary and Community Sponsored Turkey Waddle Walk/Race on Thanksgiving morning – For more information visit www.turkeywaddle.com

Safety Fair

Children’s Safety Fair
October 27, 2007 10am-1pm At Jack Harmon Elementary School (Cortona/ChandlerHeights) In The Pecan Creek subdivision
(On Ironowood between Ocotillo and Chandler Heights)
Bring the whole family to learn ways to keep your children safe. Hosted by Pecan Creek block watch along with Pinal County Sheriff’s office, Safe Kids Arizona, Rural Metro, Southwest Ambulance, and local clubs and organizations.

The following activities will be provided free of charge:
*Child fingerprinting with photo identification cards
*Children’s stranger danger presentation
*Halloween safety tips with free glow sticks
*Gun Safety information with free gun locks
*Bike and helmet inspections with children’s safety course
(have your kids bring their bikes)
*Fatal vision cart-drunk driving simulation
*Car seat inspections
*Bounce House
*Rock Climbing

Guest appearances by:
~Eddie the Eagle for gun safety
~Snoopy the dog for Met Life
~Your local Pinal County Sheriff officers
~K-9 Unit
~Rural Metro Fire with their truck
~Southwest Ambulance (Will attend as long as there isn’t an emergency)
*Local children clubs, activities will be present with information on them

****Bring toy donation for Toys for Tots and receive raffle ticket for a chance to win a free month of Johnson Utilities****

For more information on this event, call Dena @ 577-3206 or email at pecancreekblockwatch@yahoo.com

Watch this!!

Take just 8 minutes out of your day and watch this
very funny, but all inspiring video clip made for all of us.
Maybe we can talk the makers into making
a "Home Teaching Movie"! (: ~Enjoy!!!~


The Visiting Teaching Movie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSRs1K8Hl54

"(Visiting Teaching) is a very serious
responsibility; it really is.
But it is not a heavy burden,
it just takes a little more faith.
It is worthy of our very best effort."
~President Gordon B. Hinckley

Great Tips

GREAT TIPS-Thanks Kammie!

1. Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

3. Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away

Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass

Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static is gone.

11. Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

12. Foggy Windshield

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies , take a small glass fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid , mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home", can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. WELL...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free - that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

House for SALE

Our neighbors are getting a little bit desperate to sell. They have asked us to get the word out to the members of our church. :-) The house is vacant and ready to move in!!! If anyone knows anyone who wants to buy, tell them about this nice house. It isn't everyday you get to choose your own neighbor! i also have flyers to give out, too!

Thanks so much,

Karen Parkes

View tour: www.imagemaker360.com/66897

This house is the "Twilight" model:

Asking $259,999

4 Bedrooms/2.5 Bathrooms

2308 square feet

built in 2005

CP80

We can NOT let our children drown in a sea of Internet pornography!
DID YOU KNOW…
*12-17 year olds are the largest consumers of internet porn.
*11 years old is the average age of first exposure to internet pornography.
*85.5% of the pornography business, stems from the United States.
*There are over 600 million pornographic websites.
*Businesses lose $85 billion a year due to workers misusing the internet.
* 70% of pornography is viewed between 9am-5pm.

Ralph Yarro is trying to pass legislation nationwide. HE NEEDS OUR HELP! This legislation will change our society forever if passed. Ralph is a computer genius from Utah whom has established a way for there to be such thing as a ‘CLEAN’ computer. He has hired on full time, 4 people to work on this program. He recently met with Jon Kyl on September 28th and presented this plan to him. This anticipated day was a great success. Jon Kyl is THRILLED about it and has high hopes it will come to pass; however, now needs to present this plan to the White House. If this legislation passes, there will be no need to buy a new computer or software. It will simply involve contacting your internet server (Cox, Quest etc…) and stating you want this specific channel. It’s as easy as flipping a switch for them and BOOM all of a sudden you have a ‘clean’ channel that isn’t even capable of processing FILTH. It’s not a filter, but literally a CLEAN channel. I’m sure a lot of you are thinking: Why does this need to be approved by the government? Well it is because the US government controls these channels and so therefore; they need to approve opening a new ‘clean’ channel across the country.

What can I do to Help CP80?
STAND UP AND BE HEARD- write, email, or call your state Congressmen and Senators. Let them know this issue is important to you! Let them know you SUPPORT CP80!! CALL NOW.
BE A VOICE IN YOUR COMMUNITY- write a letter to the editor or call radio shows. Discuss the dangers of internet pornography on your BLOG.
BECOME A TECH SAVVY PARENT-be actively searching for better ways to protect your children from all internet sources. BE STRICT WITH RULES AND STICK WITH THEM.
EDUCATE YOURSELF- register at http://www.cp80.org/. It is a simple and quick process. You will receive updates on the status of CP80 and the progress it is making!

PLEASE MAKE MULTIPLE COPIES OF THIS FLYER- pass them out to family, friends, neighbors, and all of your ward members. MAKE CP80 KNOWN! Encourage others to register at http://www.cp80.org/

*WE EACH CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE! LET’S JUST DO IT!!

Clothes and suitcases needed

Hey there!

I am trying to help Linda Burrell help a friend from her old ward. Her name is Sister Betty Butler and she is from Peru. Anyway she goes to Peru every year and brings clothing for the people there in our church. So what we were hoping is that you could maybe send a bulk email letting everyone know about her and what she's doing. What she needs are clothing in good condition (church and not church) and also suitcases to send them in (between carry-on and medium size) the condition of them really don't matter because they are just being used to ship the clothing to the people by plane. Also if you could mention that this sister also has a friend that works at Safeway who calls her when they have a overstock of food, including everything from produce, deli items and even desserts to come pick up free of charge. How it works is she calls Linda when she gets stuff and Linda picks it up and she would love to help out whoever she can who might like to have some of the food. She literally gets a phone call almost everyday and there is just too much for one family to use! I hope that you can help us out and if anyone has any questions, please call Linda Burrell.

Thanks, Jenn Stout

Petition for Oprah

Oprah recently aired a program which featured "experts" who advocated casual sex with friends, pornography, and having affairs as ways to improve relationships and marriage.

Below is an e-mail I received that has a link to sign a petition to send to the Oprah Show.

I just signed up for this petition about a show that recently aired onOprah and thought you would want to take action on this as well:http://www.lightedcandle.org/oprah.asp Please read attachment "The Family" A Proclamation To The World. We must stand up! To be able to stand up we must know who we are and who we stand for. I love you all and know the Lord will bless you and our families for using your voice to defend what is right.

http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/basic-beliefs/glossary/glossary-definition/family-the-a-proclamation-to-the-world

HOA Halloween Party

Hello Everyone,

I just received a phone call from a non-member friend of mine who has been put in charge of helping find volunteers for the spooktacular this year! It will be held on Mon. October 29th at Harmon Elementary from 5:30-8pm. They are scheduling in 45min shifts and really need the support of the neighborhood parents! Please contact her and sign up for a 45 minute shift so that we can all enjoy the spooktacular with our kids! Her name is Jennifer Heiken and her e-mail is jjheiken@msn.com . They are also looking for volunteers to help set up and clean up so if you would rather come before or after the event that would be great! Thanks so much!

Ashlee Dwiggins

Home Show and Fall Festival

I wanted to announce a FREE family event on October 27th. It’s a Home Show (w/local business booths) and Fall Festival (w/ fun activities for kids). Here’s the details:


The festival will be held at Walker Butte (east of Johnson Ranch) on the football field on Saturday, October 27th from 10-2.

Major events include:
Bouncy Houses
Fingerprinting – Police Department
Fire Safety – Fire Department
Local Food Vendors
Petting Zoo
And More
Each booth will also plan their own mini-event: (i.e. face painting, cake walk, etc.)

Feel free to email me with any questions,

Celynda DeWitt

PS – Sister Younger-Howard will be selling her beautiful designer jewelry. You won’t want to miss it!!

The blog continues!!!

I, like many of you, wanted to keep this blog going. I found it very useful and fun to look at. Email me if you want me to post something for you, smurkov@aol.com.

Items for sale, items you are looking for, a new job, a fun craft, a steal of a deal-I'm all about bargain shopping. Or, if you have a question or a problem let me know and I can make a poll and we all can vote on it! I'm all about 'good clean fun'!

Also, feel free to leave comments on any posts! Under ever post there is a place to leave one. Click on 'Comments' and type away. If you have a favorite song you want me to add (or subtract) to the list of music, let me know.