I LOVE Halloween!!

My absolute FAVORITE holiday of the year is Halloween. I just love everything about it! I love that it's suddenly ok to put a graveyard in your front yard, and hang skeletons from your door. I love being able to decorate for something creepy and dark and so completely opposite from normal life. I love being scared. This year I went to three different "haunted" places around here, one of them twice. The adrenaline rush you get when something unexpected jumps out in front of you or follows behind you is worth every penny. I love dressing up. I LOVE the fact that one time a year you can be ANYTHING you want to be! And I love that this one time a year I can glue on crazy eyelashes and wear dark eye makeup and no one will say anything about it. It is just the best and I am sad that it's over for another year! Here are a few pics of the things I did this year and have done in the past to celebrate this time of year...

FOOD
Yes, I even celebrate with food. These items have become tradition for me the past few years that I hope will continue on for years to come... (Thanks Michelle for the meal in a pumpkin! I've passed it on to generations of roommates after you!)



DECORATIONS
Two years ago, in an effort to win a decorating contest, my roommates and I turned our living room into a "dungeon" using only butcher paper, paint, and luck. (I would say artistic skill, but I'm thinking luck had more to do with this.) We loved the effect so much we did it again last year. It always got a great response and it's the best idea I've had so far when it comes to decorating big on a tight budget. The exterior pictures are of my parents house this year. My favorite part was the graveyard with the red light glowing on it, casting a creepy light and shadows on the house as well.



PUMPKINS
I'm really enjoy using patterns for my pumpkin carving. It may not be creative or original, but it's a challenge for me and I enjoy the difficulty, especially when the end result is so cool!

COSTUMES
I was first a vampire a few years ago, then I switched to a witch when I bought a "genuine" witch hat from Salem, MA. This year I recycled the vampire outfit but bought teeth that actually attached to my teeth, so they were much more realistic, and much easier to talk with! And of course, my favorite part of any Halloween costume...fake lashes!

Sit Down for Stand Up

This weekend my family and I went up to Rexburg to hear my brother Dallin do a stand up routine at Sit Down for Stand Up. This isn't his first performance - he did Sit Down for Stand Up last winter and has made fun of the family at more than one family reunion. He's always funny...but I thought this was his best performance yet! Enjoy!

Best Economic Solution

I got this email from my aunt and LOVED it...any idea how to get Washington to agree??

I LOVE THIS PROPOSAL !!


I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide adults in the U.S. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't. Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .

And remember, The Birk plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

My favorite thing about fall...

I consider myself to have somewhat sophisticated taste when it comes to entertainment. I like Broadway shows, orchestra concerts, art galleries and museums. So it may surprise some to know that my all time FAVORITE thing to do during September in Idaho is attend the demolition derby.

For as long as my family has lived in Blackfoot we’ve gone to the derby associated with the Eastern Idaho State Fair. Some may say that this is a redneck activity, and they would be absolutely right, but until you have experienced the thrill of a derby, you just wouldn’t understand the appeal. Those of you who have never been to one just can’t see that it is more than cars crashing into one another until only one is running. That is a large part of the excitement, of course, but there is so much more. There is serious drama--i.e. when two cars get stuck together and can’t get apart...you wait with baited breath until they finally pull free or another car comes to their rescue; or when your favorite car stalls and sits for several minutes until it is about to be eliminated and then, out of nowhere, the engine comes to life again. The audience is actually very involved in what they are watching, there is yelling at the stupid cars that “showboat” around the arena avoiding all hits, or the referee who eliminates a car that hasn’t had enough time to get started again. There is cheering at the hard hits or the last minute rescues. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, happy one minute, angry or anxious another. You get a break from the craziness in between each round, when tow trucks have to come remove all the non-running cars from the arena, and then it all starts again. In the end there is one winner, going home with a rather sizable cash prize, and hopefully the cheers of the audience. It is really something you just have to experience. This year I went to three different derbies, three Saturday nights in a row. The BEST was in St. Anthony, mostly because the competition was less structured than at the fair. Girls drove in the same rounds with the boys, there were passengers, they didn’t wet the track as much and they gave prizes for the hardest hits, which meant some EXCELLENT crashes. They even had a round of pickup trucks! I also saw the truest rednecks there, mullets and Wranglers included. If you ever get the chance to go to a demolition derby, please take it. I’m not promising you’ll love it like I do, but I do promise you’ll have fun, and life is too short to pass that up!

It's always good to laugh...

It's Nice to Have Friends Who Know Stuff...

So I LOVE having friends that know about computers! During an innocent get-together I mention that my computer has been running S...L....O....W and my friend says "let me take a look at it. He downloads some free cleanup programs, updates my Firefox, and suddenly...it's running fabulously! It pays to have friends who know how to do things. Thank you Zach!

Fried Crispy

So this weekend a group of friends and I went to Palisades, Idaho to go camping and boating. We had a fabulous time, with no major mishaps at all. We drove up Friday afternoon and got the last campsite in the canyon (which was luckily near the bathroom...and by bathroom I mean outhouse). We set up camp, ate, and tried to keep warm by the fire. The whole camping experience was a good one. No one got burned or broke anything, everyone got fed, and though I FROZE most of the night, I did manage to get some sleep. Then the next morning we met my roommate's dad with the boat and we went tubing/skiing. There were ten of us and only four or five would fit in the boat at a time so we spent most of the day on the beach, with no shade. Regardless of the fact that we constantly put on sunscreen we all ended up really, really red. It didn't seem so bad when we were out there, but as the night went on we felt it more and more. The night was miserable, and today has just been painful. Regardless of the pain we had a fabulous time and I would totally do it again....but this time I would use a higher SPF!!