I’m Not A Witch

I received birthday cards from my brothers today. One was really nice and sweet, the other asked if I could spin my head around three times. Believe me, if I were a witch as I’m always accused of, his head would be spinning around three times! hehehe

With the convenience of having the world at my fingertips, I just had to look up what exactly does it mean to have a birthday on Halloween? All I could find was…If a child is born last day of October, he or she will be gifted with psychic powers, and be able to see, and converse with the spirits of the dead. Those born on Halloween, it has been said, can never be harmed by evil ghosts, and you will have the ability to read dreams. Nowhere does it state that you are born an evil witch.

The word “witch” means “wise one”. These were people who were the wisest in the community about plants, herbs and animals to make medicinal cures for ailments, just as today’s scientists. The reason why they are shown with broomsticks are because they did a dance where they straddled broomsticks or branches where they would jump as high as they could to make their crops grow higher. Therefore vaulting with them appeared like they were flying on them.

Many choose to dress up as scarecrows on Halloween. The reason for that is it’s been said that scarecrows come alive on Halloween night. With that said…make sure you’re protected from the realistic human scarecrows: rapists, car thieves (thieves in general), murderers, etc. When you’re walking about in the dark, perhaps leaving a club or festivity, you can have the Stunning Pepper Spray Ring sitting inconspicuously on your finger (whether you’re male or female).

Put it on your pointer finger, just use your thumb to slid the safety down and press the button to cause an attacker to lose control of his faculties immediately that can keep them down for 45 minutes!

Halloween History – Keep An Attacker At Bay

Hope you had a nice weekend. My husband and I went to a Halloween Party. I dressed up as a referee. Hubby on the other hand opted to appear as himself. It’s always fun to see what people you know show up as isn’t it! It was nice to have quite a few laughs.

How did the silly idea of dressing up in strange costumes ever evolve? Well, it turns out that costumes and masks were worn at festivals in an attempt to mimic evil spirits or appease them. It’s said to be the night which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so spirits of the dead and underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when outdoors to blend in. This is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from.

The jack-o’-lantern originated in Europe. They believed that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, so the Celts used the head of a vegetable to frighten off any superstitions.

The name jack-o’-lantern came from the Irish legend of Stingy Jack. He was a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had which was a candle inside of a hollowed turnip.

The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween because pumpkins are readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Houses were protected with lanterns so that if the spirits got past the protection of the lanterns, the Scottish custom was to offer the spirits parcels of food to leave and spare the house another year.

Ever since my oldest brother took me to a haunted house when I was little I haven’t been to one since. I recall getting lost and traumatized in a labyrinth setup in a house of mirrors! There will be so many festivities this week! Whether you’re attending the theme parks, haunted houses, costume parties, or trick-or-treating, just be aware of your surroundings.

If you are walking to your car, and you see someone suspicious getting closer to you, before even letting them get close enough to attack you, if you have this handy little electronic pocket/keychain whistle the loud 120db will do some scaring off yourself! You’ll surprise the heck out of him! Even if you aren’t sure, set that puppy off because as the old saying goes, it’s best to be safe than sorry.

WOW, A Burglary In My Own Neighborhood

I was looking at our neighborhood’s community website. I was surprised to read that on October 8th, someone’s home was broken into in broad daylight. The burglars entered through their back door.

There were several other posts about suspicious solicitors that people actually let into their homes dating back to July. Wish I had read about all this sooner. I never ever ever speak to or open the door to anyone that I’m not expecting, and we sure do get quite a few solicitors at our door.

We live in a very nice family neighborhood two miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico on Florida’s west coast. People bring their kids from areas around us to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat! Our streets are packed on Halloween!

On the day we made closing on our house, my father passed away (agent orange related prostate cancer). My mother is from Germany and used public transportation until she met my father in her early 20’s who took her everywhere, so she never learned to drive.

When she tried to learn in her later years, it just didn’t work out. Living in Missouri in the hills of the Ozarks, she was a 15 minute drive from town. Rather than relying on the neighbors to take her everywhere, we told her she should move into the same really nice neighborhood we live in.

Low and behold, there was a house with a bus stop right behind it for sale. It was like a sign from God. We have lived here for 11 years now. No matter where you live, unfortunately crime does happen. We are just oblivious to it until something hits home.

Naturally with the fallen economy, most cannot afford to pay an extra monthly home monitoring fee usually ranging from $30 on up. If they had the Mace Big Jammer or the Dual Function Door Brace on their back door they would have had to try a window, and with a Magnetic Door/Window Alarm, the 110 decibel screeching sound would have ran them off in a jiffy! They wouldn’t have known if the cops were on their way or not.

The home owner in turn would have been notified by phone (as well as 4 other phone numbers they stored into the system) if they had the Mace Motion Alert, Auto Dialer Alarm, TeleSpy Motion Sensor Telephone Intruder Alert, or the Mace Wireless Home Security System.

Don’t be the one talked about in your local community who’s house was broken into. Protect yourself and your loved ones today. My message to you may also be from above.

Stun Gun Fails To Work On Wild Boar

I was reading a breaking news report from my local news station in my inbox. I clicked on it to check it out, then my eyes wandered off through the other headlines. I came across a headline that stated “Stun gun fails to work on wild boar”. Excuse me? lol You know I had to share this one with you and put a smile on your face!

It was reported that a Deputy responded to complaints of an “extremely large pig” tearing up a resident’s yard in a Brooksville, Florida neighborhood. It was a 450-pound boar rooting up shrubbery and threatening a water fountain. The animal flashed his tusks toward onlookers, so the Deputy tried to stop it with his Taser, but the 50,000 volts had no effect on the animal. The boar was eventually corralled into a neighbor’s trailer.

Naturally, I had to post a comment to this article! My response read as follows:

Your title shows “Stun Gun”, yet your story says “50,000 Volt Taser”. These are two different things as I am the VP of www.bodysecurity.com and we are one of the largest distributors of these products.

Tasers shoot out two electrodes 15-20 feet (depending on the model). Stun guns don’t, and you must be within arm’s reach of your subject. Stun guns are 100,000 up to 1 million volts. All Tasers and stun guns are designed to deplete a human’s blood sugar into lactic acid…designed for a human! It would have been a better choice to use pepper spray on the animal.

Hopefully none of you will have to encounter a wild boar. lol However if you do, be informed that a Taser C2 is not a good option in this situation! A Taser C2 is an excellent choice to drop a human. Be sure to see our selection and protect yourself from other harmful humans should you ever be caught in an unfortunate situation.

If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to watch these must see interesting and informative Taser C2 videos.

Our Cameras Pick Up Orbs!

As I was pounding away at my computer the other night, something caught my eye from my peripheral view. I looked up at my home security monitor and my jaw just about hit the floor. Ever heard of an orb? For those of you that haven’t heard of them, be sure to Google it! Low and behold, there it was! This huge blob of light just hovering in front of my camera on our back enclosed patio. I watched it for a while, and it slowly moved back from the camera, hung around a bit, then my husband and I watched it float through our pool enclosure screen into the yard, and as it did so, it got smaller and the light started getting dimmer. We just watched in amazement. My husband went out onto the patio to see if he could see it, and then snapped a photo of the back yard with our digital camera. He couldn’t see or feel anything, however the “orb” did show up in the back yard through the pool enclosure screen on the actual photo! There’s no way this was a piece of dust or a bug, and no it wasn’t raining out. There’s absolutely no other logical explanation for this big blob of light. Check out the video clip I made from inside our house using our digital camera HERE! The BC-60WC-DN Day/Night Professional Camera w/60 LED’s is the exact camera we have as a surveillance system placed around the outside of our home. It was really simple to install ourselves. You just plug the cameras into whatever size camera cables you need to run them to your quad which is plugged into a TV where we can view them all on one screen or individually. It’s quite a coincidence that we saw this so close to Halloween. We told some friends of ours who thought it was the neatest thing in the world, which it was quite interesting! Had to share it with you also! With the economy being so bad, and crime being at such a high rate right now, if you are able to protect your home and your loved ones, this is a must have. Not to mention…bet you’ll see what’s lurking about around YOUR house!

Oktoberfest & Marzipan

It was that time of the year again. I had to bring my dog to the vet for her annual shots this morning. I take her to the little clinic on Indian Rocks Beach on Gulf Blvd. There was a big banner up over the street today saying “Oktoberfest”. Ahhh, yes, it’s the month of Oktoberfest and Biketoberfest!

I had forgotten about those fun get-togethers. I had been to an Oktoberfest in Germany when I was younger. My father was in the Army and married a German, so I was lucky enough to spend some time there and enjoy all of their annual festivities. Not to mention I learned how to cook all of the GOOD German food! I’ll share a special family recipe that I’m often asked for with you at the end of my story for those of you with a sweet tooth like me!

Here’s a neat link where you can check out the “real” Oktoberfest 2008. I had fun scrolling through the photos!

I was able to go to one with my mom & brother in St. Louis quite a few years ago. You know what the highlight of the gathering is, and that’s the beer! Which means many people have way too much of it! There were a few car thefts, a number of serious assaults, rapes and one attempted murder all in the news that weekend! We were very lucky to have just been able to enjoy the food & music without any problems.

Here is an discussion link about Oktoberfest safety.

The Stun Master Cell Phone Stun Gun is an awesome tool to keep on your side. It looks like a cell phone, but is a great self protection device. It also has a wrist strap, so that if your attacker tries to take it away from you to use it on you, it will be disabled and a loud 100 dB high pitched tone alarm will
sound.

No matter which festivity you may be attending, please always remember to be aware of your surroundings. Have fun & stay safe!

P.S. Here’s a recipe I thought I’d share with you for a great October treat…

Marzipan (An almond confectionery candy)

2 Cups white slivered almonds

2 Cups confectioner’s sugar

5-6 Tbsp. evaporated milk

1-2 Tsp. almond extract

Put almonds in a hand held coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder. Mix with confectioner’s sugar. Add evaporated milk, almond extract and mix with a fork. Knead after mixing with a fork. If it’s too wet, add a little more confectioner’s sugar, or if it feels too dry add a little more evaporated milk. Roll into balls. You may also roll them in powdered sugar after, or cocoa powder. When rolled in the cocoa powder, they are called “Marzipan Kartoffel” which translates to “Marzipan Potatoes” because they look like little potatoes.

Ready For Halloween?

I finally finished putting up my fall decorations this morning. Living in Florida, we don’t get to see too much of this gorgeous season.

I grew up in the Ozarks in Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest. In October, I was surrounded with changing colors of the Oak, Sugar Maple, Elm and many other beautiful trees. Since I don’t get to see them much here in Florida, I like to put the fall colored leaves around the house to warm it, and remind us of the season.

I was born on Halloween. Of all holidays, why this one. I think the main reason why I hate being born on Halloween is because throughout my life, I have been stereotyped as being a witch. Nothing could be further from the truth, so I will always hate the fact of it being on Halloween.

I was never allowed to go trick-or-treating because my father feared for my life. He didn’t want to go with me, nor did my mother. My mother on the other hand told me I could go to the next door neighbor’s which we were very familiar with because she understood how I felt as a child just wanting to show off my costume. With my mother being a full-blooded German, we always had enough candy in our household to feed an orphanage!

I know many parents dress up themselves and go out with their kids to keep them safe. I commend those of you who do. Some of you are lucky enough to have nice neighborhoods to walk around in with many others around you. Where I grew up, all the houses were scattered down along the Highway, so there were long stretches of darkness in-between houses.

You never know who can be lurking in the dark. Most likely it won’t be a ghost, but a human just waiting to prey on the innocent. Believe me, they’re out there! I have the most unique and awesome costume accessory for you parents, the Telescopic Stun Baton. No matter what costume you’re wearing, it will go with many. This is something no parent should be without!

This will not only protect you on Halloween, but when you are out for that evening walk, jog or bike ride, family camping trip, etc. I can go on and on!

Shopping With Kids

I was at the grocery store this afternoon. We had a pretty nasty rainstorm here in Florida the day before, and I was hoping to get all my shopping done before we had a repeat of yesterday while I’m trying to load my groceries into the car!

You know, doesn’t it always seem like when you’re in a hurry, everything holds you up, or is it just me? There was a woman just standing in front of the pasta that I needed to get at. I know what you’re thinking, carbs, so bad yet so good. Anyhow, she had no regard of anyone around her.

The cart was in the middle of the isle, and her son happened to be running up and down it, and he even wandered off around the corner! I’m thinking, now this is EXACTLY how people’s children get abducted. It only takes a few seconds. I had remembered a shopping trip I once made with a friend of mine with her two boys.

Her and I had stopped to look at something. As she was talking to me, her son who was maybe 4 or 5 or so, started ramming the shopping cart into the display stand. Not once, not twice, but over and over and over and over again, and she didn’t stop him!

As she’s talking to me, my mind starts to wander. All I could think about was, oh my God! I can’t believe she’s not stopping him! At this point, I couldn’t tell you what she was even saying anymore as my mind was just blown.

FINALLY after what seemed like an eternity, she turned around, looked at him and in a really sweet calm voice said, “Honey you need to stop that”.

His answer to her was, “Don’t tell me what to do Mary Sue Parker” (the name has been changed to protect the innocent), and ran off into another aisle. At that response, I was thinking…WOW! If that were my kid….ooooh!

She then turned and looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and said, “Hmmf, kids”, and went on about what we were doing without even going after him. I was in utter disbelief.

Now I don’t have kids, nor will I ever be able to (maybe some day I’ll adopt), but I was raised in such a way that I was probably the most respectful kid on the planet! I am just a mother of a dog, cat, bird and have 3 aquariums, but if I were one I’d make sure they’d never leave my sight in public. I perhaps might even keep them on a wireless “leash”! Speaking of which, let me tell you a little bit about it.

That is in fact an awesome product! It has a cartoon animal shaped transmitter that sends a constant signal to the receiver, which is held by the adult.

The signal is adjustable – from a distance of 6 to 30 feet, so when the child goes beyond the set distance, the adult’s receiver starts to beep, letting them know that the child is starting to wander off.

The child safety leash frequencies adjust themselves automatically to alert the proper receiver if more than one adult is in the same area using the Child Guard wireless alarm monitoring system.

The cutting edge of new microchips produced by SMT® technology, also referred to as the IC unit, is wafer thin and performs with superb accuracy and is incredibly reliable.

The IC unit is nicely hidden in a small plastic animal (looks like a toy) and can be concealed very easily under a shirt or jacket if desired. This wireless child safety leash includes a parent receiver, and the transmitter is worn around the child’s wrist.

Child predators are looking forward to the busiest shopping season of the year ahead. This is something no parent with a young child should be without. Protect your loved ones today!

Protection You Can’t Afford NOT To Afford!

I was watching the show “It Takes A Thief” on the Discovery Channel on my DVR. Have to love modern technology! I’m rarely ever able to catch a show at it’s scheduled time anymore.

I must admit, I’m hooked on it. If you ever get a chance, check it out! It’s about these guys who were once thieves themselves. They go to people’s houses, tell them about how they have a show on TV, then they stake out a robbery (with them knowing of course) to show how it would affect them and to see how safe they really are. Then they give them a home security makeover.

I’m sure many who watch it feel the need to protect themselves, however once again, with the failing economy, who can afford it. The funny thing is, now is when people need it the most because of the increase in crime! Well, there are some very affordable products available. Let’s face it, something is always better than nothing.

There is the Mace™ Alarm & Flashlight that converts a personal alarm into a portable door or window alarm, Mace™ Screecher Alarm, 130db Alarm w/ Door Alarm, 130db Alarm and Flashlight, Door Stop Alarm, 130db Alarm with Light, Voice Alert Home Alarm Motion Alarm with Keypad, Magnetic Door Alarm, Window Glass Break Alarm, Door Braces, Electronic Barking Dog, Mini Alert PIR Alarm, Sliding Glass Door Alarm, TeleSpy Intruder Alert, Auto Dialer Security Alarm, Wireless Security System.

Why spend hundreds of dollars on a security system and pay monitoring fees when you can get these for a fraction of the cost?

A very affordable one is “The Auto Dialer”. It is a unique passive infrared system that monitors motion in an area you select. When the unit is ARMED, the motion detector watches the protected area. Once movement is detected, a 105db security alarm will sound and the Auto Dialer will call up to 5 preset telephone numbers selected by you.

Be sure to check them out. They also make great gifts for the upcoming holidays. What better gift than protection for the ones you love.

Hot Walkers For The Holidays!

It seems as though everywhere you look nowadays, everyone is getting breast augmentations, and I must admit, I have been feeling really left out! After a year of tossing around the idea, three and a half weeks ago I finally had mine done! Therefore, I haven’t been able to work out for which seems like an eternity! This weekend was gorgeous here in central Florida! I finally was able to get out and start walking!

With that being said, no matter what I wear now, I must admit…I’ve turned a few heads as I’m sure many others who were out exercising in America did as well. There is a great path known as the Pinellas Trail in my area. It’s 34 miles long! It crosses through the good and the bad areas, but it’s still one big trail no matter how you look at it as I’m sure many of the others in America are.

As I’m telling you this story, October happens to be National Crime Prevention Month. When you are out walking, jogging, rollerblading, or biking, your safety may not be the first thing on your mind. Who the heck wants to carry something when they’re working out anyway? Unfortunately, there have been far too many people who thought the same way, and are now either dead or have a lifetime of regret. Especially with the economy being as bad as it is now, crime is at the highest rate it’s ever been! I carry a very unique item with me. They’re called “Hot Walkers“.

They are one pound walking weights that have built-in 10% Pepper Spray! They have elastic hand straps and foam covered hand grips for support and comfort, and they even have a storage compartment for keys and money! The pepper spray canister is replaceable and comes with FREE replacement pepper spray.

I’m telling you, these are a GREAT gift idea for your loved ones as well as the holidays are quickly approaching. Be sure to grab them now while it’s fresh on your mind. You’ll be glad you did!