Halloween Fest: October 25.

Michelle Campbell is hard at work preparing our Halloween Fest. It's October 25, starting at 3pm at 5029 Minden (the corner of Barfield and Minden). Your family's admission is a bag of candy. The event features a "trick or trunk" in the driveway, games, crafts, food, face painting and play areas (including a haunted house!).

To make this a truly spectacular event, Michelle needs some assistance with the following:

• People to volunteer to decorate their trunks
• Any bouncy things for kids so we don't have to rent one
• Items to decorate photo op area (hay bails, mums, pumpkins, etc)
• Tables for activity areas
• Kid chairs for musical chairs

If you'd like to help out in any of these areas, please contact Michelle at 832-2190.

November 18: Paint a Piece.

Our November meeting features "paint your own pottery", but you need to order your piece by the October 21 meeting. Please see the above selection (click to make images larger) and make a check payable to Jessica Olson. Bring the check to the next meeting or contact Suzanne Houlden (shoulden@comcast.net) to make other arrangements. If you ordered a piece at the September meeting, please make sure Suzanne gets your check.

Finished pieces will be available about a week after the meeting. Suzanne will pick them up and email everyone who participated so that they may get their pottery.

Please pay your dues!

The yearly dues for Garden Club members are $25, payable by cash or check ("Normandy Meadows Garden Club") to Jean Phebus at 5234 Mary Starnes. Please remember to update your membership directory information. You can email the following to marci@makearteveryday.com:

Your Name
Spouse's Name
Children's Names and Birth Month/Year
Address
Phone
Email

Please note that we will be changing the directory to reflect childrens' birth month/year rather than age. That will save us the time of changing it every year. You may get an email or phone call from Marci to double-check your directory information. Only those who have paid dues will appear in the directory, which will be distributed to all members.

2008-2009 Calendar of Programs.

Here's our line-up for the coming year. Many thanks to Program Chair Suzanne Houlden for pulling it together. And thanks to all the hostesses and co-hostesses for providing our meeting places.

October 21, 7pm: Tom Pellett, Master Gardener
Hostess: Kathryn Westbrook, 5104 Norich
Co-Hostess: Katie Redeker

October 25, 3pm: Halloween Fest
Hosts: Michelle & Jay Campbell, 5029 Minden

November 18, 7pm: Paint a Piece
Hostess: Jean Phebus, 5234 Mary Starnes
Co-Hostess: Angela Griffith

December 9, 7pm: Christmas Coffee
Hostess: Lauren Harkins, 5016 Lynbar
Co-Hostess: Sunny Duffy

January 23, 6pm: Progressive Dinner
Hosts: Laura & Matt Freeman, 5194 Peg Lane
Hosts: Holly & Darin Halford, 216 Leonora Drive

February 17, 7pm: Dr. Alan James, Chiropractor
Hostess: Hikmat Samaha, 5086 Peg Lane
Co-Hostess: Melanie Suria & Jessica Schreiber

March 17, 7pm: Marci Lambert, Make Art Every Day
Hostess: Morgan Westbrook, 5095 Norich
Co-Hostess: Jennifer Smith

April 4, 10am: Easter Egg Hunt
Hostess: Joanne & Robert Maichrowicz, 225 Matilda
Co-Hostess:

April 21, 7pm: Carolyn Bendall, Image Consultant
Hostess: Cindy Waddell, 259 Betty Jo Lane
Co-Hostess:

May 2, 7pm: Shrimp and Beer Party
Hostess:

*Programs subject to change. Hostess provides house. Co-hostess provides snacks & non-alcoholic drinks. Club provides wine & nametags.

Memphis Union Mission.

Minetry Apperson is leading a project through our club to help support the Memphis Union Mission. If you'd like to participate, please collect travel-size personal care products that would appropriate for the homeless population served by the Mission. These include:

• small tubes of toothpaste
• toothbrushes
  
• deodorant
• shampoo
• disposable razors
• soap/body wash
• shaving cream
• pain relievers
• bandaids
• rubbing alcohol
• anti-baterial ointment
• socks
• t-shirts (XL and up)
• underwear
  

Marci will also try to post good deals on these types of things whenever possible. For instance, Walgreen's has its brand bar soap on sale for 4/$1 this week. Reach Advanced Design toothbrushes are $2.59; use a $1 off coupon in the Walgreen's sale booklet (located near the flyers in-store) and you can also use the $1 off 6/8 Redplum Sunday insert to get the brush for $.59. Crest ProHealth toothpaste and Excedrin Gel Caps are free if you apply for the Walgreen's rebate this month. We appreciate it if you let us know if you've found any deals as well.

Your donations may be brought to any club meeting up through December, or given directly to Minetry at 226 Pandora.

September Meeting.

The kickoff to the 2008-09 year is the annual Wine & Cheese meeting on Sept. 16. Join us at 7pm, at the home of Laura Sherman, 31 Mary Ann Drive. You can join or renew your membership ($25, cash or check) and you can pick up a calendar of events for the year. Co-presidents Brooke Shannon and Stephanie Hubbard have a great year planned, and we'd love to see you.

Yard of the Month: September

Crime alert: Kroger

From a recent email:

On Saturday, Aug 30 at 11:30 am, Suzanne Plyler was putting her groceries in car at Kroger on Mendenhall and Sanderlin when two men drove up, jumped out of their car while she was loading her groceries, and grabbed her purse that was wedged between her legs. Fortunately, she was unharmed. The police told her that Kroger has had many occurrences in the past. Apparently, they have only have security from noon to 6:00pm and they are a 24 hour store.

There are two things we should all take a few minutes to do. First, email Charles Cayce (ccayce@weingarten.com) and Justin Robertson (jrobertson@weingarten.com) at Weingarten, property managers for Mendenhall Commons, and demand 24-hour security.

Second, email Pam Cain (pam.cain@memphistn.gov) and Maria Fuhrmann (maria.fuhrmann@memphistn.gov) at Memphis City Council and request your email be sent to all the council men and women. Let them know how strongly you feel about the city fighting crime.

You may also want to ask for help with taking your groceries to the car, especially if you have small children with you.

Found: black dog

From a recent email:

As I was running about 7:15p on Thursday I saw a black medium sized furry dog running up and down Rich near White Station. I tried to catch her/him but the dog would not come up to me. The dog was not wearing a collar. It appeared to have some chow in it. One lady on the street said that she has seen the dog the past few days on rich but could not catch it. So if anyone is missing this dog, they may want to check that area of our neighborhood. Thanks!

Neighbors looking for...

Jessica on N. Fernway is looking for a dog sitter to come a few times per day to let her Pomeranian dog out and fill food/water bowls while the family is on vacation. Could be a responsible teenager. If interested, contact Jessica at symonsj1@yahoo.com.

Melanie Suria: home computer services

Melanie Suria, who is based in our neighborhood, has a home-based business in computer service/repair/software or hardware install or upgrade/advice/training, etc. for anyone who needs it. She can handle both Macs and PCs and will work around your schedule. Melanie is also a recruiter (mostly technical) and would be happy to hear from you if you are looking for employment.

Contact Melanie at melaniesuria@yahoo.com or call 496-8949 for more information on prices and appointments.

Crime alert: Elwood, Summer, Verosa

From recent emails:

Elwood:
I came home from work this afternoon around 5:15 p.m. When I pulled into the driveway, I notice that a 15 speed Diamondback mountain bike was no longer in the carport. Our neighbor had noticed a truck leaving our driveway around 2:30 p.m. She was busy at the time, and did not have a good description. She says it was a large blue truck with an insignia on the side.

Kroger on Summer:
Yesterday morning (last Thursday), my mom was filling up my Suburban at the Kroger gas station on Summer. She had my two-year-old in the back seat and got out ONLY to put the gas cap back on the tank, forgetting this time to lock the doors. While she did that, someone reached in the passenger side and took my wallet and her whole purse while my son watched. She never saw anything or knew that anything had happened...my son was the one to tell her someone took our stuff. IT IS INFURIATING, but we are so thankful that she and my son are ok!!! PLEASE REMEMBER TO LOCK DOORS and be EXTRA CAREFUL at that station.

Verosa:
Early Sunday at 4998 Verosa (a house across the street from my son) burglars broke in between 1:00 and 3:00 AM. Four adults and one week-old baby were sleeping in the house at the time of the entry. The house has no alarm and the back door the burglars used for entry was possibly unlocked as there was no damage to the back entry. Two cars were parked in front of house on the street and a Lexus was in the carport. They stole the Lexus keys (in the kitchen) and then stole the car. Credit cards and money were also taken from the kitchen. Evidently they did not go any further into the house. Charges were already on the credit cards this AM. They found out about the burglary when the mother or baby had awakened near 3:00 AM. Police came and filed a report of the incident.

Last week my son’s car was broken into at 5005 Verosa. Burglars stole golf clubs that were in the rear of his car. They broke a side rear window which cost $300 to replace.