Fall is here, at least according to the calendar. It began this year on Sept. 23. I wish the weather would just look at the calendar and adjust itself accordingly.

We have lost several plants due to the hot weather this summer as they couldn't stand the heat. I hope that it cools down soon, so I can plant some beautiful orange, yellow and burgundy mums in the yard.

What plans do you have for the fall season? Are you taking a family trip to one of our neighboring states to the North to see the beautiful trees with their multicolored leaves?

Someday I'd love to take a trip to Maine or New Hampshire to see their colorful trees. It is also nice to just stay home and enjoy fall here in Crestview.

Another thing fall brings is pumpkin spiced items. I enjoy pumpkin spiced coffee, coffee creamer, pancakes and other delectables. Pumpkin spice is one of my favorite flavors, only surpassed by peppermint spice, which comes at Christmas time.

I am planning a trip in a couple of months to see my niece get married. It will be fun to see family and get caught up again.

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing my mother and spending time with her. We plan on hitting our favorite restaurants in the Los Angeles area and visiting with friends. It is important to spend time with our families when we can, as we never know what tomorrow may bring.

It is only September, and in many retail stores, Christmas is in full force. I haven't quite gotten used to the summer being over, fall being here, and now we have massive decorations for Christmas?

When it is this hot, Christmas decorations are the last thing on my mind. How do you feel? Do you like the early start to Christmas displays? Do these displays compel you to buy Christmas items right now?

As I have written previously, I shop for Christmas gifts all year long in order to get good deals. What I look for and buy are specific gifts for a particular person, not general Christmas items in September. I love Christmas, but I'm not in the frame of mind to purchase Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

I feel that Thanksgiving has become the forgotten holiday being sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas.

I think we need to have a celebration of thanks for the wonderful opportunities we have in this country.

Have a blessed week.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Fall is here — time for Christmas?

Where were you when you heard the news about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001? Most adults over the age of 30 vividly remember where they were and what they were doing when the terrorist attacks happened. 

In watching the haunting scenes from Sept. 11 on the History Channel, I was reminded that we, as Americans, vowed never to forget the tragedy, especially the loss of life, that happened that day.

Eighteen years later, it appears we have forgotten. Many young people have no idea what happened the day the terrorists deliberately crashed airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. We don't know the exact target the fourth airliner was to crash into in Washington, D.C.; however, at the cost of their own lives, the heroes of Flight 93 thwarted the terrorists and forced the plane down in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

True American patriots ran into the middle of tragedy and burning buildings to save those trapped by the fires brought on by these attacks. Among our real heroes were the men and women of the New York fire and police departments, as well as the emergency personnel in Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.

We had patriotism and unity in the weeks and months after the horrific attack on our country. But as the years have passed, our memories have faded, we have become complacent and our unity is no more.

One of the recommendations from the 9/11 Commission was to send back home all of those students and visitors who had overstayed their visas. Eighteen years later, we still have hundreds of thousands of people who have expired visas and we haven't enforced our laws.

The reports vary on the 19 hijackers, but most say that five to seven of them had expired visas. We also aren't doing a good job of checking to see if those illegally entering the country have ties to terrorism. Why not?

If you haven't seen the 9/11 pictures for a while, take a look at them. We lost 2,977 American citizens in that terrifying attack. Furthermore, we have lost hundreds more over the years from complications of breathing in the hazardous chemicals released. Look at the pictures of people running for their lives as the first tower imploded.

Why hasn't the government done more to make the United States secure? We endure embarrassing pat downs, naked body scans and so on at the airports and train stations and just ignore those who have overstayed their welcome.

We need to urge our elected representatives to do what is necessary to preserve our freedoms. We also need the unity we experienced after 9/11, where we all loved our country and each other.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: We said we'd never forget 9/11, but have we?

Today's young people know so much more about computers and computer games than the average adult, but seem to be lacking in some basic life skills. It may be time to teach some life skills at home as well as at school.

The skills I am talking about are simple tasks like changing a light switch or an electrical outlet in the home. These are easy to do, but potentially life threatening if the main power isn't turned off before attempting the home repair.

There are many simple repairs hardly worth calling a home repair service to fix.

Another useful thing would be basic financial skills. While I realize that few people write checks any more, sometimes they are needed and people need to know how to fill them out correctly.

Reconciling one's checking or savings account is also needed. Many people use their debit cards for everything and forget to take into consideration the automatic payments they have scheduled. Then they run into financial problems when something critical, such as the rent payment, is rejected by the bank.

Budgeting one's money is critical, as well as knowing where and what the money is spent on.

Another needed skill is basic organizing. How to maintain a calendar for appointments and meetings, how to prevent scheduling duplicate appointments and how to be on time to meetings are important tasks. So is being able to correctly file and store important papers so they can be retrieved when needed.

Basic cooking skills are also necessary when one moves away from home. Learning to make a dish from a written recipe is useful. How to maintain hygiene in the kitchen to avoid cross contamination is crucial.

Learning to sort laundry and read garment tags for the proper laundering techniques is important. Many of us have laundered a garment that needed to be dry cleaned and rendered the item unusable. There is also an art to folding and storing many items, such as towels, fitted sheets, blankets, under garments and so on.

Here are a few more suggestions:

•How to sew on a button, or repair the hem of a garment.

•How to properly clean the bathroom.

•How to vacuum and mop a floor.

•How to change a vehicle tire.

•How to read a map.

•How to prepare for a hurricane.

•Basic first aid skills.

•Basic etiquette.

•Basic gardening, for a lovely yard.

I hope you all had a nice Labor Day weekend, fellow Crestview residents.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Necessary life skills for young people

According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, the word hospitable is defined as "given to generous and cordial reception of guests … offering a pleasant or sustaining environment." Being hospitable and kind applies to all of us, not just business owners.

Our church choir recently had its back-to-choir kick-off dinner, which was open to both new and continuing choir members. I brought a couple from our neighborhood to see if they might be interested in joining the choir.

My friend said that she had never been to any function where the people were so warm and welcoming. What high praise from a stranger and great news for both our church and choir.

People generally associate the word hospitality with restaurants and hotels. However, all businesses and organizations need to be customer service focused in this day and age of electronic devices. There are Yelp, Yahoo and other online reviews for everything, from restaurants to hospitals to churches and even governmental offices. No type of business or organization fares well with negative reviews.

Obviously, the hospitality industry exists not only serve customers, but also to make money. No business can stay open if they aren't making a profit. On the flip side, if a business has no customers due to poor service, they will close.

In both restaurants and hotels, a certain level of service is expected. In this electronic age, it is imperative to keep up one's reputation to avoid losing potential business.

I read some of the online reviews for businesses here in town. While some have outstanding reviews, there are other businesses that could use some help with their customer service. I realize that there are some grumpy people in this world that no one can please, but in the hospitality business, one must try to make each guest happy.

As I drove my husband, Jim, to the airport this week, I was amazed at all the changes south of Interstate 10. Crestview is certainly changing and building.

It appears that Panda Express is making good progress on their new restaurant on South Ferdon Boulevard. It is nice that Cefco is now open at the south end of town. If one needs gas coming back into town, this makes it convenient.

Even with all the new construction and businesses, I still firmly believe that Crestview can support more sit-down restaurants and I look forward to trying them out.

In the meantime, get out and drive around town. You may be amazed at the changes.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hospitality is part of our growing city

One of the newest cyber crimes is being perpetuated against both employees and their employers, not just here in Crestview, but all over the country. I recently learned of this scam when one of my friend's business was a victim. The human resources department receives an email from an employee requesting a change in the routing and bank account information for their direct payroll deposit. This information is passed along to the payroll department to make the needed changes.

As in the spoofing of telephone numbers, these emails look as though they came from the actual employee. In some cases these phony emails have the same email address as the company so they look like a legitimate company email. However, just as phone numbers can be spoofed, so can email addresses. Most of the time, it is much easier for the perpetrator to sign up for an email account with Gmail, Mail or other free email service and use the employee's name, such as JohnEmployee@gmail. Since there is generally no verification required for this type of change, the information is processed and the next payroll check goes to the thieves rather than the employee. The employee has no knowledge of this change and is perplexed when they don't receive their payroll deposit.

Because this involves payroll and the employee didn't really initiate the email, the employer is liable for their employee's wages. This hits the company in the pocketbook, and the employee may have to wait for several days to receive their stolen compensation. Employers are urged to contact their banks to find out where the stolen money was sent, but in many cases the deposits were either sent offshore, or once deposited, immediately withdrawn. The FBI should be contacted should you face a situation such as this scam.

Smaller companies may not require more than an email to change direct deposit options and are therefore vulnerable. My advice would be to physically have a payroll employee or the employee's direct supervisor go and ask the employee if they requested their payroll information changed. This will save many headaches.

Most large companies do not have the time nor employees to make these types of changes, therefore the employees are required to make them. For instance, my husband's company requires the employee go into the secure payroll portal and change this information. Requiring employees to do this change stops payroll fraud, as no one but the employee can change their direct deposit information.

Stay safe and keep your payroll check and your employer safe from thieves.

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Employers, be wary of latest payroll scam

In our home, we are overwhelmed with robo and unwanted advertisement calls on our landline.

My husband gets many unsolicited calls on his cellphone. Several times a day we are interrupted and need to run and look at the phone's caller ID. Most of the time it is an 800 number or unknown area code. One day this week, the caller ID read "Illegal Scam." Sometimes calls look as though they are from the Crestview area, but if it is just a phone number with no name attached, it may be a spoof call. These calls become unbearable when we are trying to work.

According to the Federal Communications Commission website (www.fcc.gov) a spoof call is defined as "spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity. Scammers often use neighbor spoofing so it appears that an incoming call is coming from a local number. … If you answer, they use scam scripts to try to steal your money or valuable personal information, which can be used in fraudulent activity."

There is technology available to stop most of this. Many cellphone companies help their customers, but landline companies are more reluctant. Write your Congressman and insist that legislation is passed to stop this abuse on all phones. Also, if you haven't re-registered in the last five years, go to www.donotcall.gov and register your phones numbers. This doesn't stop the international scammers, but deters some in the United States. CenturyLink sent me to a page where I registered to not be included on lists published for marketing purposes.

The FCC has made reducing robo and unwanted calls a priority. "American consumers are sick and tired of unwanted robocalls, this consumer among them. Caller ID authentication will be a significant step towards ending the scourge of spoofed robocalls. It's time for carriers to implement robust caller ID authentication," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Real caller ID authentication means the phone company can detect when someone uses a false number to call with, but displays another number. There are services such as Nomorobo and Truecaller that identify robocalls and are relatively inexpensive. My best advice is do not answer phone calls from unknown names or numbers. It is difficult to scam if you won't talk with them. Some of these callers are very hostile and use filthy language if you don't buy their scam. I can't even repeat what one international caller said to my niece.

The FCC is also allowing phone companies to intercept some of these phony calls and disconnect them before they ever reach our phones. This is welcome news but may take some time to implement.

Should you want more information, here is an article on the FCC's website regarding unwanted robo calls and texts, www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/stop-unwanted-robocalls-and-texts

Janice Lynn Crose, a former accountant, lives in Crestview with her husband, Jim; her two rescue collies, Shane and Jasmine; and two cats, Kathryn and Prince Valiant.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Robo calls, spoofing must be stopped