FROM PARADES TO PROBLEMS IN 10 HOURS OR LESS

This Saturday our town holds a yearly celebration. It has been going on for many years. Much longer than the 30 years we have lived here.

It begins with a parade which used to start right in front of our house. The roads close down and the floats set up. There are floats from the schools and businesses. There are horses and bands. The firemen toss out candies to the kids and they have water gun battles with the kids. All the usual fun parade things. This photo was from around 22 years ago.

The parade ends up in a large park and there are lots of fun things waiting there. Through the years the event has grown and now there are a few different areas of town that have activities.

There are bands playing throughout the day. There are kids and teens everywhere. Many locals have big barbecue parties at their homes. There is a yearly salmon barbecue at the park.

The streets are so busy filled with people and lots of cars.

And then…….. the inevitable happens. The teens are drinking.  They plan their partying way ahead of time and they go at it full tilt. They get more and more out of control and the police do their best to corral these kids and remove the liquor.

The evening culminates with a fireworks display which always has problems with drunken people fighting. Hundreds of people all try to leave the area at the same time when the fireworks are over and the streets are jammed solid. Masses and masses of people on the sidewalks heading past our house since we are on one of the main streets. Yelling and screaming. More fighting. Sometimes in my driveway. Police directing traffic at the corner to try to clear the cars as quickly as possible. Sirens ring out throughout the night as the emergency workers and police do their best to respond to the many problems that have erupted.

I have to say that I have come to hate this day over the 30 years we have lived here. I dread it and all the bad stuff that comes with it. I know this is going against the grain. It should be all sunshine and roses and painted faces but it has lost its allure.

So hopefully this year my yard will not be a toilet for the crowds. My garden will not be damaged. There will not be fights in my driveway and nobody will get hurt.

Maybe it will rain.

Do any of you have the same issues in your small town? Are the local festivities marred by the actions of some?

DOE A DEER

 

My BB Guy took this this photo up by our cabin. 

Isn't she sweet!!!  

FACEBOOK SCAMS–STOP THE INSANITY

For some reason people start up scams to create fear, false hope and misinformation amongst the users of Facebook and other sites or emails.

It is time for us to become vigilant about stopping what we can. How do we do this?

STOP POSTING WARNINGS WITHOUT CHECKING THEM YOURSELF FIRST PEOPLE!!!!

NO EXCUSES! DON'T BE LAZY. DON’T BELIEVE A POST THAT SAYS IT IS TRUE AND HAS BEEN CHECKED OUT ALREADY ON SNOPES…CHECK IT YOURSELF!!!!

CALL OUT YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK WHEN THEY POST THESE THINGS AND TELL THEM TO STOP IT.

There are many sites that will tell you the truth about these scams.

• The missing child scam. Who wouldn't want this broadcast when a little one is missing but if you didn't see it on your own newscast or in your newspaper DON'T POST IT. Don't give me the line that if it were your child wouldn't you want it spread. Of course I would but if we keep posting the phony ones that have gone around for years with a picture of a young girl who was never, ever missing in the first place, it takes away the seriousness of real missing kids.
• A dollar will be given to help an infant who has had open heart surgery every time you click “like”. This one is complete with a graphic photo of someone’s baby in the hospital with tubes and bandages and a gaping hole in their chest. This is sickening. Don’t be a moron. Why would a person only donate if you click a button. If someone was going to give the money it would have nothing to do with Facebook.
• The child dying of cancer who will get the help they need if only the Facebook post gets enough people to share the post or click the "like" button. Do you think the medical profession would give better care to someone if there are enough clicks?

• Bill Gates will give away money if you share the fake photo of him holding a sign. Really? He may give away lots of money but he is not such an idiot that he would be randomly giving it to people on Facebook. It is photo-shopped and he is not holding that sign.
• You will get money and good luck if you share the post. I am sure the gods, karma, voodoo and all others sit there at their computers and dole out the good juju according to who has shared their picture. How did people ever have good luck before Facebook?

Now lets move on to the actual scams regarding Facebook security and such. I do understand that there are many issues on Facebook privacy but that is pretty much due to the fact that people post things they really should keep to themselves and also that they don’t bother to set their own privacy settings correctly.

• When they tell you to hover your mouse over the little arrow and change your settings all you are doing is blocking what you see not what the world sees. If people do this for your name your friends will no longer see your posts….at all…why be on Facebook then.
• When it tells you to do things to change the colors in Facebook all it changes is what you see not what others see.
• When it tells you that your photos are going to be shown around the world if people don’t change their settings on your posts that is not right. People will see your photos if you are tagged in them. Change your own settings to stop tagging. If your friend does it on your post it just means you won’t see what they are posting about you.
• See who views your Facebook profile. Get over yourself. George Clooney is not checking you out and even if he was it would not show up on this scam. It isn’t for real.

So here is what you are going to do. Take the pledge. Take my Facebook Pledge to not share any warnings and fear mongering on Facebook or through emails without first checking it out on one or even two of the scam reporting sites out there. You don’t have to post this on Facebook but you can if you like. Just take the pledge. Feel free to copy and paste this and share it freely. It is not a scam.

Here is a list of sites you can use to check out if something is for real or not. Just copy some of the key words from whatever you want to check out and paste it into the search areas in these sites. Please read the reports and use better judgement before posting these things. Here are 3 sites to get you started…. or better yet to get you “stopped”.

• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.hoax-slayer.com/
• http://www.scambusters.org/scamcheck.html

AN INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY - A FRIEND WALKS THE CAMINO

I have a friend who has gone on an amazing journey. She is walking about 900 kilometers on what is known as the Camino for her 50th birthday. 

She started walking in France and will end up in Spain. 

Although she is on this trip alone she really isn't because of her support from her loved ones back home and the fact that there are many others on this walk.

There is quite a bit of history on Walking the Camino but I won't tell the story here as it is her story not mine. 

I just want to suggest you stop by her blog and give her some words of encouragement on this important trip.   

 Come read along about her journey. http://lindagummer.blogspot.ca/

BABY SHOWER CUP CAKES

Can you stand another cute baby shower idea? Here we go. CUPCAKES. ADORABLE.

You will need baby “onesies”, some baby wash clothes, baby socks, cupcake liners, a cupcake box and any decorative items you may like.

Take a onesie and fold in the arms

Fold the onesie in half lengthwise.

Roll up a baby sock to make the center of the cupcake. If this was a bright pink sock it would look like a cherry on top. Be creative with your colors.

Place the rolled sock on a facecloth that is folded into thirds. You should keep the closed folded edge up unlike what I am showing you in the photo below.

Now roll the washcloth inside the onesie. Pull it pretty tight and adjust the edges to look nice.Tie a little ribbon around it to hold it in place.

I found these beautiful cupcake liners at Michael’s. If I were displaying these on a tray I would have left them that way but since I was putting them into a cupcake box I flipped them inside out so that the sunflower showed.

I put some yellow shred paper in the bottom  of the cupcake box and placed in the cupcakes.

I think they turned out just great.

This diaper cake was done in yellow since we don’t know the baby’s sex. If you missed the instruction posts for the diaper cakes you can see them by clicking here and here and here along with the diaper motorcycle instructions.

My house is looking like a bakery but it is all calorie free.

DIAPER MOTORCYCLE TUTORIALS AND A NEW CAKE

This past weekend I was lucky to attend a baby shower for my soon to be great-great nephew!!!! That makes me the equivalent of a great-grandparent.

Next weekend I get to attend another one for another great-great baby to come. That one’s gender is a surprise so the cake is more generic in color.

I have made the cakes before and you can see my tutorials here and here.

This time I tried a new project. A diaper motorcycle. Too cute of course and super easy to make.

Here is what you will need:

34 diapers (17 for each tire)
A couple large rubber bands
2 bibs (or onesies)
2 receiving blankets
1 pair of mittens or socks
1 baby bottle
1 washcloth
1 chain link baby toy
ribbon in your choice of pattern/color
1 stuffed animal of your choice no bigger than 20 inches

Start with a container of some sort to help hold the diapers. A bowl, a low pan, hunt through your kitchen.

 Take half the diapers and spread them into a circle inside the container. Play with them to space them out evenly. Don’t fuss too much just yet.

Put a rubber band around the diapers or tie them with some string quite tightly. Now fuss with them some more to space them out evenly.

Make a second tire and keep the diapers facing the same way.

Take some ribbon and wrap it around the centre of the tires. I staple mine nice and tight. No one will see the staples if you make that the bottom of the tires.

Now you take one of the receiving blankets and fold it in half, long edge to long edge. Roll the blanket up starting with the open edge so you end up with a long tube.

You can tack the ends together with a few stitches if you like.

Place the rolled up blanket through the front tire and then through the back tire where you will crisscross it tightly. 

Remember to keep any staples in your ribbon at the bottom of the tires.

I overlapped my blanket and tucked the ends back inside the wheel.

Again a few stitches will hold it together but make sure not to puncture the diapers or you may be the one holding baby on that leaky day.

Roll up the second receiving blanket the same as the first and pull it through the front wheel even on both sides. This will make the handlebars.

If you are using bibs lay one over the wheel like a fender. If using a onesie then fold the arms in and tuck it down between the wheels.

Wrap the baby bottle with a washcloth and lay this over the front “fender”. This is now the headlight.

Pull up the second receiving blanket over the headlight and slide a chain toy down over the ends of the receiving blanket and tighten it right down to the headlight.

You can tuck some cardboard into the ends of the handlebars for stability before you tuck them into the socks or mittens.

You can see that the stuffie’s arms weigh down the handlebars so you should probably not lean them on the bars.

You can find the link for the instructions for the cake at the top of this post.