Facebook and privacy settings

I just read this article, and thought I'd share it with all of you....

Click here

It's about facebook, and privacy settings. It seems facebook is changing these days at warp speed, with even bigger changes to come in the next few weeks. This article explains how to make sure your privacy settings are set to what YOU want, and not what facebook wants. If you use very many Apps, it needs to be done for each one, and of course, each one is different.

I don't use any Apps myself to try the tips out on, but it looks like the article is pretty easy to follow.

Is it just me, or does it seem we're becoming waaaaaaaaaay too connected? I don't care what song you are listening to on Spotify as you read this, nor do I care what news story you will read on Yahoo after you leave my blog. And I seriously doubt you care about my music and reading habits either! Facebook filling up our tickers and newsfeeds with that kind of stuff seems just ole plain annoying to me.

What do you think?

And rest assured, when you read my blog, I'm not even aware of it, other than seeing a number that shows how many views it has each day. Your privacy is safe here!

Fall Festival photos

The Jefferson Avenue Fall Festival went very well, especially for a first time event. The weather was perfect, and I'm sure that helped bring out the crowds. We were busy in the store all day.

I didn't get too many pictures, but here's what I had out front on the sidewalk........

How about those warty pumpkins! Kevin grew those in his garden. Click on the picture to see them better.

Why is there a cooler sitting in the display you ask? It had fresh eggs in it from our chickens!

After I took this photo, I looked up to see my sister Jo posing outside the door with the slate I painted. Clearly, by reading it you can tell I had her in mind when I painted it. She on the other hand thought it referred to me.....



If you can't read it, it says...........

If you think I'm a Witch, you should meet my Sister!

x Wicked Witch of the East

Yep, yep, that's talking about her.

Oh, by the way...thanks for helping me out yesterday Jo!
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fall Festival

This Saturday (the 24th) there will be a Fall Festival on Jefferson Avenue from 10-4. I'll have the shop open during the festival.

We have lots of fall crafts in, AND, we should have some REAL pumpkins in by then too! They didn't grow as well as they did last year, but we should have a few. They will be out front on Saturday.

They are calling for rain....would you care to join me in a "Don't Rain" dance? So many other areas need the rain, maybe they could take ours on Saturday.

A funny thing happened........

I found a bunch of bottles in a dump Kevin happened upon. We poked through it over the weekend, and pulled some of the bottles out of the briars and weeds and dirt. Oh the lengths 'Junkers' go to!

Anyway, I'm not feeling particularly clever today, so I just googled "Halloween Potion Names" to get some ideas for making more labels. One of the sites that came up close to the top was..............MINE!

It came to the post you can see here, which gives you a list of words you can use to come up with your own Potion Names.

Ok, ok, I guess I'm back to using my own advice, and I'll be coming up with my own names!

Just like I did on these ones. I did it once, I can get creative and do it again!

Halloween Potion Bottles

These are my first attempts at Potion Bottles.

So much fun to make!

Sorry for the poor pictures.

My camera doesn't do well with closeups.

But hopefully you get the idea of how they look.

You can click on the photo to see it bigger.

I'm designing my own labels, using words from the list you can see here.

Instead of making potion labels, I should have been making potions.

I picked up a cold somewhere, & have been running a fever for 2 days.

Lousy timing!!!!!!!

Our niece just had her first baby, & I can't go see him!

And...we were going to have a weekend trip to DC with Jessica & Brian.

Can't do that either. Grrr.

On the bright side though, Kevin told me about a dump site he found.

He's thinking it had lots of bottles.

As soon as I'm feeling better, we will be going bottle hunting!

Potions

Ok, I'm having waaaay too much fun making potion labels and putting them on bottles! See the post below this one for word suggestions. I just finished "the essence of Dragon's Breath". Haha!

Hope to have pics in the next couple of days. I only have a dozen or so bottles, I may have to go on the hunt for more!

Halloween Potion Names

I'm going to make some Halloween bottles, and I've been looking around on the internet for some potion name ideas. I love, love, love fall, but I get a bit squeamish about Halloween. Witches I can handle, (wonder why?), but fear & blood & gore are NOT my thing. So, potion names are a bit out of my comfort zone. But, I'm trying.

One site suggested several words, and I have added to it. Mix and match them to come up with some potion names all your own!

Ready? Here we go........

Fresh, Dead, Mad, Aging, Reformed, Poisoned, Instant, Live, Life, Old, Young, Sleeping, Death, Un-nerving, Haunted, Eerie, Haunting, Bewitching, Love, Howl

Crushed, Pulped, Diced, Minced, Mixed, Whole, Char-grilled, Poached, Dried, Black,

Wort, Wart, Worm, Pupae, Vetch, Egg, Juice, Weed, Blood, Milk, Spawn, Eye, Intestine, Spleen, Wings, Dust, Soup, Slime, Teeth, Brain, Tongue, Marrow, Nerve, Skull, Skullcap, Breath, Hair, Skin, Bones, Skeleton, Fever, Sting

Tincture, Effusion, Elixir, Speciman, Spirit, Potion, Draught, Spell, Magic, Bitters, Concoction, Brew, Cordial, Dose, Draft, Dram, Libation, Mixture, Remedy, Restorative, Stimulant, Tonic, Compound, Formula, Poultice, Preparation, Prescription, Salve, Soother, Unction, Gargle,

Toad, Frog, Bat, Spider, Scorpion, Rat, Dog, Snake, Cat, Dog, Jellyfish, Dragon, Serpent, Hog, Slug, Skunk, Werewolf, Wolf, Newt, Owl, Raven

Vampire, Witch, Troll, Demon, Faerie, Mermaid, Lovers, Warlock, Wizard, Zombie, Mummy, Phantom, Grim Reaper, Goblin, Ghoul, Ghost, Dracula,

Grave, Cauldron, Pot, Gravestone, R.I.P., Tombstone, Mausoleum, Cemetery, Coffin, Cobweb, Casket, Apparition, Broom, Broomstick, Salem, Moon

Some examples:

Toad Skins - may cause warts.

Black Cat Bitters

Witching Hour Elixer

Aging Potion

Dragon's Breath

Black Raven Wings

Faerie Dust

Love Potion

Ok, enough of that! I'm off to make bottle labels! But if you think I'm going to offer you any of my Elderberry Effusion or Wormwood Tincture, you're wrong. I'm keeping it all to myself.

Bahahahahaha!

We're free! Well...kinda

Remember the construction nightmare?

Such loveliness just a few feet in front of the shop. In front of every shop. In the whole block. The whole looong block from 3rd to 5th Streets.

For our end of Jefferson Avenue, the worst is over. At least I think the worst is over.

They put that lovely yellow fence up on July 19th. They took it down today, September 12. Yep, if you count on your fingers & toes that comes up to almost 2 months.

Oh yeah, that was good for business.

The construction is not over, but at least the bulk of what was happening right in front of us is over. For us. Now the whole kit and kaboodle is on the northern end of Jefferson Avenue. Now they get to deal with the fence, the noise, the booms that literally shake the buildings. The lack of business.

When either end of the street is worked on, it effects both ends, because this is one of the main drags through town - the main business district - and they have it completely shut off. Parking is still scarce, it's still hard to navigate through all the road closed signs. But at least on our end now, the fence is gone.

We feel like we've been let out of prison!

In memory of September 11, 2001

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years.

It seems like yesterday.

We've seen the images hundreds of times.

We see them in our minds, without actually seeing a picture.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York...

The Pentagon in Washington DC...

The brave heros of Flight 93 who gave up their lives

in a PA field to save countless others...

The hundreds of emergency workers who did all they could

to save as many as they could.

And the many who gave up their own lives...

And they gave us hope...

Our thoughts & prayers are with the many who lost loved ones that awful day.

In case of fire.........

    I can't imagine fire this destructive. This is a photo I saw on msnbc......you can see more here. The photos are of the wildfires plaguing drought and heat weary Texas.

Then there's the news about all the flooding from storms Irene and Lee. If only there were a way to get the extra water in some spots to the places who need it so badly!

Thinking about fires and floods usually brings up this question - if you had only a few minutes to get out of your house, what would you grab on your way out?

A jewelry store owner told me that the building next to hers caught on fire years ago. The firemen called her, and told her she could get in her store for a few minutes and get out what she needed to. She said she ran inside, looked around, and thought, "what do I take...because when it comes right down to it, it's all just junk". All that expensive jewelry, and she summed it up as just junk when an emergency arose.

She was probably right. If my store building burned, the only thing I would really want to get out would be the paperwork, just because it would be difficult to file our income taxes if that was all lost.

But, at home, it's different....it's more personal........

Of course, we all would get the people out first, and our pets, but then what? For me, the next thing would probably be pictures, though they are scattered all over the house, which probably isn't a good idea now that I think about it.

I'd also want to save the artwork and stories that Jessica and Kevin created when they were little. I actually have some of those things stored in a fireproof safe box. If a robber broke in and stole that box, they would be very dissappointed! No gold or silver, just memories of distant youth.

There are certain "family heirlooms" I'd want to save if I could. Things that used to belong to our parents or even grandparents. Things our mama's made that mean so much to us.

Maybe it would be our computer we would want to grab, especially if it's full of family photos. Maybe a collection we have worked years to build. Or cookbooks, especially the ones full of family recipes.

I hope we never have to face a crisis such as this, and I hope none of you do either!

It's fall!

One more chance to come to the September Event - Saturday from 9:30 to 2:00. You will save 20% on all regular priced items. And, you can sign up to win these 2 pillows.........

There's lots of fall crafts to choose from in the shop right now.

Love pumpkins!

The next batch of photos were hard to take.

They were taken in the tight confines of the display windows.



There's more fall crafts to come...

after all, it's only the beginning of September!

Stay tuned for more.