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Friday, October 31, 2014
Friday Show and Tell: Facebook and Pinterest Settings You Want To Know About
Happy Friday! I hope you all had a great week and are having a ghoulish Halloween!
If you are on Pinterest or Facebook, today’s Show and Tell is for you! I have some info on Facebook and Pinterest settings that could make your news feeds include more of what you want to see.
Pinterest: Recently Pinterest changed the way you see the pins on your home page. Previously your Pinterest home page was chronological, so you would simply see the most recent pins from all of the boards that you follow. Pinterest recently adjusted this so your pin news feed is based on web cookies and your browser history. Essentially Pinterest’s smart algorithms are now curating your feed, pushing pins to the top that they think you will be most interested in as well as featuring sponsored pins more heavily. If you’re fine with this, then you’re all set! But if you’d like to get your feed back to the way it was before, you can do so. Here’s how!
- Go to your profile page on Pinterest.
- Click the gear icon in the top right corner and then select “Account Settings.”
- Under the first section “Account Basics” you will see a small section called “Personalization.” Switch both buttons in that section to “No.” Your feed should revert to the original stream.
Seeing Content from Facebook Pages You Like: Did you know that just because you “Like” a page on Facebook doesn’t mean content from that page will actually show up in your feed? In fact, it most likely will not. As I talk with friends I’m learning that Facebook users who do not manage pages have no idea this is the case. (People who do manage pages are very well aware – any given item I post on my Facebook page may only be seen by as few as 100 people and rarely tops 3,000, which does not match up to the nearly 18,000 likes I have on my page.) SOOOOO…if you “Like” a page and actually DO want content from that page showing up in your news feed, here’s what you need to do!
- Visit the page that you like.
- If you haven’t already, “Like” the page.
- The little box that says “Liked” has a drop down menu – click on that then select “Get Notifications.” Now that page’s content will appear in your feed.
Hope that’s helpful!
Here’s one fun food link for the week, this time on Cosmo: 15 Red, White, and Blue Snacks and Drinks to Serve on Election Day
As usual, show and tell is for everyone! Please share whatever you like. (Cute Halloween costumes are especially welcome!)
Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:57 pm 8 Comments
Categories: cosmo, show and tell Tags: cosmo, facebook, halloween, pinterest, show and tell, techy stuff |
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Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Adorable Yet Simple Halloween Party Table Decor + 13 Spooktacular Recipes!
I have a monster of a post for you today (mwah-ha-ha!!!), complete with ideas for completely cute yet simple Halloween party table decor as well as a 13 (mwah-ha-ha!!!) ridiculously adorable Halloween recipes.
When it comes to entertaining, I keep it simple. I like to have a whole bunch of white serving dishes in storage that I can pair with a few accent pieces and a colored tablecloth for the occasion. Then I just throw a few decorations on the table – simple but elegant. A vase of flowers, a Christmas wreath with candles, a few pumpkins for a Halloween party…you know, SIMPLE. There’s enough going on to get ready for parties I just can’t go over the top with my decor. But I find by playing in a simple way with color and using lots of white dishes, the table always looks impressive.
My ruffle dishes from Q Squared NYC are just such pieces that come in handy for all kinds of occasions. The ruffle design is elegant and a little bit different than your standard white dishes. BUT…if you pair it with a black tablecloth and a few of Q Squared’s slate platters, those wavy white dishes suddenly take on a spooky air! Seriously, I can’t tell you how much I loved using these dishes to decorate a Halloween table! Throw a few pumpkins on the table and make Halloween-themed food and you’re all set!
I think Halloween food is the most fun food in all the land. Whenever October rolls around, I am always so impressed with the creative food I see in magazines and on blogs! Here are a few favorites I’ve found this year, including a couple I used for my own Halloween party decor!
My friend Kristen from Dine & Dish shared Frankenguac just this week. Is this not the cutest guacamole ever? Be sure to click through to Kristen’s post for details! (I put my Frankenguac on a slate platter and it was beyond adorable and a great centerpiece for the table.)
My friend Sommer from A Spicy Perspective posted these adorable Halloween skewers, which my kids happily gobbled up! I couldn’t find dark grapes, so I used blackberries instead. I think blackberries (i.e. black pickled brains!!!) might even be spookier. Check out Sommer’s post for more details! (The skewers looked perfect on the ruffle long platter.)
Here are a few more Halloween recipes I am dying to try! (Mwah-ha-ha!!!)
Gingerdead Cookies from Kailley’s Kitchen
Healthy Halloween Monster Mouths from Texan Erin
Butterbeer Popcorn from An Edible Mosaic (because I simply cannot resist anything Harry Potter!)
Jalapeño Popper Mummies from Simply Sated
Mummy Milanos from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
Graveyard Chocolate Cheesecake Dip from The Law Student’s Wife
Peanut Butter Cookie Ghost Cups from Food Faith Fitness
Easy Pumpkin Patties from Mom On Timeout
Healthy Halloween Pasta Salad from Smile Sandwich
Carrot Rice Ball Jack O’ Lantern Bites from Apron Strings
Spooky Spider Brownies from Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
Well, that list should keep you busy until Halloween rolls around next week. Happy Hallowen!
This post was sponsored by Q Squared NYC. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Seriously, those dishes I used are PERFECT for Halloween. Get shopping!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:45 pm 10 Comments
Categories: fab faves, holidays, the goods Tags: entertaining, halloween, halloween recipes, holidays, q squared, q squared nyc |
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Thursday, October 24, 2013
How to Make Spooky JELL-O JIGGLERS (It’s really easy!)
Making JELL-O JIGGLERS with my mom as a kid is a very clear and happy memory for me. I can picture the kitchen and the JELL-O like it was yesterday. For some reason making those JIGGLERS was super, duper exciting. I mean, what kid doesn’t like JELL-O, but JELL-O that you can make into shapes and then eat with your hands? For a six-year-old, that is living the dream.
Even though it’s such a fond memory from my own childhood, I have never made JIGGLERS with my own kids…until yesterday! I finally got my act together and we jiggled it up Halloween style. I told the girls the day before that we would be making Halloween JELL-O JIGGLERS and they talked about it non-stop for over a day. It made me so happy that the charm hasn’t worn off from generation to generation.
JELL-O has some fun recipes and projects you can make, so I went browsing the site for inspiration. I liked the idea of just making our own shapes, like these hands, but I loved the color of these creepy crawly JIGGLERS. I decided to make a sheet of the “black” JELL-O and was going to have the kids design shapes for the cutouts. When we actually started making the JIGGLERS, however, we decided to just use our Halloween cookie cutters. It was a lot easier and just as fun!
So, we grabbed our tin of spooky cutters and got to work. The girls divided up the cookie cutters between them and did a great job taking turns. Fitting all the shapes into our square pan was kind of like doing a puzzle. The girls were so happy the entire time we worked on the project, it did my heart good.
I hope this ends up being a lasting memory for the girls – I know it will be for me! The only thing more fun than being a kid is to be the parent watching the kid.
Spooky JELL-O JIGGLERSAuthor: Jane MaynardIngredients- 1⅓ cup boiling water
- 1 package (3 ounces) JELL-O Grape Flavor Gelatin
- 3 tablespoons JELL-O Lime Flavor Gelatin
- 8×8-inch pan
- Halloween cookie cutters
Instructions- Mix grape and lime gelatin in a bowl. Add boiling water and mix for 2 minutes, until sugar is completely dissolved. Poor directly into pan and refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.
- Press Halloween cookie cutters into JELL-O, making sure to push all the way through to the bottom of the pan. Carefully remove cookie cutter – the JELL-O shapes should come out easiliy with the cookie cutter. Pop out onto a white serving platter (for high impact with the dark JIGGLERS!) and eat with ghoulish intent!
The girls aren’t very ghoulish, but they sure are cute!
This post brought to you by JELL-O, making Halloween more wiggly for everyone. Check out more Halloween recipes here: JELLO.com/recipes. This post was sponsored as part of the DailyBuzz Brand Ambassador Program.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:33 am 10 Comments
Categories: featured recipes, holidays, kids, Recipes, sweet things Tags: cooking with kids, halloween, JELL-O, kids recipes, sponsored |