Stop Facebook Game Requests

I see ill comments coming across my Facebook news feed all the time, made by friends who are fed up with game request notifications and the constant flashing lights on their phones. I admit it, I play Candy Crush, but I too hate the game requests that blow up my phone.

People who play games will get game requests in-app, so this feature is really useless to the player, unless they are waiting on something (like in-game help) or want to try new games and like to know what their friends are playing.  Notifications are not for everyone, including me.

Yesterday, I discovered, while I was driving and my daughter and her boyfriend were sitting in the car with me, I was sending game requests to them! I had not played yesterday and I certainly didn't send it while driving!

For some reason, the game requests must send automatically and if you don't want them, don't get upset with your Facebook friends, simply turn the game requests off.

Here's how...

You must use a browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.) on a phone/tablet/computer to do this.
It will not work with the FB app.

1) Find the drop down menu on the top right of the screen, click or tap it, then choose settings.

2) On the left side of the screen, find and click/tap notifications

3) Under App requests and activity, you will see check marks beside the games you are getting requests from.  Uncheck the ones you don't want.  You may have to choose Show More to get them all while you are here.

Viola! Done... No more requests... unless it is some new game your friend is playing and it wasn't listed here and Facebook wants to blow your phone up again. :) In that case, repeat steps 1-3 and get those new ones out of there.

Here's my disclaimer: Facebook changes things all the time, so please disable your game requests before this tutorial becomes obsolete.

Don't get ticked off... Get the ticks off!

It is a silly title for a not so silly topic. Ticks are not just gross, they can also be dangerous to our pets, as well as us. We have outdoor dogs and no matter what prevention or remedy we try, they still get ticks. I cannot touch them! That is why I got married. Having a handsome, manly man around to do that job is the way to go!  However, my manly man works, so it isn't always possible to have him do it.  I can't stand to leave them attached and alive.

Today, I noticed a very big, blood sucking, disgusting tick inside my dog's ear.  It was one of those that got bigger with each gulp of blood.  Like a balloon from a horror movie. What to do?? I had to take matters into my own hands.

I remembered something about cutting a "v" into the end of a plastic spoon and scoop the tick into the slot to make it come out. I tried that and it worked, but not as well on all the ticks.

I also remember, as a teenager, arriving at the home of the boy I used to babysit just to discover his mom holding a pair of pliers with blood droplets all over them and the front of her shirt.  Do not try to remove these balloon ticks with pliers! They explode!

I opted for my own reinvention.  Grabbing a plain, disposable plastic fork and my kitchen shears, I went to work. I turned this...

Into this...

I suppose I could have left the tines long, but the tick was inside the ear and I couldn't get it into the end of the "v" of the tines. Now, all you have to do is catch the little blood sucker between what is left of the tines and keep pushing it toward the bottom, or the "v" of the tines... Continue on until the tick pops out. It worked great!

I purposely cut them at an angle. It gave me different slot sizes to choose from.

I couldn't get it to work on the flat ticks, but those are okay to grab with the tweezers, before they get engorged.  Just be sure to grab them in the head and not the body. If you squeeze the body, you can make them expell bacteria back into the dogs skin and cause infection.

So, what do you do with the ticks you remove?  If my dad has visited and he pulls it, he tosses it to a chicken.  Problem solved. If removing several, I may get a little cup of bleach and drop them in as I remove them. If it is one big one, I have been known to flush it (picture a huge sewer tick coming back for revenge).  When the ticks are flat and I just remove one, I pinch it between tape and toss it in the trash. This method works well with fleas too.

Continuous Flow-Through Worm Composter DIY Tutorial

I have had composting worms for many years.  I have evolved in my methods, changing systems as our needs change and to figure out what works best for me and my family. If you go way back to my childhood, I raised worms in a gallon pickle jar for fishing bait and had no idea then that in the future, they would eat my garbage and fertilize my plants.  I have learned so much over the years and thank all the people out there for posting excellent information! 

I have successfully used The Worm Factory for many years.  In fact, I liked it so much, I have two.  Today, I am using one and have moved all the contents of the other one to my re-purposed, never used as a worm bin before, old as the hills, very sturdy, garbage can composter.  I made it myself :) *imagine me smiling really big*

It was so easy!  I scanned the internet looking for ideas. There are some smart and crafty people out there.  I'll post some links at the end of this tutorial in order to give them credit, so be sure to stop by their blogs/channels and show some love.

I have had this garbage can for 20 years.  That is when everything, and I mean everything, was either country blue or mauve.   When the colors finally went out of style, I moved the can into my laundry room, where it has resided.... until now.

The first thing I did was start drilling holes.  I used 1/2" thin wall PVC pipe so I marked my hole centers about 2" apart and used a 7/8" spade blade to drill the holes.  I left enough room at the bottom of the can to allow me to scoop up castings when it is time to harvest them. 

I put the pipe in the holes and used a PVC cutter to cut them to length.  I left about an inch on each end in order to attach a cap to prevent the pipe from sliding back into the can.

I eyeballed it :)  I just had a long piece of pipe, stuck it in so there was about an inch hanging out the back and marked about an inch on the front.  You can see in the picture below, I also marked a door.  There were plastic supports in the bottom of the can so I just went above them and marked it.  I drilled holes in the corners so I could cut it out.

I have no idea how long the PVC "floor" pipes were  I marked them as I went because the can had some curve in it.  I then used a (very dull) PVC cutter to cut the pipe off and capped it to keep it in place.  I haven't glued it at this point because I was not quite sure if I would need to take it apart for any reason.

I needed a scraper to assist with harvesting the castings and I liked this idea.  The scraper pipe will move up and down, as well as back and forth, which I think will help if the compost is arching (not touching the PVC floor). 

I made the scraper handle stick out the front and capped it too. I did glue all the pieces of the scraper together with clear PVC glue.  I didn't want it to eventually fall apart under all that compost.  The scraper handle is above all the "floor" pipes.

I am not sure if the scraper is going to work as well as I had hoped.  Plan B is to ignore that it is in there and use it in cases of the castings arching.  If it doesn't work, I will harvest from the bottom, using a small garden hand rake to gather castings from between the tines.  I don't think I want to use my hands.  I have an irrational fear of spiders, and you know, there could be a spider in that dark place. Yikes!

Another idea I had for the scraper is to put it under the PVC floor and attach screws to the top of the "T" portion, essentially making an attached rake that will go between the pipes, however, that may be too much candy for a dime. :)  I'd love to know your thoughts as well. 

I used cutters to cut out the door.  I think I could have done a better job if I had a fine toothed saw.  I have seen some posts that just cut three sides and leave one short end attached to make a closing door.  I chose to leave mine completely open.

Ta da!  This is what it looks like finished.  There's a nosy cat checking it out.  I don't know if I will need extra ventilation in the top.  I can certainly go back at this point and put plenty of extra holes in the lid, but as you can see, the lid swings and has a large gap so maybe I won't need any extra ones.

To start your composter, you have to add newspaper to the PVC floor to keep everything from falling through.  Once the contents settle, it will hold itself up.  I wasn't sure if I needed to put the newspaper under the scraper or over it.  I opted for under it.  The newspaper will decompose, allowing harvesting to begin. 

I put the newspaper up the sides a little, just to make sure everything stayed in place.  I took the contents from my Worm Factory and started adding it to the can on top of the PVC floor and newspaper.  The scraper is pushed all the way in at this point. 

This is a picture from inside the harvesting chamber.  It shows the underside of the newspaper on top of the PVC floor.  This will decompose.  I put about 3 double layers. (6 pages total).

I kept adding the contents.  Look at all those worms!  The green stuff that looks like plastic is actually compostable bags.

After I filled it up, I put a few sheets of wet newspaper and printer paper on top.  This will also become worm food, which will turn into castings, which will enrich our garden!

The system I use to gather scraps are BioBags along with the Fresh Air Kitchen Compost Collector by Full Circle.  I usually purchase the bags through Amazon by the 4 pack.

I tried using a washable can, but the convenience of just "taking out the garbage" in a bag is easier for our busy family.  The bags I use are 3 gallon and fit nicely in the the Fresh Air Compost Collector. 

Great links for ideas and education...
In no particular order and links open in new tabs:
How Does a Flow Through Bin Work video

Easy Flow Through Worm Bin for Vermi-Composting in the Garden video

Cool idea, but haven't seen it in action: Hungry Bin

Worm Castings Research Study Links 

What Do You Feed Worms

I hope you found this post helpful.  I love to read your comments!

UPDATE:
Although I love the design that keeps my worms working, it will not harvest as expected.  The handle will not push/pull due to the weight on top of it.  I also would like a bigger system to handle all of my organic waste, instead of having multiple systems.  I found a Toter flow through compost system that I really want to try with my worms. It isn't marketed for worms, but I don't know why it would not work. 

DIY Dress Form

If I were the crime committing type, now would be the time to do it.  I say that because I have no fingerprints left on my fingers.  In fact, I don't think I have much skin left either!

This all started when I purchased my mom an online class from Craftsy.   Hopefully, I'll get a broomstick lace cardigan out of it ;)

It was proving difficult for her to get her measurements correct so I suggested making her own dress form.  I had seen them on other websites.  They range from simple tape mannequins to paper mache masterpieces.

In order to complete the duct tape mannequin I had dreamed up, mom had to run some errands on her own since I was working.  She came across this nice hat/coat rack at a thrift store and snagged it... perfect for the stand.

The next thing was making a tube for the middle of the form.  Since we didn't have a mailing tube, or even a wrapping paper tube, we made our own out of two potato chip cans and a creamer container.

Plenty of duct tape (the good brand) keeps it together.

Next, we dressed mom in garbage bag attire to keep the tape off her clothes and skin.  She was wearing a tank top and leggings to keep the form from being too bulky.

Then, the taping begins.  We crossed her heart (bra style) and kept going and going and going.  Not quite like the energizer bunny (did I mention that I worked last night and I am running on fumes with no sleep).

More taping.  We made sure the shoulders were sturdy.

We taped her neck last since she said she was a little tight in there.  Didn't need an emergency...

 This may just be a new fashion statement.

Now we get to cut it off

 I carefully cut up the back.  She acted like she trusted me.  I tried to be careful not to cut her clothes.  I cut through the plastic bag as well as the tape.  I did have a new skin stapler that I could have tried if I had cut her!

 At this point, she could slide it off her shoulders, but you can cut across the top of the back to get it off if the arms are too tight.

We put the tube inside the form.  The top potato chip can metal end was left in place and a hole was punched in it to attach it to the stand.  We used newspaper and phone books to stuff in the form at this point.

 We tried to keep the tube in the middle of the form as we stuffed, and stuffed, and stuffed.  Did I mention that all the ink was rubbing off on our hands.  Yuck!

 The back seam was lined up and more tape was used to mend it back together.

When we stuffed as much as we could, we cut a piece of cardboard for the bottom and, you guessed it, taped some more.  Now you know why I don't have fingerprints anymore!  Duct tape is sticky!

This is what we have so far... So, it seems as if our mannequin has developed a belly button and it won't go away.

 We had plenty of help... A little too much at times.

 Using this spray foam insulation, we filled any gaps or soft spots we had.

 I had to do this outside.  I just took a box blade and made a slit, put the tube in and filled it up.  I did this in several places.

 You may want to wear gloves for this step.

The spray foam will come out the holes.  Don't touch it!  It will stick to you faster than it will stick to anything else.  Just let it dry on the duct tape and then just pull it off.

 We have one of the pieces of the stand off.  It really will not be this short.

Chloe tries to look cute while we work.

We are getting closer.  We have pulled off the foam that leaked out and now we will tape up the holes made to put the foam in.

 The form is complete, now we just need to make it pretty.

Mom wanted a red dress form.  It almost looks orange in the picture, but it is bright red.  We simply just covered up the ugly duct tape with the red.  The pretty duct tapes don't seem as strong so get a good silver one to do the main form, then you can add the pretty stuff.

It needed a little more dressing up, so we added some pizazz to the bottom with zebra striped duct tape.  Yes, my OCD required me to tape a little inside the potato chip can.  It kind of looks like a magic eye picture.

 This step wasn't absolutely necessary; I just couldn't help myself.

Ideally, the form should be your height so you will be able to gauge how long to make skirts, etc.  Mom will be crocheting and using her form to measure tops while she is sitting, so she wanted it shorter.  That's what makes these so neat.  They fit your needs.

 Tada!  Here it is, naked and cute as can be.  We couldn't cut the top of the coat rack off, but she plans on using the top of it to finish off the top of the neck.

 Here's another picture.  It really looks like it has a belly button.  I don't know how to fix that.

 The form spins freely on the stand.