Cat-astrophes

I often find myself doing things or saying things I once vowed I never would. More often I find myself rolling my eyes at the prenatal me thinking 'if only you knew, sweetheart'.

Other days I get pretty narky with her (prenatal me) and her silly attitudes and wish I could give her a good hard talking to. I have more than a thing or two to say to her.

So I've started writing her letters. Letters to Prenatal Me. Hopefully I can give her a bit of a wake up call. It's doubtful but worth a shot. In the least I can vent about her stupidity.

You can read along if you wish...

letterstoprenatalme.blogspot.com

Okay, there is some measure of pink (aka normality) back on this page. A few bugs to iron out, but they can wait.

I've started a little creative project, but will talk more about that later...

I recently discovered that blogger had changed their templates. Not that I care much except for the fact my mobile site turned up in a really dull grey...

Curiosity got the better of the cat once again.

And of course I manage to trash my whole template right before bed. That'll teach me for procrastinating...

I guess it's time for a change. Just bear with me while I try to make it home again.

Approximately 60 000 people worldwide have or will soon be discovering that they have somehow befriended a @JoshHelfferich on Twitter. They might wait a moment, paused, befuddled at this person's tweets somehow appearing in their feed - as I was, seeing as 'real' people I follow I could probably count on one hand.

They may not notice due to some stupid number of random people they follow for no good reason.

Either way, you probably didn't follow @JoshHelfferich by choice.
But I bet you were a follower of TextInstagram? The witty one liners that made fun of about 85% of instagram content in a hit? (and of course I can't think of *one* off the top of my head. But it is 6:27 am, and I have been up 12 times last night, so I'm forgiven)
Ah yes, the old switcharoo.

Jeff Helfferich was the mastermind behind TextInstagram. I give him kudos for making me chuckle on more than one occasion. When that ship ran it's course he deleted all tweets and renamed it as his own personal account. Genious, right?

Do I really care for the uncatagorised one liners of a random person? I don't believe so. So why not hit unfollow? Because it's like watching a train crash. Or a really bad movie. How will 60-something-thousand followers react when they find they've been had?

And have we been really had? What sort of slimy one is this guy pu lling? Publicity stunt? Career move? Followers Envy? Or did he seriously think because of one idea people will want to listen to everything else he had to say?

What has really intrigued me is the reactions of the people. Some have voted with their finger and just switched him off (about 10 000 in the first day). Some have reacted angrily, bitterly and quite venomously. Some have applauded the little sneaky move. Then there are a bunch of fence sitters who kind of shrug their shoulders (I think these are the ones that also have stupid amounts of random people they have forgotten why they follow in the first place).

I assume there are more like me too. The ones watching voyeuristically to see what happens next. Then when it all dies down, he'll get the flick.

Why is this all so controversial? One Tweeter phrased it so well: "Transparency is the currency of trust in Internetland." - @brookr

It is ironic that in such a virtual world where you can almost literally be anyone, do anything... We still value trust above all else. Even though there are a bunch of us private paranoids who make up pseudonyms and dance around real information, and another bunch who 'self improve' online, the moment we find out we've been 'had'.... The whole net falls apart (HA! Pardon the pun).

Someone could argue that it is some sort of evidence that there is still that human desire for values - for the golden rule even when presented with the opportunity for intellectual anarchy (so to speak).

Sorry Josh. I don't know you from the guy down the street. I follow some randoms on instagram because they have talent. And are witty. And don't beg to be followed.

You may be one talented fellow for all I know, but come on, it's the principle of the matter.

Okay finally. I bring you all things Hooty from the party...

First I bring you the finished product of the Hoot cupcakes... I originally had grand plans of making a 3d hootabelle cake, but common sense kicked my butt (and then a lovely friend offered to do the cake for me anyway...hoooray!) but I had already started mixing purple icing. I think I would do this again - fail safe cupcake icing! Roll blobs into balls and then roll flat - tada! Cupcake covered! I then popped a Hoot on top. (mud cake courtesy of Aldi. Sorry....)



Hoot Biscuits
I had originally planned to make my own sugar biscuits using shapes I had seen on Pinterest. I was then going to ice each one by piping them with royal icing...
And then reality slapped me.
One packet of arrowroot biscuits and that good ol' orchid ready to roll icing (already mixed in Hootish colours from the cupcake toppers) dotted with black edible writing gel. They were done within half an hour. (little tip - add the eyes just before setting out as the writing gel doesn't set hard and you'll end up with pupils everywhere.)


Hootaballoon

Okay I'm a little proud of this idea. Turning a mere people balloon into Hootabelle... Little One even recognised it! =) win! A balloon, coloured paper, cardboard (for the feet...i used empty cake packets), scissors and glue stick was all this took.
Tips for this one: chop off the nobbly bit of the balloon to assist in standing upright. I cut a slit in the cardboard and slid the end of the balloon in. Blutac was my best friend holding this bouncy lady in place on the food table.


Party Bags

Print, cut, paste!
Plain coloured paper bags from Ronis for $2. Bargain.


Rainbow Cakes
Okay, not my idea, and not Hooty, but had to include a pic of the finished product :)
Tip: icing in a can (the spray kind) ended up being my party day saving grace here... Knocked them over in a jiffy and the clouds looked extra puffy. Learnt that humidity makes the rainbows flop though =(


Finally....
Look at what my friend did.... The best darn Hoot & Hootabelle cake ever!


Xxx Thank you Emma!! (excuse dodgy background.... )

Oh yes.... And a picture of the toilet sign. I don't know about you...  maybe you can *actually* get your house immaculate before a party. I couldn't. So I had a junk room. Actually, we had two. We also had babies and little ones coming which meant that the toilet and bathroom doors needed to stay shut.
Well I didn't want some poor soul to accidentally open the door to Pandora's Junk Room (I'm sure her stuff wasn't limited to that one little box) so signs made it fool proof!! (though I did hear you, Mark, walk into the bathroom and say "oh, this isn't the toilet!" even though you have been to our house a dozen times before...)
So simple, but highly recommended.
Okay, I think that's enough sugar for today! (oh yes, sorry parents.... There was a lot of blue sugar, wasn't there?)

Party is over. It rained out so we were all squished inside. Luckily the 50-something guests came and left at different times so it really only became squishy-squashy at one point.
The mini jumping castle was a hit (no, not a hired one - a Kmart-blow-it-up-yourself one) and we filled it with balloons for bonus extra added funness. I think only 2 popped so that was pretty good!
... The irony behind this post is that I didn't finish it. While I was writing I started feeling pretty queasy. What followed was downright nasty. A long severe bout of gastro.
It is one week after the party and though I'm still weak in the legs and not eating real food yet I'm almost up for the job of recounting junk food and stuff....
Stay tuned...

Hoot cupcake toppers!
Here we have an army of Hoots ready for my little Hootabelle's 1st Birthday party. Made from a box of orchard ready to roll icing, a tube of black writing gel and a whole lot of patience.
Oh and colouring. A lot of colouring....