Doing the right thing for a friend-and getting punished for it?

Massachusetts honor student punished for driving drunken friend home from party

Even though she was sober, the girl still got into trouble for going to the aid of her friend.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/drunk-logic-sober-teen-suspended-driving-friend-home-party-article-1.1486179#ixzz2hq98jBqe

A girl who went to the aid of her friend had the book thrown at HER even though she had not attended any party and was completely sober. The school says they have zero tolerance for alcohol, but someone gave the one underaged girl alcohol to drink. When she knew she could not get home safely on her own, she called her friend to help her. The friend did the responsible thing and went to go get her.

No one should allow a drunken girl to make her way home by herself. If women do not protect other women, we all run the risk of becoming victims of badly intentioned people.

The school board should reconsider punishing someone for only trying to help and be a good friend and responsible person.

Alcohol impairs judgment; this is why it is supposed to be legal only for older people who, it is assumed, can behave responsibly when they drink. The laws are there to protect teens, but we know that they want to try the ‘forbidden fruits’ of alcohol. It is a real issue in modern society, and needs to be dealt with realistically.

 

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Animal Cruelty on the Rise?

We just spotted this disturbing story of a teenaged girl being unkind to a kitten, along with several friends, who then threw the kitten into traffic so that it was hit by a car and killed. She was also heard to say that if she had the chance, she would do it again.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/queens-girl-kills-kitten-tossing-front-car-article-1.1485757

Other recent animal cruelty headlines involving teens include:

8 week old kitten has to be put down because injuries were so bad after it was shot with a pellet gun
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/8-week-old-kitten-euthanized-shot-pellet-gun-long-island-article-1.1422478

Maine teen girls caught putting kitten in microwave
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/girls-maine-teenagers-busted-posting-video-kitten-microwave-cops-article-1.1451935

Burned kitten recovering after being doused with gasoline and set on fire
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/video-burned-kitten-remarkable-recovery-article-1.1334032
Judging from where it was found, still burning, we are going to guess that this kitten was also thrown out of a moving car after it was set alight.

And this is a crime an adult committed -kitten survives being thrown of third floor window by ex-boyfriend
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/kitten-survives-toss-floor-window-article-1.1312470

Next year, animal cruelty complaints in New York City will be handled by the police first, who will then involve the ASPCA. With any luck for the poor animals, people will start to think twice about these sorts of actions once they know it means the police will immediately be involved.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/nypd-handle-animal-cruelty-complaints-article-1.1433440

All children need to be taught respect for living beings and for the property of others.  There is nothing amusing or ‘cool’ about harming an animals. If any one of those 6 children involved in throwing around the kitten had just stopped and tried to protect it, keep it away from the others, ask an adult for help, or behave in a responsible way, the kitten would probably still be alive.

Remember, those children had choices. The kitten had none.

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Making the Most of Seasonal Foods

The autumn is here, and with it nature’s bounty. All of the fresh fruits and vegetables that ripen in the fall are at their peak of freshness. Why not make the most of them with some great recipes. Eat some now, and freeze the rest?

Make ahead and freeze cooking can help you save time and money. You will waste a lot less food if your family stops doing the ‘leftover shuffle’, pushing last night’s delicious dish to the back in favor of something freshly cooked, or even worse, take away food.

Let’s face facts. We all love variety. Sadly, a lot of us are also carrying around a few extra pounds. Portion control and packaging up leftovers into ‘TV dinners’ is one way to get the range of foods we love and still stay slim. Serve with a salad and you have a complete meal for pennies on the dollar compared to takeaway.

Make and freeze recipes are also perfect if you have special diets to cater to. Color-code your container covers. Write on the lids or sides using freezer tape, and your picky eater or person will allergies can be sure that they are eating what they want and what’s safe for them.

Many people used to can or jar their produce to preserve it before it spoiled. Packing your freezer with recipes made with the freshest seasonal produce is even better, saving you time and money. Never again do you have to wonder what’s for dinner, and whether it will be delicious.

Further Reading

Make and Freeze Recipes: Great Foods You Can Cook, Freeze, and Use Quickly and Easily

More Make and Freeze Recipes: More Great Foods You Can Cook, Freeze and Use Quickly and Easily (Eat Better for Less Guides)

Even More Make and Freeze Recipes

Healthy Make Ahead and Freeze Muffins

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Fun and Easy Halloween Sheet Cake Ideas, Part 2

 

In the last section, we discussed how to make a fast and easy Tombstone cake. Now we are going to look at how to create one or more attractive pumpkin cakes to add to your holiday buffet spread or potluck.

Your round pans will be perfect for making a pumpkin face. You can then use the wedges left over from the tombstone cake to make stems for two pumpkin cakes by frosting them green and positioning them over the round cakes.  (If you have not made a tombstone cake already, not to worry. We will tell you what to do when it comes time to decorate and assemble the cake.)

For the pumpkin faces, once your round layer cakes are completely cool, you will be ready to frost. First dye your white frosting orange, or use ready-made orange frosting.  (We recommend trying to make your own natural food colorings rather than buying commercial products. There are many recipes online that can help.)

If you need to create a stem, cut off about an inch of one side of the cake and then cut it in half or into a stem shape and position it on top of the cake.  Frost it green and set aside until it is time to assemble the cake.

Frost the whole cake ‘face’ with your orange frosting, and then decide how you wish to create the features of the pumpkin face.

There are a number of options for creating the faces. Again, if you are a green mom, you might want to create these as naturally as possible. If you are calorie or sugar conscious, this will also help you select the right choice for your whole family and any guests you might be serving cake.

You can draw eyes, nose and mouth with frosting gel or make some very dark black frosting with red and blue drops of color and create triangles for the eyes and nose and some jagged ‘teeth’ for the mouth.

You can also make the facial features using a number of pieces of candy corn. Make two triangles pointing downwards for the eyes and one triangle pointing upwards for the nose by positioning the candy corn as needed.   The mouth can be as jagged and snaggle-toothed as you like, positioned in the center of the cake under the nose.

You can add the lines of the pumpkin down the cake in slightly curved lines parallel to each other like parentheses, starting on either side of the face, with the left-hand-side lines curving out to the left, and the right-hand side line curving out towards the right like this: ((*^*))

You can also use icing gel, sprinkles and so on to fill in the features. Don’t forget to color green the stems of the ‘pumpkins’ (your leftover cake wedges from the tombstone cake) using some green frosting or green sprinkles or colored green sugar.

These are quick and easy cake ideas that will feed a large number of people for gathering at a school, church hall or other community group . An attractive cake also works very well as the centerpiece for a Halloween buffet table.  Best of all, you can use any recipe you like, so you can be sure of how wholesome the ingredients are. You can even make your own buttercream frosting or a festive-colored cake glaze using natural ingredients, without a lot of fat and sugar or food coloring, in order to avoid gaining weight or feeding your family and friends too many unhealthy items.

If you are really in a hurry, you can resort to boxed mixes, pre-prepared frosting, and food color, but remember that one drop of color can go a long way and use it sparingly.

If you make a mistake frosting your cake, just scoop it off and start again.  If the worst comes to the worst, you can even cut off one part of the cake and start again or use it for cake pops and bake another one.

And no matter what it looks like, there is no such thing as a bad cake as long as you follow instructions for the recipe you are using or the mix you are making.  Don’t burn your cake/s, time everything carefully, and test it for doneness according to the package instructions.

 

Note to beginner bakers:

Your oven may vary in terms of temperature, so always check for doneness about 5 minutes before the lowest recommended time. For example, if it says Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, check its progress at the end of 25 minutes. Our oven is so good that if it says 350 for 30 minutes, it will be done to perfection in 30 minutes. 35 would be overdone.

We once had an oven that was 100 degrees cooler than it should have been and one that was 75 degrees hotter than it should have been. If you want to save a lot of money and calories by learning to make and decorate cakes yourself, it is a fun hobby the whole family will love, but you might want to invest in an inexpensive oven thermometer just to check your oven so all your cakes will come out great.

 

Further Reading:

Halloween Magic Even on a Budget: Halloween Activities, Costumes, Crafts and Recipes

Fast, Fun and Frugal Halloween: A Guide to Great Halloween Costumes, Recipes, Activities and Decorations

How to Save Money This Holiday Season

How to Create Great Holiday Decorations for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and More

How To Create A Loving Thanksgiving Celebration for the Whole Family

Planning for and Preparing a Stress-Free Thanksgiving At Home

Easy Thanksgiving Recipes

A Vegetarian Christmas Season

Easy Christmas Recipes

Planning For and Preparing a Stress-Free Christmas At Home

Fast and Fun Christmas Recipes

Great Christmas Candy Recipes

How to Create a Loving Christmas Celebration for the Whole Family

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