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By infmom, August 12, 2010 11:53 am

So Newt Gingrich thinks he’s relevant.  Here’s what I thought about that, years ago, and it still rings true.

Newtie Poo and his Mom

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By infmom, April 22, 2010 11:39 am

Today’s project is the most elaborate, and the one on which I can provide the least in the way of exact instructions.  Strange but true.    This is because I took a plain bracelet emblem and wire-wrapped it, and explaining how to do wire wrapping is best left to someone who knows a lot more about it than I do.  Fortunately, there are plenty of books that can teach you the technique, and any good public library should have at least a few (or they can get one for you through interlibrary loan).  I used Wire Wrapping: The Basics And Beyond which provides clear tutorials for almost anything you’d want to try with a pendant.

For this project you will need a bracelet emblem of your choice (I used the gold titanium sleek stretch bracelet emblem), wire of your choice, a small bead or crystal, pliers, small screwdriver, and a jump ring.  Remove the bracelet as detailed in the previous posts, and if you’re using a bracelet with a chain, remove both of the rings.  Wire wrap the pendant in whatever style looks good to you, but be sure the wire does not obscure the MedicAlert graphics on the front or the essential information on the back.

Cut a piece of thin wire about 1-1/2 times as long as you want the drop on the bottom of the pendant to be.  Make a loop in one end, thread on your bead or crystal, and make a loop in the other end but don’t close the loop.  Hook this through the opening at the bottom of the emblem and then close the loop.  For the dangle on the bottom (which is optional) I took a piece of the twisted-square wire I’d used for the wrapping and wound it into a small, tight spiral with my pliers.  The end of the spiral was angled up and around to make another loop, which I slipped through the loop on the bottom of the crystal bead and then crimped closed.

Attach a sturdy jump ring to the top of the pendant, add a decorative chain of your choice (make sure it is sturdy and not delicate), and you’re set to go.  This is a MedicAlert emblem you can wear just as you would any fancy pendant.

If you’ve done “remodeling” work on your own jewelry, I would love to hear about it!

Next up:  Attaching a Medic Alert emblem to a large thrift-store bracelet.

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By infmom, April 16, 2010 12:58 pm

In the last post I showed how just replacing the original chain with a nicer one can make your bracelet look a lot better (well, if you don’t use cheap chain like I did, that is).  Today, I’ll talk about making a really dressy chain bracelet.

I started out with a plain stainless steel bracelet, Item #A492,  for this project.  There doesn’t seem to be a way to link directly to this on the MedicAlert web site.  If you want a gold bracelet, I’d recommend the Gold Titanium Sleek Stretchband, item #A706.

For this one, you will need your wire cutters and pliers for the chain bracelet, or your small screwdriver for the stretch band bracelet.  You will also need a length of figaro chain (or other small decorative chain of your choice) that is about three times the length of the existing chain, and a fancy clasp that accommodates multiple chains and hooks together.  You will also need small jump rings to attach the chain to the clasp.  I apologize for the somewhat blurry photo that accompnies this. I wasn’t able to get reasonable pictures with my somewhat ancient point-and-shoot digital camera, so I laid the bracelet on my scanner instead.

Begin by removing the existing chain, as I explained in the last post, or by turning over your stretch-band bracelet and prying loose the ends of the bracelet with your screwdriver.  You will also remove the ring to which the current clasp attaches on the chain bracelet (leave the other ring opened but still attached).  Lay the original chain out on the table, and measure three lengths of new chain.   The best way to get the measurement is to place the halves of the clasp at each end of the existing chain, and stretch the new chain out beside it.  The clasp I used for this bracelet has its center chain attachment a bit farther from the hook than the side chains.  I forgot to accommodate this when I cut the chain, so the center chain ended up being a tad too long.  This doesn’t cause serious problems so I left it as it was.

Carefully string your chain from one part of the clasp to the other, making sure you don’t get the lengths of chain crossed up on the way (and why do you think I mention this).    Wrap the bracelet around your arm and check to make sure the length of the chain is correct, and adjust it if necessary.  Again, you want to make sure the bracelet is loose enough that it can be easily turned over to see the information on the back.  With this clasp, you also want to leave enough space that the hook on the loose end can be fastened through the open end of the bracelet from underneath.  If you have started with a stretch bracelet, you will need to put a sturdy jump ring or split ring on the left side of the emblem, to secure the permanently-attached end of the clasp.

Once you’re happy with the length of the bracelet, make sure all your jump rings are securely fastened and your chains aren’t twisted, and there you go!  Dressy enough to wear on special occasions, if you like.

Next up:  How to turn a plain bracelet into a fancy necklace.

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By infmom, April 14, 2010 2:31 pm

I’ve been a MedicAlert member since the mid-1980s, and I’ve changed my bracelets and necklaces often as time has passed and my medical conditions have changed.  I might go out without my Amex card, but never without my MedicAlert emblem.  My family can’t be expected to keep track of every single condition and medication.  Plus, if I’m out alone, the emblem gives people a way to reach my family members as soon as possible.

MedicAlert offers a wide selection of emblems and jewelry and there’s something there for just about everyone, but it’s a fact of life that their budget priced emblems are usually rather plain and their fancy emblems are usually rather expensive.  I don’t mean this as a criticism.  The purchase of memberships and emblems supports a fantastic organization.

But even if you’re on a budget there’s nothing that says you can’t have a fancy emblem too.  Embellishing your own emblems is surprisingly easy.  In the next series of posts I’ll give simplified instructions for making your everyday emblem look like party wear.

For these projects, you’ll need two small pliers, a small but sturdy wire cutter, and if you’ll be working with a stretch bracelet emblem, a small flat-blade screwdriver.  I’ll talk about other materials you’ll need when I describe the projects.   If you don’t have the tools on hand already, there are a bazillion good places to get them, from your local hardware store to Harbor Freight Tools to jewelry and craft suppliers like Fire Mountain Gems.  Just don’t get them from the 99¢ store or some other ultra cheap supplier–you don’t want to break your tools before you finish your project.

In the next series of posts I’ll go from simple to fancy.  You can re-imagine any of these any way you want.

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By infmom, April 6, 2010 9:13 pm

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A few months ago, pouting over not being able to run the “World of Goo” game my daughter gave me for Christmas, I decided that I would build myself a new computer this year.  The old one was (and is) still going strong, but its components are approaching computer-hardware senility and what was pretty close to state of the art six years ago is now pretty much Granny speed today.

So, this month I started buying the bits and pieces.  I got everything on sale, either mail order or locally, and while this is not quite gamer equipment I went for the most power and memory I could afford on my budget of roughly $600.  Last Friday, after a trip to Fry’s to pick up the last two items, I spread everything out on the office floor and started building.

Truthfully, building a computer is not difficult.  No, really.  All you’re doing is attaching bits and pieces to a box and to each other.  You need a screwdriver and reasonable eyesight and a willingness to read the directions (an anti static wrist strap is a good idea too).  Take the sides off the case, affix the motherboard, snap on the CPU and its fan (the fan is the fiddly bit), plug in the memory, slide in the drives and fasten them down, plug in the power cords and you’re good to go.  I worked slowly and carefully and the whole thing took less than two hours and that included cleaning up all the boxes, plastic and wrappers off the office floor afterwards.

The complicated, tedious, boring, frustrating part comes next–installing all your software.  If you’ve been using the same computer for a long time you’ve got stuff galore that needs to be moved, reinstalled, re-passworded, etc etc etc etc etc.  Registration keys have to be found.  CDs or original files have to be found.  The stuff you’ve been using for so long you couldn’t remember your password if you wanted to has to be started from scratch and hoo boy, what on earth did you use for a password.

Ugh.

The computer was up and running before dinner on Friday, and here it is Tuesday and I have finally gotten all my software transferred and most of it installed and working.  I have not yet customized Word (and I have to do that before it drives me flaming nuts) and it took me way too many tries to remember the passwords for my web sites so my newly installed Wise-FTP would work properly again.

But now it works.  I am typing on it.  The difference in speed is nothing short of amazing.  And best of all, since I bought good name-brand components, this will last me at least another six years before I have to go through all this again.

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By infmom, March 22, 2010 2:18 pm

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Last night, I finished the manuscript for my first novel, Closed Circuit.  More than 20 years after I started it, and four months after I wrote its sequel.  No one ever accused me of doing things logically.    It’s not a FINISHED finished manuscript, if you know what I mean–I still have to go over it and see what still needs fixing.  And let a few trusted friends take a look at it and mark all over it.  But yeah, I got the story done, and I like what I did.

I printed it out today, since I do serious correction work best on a printed page, and gleefully went out and bought a nice binder to put it in (thank heavens for printer paper that comes already 3-hole punched!)  That will make it easier for other people to mark it up too.

Now, I’m in the process of designing the cover picture.  I don’t suppose that if I get it accepted by a publisher, they’ll keep the cover I designed, but what the hey.  I know what I want.  A combination of Photoshop and ink and I’m on my way.

Damn, I feel good!

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By infmom, March 18, 2010 9:05 pm

More than twenty years ago, I decided to try my hand at writing a romance novel.  Based on the content of the Harlequins I’d read (especially one flamingly ridiculous little number called Romance of The Rose) I figured, how hard can it be?

And in truth, if you can write, and tell a story, and format your story to fit within very rigid guidelines and follow the
formula, writing a standard issue romance novel isn’t that hard.  I know, because I did it.

The problem was, when I got done with it, I knew it was not the book I wanted to write.  The story wasn’t just about these two people finding each other again after all those years.  There were other people involved, and a backstory that needed to be told, and plot points that would not fit the standard mold at all.  Besides, in those days, romance characters had names like Blaise and Chanterelle.  From the start, I chose deliberately plain names for my main characters.  Well, that part wouldn’t have gotten my manuscript binned by the romance publishers, but not following the formula definitely would have–and this story rejected the formula with as firm a hand as a Harlequin editor would have.

So I set the manuscript aside for a while, and thought about it, and worked out another storyline that had to be woven in with the original, and brought in some new characters.  And started rewriting, till I came to a stopping point for some reason or other.  And there the manuscript sat.  I’d pull up the files from time to time and look at them.  I think I rewrote the first two chapters about five times each, but somehow I never got moving on the rest of the book.

I knew from the get-go that there had to be a second book that would tie up loose ends for some of the secondary characters in the first book.  I even knew the name of the second book and the name of the new character I’d bring into the small town I’d created.  Yeah, I knew all that, but I didn’t have the story beyond a very vague idea that we’d find out who the father of 10-year-old twins was, and who would complicate their mother’s life.  But last November, I decided to get off my literary duff and by golly write that sequel.  And I did.

So then I had a finished sequel to an unfinished first book.  And when I asked a few people to read my second novel, of course there were references to plot points from the first book that didn’t really make much sense because of course the first book wasn’t to the point of being readable by anyone else, yet.

So, a few weeks ago I dug in my heels and dug out that manuscript.  Looked at the dates on the files.  They were created in DOS Word, which I had to give up due to Y2K issues (pity, because it’s my all time favorite word processor).  None of the file dates were more recent than about 1994.  Shame on me.  (When I was cleaning up a pile of old floppy disks I found a version of the book from 1990… so yeah, twenty long years.)

So, I imported the whole mess into Word 2003, cleaned it up a bit, and exported it again so I could work on it with Scrivener on the Mac (my new all time favorite word processor).  And I started plugging away at it.  It was immediately apparent where I’d left off with the rewrite, because after a bunch of reasonably good chapters, all of a sudden I had a whole chapter that didn’t do anything, the subplot and new characters went away, and the main characters reverted to standard-romance mode.  Yuck.

I decided to at least go through to the end and tighten up what was there and put it more in line with the new storyline, and that job was finished two days ago.  Now, I need to get rid of that nowhere chapter, put in a new one that advances the new plot, and move along from there.

Bits and pieces of the backstory keep impinging on my consciousness from time to time, though.  Today, I edited some of the early chapters to bring that all in, in a natural way (if I do say so myself).  When I finished that, I was ready to dance on air.  Because all of a sudden I realized…  I LIKE this book.  If I hadn’t written it, I’d read it.  What a feeling!

No idea what I will do when it’s all finished.  Send it out?  Publish it myself?  Lots to think about.  But I do think it’s a good book, and thank goodness I wrote such a lousy romance novel and gave myself the chance to write something better–given enough time.

photo credit: dasjabbadas

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By infmom, January 22, 2010 5:14 pm

Anyone who looks at me knows I’m not exactly an expert on the subject. 

But one of my goals this year is to walk, every single day, at least 5000 steps.  So far I’m doing well, even though the rain’s been coming down in buckets here in SoCal this week (not that I am complaining about that one bit, mind you).  Eventually I will make the goal total higher, but since I had been pretty sedentary for a while (you can’t write books while you’re walking around, or at least I can’t) I wanted to insure that I set a reasonable goal at first.

There are several things to consider when you’re committing to walking every day.  First and foremost, I’d say, is to pick someplace to walk where you won’t get bored.  Years ago I used to walk around our neighborhood every day and I have covered the same territory so many times I just don’t want to go out and do that any more.  It was impossible to get motivated to go traverse the same old streets.  So, first of the year, I began going over to nearby Griffith Park and walking on their trails.  Seeing parts of the park I never knew existed even though I’ve been driving through it (and occasionally walking along one stretch of road) for 25 years was more than enough motivation to keep going back.  Well, until the rains came down, that is.  Those trails get awfully muddy and full of puddles in this kind of weather.

When weather makes walking outside chancy, a large shopping mall is a good place.  Of course you have to go into it with the idea that you are NOT there to shop.    You have to walk as briskly as you can past all the displays and around all the mall rats.  If you can go during a fairly slow time of day, so much the better.  (Being retired, I can do that.)

You can also provide your own interesting environment by listening to an audio book while you walk.  Pick a good mystery and tell yourself to keep going till you’ve heard several chapters.  Or put on some really bouncy music (I am a fan of the Pointer Sisters in this regard).  Just don’t crank your headphones up too high or you’ll do more harm than good.)

You’ll read in many fitness articles that you should see your doctor before making any big change in your level of physical activity.  Most people don’t think that walking constitutes a big change, and for the most part I’d agree with that, but there is one good reason to see your doctor before you start putting a lot of miles on your sneakers.  Many people (like me) have legs of unequal length.  If the difference is noticeable enough, it puts stresses on your body that you will definitely feel when you start walking around more.  I have needed to use a cane on occasion in the past due to pain in my hip, knee, and foot, that I did not know was aggravated by the leg length difference.  I now have a lift in one shoe and the difference is nothing short of amazing.

Even if you don’t normally walk with a cane, it is well worth while to go to a good outdoors-supply or sporting-goods store and get someone knowledgeable to fit you for a hiking staff.  These are extremely lightweight and can really help you move along.  Make sure the person you talk with shows you how to use the wrist strap.  It’s not there for decoration, it’s there to support your arm and make it possible to use the staff without having a death grip on it all the time.  I got mine at REI and consider it money well spent.

If you want inspiration to get going, try the book The Step Diet: Count Steps, Not Calories to Lose Weight and Keep It off Forever.  It outlines a very simple plan for getting moving, and it includes a small pedometer.  There are certainly fancier pieces of equipment to keep track of your daily steps (I am using a FitBit) but that’s more than enough to get you started.  If you buy a more expensive pedometer or a FitBit, the fact that you spent the money on it might be motivation all on its own.  It certainly is for me. 

Anyone else have walking tips to share?

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By infmom, December 4, 2009 4:27 pm

So, next year I hit the Big Six Oh.  This year, we went to Disneyland.  

A few weeks ago I found The Disneyland Encyclopedia at the library.  It’s a fascinating compendium of everything that’s been at Disneyland from the beginning to sometime last year (a few things have changed since then).  When we figured out that yes, we could afford to go this year, I went out and bought our own copy of the book.  It was well worth the investment.

I made copies of all the maps in the front of the book, and then marked the attractions we wanted to get a better look at, and we took those pages along with us rather than toting the whole book.  Thus, we spent probably 60% of the day walking around looking at interesting stuff, 30% riding rides and 10% eating.  We’ve been to Disneyland multiple times, but there was still a lot to look at that we’d never seen before.

For some reason, we’d never really gotten around to going into the shops that are on the right hand side of Main street as you walk toward the castle.  Made up for that this time around, and then some.  We found the Disney Gallery, which is now right next to the right-hand gate and much expanded from when it was upstairs over the Pirates.  We were delighted to see that the Big Thunder BBQ had been revived, but disgusted to find out what it costs these days (ate dinner at Casa del Zocalo instead).   I was dismayed to find out that the Jack Sparrow mouse ears I’d passed up buying two years ago were discontinued.  Pfui.  I did buy a pin with Minnie (my favorite character) as Princess Leia, though.

The benches in the center of the circle right by the entrance were amazingly empty when it came time for the Christmas parade, and thus we got to see it from nice comfortable seats instead of cold, hard pavement.  This is a definite plus for an old lady like me. 

We even braved It’s A Small World for the first time since we had small children.  They’d mixed Jingle Bells in with the usual music so it didn’t turn into an earworm.  And we got out just in time for the fireworks, and right by Small World is one of the best, and least crowded, places to watch.

We were there from about 45 minutes after the park opened till about 20 minutes past closing time.  I don’t think we’ve ever stayed that long.  And, thanks to the book, we never ran out of things to do.

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By infmom, October 24, 2009 8:38 pm

Our house was built in 1930 and has been only minimally remodeled since then.  In most cases, this is a good thing, given the fact that one idiot former owner took out the beautiful original wood framed windows and put in cheap aluminum framed jalousie windows, all of which are now falling apart.

But the kitchen is still pretty much original.  And in 1930, kitchen usage was a whole lot different from what it is today.  Looking at the size of our kitchen it’s obvious only one person was expected to work in at at a time, and of course the dishwashers were all humans.  There’s no way to install a dishwasher in there, because the counter is a different height from what we have today, and putting in a dishwasher would mean destroying one of the only two lower cupboards in the room.

Next to the kitchen is a very small room that we use as a laundry room and pantry.  I’m not sure what the purpose of that room was, originally.  It seems to have been set up so that people could walk into it from the outside, but be stopped from going further into the house by interior doors that locked from the house side.  I think the water heater was in there at one time, and there’s an electrical box that’s no longer being used.  The space is just large enough for our washer and dryer, some Elfa shelves and a bit of floor space.

It occurred to us a while back that if we got a stacking washer and dryer, we would then have room to put in a dishwasher.  We were figuring on buying a regular dishwasher, because they’re less expensive, and putting it in an enclosure from IKEA.  But we just hadn’t seen the washer/dryer stack we wanted to buy at a price we wanted to pay.

Last weekend in one of those “aha!” moments we spotted the perfect washer and dryer on sale at Orchard (which is owned by Sears).  Instead of being an all-in-one unit it was two separate front loading units.  And while we were talking about the purchase with the saleslady, I mentioned why I wanted stacking units and she pointed to a Kenmore portable dishwasher that was a floor model being sold for almost half price.  She offered to cut the price even more and I said “Sold.”

So, now we have a dishwasher for the first time ever in this house.  I’m sure the joy of letting the machine do the dishes will fade, eventually, but for now we’re all eager to run it and the amount of unoccupied counter space in the kitchen is downright unreal.

Tomorrow the new washer and dryer are being delivered, which means I better go get busy cleaning up the space where they’re going to go.  You know how it is, wanting to have the place not embarrass you in front of the delivery people. 

Oh, and we can now efficiently unclutter that whole space, too, and put things away on the shelves that were always blocked by the washing machine before.  Good thing I got the new book from Erin Doland on order:   Unclutter Your Life in One Week !
photo credit: tranchis

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