Blogmas day 5: Behind already, Yikes!

Welcome to Blogmas day 5, and no formal intros, except the one with me making the announcement that I am doing one.   How silly of me?

Let’s see….

First off, there is the preparation of getting ready for Blogmas and Vlogmas (Heh, did I mentioned I was doing that too?)  I did not realize that there is so much prep work going into these things.  There is the mental prep and the emotional prep.  You must be ready to think on your feet at all times.  Heh, no problem.  OK, did I also mention that I have my normal Christmas, plus a cruise to prepare for?  Yep, that’s me in a nutshell, always ready to think at the last minute on how I am doing something.  You would think that in the nine years of blogging I would be prepared mentally, and really I am, but it is the organizational part that worries me.  Don’t worry, I will do fine.  I am getting used to this all over again.  I would not be doing this if I thought I could not handle it. So that is the end of that subject.  On to the next thing smoking.

Shopping for decorations

This is a tip for those of you who, say, misplace your decorations from one year to the next, or have very little to would with:  Dollar Tree and 50% off sales.  

50% off sales have been going on (at least in the United States) for a couple of weeks, and you have to act fast.   I was late this year because I was a late bloomer (meaning I am now discovering this myself).  I went to Hobby Lobby Saturday looking for the sales.  It also helps that I was out of money as well. The shelves were almost empty when I got there.  I am looking for a color scheme of red and silver, with maybe a touch of blue here and there.  I am abandoning my traditional colors of burgundy and gold, with a touch of mauve or rose pink, whichever color name you choose.  It is only for this year (maybe). My plan is to look at Michaels this week. 

Unless you plan on keeping your decorations year after year, including the same color scheme. Dollar Tree is your friend.  In fact, this store is your BFF.  I have found more items that are as good, if not, a little better than name brands.   Now, a word of caution:  There are some items, like electronics, I do leave to the bigger brands like Target and Walmart, but since I am a crafter, I will upcycle the item.  That is another tip:  Upcycle when you can. I plan on posting this as one of my Vlogmas Videos, hopefully, this week. 

When you upcycle a less than perfect product, there are some tools and supplies you will need:

·         Adhesive

o   Wet Glue

o   Tape runner

o   Painter’s tape (blue- I use 3M)

o   Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

o   Double-sided tape (I use Scor-Tape, although there is a cheaper tape at Tuesday Mornings

o   Scotch Tape

·         Stapling gun (one for light projects and one for heavier projects like wood)

o   Staples

·         Paint

o   Gesso

o   White paint

o   Black paint

o   Mediums

§  Gel-to dilute the paint, available in Gloss, Semi-Gloss, and Matte.  You can also use Gel mediums to adhere things to the paper or other materials

§  Texture-to modify the texture of the paint.  Use as Modeling paste, which can be sanded or painted on. Use also with pastels,

§  Flow increase- it allows the paints to flow better on the canvas or wood

§  Slow drying- it allows you to blend colors.  The reason is acrylic paint dries fast, allowing you more time to blend your colors.

·         Paper-I will not go into the different types, but this is something you will need on hand.

·         Fabric-same advice.

·         Sewing machine.  Some people like to upcycle clothing

·         Scissors

·         Markers and pens

These are the basics.  I will have more in a future post or Vlog.

More Decorations…..

I mentioned that I am on a last-minute hunt for decorations.  I went with my folks to look at the different neighborhoods in the city at lights.  We have done it each year when I was a child, and for some reason, I want to start that tradition with my niece and nephews.  Tonight, was not a good night to look, everyone does not have their lights up.  We will try again later.

My plan is to keep the Blogmas blog post short and sweet.  I also will not put a takeaway element at the end of Blogmas posts unless, I decide to combine the two.

Have a good evening.

Day 21: Making a list, checking it twice. Maybe more.

(c) 2015 P. Lynne Designs

The original title was Making a List.  I added the last part, because of a boo-boo I made with this computer.   My computer is having a search engine crisis.   It all started with me clicking on a link to check the authenticity of the link to a document on a series I will disclose later.  Now for internet security people, this link did not originate from an email.  It originated from a document I found on Google, so it was legit, and whatever else they called it.

Anyway, I received a note that said that my organization did not authorize me to click on the link, and I must contact the help desk.  “Huh”, I though as I read the note on One-Note, a note taking product from Microsoft Office (I have the full suite).  I never encountered this before.  Later, I encountered the same thing in Outlook, where I get and read my email.  First off, the desktop is mine, not a work computer.  Second, I use it for work in my own business.  Third, it is in my home, I am my own help desk.  As I started searching my way around the situation, I realized that I have been here before.  Let me explain.

Microsoft does this real cleaver but annoying little thing:  it makes sure you are running only their products.  Crazy, huh? Windows will set it so that if you are running, say, Google Chrome, and you set it as a default search engine, Microsoft programs are not allowed to open links.  At least that is my belief.  So I have to default to Internet Explorer, uninstall Google, reinstall, then set it back to default. (I cannot stand IE).  Now here is where it got worst….

I went into my usual routine; Read Facebook, have Blogger.com on another page, Pinterest on another, My Longaberger website on another (in case you have not been following my blogs, I am an Independent direct selling consultant for them), Etsy on another (I have a P. Lynne Designs shop on Etsy and Amazon), You tube on another, and Cricut Design Studio on the last page. Except it did not go to these pages at all, it defaulted to Yahoo.com.   What’s worse than that, Google Chrome defaults to Yahoo as a search engine default. 

I have done the following:  ran a PC cleaner I got from HSN (Home Shopping Network), ran my antivirus.  Nothing….

(12 hours later….)

Day 22: checking it twice

It has been 12 hours later, and I could have submitted my post, but I did not want to risk affecting anyone, so this is why it is a double post.  I originally had something else in mind for Checking It Twice, but this happened.  It was going to be more on the side of holiday/Christmas, but my motto has always been, “God has a sense of Humor”. It means be flexible, because your plan is not God’s plan, and God’s plan may not be what you want, but it is what you need, and as Mama Ode from Disney’s Princess and the Frog says, “Dig a Little Deeper”.

The computer is now clean, thanks to two agents at Geek Squad.  I had something called a MBAM virus that affected the Google Chrome program.  It is so funny to see these people work as they have remote access to your computer.  Just to be clear, this process cost about $199.99 for a whole year of help.   In case you are outside of the United States (and maybe Canada), Geek Squad is Best Buy’s answer to a computer tech, and instead of coming to your home, you give them permission to gain access to your computer via internet.  Don’t worry, the purpose of me watching them while they work is if I see anything suspicious on their part, I had a little red “x” to click on to terminate the process.  I was so glad that my choir rehearsal was cancelled, because I would have lost more control over my computer if I had left my computer on while they worked on it.

Anyway, I gained two new programs because if it, and a full year’s protection.  Basically, this virus would not let me have access to my internet without an ad coming on the page, and a fake Microsoft page warning me that if I turn off my computer, my ID was compromised.  I knew right away that I had to call someone, or risk yanking my 1 year, 6-month old computer out of the socket and drop kicking it into the nearest dumpster.   Now it is time to upgrade it to Win 10 January 1.  I know some of you Mac users are laughing at me right now, saying, “just get a Mac”, well, I have an Ipad Mini 3, and that is good enough for me.  Plus, I like to keep my options open.  Maybe when I am ready to change computers.

Tips for your new Christmas computer present:

·         Run a virus program the moment you turn it on.  Make sure that the computer sold to you do not have any malware or viruses on it.  You do this by installing yourself a fresh copy of your favorite antivirus software.  Do not go by the experts, unless this is your fist computer.  I like Norton (old school), but do not take my word for it, because I have not had Norton Antivirus in a while.

·         If you are not sure of the person sending a link, DO NOT OPEN!!!

·         If you did not request any information in email or text form, DO NOT OPEN!!!

·         DOWNLOAD A PROGRAM FROM THE SOFTWARE’S WEBSITE, NOT CNET OR ANY COMPANY WEBSITE CLAIMING TO HAVE THE PROGRAM.  That is what happened to me.  When I downloaded the new copy of Google Chrome, I was not paying attention to where it was coming from.  I needed to download it from Google.com. I thought I was doing that.   The different is when a person claims to have a program other than the program’s originator website, they can place malware in the coding.  Well, when I finished installing it, it looked normal. And the only thing I did in the installation part was decline some programs, but it still overwrote the original program, and started overwriting my search engines’ (Google Chrome and Internet Explorer) programs to accept the malware as part of the norm.  When I would click on a link or did anything that I normally do on the interwebs, a new program’s advertiser’s page would pop up instead of the article I wanted to read.  I was so frustrated until at one point, I wanted to cry, and toss the computer in the dumpster. That was when I had to call Geek Squad.

So the checking it twice part comes today, 2 days before Christmas, is to make sure you have dotted all “I’s” and crossed all “T’s” in the technology world. 

One other thing...

There is one more virus you need to check for, but it is not run on computer, table, or smartphone.  That virus is called the Hate virus. I will speak more on this virus through 2016.  It has an even more mean virus called Racism, whose sister is called intolerance.  There are ways to use and not use them, but the current way is not the answer.  Stay tuned.