Author: Michel McDonald

I live in Bakersfield with my partner of more than 20 years. I enjoy reading, crafts, sci fi, video games, and writing in my personal blog.

Photography backdrops

On By Michel McDonaldIn VideosLeave a comment

I bought some photography backdrops a couple of years ago so that when I made my assembly box cards videos for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas for YouTube to give me a little more festive background instead of just my plain old wall in my plain old bedroom that needs to be repainted stat. Some of them did not turn out to be very good quality, and I’ll tell you why.

So, three of the backdrops that I bought say Econ Vinyl as their material. One of them just says cloth backdrop. The cloth backdrop is still good, there’s no problem with the cloth one. When I say problem, I mean when you fold the backdrop when you’re finished using it and then you open it again many times, it tends to get faded along the folds. Here’s an example of one of the backdrops that I bought that is not holiday related, but something that was related to the theme of a blanket that I was crocheting for a video, which I still have yet to make lol. I used the backdrop many times anyway and folded it and opened it and folded it etc. So this is what it looks like now.

Now, you can see all of those lines where the folds are where the fabric looks like it faded out. I honestly don’t know what happened to them. It happened to all of the Econ Vinyl backdrops that I bought from Amazon.

I have an old light box that I bought many years ago for taking pictures of my Etsy products so that I would have a nice picture for the listings, but it turned out to be too small so I could never really use it that easily. I just bought a bigger one that’s probably twice as big and it is a lot better, but the backgrounds that they gave me were just plain white, black, light blue and gray. Well, I don’t mind the white or the black one, but I’m not going to use the blue one or the gray one. So I figured I want to get something that has this graphic of the space theme that is similar to this backdrop that I had. So I went to JoAnn’s website and found the exact same fabric. This fabric is a little more zoomed out than the backdrop. I mean you could probably say that the backdrop is this pattern a little more zoomed in if you will.

Both of these pictures are taken at the same angle, so you can see what I mean about it being zoomed out. Or the original backdrop being zoomed in. The pattern is exactly the same, except much smaller. Which actually works better for me because I will be taking close up pictures, and I would like as much of that graphic to show on the Etsy listings anyway. So this is perfect.

So what I’m saying is if you are looking for a backdrop on Amazon for photography reasons or you’re just making YouTube videos or whatever it is that you need a backdrop for, make sure it says fabric and not Econ Vinyl, unless you plan on keeping it open all the time.

I don’t know if this works for other people or not but, I just feel like it was a huge waste of money for me because I can never use these backdrops again.

I’m getting better at reading

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, ReadingLeave a comment

Okay, I know that’s a strange title, but it’s true for me.

So here’s the deal. When I was a kid, I had trouble reading. I had, and still have a learning disability, dyslexia, and ADHD. That makes it very difficult to read a novel.

When I was about 9 years old, my sister had all of these books that I would have loved to have read. I believe they were The Hardy Boys and or Nancy Drew. I can’t really remember, but I do remember seeing books that were like that in the bedroom. Naturally, they weren’t my books, so I wasn’t even allowed to read them because my sister had ownership over them because they were hers. You know how siblings are, they don’t want you playing with their things. But even if I were given permission to read them, that wouldn’t mean anything because I probably would never have gotten past the first page.

When I was 14 years old, I might have been 15, I decided that I wanted to get a book to read. Back then, there was a miniseries that turned into a TV series called V and they had a book based on the original miniseries, and I asked my mom if she would buy it for me so I can read it, and she did, and I managed to read half of it. But the problem was, I had so much trouble reading even half of the book, and I gave up because it was just too hard for me.

When I was 19 years old just before the Back to The Future 3 movie came into theaters, I decided that I wanted to try reading again, so I bought the Back to the Future books that were available at the time. I read the first one and managed to get through it, although it did take me a bit of time. I then read the second book and it took me a while, but I got through it. I wanted to read them before I went to see the third movie and by the time I was finished, the movie had already left the theater. So I would eventually have to wait until it came out on video to be able to watch it.

This is what would happen to me. I would read a paragraph, and then another paragraph, and then my mind would wander, and I would be thinking about something that had nothing to do with what I was reading. I would be distracted by sounds and smells and anytime I read something that kind of reminded me of something that happened to me in my life or something that I wanted to remember for the future, pun intended, I would lose track of where I was and I would still continue reading, but I wouldn’t remember anything that I had read, so I would have to go back a couple of paragraphs, sometimes even a couple of pages to where I was when I could remember what I was reading. So, most of my life, it was very difficult to want to read anything because it was just too hard.By the time I had reached my 30’s, I had a friend who was always reading and she told me I should just try and give it another shot.

So at the end of the year 2005, I decided to make a New Year’s resolution to start reading books. I went to a used bookstore and found more V novels and I bought a whole bunch of them. I actually bought all of what they had available. I also found some Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, and I started with those because they seemed to be easier because I was a huge fan of watching Buffy the Vampire slayer, so I had the characters faces and voices already fresh in my head from watching the series. I knew that that would make it easy to read the books, and it did.

Then I bought the Harry Potter set that was books 1 through 5 from Amazon. I was so into reading the Harry Potter books that I would literally just sit there reading for like 8 hours non stop everyday. Those books were so easy to read.

That friend that I mentioned earlier bought me a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book because she was really proud of me for making an effort to read. Then she sent me a whole bunch of books in a series called Xanth by Piers Anthony. That turned out to be a really good series for me to read.

So I’ve only read books that were Supernatural so far. That’s it. I hadn’t gone back to the V books, even though they sat on my bookshelf for a very long time. I was reading Buffy, Harry Potter, Xanth, then I started reading a gay series based on a gay vampire. The first book is called My Heart is Within You and the book is written by Marguerite Labbe. It’s actually a three-part series, and it’s really good.

I have always been into the supernatural as far as TV shows go that it only made sense that I would enjoy reading Supernatural books, and that seems to be the only thing that I like to read.

So Goodreads has an option for a reading challenge. I only started doing the reading challenges in 2018, and I wasn’t really reading that much. I have so many crafts that I do that I barely give myself any time to read any books. I read six books in 2018, I read zero books in 2019, I read 14 and 2020 and 2021 and in 2022 I didn’t read one book. Last year in 2023 I decided I am not reading anything because I’m too focused on watching TikTok which is not something that I should be focused on.

So in July of 2023 I decided that I need to start with the reading again and I went to Goodreads and started a challenge to just read 5 books, and I ended up reading 18 from July until the end of the year. I’ve also been on a long reading streak on my Kindle and I don’t want to lose the streak so I just decided that I’m just going to read every day, even if I only read two or three chapters, at least I’m keeping my streak up.

My reading challenge for 2024 is just 30 books, and I’m already 12 books in. We’re only in March. But while I’m reading every single day, I’m learning that I’m not having as much trouble reading at all like I used to. I used to stumble and get sidetracked and forget what I was reading and have to go back a paragraph or a page or two and that never happens to me anymore. I can literally just sit here and read all day if I wanted to and I would be happy.

So what is my point? I’ve taken all of your time reading up until this point, so what am I talking about? I’m talking about the fact that I have issues reading, and since I’ve been reading pretty much daily since July, my problem is not a problem any more. I can read three or four chapters in one sitting and there hasn’t been one instance where I had to go back a paragraph because I didn’t understand what I was reading because I had been interrupted by somebody, or because I heard a sound or because I was thinking about something else.

My point is, reading is a skill I guess you would say, and when you start getting better at the skill, it becomes easier to do that skill or thing. Once I had an issue getting past the first page, and now you can’t even stop me from reading and understanding what I’ve read. Also, I still remember everything that I’ve read in all of these books that I’ve read. Maybe not so much books I’ve read in the past, but the books that I’ve read since july, I can still remember what I read. Obviously, not every single word or sentence, but I remember the story and how it started and went throughout the story and how it ended. I couldn’t say that a year or two ago.

So, if you have problems reading like I have, don’t let that stop you from trying. Perhaps you will end up loving reading more than anything in the world. You will like reading more than you even like watching tv. I don’t even watch TV anymore. Well, except for the two shows that I actually have that are currently on the air lol. But other than that, I’m not just sitting there watching tv. I’d rather read a book.

Ward Parker Supernatural Novels

On By Michel McDonaldIn eBook, ReadingLeave a comment

Some time in the year 2020, I was scrolling through Facebook when I started seeing these ads for a book called Snowbirds of Prey by Ward Parker, and this is what the book cover looks like.

I kept thinking that this looks just like Ellen DeGeneres, but a vampire Ellen 😂.

Ok, so here’s the deal with me. I am typically only interested in watching TV shows and reading books based on the supernatural. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been this way. I didn’t buy the ebook right away, in fact, it took maybe a week or so of seeing this Facebook ad before I finally decided to buy it.

After reading this first book, I was hooked and bought the new books as they were released. In fact, I pre-ordered them and read them as they showed up in my Kindle library.

The books aren’t serious. If I remember correctly, they are advertised as being a comedy series of books, which I’m also into.

Here are all of the books in this series called Freaky Florida. There are only 7, but that last one with the blood bag on the cover is a short story which pretty much introduced the series. I don’t know why it’s listed as book 9, but it’s the first one you should read.

These books are based on a middle aged home health nurse named Missy Mindle who takes care of retired vampires and werewolves who live in condos next to each other. The vampires live in a building called Squid Tower and the werewolves live in a building called Seaweed Manor. Oh, and Missy is a witch and they all live in Jellyfish Beach in Florida. Missy ends up helping to solve crimes with her reporter friend Matt.

At some point in the books, a new character is introduced named Darla Chesswick, who happens to be Missy’s cousin. Darla eventually gets her own series called Memory Guild.

So the Freaky Florida series ended after book 7, but Missy’s adventures don’t end there. A new series was introduced in June 2023 called Monsters of Jellyfish Beach with Missy Mindle as the main character, and she is still a nurse, but she has retired from working for the home health nurse company. Now she runs an occult shop with her business partner Luisa.

The 10th Memory Guild book is the last one, but there is a new series coming soon.

These books are fun and pretty easy to read. I say that because I have issues reading. I have a combination of ADHD, dyslexia and a learning disability, which makes reading a little difficult lol. So these books are really nice to read because I have very little difficulty reading them.

If you are into vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural beings, these are the books for you. So check them out and tell me what you think.

Cricut Blades on Temu

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I’ve had my Cricut Explore Air 2 for nearly 5 years. This March will be 5 years. I have mostly made nothing but box cards for all of the holidays and birthdays. I also cut boxes and packaging for my Etsy shop products.

A friend got me hooked on Temu, but I’m only buying stuff for my crafts for the box cards and I also buy some of the galaxy projectors for gifts lol.

I came across these Cricut blades and was curious, because I didn’t realize there was more than 1 blade. I mean, I have the Cricut deep cut blade with the housing and I have the Cricut premium fine tip German carbide blade and the regular Cricut fine tip blade. I normally only use the Circuit premium German carbide blade because I want to make sure all my paper cuts are clean, but sometimes they do have issues.

So the difference between the blades is the angle. The yellow cuts thinner material, but red cuts regular and the blue is similar to the deep cut blade, but without requiring the housing.

I cut 65lb cardstock, but I do occasionally buy 65lb cardstock that seems thinner, and my regular blade destroys that paper sometimes. The edges are awful and sometimes it will have a little bit of cardstock balled up and stuck to the blade which ruins the rest of the sheet. That always happens to the 65lb white cardstock that comes in a pack of 100. The same cardstock that comes on a pack of 25 cuts better for some reason. Same brand, same weight, but for some reason the more you buy in a pack, the thinner the cardstock.

I also use HP matte presentation paper 32lb for printing my graphics because the white 65lb 8.5×11 cardstock doesn’t print very well. Well, I usually have to print on custom and set it on copy paper 32lb, but have to cut it twice. So yesterday I cut it on regular light cardstock+ with the yellow blade and the paper cut beautifully. I did the same with the thinner 65lb paper that comes in a pack of 100.

The red blade would work with the regular 65lb cardstock that comes in packs of 25. Also the 8.5×11 65lb cardstock. But I’ll continue using my German carbide blade, but if I need another blade, I have plenty of the red ones now.

The other materials I cut are the glitter cardstock and chipboard. I cut those on the custom setting and my blades don’t last that long when I cut the chipboard. Sometimes it will ball up the chipboard and ruin the rest of the sheet. I’ve used my deep cut blade for the chipboard, but that doesn’t cut great either. So yesterday I cut the chipboard with the blue blade and it cut beautifully with no issues. So I’ll dedicate the blue to that.

I paid $5.19 for this pack of 40 blades on Temu. It says there are 20 red blades, 10 yellow and 10 blue. This was probably the best purchase for my Cricut ever, because I always want my paper to cut nice and smoothly and not waste anything. It really sucks to make a box card and envelope and see a lot of mistakes in the paper. 1 Cricut fine tip replacement blade is $13 at Michaels, which is more than double what I paid for this pack of 40 blades with 3 different angles.

Of course you want to use Cricut only products, especially when your Cricut is in warranty. Mine is 5 years old, and I haven’t had a warranty for a very long time. But I’m not worried about anything happening because the blades are the same size as the fine tip blade.

This new information is going to make my life so much easier when I cut my projects. I only wish I knew about this a long time ago.

Charging Station for PlayStation 5

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Ok so I couldn’t help it lol. I bought a charging station for my new PlayStation 5 that’s going to be here soon.

My motivation for buying this was because of my experience with my PlayStation 4 overheating. This will suck the hot air away from the PlayStation from the bottom and push the hot air out through the back of the charging station.

It will also allow me to charge my controller in the same station so I won’t have it sitting around with a charging cable. It will also charge my controller(s) to full in 2.5 hours and it has overcharge protection. Of course I’ll most likely only have 1 game controller… For now lol.

It also has a charging hub in the front to allow me to charge additional devices. I’m hoping it will also work for media transfer, because you plug the charging station into the PlayStation 5 via USB cable. I’ll find out when it arrives, and I’ll update this if yea or nay.

I’m always super excited when I get a new toy.

Playstation 5!!!

On By Michel McDonaldIn GamesLeave a comment

Well, I finally got my hands on a new PlayStation 5. I’ve waited for years to buy one when none were available, and now they are in stock on Amazon, so I bought one.

I don’t exactly have $500 to spend, so I am going to pay for it over the next 12 months interest free with my Amazon Prime Rewards Visa credit card. I also bought the 2 year warranty, so the final total per month is actually going to be $50.

My PlayStation 4 is still fine to play with, with the exception of an issue I’m having with it getting too hot when the screen is too white. That doesn’t make sense to me, but that’s when it gets too hot. When the screen is a lot darker, the fan runs quieter, but as soon as I’m playing on a white screen, typically with snow, or a bright sky in a video game, the fan sounds like the PlayStation is trying to take flight. I went to YouTube for instructions on how to dust the inside of it, but I don’t have the screwdriver required to unscrew the screws, nor do I have the confidence that I won’t break the entire system, so I just bought a new one.

It’s been several years that I’ve had this problem and basically I’ve just stopped playing with my PlayStation because I’m afraid it’s going to get too hot and it might blow up lol. I’ve seen videos of cell phones smoking and or blowing up from being too hot, and I don’t want that to happen.

My PS4 only has 500gb and the new PS5 has 1tb, actually 800gb of actual hard drive space I can use. That extra 300gb is awesome so I can have more games installed.

One positive thing with this new PlayStation 5 is that it is backwards compatible, which means I can install my PlayStation 4 games and use my PlayStation 4 game saves so I won’t lose any progress on any games that I’ve played. Also, I can actually play new games that are coming out that are only available for the PlayStation 5.

The games that I have installed on my PlayStation 4 are Minecraft, Terraria, The Elder Scrolls Online, Destiny 2, The Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga and Lego The Hobbit. I have the Sims 4, but that really makes the PlayStation get too hot, so it will be nice to play that again.

I look forward to playing video games again.

I’m finally in Onederland

On By Michel McDonaldIn DietLeave a comment

Well, it happened. I finally weigh under 200lbs.

This was actually on Sunday, October 8, 2023. I was actually 198.8lbs, and my life partner told me to take a picture of the scale. I was going to do that, but I thought I’d do that on weigh in day, and he reminded me that I may not be 198.8 again on weigh in day, which was a good possibility, so I took a picture and by then I had gone up to 199.0.

Weigh-in day came and I was actually 198.8 again, but I thought this picture was good enough.

So here’s my routine and what has helped me to lose more than 65lbs on Ozempic.

Breakfast: Banana, and if I have them, Yoplait light.

Lunch: Salad. The ingredients are romaine lettuce, 1/4 cup of cucumbers, same amount of diced celery and shredded carrot, hard boiled egg chopped up, a slice of turkey breast lunch meat chopped up, a few olives, bacon bits and the dressing I’m using is actually Miracle Whip light because it’s only 20 calories per serving. The ranch and thousand Island I was using previously are 180 calories per serving. I’m not into Italian dressing.

Afternoon snack: Baby carrots and celery sticks with 1 serving of peanut butter in a little bowl to dip the celery into to make them taste better.

Dinner: Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinner with added frozen vegetables – California mix with cauliflower, broccoli and carrot chips. Or peas and corn or just broccoli or baby Brussels sprouts.

Exercise: We go to Planet Fitness every other day and walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. I walk 3.0mph with 0 incline. I also use the Total Body Enhancement for 12 minutes. When we are finished, we use the lounge water massage.

That’s it. That’s my day every day. I am not eating extra carbs like breads or pasta with the exception of the pasta in the weight watchers meals.

V: The Original Miniseries and The Second Generation

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books2 Comments
V: The Second Generation by Kenneth Johnson. And yes, that’s a teddy bear 🧸 bookmark.

Did you ever watch “V The Original Miniseries” from the ’80s? I believe it was in 1982. I actually didn’t even see it until 1984 when they reaired it and then they came out with the TV series.

My whole family sat down and watched the original miniseries, but they weren’t as excited about watching aliens as I was and my mom actually liked watching it. So when the TV series came out, my mom and I watched it together in another room separate from everybody else. It was the one thing that brought us out of being angry all the time and gave us something to look forward to. Not just look forward to the episodes, but also look forward to the time with each other watching the episodes. So when I tell you that V means a lot to me, just know it really does. My mother passed away in 1993 and thinking about V really does bring back good memories of her.

Okay, so in the early to mid-2000s I bought 6 V books from a used bookstore. I actually had the first V novel back in 1984. Back then things were so hectic and I lost a lot of things, so naturally I didn’t have it anymore. But these are the books that I bought.

My eyes were getting so bad at the time that I really couldn’t read them. I ended up getting a Nook because my eyes were too bad to read. Of course, these were not in ebook format, but I knew I had them in my bookcase and I would eventually be able to read them.

Well, I’ve been reading more lately and I read The Second Generation with little to no difficulty, so I think I can start reading these paperback books now. Hopefully lol.

I feel so confident that I’m able to read these that I decided to buy more of the V novels on Amazon. I also have The Original Miniseries on my Nook. I actually had The Second Generation on my Nook wish list, but it disappeared and I ended up getting the paperback book from Kenneth Johnson. He is so awesome.

V: The Original Miniseries in my Nook library.
These are all of the V novels that I currently have as of right now. There are more coming.

Reading V The Second Generation gave me a new wind and I want to start reading these books again, that’s why I started buying them from Amazon. I will start with The Original Miniseries on my Nook, which I started reading a long time ago, but never finished. So this time I’m going to read it from start to finish and then I’ll start with the next one which is East Coast Crisis. I do believe the V The Original Miniseries from my Nook is the exact same as the V novel on my bookshelf. On my Nook I’m on chapter 4, and I opened the V novel on my bookshelf to chapter 4 and the words are the exact same in the first paragraph. So I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same thing, but I think the Nook version has more or new information, so I will read that instead.

I got hooked on TikTok I think in 2020 and it has kept a hold on my brain until now. I decided enough with the TikTok. I need to start reading again. V The Second Generation is actually the 8th book that I finished reading in the last month since July 21st. Wow, 8 books in a little over a month is a humongous record for me.

Anyway, if you have seen the original miniseries and V the TV series or even V the Remake on ABC, it is worth reading the books. They are so good and so easy for me to read with my ADD and dyslexia. They are also very fun to read. So if you are able to, you should read them.

If you are interested in watching V The Original Miniseries, it is streaming on Prime Video and Vudu. V The TV series is on Prime Video, Vudu and Apple TV. V The remake is on Prime Video, Tubi (free) Apple TV and Vudu. These are also on DVD and Blu-ray on Amazon, and I think I will buy them.

My time so far on Ozempic

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Doctor, WeightLeave a comment
Left 265lbs – Right 210lbs

Ozempic. Where has this been for the last 25 years that I’ve been heavy?

So I started taking Ozempic on May 8, 2023. My doctor prescribed it in late April, but she prescribed Mounjaro, which the insurance wouldn’t cover, so finally she changed it to Ozempic in May and I started taking it the same day I got it.

So far I’ve lost 55lbs. I think this is such a small amount of time to lose 55lbs considering I only have 100lbs to lose. If I were heavier, like 300 or 400lbs, this might have been expected to go this quickly. The doctor said the more fat you have, the faster it will come off with Ozempic.

I did not have some of the horrible side effects like nausea and vomiting. Thank goodness. I do have dizziness and constipation, which aren’t that horrible. Trust me, I’d rather be dizzy every time I get up and only be able to poop every 3 days lol. I hate vomiting with every fiber of my being.

I joined a Facebook group for people who are just seeking support while on any of these many drugs meant for weight loss. I see a lot of people who have horrible side effects and they aren’t giving up, but some have given up because it’s too much for them. I don’t blame them one bit.

I’ve seen a lot of people talk about muscle loss. I believe I am suffering from this because I’m not able to carry heavy groceries from the car to the house like I used to. I don’t know if it’s a visible loss, but I can feel it. I also have been in a lot of pain in my back. I searched Google for this issue and back pain isn’t a side effect, but a lot of people are complaining about it.

My clothes are getting too big for me. I used to wear a XXL and I’m down to XL. I’m not going clothes shopping until I’m a large because I don’t want to waste money on XL clothes only to have to replace them in another couple or few months with large. I did however have to get a new pair of shorts for the summer because mine were constantly falling down. They have a drawstring, but I don’t want to have to use that all the time.

So the doctor doesn’t want me to drop down to 150lbs. She said 170 or 180 would be good for me. I told her I was actually 150lbs before I gained all this weight and she said well, as long long as you are healthy, that’s all that matters. My goal is to get down to 165 at least. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get down to 150, so I’m not reaching for that.

I think I’ll write another post when I’m down to about 190 which would be my 75lb weight loss point.