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.

Style Me Up i-Loom Disabled App

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts8 Comments

Today is a very sad day for me because I just discovered that the i-Loom app on my Samsung Galaxy tablet has been completely disabled. This is what I see when I open the app now. I can no longer log in to the app and use the more than 40 patterns that I have bought over the last few years.

I had a strange feeling this would happen. When I noticed that they stopped posting on all of their social media accounts, then their website was completely gone, I had a feeling that all of my patterns would eventually just disappear, or they would block me from accessing my account. And that just happened to me.

I know that a year or maybe 2 years ago they discontinued their app on Android, and it was only available on iPad. But I was still able to use the app that had been installed on my tablet, so I didn’t really see it as that big of a deal. I recently asked people on Facebook who had an iPad if they could do me a favor and install the app and see if they could create a new account. One person did install it and she told me she got this notice that you don’t have internet access, which I have gotten when trying to connect to the community and the boutique.

So, even though it is only available on the iPad now, you can no longer create an account, and I have a feeling that whoever still uses the i-Loom on their iPad will no longer be able to sign in as well.

Style Me Up has completely abandoned their brand, their app, their product, which you can still buy online. I would say that they have completely abandoned all of the people who have spend money on their product, only to take it away from them. I would imagine because they weren’t making any money on their products. I tried to do a Google search to find out any news about their company and I can’t find anything. It’s like they just disappeared off the face of the Earth.

This really sucks because I thought this was an excellent product and they had an excellent app that gave you step by step, row by row instructions for making a bracelet. There is nothing else like it anywhere in the app store. The only thing I can find is an app that allows you to create your own patterns. There is also a PC program called FBD which stands for Friendship Bracelet Designer, which I have been using for many years and I had copied all 40+ patterns that I had bought from i-Loom onto FBD, so I didn’t really lose them. I had a foreboding that this would happen and if I didn’t copy all of the patterns to the computer, then I would lose them forever.

So I am sad that they have blocked access from using their app, but I’m glad that I copied all of the patterns to the computer. Always have a backup plan.

Friendship bracelets

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I’ve been working on my friendship bracelets for my Etsy shop a lot lately. I made 2 of the neon rainbow arrowheads, 2 of the rainbow arrowheads and 2 of the rainbow weaves. I made a rainbow lightning bracelet and I was about to start making the second rainbow lightning and 2 neon rainbow weaves when my life partner asked for breast cancer awareness.

My life partner asked for a total of 5 breast cancer awareness bracelets for his cousins, then I asked for names and next thing I know, he’s naming 7 people. I’m like omg lol.

So I started working on the 2nd breast cancer awareness bracelet when my hands started to hurt. I took about 2 days off and holy hell, the 3rd day my hands are in absolute agony. I have carpal tunnel syndrome, so I can only make so many of a certain craft before I have to stop to rest.

This may be a teenage girl’s craft, but I really enjoy it, that is until my hands scream for me to stop lol.

I am making these with an i-Loom using patterns I’ve found on the internet. I originally bought the i-Loom from Amazon for $25. Great purchase, but they don’t sell them anymore. The i-Loom uses an app that used to be available in the Google play app store, but it has been discontinued and it’s now only available on the apple app store.

I had used a “My Friendship Bracelet Maker” clipboard before using the i-Loom, but I switched because the myfbm only allowed you to make bracelets with 10 strands. You can make a bracelet with 30 strands with the i-Loom. I mostly make 12 to 20 strand bracelets.

Way back in 1987 when I started making friendship bracelets when I was 17, I had to attach the bracelet to my pants with a safety pin, which would create a rip in the knee of my jeans. I had to sit with my knee up to work on these and it was quite uncomfortable. I’m so glad technology has given us an easier way to make these bracelets.

Unusual credit card activity detected

On By Michel McDonaldIn ScamsLeave a comment

When I woke up this morning, I checked my email, like I always do, and I saw this. It said it was from Bank of America and the subject was security alert unusual credit card activity detected. Great! What has life thrown at me today?

So I opened up the email and I saw exactly what you see in the image. Do you recognize all of these transactions? Declined transaction for $149.96 and approved transaction for $397.77. Uh… no I do not recognize these.

Of course, I didn’t click on anything because I wasn’t sure if this was a phishing scam. So I opened the Bank of America app on my cell phone and immediately it asked me if those were transactions that I made or if I recognize them or whatever. I went through the whole process to mark it as not my purchase, not my responsibility and they closed my credit card down and are sending me a new one.

I am the cheapest person on the planet. I would not buy myself something for $150 or $400 that’s just going to be consumed into my body and pissed into a toilet. It’s just not going to happen. And if this was a gift basket, you can bet it’s not happening. I am not paying $400 for wine that I don’t even drink. I don’t even like the taste of wine. I don’t care if someone wants wine as a gift, they’re not getting it from me because I can’t afford $400 for wine. Heck, I can’t afford $400 for anything.

I waffle on getting anything new because I know I don’t really need it. I may want something, but as long as I know that I don’t need it, I’m not buying it. And I certainly don’t need to send gifts to people that cost $150 and $400. Never. Going. To. Happen.

Thankfully the first one was declined and also thankfully the second one was still pending which means the merchant never got any money and so the bank didn’t actually lose anything.

As for my credit card. My credit card was paid off. I had a zero balance. I still had some things being charged automatically, like my Dollar Shave Club charged me $15 for a razor cartridge and a toothbrush, my website charged me $12 for hosting and there was one other charge that I can’t even remember what it was, but it is legit. But the total that my card is at now is $35 and I will be paying that off in a couple of weeks when I get paid. So you can imagine that if I’ve paid off all of my debt, I do not want to have to start over with a new debt of $400 for wine and $150 for Gourmet gift baskets. I want a $0 balance. $35, fine or zero preferable. But I am not putting myself in debt again for a gift for someone I don’t even know.

Oh and my credit card is in my wallet all the time and I never take my wallet with me anywhere. I keep my ID and my debit card for my checking account in my cell phone case. I don’t know how my credit card got compromised. The only thing I can think is that one of the companies that charges me for services was hacked and that’s how they got the credit card number and the three digit code on the back. That’s the only thing I can think. Well, now I have a new credit card coming so I have to change everything to charge the new credit card.

I hope this doesn’t happen again.

Style Me Up i-Loom

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts4 Comments

I bought this i-Loom from Amazon in January 2018. At that time I had a 10 inch Nook hd tablet that fit perfectly in there, but it stopped working and now I use my 7 inch Samsung Galaxy tab a6 Nook. It is a bit tiny, but it still works.

Style Me Up doesn’t seem to offer any help with their app, which by the way has been discontinued for Android. It’s now only available for iOS iPad. The app still works on my tablet though. My issue with the app is there are 6 duplicates of each pattern in the app and because of that, I can’t make any custom patterns.

I would love to see an app that has a simple interface that allows you to create patterns in the app and not just allow you to make bracelets from patterns they create.

I have program on my computer that allows me to do that, and I can save patterns and the image of the pattern and look at it on my tablet, but it doesn’t show me which row I’m on, I have to just remember where I’m at or put a piece of paper on the row I’m on. But it would be nice if that program is an Android app.

I copied their interface and added the pattern like this, but I had to create 48 pictures just to be able to keep better track of where I’m at in the pattern. It would be nice to see an app similar to this that allows you to insert the image of a pattern, and then tap the button to go to the next row.

The Style Me Up i-Loom is an awesome product, and I don’t understand why they have given up on it. They haven’t posted anything on social media since 2016 and their website doesn’t exist anymore. It’s such a brilliant idea, and it would be nice if there were more apps available.

Blaze Keto Pizza

On By Michel McDonaldIn ketoLeave a comment

There is this new pizza place here in Bakersfield. Well, I should say new to us, honestly, I have no idea how long they’ve been in business since their website’s about us page doesn’t say. They’ve actually been in Bakersfield for a few years, we just never went there because I’m always on some diet, and pizza is never something I can eat, until now.

A few days ago I was thinking about Keto breads, so I thought to myself, I wonder if there is a keto pizza crust recipe, so I went to Google and the first thing I saw was Blaze Pizza. I went to their nutrition calculator and I chose these options. Keto crust, white cream sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and olives, and this is what it shows. It’s basically 2g Net Carbs and 130 calories per slice, and they slice it up into 6 slices.

We went to the mall today for shoes and while we were out there, we decided to go to Blaze and have lunch. The pizza is small at 11″, and they said they normally make personal pizza’s for people, but come on, this is too much for me because even though it is low cal and low carb, it’s still 390 calories for 3 slices. I am not putting 780 calories into my stomach for 1 meal. So my life partner and I shared it. Also, it wasn’t cheap. It was $18 and change for 1 pizza and 1 fountain drink. I’m not sure we want to spend $40 for lunch for both of us.

Anyway, it was good and the next time I want pizza, I know where to go.

Smaller Appetite After Surgery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Health, keto, WeightLeave a comment

I have always had a huge appetite since I was at least a teenager. At dinner, my mom would always make enough so everyone could have seconds, and I was typically the only one who would actually take seconds. I was so skinny and my mom never understood where that food went because I never gained any weight no matter how much food I ate. I kind of hate my younger self right now lol. I was also active, and when I say active, I mean like gym class, running from the school to escape bullies, then walking home from school. You know, typical teenage angst lol.

So the time of my life I’m referring to was when I was around 13 years old and I was 150lbs. Fast forward to when I was 26 and I was still 150lbs, then I quit smoking and that all changed. Suddenly I was gaining weight because I was discovering how wonderful food was. Before then I was eating to survive on what we could afford. After, I was eating for pleasure, and I wasn’t holding back. I was getting a lot more food than normal and within 2 months of quitting smoking, I had gained 50lbs. So there I was 200lbs with a fat belly all of a sudden and my appetite was out of control, but I was trying not to go over 200lbs.

Over the years I’ve gained weight because of my enormous appetite until I was at my highest last year at 267lbs. I bought a Fitbit Charge 4 watch and a Fitbit Aria scale and I tried working on my weight. When I got the scale I was 265lbs and by January this year I was 254lbs, then the surgeon told me to lose 15-20lbs for my surgery and then I went down to 230lbs. Now after surgery I have gone down to 225lbs.

And now to the subject of this post. I had my surgery where they reduced the size of my colon, which is a nicer way of saying they removed a section of my colon to remove the possibility of colon cancer. But ever since I had my surgery, I haven’t been very hungry. They fed me 6oz of soup and some other things like pudding or jello and some juices and milk. Well, that tiny amount of food and drinks made me feel so full. When I came home from the hospital I was still getting full from such a tiny amount of food. I left the hospital on Thursday and today is Sunday and I’m still getting full from 6oz of soup. I made myself tomato soup, a 3oz glass of sugar free Jell-O and a chocolate pudding cup and I couldn’t even eat the Jell-O or the pudding. It was literally too much food.

This will be to my advantage to help me reduce the size of my stomach. If I eat and I get full fast, then I won’t have the chance to make my stomach too big again, and that will help me lose weight, especially when I go back to eating my Keto food. This will also prevent me from even wanting to go to a buffet because if I’m not hungry for such a huge amount of food, then I won’t be tempted to go, thus I won’t overeat and gain weight again. So I see this as a huge win for me.

How long do you think it will take me to get down to 200lbs if I am 225lbs now? I pretty much lost 22lbs from mid-January to the end of March. So do you think I will be down to 200lbs by June or July maybe? And if I get down to 200lbs by then, I will just keep going and lose all the weight I can possibly lose. I really would like to get back to 150lbs, but I will be happy if I can get down to 160 or 170. When I finally get down to the weight I want to be, I’m going to continue to maintain my weight by eating Keto foods, and if I still lose weight, well then good for me.

PlayStation Store for PS3, PSP and PS Vita are closing forever

On By Michel McDonaldIn PS Vita, ps3, PSPLeave a comment

Well this is frustrating for me and I’m sure many people. PlayStation has announced they are closing their PlayStation store for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable PSP and PlayStation Vita. That means if you don’t have all the games you’ve bought installed on your system, you better back them up now because I fear as soon as the PS Store is gone, your downloads are gone.

I have completely deleted every paragraph in this post because I went into complete panic mode and assumed without doing any research that if they close the store down on your platform, that you would lose the ability to ever download any of your purchased games. It’s just not the case. Here is a video discussing everything that is happening.

I am so relieved that I was wrong about losing every game I ever bought if I don’t back them up. I am going to buy games and expansions for games I already own that I wanted to buy, but never bought because I didn’t have the money before it’s too late to buy them. When I say expansions, I’m referring to things like Minecraft skins packs and texture packs and whatever other packs I didn’t buy before. Also, Little Big Planet costumes and whatever else is available to add to the game. I am also trying to acquire memory cards. I bought a 64gb memory card for the PS Vita on Amazon and that will take a very long time to get here. I don’t know where it’s coming from.

Well, finding this video was a load off my mind. I already backed everything up, and when I say everything I’m talking 134 PS Vita games, 21 PSP games and 5 PlayStation One games that I bought or got for free from my PlayStation Plus membership on the PS Vita. That is a lot of games. 160 games to be exact. I’ve already bought 1 new game, I’m just waiting for my stimmy to come to make some new purchases. Of course, I won’t go nuts because I don’t know how much I will be able to play those games, I just want to get them before I regret never buying them. What is that? Fear of missing out? Yeah, I have that lol.

Anyway, I signed a petition that is begging Sony to rethink this move. If you want to sign, that would be wonderful, and who knows if that will even make them listen.

I’m home from the hospital

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

Well, I did it and I survived a week in the hospital lol.

On Saturday, March 27 I started a liquid diet to help empty my bowels for surgery. I had to drink broth for 2 days. Monday, March 29 was my surgery. This is a video on YouTube that shows what they did.

I wasn’t given any food after the surgery. The next day I had a liquid diet, and all my meals made me full.

These were pretty much what I was eating. Cream soups that were less creamy and more watery. My meals were a soup, pudding or Jell-O or ice lemon, milk or almond milk, hot tea or hot coffee, and a juice like cranberry or grape. Oh and breakfast was cream of wheat with no butter or sweetener.

I’m not in any pain. I have to walk around to keep my stomach from turning into velcro. The physical therapist used that word to describe what your insides will do that kind of made me laugh and it also made sense.

I had to lose weight for the surgery and the surgeon said that when he asks his patients to lose weight for surgery, they almost always never lose weight. He was so surprised and happy that I actually lost weight. I went from 254 on January 12 when I first saw him, and I was 230 the day of surgery. I lost 5 more pounds after a week of hospital food. Here’s my weight now.

I am really proud of myself for having the will power to meet this goal and continue losing weight, and I will keep losing more weight so I can lose all the stomach fat. Of course I’ll probably need to maintain a small layer of stomach fat for insulation lol, but there is no reason to stay fat and because it was unhealthy for me.

I have a post opp appointment in 11 days and I’m sure he will reveal my stitches. Everything is bandaged. I can’t take a shower until the bandages are gone. I bought some no rise shampoo/body wash from Amazon to keep me clean. It’s a spray which will make it easier to use.

As I keep saying, just to be clear, I do not have colon cancer and after the surgery, the surgeon told me he found no evidence of cancer. He removed the section of my colon because of colon polyps that they couldn’t remove any other way.

I really appreciate all the likes on my posts about my weight loss progress over the last few months. Thank you for reading.

2-in-1 KumiKreator Necklace and Bracelet

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

I have had this in my Amazon wish list for a very long time, but it wasn’t this particular one, it was the one that only made bracelets. I deleted it from my wish list because I didn’t think I would ever buy it. Then a couple of days ago I wondered how much it was, and I found this one, the 2-in-1 that makes bracelets and necklaces, and I thought, I gotta buy it! So I did, and to my surprise it was on sale for $13.69, regular price $24.99. So I thought I better buy it before it goes back up in price.

This thing arrived today and right out of the box one of the spools wouldn’t snap into place, but that’s fine because it comes with 12 spots for spools, so I could either make a bracelet with 8 strings or 10 strings. It’s not really that big of a deal. I mean, it would be nice if I could use all 12, but it’s fine. I don’t want to try to force it to snap into place and end up breaking the entire thing, you know?

I made a bracelet, as you can see in the image. It is an 8 strand bracelet and it is so tight. Oh my goodness, I can’t even tell you how happy I am about that. I was so afraid the strands would be too loose and it would look stupid, but it really surprised me. I think that’s the reason I don’t care that one of the spools won’t snap in place, because I can overlook that one issue because of the tightness of the bracelet.

So obviously when I run out of the strings they give you, I can just add new embroidery floss from my stash. There’s no way I’m paying for refills. The only thing I would really be concerned about is the clasps because they only give you so many of those, and then once you run out, you’re screwed, unless you can find something similar at a craft store. I have my own way of doing these things. I much prefer to add a braided loop at the very top with a knot in place, then make the Kumihimo bracelet, and then braid the very end and use a button to fit through the braided loop. That’s my preferred method, but while I have the strings that came with this, I will just use them up with their clasps until I run out, then go back to making them with braided loops and buttons.

I bought a My Circle of Creativity many years ago that has a Kumihimo pattern wheel. I searched Amazon for it to add a link here, but they don’t sell it anymore. I also went to their website and it’s not there either. Perhaps they discontinued it. Anyway, that’s how I used to make Kumihimo bracelets, and I did pretty good with that, but it’s slow. This 2-in-1 machine is really fast. I literally made the bracelet in the picture in 5 minutes.

So I’m thinking if you want to make something like this, either bracelet or a necklace, this is the thing to buy.

Update: Ok so I fixed the problem. There is a jam fix that they talk about on their website where you remove one of those plugs on the inner circle of the machine, and then you just line it up with the spool holders, and then you can remove them. Well, I did that and noticed there are screws in the back. I took a tiny phillips head screwdriver and just unscrewed it a little bit and that fixed it. Now the spools pop in place like it is supposed to and now I can make a bracelet with 12 strands.

I’ve been approved for surgery

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, ketoLeave a comment

Let me just backtrack just in case someone is reading this post and they haven’t read any of my other posts. I had a colonoscopy in September 2020 and they found and removed several polyps. There were also several that were lying flat that they could not remove, so the only way to remove them is with surgery. They sent me to a surgeon who will do the surgery, but I’m overweight, so he asked me to lose 15 to 20 lbs so things are loose to make the surgery easier on both of us.

I went to my follow up appointment today with the surgeon, and he approved my surgery because I had lost 18lbs. So the surgery will be in 3 weeks and it isn’t exactly what I had expected. I thought he was just going to make me do the colonoscopy prep and then he would go in and basically do another colonoscopy, but with scrapers that could scrape the tissue to remove the polyps. Instead, he has to remove a section of my colon. I will still have to do a colon prep, but it’s a little different. I will have to be on a liquid diet for 2 days and take some medication and I will be in the hospital for 2-3 days after the surgery to make sure I don’t get an infection, which will just make things worse because I could end up with a colostomy. I. Do. Not. Want. That.

Even though I don’t technically have cancer, he is treating the surgery as if I have cancer. The polyps could turn into cancer if they are not removed, and they couldn’t be removed from a colonoscopy, so this is the alternative, and removing this section of my colon will keep me from having cancer. I’m not sure if I want to cry or not. I know it’s not cancer, yet, but, I don’t know. I’m just a little emotional I guess. I just didn’t expect to hear what he has to do to remove these polyps.

My paternal father died from cancer, so it was very important for me to get this screening done as soon as I turned 50. They wouldn’t give me a colonoscopy until I turned 50, so I had to make the appointment as soon as I could after my birthday last year. I’m glad they found it early enough and they will be able to take care of it.

After my surgery is done, I’m going to stay on my Keto diet and it is possible I’ve already decided this is it for myself. No more bad carbs. No more fried foods or fast food or junk food. I have learned while on this Keto diet that I can still eat the food I want to eat, I just have to go about it a little bit differently. I can still eat bread and tortillas, they just have to be carb free or low carb. Aldi has bread that is 0 net carbs and tortillas that actually taste good that are 5 net carbs. I can still eat a burger, I just have to use the Aldi bread, or I can make a chaffle. And speaking of chaffles, I love eating chaffles for breakfast with the sugar free pancake syrup. And I don’t have to worry about candy bars because I have the Fiber One snack bars that are pretty close to a candy bar. Atkin’s sells candy that is like M&M’s, so if I get hungry for that, they sell them at the grocery store near my house. Everything I like is available to me, I just have to find a way to make it healthy. There are also tons of recipes for making things I love, like egg nog.

I made some hamburgers with my mini dash waffle maker and made a big mess, so I bought another Dash, but it’s a griddle that will make pancakes and eggs and it is also for making hamburgers. So I can eat a burger guilt free any time I want.

Yes I’m a little sad at what has to happen, but I’m happy that I’m not going to have cancer and this has helped me work on my weight loss finally. And as always, I will follow up after my surgery.