Category: Uncategorized

Two Magic Pixels C2C Pixel Art Crochet

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Uncategorized1 Comment

I made this blanket for my Aunt several years ago. I found the pattern from a website called Two Magic Pixels. I wrote a blog post about it.

I learned to crochet when I was no longer homeless when I turned 18 years old. Never in my life did I think I would ever make anything like this.

The last few nights I have been going through Two Magic Pixels patterns because I wanted to make another blanket for myself. Last night I went to log in to my account on their website, but I didn’t have my password available, so I clicked “forgot password” and it asked for my email address to send me a link to reset my password, but it said we don’t have an account with that email address. I had only bought a few patterns, and I know I have them on my computer, so I thought ok, that’s fine. I’ll just create a new account. When I did, it said we actually found the patterns you have bought because you used that same email address to buy patterns using Paypal. So yay for me lol.

I bought these 3 patterns and they are all in my account, although I only made the Betty Boop 007 blanket. I bought the Mini Spiderman and Mini Superman patterns because I thought they were cute and I thought I would make them, but I never did. I am considering buying a different pattern to make for myself though. I’m thinking more of a rainbow pattern or something abstract, but I do know I want to buy it from Two Magic Pixels again because they have some really cool patterns. There are a few others I would like to make, like a Buddha or a Star Trek pattern, maybe the Scooby Doo pattern lol. I just cannot commit to one.

They have so many patterns and it’s really hard to pick just one pattern. The reason I have to choose is because it took me a month to make the Betty Boop 007 blanket and it cost me $60 for all the yarn. Not to mention the fact that I have carpal tunnel syndrome, so I can only make 1 blanket, and then I won’t be able to make another one for a very long time.

I really like the rainbow flower one because it reminds me of when I was a kid in the 70’s. I can also use that as a backdrop if I decide I want to continue making videos for my YouTube channel, then I’ll have something fun to look at.

People commented in my Betty Boop videos that they wanted me to teach them to crochet like that and I’ve told them that they should go to the same channel I learned to crochet like this from, which is the crochet crowd.

Anyway, it’s a big decision because I will have to live with that pattern. I can still buy the patterns whether I make them or not, but I still want to choose one. I think I really want the rainbow flowers blanket.

My Elder Scrolls Online addiction vs. EverQuest

On By Michel McDonaldIn EverQuest, Games, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have had this game on my PlayStation 4 for probably 5 or more years, and I played it here and there over the years, but I never really got into it because I didn’t really understand the mechanics of the game.

Last month they introduced the 10 year anniversary of Skyrim and I bought it because I had played Elder Scrolls Online, and I wanted to see what Skyrim was like. It’s basically the same thing, but not an MMO.

The introduction of the 10 year anniversary of Skyrim made me decide that I wanted to at least try to play Elder Scrolls Online again to give it a chance, but my problem was I had too many quests going and I was kind of confused about what I was supposed to do. So I thought, let me go to Coldharbour and finish that quest which ended with me killing Molag Bal. Then it started Cadwell’s Silver, then Cadwell’s Gold which are basically the other factions. But I hadn’t finished my factions quests, so I went on a mission to finish that. It was all so confusing to me, but now I get it.

My necromancer character Ilren.

My website’s name Xanapus comes from a game very similar to Elder Scrolls Online called EverQuest, which I played for about 6 years. ESO is similar to EQ, but also very different. Like we had to download maps for EverQuest, Elder Scrolls Online have their own maps already in the game, and they have markers on the maps that tell you where everything is so you don’t have to guess. They also give you more information like what you have completed on that map, and it has a zone guide.

EverQuest didn’t really have a quest diary or journal like this when I was playing. You literally had to print the quests out and write on the paper to check things off on the quest list to keep track of your progress. I literally have a notebook with hundreds of pages in it lol. Elder Scrolls Online keeps track of everything for you, and even tells you what to do next. And they mark things on your compass which gives you the direction of the person you need to speak to or the item you have to loot or the direction of the place you need to go to.

One thing that I really love about Elder Scrolls online is that I can use a game controller. I wanted to use a game controller so bad with EverQuest, but I could never figure it out with game controllers that I bought for PC way back when. They just never worked for me and were a complete waste of money.

I still have EverQuest installed on my computer and I see that they have a quest Journal now. It’s a bit different from Elder Scrolls Online, but at least they have one. The map is pretty much the same as when I last played the game, but I did notice that they have more continents because they have so many more expansion packs than they used to.

Also the thing that really bothers me about EverQuest is that they disable most of your gear if you’re not paying a monthly fee. Elder Scrolls Online has a monthly fee service that allows you to play all of their expansions, but if you don’t pay for it, they don’t disable your gear. In order to play the expansions, you have to pay for them, which I honestly don’t mind. I’d rather not have a monthly fee. I bought 21000 Crowns which are normally $149.99 for $89.99 during their Christmas sale and I used the crowns to buy some expansions.

Another thing about EverQuest is that you had to buy spells, then memorize them to put them into your spell book, then you had to add the spell gems to the spell gems slots. With Elder Scrolls Online, you just buy your spells with skill points and those spells upgrade the more you add skill points to them.

And I love that I’m getting epic gear for rewards and I can upgrade those epic gear items to legendary with crafting if I had the components. In EverQuest you had to do so many quests and crafting for so many hours, days, even weeks or months to get 1 epic and it was a weapon. In ESO all my gear can be epic or legendary, not just my weapons.

Oh another thing is that the quests are always your level, no matter what level you are. In EverQuest if I went back to do a level 4 quest and I’m level 50, I don’t really get a good reward because the reward is a level 4 reward. Which makes it feel like you’ve wasted so much time. No matter what level I am in ESO, the rewards are always worth it, and if they’re not, then I can deconstruct the item to get the materials for crafting.

I’m not trying to mansplain, I’m just really excited about playing this game and I just wanted to talk about it. I don’t have anyone to talk about it because no one I know plays this game.

Why I stopped going to the gym

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, gym, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I stopped going to the Planet Fitness gym more than 2 years ago for various reasons. And… I’ve been paying for it all this time.

One reason is I have an overactive bladder. I would go to the bathroom before I even started exercising just so I wouldn’t have to run to the bathroom. I would get on a machine and in 5 minutes the overwhelming feeling to urinate would hit and I would have to literally run to the bathroom because I had to pee NOW. I’d go back and in 5 minutes it would come again. I would get on the treadmill and literally walking for 5 minutes and I had the urgent feeling to urinate again. It was too much.

I spoke with my doctor and she said it’s probably a urinary tract infection and to drink cranberry juice, which I absolutely hate, but I did it anyway and it didn’t do me any good.

At home I have to go to the bathroom at least 20 times in a day. That’s been going on for more than 2 years and nothing I have done has helped. Until now.

I started drinking water and the feeling to urinate has dramatically gone down. I’ve been drinking Crystal Light for many years instead of drinking soda to help with the weight loss, and I’m not positive it has helped, but I’m almost certain it has contributed to my overactive bladder and I say that because when I stopped drinking it, the problem went away.

Now that I don’t have to constantly urinate, I’m going to try going back to the gym to help me lose the weight I’m supposed to lose to get my surgery.

CPAP filters on Amazon

On By Michel McDonaldIn Health, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I got my CPAP machine from Apria Healthcare in 2019. They were sending me these filters that didn’t look like they were collecting any dust at all. When I removed the filter after two weeks it looked almost identical to the way it looked when I put it in.

I was having such a difficult time getting them to send me new supplies because they were telling me that they didn’t have the paperwork needed from my doctor. I got tired of waiting and using the same filter for almost a year because they weren’t sending me any supplies, so I went to Amazon and bought these new filters from RespLabs. I only paid $10 and it comes with 60 filters which will take me two and a half years to go through since they want me to change the filters once every two weeks.

You can see a used filter on the left side that came from Apria Healthcare, on the right side on the top is a brand new RespLabs filter and below that is after 2 weeks of using this new filter. You can tell there’s a significant difference in the amount of dust that these filters are collecting that is not going into your lungs. The filters that Apria Healthcare were sending me were just not working. Every night I could smell dust and dirt the whole night long. I don’t smell any dirt or dust with these new filters.

So if you have sleep apnea, do yourself a favor and buy these RespLab filters. Your lungs will thank you.

By the way, this filter belongs to the ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet, so if that’s what you have, then this filter is for you. If you have another CPAP or BiPap machine, I’m sure they have a filter for your make and model.

My 2020 Christmas Cards with Cricut and SVG Cuts

On By Michel McDonaldIn Christmas, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I love having a Cricut Explore Air 2 because I can make awesome cards for many occasions. Here are all of the cards I made for Christmas, and 1 for Hanukkah. I bought these card SVG files from SVGCuts.com. Of course I had to use a red velvet background for these pictures lol. I added embellishments that I made with polymer clay. These are mostly all box cards, so they stand up on their own and are literally a box that fold flat. With the exception of the Hanukkah card and the Cardinal Skating card.

I took a picture of both back and front of all of the cards, but I’m just showing the front here, except for the stocking card, because I guess I just forgot to take a picture of just the front. I think the reason was because it wasn’t standing on its own on the velvet, but it did stand on its own on the table. And yes, the rocking horse does rock.

Here’s a note. If you’re going to make the same cards every year, make a list of who you are giving each card to so the next year you don’t send them the same exact card by mistake. I made all of these cards last year, with the exception of the Hanukkah card, I sent out a different one last year, and the pick up truck card was new this year. I sent out all my cards, but I didn’t have a list, so if someone got the same card, all I can say is oops. You won’t get the same one next year because I now know which one I sent you this year lol. Although, if you got a different one from last year, there’s no guarantee 2021 won’t be the same as 2019 lol. And that’s why Santa makes a list, and checks it twice. If only I had heard that advice last year.

Week 11 Weigh In Day

On By Michel McDonaldIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s been one helluva week for me, so I honestly don’t even care that I didn’t lose weight this week, but instead I gained about 1.2lbs.

This week I bought 10 days worth of meals from Albertson’s because they were on sale for $1.69 each, but they aren’t the Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers Smart Ones, they are Signature Select which is a generic store brand. They taste good, and that’s really all that matters.

This week I also found my paternal father’s family and I found my brother, which I blogged about, so I’ve been celebrating and I have eaten things I shouldn’t have eaten, and honestly I just don’t care because I’m so happy right now.

The stress of trying to find someone is just unbelievable. But, I have closure now, so I don’t need to worry about being stressed out over trying to find my father. Right now my focus is getting to know my big brother. The weight will continue dropping as I continue eating healthy and continue going to the gym.

Yesterday at the gym I just felt like I was starving to death for some reason. I had to get off the treadmill after 35 minutes and I was going to go to Barnes & Noble next door to buy a croissant from the Starbucks, but then I noticed Planet Fitness had this big display with cookies that they were selling for $3. I didn’t care that it was that expensive, I just needed some food in my belly. I also didn’t care that it was 200 calories for just half of the cookie. I ate the whole damn thing. Deal with it lol. I also bought a box of generic organic nilla wafers and they were good, deal with that too lol.

Dell SupportAssist Frozen (SOLVED)

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, Uncategorized4 Comments

If you’re in a rush, scroll down for the solution.

I had to buy a new computer this year because Microsoft released an update that basically killed my other computer. I don’t know if it was a hardware issue, but it wouldn’t load Windows properly, so I was basically forced to get a new one. I mean in all fairness, my last computer was built around 2007, so I was due for a new computer anyway.

So I bought a Dell Inspiron 3668 from Office Depot. This has a program on it called Dell SupportAssist that updates your hardware drivers, scans hardware for issues and fixes them, cleans up the crap and tunes performance.

I don’t know what happened, but for the last week it has been telling me there is an update and every time I load the Dell SupportAssist program, it freezes up on me. I thought I had to close programs for it to load, and it nearly did load a couple of times, but then it didn’t. I uninstalled software that I wanted to have installed, but I hardly ever used them  because I thought that might help, but it didn’t.

Ok so I’m sure you’re like get to the point, how do I fix this? Well this is what I found on a Dell support forum.

SOLUTION:

2018-06-21

This fixed my problem. I went to that location and found that file and just simply removed “-small” and it fixed it. It loads now. It is that simple.

So I hope this helped you if you were having this problem.

Crocheted C2C Graphigans on Etsy

On By Michel McDonaldIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

​I have these wonderful crocheted graphigan blankets ready to make, if you can wait 4-6 weeks for delivery. I brought the price of the blankets down as well as the price of shipping. I’ve already made a Betty Boop blanket and it came out beautifully and it gave me the experience I needed to make and sell them on Etsy.

DC & Marvel – https://www.etsy.com/listing/494818922/handmade-dc-marvel-character-queen-size

Disney – https://www.etsy.com/listing/495024252/handmade-disney-character-queen-size

Christian Praying Hands – https://www.etsy.com/listing/495024918/handmade-christian-queen-size-crocheted

Trailer, Rainbow Heart and Betty Boop – https://www.etsy.com/listing/495173314/handmade-trailer-rainbow-heart-betty

I’m not sorry…

On By Michel McDonaldIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m a lifelong Democrat, and my life partner of going on 23 years is a lifelong Republican. I guess that’s something that we just didn’t discuss for the first couple years of our relationship. I mean I knew he hated Bill Clinton, I didn’t know it was because he had to as a requirement to remain a Republican.

For the last 8 years of our relationship I’ve had to hear him talk trash about Barack Obama over the phone to all his friends and family, and trust me when I say it was for at least 3 or 4 phone calls daily for 8 long years. Not to mention having to hear him bash Obama to complete strangers standing in line at restaurants, concerts, movies, or even at the bank. Anywhere! Everywhere! We had a friend who was a movie star who basically cut ties with us because he was sending her emails bashing Obama.

I’m going to miss Obama, but I’m not going to miss the Obama bashing, and believe me when I say it’s still going strong because he can’t bash Donald Trump, so who else can he bash? There aren’t any other democrats in the news. Trump is the only thing in the news that I’m aware of.

So tonight was the Grammy awards and I told him it was on and he said “I’m not watching it because they’re all being mean to Trump.”

Awww! Does someone have butt hurt feelings?

I never said one thing about Bush for 8 years. I sat there listening to all his lies about weapons of mass destruction and I didn’t say one word. I had to listen to how much hatred you had for Obama for 8 years and I didn’t say one word. Trump is going to make a lot of mistakes and you are so butt hurt that you don’t want to hear one word from me, and I’ll try to keep my mouth shut, but don’t ask for my sympathy when you didn’t show me one ounce of sympathy for what you did to me.

Michael’s “Knit Quick” knitting machine

On By Michel McDonaldIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’ve been crocheting since I basically taught myself with leaflets in 1988 when I turned 18. I prefer to crochet because knitting never clicked with me. I’ve wanted to learn, but instead I bought round knitting looms to make hats and scarves.

My Aunt gave me a $100 gift card for Christmas, and I’ve been watching videos from Margaret Olander “Sheepishly Sharing” on YouTube about the Addi Express knitting machine. She did a review of this knitting machine and she gave it 2 thumbs up, meaning it was a good machine. So I used my gift card to buy it with a 50% of coupon.

Unfortunatly, not all yarn is compatible. It will drop tons of stitches with red heart yarn. The yarn has to be soft like the Caron Simply Soft. Margaret says she prefers Vanna’s Choice. I would love to try Caron Cakes to make a scarf.

Another unfortunate thing is that it doesn’t make very big hats. Depending on the length, you can make preemie, newborn and baby hats. Here are some preemie hats I made with and without pom poms.

Scarves are a good width, you can make them any length you want. Here is a scarf I made.

Anyway, my plan was to use all the yarn I have to make hats for the homeless, but I’m guessing there aren’t too many homeless babies out there, so I’ll just make scarves since they only take an hour and 30 minutes to make, then I guess I’ll just make the hats with actual knitting needles.