Rainbow Rice

This post is long overdue!  I can tell from the photo that I did this last summer, sometime after the Worst Haircut Ever (see story at bottom of this post).  This photo is so cute to me because she is wearing an old T-shirt that I owned as a child (when I was about 6 or 7).  She looks a lot like me at the same age.

There are many pins on Pinterest on making Rainbow Rice.  Some involve using rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  Others involve using Koolaid.  The best method for me was using the rubbing alcohol and food coloring.  The Koolaid one didn't work as well, and it smelled funny.

First you pour a little bit of rubbing alcohol (helpful hint: don't use the wintergreen flavored rubbing alcohol.  It has a funny smell.) in a bowl and drop at least 20 drops of your food coloring in (I did 30 drops).  The more food coloring you use, the brighter the colors will be.  Pour in your rice (and/or pasta) and mix well.  Pour the colored rice onto wax paper (which I put on baking sheets) and let dry.  You can stir the rice around until it dries completely.

As you can see, I used an old tablecloth on the floor just in case Gracie spilled any.  She had fun mixing and pouring.  To store, I poured it into two Tide Pods containers.

I recently got the rainbow rice out again for her to play with, this time I let her play on the kitchen table.  I bought an oil drip pan (a large round container that is fairly deep) at Dollar Tree to use for manipulative activities such as this.  It has a spout which makes for a little bit easier cleanup and is easy to wash up.

One of the best places to get cups and funnels, spoons and colanders, and other fun things to use for rainbow rice or sand and water play is Dollar Tree.  They are fun to use and not a lot out of pocket if they get lost or damaged.

"Worst Haircut Ever" Story
Gracie was born with hair, but not a lot of hair.  I have patiently waiting throughout her short little life for her hair to grow out long.  I have been taking her to get trims since she was about 1-1/2 years old so that her hair can look nice and neat while it is growing out.  My favorite hairdresser got married and moved to Georgia about four years ago and it has been difficult to find a replacement at a price I don't mind paying.  (I'm cheap when it comes to paying for haircuts!)  One place I like is Fantastic Sams down past the mall towards Lakeland.  They have nice people and it is a very relaxing atmosphere.

Last summer, I discovered that there was a Fantastic Sams closer to us (Germantown Parkway and Dexter Road, next door to Kroger).  I decided to use them since they were closer.  The owner cut both my hair and Gracie's hair.  I told him, very specifically, that I wanted her bangs cut (out of her eyes) and the back of her hair only trimmed a little bit because I wanted to grow out her hair.  So what did he do?  He cut most of the back off of her hair, then combed her hair forward from the crown of her head covering her forehead and trimmed her bangs -- the exact opposite of what I told him to do.  Not only that, but who cuts hair like that?

He cut my hair fine, but he set back Operation Grow Long Hair back by a year!  Needless to say, I have not been back there.  They took my phone number, and I've always said that if they call me, I will tell them I will NEVER go back to them again!  Gracie's hair looks much better now.  The back is slowly growing.  She has bangs and the sides are cut at an angle while they've been growing out properly.

Favorite iPhone Apps and Tips

I'm excited because my friend Valerie, who blogs over at Valerie Write Now, just got a new iPhone!  We have been tearing up the cell phone waves texting about different features, and I got motivated enough to want to write a blog post (or two or ten) about my favorite iPhone apps and tips.

A Few Tips

1.  Tip #1:  How to Take a Screen Shot
Hold down the home button and the power button at the same time and release.  It will "blink" and make a noise like it is taking a photo.  I use this all the time to save information (e.g. conversations on Facebook) to use at a later time or even to send to people.

2.  Tip #2:  How to Send a Screen Shot (or photo) to Someone
After taking your screen shot, go to your photo album, view your photo, select the little arrow in the bottom right of the photo, select message (or email or any of the other options).

3.  Tip #3:  Restrictions
If you have children, I recommend you go into the Restrictions (Settings, General, Restrictions, enter password) settings and turn the deleting apps OFF.  That way, when children use your phone, they cannot accidentally delete your favorite apps.  They will be able to move them around, but not delete them.  When you want to delete any apps, go into restrictions, turn it to ON, delete the app, and then go back and turn the restriction OFF.


Favorite Apps

Here is my home screen:

Home Screen

Here are the apps:

First Row:
Calendar:  I actually do not use this.  I do like how it always has the date on the icon.
Notes:  This app is great for taking notes.  You can have a lot of different notes.
Photos (Photo Album):   Your screen shots and camera photos are stored here.  Also, if you are on Instagram, you can tell it to store your Instagram photos.  You can also set up albums (took me forever to figure out how), but I don't really use that feature.
Camera:  Use this app for taking photos.

Second Row:
App Store:  The number on the icon (called icon badge) shows how many of my apps need to be updated.  This is where you will find and install your apps.
Paperless:  This is a great app for making lists.  I like it so much that I bought the paid version which I think was $2.99.
Cozi:  http://www.cozi.com  This is the app I use to put in appointments for our family calendar.  They have other great features, too.
Clock:  Timer, Stopwatch, and Alarm Clock.  You can set as many alarms as you want!

Third Row:
Instagram:  Fun app where users share photos (that have been edited with their special filters).  You can like and comment on others' photos.  My username is MrsKinsey.
Twitter:  Tweet here.  The only thing I don't like about this app is that I can't add specific users to my lists.  I have to do that on the computer.  My username is MrsKinsey.
Facebook:  Social Media aka biggest time waster ever, but oh-so-fun!
Show of Hands:  This is a fun app that has various polls with only two answers from which to choose.  You can view the stats for each question based on political party, gender, age, and income.  My username is MrsKinsey.

Fourth Row:
Pinterest:  I love me some Pinterest!  If you do, too, get this app!
Gmail:  I read my regular home email on here.
Words with Friends:  Fun game that is like Scrabble.  My username is AvaKinsey but you can find me through Facebook.  I like this game, but I'm also kinda off-and-on about playing.
Kindle:  I read my many ebooks on this app.

Fifth Row:
Pages:  Here is where I post and view my blog Facebook page and my photography Facebook page.
Amish Wisdom:  Fun app sponsored by author Suzanne Fisher.
Simple Bible:  My Bible app. (I'm pretty sure it's free.)  If you see me on my phone in church, I promise you I'm reading the Bible on this app!
Say the Same Thing:  New fun game.  You have to be Facebook friends with me in order to play with me.

Sixth Row: (The apps on this row show up on all of the screens.)
Phone:  For making calls
Mail:  I have a Gmail email account that I use only on the iPhone.
Safari:  iPhone browser
Messages:   Text messages

Second Page
While on the home page, if I swipe to the left, this is the next page:
 

First Row:
Settings:  This is sometimes called iOS Settings.  You control all of the settings for your iPhone here.  I may do a future post on specific settings at a later time.
YouTube:  View and post YouTube videos here.
Maps:  Look up locations and how to get there.  This app has a far better GPS than the one in our car.
Reminders:  I don't really use this, but you can set reminders here.

Second Row:
The Weather Channel:  View the weather forecast here.
Beat the Traffic:  View current road conditions for Memphis (and other cities, but I don't know which ones)
Roku:  I don't use this, but if we lost our remote, I could use this app to control our Roku.
Google Maps:  Another Maps/GPS app.

Third Row:
ShootLocal:  For photographers to find and post favorite photoshoot locations.
PhotoBiz folder:  Some of the apps I use for my photography business.

Another tip:  To put apps in folders, press down on the icon of an app and drag it over another app.  It will automatically make a folder and put both apps in that folder.  You can drag other apps into the folder.

Yellow Pages:  For finding the contact info and location of businesses.
Netflix:  My daughter's favorite app.  Actually, we all love Netflix.

Fourth Row:
Home Routines:  I don't use this much anymore, but it's great for people who follow FlyLady.
Royalty Rewards:  I don't even know what this is.  I will delete it.
Google+: I don't use this because I have little time to view the other social media things I belong to.  I probably ought to delete it, too.  I will put these apps in a folder called Delete and when I feel like it, I'll delete them all at once.
Weebly:  This is the editing app for my photography website.

Fifth Row:
Carbonite:  Free backup for your iPhone data and photos.  If you're very new to your phone, this is a great time to start it because otherwise it will take days and days (and so far, a couple of weeks) to backup the stuff on your phone.
BackBlaze:  This is the backup I now use for my computer.  I can view my backedup files using this app.
Mail2Group:  Set up groups of people to email to at one time.  One of the things that the iPhone email (and Gmail app) is lacking is how to email to the same group of people at once without inputting all of the names every stinkin' time.  I just downloaded this app so I haven't really tried it yet.  I send out Prayer KneeMail emails to our church members and this should be a great, easy way to do it when I'm away from my computer.
OurGroceries:  I haven't tried this app yet.  It's supposed to be a good app for grocery lists.


I have MANY more apps on my phone, but they will have to wait for another post.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

Alternatives to Google Reader: Final Verdict

To read the first post, click here; to read the second post, click here.

It occurred to me that I never told my readers my final verdict for which alternative to Google Reader I decided to use.

After The Old Reader finished importing my feeds, I tested it and liked it the best.  It is possible to use it in a web browser on an iPad, but it is slower that way.  Another negative is that you have to input a new subscription on the webpage rather than through the RSS icons that many blogs have.  However, I do like the format, and I like how it mimics the old Google Reader.  You can set it to view only unread posts (recommended).  You can still like particular posts if you want to view them later without wading through 1,000 different other posts.  It's not a perfect solution, but it is the one that works best for me at this time.

If you follow more than a few blogs and do not view them through a RSS Feed such as The Old Reader, I highly recommend that you do so!  You can read my other posts (listed at the top) to learn more about the other alternatives to Google Reader and find what works best for you.  Some have made comments below the posts about other sites available as well.  I did try them, but The Old Reader is the one I chose.

Go see my guest post on CRAFT!

Please visit CRAFT to read my guest post on Creating Really Awesome Free Trips: Things to Do in Memphis.  I'm really excited about having the opportunity to author a guest post on such a great blog!

CRAFT is a blog dedicated to Creating Really Awesome Free Things.  This summer, Jamie is hosting a series highlighting free and almost-free things to do in cities all over the world.

If you have come here from CRAFT, thank you for visiting my blog!

Preparing for a Disaster, Part 1: Backing up your computer

One of my biggest nightmares is the thought of losing my computer files, especially the thousands of photos I've taken over the years, and MOST especially, the ones of my daughter.  I know that it is inevitable that, one day, I will lose my files or they will be corrupted and irretrievable.  For that reason, I am making preparations to be able to retrieve my photos and files.

When we first bought our iMac two years ago, my husband also bought a Time Capsule (external hard disk drive) to be used to back up my computer files.  (You can read how to set it up here.)  It's been working great, for the most part. However, about a year ago, it had a problem where it couldn't find the backup files (gave me a heart attack!) and I had to make it start a brand-new backup on the Time Capsule.  It has very recently been telling me that it is running out of room and has been deleting the oldest backups.  What I plan to do is to reformat the drive and start over with a fresh backup of the computer.  Before I can do that, I need to have an online backup of my computer files.

I know what you're thinking!  "Shouldn't the external hard drive be enough?  Won't an online backup be overkill?"  Remember, I collect photos like some old ladies collect cats.  Also, if you are a mother, you know how precious photos of your children are to you.  Besides that, what if we have a fire and the Time Capsule is lost forever?  What if someone breaks into our home and steals my computer and even the Time Capsule?  There are far too many frightening scenarios to think about that warrant the extra backup.

A few weeks ago, I began a trial run with Carbonite.  It offers behind-the-scenes backup of not only your computer, but your smartphone as well.  You do not have to have a paid account with Carbonite to use the smartphone app.  It is a free app!  There are several different levels of service from which you can choose to backup your computer.  I had one day left of my trial left when I started to upgrade to the paid service.  I was || this close to closing the deal when I discovered that, for some reason, it did not let me choose the Home Plus option which I wanted so that I could also back up an older external hard drive that I used to use with our PC laptop.  I found out from their customer service chat line that the Home Plus and Home Premier services are only available for PC/Windows-based computers, not Macs.  Not only that, but if you change your mind mid-year, they will not issue a refund.  Scratch that and back to square 1.

Through some searching of reviews (including recommendations from fellow photographers), I found out about BackBlaze.  It, too, offers a trial period, and is more economical than Carbonite.  It is a great service, and allows you to back up your external hard drives as part of the service (for PCs and for Macs).  You may add on additional computers for an additional $5/month per computer.  I just upgraded to the paid service ($95 for two years) and am still waiting for the initial backup to be completed.  Once the initial backup is completed, I will feel secure enough to reformat my Time Capsule and begin that anew.  I could also start backing up my older external hard drive -- and probably should -- but I want to reorganize the files on it first.

Summary of my Recommendations to You:

1.  Get an external hard drive to use as an on-site backup of your important files.  Backup often.  If you're really paranoid concerned, get two external hard drives and alternate backing up to them, keeping one of them offsite (in the care of a trusted friend or family member).

2.  Use an online backup service such as Carbonite or BackBlaze.  Carbonite has a free app that you can use to back up your iPhone.

New Series Coming Soon!

Hello, Readers!  I know it's been a while since I've blogged.  "Real Life" keeps me pretty busy between the regular day-in and day-out tasks and spur-of-the-moment roadblocks that pop up.  Of course, I am the mom of a busy preschooler and that keeps me on my toes every minute of the day!

I will be starting a new series soon about being prepared for a disaster or, at the very least, an unexpected troublesome event.  I wanted to do this back in March, but, like I said, Real Life got in the way.  Several events have prompted the desire to get our family ready for problems:  a tornado went through my hometown of Hattiesburg, MS; my pastor's house flooded in the middle of the night, destroying carpet and damaging furniture and personal belongings; and a devastating tornado destroyed many homes and businesses in Moore, OK, just last week.

Among the things I'll be talking about are how to protect personal information, how to back up your computer and phone, apps that will provide help, and how to put together an emergency kit.  If you have any specific things you would like for me to talk about, please let me know.


"A prudent man foreseeth the evil...." (Proverbs 22:3)

100,000 views!

Thank you, everyone, for letting me surpass 100,000 page views on this blog!

My 2nd Blogiversary was last Friday, April 12th, but I was so busy, I didn't get a chance to post.

I will be doing a giveaway soon.  Stay tuned!