Best Phone Case for Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Proclaim

These cover/cases are very cheap. Some of the Amazon covers I didn't have to pay anything because I used my Amazon card points.

I bought several from Amazon. The one that feels great and that has protected my phone the best is the last one in the list. I found it on Ebay.

I've used the Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Proclaim for over a year now and I still love it. The only thing is covers/cases are not readily available (in my area anyway), so I had to go online. I tried out SEVERAL before I found one that stuck.

(above) This was my first cover. The colors are great and it fit the proclaim very well but it was a little slippery because it's hard plastic. I wanted a cover with more 'tackiness' to the feel.

 

(above) This one was great too but it has the same slipperiness because of the hard plastic. These two colorful covers have a front and back that snap together.

(above) This one I gave to my mother in law for her Proclaim. She loves it. It's one piece, wraps around the phone and will not come off when the phone hits the floor. It provides good protection too. My husbands has this cover in green for his Proclaim. He has dropped it several times (butter fingers) and it has always survived.

These are just a few of the cases/covers I've used (or my family) for my Proclaim. This last one (below) from Ebay is the one I'm not changing any time soon! Unless it's for the black/pink version. 

This is the back of my Proclaim with the case on.

The cover is in two pieces. A (soft rubber) white cover that wraps around the edges of the face and a hard, outer (pink) cover that really grabs the phone and the white cover. This cover provides two layers of protection. Great cover! I have dropped it more than once and it's never been negatively affected. It also doesn't slide on a table or feel slippery in my hand.

This is the same cover/case (below), from the same Ebay seller I bought mine from but it's pink/black, rather than pink/white. Very nice! I'm buying one as soon as I finish this post!......really.

For Straight Talk Samsung Galaxy Proclaim s720c HYBRID Net Case Black Pink

How to Setup Verizon Pantech UML290 WiFi with TLMR3040 Wireless Router

DSL is not offered in this area, so we use the Pantech 4GLTE UML290 from Verizon Wireless.

The only drawback is that the UML290 supplies internet for one device, it's not Wi-Fi. Sometimes it would be nice to have Wi-Fi, such as my IPod or Xbox360. I could one of the Verizon jetpacks/hotspots but the USB modem works so well in this area and my desktop would need a wi-fi adapter, etc.

So I bought the TLMR3040 to use with my UML290 when we need WiFi.

The router comes with a quick installation guide and a resource CD. 

The online user guide is here. 

The router usage will become less reliable if the battery gets weak. It's a good idea to keep it on charge while in use.

This is what mine looks like (below) with the UML290, ethernet cable and power cord attached.

HOW TO SET UP THE TLMR3040 Wireless Router and UML290 to supply WiFi to an XBOX360.

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0 GHz - Upgraded: CPU Fan, Power Supply, Video Card

I purchased my ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 processor, new in 2007. Recently the computer started shutting off at random times and under varying load. It might have been on for a few minutes or two hours before it shut down. Then it would make three or four beeps without starting windows. The CPU fan seemed to hesitate although the two case fans, video card fan and power supply fan seemed to run smoothly. So I decided the CPU fan was worn out and because of that the processor was overheating. 

After a lot of researching, I replaced the ....

• Power supply because I added another case fan and upgraded the video card 
• CPU fan because it was hesitating and allowing the processor to possibly overheat
• Video card because my GeForce 7600GT was not getting the job done on new games
• Thermal paste between the heat sink and processor in to improve heat transfer from the processor to the heat sink. I didn't have to apply paste because the new heat sink came with pre-applied paste. 

I purchased the power supply and CPU fan from Newegg.com and the video card from Ebay.com.

Rosewill Stallion Series RD700 700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply

ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, CPU Cooler - Intel & AMD, Multi-Directional Mount, 92mm PWM Fan

Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7750 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E video card 

These new parts installed without any problems on my ancient motherboard. I'm still not sure what caused my computer to shut down, beep and eventually to stop powering on at all but I haven't had any problems, not even a hiccup since upgrading. I really think it was overheating from the slow CPU fan and the old thermal paste and/or it could have been the power supply malfunctioning too.

Looks like I'll be keeping my ancient but faithful motherboard for a while longer. 

Easy How to: Custom Blogger Domain with Godaddy

I recently purchased two domains from Godaddy for my Blogger blogs.
That was the easy part. I was clueless about how to actually start using my new domains with my blogs.
I Googled and read through a few tutorials but they did nothing but confuse me more because the tutorial images didn't match what I was seeing in my Godaddy account.
Then I ran across this simple tutorial....

http://www.safetricks.com/2014/01/Godaddy-domain-to-blogger-blogs.html

I followed the very few directions and it worked perfectly! Thank you very much
Pahul Singh!

My Favorite Kindle Paperwhite Apps

When I bought my Kindle Paperwhite, I didn't consider doing anything else with it other than reading but after browsing theAmazon Kindle Store, I found some fun and useful apps for my amazing gadget.

I found these in Games and Active Content.....

Library Elf: Keep Track of Library Book Due Dates

Turning your child loose in their section of the library to collect books, is a safe opportunity for them to be in control. Teaching your child to enjoy books sets them up for a lifetime of discovering amazing books.

 The only negative element of the regular library trip is when your books are overdue and/or you're not sure if you have them all.

If this happens often, you need to know about about Library Elf. This wonderul service can save you overdue fees and embarrassment galore.

Library Elf has been around for five years. I found out about it from a librarian after I had to pay several dollars in overdue fees. That was the first time and the last time, thanks to Library Elf.

Library Elf supports a large list of US, Canadian and International libraries.

This service can help you:

Organizing my Kindle Books: Numbered Collections

If you own a Kindle of any kind, at some point you'll need to organize your books, if you have more than two books anyway. I have over 300 books at the time of this post.

 I download what I like to read and I have two other family members who have their devices (Kindles and Kindle Apps) registered with my Amazon account simply because I keep them supplied with good books to read in their favorite genres too. 

A lot of the over 300 books are free, some are paid and two are library books. Here's what's in my 'Reading Now' collection.

The two Richard Castle Books, Heat Wave and Frozen Heatare both library books. Somewhere My Lass was free at Amazon when I purchased it. Crescendo (The Hush, Hush Saga)is a paid book from Amazon and A Man for the Summer is still free on Amazon.

That's what (above) my Kindle Reading Collection Category looks like inside. This (below) is what all of my (few) Kindle Collections look like. 

My first Fishtail or Herringbone braid

I think the fishtail braid is so pretty. I've been wanting to try it in my daughters hair but I had no idea how so I went to YouTube to find a tutorial.

Needless to say, there are TONS of videos on how to do a fishtail braid. I watched a few and found this one to be the best for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxs_T_9omUY

For me it was easier to see what was happening on light colored hair rather than dark hair.

It was easier than I thought it would be. Here's how my first fishtail braid turned out yesterday....

Kindle Paperwhite: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Cover

Kindle Paperwhite Ink Blue Cover

I received my first Kindle (Paperwhite) on November 7th of 2012. I'd wanted a Kindle for a long while but I was holding out for one with its own light source, since most of my reading is at night.

The Paperwhite is an awesome for reading.

After receiving my kindle I thought the experience was going to be thumbs down due to sluggish responsiveness and freezing. When it froze there was nothing else to do but a hard reset. As soon as the Kindle came back on, I downloaded and installed the latest update for the Paperwhite. I haven't had any problems with it since. I learned it's important to check for updates, even if you just purchased your Kindle.

I decided on the Ink Blue, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite cover. The kindle fits very snuggly in the cover. The cover stays closed with the help of magnets. Also closing the Kindle immediately puts it to sleep. Amazon has a crazy huge selection of Kindle Paperwhite cases from several brands including:
Lightwedge
Belkin
Marware
and Vera Bradley, but for me, I'm hooked on this case......

123RF.com: Free Images for my Blogs

There are many sites dedicated to free and low cost images that are simply amazing to see.....but after all my searching 123rf.com is simply above all the rest. I get all my blog images from 123Rf unless I've taken them myself. It's a great place to sell your work as well.

123rf also has 20,783 (at the time of this post) FREE IMAGES to download and use.

Watch this YouTube video of 'cute animal photos from 123rf.com'. You'll laugh and say, 'awwww'....a lot!

123rf offers more than 6,568,967 Royalty Free Stock Photos. You'll also find fantastic Photoshop tutorials.

 April's tutorial is how to create a robotic insect!

How cool is that!

I have a lot of 'wow moments' while I'm browsing through images. For instance, look at these from the backgrounds and graphics category....

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MOOM: Facial Hair Removal option for women with PCOS

No doubt you are asking yourself what MOOM is. This is a 'very good thing' that will appeal to women more than men because it's a simple, inexpensive, yet effective form of hair removal. I first read about MOOM when I subscribed to Dr. Lark's Newsletter.

For many years I endured expensive, painful electrolysis treatments. Since I have a hormone imbalance, getting my facial hair growth under control is not easy. Here's an article I wrote about my experiences with facial hair removal ...
PCOS and Hair Removal Options

Moom is not totally painless but it's more painless than waxing or electrolysis.

This is how I do it and I get great results:

How to put YouTube videos on Sansa Fuze that works

Instructions are for Windows XP

I recently purchased a Sandisk Sansa Fuze for listening to music, storing/transporting favorite photos and videos. I wasn't thrilled with the Sansa Fuze at first. It took me a day of playing with it to get the hang of it but now I like it.

What you need to play videos on the Sansa

One thing I was really excited about was putting my videos on it. I use my digital camera for short videos then transfer them to my computer for keeping. I thought it would be simple to run the video through the supplied Sansa Media Converter then transfer it to the Fuze.

Well, it wasn't that simple.

Is anything ever really 'that' simple? No.

I never did get the Sansa Media Converter to work, so after a lot of time consuming searching, I found a solution that does work. It also works perfectly for converting YouTube videos to play on your Fuze.

I purchased this video converter

I tried several different programs both free and trial versions but I didn't find one that worked until I came across the Sansa Video Converter from 4videosoft. I purchased it for $21.95 but it's well worth it because it not only does it work perfectly, I can improve the video and sound quality with this program also. It's not only for converting YouTube videos for the Fuze. As I already mentioned, when I video with my digital camera, my videos have to be converted before I can watch them on my player.

The Sansa Video Converter also converts video for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Zune, Xbox, Sony Walkman, and others.

Bigfishgames.com: Games for Kids

 BigFishGames.com

This is by far my favorite site for games. I have purchased several games from Bigfish. Most of the games are for my five year old daughter.

Why is Bigfishgames.com a very good thing?

Your game purchases are stored on their computer so that when you need to download it again all you have to do is go to your account and voila! There's no keeping up with the game on a disk somewhere or beating your head against the wall when your hard drive dies.

But the most important reason is that they have tons of awesome games that will totally immerse you when you need a break.

Here's a list of the games I have purchased and played:

How I Created a Cheetah Theme Birthday Party

My daughters sixth birthday party was the most fun yet. She loves cheetahs with their cheetah spots, so we had a cheetah themed birthday party for her. I was a little afraid it wouldn't appear obvious that it was cheetah themed but it turned out great.
I finally found people at a local cake shop who would make the cake according to my daughters specifications. She wanted it to be cheetah spotted with a stream down the middle, trees on both sides and cheetahs drinking out of the stream. The women at The Corner Coffeehouse, were enthusiastic about making the cake and I appreciated that. Here's the cake.......

How to create Bill Payment Record with Open Office.org

I have tried using different financial sites with all the bells and whistles but the problem was too many bells and whistles. I simply didn't need all that. I also didn't like the idea of my financial information (account numbers, etc.) being so exposed.

What I have been using for two years has helped me avoid late fees. It's free and simple to set up and use.
I use OpenOffice.org to make my 'bill payment table'. If you don't have it you can download it free, here.... http://www.openoffice.org/

In Windows XP (what I use), go to Start>All Programs>OpenOffice.org 3.3>OpenOffice.org Writer.
When you are ready to create your first table, go to the table icon on the toolbar.
Here's an image of the table icon if you're not sure where that is.