Cat Food for Tender Tummies

Posted on , updated on by Marina

Some kitties are sensitive to grains or just plain have sensitive tummies. For those kitties, it can be hard to find cat food they can stomach. My daughter’s cat is one of those; most foods make him throw up and the vets suspect he has an ulcer, poor kitty. (He is a bit tense.)

After trying out a number of canned cat foods, we recently found a cat food that he enjoys and that he can keep down; it is called Nature’s Variety Instinct. It isn’t cheap, though, so I spent a lot of time scouring the Internet for the best possible price. My search wasn’t exhaustive, but it was pretty thorough. Sometimes the prices would be okay but the minor cost savings would be eaten up in shipping costs.

I finally found a place that has a decent price on this food and also offers free shipping if you sign up for their autoship program. If you follow this link to Petflow.com, you also can get free shipping. We are quite happy with their service and I think you will be too. My daughter’s cat is doing much better as well, much to our relief.

Send a Delightful Advent Calendar as a Gift Now

Posted on by Marina

One of my childhood delights was the annual advent calendar my mother would purchase. Made of cardboard decorated with a winter holiday picture or themes, it would have little flaps numbered from 1 through 24. Those numbers represented December 1st through 24th. Starting on December 1st, one of my siblings or I would be allowed to find and open the flap for that day. Behind the flap might be an image or a saying. (Many years later I discovered that fancier, more upscale advent calendars might have a piece of chocolate behind them, or a tiny plastic toy. Even fancier ones exist as well, made of wood or cloth, that can be reused year after year.)

I haven’t had an advent calendar in many years, but this year a friend of mine sent me a software advent calendar that is thoroughly charming and delightful. From JacquieLawson.com, an English company, the calendar sits as an animated snowglobe on your desktop. Each day, you can enlarge it to enter an English country village to see what new thing is going on in preparation for Christmas. Locations in the village are numbered, and you click on the number for the corresponding day. The location expands into an animation with holiday music, after which you see the entire village again, only this time with activity continuing at the location you clicked. Of course, you can view the village any time, and enlarge the location and re-view the animation any time as well.

The best part of this is that the advent calendar is incredibly affordable. If you just purchase one, it is only US$3; the enjoyment I am getting out of this gift is all out of proportion to such a tiny price. The price goes down by 25 cents with each additional one you purchase; at 5 or more, the price is only US$2. I highly recommend this calendar as an inexpensive and yet thoroughly delightful way to share your joy in this holiday season with family and friends.

JacquieLawson.com also has an animated greeting card service that is similarly very inexpensive; you can send birthday or other greeting cards, or even schedule cards to be sent days, weeks, or even months from now. You can have JacquieLawson.com send you a reminder to send a card.

(In case you are wondering, I am not affiliated with JacquieLawson.com in any way; I am simply sharing my enjoyment and enthusiasm for this gift so others can know about it as well. It is a sad thing to me that so many people create blogs for the sole purpose of “recommending” something for which they are being paid. My blog is not like that. If I ever do recommend something for which I might receive a fee, such as a book at Amazon.com, I will tell you so. Even then, be assured I have never recommended something, and never will. unless I truly and sincerely think it is something worth recommending.)

How To Save Money #13: Repurpose Old Calendars

Posted on , updated on by Marina

Calendars generally are considered one-use items. But they don’t need to be. There are many things you can do with old calendars. Here are just a few ideas; after reading through them, you are sure to come up with more.

Reuse in a Few Years

If you really enjoyed a calendar, you can reuse it when the dates are right again. For example, your 2010 calendars will be good again in 2021, 2027, 2038, 2049, 2055, 2066, 2077, 2083, 2094, 2100, and 2106. In 2011, you can reuse calendars from 2005, 1994, 1983, 1977, 1966, 1955, 1949, 1938, 1927, and 1921.

There are some calendars I wish I had saved because they were so gorgeous, but I didn’t think of the fact that you can reuse them in some number of years.

Want an easy way to determine when you can reuse a calendar? Check out this Web site.

Decorate Binders

If you don’t want to keep a calendar around until it is good again, you can use the images to decorate binders. You know those binders that have a clear place on the front, back, and spine where you can insert something? Cut one image from a calendar into two pieces, one for the front and one for the spine, and place it in those inserts in your binder. If you cut the calendar image right, it will look like the image is wrapping around from the front to the spine. I did this for a binder holding my DayTimer calendar pages and it was beautiful! For the back, I chose a coordinating image from a different calendar. (The binder below was my first, so the cuts are imperfect. I recommend using a ruler and preferably a paper cutter instead of eyeballing and cutting freehand.)

Calendars can make lovely binder decorations.

If you don’t have a binder with clear insert sleeves, you can use heavy-duty clear tape (like packing tape) to attach an image to the front and spine. It still looks very nice, and can be a way to dress up a binder well enough that you get more use out of it. I did this to a binder that was a bit battered and an ugly 80s color and placed items in it that I need to refer to, but not so often that I wear the new cover out.

Frame the Art

If there are images on a calendar that you would love to look at every day, consider framing them. I had a calendar that was all reproductions of Henry Evans lithographs. I took all the art, trimmed it, and put them all in one frame. When I feel like it, I shuffle the pages so a new image is showing. Alternatively, I could have framed two or three of my favorites so I could see them all the time.

To save money on framing, check out PictureFrames.com. I’ve been buying from them for a very long time now. Their quality, customer service, and prices are all excellent.

Indexing Tips

Posted on , updated on by Marina

I admit I am a former librarian with a Master’s in Library Science. While working on that degree, I took a course in professional indexing and have been a professional indexer ever since. I originally made this post for fellow students in my InDesign 2 class, but the class message system stripped out the indentations, so I am reposting it here for them

Here are a few tips on indexing that might help make your indexes easier to create and use.

Some Definitions

A main entry (also called a main heading, but I don’t want to muddy the waters here) is an index topic that doesn’t come under another topic. A sub-entry is an index topic that comes under a main entry. Here’s an example:

cats <== this is a main entry
    about 6 <== this is a sub-entry

Levels refers to how many entries and sub-entry levels you have. I highly recommend having no more than three levels; most indexes do fine with just two.

cats <== this is level 1
    about 6 <== this is level 2
        food dishes 8 <== this is level 3

Page Numbers and Entries

If you have an index entry that refers to a lot of pages (my rule of thumb for “a lot” is more than three), create sub-entries for each of those pages. In other words, instead of having something like this:

cats 6, 8, 9-12, 37, 43

Create sub-entries for each of those pages, like this:

cats
    about 6
    breeds 43
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37

That way, your readers can more quickly find exactly what they are looking for, instead of having to check every page reference until they find it.

Cross-references

There are two most commonly used cross-references: See, and See Also. Normally just the words See or See also are place in italics.

See References

A See reference sends people from a term they might be looking for to the equivalent term you actually used in the index. There should never be page numbers or sub-entries with a See reference. For example,

felines. See cats.

When should you use a See reference? If you are going to have a lot of entries under one main entry, you don’t want to have to duplicate it under another main entry. That’s a good case for See references. Otherwise you will get something like this (which, by the way, is prone to errors, as you will inevitably forget to index something under one or the other main entry):

cats
    about 6
    breeds 43
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37
    ... etc.
felines
    about 6
    breeds 43
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37
    ... etc.

If a main entry is only going to have two or three entries under it, then skip the See reference and index the same topics under both main entries.

cats 6, 9
felines 6, 9

See Also References

A See also cross-reference notifies people that there are related index entries under another entry. Generally a See also reference goes from a more specific entry to a less specific entry, as in the following example, where cats is more specific and pets is less specific.

cats
    See also pets.
    about 6
    breeds 43
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37

You would NOT normally have a See also reference from pets to cats, though you might well have a See reference from a sub-entry to a main entry, as in the following example. You would do this if that entry is going to have a lot of sub-entries of its own. You can even have more than one such See reference.

pets
    about 4
    cats. See cats.
    choosing 5
    dogs. See dogs.

See also references can either come at the end of the sub-entries, or at the start. Both ways are correct and there are reasons for either; I prefer to place them at the start so people know right away that there are related entries.

Note that you can have a See also reference to a general set of topics rather than to one specific topic; if you do this, place the entire See also reference in italics so people don’t get confused (in this example, so they don’t think “individual animal breeds” is a main entry).

pets
     See also individual animal breeds.
    about 4
    cats. See cats.
    choosing 5
    dogs. See dogs.

See Herein and See Also Herein

See herein refers people from one sub-entry to another sub-entry under the same main entry. It is mostly used in legal documents. See also herein is similar. You probably won’t need either.

Capitalization

An older index style is to capitalize all main entries whether they are proper nouns or not. That style is also considered to be more formal. More recent trends (especially in scientific literature) is to capitalize a word only if it would normally be capitalized (i.e., is a proper noun).

Main entries capitalized:

Burmese cats 12-14
Cats
    about 6
    breeds 43
    Burmese. See Burmese cats.
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37
Felines. See Cats.

Main entries follow normal capitalization of word:

Burmese cats 12-14.
cats
    about 6
    breeds 43
    Burmese. See Burmese cats.
    feeding 8
    genetics 9-12
    training 37
felines. See cats.

Final Tips

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for sticking with me. Here are a few quick practices for people who just want to get it done:

  • Every heading should have at least one index entry. Think about what the main topic is for the material under a heading, and index accordingly. You normally wouldn’t use the heading itself, but instead will use an informative index entry.
  • Think of how someone might approach your book. What terms are they going to use? Are there other terms people use than what you used? Those are good candidates for See references.
  • If your book is about tomatoes, then the assumed main entry for every entry in your index is tomatoes. This means you should NOT have tomatoes as a main entry. On rare occasions, you might have tomatoes as a main entry in such a book, but it should not have many sub-entries and it should have a really good reason for being there.
  • For readability, your material should go no more than half a page without a heading level of some kind. This makes it easier to index as well.

If you are interested in the topic or in becoming an indexer (most indexers are freelancers), check out the American Society for Indexing’s Web site:

http://www.asindexing.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1

The Perils of Being Psychic #1

Posted on , updated on by Marina

When you are psychic, it isn’t all wine and roses. The hazards and added responsibilities require the ethical person to keep an eye on him or herself. And sometimes things happen anyway. For example…

I have a Thing about spiders. They have always been creepy to me, ever since I was quite small. Later in life, I learned that people with malevolent intentions sometimes use spiders to spy on and even harm others. Continue reading →

Spirituality and Drug Use

Posted on by Marina

This brief excerpt is from a recent private reading I did. I have permission from the person, and there is nothing here that identifies that person in any way. The question asked was concerning drug use and spiritual growth.

There are many ways and many cultural paths for enlightenment, though we recommend that each  person follow the path that suits their genetic heritage. There is a  reason for this: your genetic heritage is a choice you have made. That is, you have chosen, before you were born, to be part of that heritage, and therefore it is a choice you have made for this lifetime to be a part of that heritage. This means honoring that which is sacred within that heritage, and following the practices of that heritage. Lest you start to fear this or feel that it is highly restrictive, be aware that when we look at your cultural heritage (as part of your genetic heritage), we are looking at a very long span of time, not just the past few hundred or even thousand years. So from that very long span of time, you have a wide range of choices for your expression. We do not mean that you need forego following the  practices of other cultures as they seem appropriate to you or as you are drawn to them, for in fact many people, yourself included, have ancestors who belonged to a variety of cultures. If you are drawn to something and feel that it is right for you, then it almost certainly is.

Now, we will say that it can be detrimental to rely too much on drugs as a method of achieving any state, not so much because of the drug itself, as that the drug is a tool you are using to attain a state that you are capable of attaining without any drugs. It can take time, study, and practice to be able to attain those states without the use of any external methods, but we draw your attention to the yogis of India, as well as the practitioners of “magic” from many different cultures, to show that others have gotten there, and so can you as well. Just as the athletes of your own country (and other countries) show how the human body can reach very fine states of fitness and physical capability, the yogis and medicine men and women and shamans and so on all have shown how the human being is likewise capable of attaining very fine states of awareness, and very finely refined and attuned spiritual and mental states. So we encourage you to strive for such states, without judging yourself or taking away from yourself any tools or props you need at the moment.

How To Save Money #12: Use Free Software

Posted on , updated on by Marina

Software doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. There are many fine low-cost and free alternatives to even the biggest and most popular software packages. I use and can recommend a number of them.

In the following table, the software on the left is perfectly fine software, but the prices may be out of your budget. The software on the right is free. (Note that much of this software is available for a variety of platforms—Windows, Linux, and Mac.)

Free Software to Replace Paid-For Products
You Pay For This But Instead You Can Get This For Free
Microsoft Office OpenOffice (has a word processor, spreadsheet, a PowerPoint-like program,  a database, and a graphics program); compatible with Office files.
Microsoft Outlook (email program) Thunderbird. ‘Nuff said.
Media players iTunes and VideoLAN (for many operating systems).
Quicken or some other accounting program GnuCash (a full accounting program). I loved and used Quicken for about twenty years, but I converted to GnuCash last year to save money and am quite happy with it.
SmartFTP or some other paid-for FTP program FileZilla (elegant and easy). SmartFTP used to be free. Then they decided not only to start charging for it, which was their right, but they also decided to retroactively charge for the versions they had given out for free years before. (If you didn’t pay, you could no longer play.)  Exit SmartFTP, enter FileZilla, which anyway is a much better program.
Microsoft OneNote WikidPad, TiddlyWiki, Zoho Notebook (an online product), Treepad Lite, EverNote (has free and paid-for versions),  ToDo List, many others. I use ToDo list but have taken a look at many of the Wiki-style notebookish programs.
Adobe Photoshop (I use this instead of free versions, but that is because I need the full power of Photoshop for my work) Google’s wonderful Picasa, plus ten other free alternatives, including Adobe Photoshop Express.
Adobe Acrobat Professional (again, I use this because I need itfor work) A long list of free alternatives.
WinZip I love WinZip, but here is a free alternative: 7-Zip.
Norton or McAfee or other anti-virus software SpyBot Search & Destroy, CCleaner, AVG Anti-Virus, Microsoft Security Essentials (yes, really!). Note that you should never rely on just one anti-virus program.

Free Anyway, But Use Instead Of…

Use Google Chrome, Google’s Web browser, instead of Internet Explorer. (Top ten power tips for Chrome.) I only use IE anymore when a Web site absolutely, positively doesn’t function with Chrome.

Not Free, But Low-Cost and Worth It

Here are a few programs I use all the time. Most of them you register for once, at a very low cost, and then you can can use it (and its upgrades) forever.

TextPad. This is THE text editor as far as I am concerned. A replacement for Notepad.