I’m Peggy and I make & sell things

Crocheting, Sewing, Jewelry, Paintings.. you name it. Just use the Contact Us form if you want something. I’m guessing that if you’re on this website you already have seen some of my stuff. I accept Venmo & CashApp. How can I help you?

Patterned & sewed shorts off an existing pair

Loan-U-Later is now an Android app!

It took me some time to fit it in, but I have finally rebuilt Loan-U-Later as a Unity app, and the Android build is now available on Google Play.

Unity for a UI based utility app, what is this lunacy, you say? In the past, I’ve used Unity’s UI for simple menus and gameplay UI, but stayed away from more complex layouts, so I wanted to see what Unity’s UI could do and am decently happy with it. There are some drawbacks, though.

Probably the most significant one is that the UI is entirely part of Unity’s graphics engine, and very rarely uses native UI elements, so any services or functionalities that the OS provides for free with native UI are not available. One such example is accessibility; Unity’ UI does not support native accessibility functions, TalkBack for Android and VoiceOver for iOS, so they just don’t work – there is a plugin available to mimic this, but I have yet to implement it. For some other functionalities, such as alerts, I utilized the great asset Cross Platform Native Plugins.

Another hurdle was the limited options of include UI elements. I ended up either having build my own, or modify included or 3rd party elements to fit my needs. Some examples of this are the tab and table views. Due to the nature of this app, I was able to avoid the issues related to interacting with the native keyboard.

Anyway, there is a bit of backwards compatibility to handle before I can update the iOS version, but it will be coming in the near future. Enjoy!

  Get it on Google Play

Recipe: Curried Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
5 Cup(s), Chopped Zucchini
2 Chopped Onion(s)
3 Clove(s), Minced Garlic
2 Teaspoon(s) Curry Powder
3/4 Teaspoon(s) Salt
1/4 Teaspoon(s) Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon(s) Pepper
1 Tablespoon(s) Brown Sugar
6 Cup(s) Broth, Vegetable

Instructions:
in soup pot heat up olive oil over medium heat – sautee zucchini, onions, garlic, curry pwd, salt, cinnamon, and pepper: stirring occasionally for about 10min until softened

spinkle on brown sugar and pour in broth

bring to boil then reduce to simmer: cook covered for 20 min
blend until smooth

After more than a year, IKEA finally restocked a specific model of sofa-bed that we’ve been waiting for. I purchased it in November and it took me another 4 months to finally make a trip to Fernhaven. On Presidents Day, Peggy and I rented a trailer, hauled the boxes out there, and put it together. Now Fernhaven’s loft is complete.

MacBook Pro to USB trackpad

Over the years I’ve become a fan of the trackpad, especially since the introduction multitouch and gestures.  The problem is that I mainly use an iMac, and there are very few, if any, options for a USB trackpad that works as well on a Mac as the built in trackpad works.  In scrounging the interwebbernets for the mythical USB multitouch trackpad, I came across a few references to using a MacBook’s trackpad since it is USB based.  This went by the wayside for a while, then recently I stumbled upon a post that went in to some detail of modding a trackpad for use as a USB device, and after seeing that I could buy the MacBook Pro’s trackpad case part on eBay for $30, I figured I’d give it a go.

Following are the photos of the process and some commentary.

Soldering the lead wires:

Looking at the small ribbon connecting to the controller board, I noticed that it only had four leads.  Since this is how many wires are in a USB cable, I made some assumptions about which leads were associated to which USB functions, namely that the left one that connected to ground, the right one to power, and the other two were the data cables.  Since there was no way that I could solder to the leads themselves since they were so small, I needed to find which test points (the gold spots on the board) connected to which lead.  I used a combination of tracing the circuit board and guessing to find the match, then used a digital multimeter to verify my guess.  Once found them all, it was time to solder.  Since I did not know for sure which of these leads connected to which USB function, I decided to solder lead wires instead of directly to the USB cable.  I prepped some multi-colored wire and fired up the soldering iron.  I was using an iron with a small tip, but even smaller would have been better.  I have seen reference to a “needle tip” which probably would have been just right.  I melted the solder onto the lead wire, then used the iron to melt that on to the board.  Several times I had to unsolder a wire because it was touching multiple test points.  Suffice it to say that it was a nerve racking ordeal.  Next, I twisted and taped the lead wires to the USB cable’s wires, having to guess which data wire went to which lead.  Luckily enough, I guessed correctly the first time, because when I plugged it in to my keyboard, it just work.  It shows up in System Profiler as “Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad” and I can use the default trackpad preference pane to set the gesture functionality I want.

Cutting and folding the case:

To get this to a usable state, I knew that I’d have to cut the case down to size.  My plan was to use tin snips and a sheet metal bender to form the metal in to a nice little case (photos 9 and 10, and redesign at 11), but I quickly ran into problems.  When cutting, the tin snips were curling the metal, so I had to cut at an angle so that the excess case got curled, and not the track pad itself.  After a few tests, I was able to get this down, and snipped out the trackpad with little damage.  I wish I could say the same for folding the edges.  The sheet metal bender was too large and I had no way to keep the rest of the trackpad from flexing when trying to bend it. I reverted to slowly bending bit by bit with pliers, but in the end, I bent the trackpad enough that the button only works when pushed firmly in the center.

Conclusion:

I’ve now been using my trackpad for several days now instead of a mouse, am still getting use to it, but I think it’s going to stick.  I wish that I could customize what the gestures do, but for now will have to be satisfied with having them at all.  If you are considering making one of these, my number one suggestion is that unless you know what you are doing, DO NOT FOLD.  Cut the case and use a Dremel or something to smooth the edges, and use something else, even metal from the excess case, to support it.  This is my only regret since the button is not wonky.  My second suggestion is get a small soldering iron tip, it will just make life that much easier.

Up a Tree

Long ago, my father, Tod, purchased a piece of property in Arch Cape between 101 and the beach.  It’s was designated a wetland after he bought it, which makes building on it rather tricky, so he has just left it alone for the time being.  Several years after he purchased it, someone put a “4 SALE” sign in a tree on the property, which wouldn’t be much of a problem except that the tree is rather large, and the sign was bolted to it.  When Tod called about the sign, the guy who bragged about putting it up said he did it because the trees on his lot (adjacent to my father’s) were to small to be seen from the freeway, and when asked to take it down, just laughed.

Fast forward to about a month ago, Tod decided it time for the sign to come down.  He called the number again, but found it was disconnected, so taking the matter into his own hands, he with me in tow, set off to cut down the sign.

Continue reading “Up a Tree”

Let me be your KJ

A few months ago, while at the Ambassador for Karaoke, I sang Enrique Iglesias’ Hero, but started off by changing the words, as I love to do.  I decided that it would be a fun song if I did it completely, so I re-wrote the lyrics and debuted it last night at the same place.  Afterward, I turned the lyrics over to the KJ as a gift, who said he would sing it for one of his KJ friends.  Here there are for anyone else who might be interested:

KJ (sung to Enrique Iglesias’ Hero)

Let me be your KJ

Would you sing,
If I asked you to sing?
Would you run,
Up to the stage?
Would you take,
The mic in your hands?
And would you sing a song, tonight?

Would you tremble,
If I called your name?
Would you laugh?
Oh please tell me this.
Or would you die,
If you forget the words?
Mumble through the verse, tonight.

I can be your KJ, baby.
I will let you sing your song.
I will sit back there forever.
I won’t take your mic away.

Please don’t swear,
On the microphone.
But you can act
However you like.
Is the night to short?
And the list too long?
I don’t care…
You’ll sing, tonight.

I can be your KJ, baby.
I will let you sing your song.
I will sit back there forever.
I won’t take your mic away.

Oh, I just wanna to hold your
I just wanna to hold your
song slip.
Is the night to short?
And the list too long?
I don’t care…
You’ll sing, tonight.

I can be your KJ, baby.
I will let you sing your song.
I will sit back there forever.
I won’t take your mic away.

I can be your KJ.
I will let you sing your song.
I will sit back there forever.
I won’t take your mic away.
I won’t take your mic away.

I can be your KJ.

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