How to Save a Picture Book

So, your child's water bottle leaked all over his library book... again? If you're like me, you'd do anything to save the book to avoid having to admit that your family is rather organizationally challenged.  There MAY be a way to save the book, if:

• The book is paperback OR the hard cover wasn't completely waterlogged,
• The papers have water damage, but are not mangled or matted, AND
• You have gotten to it before the water started to dry and the pages got stuck together. 

Here's what you'll need:

1. Wax paper
2. Scissors or paper cutter
3. Something heavy to place on top of the book

To begin, take a long piece of wax paper off the roll, or 5 or so sheets of smaller deli style wax paper sheets.  Cut into 1 to 2 inch strips.  Then, gently place the strips between the pages wherever you see water.  Some pages may need up to 3 or so pieces to ensure there is an adequate barrier between the adjacent pages.  After you have separated all of the pages with water damage, simply place on a smooth flat surface, and put something heavy on top to keep the pages from curling.  After a few days, the pages should be dry enough to remove the heavy object and wax paper.  Leaf through the pages a couple of times a day after just to make sure they don't stick together.

There you go! The book is saved and can be enjoyed by many more kids to come!  Checkout the pictures below!

WAX PAPER AND STRIPS INSIDE BOOK:

THIS WORKS BEST FOR THOSE SLIGHTLY SHINY COLOR PAGES, THAT STICK TOGETHER SO EASILY.

ABOUT ONE TO TWO INCHES IS BEST FOR THE WAX PAPER STRIPS.

C.H.I.P. off the ol' block

So, my 7 year old and I are embarking on a new journey, thanks to C.H.I.P. from Next Thing Co.  Back in May 2015, I backed their Kickstarter and selected the most bare-bones "$9 computer" C.H.I.P. they offered.  You read that right - $9!!!!! (in reality, after shipping, it cost me $14)

I mean, I'm a complete tech noob - well, really, not even experienced enough to call myself a "noob." Let's just say I put the "NO" in technophile. But, having started out my tech journey by typing code on a nifty Commodore 64, I KNOW the value of an itty bitty portable device that can function like a full blown PC and fits in the palm of my hand.

So, I paid my moolah, and in January a little package arrived with my C.H.I.P. inside.  After a few minutes of staring at it and pondering what the heck I was going to use it for, I put it in my junk drawer in the kitchen, hoping to at least keep it out of the kids' hands until I could decide how best to use it.  Worst case scenario, I could just run it as is and my little one would have a DIY version of the Kano, which we bought for my 9 year old for his birthday and has basically sat unused after the first week he had it.

But, then my iMac desktop decided to do what, in my limited experience, iMac desktops generally do - crap out on me.  Alas, what is a mommy addicted to Agar.io to do?  Despite the fact that it can be played on an iPad or smartphone, I really craved a big screen so I didn't get blindsided by those giant blobs in the top 5.

So, gradually, that little C.H.I.P. started to look a little more interesting.  In the past week, I pulled out the tiny little baggie numerous times, and pondered whether I could even begin to understand how to set this thing up.  Finally, two days ago in between two playdates at my house, I talked myself into purchasing the wireless keyboard to use with it and plugged it into an old TV.  Then, absolutely nothing happened. I checked all the wires to ensure they were all connected correctly.

Eventually, it dawned on me: it needed power.  Duh!  C.H.I.P. apparently uses a microUSB power connection, so after fishing out that old Samsung Note II power cord, I was in business.  I powered it up. Again, absolutely nothing happened.

So, again, I consulted the Next Thing Co website, and discovered there was some issue with the units that were sold via Kickstarter.  They had to be "flashed" to fix a software issue, with a jumper wire improvised from a paperclip.  After trying in vain on the old iMac, I snuck a few minutes on my husband's Microsoft Surface and got the job done.  This time, it worked!  Now, I totally feel like MacGyver. (Google it, you young'uns!)

Alas, after connecting it to the WIFI, it appears the pre-installed browser, IceWeasel, doesn't run flash.  AARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!  So, after consulting the handy-dandy user forums on the Next Thing Co. website, it appears someone else has tackled this issue and given instructions to install Chromium with Flash! (Shout out to barawn and CharonPDX!) Yay!!! 

Once I finally figured out which app to type the code into (I wasn't kidding about being a complete noob!), I actually typed in the code and made a program appear like magic. The best part is, my 7 year old sat there the whole time and watched me do it. After years of code.org and Khan Academy (which are great at teaching the concept of coding), he got to see REAL CODE in action. Like the kind that I grew up typing! 

And, after finalizing the install, I was able to log in to Agar.io and play to my heart out. The best part was that the game didn't freeze nearly as often as it had on Chrome on the iMac desktop.  So I got eaten by the big mean blobs much less often than I did on the iMac and stayed in the top 10 way longer. This will definitely keep this mommy very happy! 

All in all, C.H.I.P. is a phenomenal product, at a phenomenal price, with a phenomenal user base that really does share info and offer help in a way that's is accessible even to complete neophytes like me! 

FYI, in case you're wondering: I paid the full Kickstarter offer price for my C.H.I.P., and haven't received any discounts or promotional incentive for writing this review. I just thought I'd share what I eventually decided to do with my C.H.I.P.