The Marble Jar Channel

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share the bamboo forest metaphor that helps me to understand how EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing works. I've just completed intensive training for EMDR, which is a body-based method that is used in mental health therapy.  Most notably, EMDR is used to process traumatic memories quickly -- particularly for people who are experiencing  PTSD.  But it turns out that most of the negative thoughts and emotions that we all have can be traced back to past unpleasant memories —even if they are not what you might consider traumatic.  And processing those memories with EMDR can help to eliminate the current negative thoughts and feelings too.  Because of this, EMDR can be used to treat a wide variety of mental health concerns including anxiety, depression, OCD, eating disorders, hoarding, and phobias -- just to name a few.  In addition, since EMDR helps to calm the body'

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock with the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll show you how I quickly and easily create hyperlinked cells in the mobile version of Google Sheets using the iOS Mail app. I'm aware that this is a niche issue, but I use this hack all the time, so I thought I'd share the trick I use.  Here's the thing.  It's super easy to create a hyperlinked cell in Google Sheets from a computer.  While on the cell you want to link, just hit Command + K on a Mac and Control + K on a PC, paste in the URL and hit apply and you've got a nice hyperlinked cell that brings up a link to the website when you click on or hover over the cell. The problem is that it's more involved for the mobile version of Google Sheets.  In fact, it really requires you to write a somewhat complicated formula that involves too much cutting and pasting and quote marks for my taste.  SO, here's my trick.  Before I show you this, you should know that somet

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel.  Today is the second in a two part series about the app that my public library uses to access digital books and audiobooks -- the Libby App.  This video is an update to the one that I did in 2019, which featured the old interface. In my first video, I talked about the pros and cons of using the Libby app to check out digital and audiobooks from the library.  For me the positives obviously far outweigh the negatives, since I use this app all of the time.  So, now let me show you around. My public library has a partnership with Overdrive, which is a distributor for digital resources like eBooks and audiobooks.  Their Libby app allows library patrons to check out these resources using their library credentials.  I'm going to show you the iPad version of Libby since it is easier for you to see on YouTube, but they also make versions for Android and the iPhone.   Once you download Libby, you'll need to sign in using yo

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share my thoughts on the non-fiction book summary app -- Headway. I'm read a lot of non-fiction books and yet -- there will always books I never get to -- my eyes are always bigger than my stomach when it comes to reading.  And here is the thing -- some books are worth reading every single word of, but some books I can live with just an overall summary.  I would say probably most books fall into the latter category.  So, that's where non-fiction book summary apps come in.  They give you about a 15 minute summary of a book.  This can help you determine whether you want to read more or whether that bare bones synopsis was enough.  A while back, I had a subscription to Blinkist, but recently I was approached by Headway to take a look at their app, so I'm going to give you my thoughts.  First off,  I love the concept.  Take a 300 to 500 page book, boil it down into about 10 pages

Hi, everyone!  This is  Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share my process for moving files and changing ownership from one Google Drive account to another.  This is particularly useful when trying to move files out of a closed system like a school or work domain. I recently graduated from a masters degree program and was told, unsurprisingly, that I would lose access to my school Google Account about 4 weeks after classes ended.  I was pretty much expecting this, but after 4 years saving documents and spreadsheets to the school's Google Drive account, I had a lot of documents that I didn't want to lose.  So, the question was, what is the best way to  transfer all of these school documents out of my school account and into my personal account?  Clearly, the easiest thing would be to share all of those documents with my personal account.  The problem?  If the owner for the document is my school Google account and that account went away,

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and today's video is the third in a three part series where I show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two.  The first two videos covered my camper requirements,  the bed build plus other sleeping concerns, and using the van for living or storage space when we are not sleeping.  This final video will cover the kitchen and other miscellaneous thoughts. Kitchen The kitchen is accessible from the back of the van.   My requirements for the kitchen were to have all of my cooking stuff fairly easily accessible, to have a good food prep area, and to have everything be -- again -- totally removable and easy to store in my basement or garage.  So not a big, heavy built-in kitchen.  Let me show you what I designed.  First the Refrigerator - I already had a cheapo cooler, but I decided to upgrade to this Coleman cooler that, when fastened shut, can keep ice cubes frozen for up to four day

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and today's video is the second in a three part series where I show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two.  The first video covered my requirements and the bed platform build. This video will cover other sleeping concerns and how we use the van for living space when we are not sleeping.  The last video will cover the kitchen and other miscellaneous items. So, I already covered how I built the bed platform, so now let's talk about other sleeping issues.  Bedroom - Other Here are some other things that make sleeping in the van awesome: Mattress - One of the key elements to this design was having an actual mattress.  I detest blow up mattresses -- I don't like the way they shift around when you move and they are ridiculously noisy.  So, getting a nice thick foam mattress that was 48" wide was key to this project.  Also, I CAN sew, but I didn't really want to spen

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'm going to show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two.  This is the first of a three part series.  This first video covers my requirements and the bed platform build.  Video 2 will cover other sleeping concerns and how we use the van when we are not sleeping and Video 3 will cover the kitchen and other miscellaneous thoughts. Why? I know minivan conversions are all the rage and a hot trend right now on social media, but I swear, I have been thinking about building out my minivan since at least 2012.  I'm definitely the most enthusiastic camper in my household.  Growing up, my family's main summer vacation was camping for 2 weeks about 2 miles down the road from our house and it is still in my bones.  The problem is -- my bones are old and creaky now and sleeping in a tent on the hard ground with some super thin camp mattress just does NOT wor

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll show you how I text and email handwritten thank yous and other notes. I know that handwritten snail mail notes are still the gold standard for thank you letters.  However, I am convinced that our standards have to be shifting a little with all of the new and more commonly used ways of communicating.  I already use a fun service called Felt to send handwritten snail mail cards with photos and other elements  — you can see my video on that if you are interested.  But I think it is becoming more acceptable to send gratitude, sympathy and other regards through quicker modes of communicating. It seems somewhat insane to pop a card in the mail to have it arrive 4 days later when you can send an email that will be received in seconds.  My problem is that I find the typewritten e-cards that are available a little too impersonal.   Some people love animated cards like the ones available from Jacquie Lawso

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll share how I use Notability for short-term notes along with Google Drive for longer term storage. I use three different note taking applications: Evernote, Notability, and Google Drive.  This may seem confusing, but I have rules about how I use each service. Evernote - this is my main note taking app.  It is where I store things to remember, book summaries, recipes, and all of my YouTube scripts.  If I'm going to type a note, it's usually going to be in Evernote. Notability - is what I use for handwritten notes.  So, that means diagrams, forms that need to be filled out, music notation, mind maps, and handwritten notes for training, classes, and clients. Google Drive - is where I keep all of my spreadsheets and presentations.  I think best in spreadsheet format, so that's where I plan most of my projects.  I also use Google Drive for notes or documents where formatting is imp

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video I'll share how I use Notability to create all kinds of diagrams and floor plans on my iPad. Notability is my go-to app for handwritten notes.  Or really anything that can't be put into a spreadsheet or typed out.  That means that it is the tool I use for pictographic images.  I have a basic tutorial video for Notability and one on how to use Notability for Mind Maps, but in this video, I'll show you how easy it is to create other kinds of diagrams and floor plans in Notability. I find it easy to sketch out diagrams or images that I'm going to use in a presentation in Notability before formalizing the design.  That way I can make tweaks before committing a lot of time and resources to the final design.   The nice thing is that Notability provides some tools to make your drawings easier and better without a lot of extra effort.   Let's go through them: Auto Shape - first of all N

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll give you my summary and takeaways from the book -- Attachment in Psychotherapy by David J. Wallin, PhD. I'm doing my residency as a mental health therapist and am reading a ton of books so that I can be as helpful as possible to my clients.  Some of these books, such as this one, fall pretty hard into the "training manual for clinicians" category, but it really helps me to synthesize the information better when I summarize for you, so I'm putting it out there for anyone who might be interested or is considering buying this book. The more research I do, the more convinced I become that our attachment history is at the heart of most of our relationship and emotional issues as adults.  By attachment, I mean the quality of the relationship with our primary caretaker as infants.  The more I learn, the more significant I believe the impact is -- on our sense of self, on our ab

Hi, everyone.  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today's video, I'll give you my summary and takeaways from the book called Exaholics: Breaking Your Addiction to an Ex Love by Lisa Marie Bobby. I'm now a mental health therapist in residence and I have been reading as many books as I can on every condition, every human issue, every disorder so that I can be as helpful as possible to my clients.  And I figured, if I'm going to read these books -- I should share my summaries with you, so here goes. The book I read most recently is about Love Addicts, which the author, Lisa Marie Bobby, calls Exaholics.  The reason this book appeals to me is that after hearing account after account of the loss, grief, and anxiety that people go through after break-ups, it started to occur to me that love was pretty similar to an addiction -- and that breakups felt a lot like withdrawal.  This book is, by no means, the only one to make this claim, there are lots, but it

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'll share how I take notes when I am listening to audiobooks using a handheld recorder. I listen to a lot of audiobooks.  And for whatever reason, I prefer listening to non-fiction rather than fiction.  The problem is that it's much harder to take notes while I'm listening to a book.  And if you've seen any of my other videos, you'll know that in order to retain anything, I *have* to take notes since I have a world class bad memory.  I have tried lots of options, which I'll recount for you: First I tried using the bookmarks in the audiobook to mark passages that I want to go back to. This doesn't work for me.  First of all, it's kind of dangerous since I'm usually driving while I'm listening, plus it's never clear to me whether the bookmark starts earlier than when you hit it, so I'm always having to back up the audio, and let's be honest, I nev