Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 5, 2014

13

THE GOOD LIFE

 Mountain Views News Saturday, July 5, 2014 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

LOW-COST AND FREE CELL PHONE OPTIONS 
FOR SENIORS


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! … July Birthdays*

Nina Bartolai, Mary Lou Caldwell, Louise Neiby, Eunice Banis, Betty Hansen, Christine 
Durfort, Shahrzad Azrani, Jeanne Borgedahl, Janet Cox, Dorothy Montgomery, Bess 
Pancoska, Janet Swanson, Linda Thunes, Barbara Watson, Pat Alcorn, Karma Bell, Alice 
Clark, Dorothy Jerneycic, and Betty DosRemedios.

 *To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. YEAR of birth 
not required.

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Quote of the Week: “Let freedom never perish in your hands.” ~ Joseph Addison

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ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the Hart Park 
House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 YMCA San Gabriel Valley Intervale Senior Café: Monday-Friday at 12:00 Noon 

(Participants are urged to arrive no later than 11:45 A.M.) 

All seniors 60 and up can take part in the lunch program. There is a suggested donation of $2.00 
for those 60 and over and $3.75 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary as space is 
limited. Please call 24 hours in advance...626.355.0256

Free Balance Class: Every 3rd Monday, from 11:00 to 11:45 am with Shannon. All ability levels are

encouraged and welcomed. Canceled for the month of July.

Hawaiian and Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10:00am to 11:00am. Join 
instructor Barbara Dempsey as she instructs you in the art of hula.

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00pm. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to 
join. May be canceled if less than 5 people.

Free Blood Pressure Testing: Held 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11:00am to 12:00pm. No 
appointment is necessary.

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, July 23rd from 10:00am to Noon. Attorney Lem Makupson

is available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, and Injury. 
For an appointment call 626-355-7394.

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45 am, except on the third Monday of the 
month when the balance class is held. A suggested donation of $5 at one of the classes is requested, 
but is not required.

Birthday Celebrations: Every second Thursday of the month the Hart Park House Senior Center 
celebrates birthdays of our patrons. The free birthday cake is provided by the Sierra Madre Civic 
Club.

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 1:00pm. A regular group of seniors play poker. Other games

available for use. Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45pm to 1:30pm with Lisa 
Brandley. The class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the 
class are provided.

Senior Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown bag lunch at 11:30 am. 
Club meeting at noon. Bingo 12:30-3:30 pm. Annual membership is only $10.00.

 

UPCOMING EXCURSIONS

California Science Center (Los Angeles, CA)

Date: Friday, July 18, 2014 • Time: 9:15am to 3:30 pm

Meeting Location: Hart Park House Senior Center

Cost: $25.00 (does not include lunch)

Experience the California Science Center’s feature exhibition, “Pompeii,” which offers a glimpse 
into the opulent lifestyle and tragic end of this ancient Roman society. Relive the volcano’s 
catastrophic eruption through an immersive multimedia experience. The trip also includes 
the National Geographic film “Forces of Nature” and which showcases the power of volcanoes, 
earthquakes, and severe storms on the 7-story IMAX screen. Participants are asked to bring 
additional money for souvenirs and lunch; two restaurants are available onsite. Last day to register 
is Thursday, July 10. Level of Walking: Moderate

1st & 3rd Wednesday

Shown at the Hart Park House Senior Center

July 2nd: Nine (2009)

Famous film director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his 
professional and personal lives as he engages in dramatic relationships with 
his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother. Rated PG-13, Start 
time: 1:00 pm (run time 118 minutes)

Featuring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, 
Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Penelope Cruz

July 16th: Blue Jasmine (2013)

After everything in her life falls to pieces, including her marriage to wealthy businessman Hal, 
elegant New York socialite Jasmine moves into her sister Ginger’s modest apartment in San 
Francisco to try to pull herself back together again. Rated PG-13, Start time: 1:00 pm (run time 98 
minutes) Featuring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, and Peter Sarsgaard


Dear Savvy Senior:

What are the cheapest cell phone options 
available today to seniors living on a shoestring 
budget? I only need it for occasional calls.

Seldom Calling Senior

Dear Seldom:

For financially challenged seniors who only 
want a cell phone for emergency purposes 
or occasional calls, there are a number of 
inexpensive no contract plans you can get. Or, 
depending on your income level, there are also 
free cell phones and monthly airtime minutes 
you may qualify for. Here’s where to find some 
of the cheapest deals. 

No-Contract Phones

 One way infrequent cell phone users can save 
money is with a prepaid cell phone – also known 
as pay-as-you-go phones. With a prepaid phone 
there’s no contract, no fixed monthly bills, no 
credit checks and no hidden costs that come 
with traditional cell phone plans. With this type 
of service, you buy a special prepaid phone then 
pre-purchase a certain amount of minutes (for 
talk or text) that must be used within a specified 
period of time.

 While most major carriers like AT&T and 
Verizon offer inexpensive prepaid plans, as do 
independents like Net10, Cricket and Virgin 
Mobile, some of the best deals are offered by 
TracFone (tracfone.com, 800-867-7183) and 
T-Mobile (t-mobile.com, 800-866-2453).

 TracFone has phones that start as low as $10 
and call plans that cost under $7 per month. 
And T-Mobile has a super-cheap 30-minute 
plan for $10, and minutes don’t expire for 90 
days. That averages out to $3.33 per month. 
If you need more talk time, they also offer an 
annual plan where $100 gets you 1,000 minutes 
that are good for a full year. T-Mobile does, 
however, charge a one-time activation of $35.

 Or, it you would rather have a no-contract 
senior-friendly phone with big buttons and 
simplified features, the Doro PhoneEasy 618 sold 
through Consumer Cellular (consumercellular.
com, 888-345-5509) is probably your cheapest 
option. It costs $60 for the phone, with calling 
plans that start at $10 per month.

Free Cell Phones

If your income is low enough, you also need 
to check into the Lifeline Assistance Program. 
This is a government-sponsored program that 
subsidizes wireless (and landline) companies 
who in turn provide free cellphones and around 
250 minutes of free monthly airtime and texts 
to low-income Americans. (Some programs in 
some states provide more minutes, some less, 
and some charge a small monthly fee.)

 There are currently around 15 million 
Americans who have a free cell phone through 
the Lifeline program, but millions more are 
eligible. 

 The free phones and minutes are provided by a 
number of national prepaid wireless companies 
like Safelink and Assurance Wireless, along 
with a host of other regional carriers throughout 
the country.

 Many states have more than one wireless 
company that provides the free phones and 
minutes. If you are eligible, the free cell phone 
you’ll receive is a basic phone that also offers 
text messaging, voice mail, call waiting and 
caller ID.

 To qualify, you’ll need to show that you’re 
receiving certain types of government benefits, 
such as Medicaid, Food Stamps, SSI, home 
energy assistance or public housing assistance. 
Or, that your household income is at or below 
135 or 150 percent of the Federal Poverty 
Guidelines – it varies by state. The 135 percent 
poverty level is currently $15,754 for singles 
and $21,235 for couples. The 150 percent level is 
$17,505/singles, $23,595/couples.

 To find out if you’re eligible, or to locate 
the wireless companies that provide Lifeline 
government cell phones in your state, visit 
lifelinesupport.org. You can also learn more at 
freegovernmentcellphones.net.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, 
P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit 
SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to 
the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy 
Senior” book.


KATIE Tse..........This and That

Punch Needle, And Other Obscure Crafts

 God has blessed me with 
the most wonderful mom in 
the world, and I take every 
opportunity to shamelessly 
brag about her! Not only is she 
compassionate, patient, and 
humorous, but she and my dad 
are model retired people. For 
my parents, retirement released all the creative 
energy they didn’t have enough time or money 
for when they were working. Retirement freed 
my mom to pursue her passion in fiber.

 What exactly does “fiber” mean? Some people 
are seamstresses, others are knitters, and some are 
weavers. But when you become immersed in all 
these and more, the only common denominator 
is fiber. Now that my mom has two sizable looms, 
she tries to get me interested in weaving.

 It’s not that I don’t like weaving, it’s just way 
too complicated. First you measure the warp. 
Then you count an exact number of “ends” and 
tie them evenly onto the back rod. Then you 
painstakingly thread the heddles, which can 
end up in disaster if you are not totally focused 
(sometimes it ends up in disaster anyway). After 
that you sley the reed and tie the ends onto the 
apron rod. And that’s just the set up before you 
actually start weaving!

 Weaving involves so much math, interpretation 
of charts and graphs, and fluency in a foreign 
language (“shuttle, reed, castle, temple,” etc. 
have entirely different meanings) that it should 
be offered as a educational prep skill. If learning 
to play an instrument improves children’s math 
skills, learning to weave will turn them into 
engineers!

 My mom and her fiber friends love a challenge, 
but I gravitate toward simplicity --which is why 
punch needle appealed to me so much! My mom 
emailed me a YouTube video of a woman doing 
punch needle embroidery. Instead of stitching, 
this lady was stabbing fabric with what looked 
like a sharpened marker in rapid fire movements. 
“It’s like coloring with a crayon!” someone 
posted. Higher math is beyond me, but coloring 
with crayons is something I can do!

 The rub, however, was that neither of us knew 
anything about how to use a punch needle. Even 
my mom’s fiber friends were unfamiliar with it. 
For a long time we couldn’t tell the difference 
between punch needle and rug hooking. One of 
my mom’s friends very nicely hooked (Ha ha!) 
me up with a friend of hers in town who does 
rug hooking, and she graciously invited me over. 
We’ll call her Carolyn.

 So, I went to her house with my ragged 
“project.” The kit was for a heart-shaped pillow 
with “Love” written on it. (Cheesy, I know, but 
it was supposed 
to just be for 
practice). The kit 
came with canvas 
that had “evol” 
on it, and yarn, 
but no needle. 
So we ordered 
a needle that is 
often bought 
when customers 
purchase the kit, 
or so Amazon 
told us. Imagine 
our frustration 
when we tried 
to thread the fat 
yarn though the 
teeny tiny needle 
that arrived.

 Carolyn took a look at my mess and said that 
what I was doing was punch needle, whereas she 
does rug hooking. She showed me some of the 
beautiful wall hangings she’s done (when you 
spend that much time on something, you don’t 
want people stepping on it!). At last she showed 
me the project she was working on. Carolyn had 
a hook with a wood handle, which she used to 
pull strands of cut wool up through the fabric to 
form a series of little loops. “With punch needle,” 
she said, “I believe you work from the wrong side 
of the pattern.” So that’s why it said “evol”!

 Additional differences between the two crafts 
are that with rug hooking, you cut strips of wool 
using a very expensive fabric slicing machine. 
Other fabrics can be used, but wool is traditional. 
With rug hooking, you must make sure that 
you’re pulling out the loops to the correct length. 
Rug hooking has been around since Colonial 
times, and has certain classical designs. Punch 
needle, on the other hand is a faster, simpler, and 
cheaper method to produce a similar product. 
Essentially, rug hooking is like making a cake 
from scratch, and punch needle is like using a 
boxed cake mix.

 Well, I’ve learned a little more since embarking 
on this punch needle journey. Simple as it is, I 
still haven’t gotten the hang of it completely. 
But that’s oaky --it’s a heck of a lot easier than 
weaving!

* If you’re interested, Weaving/Spinning classes 
(with over 100 floor looms!) are taught by the 
world’s BEST weaving teacher, Janice Martens, 
and are available through the Tri-Community 
School District at 20350 Cienega Ave. Covina, 
CA 91724. Check out their website at www.
cvusd.K12.ca.us/tri-community.


SENIOR 

CINEMA

SEASONAL FUN AT THE SENIOR CENTER

Word Puzzle Competition • July 14-18, 2014

Come to the Senior Center during the week of July 14 to exercise your brain and enjoy the company 
of other puzzle enthusiasts! Try a different word puzzle everyday and enter for a chance to win a 
$20 gift card. Featured puzzles include word searches, crosswords, kriss kross, sudoku, and rebus 
puzzles. For each puzzle you complete, you will receive one raffle ticket. Puzzles may

be completed at home, but they must be returned to the Senior Center by Monday, July 21 at 11:00 
am to be considered for the drawing. Tickets will be drawn and winners announced on Monday, 
July 21 at 12:15 pm. Prizes include a $20 Domino’s gift card and two $20 Trader Joe’s gift cards.

 

LUNCH & LEARN PRESENTATION - SALT THERAPY

Wednesday, July 30, 2014 • 12:00 to 1:00 pm

This presentation was rescheduled from October 2013. Listen to Reiki Master Kristen as she 
explains the benefits of Salt Therapy. Discover the all-natural, drug-free treatments that are offered 
at The Salt Studio such as salt therapy, massage therapy, and Reiki. These forms of treatment are 
helpful with many conditions that affect the body including: Arthritis, Chronic Obstructive

Pulmonary Disease (COPD), muscle tension, stress, Sinusitis, sore throat, colds, cough and 
congestion. If you would like to have lunch during the talk, please make a lunch reservation with 
the Senior Lunch Cafe at 626-355-0256 or bring your own.

 

LET THE BRAIN GAMES BEGIN

Tuesday, July 22, 2014 • 11:00 am to Noon

Improve your memory and strengthen your brain with fun, hands-on activities. Each month brings 
new games and contests to facilitate brain stimulation. Be sure to bring your friends as you engage 
in friendly competition for prizes. Activities facilitated by Swati Puri, Community Liaison for 
ComForcare Senior Services in Pasadena. Questions? Contact the Senior Center at 626-355-7394.


Tech Talk: Technology Assistance

Mondays, July 14 and 28 from 2:00 to 3:00 PM

Tech-savvy youth from Sierra Madre Middle School will provide assistance with the operation 
of cell phones, tablets, and computers. Participants should bring the device with which they 
need assistance; computers are available at the Senior Center for general instruction. The class 
is free of charge, but registration is required. To register, or for questions regarding the program 
call 626.355.7394.

We’d like to hear from you! 

What’s on YOUR Mind?

Contact us at: editor@mtnviewsnews.com or www.facebook.com/
mountainviewsnews AND Twitter: #mtnviewsnews


Have a enjoyable and safe holiday weekend!

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com