Category Archives: Community

May 11 2 comments
Community

Field Day; fun hanging with my daughter’s class

Today, is a big day at my daughter’s school. It’s time to put the textbooks aside, for a bit, and go outside and play for several hours! It’s Field Day.

Field day, is conducted outdoors, if the weather is nice. And it encourages the children to exercise in an entertaining way, the various obstacle courses encourage the children to keep moving, work on fun games as a team, and participate in a little healthy competition also. Regardless of who receives the most points; they all seem to have a great time, and are disappointed when Field day comes to an end. I’ve participated with this activity, and many other school related functions, since my daughter was in kindergarten.

My daughter looks forward to me coming to school, and so do some of the children. Many of them know me from the various activities I’ve volunteered with. I must say that I’m curious to see what type of physical activities their gym teacher has cooked up for today’s adventures.

I most likely won’t be putting anything up for the Finished Object Friday link party, but I’m sure I’ll be posting things I’ve made during the coming weekend. Mother’s Day is the second Sunday in May; this Sunday. I do have completed crochet amigurumi projects to share.


Apr 26 2 comments
Community

Being neighborly; azalea bush

Azalea Bush 1 04 25 12

 

Psalm 8:3

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

Yesterday, when I getting ready to go to my daughter’s school, my neighbor beckoned me over to where he was standing…

He had his phone in hand, and asked if I could take a picture of his azalea bush.

Neighbor: “I don’t know anything about these technology gadgets, Opal… but I know you do” Can you help me?”

Me: Sure, I said I took his phone…

His cellular phone is an older model; definitely not a smart phone; but it was fairly easy for me to figure out how the camera worked, and so I snapped photos of his lovely azalea bush. He stepped into a few of those pictures. While taking the photo, he told me that this azalea bush is over fifty years old. It was given to him by his father. His father has been dead for at least twenty-five years.

The above photo wasn’t taken with his camera; I used my Nikon D80. While taking the pictures with his phone, I noticed the camera wasn’t taking great pictures, and I told him I’d come back later, if he liked, and take additional pictures with my Nikon D80. He accepted; this is one of the numerous shots I took.

It’s hard not to miss this bush; it’s gorgeous and this azalea bush is something I look forward to seeing every Spring; so it’s nice to have a photo.

Later today, I’ll load them onto a disc and give it to him, that way he can get them developed if he chooses to do so.

Apr 21 9 comments
Community, Crafts

Versatile blogger award, linkage, and seven things you might not know about me…

At Celebrate Life you’ll notice that I write about a variety of topics.

The reason is simple, sticking to one topic would bore me to tears…

Not everyone likes that approach, and I’ve had a few blog buddies tell me they wished that I’d stick to one subject… nope, not going to happen, that’s not me. I enjoy writing about a variety of topics.

 

Versatile Blogger

I’ve received The Versatile Blogger award…

This is the first award for this site, and so that makes it extra special.

I would like to thank Michelle, of Will Knit for Food, for nominating my site. When I first stumbled upon Michelle’s site, I couldn’t help but smile… Will Knit for Food… I’m betting many of us have thought that about something we enjoy doing. Then there are the fortunate ones that have been able to turn their craft into a business. Michelle’s a talented knitter and sewer, just look at her in that dress, isn’t she lovely?

Ok, moving on to the requirements for the award…

Requirements

Versatile Blogger Award requirements

Here are the conditions of The Versatile Blogger Award:

  1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
  2. Include a link to their blog.
  3. Next, select 15 bloggers that you follow regularly or have recently discovered.
  4. Nominate those bloggers for the Versatile blogger-award.
  5. Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself. 

Since I’ve already thanked Michelle for my Versatile blogger award, it’s time to nominate others…

I am not going to award as many bloggers. I think I’ll change the number to five, ok? This post should have been completed a few days ago. However, I do link out to bloggers a lot, so if you follow my site, you’ll be sure to see other bloggers mentioned.

Blog update cartoon

Celebrate Life’s Versatile Blogger Nominees…

Suituapui of Still Crazy after all these Years

I’ve been following Suituipai for a few years. Suituipai lives in Sibu. His posts are entertaining, and I’m frequently introduced to a food that’s new to myself, such as the jungle fern; that’s he’s posted about many times now. Suituipai is also entertaining, and makes his virtual guests feel welcome.

I love the fact that he takes the time to read the many comments left by his guests. 

Nicole of D’Nali

I’ve met Nicole through one of the crafty blog hops that I participate with, and I’ve been following her view my RSS feed reader.  I enjoy her writing style, and the crochet she shares on her site, including her commitment to start making her Christmas presents early. I’m with you on that, I’m doing the same.

My only regret, is she doesn’t write more; selfish… I know.

Kathleen of A Surprise Every Time

Kathleen’s a talented fiber artist, and I love to read what’s going on in her fiber world. Her posts are entertaining, and feature many of her talented crochet designs, she also makes the most adorable amigurumis.

Her comments on my site, have always been encouraging for me as a newbie crocheter, thank you Kathleen!

Andréann of Aux Demilunes; Every Single Day is Magic

I enjoy stopping by Andréann’s virtual home, she writes about her love of creating, which is evident in the variety of fiber art, which is regularly displayed on her site, take for example, the gorgeous handmade doll, knitting and sewing were combined to make this simply adorable doll. I also appreciate that she writes about her daily life. That’s refreshing!

Currently one of her children isn’t feeling well, so I hope he feels better quickly.

Mike Goad of Exit 78

I’ve followed Mike’s blog since perhaps 2008? It’s been a while…

Mike and his talented wife Karen (she makes gorgeous hand-sewn quilts) enjoy wide open spaces as much as myself. He’s shared many of their road trip adventures through his site. Mike shares plenty of photography photos to keep his readers entertained.

He also loves history, as do I, check out his website that focuses on the American Civil War site. This site features daily written account of the Civil War, by those living during that time.

calvinonwriting.06.18.10.jpg

I’ve always loved Calvin & Hobbes; this is one of my favorite strips.

Seven things you might know know about me

  1. I work from home; I have a few business sites that are monetized, and I write; online and print publications. The amount of money I make has been enough to keep me working at home since 2005. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, not as much now. Can you make money online? Sure but it’s a lot of work, with my business sites, I don’t write about how to make money online, but they do make money. :)
  2. I’m a single mom. When I was two months pregnant, my daughter’s father, was killed in a car accident. Naturally that was unexpected. I’m slowly starting to think about possibly dating again; nine years later. Yes, it’s taken that long to heal. I’m not rushing into anything, nor am I actively seeking one.
  3. I’m a Christian Lutheran. My faith is part of whom I am, so occasionally it comes up in my real life and online chatter; it’s an interest of mine, so as with anything else I’m interested in, I talk about it; no shame here.
  4. I enjoy helping others, because of that I’m involved with a lot of outreach ministries through one fabulous organization; my Lutheran church. My church is predominantly White, but our doors are open to everyone. It’s not just a saying. I’m there after all, and quite a few other ethnicities consider this their church home. We’re welcome there. I appreciate that my church practices what they preach; reach everyone — not just those that are similar to you; step out of your ‘comfort zone. 
  5. I enjoy staying in shape. I was planning on competing in Figure competition, but I kept gaining a few pounds. Turns out I was pregnant with my daughter. A surprise yes, but the best gift I’ve ever received.
  6. I enjoy extreme sports. My favorite extreme sport is skydiving, and I’ve been several times. That came to a halt when my daughter was born, however, I’ve told her when she gets older. I’ll take her on a few jumps. She’s excited.
  7. I love insects. My daughter and I regularly go on insect hunts. We take pictures, and when we return home we look them up in Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity

Thanks again for the award, and I hope you take the time to visit the bloggers I’ve mentioned above. 

Apr 19 6 comments
Community

A tad busy; assignments, gardening, and new stitches, oh my…

The past few days have been busy, which meant I haven’t had a chance to respond many of the comments on Celebrate Life. Thanks for responding, I should be able to get to those this weekend.

This morning I finished a few clients projects. Which means, I have the entire weekend to spend with my daughter. Yeah! I’m looking forward to that.

Also this morning, an article that I’d written on one of my business sites went viral, and so that’s received more activity than normal. I must say,  it’s been interesting seeing the amount of activity/sales that’s generated. The thing is, I wrote that article last year.

That site has done well monetarily, but I’m seeing a nice jump because of a recommendation from someone I never even met. I write under a pseudonym with my business sites.

I’ve received an award

The lovely and talented knitter; Michelle, of Will Knit for Food, awarded me with; The Versatile Blogger award, and so I’ll be linking to her tomorrow, and posting my selections for ‘Versatile blogger’. I do hope you stop by and check out some of the sites I’ll be mentioning. With some, I’ve ‘known’ the bloggers for a while, and others are fairly new to me; the bottom line they’re great bloggers, and I hope you stop by their virtual homes and say hello.

Playing in dirt

Earlier this evening, we planted flowers outside, or should I say “I planted them.”

My eight-year old daughter got distracted by playing., and who could blame her? It’s a beautiful day in Maryland, and so I took regularly paused to watch her frolic about the yard, while I planted the lovely flowers. I’ll post pictures this weekend.posting that tomorrow.

Smelling the roses

Thankfully my day is winding down, and now I’m hanging with my daughter. I’m in the process of learning a beautiful crochet stitch; shell stitch.

Apr 13 3 comments
Community

Man in nursing home reacts to music; ministering to others

How a man in the nursing home reacts to hearing music, recently went viral on social media.

If you have a few moments, check out the above video. It’s a perfect example of how powerful music can be…Music is amazing, isn’t it?

I couldn’t help but smile when this man ‘came to life’ after hearing songs from his youth.

Over the past twenty years, I’ve been to nursing homes on numerous occasions. My first interactions were personal, since my grandfather, and later my grandmother was there. My grandfather was only there for about two years before he died. My grandmother lived for several more years.

They both  were fortunate… the majority of their children lived close by, and my father and his sister made sure they were visited daily; often by themselves. I’d usually visit on the weekends, since I was off of work.

Our family realized that interaction is important, and we kept visiting, even after my grandmother had Alzheimer, we kept visiting daily. Music was a part of the nursing home program where my grandmother resided, so I could see what an impact it had on some of the residents.

Music notes

Music Ministry

So yes, I have first hand experience to the reaction that some have when they hear music. Over the past three years, it’s been displayed when my eight-year old daughter ministers to the nursing home residents through her piano playing.

In many cases, the catatonic stare when she started playing, and many would become alert, several would start singing.

My daughters piano teacher attends the same Lutheran church as ourselves. She’s also the church’s traditional music director.

Mark 16:15

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.

Sometimes the ‘world’ we need to be engaging, isn’t too far from our homes…

A few times yearly, her student’s minister to those at the nursing home through song. I’m thrilled that she realizes the impact that songs can have on people and is willing to showcase our children’s talent, with a group of people that most overlook.

My Lutheran church has an amazing music ministry, and several times yearly they minister to those in nursing homes. It makes me proud to be part of a spiritual family that makes an effort to reach out to many; cross cultural ministries, homeless shelter, food pantry, and our music program, are just a few of the ways we minister to others.

Apr 03 8 comments
Community

What’s up in Maryland: Grilling and Maryland Republican Primary, 2012

April 3, 2012, has arrived and so has the Maryland Republican Primary, 2012. I’ve already voted. I’m not one to stick to one party, when it comes to voting since I know you can liars regardless of what party you support, and so I tend to block out what the parties tell me, do my own research, and vote.

Although the polls opened at 7:00 am, I was only the fourth person there when my daughter and I arrived around 10:30 am.

Backyard grilling…

In Maryland, the temperature is supposed to reach 70 F, I’m thrilled. My work is almost finished, so my daughter and I’ll be hanging outside. She’s been itching to ride her bike, and so that’s most likely what happen, while I either skate, or sit on the sidelines working on my crocheted Easter eggs.

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Grilled Bean Burgers: First batch of bean burgers

Grilling

Above is a recycled picture. For a brief time (before I started Celebrate Life) I created a free site on WordPress; Not Your Ordinary Momma (hence the abbreviated name Nyomomma). I wanted to see whether I wanted another personal blog, before purchasing a domain name and adding it to my hosting provider.

Yes, I’ll be outside grilling today. Most likely while my daughter is riding her bike. The weather is warm, the chicken and veggie burgers are marinating, just waiting to be cooked. I’ll be grilling them, along with a few other items. I’ll try to post pictures, so I can share some here at Celebrate Life.

 

Apr 03 2 comments
Community

Moving forward; coming out of hibernation

Cartoon bear hibernation

This site Celebrate Life, has been in hibernation since it was created a little over two years ago.

Although I posted here, and commented at a few places I wasn’t as active as I’d been with my other personal site.

I believe part of the reason, is finding the time to post. My workload and volunteer activities have increased, and so that didn’t give me a lot of time to do any personal blogging. Family isn’t included in the above equation, because nothing trumps my family.

Sure, I could have let this domain expire, but I knew I didn’t want to do that. I like the name I chose, since it accurately describes my view of life… every day is a blessing.

A few months ago, I started thinking of ways that I could promote the site, although I couldn’t do too much about it, I was able to write my down my thoughts, and slowly gather sites in my NetNewsWire feedreader, that I wanted to visit.

Blog Promotion

This past weekend I started putting those ideas into action. Naturally I’m thrilled that I’ve come out of hibernation with my personal site. It’s only taken two years…

So yes, I’ve started promoting my personal site, just as I used to do with my old one. The thing is, I didn’t see it that way, and to be honest I still don’t.

The type of ‘blog promotion’ I was doing was simply being a ‘good virtual neighbor’. You know… stopping by virtual homes to say hello, joining online communities to further increase my interaction with others.

It was an added bonus, if someone liked a comment I’d left and either stopped by my virtual home, commented, mentioned my site in a post, or added Celebrate Life’s RSS feed to their RSS feed reader. Naturally, it wasn’t the reason I visited others; but those types of things did happen. I’d met people like myself, and that was amazing. Back then, that site had a high page rank, long before I knew what Page Rank was…

Thankyou cartoon

Thank you, readers of Celebrate Life

Granted, it’s still too early for big results, but here at Celebrate Life, I’ve already seen a surge in traffic, and additionally an increase in subscribers that use a RSS feed reader.

So thanks readers (old and new) it’s appreciated.

Photo Source: Gog’s Workshop

Feb 28 13 comments
Community

February; the month has flown by….

Is it almost March already? What happened to February? It seems as if I blinked and the entire month just flew by.

At times, I find it challenging to maintain this site. That happens, when my life gets busy. I’ll think about writing something, and when it next pops into my mind a few days (or even weeks) has slipped away.

Overextended

I won’t overextend myself

Over the years I’ve learned not to take on more than I can handle. It applies to many aspects of my life; work, volunteering, social engagements, etc., It wasn’t an easy lesson to learn, since it’s my nature to always want to assist in any way that I can. Sure, I accomplished the assignments, but it didn’t leave a lot of time for myself. Having my daughter changed that, since she trumps everything.

Helping others is something I do with my ‘down time’. It’s one of the ways I relax. It feels great helping others.  Assisting someone who desperately needs help is the only reward that I need to receive. It feels great.

BoardMeeting

New position; Board Member

Earlier this month, I accepted a board member position. It’s a two year position, and It doesn’t take effect until July 2012, however I attended my first meeting yesterday. I was introduced, and got a chance to get a first hand view of the people I’ll be interacting with. I’m looking forward to the opportunity. What’s even better? I wasn’t a bored member at that meeting. Ok, that was corny….

 

Compassion

Volunteering; Food Pantry

This past Saturday, my daughter and I visited one of the numerous ministries available at our Lutheran Church. Our church has a food pantry. Thursdays and Saturdays, the food pantry is open, and those in need are able to stop by and receive groceries. I had a great time interacting with the church members, who serve as volunteers. I also had a great time, talking with those who came to receive food. A few of them expressed interest in our church, and mentioned they would be interested in attending our church service. I was able to give them literature.

Attending our church is not a requirement to receive food, and we don’t ‘actively sell’ the church when we’re talk with those within the surrounding communities  that utilize some of our programs. Guess what? We don’t need to do that, the way our members treats everyone speak volumes. Treat others how you want to be treated, simple but effective. Regardless of your race, socioeconomic background, or past… you are made to feel welcome.

Crochet

I’m still managing to fit crochet into my schedule, currently I’m crocheting bear number three for the Mother Bear Project. I’ll have to post pictures soon.

Photo Source: Ron Dotson: Western Art; Overextended

Feb 13 14 comments
Community

Maryland Ravens; Wheelchair Basketball

MR10 02 02 12

The past few weeks have been extremely busy, thankfully things are starting to slow down for myself, and so I’ll be posting a bit more. Last week, my daughter and I went to a local wheelchair basketball game. The team is called the Baltimore Ravens, they’ve been around longer than the NFL football, Baltimore Ravens, that shares the same name. The Baltimore Ravens are in gold.

MR6 02 02 12

I’d met the executive director of the Maryland Ravens, Edward Diggs, a week before, and had a chance to chat with him, in length, about this nonprofit organization. This nonprofit organization was created in the 1970′s. My daughter and I had a lot of fun at the basketball game, and we’re hoping to attend a few more before the season is over.

What a great message they’re sending.. abilities despite disabilities!

Jan 24 5 comments
Community

Know your worth: Harlan Ellison — Pay the Writer

 

Harlan Ellison: Pay the Writer

Recently on Ravelry, there was a discussion about knitting and how much one should charge for their work. I’m not selling any of my crocheted items yet. I’m still learning, but I do see many crocheters and knitters undervaluing their work. Well, guess what? This applies to any profession. When I got interested in paper crafts, I saw it there. I do a lot of freebies for family and friends. I also volunteer my time to assist with local charities and I also make hand crafted items that are donated to various organizations.

If I ever get to that place where I do sell my crocheted designs — you won’t find me underselling myself. Those who do undervalue their work can make it challenging for those who are selling their work at a legitimate price, since some buyers might assume they’re getting ripped off. Talk about frustrating! I’ve experienced this when approached (by some people) about technical writing assignments, and in the past when selling my beadwork and sewing designs, however, I never undersold my services.

Anyway the discussion on Ravelry made me think about Harlan Ellison’s rant Pay the Writer. Now Harlan’s a bit more colorful than I’d be, I don’t swear, and you won’t find me threatening anyone, but watching the video you get the point. Although he’s speaking from a writer perspective, this can be applied to other professions also. With myself it took a lot of research, to ensure that I receive fair pay for the work I do.