Month: July 2010

Steam snags Alien Swarm; Catch it now, it's free!

Aynaria 5 Comments

steam-powered.07.21.10.gifI enjoy video games, however, recently I really haven’t had a chance to play anything. You know how it is, at times you don’t get to indulge in your me time activities because there’s so much going on in your life. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, jobs, family time, volunteering, working on a side project (in my case this website, and a few other things) gets into the way of doing some of the carefree activities like gaming, catching movies with friends, or curling up with a good book.

Video games, are one of my “me time” activities. I haven’t played them too much recently. I’m not sad, I simply have other things that take priority over gaming. However, I still keep up-to-date with the gaming news. Hellmode (one of my new favorite gaming sites by the way) posted that Steam is offering Alien Swarm for free. All you need to do is log on and download the game? Oh, you do have to have Windows. Sorry to all the Mac and Linux users out there. I won’t be playing it either, since I mainly play or my Mac or Xbox 360. If you aren’t a Steam member you can join for free. Simply sign up for an account at Steam’s website and your in business.

From Steam’s website…

Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community. Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes.

It’s always nice seeing Indy people recognized. I use a lot of Indy applications on my MacBook Pro, and have snagged a few Indy games in the past too. Earlier today, I logged onto steam to check out the video. I haven’t been on there since early July when I was playing Torchlight. The gameplay appealed to me, and if it were available for Mac users, it’s something I would download. If you want to learn more about the game, surf over to Hellmode and check out Ashelia’s writeup about Alien Swarm. It’s an excellent review, it almost makes me wish I had the time to play it.

In other news…

Upcoming screenshots of the garden, and the overabundance of produce we’ve reveived. I’m so thankful for the rain. Plums, tomatoes, eggplant, squash, cucmbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, blackberries, figs, etc., We’re truly blessed.

Murdering my Darlings; A decrease in categories

Aynaria 4 Comments

wall-E.07.21.10.jpgHere at Celebrate Life, checking out my Category section was a bit of an embarrassment. They were a big mess. There were times when I had posts listed under multiple categories. It’s something I didn’t like. However, I decided to push it out of my mind, and not think about other things. Your problems will magically disappear if you do that. Ok, that’s not true… They don’t go away, however, they can get bigger!

In my case, that’s exactly what happened. Although I completely ignored my category mess, it didn’t stop me from adding more. Yeah, yeah, I know that didn’t make any sense. My little darlings kept growing, and growing… it was out of control! Yes, in many cases those categories were repetitive. I had a hard time getting my “it’s the same but it isn’t the same” category naming tendencies under control. Let’s not even go into how many I had, mkay?

Yesterday, I took action, and eliminated a lot of categories. What caused this change of heart? Being a person who loves stats, I had already checked the effectiveness of the Categories via Google Analytics Site Overlay (very similar to Heatmap.) It confirmed my suspicions, my readers, rarely used my categories. The amount that do, was under 4%. That tag cloud I have? Well that doesn’t get used a lot either. I’m happy to say I’ve cut my categories down to nine. It’s simplistic, and not as confusing as before.

I’d recommend Google Site Analytics Site Overlay feature (or something similar) for anyone that is focused on building their virtual community. It lets you know what interests your readers, and where they are clicking too. With my older sites, I used it for many things, one of those being a spot that would get the most clicks for my Top Commenter’s. It’s always nice sending referrals their way.

Here’s something to think about… this site is still new the top way I’m getting traffic is simply by commenting on other peoples websites. I don’t comment on a lot of sites at the moment, my time is limited however when I actually do read what you write and am not giving you a canned answer with my response. I try to add to the conversation. It’s paid off since people have come to my site, that’s known as a referral.

In hindsight, I should have created my categories when I started this website, instead of creating them as I wrote.

If you’re a WordPress user and have the urge to decrease your categories. I’d like to recommend a WordPress Plug In that might make the transition a lot easier.

Recommended WordPress Plugin

Broken Link Checker created by Janis Elsts

It does exactly what it says, if you’re like myself and do a bit of internal linking, yes I linked to categories in some of my posts, chances are you might have a broken link. You want this WordPress plugin, seriously! This little addon will track them down for you and let you fix them. That it folks, after you’ve cleaned your categories to a respectable size, head on over to your PlugIns and click on the Broken Link Checker. You did install it right? No, what are you waiting for? If not grab it from the Plugin section in your admin tools, click on New, enter Broken Link Checker, install, activate, and you’re ready to go.

Of course, you can use this WordPress Plug in for more things than fixing your categories. I installed this a few weeks ago. I found a few broken links after the installation, and was able to update the links to point to the correct link in a few easy steps.

Cleaning up those broken category links will help out tremendously since your visitors won’t be tossed onto the dreaded 404 error page (which isn’t so dreadful if you have customized it.) For the record, I haven’t customized my 404 Error page yet, but it’s one of the things I’ll complete today.

Oh, the phrase Murder your Darlings, came from the excellent article by Rob Parnell.

Upcoming changes to Celebrate Life

Aynaria 6 Comments

changes.07.20.10.jpgWhoa, can you believe August is almost here? Time is really flying by. It won’t be long before my seven year old daughter heads off to school I’ll miss her while she’s away, but I’ll definitely get more accomplished.

if you follow me through the social media sites like Twitter. My name is @Moonndancer, you’ll know that I’ve been unusually quiet. Shocking I know, with the amount of tweets I can pump out. To be fair, I chat with and retweet a lot of my buddies post. I’m still around, I’ve just been focusing most of my online time on this website.

Celebrate Life is my newest website (it went live early this month.) The actual website started as a free WordPress site called Not Your Ordinary Momma, towards the end of May 2010. I love my daughter, but got tired of having Momma in my blog url, additionally I couldn’t stand the limitations with the Free WordPress site so I purchased a url, and moved to a paid hosting provider. Heals & Dots and Not your Ordinary Momma was my first time checking out a free platform. All my other sites, just like this one, are housed with a paid hosting provider.

Blogging isn’t new to me, it’s something I’ve been doing for several years. When I started, blogging I knew nothing about Search Engine Optimization. I believe I did know how to interact with others in a positive way. I hope it showed in the comments I left on the sites I visited. I enjoyed the interaction and did it often.

I can still recall when someone left a comment on my websites about Page Rank. I had no clue what they were talking about. My website had a Google Page Rank of five, which according to some was a ‘good thing.’ If I liked a person’s site, I would occasionally link to them in my posts. I didn’t do it to get a link back from them. It was simply my way of sharing a particular post to my readers. I figured if I like it, some of my readers might like the article and the writer. I can’t keep a good blog to myself. Whether you had a huge following or none at all that didn’t matter. I’d still link to you. If you think about it, we all have to start at the beginning. Even after becoming aware of Search Engine Optimization, I’m still following that principle. It’s just how I am.

Writing down my goals…

I’m a list person; I tend to write down my goals for whatever I want to accomplish. My lists are usually electronic, so you’ll find them on my 17″ MacBook Pro. I really like lists, since it keeps me focused, and motivated enough to turn those goals into a reality.

I’m not the only one who creates list, Amber Garner of Is this thing on? recently wrote The List. Her list isn’t focused on her website, but things she would like to do in general. Pinkie Larue, has a 101 list and has crossed off several things already. Here’s hoping we all achieve our goals.

Do I have a list for this site? You better believe it!

Upcoming Additions to Celebrate Life

  • Cleaning up my Catergory section

    • Have you seen it, it’s a mess! I don’t know what I was thinking when I created all those categories, and so I’ll be trimming it down. Chris Pearson wrote a great article titled, What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories. It’s an excellent read, I’d recommend reading through the comments too.

  • Recipe Page

    • Recently I’ve been doing a lot of behind the scenes work, and I hope the changes made are helpful and help you navigate through Celebrate Life as efficently as possible. Checking out Google Analytics, I’ve learned, that people come to Celebrate Life looking for recipes. Currently, I’m working on linking all the recipes I’ve posted here to a static page. I still have a long ways to go before I even put a dent in the amount of recipes I had on my cooking website, but in time they’ll get published.

  • Word Press Plugins

    • Ever visited a website and wondered what awesome Plug in they were using? Yeah, me too. I’m always happy when writers have a post or page dedicated to the WordPress Plug Ins they use. Interesting enough, on one of my older websites, my WordPress recommendation pages, received a lot of traffic. It seems a lot of folk were interested in reading what others thought about a specific Plugin.

  • Spotlight Post

    • With my other community based website, I spent a great deal of time recognizing those that made up my fabulous community. I met some amazing people from all over the world, and some of them I still keep in contact with. As this website grows, I’ll be adding that feature here. I’m not going to do it now. This url isn’t a month old yet, Google Analytics does tell me I’m starting to gain a small following of repeat visitors so for that I’m thankful. Thanks for returning to my site, it’s appreciated.

  • Giveaways

    • Giveaways can be a lot of fun; no I won’t have my readers jumping through hoops to enter to win something. With a few of my older websites, I was contacted a lot by various businesses to sample and offer items to my readers. I turned down a lot of those offers, since it’s something I knew that I or those within my little community wouldn’t want. When I do have giveaways I promise I’ll keep the requirements simple. So no, you won’t have to friend me on a ton of social media sites to enter to win. Who knows, you might see some of my own skin care products in the giveaway.

  • Instructional videos

    • This is something you won’t be seeing for a long time. The reason is simple, I’m extremely busy and really don’t have the time to devote to shooting or editing a video. However when I finally do get around to posting videos you’ll most likely see me cooking, sharing a natural skin care recipes, or showing you various exercises you can do at home, or the gym. I’ll need to get my workout partner to help out with the last one.

Overall I’m pleased with the direction Celebrate Life is headed. After blogging for several years, I know what I like. I’ll be incorporating some of what I’ve learned here. Naturally you’ll see improvements too. I still have a lot to learn.

Technorati Tags:
Moondancer, WordPress

Chronic Constipation: Eliminating It Naturally

Aynaria 5 Comments

constipation.07.20.10.jpg

I used to suffer from chronic constipation although I was rarely doubled over in pain from the lack of bowel movements, heaviness, and occasional cramps I experienced were uncomfortable. It surprised me because well… I was ‘healthy’ as a whole food vegan I was eating the right foods so why in the wold was I experiencing this problem? I decided to do some research as it turns out I wasn’t eating enough fiber rich foods.

Greens such as collards, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens, were something I didn’t eat a lot of about eleven years ago. Sure I ate greens daily, mainly lettuce and spinach, but the amount of dark leafy greens I consumed was very small.

In my case simply upping my intake of greens caused me to have bowel movements again. Also, I incorporated self massage using specific essential oils. That did the trick in a few days; I was having bowel movements a few times daily.

unhappy-monkey.07.20.10.jpg

Constipation: Why does it happen?

  1. Not eating enough dietary fiber
  2. Not drinking enough liquids
  3. Lack of exercise
  4. Poor eating habits
  5. Ignoring the urge to have bowel movements

Several years ago, I was guilty of #1 and #5. Regarding #1, I realized that although I was consuming fiber daily I needed to increase the amount of fiber that I was adding into my diet. Now I usually eat at least three cups of some type of greens daily. It has been extremely effective in helping me have bowel movements a few times daily.

With #5, there were times when I did not want to have a bowel movement, for example, if I were in a public restroom I “held it” until I was in a private location, my own home. However the more I read about bowel health the more I realized that this isn’t a good practice and can contribute to a lazy bowels. I changed my ways.

If you listen to the mainstream view about bowel health having a bowel movement three times a week is considered normal and healthy. Really, if that is healthy why are there so many bowel related diseases in westernized cultures? I’m not buying it. Doesn’t it make sense that we should be eliminating shortly after we consume our foods?

When we look at the high amount of processed foods that invade our diets, the lack of exercise, and the poor excuse many of us make when it comes to changing our eating habits is it really any wonder that our health is so poor and many of us are plagued with health related diseases?

Natural ways to prevent or eliminate constipation

  • Eat fiber rich foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains)
  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of water
  • Avoid sugar and processed foods
  • Exercise regularly
  • Drink peppermint tea

    • peppermint has long history of relaxing muscles on the gastrointestinal tract.

  • Drink Apple Cider Vinegar tea.

At times, it seems that openly talking about constipation is frowned upon. Which is unfortunate, especially when we think of the complications it can cause in a persons life. A better approach would be to educate the public (and yourself) on natural ways we can eliminate constipation.

Technorati Tags:
Moondancer, Natural Remedies, whole food

Tea: Apple Cider Vinegar

Aynaria 8 Comments

Although I’ve used apple cider vinegar for numerous years, it wasn’t until about seven years ago until I decided to do more reasearch on it’s numerous benefits. I first learned about apple cider vinegar when I was a child. My grandmother that used it religiously, she told me some of its benefits and encouraged me to try it out too.

Apple Cider Vinegar contains Vitamins C, E, and A. It also contains the minerals calcium, magnesium, potassium, and many other trace elements and nutrients. There have been numerous claims made about apple cider vinegar. I’ve listed a few below.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

  • Improves skin tone
  • Improves circulation
  • Detoxifies and purifies the body
  • Fat burner
  • Natural household cleaner
  • Soothes mosquito bites

Sipping it straight from a cup is something most people won’t do, since it still has that strong vinegar tast. However you can mask the taste of Apple Cider Vinegar by including it in your teas and juices. I’ve included a simple recipe below for those who might be lookiing for natural ways to eliminate constipation.

Apple Cider Vinegar Tea

  • 1 cup of hot water
  • 1 tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon black strap molasses or honey

Sip and enjoy!

Technorati Tags:
Moondancer, Vegan, Vegetarian, Natural Remedies

Very Berry Smoothie; A sipping drink for summer

Aynaria 8 Comments

From salads, soups, jellies and jams. The main star of a dish, or served as side order. Whatever role it plays in my kitchen, I enjoy fruit. I cannot get enough of them. They come in a perfect package, that in most cases is ready to eat.

When it comes to desserts, fruits are my dessert of choice, I normally eat them plain. They are the perfect food to have on hand when you don’t feel like cooking.

Ever had one of those days when you really don’t feel like cooking, or you’re so busy you don’t have the time to cook? Yesterday was one of those days. Although I did have the time to prepare a meal, I simply didn’t feel like making anything. Thankfully we had plenty of leftovers available. Just in case, I had chopped up vegetables and fruits standby in case we had an attack of the munchies.

Now that I think about it, I did make something yesterday, the Very Berry Smoothie!

Very Berry Smoothie

    • 3 cups of unsweetened apple juice, water, or ice cubes
    • 1 cup strawberries
    • 1 cup blueberries
    • 1/2 cup blackberries
    • 2 plums
    • 1 peach
    • 3 cups of dark leafy greens (I used a mix of collards and kale)
    • 1 tablespoon of spirulina

drop Spirulina into the liquid without touching it, or the spirulina will gum up the spoon

Directions

Combine ingredients in blender, blend, serve and enjoy!

*I prefer my smoothies to be very thick, however it if it’s too thick for you, just add more liquid.

Experiment

Of course, you can select your own fruit too, say you want a sweeter smoothie you could add a few cups of pineapple or mango to the blend. Do you like a slight tart taste? Toss in some a few kiwis. The beauty of smoothies is that you can add or take away the fruits that you don’t like and make your own personalized smoothie. Have fun, and experiment with your foods.

spirulina_powder.07.19.10.jpg

Spirulina powder
A few facts about Spirulina…

I was introduced to spirulina in the early 90’s. I was living in downtown Baltimore at the time, to be more specific I lived in Mount Vernon. The place had a Bohemian type vibe to it that I really enjoyed. I was introduced to a lot of things while living there, became interested in Aromatherapy, got aromatherapy certifications and really started experimenting with my own skin care products. I met some fabulous crunchy folk during my time there, and some of them gave me gushing reviews about Spirulina.

Spirulina is a blue green algae that thrives in fresh bodies of water, like lakes and ponds. Numerous research has been done about spirulina; it’s purported to contain a numerous health benefits for the body. If you can, try adding spirulina to your cabinet. Include it in your smoothies or sprinkle it over your food. It’s a great way to enhance the nutritional benefits of the foods you consume.

It’s loaded with nutrients that are good for our body. Spirulina is 60% protein, which is higher than any other food. It’s also the highest source of B12. Did you know it contains ten times more beta carotene than carrots? It also contains iron, vitamin E and a whole host of nutrients that I won’t discuss here. You can learn more by reading up on the health benefits of spirulina. That’s pretty impressive right, I call Spirulina a super algae. Since its health benefits blow me away, I make sure I keep it in stock.

This very berry smoothie made a fair amount; we didn’t drink it all. About half of the smoothie was used to make fruit popsicles. It’s a healthier choice than the majority of the empty calorie popsicles you see at the store. The smoothie is an excellent sipping drink for the hot days of summer.

 

Technorati Tags:
Moondancer, Recipes, Smoothies, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food

 

Weekend workout: Aqua jogging

Aynaria 2 Comments

Fitness-comic.07.17.10.jpgSitting in the sauna gives me a great view of those in pool. I see all ages, sizes, and colors congregate in and around the pool area. After a vigorous, or in some cases, relaxed workout, you’ll see a few move over to the whirlpool or migrate to my area (sauna) before heading for the showers.

Before today, you wouldn’t see me in the pool. I tend to avoid public pools, since I’m skeptical about whose doing what in them. Yeah, yeah, I know they add chemicals to the water to deal with the people who decide that the pool is a perfect place to use the bathroom, but it still grosses me out. Additionally, the chemicals tend to leave a burning sensation on my skin.

I’ve successfully avoided using Bally’s pool until today. The clamoring of my daughter with, Mommy, please take me to your gym, so I can go into the pool finally won. This morning I added her swimming gear to my workout bag and away we went.

My daughter was having a great time splashing about in the pool, getting comfortable with the water. I on the other hand, am showing my daughter where she can and cannot place her hands on Mommy in the water. Placing hands on the my waist, arms, or shoulders are good. Latching onto the boob area with a death grip, not so good. Although that part seemed to amuse another mommy there with her young daughter. It’s not as though I have an overabundance of boobage but whatever… We had a blast; to make things a little more entertaining for her I did some aqua jogging.

Aqua jogging isn’t just for elderly or overweight people. I’ve seen numerous fit folks engage in this activity at my gym. I just wasn’t one of them until today. Sure, it looks weird if you are on the outside looking in, but it’s a gentle way to workout too. This low impact exercise routine, is a nice change from my intense workouts, and the best part of it is I got to hang out with my daughter. I incorporate her into a lot of fun workouts I do around our house, so it’s nice to include her in some fun activities at the gym too. My daughter didn’t see it as exercise. She held on; squealing as I ran laps in the pool. She was having a great time! She shouted, mommy, do more! Do more!

My daughter is sold on pool-time. I knew she would be, so it looks as if she’ll be tagging along with me to my gym at least twice weekly. Here’s an informative article for those interested in learning more about aqua jogging and other pool exercises.

Cooking news…

Today, I didn’t make those grilled bean burgers with my soaked beans for lunch. I had every intention of making them. However, my daughter was hungry after our pooltime adventures, so I quickly made a dish with black beans & dark leafy greens. I’m not sure what I want to call it yet? It surely was colorful and flavorful. It’s loaded with veggies; collards, sweet bell pepper, swiss chard, fennel, garlic, and onion. Herbs and a few seasonings were tossed in the pot too. My daughter gobbled hers up, and is now sleeping. I did take pictures, so I’ll be sure to upload a photo soon.

Re: Bean burgers

The good news is I set aside plenty of cooked blacked beans. Remember I said I prepare a batch of ingredients when I know I’m going to be busy? Well, I did that with the beans. Now normally after preparing what I need for one dish, I’ll store the remaining cooked beans in the freezer. Today, I set aside more beans for our upcoming bean burgers. I’ve already whipped up the ingredients for bean burgers. They’re in patty form too, so the only thing left is to cook them. Perfect meal for the days when I’m too busy to actually cook, and since I pre-made them. I know what we’re eating is healthy. You can’t beat that, right?

What’s my daughter doing? She’s currently napping, it seems she’s had a busy day.

Question: How was your day? Was it busy or have you been taking it easy?

Technorati Tags:
Fitness, Moondancer