Category: Community

Vacation Bible School; one busy week

Aynaria 6 Comments

This week we have Vacation Bible School at our Lutheran church.

Initially, my daughter didn’t want to go; she’s like that with new situations, but I told her to check it out on Monday to see what she thought. She loved it! A lot of the children from her school are there, and naturally she sees kids that go to the church also. While the week has a religious theme, there’s more to it than that. So many activities going on such as crafts, games, and a time to hang out with other people.

Of course… I gave her the gentle reminder of always checking out something, or doing independent research, before you make an opinion, because anything else is simply ill informed.

She’s been chattering about VBS nonstop since it began, and I’m right there with her volunteering. I’m not in her group; I’m with the fifth graders.

And my daughter has a new hairstyle. She’s sick of wearing her hair in braids, she told me that was for little kids, and so I’ve styled her hair differently. Is this what I have to deal with now… All this hair tossing? I’ll have to take pictures, and perhaps post a few here on Celebrate Life.

 

Happy Memorial Day

Aynaria 5 Comments

Today’s Memorial Day, it’s a time set aside to honor those who’ve died. 

Vietnam memorial

 Last year I shared a lot of Memorial Day facts…

I love history. Over the years, I’ve read a lot about this particular holiday. Did you know In 1865, freed slaves took part in a huge celebration in Charleston, South Carolina? The celebration was held at the Washington Race Course now known as Hampton Park.

What’s interesting is that this location had served as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers. Mass graves on the site contained Union soldiers. I found it fascinating that in 1865 freed slaves removed bodies from the mass graves and placed them into individual graves. They also placed a fence around the graveyard, and declared it a union graveyard.

So do stop by if you’re interested in reading additional Memorial Day facts, check out that post… you might learn something new.

 

Photo Source: Mass Casualities

Crochet pattern testing: crocheted ladybug hat pattern

Aynaria 7 Comments

Girl ladybug

A few days ago, I offered to test another crochet pattern for a Ravelry designer.

This time it’s an adorable crocheted ladybug hat. It’s a small crochet project…

Knowing how much my daughter adores ladybugs, as do I, and seeing a generous project deadline. I jumped at the chance to be a pattern tester.

The crochet designer had a nice range of crochet hat patterns to choose from; infants to adults. I chose the preteen-teen hat.

While it’s true that my eight-year old daughter does have a child sized head, she also has a lot of hair. It’s halfway down her back, and it’s also very curly and thick. I often keep her hair braided, or styled in two stranded twists. Which explains why I offered to crochet  the pre-teen/adult size hat, right? All that hair won’t fit in a child sized hat.

This won’t be my first time crocheting hats. I’ve made several already, but I didn’t follow a pattern. I just played with a variety of crochet stitches. And after practicing with my crocheted stitches, my crochet skills improved, and I was able to make my first crocheted hat for a person. I’d made several for my daughter’s Monster High dolls.

I still have that first human hat I’ve made. Occasionally I’ll look at the hat and marvel at how much my crochet has improved in a few short months. I’ve come a long way. So much so that I’ve gifted a few recipients with them; father, daughter, and, nephew. Oh, I even was able to crochet a dreadlock wrap for my locks too.

Tomorrow, after dropping my daughter off at school, I’ll stop by the local yarn store and pick up yarn in a dusty rose; works perfectly with her complexion. That will be the color of the ladybugs body. The dots will be a dark chocolate brown. I think it will look lovely.

I’m at the point where I can read the patterns without to much of an issue. The few times, I’ve run into issues, with published patterns, a simple online search cleared up the questions I had. So I figure I can do the same here, if I should run into issues.

I’ve already printed it out the crochet ladybug hat pattern, and I must say I’m impressed with how thorough this crochet designer is with explaining her pattern. I’m looking forward to crocheting this hat. It shouldn’t take too long, perhaps three hours?

I’ll be starting on it this weekend. I’ll most likely crochet this ladybug hat, while my daughter, and I are watching a movie.

Pattern testing update: I’ve completed the crochet ladybug beanie hat.

Field Day; fun hanging with my daughter’s class

Aynaria 2 Comments

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.


Being neighborly; azalea bush

Aynaria 2 Comments

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.

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

Aynaria 10 Comments

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. 

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

Aynaria 6 Comments

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.