BlogHer - challenge - Comments

Thanks for letting me know!!

AnExtendedVacation — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:49:06 -0500

Thanks for letting me know!! I hopped over there and joined! I hope more people join us in this venture soon!!

There's now a NaNoWriMo group on BlogHer

sassymonkey — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:28:41 -0500

Pookielocks started it. I want to make sure you know about it. Head on over to the NaNoWriMo BlogHer Group and introduce yourself. I'll stand on the sidelines and cheer. :)

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

I'm in!

domesticjoy — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:51:44 -0500

... but I'm not too sure what I'm going to write about yet (and while it is bending the rules, I'm considering doing something non-fiction).

I made a simple tracking sheet today that might be helpful: http://www.domesticjoy.com.au/nanowrimo-tracker-template-and-some-resour...

Good luck!

:) Catherine @Domestic Joy My food and domestic blog: http://www.domesticjoy.com.au

Thanks!

AnExtendedVacation — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:52:20 -0500

November was the craziest month in college! I forgot all about that and I've only been out for two years! :-)

Thanks for the support!

I'll cheerlead

sassymonkey — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:33:43 -0500

I have no desire to write a book in a month. lol I don't even know if I'd ever want to write a book. I'm pretty happy with reading them. But I'll happily cheerlead everyone who is doing it.

Funny that you mention college - I was always amused that NaNoWriMo happened in November. It was always one of the most term paper intense writing months for me in school. All I ever did in Novembers was write.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Wonderful ideas

Britt Bravo — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:49:51 -0500

Hi Merna,

Thanks so much for sharing all of these great ideas!

Helping kids in need

merna — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:31:33 -0500

That's wonderful you want to celebrate your life by helping others! As far as sponsoring, how about sponsoring a child abroad so they can have another birthday too? Sadly, over 25,000 children die every day! That's 1 every 3.5 seconds (http://www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-over-25000-children-died-around-the-world).

I've sponsored a child through World Vision for years (http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/sponsor/learn-about-sponsorship) and have visited many of their impressive projects in Africa and the Middle East. I've also sponsored one through PLAN (http://www.planusa.org/sponsorachild/). Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/sponsorship/learn.html) also has a child sponsorship program.

You could also ask people to refrain from giving you gifts and instead pick something out of World Vision's or Save the Children's gift catalogues (e.g. clean water, school suppies, etc.).

If they still insist on giving you a gift, shopping at Ten Thousand Villages provides fair wages to artisans in developing countries. If there's not a shop nearby, people can shop online (http://www.tenthousandvillages.com).

If you'd like to help local foster children, mentors are badly needed. Adult mentors provide love, support, and advocacy to children. i see you're in Oakland and Boy and Girls Club organizes this (https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/lcuw/org/opp/3839280-printer.html).

Have a Happy Birthday!!!

Ignoring it :)

Beth Engel — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:03:35 -0500

I've been ignoring my birthdays for the past five years or so. I like the idea of doing something that would benefit others, though. I guess one easy way is to ask my loved ones to use the money they usually spend on gifts for making a donation.

My mame is Beth Engel. I've been running my own online business, Epic Merchandise, where I sell personalized, engraved gifts, since 2003.

Thanks

Britt Bravo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:05:06 -0500

Very helpful info!

Local Non Profit Organizations

Tina Lane — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:35:58 -0500

There may be a better way to do this but I would search your local nonprofit organizations to see who supports homeless and foster children. They are usually the ones who would support this kind of work. Legal Aid organizations are a good place to start. I recently listened to a speech from Victoria Rowell, from the Young & the Restless fame, who was once a foster child herself. She recommended calling local colleges and schools and asking to see if there were any children in the foster system in attendance that could be helped. www.floridagirlmidwest.blogspot.com

How do you sponsor a foster child

Britt Bravo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:14:09 -0500

Hi Tina,

That is a lovely idea. How do you do that? I mean, are agencies that serve foster children set up to support that kind of thing? I know very little about how they work.

Sponsor A Child in Need

Tina Lane — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:54:10 -0500

You could sponsor a foster child in need and ask your friends to buy needed items for the child instead of bday gifts for you. You could even throw a party. www.floridagirlmidwest.blogspot.com

Just left you a comment on

Amy Gates — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:27:29 -0600

Just left you a comment on your post, Beth. Great ideas! Thank you. :)

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

Happy No-Plastic Holidays!

Beth Terry — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:29:18 -0600

Thanks for writing this post. I started to leave a comment with other ideas, and it turned into a Blogher post all its own:

http://www.blogher.com/zero-plastic-packaging-challenge

Now I know why you were looking for a "'made by mom' holiday gift challenge" on Twitter!

Beth Terry

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com