Ohme - That's me!

This past July 2008, I was one of the chairpersons for our town's Freedom Fest so was up to my eye balls in duties. I am disabled and I try to do volunteer work to give back to the community but I really have to pace myself and my pace is slower than slow. My sister, Joan, was all into Squidoo and kept sending me links to look at and tried to get me excited about it but I just didn't have time or the energy to do one more thing. She waited patiently and then after Freedom Fest was over and I had a couple of weeks to recuperate, she sent me the link to her Pendleton lens.
Pendleton, SC
I got all excited and could see the potential for this as a way to promote our beautiful town that I love so much.

Joan asked me to help her promote her Pendleton lens and I told everyone I knew. She started getting comments from Pendleton folks and that inspired me to join up and make my first lens on our Friends of the Park organization.

I combined my passion for Pendleton with my new passion for Squidoo and haven't stopped yet.

Here is a picture of Mayor Carol Burdette presenting me with a Key to the City for my volunteer work. I was shocked, thrilled and very honored. Beside this picture is a flyer which is in some business windows which reads "Pendleton Goes Squidoo" and has the links listed for the four Pendleton lenses which I have done plus Joan's Pendleton lens.

This has been such fun as I have heard from friends from long ago and made new friends. I continue to get notes and pictures that I enjoy adding to this lens. I was so excited when I got blessed by an Angel and I moved up in the ranks. The funny thing was that the Angel was my number 1 rival in the Local Category: Thomas C.

Thomas C and I have been going back and forth taking the number one spot in the Local Category. He has a great lens about his hometown in Arkansas and we have a friendly competition going. He even suggested that we have our high school teams play each other to decide who is Number 1. I can be a good sport, too! Here is the link to Thomas C's great lens:
Russellville, Arkansas The River Valley

Right now we both have been beaten out of that number one spot by a great lens of old photographs of New York City. It was Lens of the Day on 9/11 and really deserved it.

Oh well, it won't be the first time and I am sure it won't be the last time that someone will beat us to that spot. Rest assured that Thomas C and Ohme are not far away.

Pendleton Old Photos was reviewed by MiMi in the Squidoo Lens Review on August 27, 2008. I felt so honored.
Squidoo Lens Review -Pendleton Old Photos

On September 13 my interview with MiMi appeared in the Squidoo Lens Review.
Lensmaster OhMe Interview on Squidoo Lens Review

With nearly 50 photographs in my Old Photo lens, I had to do something so I have started Part 2 and have lots more wonderful Pendleton old photos to add.

I really liked being #1 or even #2 in Local but it sure didn't last. Here it is November and Old Photos has dropped to #21 in Local.

With the economy like it is, our town businesses have suffered lately and I have tried to figure out ways to help promote our great businesses. This lens is working out so well as the business owners seem to be enjoying it and I hope it brings in lots of customers. I continue to add businesses as they complete my questionaire and I take pictures. Hopefully, it will grow and grow and our businesses will get plenty of traffic and support.

This is my favorite lens because I had to figure out a unique way to divide the page so that each business stood out. I decided to create a dogwood theme throughout the whole lens. Now this might not sound like much to you techies but for me it was work and I am proud of the outcome.

My Pendleton Businesses Lens is a member of the Holiday Shopping Cooperative Group which is an award winning group by GypsyOwl. She listed the
Top 50 Lenses on THE HSC Holiday Shopping Cooperative on AddsYou, a social publishing network.
Take a look and visit these top 50 lenses of the Holiday Shopping Cooperative.

Top 50 on HSC

This was my first lens and was really pretty easy to do because I already had all the information on my computer. I am very involved with this group because I believe in what it stands for and that is our Veterans Park. We want to help make it the best it can be. Friends of the Park is governed by Pendleton Pride In Motion and they have agreed to let me submit "Friends of the Park" as a charity on Squidoo. I am waiting to hear whether or not we have been accepted as one of the charity organizations. I am so impressed with the amount of money Squidoo and Squidooers donate to so many worthwhile causes.

Prior to Freedom Fest, I started emailing the Pendleton Happenings to several groups. My main purpose was to promote Freedom Fest but I included any happenings that people asked me to. My email lists got larger and larger and I began to worry about people considering it spam. I thought that if they could go to a Squidoo site, they could view it at their leisure and not be bothered with my emails. I do still send out a weekly reminder to check the Happenings but hopefully one day this will not be necessary. We don't have a town newspaper so I feel that this is one way to fill that void.

On December 3, 2008 this lens was #1 in TOPIC in the Local Category. Thank you for viewing, commenting and rating this lens.

Joan told me about the Charity Virtual Concert Series Contest and I decided to enter and make a lens about Little Anthony and The Imperials. I didn't win the contest but it sure was fun and continues to be. My sister recently wrote to Little Anthony and The Imperials on their My Space page and told them about my lens. She asked them to please visit the site and to leave a message in the comments section. Well, a member of the traveling group did just that and caused quite a stir. I had taken my grandson and a friend of his fishing in the creek behind our house. My cell phone rang as I was trying to get the hook out of a tree I had landed. The boys answered the phone and said "Call Joan. It is important" so I did and she told me that someone from Little Anthony and The Imperials (LAI) had left a message in the comments section. I quickly told the boys we had to head home fast so we loaded up the golf cart with our fishing gear and headed home because this was exciting news.

I was making my own greeting cards long before the days of computers so it was fun and challenging to learn about graphics and how to create a card using the computer. This lens tells my story and shows some examples of cards, signs and invitations that I have done using my computer and my digital camera. I like to paint but don't do it often enough. I have done cards using pictures of my paintings on the front or pictures of our pets and flowers.

My grandson surprised me when he wanted to learn to make a lens. He is my biggest supporter and really pays attention to what his old grandma is doing. I thought he might want to write about the Black Panther which is his favorite animal or maybe about basketball or baseball. This wasn't the subject I was expecting but I think he did a great job. I was very proud of him. i wrote the Introduction and then helped him get it set up for the next text module and left him with it. He typed it himself and then let me know when he was finished. We then worked together on adding the other modules.

I read this to my grandson many times when he was small and now I am wondering if this will have some influence on his interest in conservation. He loves the out of doors. You never know what rubs off on your children but I am glad I had this book to read to him.

I was so excited when I received a reply email from the author and he gave me permission to use his picture and he signed my guest book.

I was disappointed to learn that this book was out of print so I had to do some creative re-construction of this lens but it worked out fine.

This lens is pictures of our yard in the fall of 08 featuring the Angel Trumpets, Confederate Rose and Ginger Lily.

On October 24, 2008 my Fall Flowers lens made Lens of the Day! This is such a huge honor and I am so thrilled and motivated more than ever to make lots more lenses. I greatly appreciate all the wonderful folks who have taken the time to visit and comment. It means so much! Ya'll are the greatest!

Yep. You read right. We had a birthday party for our doggies and you will have to read the whole story to believe what happened. I guarantee you there will not be another doggie birthday party at our house.



This lens was reviewed by MiMi aka GrowWear in her Squidoo Lens Reviews and I am so proud to wear this badge. Just click the badge to read the review. Thank you, MiMi

Kimberly Dawn Wells announced that November 08 was Family Stories Month and since I have tons of family stories, I knew that I would be entering this one. I chose a story that is near and dear to my heart: Our Thanksgiving Prayer.

Family Stories Month

This is a fun contest and there were some very creative entries.

Update 10/20/08 - Our South Carolina Group Headquarters is now organized with all the members lenses in specific categories. Now the challenge is to draw people to visit our group and visit these wonderful lenses. We also want to have a clickable badge for each lens and are working on that idea.
Update 12/22/08 - Finally, I have a clickable logo for our South Carolina Group. Whatcha Think?


Please stop by our group and meet our lensmasters and visit their wonderful lenses.

Oh me. The day Joan told me about copyright issues was the day my whole mindset had to change. I had previously used a little clip art for my avatar that I really liked but it was clip art which was not free for use. I had to come up with something else real quick. That was the day I invented the Ohme bug which is made from the letters in Ohme. I have big plans for the Ohme bug.

I ordered a statue of the Ohme Bug from Zazzle. Isn't it precious. My plan is to hide it in one of the businesses in town and have a "Find the Ohme Bug" Campaign to encourage traffic in our local shops and restaurants. The person that find it will get a small prize from the owner of the business if they can tell what the Ohme Bug is. This winner will be featured on the Business and the Happenings lenses. Whatcha think?

September 12, 2008 - Only 9 lenses since July. I know of someone who started about the same time I did who now has over 50 lenses. Three of my lenses (Pendleton Photos, Pendleton Businesses and Pendleton Happenings) require constant updates so take a lot of time to maintain.

I have already told you how slow I am and I guess this proves it. What else do I have to do?
Laundry? Dishes? Mop the kitchen floor?
Well, it is all about priorities and right now mine is to try to be a great Squidoo-er no matter how long it takes.

I already have a list of at least 11 more lenses I want to do. The next one will be:

The South Carolina Aquarium
(Ok, it is in print now so that is the motivation to get moving and get it done)

September 21 - I decided to make a lens about Pig Roast Recipes to compliment the one that my grandson did about Wild Hogs and Barbecue.

September 23 - I was making a casserole and decided to make it a lens as well. I now have 11 lenses.
Also, thinking seriously about doing a Zipper for Pendleton which would link to all my Pendleton lenses.

September 28 - I finally did a Squidzipper for Pendleton but still haven't done the South Carolina Aquarium. Could I be procrastinating??

October 6 - I actually made 4 lenses over this past weekend. I can't believe it myself. I added Part 2 to the Pendleton Old Photo lens as well as building lenses on Fall Flowers and Our Doggie Birthday Party. I also tried my hand at a SquidLit and did a book review on the childrens book, A Christmas Tree in the White House. Whew! It was a busy weekend but fun!

In Nov 2008 I worked on a lens about our beautiful Fall Trees in Pendleton and a friend of mine even contributed some of his photographs. I also did a lens that is near and dear to my heart about our Tate Family Thanksgiving Prayer. Also, I have been gathering information and pictures to make a lens about Boscobel Lake and this one will take some time.

Finally got my Zazzle Store up and running.
Finally got profile, etc completed for Facebook.


December 08 has not been a very productive month for building lenses. I only added the one Lego lens which probably was not a good choice. I thought I had checked to see what other Lego lenses were already out there but guess I did not. I learned a good lesson and will also check first because there are so many out there on Lego Products already. I was very pleased with my pay out this time for the month of October. It was $60.47 and at that time I only had 16 lenses.

December 30, 2008 - Finally completed my 20th lens - South Carolina State Symbols and More. It was a difficult one to do and took me a long time but I think it was worth it. Still want to add my favorite SC authors and artists.
Ohme Bug Statue came in the mail today that I had ordered from Zazzle - fun!

January 09 This year started out really nice. I have enjoyed my new flip camera that my hubby gave me for Christmas. I have added some videos to my lenses to perk them up. GrowWear surprised Joan4 with a lens about her. It is featured on this lens. It was so nice of her to do that and my sister, Joan was shocked and thrilled. Betty and I enjoyed being a part of that. Thank you again, MiMi. Another fun thing that happened in January was that two Pendletonians joined Squidoo. It has been great fun!


By TwitterButtons.com

February 09 Well, I have hidden the Ohme Bug somewhere in one of the businesses in town. So far after one week my traffic to the business lens has doubled but not sure if people are actually going into the businesses. I was hoping that it would increase traffic for both the business and my lens.

March 09 I worked very hard promoting Spring Jubilee during the month of March. Spring Jubilee is held in Pendleton during the first full weekend in April.

April 09 Spring Jubilee was a huge success this year with gorgeous weather. I was thrilled that my lens about it got #1 in Local and in the Top 100 overall. I followed up with a lens about Freedom Fest and will begin promoting it. I learned something new, too. I followed the instructions on Justbon's lens and added music to my Freedom Fest lens. Pretty neat!

May 09 This month was going to be the month that I worked on our Freedom Fest instead of Squidoo but that is not exactly what happened. Between the Potential Giant Squid Challenge and being a member of the Joan's Jolly Judicious Jetsetters and the Rocket Moms, I have made more lenses and will be making lots more. Both of these groups have been fun and challenging. Well, I have decided to apply for Giant Squid after all because I am so close to reaching my first 50 lenses. I can't believe it.

June and July 09June was an extremely busy month with building new lenses and getting ready for Freedom Fest. It all paid off when I received the email on July 2, 2009 that I had been accepted as a Giant Squid. WOW. Also the same day I received another email that my Freedom Fest lens received a Purple Star!

It has sure been an awesome first year on Squidoo! I am going on our family vacation and will get back to work when I return.

The Tate Sisters

Joan dedicated this one to Betty and I. We were both so honored.
Tate Family Sing-A-Long

I was so thrilled when this lens got to #1 in About Me because their are so many wonderful lensographies.

That sounds funny since I still feel like I am very much a "Newbie" but here goes what I feel is important after my couple of months experience.

Don't stand on the bank watching and trying to learn, just jump in and start swimming!

I must say, that is a lot easier if you have a big sister like my Joan.

Joan's Lensography
Hello, I'm Joan

Click Here To Begin Making Your Own Lens

Here are some helpful links for newbies:

Squid Etiquette

Squidoo Tools, Resources and Guides

Squidoo-To-Do-List

Be A Good Squid

The Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe of Squidoo Lens Creation

Squidoo For Dummies

Follow OhMe On Twitter


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Nancy Tate Hellams's Profile | Create Your Badge

Ohme's Zazzle Shop


leaves Mug by ohmeakanancy
Design picture coffee mugs With zazzle
Browse more Oak Mugs

I had already decided that Squidoo would have to take a back seat during the months of May and June because I had so much to do to get ready for our Freedom Fest on June 27. Well, that all changed when I received an invitation to join Rocket Moms. Even then, I vowed that I would just try to do the best I could but had no intentions of making a lot more lenses. The timing could not have been worse for me but I really wanted to be a part of this group led by Bonnie and was so proud to have been asked. I don't know what happened from that point because before I knew it I was more involved than I ever intended and I was putting out new lenses like there was no tomorrow. All it took was a visit or two to the forum and the enthusiasm of these fantastic women was contagious. I did not have a chance. I don't think I have felt this challenged since I was in college. I have learned new things, met some great lensmasters, read some amazing lenses, and have published 5 lenses in 3 weeks. That is a record for me. But then why should I expect any less of myself - I am a Rocket Mom and proud of it!

Ohme's Rocket Mom Lenses

About Me - Birth Order

Niche - Growing Up In Pendleton SC
Our Annual Church Picnic
Japanese Dogwood

Top Ten - Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Pendleton SC

Recipe - Papa Doc's Creamy Peach Ice Cream

Travel - Stornoway Scotland - Our Sister City

Charity - Pendleton Memories Part 2 - Sandra Gantt

Holiday - Flag Day In The USA

Lensography - My Nature Lensography
Rocket Mom Lenses by Ohme

Thanks for everything! Rocket Moms Rock!

Squidoo has been the perfect forum to promote our little town and now it is allowing others to record their precious memories of growing up in this small historic town located in Upstate South Carolina.

If you grew up in Pendleton and would like to become a part of this series, please let me know by using the contact link located in my profile (upper right). Your memories must be written in a Word Document and accompanied by at least 5 photos in JPEG format.

#50

On July 2, 2009, I received notification that I am now an official
GIANT SQUID