Nope and What I Know For Sure

It's been an interesting year so far, all three weeks of it.  I've been sick for a good chunk of it and that has sucked. But just like bad moods and cloudy days make you appreciate good moods and sunshine, being sick has made me so damn grateful for the good old normal exhausted I usually feel. It's all about perspective! 

I was so sick that even Lucy in all her pre-teen moody glory right now came to comfort me and even took a sick selfie with me. 

In the past three weeks, I got back into a groove working at the preschool, started my new writing gig, went to an amazing storytelling show in Detroit, got to say yes to some great things but had to say no to some great things, tried not to spread germs, called in sick, slept a lot, cried, watched movies, went to the doctor (just a virus, whaaat?!), drank tea, had some pretty heavy conversations with the older kids, tried to help one of the younger ones out with math homework (um, worse than being sick), missed deadlines, made deadlines, agreed to work more hours at the preschool and finally started feeling better yesterday.

Life doesn't stop when we get sick....we just have to keep moving in a fog. 

This was at the ultra hip storytelling show I went to in Detroit. Most favorite sign maybe ever....instead of "stairs closed" or "do not enter" it's just a "nope." The BEST! That's what life said to me, "nope, not going to stop because you have a dumb cold, nope." Ha!

But now that the fog has lifted, I know for sure that I appreciate being less foggy and I want to dance in my kitchen and go play in the snow and have a real weekend.


Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• Enjoying the winter is more fun than complaining about it. The pond froze around the same time my fog lifted, so we hit the ice. Our first time skating this year and it was a blast. 

It was Wade's first time really skating, and scoring on skates. It was a blast!

• I am in love....with J.Lo. Um, because she is beautiful and so talented. I mean right? I love her on American Idol and now I love her new show. AND I want to go to Vegas to see her new live show. She is my idol. For real. ***Except I didn't love the episode of Shades of Blue last night.***

(click here to watch the video.)

• This book is AWESOME! A friend of mine gave this book to me for my kids except I want to keep it because I love it so much. Actually we are all sharing it because it's so cool.  Click here to learn more about it. It's just totally rad.

• My dogs are a lot of work, but I love them.

• Electronics are my nemesis except when everyone is cuddled up looking at pictures on someone's phone. Awwwww.

• Speaking of electronics, I joined SnapChat but I know for sure that I know nothing. I am totally clueless but curious. Any advice would be appreciated.

• This is a great video and message for daughters. 

(click here to watch the video.)


What do YOU know for sure right now?  How's your year going so far? Tell me here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

March Snow Can Suck It and What I Know For Sure

There are so many damn opinions, about everything.  You are doing it right, you are doing it wrong, you think you know everything or you don't know anything.  There are should's and shouldn'ts and why don't you's all over the place.  

It can get a little, or a lot, overwhelming.

There's an article or a blog post about any topic, every topic. And every topic can be argued or can become controversial, except maybe one....snow in March.  Here is my opinion about snow in March, it's bad, very bad.  I don't care where you live or what caused it (insert global warming opinions from all sides and arguments and eye rolls and whatever), snow in March sucks.  It sucks even for the silver-lining loving positive Pollyanna's like me.  Sure, when there  was no school this week, I encouraged my kids to go out and play in the snow, and they had fun.  

But it's getting old.  We are ready for spring and mud and rain and puddles and a glimpse of the grass and signs that point to warmer, longer days.  My opinion is that snow in March can suck it, I know this for sure this week.


Here's what else I know for sure right now:

• Lucy turned 11! 

We celebrated with a video, where the whole family says what we love about Lucy.  I suggest making a video like this for anyone, or everyone, you love!  It felt great to say nice things!

(Click here to watch the video.)

• JT has a special connection with our dogs, especially Cosi.

• This movie with Reese & Sophia looks funny, I like funny.

• The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fight between Kim and Lisa Rinna...I know it's a reality show and it can be ridiculous, but addiction and mental illness are hard and I feel for Lisa Rinna and Kyle.  It is tough to be a family or friend of an addict/mentally struggling person, I know THAT for sure.

• Wade loves having a team.  His basketball season just ended.  He had so much fun and he can't wait for his next team.  

• Getting older is weird.  This post is so good. It's about getting older and all the time going fast and ahhhhh, read it. Click here to read.

• The 2015 cast of Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit is ahhhhhmazing.  We just announced the cast this morning and I cannot wait to tell everyone more about all of them soon.  Check out our announcement. http://listentoyourmothershow.com/metrodetroit/2015/03/06/introducing-the-2015-cast-of-listen-to-your-mother-metro-detroit/

• I love songs about love that I can dance to and right now, this is my jam.

(Click here to watch the video.)

• Stratego is the game of choice in our house right now, and wearing pants to play is optional.

What do YOU know for sure this week, right now?  Leave a comment here or over on my Facebook page.

And come play with me on Instagram, Twitter and watch my videos on YouTube.

Dwelling In Possibility & What I Know For Sure

The sun came out this week and even though the temperature was still hovering around 18, it felt so good.  People smiled more.  Drivers were more courteous.  There might have even been a few brave birds chirping.  

Walking down the street I felt lighter and sort of full of hope. I was dwelling in sunny possibility rather than suffering through the nothing good is ever going to happen subzero dream crushing hazy shade of winter.  

A few hours after my sunny stroll, the clouds returned, the temperatures dropped and the forecast called for more snow.  But I'm holding onto that hope I felt when the sun was out...it will get warmer, people will be nicer again and birds will do more chirping.  It will all happen and when it does, I am going to appreciate the hell out of it all, I know that for sure this week.

Because I said "Hazy Shade of Winter" I felt the need to put the Bangles' version and because I LOVE it so much...

  (click here to watch the video)

Here's what else I know for sure this week:

• The next host of the Oscars should be Tig Notaro. Click here to read why Time mag and Tig think so too.

• We love our dogs.

Everyday before JT leaves for school he snuggles or hangs out with the dogs.  He loves them so much. As he is walking out the door he yells "good bye Cosi, good bye Rufus, good bye Rainbow, good bye Poseidon."  The last two are our pet fish. 

He snuggles with me every night before we eventually put him in the crate to make room for Wade who still comes into our bed around midnight.  Some people might suggest fixing some of our family member's sleep issues, I just think we need a bigger bed.

• If there is a DJ spinning tunes, I will dance, I just will.  

(click here to watch the video)

• I love Anne Lamont and Kelly Corrigan.  And I love that you can watch them talk on YouTube.  Here, watch them, it's so good.

(click here to watch the video)

• My baby girl turns 11 this weekend. Whaaaat? I don't even know how that happened.  

That's me and little baby Lucy almost 11 years ago. 

• Zelda Williams spoke out about her father, Robin Williams, and she said some really beautiful things about grief and loss and moving forward.  Click here to read more and watch the interview.

“There’s no point questioning it and no point blaming anyone for it and there’s no point blaming yourself or the world or whatever the case may be,” she told NBC’s Kate Snow, “because it happened and you have to continue to move and you have to continue to live and manage.”

• I'm still loving podcasts. Currently a little obsessed with Alec Baldwin's Here's the Thing...I even listened to it instead of music when I ran on the treadmill the other day. 

What do you know for sure this week, right now?  Leave a comment here or over on my Facebook page.

And come play with me on Instagram and Twitter.

Nothing to Do & What I Know For Sure

It's been cold here (and pretty much everywhere this week) and school has been cancelled and our routine shot to hell.  

But I know for sure that I love a non hectic day.  I love days where you have breakfast at 10:30 in the morning and stay in PJ's until noon.  

I love days when we turn off the electronics and get every toy out of the toy box.  

Because these days don't happen all the time...life is busy and full of activities and birthday parties and sports and homework.  Busy isn't bad, but sometimes it's so nice to have slower days I know that for sure this week.


Here's What Else I Know For Sure This Week:

• Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year and that meant....nothing, it really meant nothing because life goes on even on a Saturday night when you are a tired parent of four kids. Ha!  It's not sad, it's just a whole different kind of romance.  The kind of romance that has you watching your kid's indoor baseball game with your other kid climbing all over you.  Right now, that kind of romance is totally working for us. 

Our romance.

• This video is my childhood, tween and teen hood.  Check.It.Out.

• I enjoyed the SNL 40th celebration.  I just wanted more!  

• It takes a village to raise toddlers AND tweens AND teens. This video from Girls Leadership has some good advice and their web site is good.  I'm adding them to my village.  Check them out.

• I am a proud feminist, but the whole "lean in" term has bothered me a little. It bothered me because it is only applies to some women and that's great for those women but I want people to understand that it doesn't apply to all women. Jessica Williams from The Daily Show had some interesting things to say about it. Click here to read the article.

• Rufus Whistle is still pretty darn cute. 

While listening to bedtime stories, Wade likes to snuggle with his favorite stuffed animals and his favorite Rufus.

• The Oscars are this Sunday and I will be watching, even though I hardly saw any of the movies this year.  I saw Boyhood and LOVED it, so I am routing for that.  I'm also routing for Neil Patrick Harris to sing and dance in his opening.  And for great speeches, I'm always routing for great acceptance speeches!  I will be live tweeting, come play with me- @AngelaYBlood.

What do YOU know for sure this week?  Are you going to watch the Oscars? Tell me about it here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

The Parent Effect (And A Cure For Dry Skin)

I love playing outside in the winter, and I totally blame my parents.

When I was a little kid, I lived in a town just east of Lake Michigan.  It was a nice little Midwestern town.  It was also in an area that was hit hard in the winters by "lake effect snow."  When I was a little kid, I loved it.  

I think I loved it because my parents loved it.  My mother and father met in high school in Alabama and after they got married (like five minutes after graduation) they moved to Texas and Kentucky and then finally Michigan.  Living in the land of "lake effect snow" was a very new thing for both of them back then.  When we moved to Michigan in 1979, they immediately bought the family cross country skis and 1,000 sleds.  We would spend Saturday afternoons in the winter skiing through the farmland and woods that surrounded our house.  My dad would build snow ramps to make sledding down the hill even more fun.  We built snow forts and played Empire Strikes Back.  On the weekends, after school and on beloved snow days, we got outside and we played in all the "lake effect snow."  

My brother and me enjoying the heck out of winter in a really cool snow fort/igloo my dad helped us build circa 1980.

If my parents had bemoaned the snow and been a little less "oh my gosh, this snow stuff is amazing! look at how it drifts! let's go play!" I guess I might have been that way too.  But they weren't and so I wasn't.  It should be called the "parent effect" or something right?   

I now live in a town west of Lake Huron.  It is a nice little Midwestern town. It is not in a "lake effect snow" zone though and that bums me out. However, thanks to the Polar Vortex last year and then the great snow storm Linus just a few days ago, my kids are living my the dream.  My back porch is full of those gorgeous snow drifts, school has been cancelled for days and we made snow ice cream.

The hills are aliiiiive er, I mean the ice is frooooozen. 
 My happy place, skating on the frozen pond.

During these snow blasts, we go skating as a family as often as possible--at a rink nearby, the pond in the park.  It is hard to find time to play during this busy life, but we squeeze ice time (or sledding time or snow fort time) in wherever we can, in between practices and after school.  
We make time to play.

Lucy doing a little mid-sledding snow angel.

If we had a winter album cover, this would be it.  Look at JT doing his best Say Anything/John Cusack pose (even though he hasn't heard of either the movie or the man, lol).

I hope all this "isn't it great to get outside and play and hey winter is not so bad, it's actually awesome" attitude has a similar "parent effect" on my kids.  I hope they keep playing for forever and I hope that Tim and I get all, or most, of the credit for their winter joy.

                            ******

Yes, playing outside in the winter is all kinds of amazing.  It can also do a number on your skin.  My kids may or may not get my love of winter sports, but they will most definitely inherit my sensitive skin.  I know this because unless there is some crazy recessive gene, they are screwed.  Tim and I both have the kind of skin that burns just thinking about sunshine, gets itchy if you use the wrong soap and looks like an alligator's skin in the winter.  I blame both our parents for our oh-so-sensitive skin.

We have tried all types of lotions to help us and our kids.  Before a trip to the pond last week, we put on Vaseline® Intensive Care™ Advanced Repair. Um, it was amazing. 

It was soothing and it felt like it was really protecting our skin.  Upon further investigation, I found out that Vaseline® Intensive Care™ Advanced Repair contains healing micro-droplets of Vaseline® jelly to do all that deep moisturizing. And that it is clinically proven to heal very dry skin in five days. Even this old alligator.  It is healing without being heavy and doesn't feel greasy either.  We have found our winter lotion and thankfully it's not a million dollars (only $4.99 for a 10 oz. bottle).  

Boosh! Two positive "parent effects" in one week? I hope that makes up for forgetting the snack for one child's basketball practice and showing up 30 minutes late to pick up the other child after school and constantly embarrassing the teenager by doing well, anything.

I participated in this sponsored campaign on behalf of Vaseline® and One2One Network. All opinions stated are my own.

Michigan Winters & Snow Days

Linus has descended upon us here in the Midwest.  A winter storm that has shut down roads and closed schools, and my family kind of loves it.

"This is how a Michigan winters should be," Tim said.

Snow and more snow.  And snow days.

This is how we do snow storms and snow days here in our house:


  (Click here to watch the video.)

And of course there is kitchen dancing involved.

Snow day means waffles at 10 am, Pitbull Pandora channel blasting, glitter crafts happening all day, indoor basketball throughout the house and duh, a kitchen dance!!!! #snowday #kitchendance

A video posted by Angela Youngblood (@jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed) on Feb 2, 2015 at 7:15am PST

Is it snowing where you are?  How do you enjoy snow days? 

Stupid January

Four kids in three different schools, seven teams with 153 practices, two dogs (really, what were we thinking?), one busy husband, five million things to think about and ZERO sunshine.  That's what is going on right now.  You might call it treading water or just trying to stay afloat.   

Whatever you call it, it feels like a lot right now--stupid January.

If there was more sunshine I truly believe that treading water would be a little easier. I mean right?  Even if it was still 18 degrees, the sun would make me feel a little lighter, a little happier.  It's just so grey and so dark.  Waaaaa.

For now, I'm doing what I gotta do to get through stupid January.  I am popping Vitamin D supplements like candy, driving kids to all the practices and games, playing with the dogs and trying to keep everything straight.  Of course things slip through the cracks.  I mean even when it's sunny and 70, I am that mom that lets things slip through the cracks.  BUT nobody has been kicked off of the team and nobody is going to school without a lunch, and that equals success in stupid January.  

Early yesterday morning, I realized I had no sandwich bags and no money on the kids' lunch accounts.  Instead of freaking out I did what I had to do. I got a trash bag. I cut the trash bags into smaller squares. I put food items on top of the plastic trash bag squares.  I wrapped the plastic around food items and tied the plastic together with a rubber band.  Boosh!

When I proudly showed my kids their plastic trash bag food storage bags, they didn't seem very excited.  But guess what, nothing is exciting in stupid January. I didn't take it personally.

It's stupid January, it's a busy life, we are treading icy cold waters, we are all doing what we gotta do.

This post was in place of my usual weekly Pinterest Poser Challenge.  I hope that once stupid January is over I will be making inspiring Pinterest crafts and recipes again.  So as soon as February comes, be ready to be inspired, maybe. 

Winter Silver Linings & What I Know For Sure This Week

Baby it's cold outside, like really, really cold.  I'm not that much of a cold weather person, but I am a person who likes to find silver linings in seemingly bleak situations.  The silver lining of sub-zero temperatures? 

Outdoor ice rinks that are finally frozen and ready to enjoy.  

Sure it took us an hour to bundle everyone up in a million layers and we realized that some kids had outgrown their skates (which meant a certain mama had to sacrifice her skates), but it was worth it.  

It's cold but sunny and there is something so invigorating about a walk in new fallen snow with the sun shining. 

Wade tries to build a snowman and make snowballs even when there is only an inch of snow on the ground.  He loves it which makes me love it more.

Maybe the best part of it being really cold outside is all the fun we have inside.  Hot cocoa, chili for dinner, card games, video game challenges, ping pong tournaments, sitting at the dinner table longer telling stories...all really good silver linings.

Winter is not so bad, I know that for sure this week.

Here's what else I know for sure right now:

• Time is a tricky thing, but I really do love trying to enjoy the whole moment to moment, beauty of the ordinary  day.  I've been thinking about it a lot lately.  This scene from the movie About Time sums up how I feel about "this remarkable life."  It's such a good movie!

• I love my dog. Next week our puppy arrives and I am so hopeful that Cosi snuggles up with Rufus like she is with this stuffed animal.

• Podcasts are the coolest. I am mildly obsessed.  Seriously.  

Listen to this StoryCorps podcast if you want to be blown away by the power of forgiveness. It's one of the most touching stories I've ever heard, ever. Click here.

Listen to this story from Kemp Powers at The Moth.  I heard him tell it in person in Detroit last year. Soooooo good. Click here.

• Wearing snow hats inside is totally okay in the winter. I love how Tim and JT have matching hat styles.

• I am enjoying the hell out of The Beverly Hills Housewives and I don't care who knows it.  I am a total Lisa Rinna fan for sure.

• KidsInTheHouse.com is a fabulous resource for parents.  I love it.  It is full of videos with experts speaking about a million different parenting topics.  Check it out.

• Wade is all about the uniform and "the look" for his basketball games.

What do YOU know for sure this week?  Share it here or over on my Facebook page.  What are your silver linings this winter?

While you are online if you want to like my Facebook page that would be awesome.  And hey, come follow me on Twitter and Instagram.