LOVE and What I Know For Sure

It's almost Valentine's Day and yeah, I love it.  A holiday about love, it's not a bad thing.  We could all use more love, the world could use more love.  

Sure romantic love is great, I'm hoping that Tim and I can get a little romantic this Saturday night.  But love, man, it can be so much more than romance.  I love my kids with this crazy, primal, protective, I hate to say "mama bear," but I will, kind of love.  I love red wine and pizza.  I love Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Patsy Cline and Beyonce. Yup. I love soap operas and storytelling.  I love my eyelash curler. I LOVE to dance.  I love kindness. I love open-mindedness.  I love big cities and hustle and bustle and millions of people. I love the ocean and the sound of the waves.  I love road trips and cheesy pit stops more than almost anything else ever. I love lattes. I love being involved. I love being lost in a crowd. I love being on stage. I love red wine and reality television. I love Pitbull songs. I love new ideas. I love to run. I love so many things and so many people.

I know for sure that if loving things is wrong, I don't want to be right. Love feels positive and proactive; love feels like hope and faith. 

So yeah, I know for sure that I love a holiday that celebrates love.


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

• This song is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES.  It brings me to tears everytime I hear it.  It is my love language, it is my story (my past that makes me all insecure and waaaa), it is so good.  I'm not kidding, I just need to know that "we'll be alright and that you promise to never leave." Thankfully, I am married to a guy that makes me believe every damn day. 

• A good night's sleep cures almost anything.

• I am very immature when it comes to talking about sex, but I made a vlog about it anyway. Check it out.

(click here to watch the video)

• Globes rock. My pal gave me a globe this week and I LOVE it.  Wade was full of wonder, he couldn't believe it was our planet.  

• Detroit is a cool city. I spent the afternoon exploring Detroit with a buddy this week and there are so many cool places.  And so much happening! 

• Tickets for Listen to Your Mother Metro Detroit are on sale!!!!!! Woot! Woot!  (Click here.) Tickets for our second annual show went on sale this week.  I'm so excited.  And I got to be on the website of our totally rad venue along with acts like Clean Bandit. Whaaaat?

• I love love. Here's one of my favorite love stories of all time(I've posted it before and I probably will again, because it's so sweet):

(Click here to watch the video.)

• Brotherly love is when the biggest brother reads to the littlest brother.

• Puppy love is easy when the puppy is Rufus Whistle. Not quite sure who was walking who, but I know they were having fun.

What do YOU know for sure this week, right now?  What do YOU love? Tell me here in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

Keeping it Hot

Tim and I have been married for almost 15 years. Whaaaat? I can't even believe it's been 15 years or that we are that old.   

We were babies when we first started dating 17 years ago!

Being married is great, I love it.  It's hard work and it's frustrating and maddening and annoying too.  But the good outweighs the hard parts for us.  Honestly, our marriage, our relationship, is better than it has ever been.  

We make each other laugh, a lot.

I made a little vlog about the secret to our marriage and how we, ahem, keep it hot. Yeah, I'm going there (or at least trying to).    

(Click here to watch the video.)


And just for fun, one of my favorite love/staying together songs sung by the one and the only Tina Turner!!!!

(Click here to watch the video.)

Let Love Rule, A Pinterest Poser Challenge

I did something funky to my back last week and can't run right now.  When I can't run, I go crazy.  It's really that simple.  This past weekend, I was going crazy and just had all this pent up anxiety and energy and ahhhhh...

"You need to make something," Tim said.  "Go paint something." 

He knows me well.  He knows that I need to run out my crazy or write it out or paint it out or create something to just.get.it.out.  So I did.

For this week's Pinterest Poser Challenge,* and to stop myself from going a little nuts, I tackled two things I've wanted to do for forever--- make a red velvet cake from scratch and make a sign with a Lenny Kravitz quote. 

*In an attempt at not being a Pinterest Poser,** every week-ish I detail a new project/idea/recipe inspired by Pinterest.
**My definition of a Pinterest Poser is someone who is all pins and no substance.


Gluten Free Red Velvet Cake

I pinned this recipe and made it my own.  For example, I didn't have corn starch, so I just used more gluten free flour; I didn't have food coloring gel so I just dumped in a lot of red food coloring; and I used Betty Crocker White Fluffy frosting instead of making my own. And I will tell you, it was delicious.  We had it for dessert after dinner on Saturday night and then again for breakfast on Sunday morning.  

Painted Sign With Badass Lenny Kravitz Quote

For the past three years, a random chord to nothing has simply hung out of the wall.  I hate it.  So I finally decided to cover the chord to nothing.  

I love words and quotes and I love putting them everywhere. To cover the chord I decided to make a subway sign with my favorite Lenny Kravitz quote--Let Love Rule.  I love love and I think it should rule, duh.  This quote has extra special significance because I put it on our very stuffy/formal wedding program a million years ago. 

I've made subway art before (click here) but this time I made a much easier version. For this sign (based on several different Pinterest pins), I used the back of an old picture frame.  I had Tim cut it to the size I wanted. 

I bought stencils at Michael's for $8.99. I spray painted the board black with paint I found in my basement. I didn't measure or mark off anything, I just set the letter stencils down and started painting with cheap white paint that I also bought at Michael's (for $3.99).

I absolutely LOVE the way my love sign turned out.  

It's a little bit badass and a whole lot what I believe---love rules, let it rule.  No matter what kind of chaos is going on in my house or in the world, love rules, let it rule.  Amen Lenny.

THE song where I got the quote.

(Click here to watch the video).


Have you made anything inspired by Pinterest lately?  Let me know in the comments or over on my Facebook page.

Come follow me on Pinterest (click here).

Here are some of the Pinterest projects I've done/made/attempted.
DIY Trundle Bed- Click here

DIY Artemis Costume- click here

Taking Pictures of Your Kids- click here

Gluten Free Pretzels- click here

Cinnamon Sugar Doughballs- click here

Painted Lockers- click here

Melted Beads- DIY Suncatcher- click here

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Garland-- click here

A Delightfully Simple Birthday Party--click here
Make An Awesome Omelet--click here
Outdoor Lights Inspired by the show Parenthood- click here
Herb Garden with Chalkboard Pots- click here
Backyard Graffiti Art with kids- click here

Happiness Notecards- click here

Gluten Free Rainbow Cake- click here

Fruit Roll-Up Fortune Cookies- click here

Make Your Own Magnets- click here

DIY Painted Clay Necklace- click here

Dixie Cup Lights- click here

DIY Ornaments-click here

Gluten Free Clay- click here

Make Your Own Stamps- click here
Birthday Shirt- click here

Gluten Free Pop Tarts- click here
Front Porch Kid Art Display- click here
Door turned into Table- click here

Summer Wish List Chalkboard-click here

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookie Sandwiches-click here

Painted Mason Jar Vases-click here

Cinco de Mayo Paper Flowers- click here

Earth Day Cupcakes- Click here
Nail Art-click here

Homemade Photo Booth Fun- click here

Fake Bangs- click here

DIY Subway Art- click here

Furniture Painting and Bench/Chest Makeover- click here

Thanksgiving-y Project/Gratitude/Holiday Countdown- click here
The Smoothie-click here

The Free Printable Turned Artwork in a Boring Hallway- click here

The chalk board-click here
Seven Layer Dip in Individual Cups (my favorite so far!)-click here
The pumpkin address-click hereThe Kitchen Dancing Sign--click here

Love is...

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds....love hurts, ooh, love hurts

Those are words from a song my mom used to play over and over and over.  It was a song on one of her Everly Brothers records.  She would make us sing it with her over and over. 

It took me a long time to stop this song from replaying in my mind.  It took me a long time to figure out that the Everly Brothers and my mother were totally fucked up.  As a 40-year-old, I rebuke my mother's (and the Everly Brothers') version of love.  

Love means being vulnerable which can be scary, but there's more... 

Love can be scary.
So can stairs. Rufus can't quite get the guts to take the leap down the stairs, therefore he serves as the metaphor for this post--too afraid to leap for love.

Love can make us brave.  Brave enough to open ourselves up to fall in love and have the family and get the dog and buy the house and mess up and try again and have fights but then make up and be scared but then be comforted and take the pictures and cheer the kids on and worry about the bills and work hard and hug and reach out and dig deep and love more.

The love that I have makes me feel safe. It is unconditional, which is something I didn't truly understand until I met Tim and had my own children. It has taught me to face my fear of vulnerability and embrace authenticity. 

Love is messy, happy, busy, imperfect, funny, safe, nonjudgmental.

My love right now is an overnight camp, three basketball games, a bad back, two dogs, movie nights, breaking up sibling fights, helping with homework, reading stories, telling stories, making crafts, high-fiving, stressing about science fair, making family dinners and falling asleep watching a movie at night kind of weekend.  And I love it.

Two of the loves of my life.

This song from Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros is more my kind of song about love.  I've shared it before and I might share it again after today, because I love it. 

Click here to watch the video.

No Core And What I Know For Sure

I have been committed to getting myself healthy lately--mind, body and spirit. I'm sort of trying to clean up what I eat.  I'm going to the gym. I'm running to burn calories and stop the anxiety.  I've even started going back to the interval training classes I used to love.

The scene of my gym-class fail.

Just this week, I was feeling strong.  I was in the front of the packed room working out hard.  The instructor encouraging us to "go for it!"  And I did--  Faster. Harder. Don't stop. I got this. Go. Keep going. Faster. Higher. Jump. Get low. Push. I am amazing! Look at me back row, I am killing it!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh! 

But mid-lunge I felt something tweak.  I went from killing it to feeling like I was being killed.  I had to modify moves and drop my head in gym-class shame. I hobbled out telling jokes and laughing too loudly (because that's what I do when I am embarrassed or sad or nervous or...).  

Since then I have been hunched over like Yoda, shuffling around the house. Yeah, I'm committed to getting myself healthy but I'm old and I have no core (strength) so it makes it almost impossible. Waaaa. 

Don't count this old lady out yet, I'm going to keep trying to get healthy, as soon as I can stand up straight.  

The battle to be sane, have muscles and eat right is hard when you are old and have no core (strength), I know that for sure this week.


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

• We love winter.  I know people are sick of me saying how much I love playing in the snow, but too bad, I do.  Check out what I love and THE best winter lotion here.

Click here to watch the video.

• If you aren't following Humans of New York you are crazy.  Do you want to feel inspired and full of hope for humanity?  Follow them.  I've been following them for a while.  This latest story about the young boy and his principal that went massively viral is so inspiring and full of love and hope.  Go check it out.

• I seriously have fun with my kids.  And they have fun with me, even the teenager who refuses to smile when I force him to be in pictures. I promise, we all had fun. They really are fun to be with.

We all went swimming at the indoor pool at our gym (before I did something funky to my back) on one of the kids' snow days.

• I'm watching the Grammy Awards on Sunday night.  Come hang out with me on Twitter while we watch.  I love award shows and I enjoy the Grammy's  so much every year.

• Speaking of great shows, I'm so happy that tickets are on sale now for Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit!!!!  Get them early, we're hoping for a sell out! Click here.

What do YOU know for sure this week?  Share it here or over on my Facebook page.

Be For Something

It seems like there are a lot of people that are against things.  So many of these people are angry and loud. I know it's good and necessary to stand up and be loud sometimes and be against things.  I mean sometimes that's the only way real change happens. And I am not someone who remains silent. I will be loud, I will fight when it is necessary. But lately, it seems like so many people are loud and angry and against everything.  The voices against everything sound attacking and reactive and quick-tempered everywhere--from television talk shows to Twitter.

Instead of being against everything, I want to be for things.  I am for equal rights. I am for compassion and understanding and empathy.  I am for more listening, less yelling.  I am for knowing more about each other and the world.  

That is one of the reasons I am so excited to be joining a movement to share the stories about women's rights and issues concerning health, education, wealth, economic development and combating climate change.  It is the  Across Women's Lives (#womenslives) initiative, a media partnership between Public Radio International (PRI) and SheKnows Media.  

I am definitely for sharing more stories about women and women's issues around the world.  Did you know that currently only about 24 percent of all news subjects talk about women in any way, and only six percent of news stories highlight general in/equality?

PRI creates and produces public radio programs like The World, The Takeaway and many other programs, as well as special reports.  Together PRI, SheKnows Media and bloggers and writers will be sharing stories and starting conversations about the Across Women's Lives series using the #womenslives hashtag. 

Stories with information like this:

"When girls receive more education, their children are healthier. When women have more ownership of property, domestic violence often drops. When more women work outside the home, a country’s economic output rises. And when women hold elective office, government corruption is lower.

Yet in spite of the social benefits, gender inequity remains common throughout the world — including in developed countries like the US. It takes focused effort, creativity and persistence to shift the gender balance closer to equality. It means changing culture, changing tradition and changing attitudes."

I'm for knowing more about women's lives around the world and creating change. I'm for sharing stories that educate, enlighten and inspire all of us to be and do better.

Throughout the rest of 2015, I will be sharing stories, and writing some, about #womenslives.  I hope that you will read and follow the #womenslives hashtag to see all the stories.  

This post is in connection to my participation in the #WomensLives social journalism initiative co-sponsored by BlogHer, SheKnows Media, and Public Radio International. Across Women’s Lives seeks to change the conversation in news media, because women’s lives are newsworthy.

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? 

What Day Is It and What I Know For Sure

It feels like it was just Friday and I was just sharing what I know for sure. I mean wasn't it just last Friday?  Time is going fast, life is a bit of a blur.  A messy, fun, loud, intense, joyful, crazy blur.  

It's not Friday,I know that.  I wrote this post on Friday and things got so hectic I didn't post it.  Now it's Monday. I feel a bit like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes going through life like a messy tornado! Ahhhhhhh.


(Click here to watch the video.)

But I'm still posting this old post just to prove that I know a few things still, because I do, I think.

I know for sure that it is very snowy here today (Monday) which means no school for the kids, but that three out of four of my children were up by 7 a.m. still.

It snowed about 14 inches yesterday, but that didn't stop the boys (and Tim) from playing football outside.

Here's what else I know for sure this week(um, last week):

• Rufus Whistle is so damn cute. And we love him so much.

• I will do whatever J Lo tells me to do.  I will buy her new protein powders because duh, look at her.  She's 44 you guys and she looks so damn beautiful.  She makes me so not afraid of my mid-forties.  I want to add that after watching Lenny Kravitz during the Super Bowl half-time show, I feel like he could also sell me protein powders.  They both make me hopeful about getting older and being sexy and cool (there's hope for me yet that maybe I will someday be sexy and cool, lol).

• Chocolate cake and fancy coffee are better than J Lo's protein powders.  This is my version of afternoon delight--

• The show Parenthood is over and I am sad. Waaaaaa. I had to keep reminding myself that the family wasn't really my family and that I needed to not get so invested. But waaaaaa.  Even though I'm sad, it was a really good ending to six great seasons. No spoiler alerts here...just a few lessons I learned from the show.  Okay it's been a few days and I'm still sad. I have to keep reminding myself that I can visit the Bravermans on Netflix anytime I want to.

• Having tweens and teenagers is going to be verrrrry interesting. One of my tweens got so mad at me he/she left the house to catch the bus without saying good bye.  What did I do you ask? I sang along to the Cameo classic Word Up.  Yeah, that's all.  What the hell?  How did he/she not like that song, it is a classic.  Whatever.

• I don't care who wins the Super Bowl.  I'm not invested this year which stinks.  I don't even care about Katy Perry during the halftime. Maybe I am just feeling blah because I have SAAD or I just don't care.  It was a good game, but I enjoyed watching it, but still wasn't that invested. The half-time was fine, not fabulous, but fine.  I LOVED seeing Missy Elliot and Lenny Kravitz.

• Our family LOVES watching The Goldbergs.  Do you watch it? It's such a fun show.  If you were a kid in the 80s you will totally love it, I promise.  We watch it together as a family (there are a few things that go way over the kids' heads, especially Wade's, but overall it's pretty harmless).

  (Click here to watch the video.)

What do YOU know for sure this week?  Tell me here or on my Facebook page.  

Come follow me on Instagram- @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.com.