Outside the Lines, What I Know For Sure & #iPPP

I'm not an organized person at all.  In fact, I'm the opposite of organized.  I'm chaotic, messy, some might say scattered.  It's always been this way.  My desk was messy in elementary school where I got papers sent back to my parents for coloring way outside the lines.  In middle school I could never quite remember my locker combination, ever, and had trouble drawing a straight line (yes, even with a ruler).  In high school, my closet was a disaster and I drove my big sister crazy because I actually walked in a crooked path, leaning into whomever I was walking next too.

Outside the lines, straight lines who cares right?  I mean I was called the "creative one" from a very early age I was expected to be a little zany right?  

Usually it never bothers me.  Seriously, I usually  do not get bugged out by a mess on my countertop or a pile of papers next to my bed.  I like to have a clean kitchen before I go to bed at night but throughout the day it's more of an ongoing working space.  

But lately, it's been getting a little overwhelming.  And yesterday the shit got serious because it involved getting my roots done, or I mean NOT getting my roots done.  Nobody messes with my hair.

Because let's face it, it's about more than hair.  Getting my hair highlighted is me time.  Time to hang out with my hair dresser turned friend after 10 years Gloria and talk about all things pop culture.  Time to feel a little pampered.  Time to read the Star magazine hidden under the pile of Vogues and In Styles at the salon.  Getting my hair highlighted is two hours I look forward to every month. 

So yesterday, after a full day of swimming and puppy walking and breaking up fights between the kids, I got ready to leave for Gloria's.  I went to the messy pile of paper where my thoughtfully saved cash was stashed and it was gone.

"Those kids took my money," I said like a mad woman totally turning on my four kids sitting in the next room.  My husband looked surprised.  "Oh I've spent all day with them, they'd do it, they would, they would," I said totally irrationally.

I searched and searched the piles for the money.
"You know if you were a little more organized, you...," Tim said not finishing his thought after seeing my crazy lady glare.

But he was right.  I knew he was right, just like those elementary school teachers so many years ago.  I needed to be a little more organized and keep life inside the lines more.

I called Gloria and tearfully said "I have to cancel my appointment." Sniff, sniff.  Because getting my hair highlighted every 6 weeks is great, but it's also really damn expensive.  And until I found my budgeted, saved cash my roots weren't being highlighted.

I searched, swore, interrogated the children, even accused the puppy of eating the money, but came up empty.  Waaaaa.  I threw away papers, went through piles, actually filed stuff in folders I didn't know I had, cleaned up the craft mess left from Monday and still came up empty.  Then Tim walked in, moved one piece of paper to the left and found the cash just like that.

Tim took the boys to Peyton's baseball game.  I took Lucy to Dairy Queen--we took short cuts through alleys and around parking lots just for fun.  

After we got our awesome Blizzards from DQ, we stumbled upon dueling pianos in our park. 

Yup, it's that magic of outdoor music and a crowd again.  

We sat down ate our ice cream and bobbed our heads to the music.  It was amazing.  Then one of the singers dedicated Katy Perry's Firework to all the girls and asked them to sing. What? Come on!  It was so much fun.

The boys met us there after the game.  

And you know, boys have fun in their own way--wrestling, chasing and such.  It was a perfect night.  And I didn't even care about my dark roots (that much).

Tim wasn't trying to be artsy when he took this pic, but the lady's shirt in the background says it all--LOVE!  And it provides a great distraction from my incredibly dark roots.

I know for sure that even though I lose some things and feel a little scattered and overwhelmed sometimes, it works because I'm open to the unexpected and the fun, perfect moments waiting outside the lines.

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

• Being sick in the summer stinks, especially when you are 7 years old and you have to miss your last baseball game.  Half of the family suffered through a weird fever virus this past week and I found JT snuggling his baseball when I told him he'd have to miss his game.

• My puppy owes me an apology. Yup. This week's vlog explains it all.  Check it out if you missed it.

• Swimming and dancing go hand in hand with this family.  After everyone felt better, we finally went to the pool yesterday.  And Wade was so happy he swam and danced all afternoon.

• There are positive things happening in education and in Detroit. This is a powerful story about how some schools, some kids are triumphing.  It's 11 minutes, but it's 11 minutest that will make you hopeful and proud and feel such compassion for what some of these kids go through to get through.  I was so moved by this, I wanted to share it here.  

• I am not at all excited or interested in seeing the latest Brad Pitt zombie movie.  But the new Monsters movie? Monsters University, yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

• Wade is a future baller no doubt.  But for now it's all about the giant sandbox that is the infield.  

What do you know for sure (this week)? C'mon, we're friends, share what you know. What's your week been like?  Leave a comment here or on the Facebook page.

  Please come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

I'm linking up today with my friends Greta from  Gfunkified.com and Sarah from SundaySpill.com for the #iPPP link up.  They host a link up where they encourage people to share "your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite photos of the week" from our phones.  Check them out.

Oh yeah, and come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood, subscribe to my MomPulse YouTube channel here and follow my Pinterest boards here.

Bettering & Blogging

I'm always looking, searching, researching ways to make it okay, to understand more, to make sense, to figure it out.  Not to sound too much like a Dr. Seuss character, but I'm always  figuring, wondering, bettering and sometimes I just do not like it, not in a box, not in a house, not with a mouse, not here or there or anywhere.  Sometimes I spend so much time searching for answers I forget to stop and look around and find out the answers were right here all along.

This week has been filled with feverish children and being somewhat stuck in our house.  So yesterday,  after a dose of ibuprofen, I took the kids for a walk.  

 We were like a group of tourists in our own town, discovering new paths, new trails, new tadpoles (which is kind of my nightmare because of my any-kind-of-frog-even-a-yet-to-be-frog phobia, but I make sacrifices for my kids all.the.time).  

Enjoying our everyday normal with new wonder and new sense of adventure.

Along our way, I literally crossed paths with a blogging super hero.  

The little girl in red in the background is one of Kelle's adorable daughters.

Not just any blogging superhero, a woman who is all about honoring the ordinary, celebrating the now, reminding us all to pay attention to the beauty around us.  Kelle Hampton from Enjoying the Small Things and the author of Bloom.  She walked up with her three beautiful kids.  

I told her I was a reader and so happy to see her.  We talked about the beauty of Michigan, having kids and wished each other well. I didn't want to be all "I'm your biggest fan" and ask for a picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.  She was really there, this really happened.

It felt kind of amazingly appropriate that I would run into someone that inspires me and my blog.  This past week, I celebrated the two year anniversary of this blog.    

Two years ago I took a leap of faith, I jumped with my fingers crossed.  I started writing and writing and writing. 

And worried about stuff like this:

Writing this blog is like the first time I went to therapy.  

I thought, no I knew, I had so much to say.  But when I sat on the couch to spill my guts to my new therapist there was silence.  I stared at her and when she asked how I was I said "oh just fine, how are you?"

I did it because I wanted to get the words out of my head.  I did it to be creative.  I did it to practice writing and maybe try and do something else and get paid.  I did it because I was tired of saying I would do things and never quite following through (hello bungee jumping, skydiving, applying for that dream job, etc., etc.).  I was tired of giving everything away to everyone else and not doing things I longed to do.  So, I jumped and it was the beginning of Jumping With My Fingers Crossed (click here to read the first post evah).

Blogging has taught me a lot in the last two years.  It has taught me about honesty, acceptance, discipline, networking, connecting and the importance of living in the moment and remembering.

Honestly, the honesty part of blogging is super easy for me.  I've always been okay with telling people anything about my life--the good, the bad and the ugly.  Keeping it real is all I know.  The tricky part I discovered about having a blog, even a small blog, is that not everyone is okay with that, and that's okay.  I am understanding that my tweenage son doesn't want every emotion or new phase he is feeling/going through honestly portrayed on my blog and I respect that.

Lucy's sidewalk message to the world.

Having a blog has taught me to accept that there's not 80 hours in a day and I can't do EVERYTHING I want to do.  Okay, the blog hasn't taught me how to accept that, I lied (so much for the honesty), it's just pointed out that I need to learn to accept it.  There are so many things I want to write about, conferences I want to go to, ideas I want to explore, tweets I want to send, videos I want to make and there's just not enough time in the day.  But I know busyness ebbs and flows, children get older and I'm getting older too, oh wait that just turned into lyrics from Landslide.  Damn you Stevie Nicks you poet, you wrote some good stuff.

This baby won't be a baby much longer.

Consistently writing takes discipline.  I love writing every day because it gives me a sense of control and completion in a chaotic world of four crazy busy kids. 

Blogging is most definitely a creative endeavor, but it is also very much like owning your own business.  I have learned to network, promote myself, brand, market and organize my business, my blog.  I've made a billion mistakes like naming my YouTube channel Jumping With My Fingers in an attempt at branding.  Jumping With My Fingers Crossed was taken and now I'm stuck with Jumping With My Fingers.  What does that even mean?  I am learning along the way. Some things work, some things don't, but it is nice being my own boss.

Connecting with other writers/bloggers has been the biggest surprise for me.  Whether it's the super stars of blogging (ala Kelle Hampton) or small time bloggers like me, connecting, relating, reaching out has been inspiring, encouraging and just all around good.  Some of these women have become some of my closest friends.   

The biggest lesson I've learned from blogging is that remembering is a good thing.  

You have to be in the moment to really capture it.  The cute shoulder shrug, the sweet interactions between siblings, the far away look...you have to be watching to see it.  It's not just about setting up the camera or video taping the performance or jotting down a quick recap, it's about paying attention to and loving the characters in your story.

Telling the stories of my family is a good thing.  It's our story.  It's a love story to hold in our hearts forever.  It's a story that might help other people or entertain other people or even help me earn a little extra money.

I've learned a lot in these last two years and I am going to keep on learning and figuring and bettering and all kinds of "ings."  And like a jazzy duo sang once, there ain't no stopping me now.

Like me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. And come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Check out what I recently wrote about writing/blogging and crossing lines over at The Road To My Writer Roots.

And well, of course THE Landslide, mmm-hmmm:

Puppy Apologies & Mama Kat Vlog Prompts

Who gets mad at puppies? Um, me, I do.  I'm sorry.  My puppy drives me crazy.  Whose idea was it to get a puppy anyway?

I'm linking up with Mama Kat's vlog prompts this week and talking about apologies.  Talking about who needs to say sorry to me and in first place it is my puppy, Cosi.  Check it out:

  
(If you are an email subscriber click here http://youtu.be/4jQbnocVwHc
to watch.)

Let me know what you think, here or on Facebook.  Speaking of Facebook, what do you think of Facebook birthdays?  Here's what I think about it:

 (If you are an email subscriber click here http://youtu.be/ZwrOWNm9_Ds to watch.)

Share or subscribe to my YouTube channel.  I'm trying to get to 100 subscribers by August 1.  It would be crazy wonderful to be in the triple digits, seriously. 

In case you missed it, here's the vlog from last week where I talk about censoring your kids' music:

(If you are an email subscriber click here http://youtu.be/1FLnpqbhD_Q
to watch.)

Check her out and the other funny vloggers over on Mama Kat's Losing It.  Click here.

Come play with me on Instagram @jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed.

Come follow me on Twitter @AngelaYBlood

Something About Lucy

"I want to learn how to ride a unicorn."

This is a famous Lucy quote.  She was five years old when she said this in reply to this question, er, series of questions: "Honey, what sport do you want to play? Soccer? Tennis?  What do you want to sign up for?  What do you want to learn to do?"

While I love my daughter's imagination and creative thinking, it can also be maddening.   We have never pushed her to join a group or a team.  Encouraged? Yes, but never pushed or pressured.  Lucy is a brilliant, funny, creative, brave little girl.  I've always thought/known she was a go-to-the-beat-of-her-own-drum kind of girl, which I can kind of relate to.  

Lucy is a throw your head back and soak it up kind of kid.
"Mom, I LOVE being alive!," she exclaimed while we were on a nature walk the other day.

But in this world of Tiger Moms and Helicopter Parents, I feel conflicted.  I don't know if I should be pressuring her more, pushing her more.  I don't care if she is the best tennis player or the best actress in community theater, I just want her to feel connected.  I want her to have a place where she belongs.  I want her to have a group she is a part of.  I want her to know how wonderful she is.  I want her to hold onto this sense of wonder and joy forever.  I want her to have opportunities to express her self and learn and grow and shine and share that something, that special something about Lucy.

"Guess what, you are going to an audition," I told her yesterday.

"No I'm not," she replied.

I knew she wouldn't be thrilled with my great idea of trying out for the youth theater down the road.  I mean come on! Lucy plus drama + creative people + audience= perfect combination.    But Lucy is more street performer than theat-ah diva.  She is the girl that goes for the laugh or the look from strangers in line at the grocery store or on the playground rather than the school play.  She is the girl that likes making her own rules, being her own group, getting lost in her own imagination.  And again, I totally get it, but I'm the parent, I'm supposed to push and pressure, right?

"I'm not going and you can't make me," she said both defiant and hurt, with how-could-you?-sad-eyes, like I had just told her we weren't going to celebrate Christmas anymore.

Our "discussion" went on for a long time and neither one of us walked away feeling very happy.

I explained how I wanted her to try new things, how it gets harder to try new things as you get older, how much I love her, how I want good things for her.

"Thank you, but the answer is still no," she said.

For a minute I turned into a wacky mom from a bad reality show and promised milkshakes and presents if she'd just go to the damn audition for Christ's sake.  But only her brothers got into that idea, pleading with her to go so they could all get milkshakes.  Lucy was unimpressed and called me out on my bribing tactics.

After a few tears (mine) and some time, I stopped fighting it and she did not go to the audition.  While I struggled to let it go, she moved on.  She moved on to writing stories and making up stories.  She and Wade were candy superheros at her brother's baseball game, fighting crime with their secret weapon--Swedish Fish-- and her pink cape/scarf/headdress.  

She came over to me at the game to talk.  I thought it might be about our my somewhat emotional afternoon, but it wasn't.

"Do you know how to read comic books?," she asked/challenged, handing me a comic book she just happened to have in her bag.

I read with gusto and she replied, "Not bad mom, not bad at all, for a grown up."

There's just something about Lucy.  She's magic and light, wit and wonder.  

I'm madly in love with this little girl, but that doesn't mean I know how to parent her.  It doesn't mean I know how to not put all my fears and my own issues onto her.  It just means that I love her and I'll keep trying to fill her up with love.  I will honor her sense of adventure and joy and imagination.  

But I will still try to get her to audition next year. I mean right?

Do you have kids that go to the beat of their own drums?  Do you feel conflicted between letting them be themselves and pushing them to try new things?

In Love With Home

We weren't supposed to fall in love with our home.  It's a rental.  Not a fancy rental. In fact, we intentionally picked out a not-so-fancy rental because well, we aren't fancy people.  We are messy people that would rather play in the back yard than manicure it.  We are don't worry about tracking mud in the house people.  We are life's too short to worry about being perfect people.  

Source

So this not-so-fancy rental was supposed to fill a need.  We needed a roof over our head and this place provided it.  Who cares that the driveway is the worst and grows more grass in the cracks than in our actual yard? Not us.  Nope.  Roof doesn't leak, we're all good.

That was as far as it was supposed to go.  But what I've discovered is I kind of love this crappy old home.  The green walls, the nice neighbors, the quiet street, wood floors, the way the light shines through the windows in the morning...a few months ago I started to fall in a lot of like.  But then, we started hanging out on the porch this spring/summer.  And it's official, I love this crappy old rental home.

The porch is big enough for all six (seven including the dog) to spread out and do our own thing.   

 Of course the people filling up my porch are pretty wonderful, even those people that don't want to get their picture taken.

It's been an interesting up and down, little over a year since we moved into this house and it feels...not just like home, but a home we love.  And it feels good.


We are less than a week into summer vacation and aside from a couple sick Youngbloods, we are off to a good start.  Check out what we did in 2 1/2 days of summer vaca last week:


Just The Beginning- Summer 2013 from Jumping With My Fingers Crossed on Vimeo.

And here's the old(ish) song that I love so much and is all about HOME.