Feel Good Friday

You know you're a blogger when you can't wait to blog about something that happens to you.

And you really know you are hooked, when you have more blog post ideas ready than you have time to type!

That's me.

hooked

backlogged

And since this particular post is simply a quick showing off of something that makes me happy every time I look at it, I decided to link up to Laura Erika Tami who is hosting Feel Good Friday this week. This is my first time linking up, even though I often read the posts because they are so cheerful.

***

On July 13, Superman and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.

We actually had a date, alone, with no kids, at one of our favorite spots out of town!

It was dreamy.

He had the lamb.

I had the Ahi Tuna

We couldn't resist taking a few bites before we snpped the pic.

The food was AMAZING!

We shared the Creme Brulee with fresh berries.

We only took one picture while we were out, and of course, I was in the middle of a sentence!

...but that's not the point. 

Check out my necklace.

About 2 weeks before our anniversary I got the idea to create this necklace. So I got a hold of Tia at Crimson Clover and placed my order.

I just had to share with you what I got because it makes me smile every time I see it.

J for me

S for Superman

The pendant is double-sided.

How cute is that?

And one more thing that made me feel good:

I assumed custom jewelry would be very expensive, but it wasn't!

Tia's work is truly wearable art and she has something for everyone, in every price range.

I couldn't be happier with our date or with my new necklace.

And that's why I feel good this Friday!

***

THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE MY OWN. 

I DID NOT GET PAID OR COMPENSATED IN ANY WAY TO BRING YOU THIS INFORMATION.

A Typical Wednesday Night

Around here, Wednesdays are a little CRAZY. 

I will spare you the details, but trust me.

The last thing we needed was a raccoon (or two) to add to the chaos.

Here's a quick peek into my evening:

We resort to pizza after the 4 sports events we attended tonight. I am exhausted, so I go on kitchen duty (aka light duty) while Superman puts the little people to bed. I box up the leftovers and prepare to refrigerate them.

Meanwhile, Superman has done his job and is heading to the shower. 

Back downstairs, there is no room for the leftovers inside, so I head to the garage to the extra fridge. 

We have a shelf in the garage that sits right next to the door from the garage and the house. Up on top is where we keep the kitty's bed and food. It's her little lookout perch. If Cat is on the shelf, she can jump straight down and through the doorway into the house. Does this make sense?

So picture me: I open the door...I see non-cat-like movement...two raccoons jump down. (You should know that a few months ago one jumped down and narrowly missed running straight into my house, which about gave me a heart attack.)

fact: raccoons love cat food

Of course, I instantly scream. What else could I do? I'm a screamer. And not just a little "ack!" but like a blood curdling Alfred Hitchcock scream. Then, on impulse I slam the door as hard as I can, making a loud bang, not unlike a gunshot.

uh-huh

I got very quiet, as I do after the scream happens (yes, I have a pattern) because my knees go a little weak and I am often left dumbfounded and hoarse. The house is quiet except for my heavy breathing.

Then I hear a bang-bang, pounding from upstairs.

Oh yes.

He heard the scream, then the bang....

and came running out of the shower so hard that he broke the shower door.

Yup.

I have my grandmother, God rest her soul, to thank for the involuntary scream trait (which, alone, I could write an entire series about). 

Superman is neither amused, nor sympathetic.

For my part, I can't help imagining the shower as a phone booth, from which he came bursting forth to save me.

Is it weird that I think that's hot?

How to Take a Vacation

For the past week, I have unexpectedly been without access to the internet. I must say, had I been able to foresee this circumstance, I would like to think I would have viewed the break as a vacation; a time to slow down and reflect. In reality, though, I knew we were headed out on a little trip to Iowa, so I pre-wrote a couple of posts, packed my laptop, Kindle and cell phone along with my other necessities and went merrily on my way.

So naive.

We were visiting my in-laws for a few days over the weekend of my oldest's birthday. This is something that we have done before, but this time for some reason we could not connect to the internet. At first, we struggled to hook up. After the second day, I decided to just ignore the problem. Because, you know, I'm cool like that. I go with the flow. No stress. And I am SO not dependent on technology.

Right.

By the second evening I was sweating a little. I may or may not have run around their house holding my Kindle desperately to each window, praying for reception. No signal. Really?

So I texted a little just to ease the longing.

By the next day was really worrying about the blog, the Facebook page(s), the email inbox(es), my twitter account, that would, no doubt be overflowing with hundreds of fan letters--people wondering what terrible fate had befallen me.

I would like to think I would have viewed the break as a time to slow down and reflect, so I forced myself not to think about it. Meanwhile, Superman, who has no pride in such situations, borrowed our host's laptop for a few minutes to check email. I knew for sure there was no way I could spend a reasonable amount of time online if given the chance. I would need to suck it up like a camel arriving at a desert oasis, like a drug addict finally getting a hit. I would need hours to read, comment, email update statuses, tweet and possibly shop because, who knew when I might get the chance again! I knew it would draw me in and render me powerless to enjoy my visit, my chance to slow down. So, I refused to go there; I refused to reveal my weakness.

Instead, my heart lept when I finally got a signal on the Kindle. Hooray! I rushed to update my Facebook status. I tried in vain to check my email with any shred of familiarity or ease. (I'm a visual person, I need to see those color schemes I set up and the familiar shapes and icons, so mobile browsers just don't cut it for me.) I shopped in the Kindle store, just because I could. I texted.

Then, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window. I saw the fiendish glimmer in my eye, the smirk of my mouth. I didn't care about food or drink. I hadn't checked on the kids...

I realized this was not vacation. This was no break... and O.K. maybe I have a problem.

Perhaps.

Wouldn't I prefer to be the girl who blooms where she is planted, who is lit from within, who makes lemonade from lemons? In theory, yes. But...

I shut down the Kindle and put away the crippled laptop and stashed the cell phone and enjoyed what was left of the trip. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the whole trip, but I was determined to NOT be distracted any longer. We covered their sidewalks in chalk and soaked up the last hours in Iowa for a while.

I didn't even check my mail on the car ride home. I actually read a magazine. A real, print one! It was glorious! (Have you seen those things? You can hold them and turn the pages yourself, just like in the old days!)

And so this morning, I am playing catch-up, while I wash the dirty laundry and get the kids back into our routine. But don't think for a minute I am not diagnosing the problem in the back of my mind. No, I'm scheming and planning because you know, next year when we go to Iowa... well, let's just say, if you see a tent pitched at the base of a cell tower, I'd love it if you stopped in to say hi. I'll be on vacation, you know, relaxing, slowing down, reflecting...with my Kindle in one hand, my cell in the other and my laptop open; about 20 tabs up, poised and ready, just in case there's some living to be done.

My Childhood Memories

My two older boys fight constantly.


CONSTANTLY.

Sometimes it is therapeutic for me to recall that my older brother and I did fight when we were little. I forget that sometimes now that we are all grown up and we play nice. It's also goo to remember that my parents we not perfect at doling out the punishments, which sort of lets me off the hook for the times when I am tired and say something like "I don't care who did it, you're all in trouble!"

I remember the time we got off the bus and no one was home. My brother ran in as fast as he could and locked me out of the house. I must have been in about 4th grade, which would mean he was in 8th. I screamed and yelled and tried to get in but I couldn't so when he sat behind the glass, taunting me. I did the only thing I could think to do.



I flipped him the bird.



And...you guessed it. I got in trouble.

Not him.

Nevermind that he locked me out of the house.

I got in trouble!


And I still remember the injustice of it all.


uh-Oh! Maybe I'm not so "off the hook" after all.

Crap.

Weekend Recap and a Winner!

Superman worked through the weekend, so the kids and I got a little bored towards Sunday afternoon. In hopes of coming up with a quickie project to keep them occupied, I began feverishly digging through my fabric stash. To my delight, I found some old bearskins that MIL had sewn for me ages ago before we had kids. She had made several so I'd have them on hand to stuff for baby gifts. I just love these bears, but I totally forgot I had them. Over the years they had shifted to the bottom of ONE of my MANY containers of fabric. (Did I just confess to something there?)

So we spent some time stuffing the bears and stitching up their backs. MVP and I assisted the little ones since there were only 3 bearskins.  I suggested we stuff them and send them to a local agency that counsels young mothers. The jury us still out on that one though. I think they may need to play with them another week or so before the bears will be ready for new homes. For now, they were quite happy to pose on this rummage sale bench I scored for $3! I cannot wait to repaint the bench. I will keep you updated, though I am fairly certain I will be hand painting this one, which means it will get shifted to the "things I can do in the winter" list.

I had planned a longer post to share a few other items with you, but my Blogger account (actually my Gmail too) was seriously wigging out yesterday (In answer to your question, tes, as a progressive linguist, I do feel that word is perfectly appropriate to type into a blog post. Just roll with it.) So I am cutting the post short to announce the winner of my Varionet eyeglasses giveaway...

Congratulations to LLUVIA of I've Been Thinking!!!!

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max:

Result:

4Powered by RANDOM.ORG
 

The Name Game

I have a quirk about me.

OK, maybe I have a few, but one of them just smacked me in the face, so let's talk about that one. I am wondering if this has ever happened to you.

My quirk is this: I do not like to use people's names when I speak or write to them. I don't know why, but unless I know someone pretty well, I will avoid using their name, in case I have it

wrong. I would just feel really awkward if I called someone by the wrong name. And OMG, don't even start on mispronunciations! It's like a mortal fear I have, and a hair-trigger when I hear other people mispronounce someone else's name.

I know. You are thinking: What's the big deal, right? If you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world, apologize and move on.

I'm not sure where this quirk came from. It makes no sense, but it's a fact about me and here are some reasons I think this quirk will not be going anywhere anytime soon:

My name is Jami. It's just like Jamie, but I spell it differently. On purpose. It's funny, because I have not had people mispronounce my name much, but I get called the wrong name a lot. As a teen I was often called Jodi. (I have no idea why, but it's true. Random people would just write down or call out Jodi instead of Jami.) Once I was listed in the bulletin in our church as Jane. (I like Jane. I could be a Jane. But I'm not.)

There is a young girl who babysits for us. It took me forever to figure out how to pronounce her name! Alanna (uh-LON-uh). I felt like such a dummy because she would tell me and I would

forget. sheesh! I've been told I don't listen. I called her (uh-LAN-uh), like Allanis, many times. But now I think I have it down. I am my own worst enemy. :)

And then there is The Girl. I love her! I have corresponded with her in the past using the name Laura. Recently, I visited her new website (it's way cool. check it out!) and there is a little piece in the sidebar that says My name is Erika. Doh!

What have I done?

I am virtually mortified. (pun intended, 'cuz I'm witty like that)

So I contacted her to find out if I had made the error of all errors.

I will leave it to you to read what she has been up to here.

But suffice it to say, I am so relieved! And now I just can't stop laughing.

I guess I'm not the only one who has quirks.

LOL

****

You know what? I am finding it harder and harder to make time for blogging this summer. I'd love to know how some of you are doing this! I feel like it's a good day if I get a shower.

My point is, bear with me! I have taken SO many pictures for you guys...I will try to get them up. And if I don't get over to visit you for a little while, forgive me. I'm here and I'm trying, but the kids (and the kitchen chairs I am refinishing. oops! Did I just admit something??) have to come first.

Feel free to surf my archives if you miss me too much. xo

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.

Sports

Last weekend I had the opportunity to shoot a Triathlon.  If you have never attended one of these events, as I hadn't, it is difficult to imagine the challenge these athletes face. The accomplishment of simply finishing is tremendous.

In any case, as a mom-tog, it was a really fun chance to push myself to take action shots, to snap even as I am on-the-go, and to use my 200 mm lens. Let me just say, after this weekend, I really think that if you have kids in sports, a telephoto lens is a worthwhile investment.

Here are a few shots I captured.

These are straight from my camera.

No playing around (like I prefer).

;)

I was thinking for sports, this would be a better plan.

So, I am revealing my "naked" shots to you.

Just as I took them.

Can you tell how much I love that zoom?

Seriously.

OK. I cropped this one a bit.

I got aggravated by all the background "noise".

I prefer to focus on my subject.

This was definitely out of my "comfort zone".

But in a good way.

***

Now here are two shots I played with.

I wanted to see if I could draw the eye more to the subject and less to the background.

These are so small, I am not sure you can tell the difference.

Different technique, same idea.

I just used picnik for these. Nothing fancy.

Have you ever photographed sporting events?

Do you have any secrets for me?

I totally want to try this again!

PS. I shrunk all those files down a bunch so the page will load faster, but now I feel like they are not crisp enough...next time, I'll go bigger.

Are You a Keeper?

I am a keeper.

a saver.

a pack-rat.

However, this summer something has come over me and I am in a pitching mood.

I have been digging into my attic and pulling out stuff I didn't

even know I had!

I want to clear out the clutter and live a cleaner, less stressful life, so I am taking baby steps.
To me they feel like giant leaps.

Here's something I am learning:

• When you find clothes that "crunch" when you try to expand the once-elastic waistband to try them on, you know you have had them too long!
• Some stuff is only cute for a short time, like baby room decor.
• Some styles should not be resurrected.

As to that last one, I have an entire tub in my attic devoted to jeans for me. Now before you say anything, realize that for the last 11...almost 12 years I have been pregnant, post partum, breastfeeding, or "getting my body back". At first, I was all about tossing clothes I outgrew, but then I realized one day I might get pregnant again, or fat, or skinny... and that when that day came I may not have a whole lot of extra cash to go out and buy new pants. Or maybe I do, but I want to spend it on the bambinos, or maybe I just DON'T want to spend it on another pair of fat jeans when I KNOW I will be thin again one day. *wink*

...And so began the bottomless tub filled with jeans: low rise, ultra low rise, medium rise and "mom jeans"; Straight leg, boot cut, wide leg, skinny; Capris, shorts, bermudas and pedal pushers size 2,4,6,8,10 and 12!

When you are a keeper you have to talk yourself down from the ledge of panic that always follows the impulse to purge. You find the mom jeans, you gag, then you stuff them into the donation bag and try to keep moving. But all the while, the voice in the back of your head is whining: remember when you brought little Johnny home from the hospital in those? or Those were so comfy, maybe you should keep them in case that style comes back.

It's a never-ending battle for keepers. But this summer I am diving in head first. I am sorting, pitching and donating like crazy. Of course, I am constantly wrestling with my "voice", but I find that the crunch of the elastic drowns it out a bit.

I am jumping off this ledge.

How about you? Are you a keeper? How do you get rid of things?

If you have some sort of system, please share it. I might need it if I run out of elastic.

Review and Giveaway!

Like many of you, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer. I also spend a good portion of my day reading print and crafting. All of this can lead up to eye strain and headaches for me. In fact, about a month ago, I scheduled an eye exam, prompted primarily by the fact that my eyes were hurting so much that I was sure my prescription had changed and I was going blind or something. Lucky for me, my eyes are fine and have barely even changed in 2 years. The doctor tested me for pre-mature presbyopia (literally, "old-eyes"), which is when you have to start holding price tags at arms length in order to read them. I do not have it.

So, if nothing was wrong with my eyes, what can be done about the eyestrain?

Imagine my excitement when I was contacted by Varionet to test a pair of glasses that are specifically designed to alleviate the sort of eyestrain I am experiencing.

These glasses feature no-line multi-focal lenses, which is cool because it allows me to, say, sew on a button using the magnification part of the lens so I can actually see what I am doing, and yet I am still able to look up at the TV without peering out over the glasses or removing them.

Since I do not have prescription for reading glasses I chose a magnification of +1.0 to try out for crafting and reading...and sewing buttons, of course. The package arrived, as promised (from France!). Inside the box, I found a soft silk bag as well as an attractive hard shell case I can use to keep the glasses in my purse. I have to say, I was impressed with the glasses right away. They are nice quality glasses and very stylish frames. Check it out:

Don't panic. I didn't dye my hair green.

It's just the weird lighting, in my bathroom, I guess. :)

I did have to adjust the nose piece a bit to get them to sit straight on my face,

but that is super easy to do and took about 10 seconds.

Though I will not be needing these for use at the computer (yet) I do find the magnification useful for tedious tasks that would otherwise tax my tired eyes.

And GUESS WHAT!

Varionet has graciously offered to send one of my lucky readers a free pair of
progressive reading glasses!

Here is how you can win your own pair of glasses:

Mandatory Entry:

• You must be a follower of Ain't She Crazy to win. Follow me through Google Friend Connect and leave a comment telling me that you did! If you are already a follower, just let me know in a comment!

(After the mandatory entry, you can do as many of these as you like)

• Visit Varionet and look around. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me something you learned while you were there.
• Visit Ain't She Crazy! at my Facebook Fan Site and "like" me. You know you do! Let's make it official. :)
• Visit Varionet on on Facebook and "like" them.
• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow Varionet on Twitter
• Follow me through Networked Blogs (I need some friends!)

PLEASE LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH THING YOU DO!
(each item gets you one entry)

PS.

Be sure to leave me your Facebook profile name and your twitter name so I can follow you back!

The giveaway will end Sunday, July 18 at midnight.

Good Luck!

FTC Compliant: I received a free pair of varionet eyeglasses for reviewing purposes. I was not compensated in any other way. My review is based on my opinion only and was in no way influenced.

Pinkalicious Cupcakes

We gave the Princess the book Pinkalicious for her birthday. If you have not read this book yet, you are missing out. I am very picky about books, but we have really fallen in love with this one. Seriously, it is so cute! And she loves it!

click the photo to have this book delivered right to your door!





You saw the cupcakes I made in the last post.

Well, today I wanted to tell you how I made them.

I do try to bake from scratch as much as I can, but from time to time, you need a quick dessert and a mix is just the thing! (plus some of my favorite recipes call for a mix!)
And let us not confuse cake with health food anyway, right. :)

For this event, I wanted strawberry cupcakes and I needed them fast, so I got a mix and used Tidymom's "recipe" for the Perfect Cupcakes using a strawberry cake mix.

I made a regular sized one for Princess and minis for the VBS kids.
(I think anything bite-sized is way more fun! )

After they had cooled completely, I opened a can of pre-made strawberry frosting to complete the Pinkalicious look.

In retrospect, I should have used my homemade cream cheese frosting and topped it with a slice of fresh strawberry, but all I could think of was getting those puppies done, so...

Here's my secret for piping pre-made frosting.

I dumped it into my Kitchen-Aid

Then I began to whip it.

Now, as an aside, I have heard that you can cut calories by whipping your frosting into a mouse-like texture, which doubles the volume and allows you to use less frosting with the same effect. I am here to tell you I think this is a lie wishful thinking.

I have tried it with this mixer and I have seen no changes in the texture or volume. Let me know if you are doing this and it is working for you, because it's not working for me. ;)

So back to the story... begin to beat your frosting and slowly add in sifted powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time. I ended up adding about a cup. I just kept going until it had that nice piping texture and I could tell it was going to stiffen up when it dried.
 

Can you handle this many technical terms?

Beat it for a good minute...or two.

Then just load it into your piping bag (or cereal feeder) and pipe!

I finished mine off with pink sprinkles, because I firmly believe pretty much anything gets cuter when you add sprinkles.



Here is the result:

I'm linking up with some fun blog parties. Won't you join the fun?

Mouthwatering Mondays

Delicious Dishes

A Princess Party

I promised pictures of the Princess' party at the stables. 

It started off with this:

A breakfast cupcake fit for a princess!

It was the last day of VBS, which means a performance...

...and a "picnic" lunch, which meant more of these:

Then we were off to the stables for a little of this:

then

everyone got one of these with their initial on it.

Aren't these buckets the sweetest?

I just love Target!

They were filled with pink tulle and lipgloss and little plastic name bracelets that we made.

I gave Princess the wooden letters and had her paint them yellow then I finished them off with a quick spray of bright yellow Krylon to add a nice sheen

Sorry I forgot to take actual pictures at the party. 

Can you believe it?

and of course, there were these:

The lighting is all weird because most of these were taken at about 2 am.
You think I'm kidding?

But it was worth it.

See?