One Crafty Mama!: January 2010

PSF - Mario!

I wasn't much of a video game player.........that is until we got Super Mario for the Wii! When the girls and I play we laugh so hard (and bicker just a bit)! My husband sometimes threatens to turn the game off when there is too much whining!

When we play you will hear the following comments:

"Don't die, don't die"
"Go in a bubble"
"Pop me"
"Oooooohhhh noooooo"
"Hey, thanks for killing me"
"You thief, that was mine"
"You die and I'll go in a bubble"

In honor of our mother daughter bonding over Mario I made the girls mushroom charms. Even though I am getting pretty good at the game I'm not sure what these mushrooms official names are. I just know they make you big.

Hosted by Cecily

PS: if you read my WW post, I switched to the new blogger editor.
Me no likey!

WW - Bigger photo's in blogger!

I have received a lot of emails lately asking me how I get my pictures in my posts so large.

Since most of my request seem to come after my WW posts I thought this would be a perfect time to share.

When I upload my photo's I use bloggers standard upload.

I choose center and large for the photo size.

No matter how big your file is, when you select large, this is the size that blogger gives you.

Now for the changing part!

After you upload your picture click on the Html button (located next to the compose button). Doing so will show your pictures code.

Now that you are looking at the code, locate the width and height of the picture (see below).

Make sure not to delete anything extra. You should delete from the word "width" to right before the " mark after the px;.

Next change the number S400 to S 640.

Then click back to the "compose" mode and your picture will now be bigger!

Cool huh?

I'm not exactly sure where I discovered this information, but I believe it was from a tutorial on the website I heart faces! I should probably confirm that, but I'm too lazy.

So go forth and post Biggy pictures.

Side note: Thanks to my smart blogging buddies, I found out that all you have to do in Blogger to make your photo's really fat is up date your editor and they give you the option to pick the big size photo's. Go to your basic settings to change to the updated editor.

See......even I learn things while I'm trying to teach you something new!

Side note: You do have to have enough space in your column to accommodate a large photo.

PSF - Whatcha looking at?

Welcome to this weeks addition of Photo Story Friday.

I was so excited when Cecily asked me to co-host with her this week because Photo Story Friday was one of the first meme's I ever participated in! So if you haven't participated before jump on in.....the water is warm (despite what the follow pictures might suggest).

On with the show!

While the peeps whip out their camera's and snap shots of the stormy seas.

(Give us a break.....we don't see weather very often.)

The seagulls stare at us and wonder what in the heck we are doing..............

hanging out at the beach without food for them to steal!

Ever since I saw the movie "Finding Nemo" I can't look at a seagull without imagining them saying, "mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine."

Hosted by Cecily and Michelle

To play Photo Story Friday, check this. Copy this code into your post and sign the link list:
<center><a href="http://mychaosmybliss.blogspot.com/2007/06/photo-story-friday-and-rules.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2526/4235120634_71d9399b5f_o.jpg" border="0" alt="PhotoStory Friday" /></a><br/>Hosted by <a href="http://mychaosmybliss.com/" target="_blank">Cecily</a> and <a href="http://michelle-onecraftymama.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Michelle</a><p/></center>

WW - Random signs!

Awwww, shucks! Don't go harshing my mellow!

(Union Bank: Ocean Beach)

Another Wordful Wednesday hosted by the lovely Wordpress pusher Angie!

************

Hey, you 365er's (yeah, I'm talking to you).....Chris is hosting a link-a-do for those of you that want to share your 365 blogs. So head over and link up!

Hosted by Chris

************

Last but not least, on Friday I am going to co-host Photo story Friday with the talented Cecily at My Chaos My Bliss. What is PSF you ask? Well, it is just like Wordful Wednesday only it takes place on Friday! Capeesh?

Hosted by Cecily

PSF - Caught red handed

I discovered over this past year that I like taking pictures of interesting people that I don't know.

Unless you are a celebrity I imagine that most people would find it odd to see a stranger snapping their picture. So I try to do it on the sly.

Yesterday I got caught trying to be sly!

I was sitting at a stop light watching the dude in the ill fitting statue of liberty costume trying to stand like Lady Liberty when I thought, "hey that might make a funny shot."

I quickly adjusted the exposure, focused and BAM....he looked over his shoulder before I could put my camera down.

Instead of screaming at me or asking what in the heck I was doing he turned around and proudly gave me his best sign holder pose. If my 14 year old would have been in the car this would have been the point where she would have said, "Awkward."

It was super awkward but hey, Mama has a 365 blog to think about and shots like this one are just too funny to pass up.

Hosted by Cecily

The power of the Girl Scout cookie

Buying Girl Scout cookies may not help your ultimate weight loss goal, but it does helps young girls reach their goals.

Nearly three years ago my troop made a goal to raise enough money through the sales of girl scout cookies to pay for the entire troop plus, two adults, to attend a weekend long horse back riding camp.

They each had a personal goal of selling 300 boxes in two years to cover the cost of the camp. Most of the girls reached their goal in the first year and the rest reached it the second year.

Well, we "finally" went to that camp this past weekend and I have to say that it was the best $2035.00 our troop has ever spent.

Being a horse back riding camp they did a lot of......horseback riding.

They also got to learn how to do vaulting on the back of a rather ginormous horse.

We all tried our hand at archery.

And took care of a lot of different farm animals. Which is a rare treat for these city girls.

So the next time you think of ignoring that cute little girl asking you to buy an over priced box of substandard cookies, remember.....not only will your $4.00 go towards supporting a great organization, but it will also help support the GOALS that the girls are striving to reach.

Happy Wordful Wednesday!

PS: The girls also raise money to do things for others. Like the Valentines treats we create each year for the Senior Citizen home or cooking dinner for the families at the Ronald McDonald house.

WW - Hollywoooooood!

I have lived my entire 42 years in Southern California, but up until this Sunday I hadn't stepped foot on Hollywood Blvd Walk of Fame.

So this past weekend we jumped in the car, braved the smog and traffic for our chance to check out Hollywood for ourselves.

Our first stop was the Hollywood walk of Fame. The atmosphere on Hollywood Blvd was buzzing with energy and weirdos!

Walking up and down the street reading all of the names of stars that have paid $25,000 to have their names immortalized for all to see (and walk on) was kind of fun.

It was an interesting collection for sure, with many names that made us say, "Really"? We actually walked the most popular section of the street twice because Reid wanted to find Leonardo decaprio's star.

We couldn't find him! So when we got home we checked the list of stars and discovered that Leo has not been given a star yet, but Vanna White and Pat Sejak have!!! Really?

What was most interesting to me was watching which "Stars" drew people's attention. Many were ones you would expect and some made me go.......Hmmmm!

Most of the action was happening out on the sidewalk in front of Grauman's Chinese theater.

There were numerous people dressed up as movie stars/characters just waiting for a chance to take their picture with you......for a small fee.

There we several Captain Jack Sparrows and characters from Pirates. Snoopy, Elmo, Little Mermaid, Dorthy, Jesus, Elvis, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, a Snow White drag queen, and two Michael Jacksons were among the crowd. Star Wars and Marvel Comics were also well represented.

This guy is the Bumble Bee from the Transformer movie. We all thought he had the best costume, but there wasn't a single character that they girls had any desire to pose with.

That is until a skinny pale guy with sparkly skin walked up!

Oh yeah baby!

While we waited for the girls turn with Edward, Elvis and Jesus walked by looking more than a little annoyed with the crowd around this vampire wannabe.

Elvis said, "Hey...whatcha all doing waiting on that guy, Jesus is the one you need to be hanging with." We all laughed, but something tells me that the minute Elvis and Jesus had their chance they hustled young Edward to the less busy section of the street.

Join Wordful Wednesday at the recently remodeled Seven Clown Circus!