Spam Queen

I know I have been really bad about posting for a really long time lately. I have been trying to use my time for other slightly more productive things. (Wait a minute, you mean blog posting isn't productive?!) :) And not to worry, I do have more posts planned, just not completely finished yet.

But I have been wondering one thing...ever since I've stopped posting regularly, I have been getting a LOT more comments on my blog. HowEVER, there's a little something different about these comments. They are pretty obviously SPAM of some kind. The "people" commenting are promoting anything from garbage disposal maintenance to pet hedgehogs.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any way to get rid of this junk? (Other than what I already do, which is mark these "comments" as spam).

Stay tuned for the 2nd part of my Dresser Makeover...you won't believe the difference!

My Life

Soccer, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Running, Piano, more Soccer! This is my life right now. I have actually done a little spring project that I haven't even had time to post about yet. Someday things will calm down and I will get back to my blog. :)  

Yesterday my son signed up for the 2013 Boy Scout National Jamboree. If you're not familiar with it, it is like the Super Bowl of scouting. Its a summer camp that is held every 4 years (except this time, it's only 3 years after the last one, which was held in 2010 to accommodate the scouting 100th anniversary!) He has wanted to go ever since he first heard about "Jambo" (the Boy Scout slang for Jamboree) probably when he was 9 or 10.  He was even more convinced when older boys from his troop went in 2010 and came back telling stories about all the cool things they did. It's basically Boy Scout Heaven.

Mom on the other hand, is alternating between "Ohmygosh! What did I just sign him up for?? He's too young to go halfway across the country for 2 weeks!" and "It will be the experience of a lifetime!" Oh well, at least I have a year and a half to get used to the idea!

On another note, the eMeals plan is getting off to a pretty good start. I'm not giving it 5 stars just yet. What I did for the first week was take recipes from the previous and current weeks, and kind of combined things. I know that my kids definitely won't eat some of the things on the menus, so I did a little re-arranging. I have to say the biggest relief is not having to worry about going to the store every other day and constantly wondering what to make for supper!

My goal for this week is to get my spring banner pictures (spoiler!) off my camera and onto the blog...stay tuned!

Do You Recycle?

Today's post isn't anything crafty (because that seems to be a thing of the past in my house right now!) but just something I've been thinking about after a weekend trip to visit the in-laws. This is something that drives me CRAZY! A dirty little secret...oh no! They don't recycle! GASP! There, I said it. It is just shocking to our family, since half our garage is full of plastic, cardboard, bottles, cans, etc.

I think part of the problem is with the state we visited... 

(Sorry, just had to throw that in!) :)

In Nebraska (and 40 other states!) there is no bottle bill. I did a little research and was surprised to learn that Iowa is one of only 10 states with a bottle bill! For those not familiar with it, in Iowa we are charged an additional 5 cents for most canned or bottled beverages. Some states charge up to 15 cents per bottle.

When you take empty cans or bottles back to a grocery store or redemption center, you get your 5 cents back. Pretty simple. It has been this way for ages, so people don't really complain about it. It encourages recycling, and as a result, you don't see a lot of bottles or cans on the side of the road around here.

But in NEBRASKA on the other hand, there is no bottle bill.

We drove home more than 400 miles with a bag full of empty water & Gatorade bottles just so they wouldn't end up in the garbage. Somehow that made me feel better, even though I know the in-laws and their neighbors are throwing away that much EVERY DAY and I can't stop them.  Aaaaagh!

The Iowa bottle bill has been in effect since 1978 and has a redemption rate of 86%.  That's even better than the voter turnout rate in most elections! :) And currently there is a movement in Iowa to expand the law to include things like bottled water, Gatorade, tea, etc. which aren't currently covered.

So how about it, bottle bill or not, do you recycle? Take my poll or leave a comment!

If you are a geek like me and interested in more info on this topic, visit http://www.bottlebill.org/

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Fugally Sustainable: Frugal Days Sustainable Ways

Thank You, Thank You!

When I first started blogging, I didn't realize how excited I would get when someone commented on a post or became a new follower. But honestly, I get VERY excited for each comment & every follower!! Maybe someday when I have thousands of people hanging on my every word (LOL!), it won't be such a big deal! But right now, it really makes my day! Thank you!!!

What is also very thrilling is getting featured on another blog! Today my Valentine Polka Dot Wreath is featured on I Gotta Create! Thanks to Christina for choosing my project!

 

(No wonder this blogging thing can be so addictive....)

Dinsey: Tips, Opinions & Observations

So not only did I take a vacation from blogging, I also took a REAL vacation! We went to DISNEYWORLD and UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. It was a great time, and since I qualify as a Disney expert now (LOL!) I just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. Here goes...

Fireworks at Magic Kingdom on New Year's Night

DISNEY TIPS, OPINIONS, OBSERVATIONS & MORE!

1) Get there early! Get there early! Get there early! I read this on many blogs, websites, and in the guidebooks - but it wasn't until we made the choice to sleep in the first morning that we learned how true it is! Getting to the park early is truly the key to the whole "Disney Strategy" (which I will explain in a minute!) If you are staying at a Disney resort, you can also take advantage of "extended hours" available to those staying on Disney property. (Usually 1 or 2 hours before/after the park is open to the general public.) But even getting there right at opening time is a big bonus!


2) Fast Passes are your Friends! Before we went I had heard about these, but didn't really understand them. (If they're free, why doesn't everyone get one??) Here's where the Disney Strategy comes in. Only certain rides have Fast Passes available. And there are a limited number of passes given out, so you should try to get them early in the day. The pass will list a time range later on when you can come back and get in the "Fast Pass" line. The important thing is: you don't have to use the pass at the designated time, just anytime LATER than what is printed on the pass. If you have this golden ticket, you go to a special line that is considerably faster than the regular line. You get to zoom by all the other chumps waiting for 1, 2, or even 3 hours for a 5-minute ride. I think the longest Fast Pass line we waited in was about 1/2 an hour for Soarin' at EPCOT. The "Stand-By" line on the other hand, was 260 minutes. My son took a picture to prove it. There is a little feeling of guilt as you pass by the other people in line (oh yes, they're just on the other side of a rope, watching enviously) but hey, you do what you have to.

3) Meal Plans & Reservations Now this is just completely my opinion! We opted for the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan. It included 3 meals per day and 2 snacks per person. We usually did a cafeteria-style breakfast at our resort, then lunch and dinner at a restaurant. This was GREAT for the first couple days, but once it sunk in that ALL our lunches and dinners included an appetizer AND dessert for EACH PERSON, we quickly realized just how much weight we would be gaining. It was WAY too much food for us. We ended up taking many of the snacks back home - which will eventually end up in my kids' lunches! :)

About the reservations - I was scared by friends & other Disney experts into making all our dining reservations in July. (All the restaurants would be booked, they said!) I had visions of my family hungrily roaming the streets of Disney in search of food. Hence the reason for the sit-down lunches. Due to changes in our plans after we got there, we ended up cancelling a few reservations & even made new ones on the same day. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I was led to believe!

A couple of our favorite places to eat:

Planet Hollywood @ Downtown Disney

The 50's Prime Time Cafe @ Hollywood Studios

We all laughed when my parents & husband got their dessert at Paradiso 37 @ Downtown Disney - the proportions in close-up picture are a little deceiving - but this is actually sorbet served in a shot glass!

Shot of sorbet, anyone?

4) Plan Ahead, but don't stress out! I know people who have down-to-the-minute plans for their vacations at Disney. I'm not one of those people, but what I found helpful was to look at the park map for the place we'd be visiting the next day & figure out what we wanted to see most. We definitely missed some things, but by checking out the maps ahead of time, we were able to see most of what we wanted.


5) Pay Attention to the Red Triangles!  If you have a weak stomach (like me!) you will want to pay special attention to the rides marked on the maps with a red triangle. These are the ones that are more likely to cause motion sickness, heart attacks, headaches, vertigo, you name it. Not all of them are that bad & I did ride a few. But Space Mountain? Never. Ever. Again.


MY UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS ON DISNEYWORLD & UNIVERSAL ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE (AKA THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER):


1) Every major ride has an exit through the Gift Shop! So be ready. My daughter is THE WORST about wanting to stop & buy everything she sees. And she rode a lot of rides! ;)


2) There are a LOT of international visitors at Disney and Harry Potter. It is really kind of cool. By the end of the trip, I was looking at people trying to guess whether they spoke English or another language. I'm sure I got some strange looks while hovering over people waiting for them to talk. A lot of the employees are from another country also - all of their name tags had their home town or country listed, so it was fun to see all the different places people came from. I never did see an employee from Iowa though!


3) Disney Loves Christmas! (And so do I) Even though we didn't get there until after Christmas, all the parks were still decked out with Christmas things. I love holiday decorations, so this was a special treat. All the parks had a large Christmas tree at the entrance with a different theme. My favorites were New Year's Day at Magic Kingdom - the light & firework show was awesome. And our last night at Hollywood Studios we saw The Osborne Family Spectacular of Dancing Lights (no, not Ozzy's family) but it is wonderful! And a little "snow" falling from the sky made it complete! (The funny part is, it was probably cold enough for the real stuff the night we were there!) So if you ever go to Disney at Christmas time, this is a MUST SEE!

4) Disney Shuttles. Disney has a GREAT shuttle service that runs between the resorts & parks. We never had to wait long for a bus, and even took a boat a few times. We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort, which was right on the water & had a boat that took us to Downtown Disney and the Riverside resort. The kids loved it!


WHAT I THINK OF HARRY POTTER WORLD:


Harry Potter World is Overrated. And we are HUGE, HUGE Harry Potter fans (I would repeat HUGE a few more times, but that's redundant). So I hate to say this, as much as I wanted it to be awesome. The scenery was wonderful.  I felt like I was in the "real" town of Hogsmeade! The castle was very cool, and the town was very authentic looking. But unfortunately, it is WAY too small and SO crowded!

The Castle! My heart beats faster just seeing it now! So Cool!

The town and THE PEOPLE!!!

Honeydukes!

And more people! Yikes!

The one ride I went on (there are only 3) was "The Forbidden Journey." It was very cool - I compare it to "Soarin'" at Disney, but with more twists & turns. And even though there were repeated warnings about not riding if you are subject to motion sickness, I did it anyway. (And almost lost my breakfast! But it was worth it.) The major drawback to this ride (other than waiting in line 1 1/2 hours) was the requirement that anyone with a bag had to store it in a locker during the ride. Doesn't sound so bad - the locker was free and large enough to hold just about anything. BUT...these lockers are in a dimly-lit room just inside the castle where (you know it!) literally HUNDREDS of people are milling around. The ones who just finished the ride are looking for their locker (oh, and DO NOT forget your locker number!!) The ones who haven't ridden yet are frantically searching for an empty locker, which are few & far between. It is total CHAOS! All the while, the rest of our party had to wait for my mom & I to secure a locker. 


And as I said before...SO. MANY. PEOPLE. SOOOO MANY!!!! Maybe it was the timing - we went on January 3 - but it was almost unenjoyable. (If it was anything other than Harry Potter, I would have turned around & left!) I have heard that Universal is expanding this part of the park, so maybe it will eventually get better. They definitely could build a park dedicated just to Harry (and it would probably still be full!) Other than that, there is a gift shop "Dervish & Banges", a candy shop "Honeydukes" and the toy/joke shop "Zonko's" and a couple carts that sell butterbeer and pumpkin juice. I actually waited in line at Dervish & Banges just to go in the store! And didn't buy a thing. I did make a Potter purchase later out in the Universal gift shop, and was even disappointed by that. Too bad I didn't notice this until I got back to Iowa! See if you can figure it out from the picture. Sigh.

Sorry! Not the greatest picture - but you should be able to spot the imperfection!

If you've made it all the way through this post, thanks for reading my opinions of the Greatest Place on Earth and Harry Potter World. Take them for what they're worth! 

I'm Back!

I'm so glad to be back from my little blog break! I'm very excited about my new look...AND...my new name! You'll notice that the url for my blog hasn't changed, but the name is different! I've been thinking about this for a while and I thought the "Crazy for Crafts" name just fit better and decided to go for it!

I have so many ideas to share for 2012! The first one will be coming up soon - while I had my little blogging "break", I also took a fun trip to Disneyworld! So I have my very unofficial (and by no means professional) opinions, tips, and observations about Disney...coming up!

I have also taken some baby steps on organizing my home and I'm excited to share those as well!

Lastly, there is the matter of that giveaway! Next week I will have the goods ready to roll & will get the contest started.

Happy 2012 to everyone! I'm excited for a great year!

Important Message!

No crafts today - just one VERY IMPORTANT message from Crazy in Iowa:

Oh yeah! Today we are headed back to the great state of Iowa after spending Thanksgiving in Nebraska. I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving with family & friends, a non-stressful Black Friday, and of course don't forget....GO HAWKS!!!

3 Expressions I Can't Stand

I try not to complain too much on my blog, but here are a few currently popular expressions that really annoy me. (In case you were wondering.)

1. "I Know, Right?" Somehow, my kids have picked this one up and use it frequently. Exactly WHAT do they know? And what is "right" about it?

2. "That's Random" People seem to use "random" as a replacement for "weird" or "strange". Which it's not.  Look it up.

3. "Really?" This is a little harder to explain on a blog post, because what bugs me about it most is usually the accompanying tone of voice. Like when Ginny wanted to listen to her "George and Martha" book on CD in the car yesterday and Harry said "Really?!" as if I were subjecting him to some kind of evil torture device.

There you go. Have a good weekend! Really!