NO PLASTIC BAGS!!!

OK as most of you know I am going Green this year. I have made several changes from my cleaning products, my clothing and bringing my own bags to the store.
Yesterday was like any other trip to good ol Wal Mart except one thing. The cashier.
First she tried to look for price tags on my grocery bags AFTER I told her they were mine and to please use them for my stuff.
I got "the look" then she put my stuff in plastic bags then put them into my bags!
Kinda defeats the purpose of the whole bringing your own bags to the store.
So in the nicest your not a dumb ass voice I said "Oh there is no need to use your plastic bags just put my stuff in my bags"
She stopped gave me "the look" again sighed and I bet that snotty girl rolled her eyes!
Seriously?

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta!

I am playing again! You can too! Just post a Foto and let Candid Carrie know that you are playing!

This one was taken on the last day of school. Seth looks so big and isn't that the cutest little girl you have ever seen?

Love thy neighbor...or so they say

I have been wanting blog about my neighbors for a while now but always feared it would get back to them. But after MUCH consideration I decided what the hell, they are never going to read this and if they do...then screw 'em, I don't care. They piss me off!
We moved into our house a few months after our they did. They have 5 kids and 2 dogs. We have 2 kids no animals.

The husband owns a general carpentry company and she stays at home and does her thing. They are foster parents for infants. They are good people, super devout Christan's. When we met the FIRST thing he said was "We do not drink, we do not swear"

Well then and there I was thinking "Damn that is messed up shit"

See I drink and obviously swear. Working on the swearing but the drinking??? Hum let me think, maybe NEVER. An ice cold beer on a hot Wisconsin day YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.

By now you are probably wondering how on earth could I could have any issues with these people. No loud parties with biker dudes swearing like sailors, sounds like great neighbors.

Well because they are "good" people does not mean they make OK/good/great neighbors.
They do have their flaws and it has gotten out of control.
Their back yard faces our side yard, make since to you? We have a great deck on the side of our house and we LOVE to sit out there in the warmer weather. We eat out there and drink and swear out there.

Now that you have a somewhat visual let me list the questions I have for them but will never ask unless maybe I am drunk :)

1) Why you have not finished your siding? It has been 7 years and still the siding job you started has not been finished. I am getting sick of seeing your half tan, gold and Tyvek house, it is UGLY! For God's sake you are a carpenter.

2) Why oh why are you kids so flippin rude to mine? Is that something Jesus would do? Not very neighborly if you ask me. Is it because we drink and swear? Well face it you are the minority in the neighborhood. I have drank with most of the neighbors. Remember they guy handing out shots on Halloween? Oh, you don't trick or treat?

3) The pine tree is YOURS! It is/was big I understand, about 30-50 feet if not more. But when 1/2 of the top broke off in a storm 3 years ago you said you were going to take it down. You said the other top half was unstable. Damn you are smart! Because just a month ago the other side broke off during a wind storm. You were quick to clean it up but when you looked at me and said "I don't know what we are going to do with the the other half of the tree that is still standing" Um...I have an answer F#$KING take it down! DUH!

4) Why do you think it is OK to erect a HUGE pool with no sort of fence around it like 12 feet from my property line? IT IS NOT OK! I did not like but handled the little blue blow up thing you had for years but this is to dangerous. Are you that stupid? If the city building inspector calls you it was NOT me ;) And seeing as you placed it close to the half pine tree, i guessed you answered your own question. You are going to do nothing about it, figures.

5) Your trampoline also freaks me out. I thought it was great when you bought the one that has the net around it for safety. I do however think the net is not suppose to hang loose in toward where your children are jumping. just an observation.

6) Your stupid dogs people bark all the time! Your Lab as pretty as she is has been driving me INSANE for years! I sleep with my bedroom window open in the summer and that things barks at EVERYTHING! She wakes me up all the time. Shut her up. Then there is your little dog that bark is like fingers down a chalk board she barks only when the Lab barks ALL THE TIME!

I think that sums it up.

Below is the tree and the pool. You can see their house but only 1 of the colors the others are to the right of tree out of your view.

I swear the calander says May 28th!

Spring, the time all things come to life. The birds are chirping and the flowers are blooming. I have been just dying to start/finish our landscaping, but there is a problem. A big problem something I cannot change, no one can, well maybe God but he is obviously busy with more important things then this.
It is the weather. What the heck is going on? It was 84 degrees Monday. Warm, sunny and just too perfect. Then like a bat out of hell came the wind and bam 42 degrees. KID YOU NOT! Crazy huh? In like 10 minutes it dropped 40 degrees!
Well the forecast for last night called for FROST, yes we were under a FROST ADVISORY at the end of May are you friggin for real? Low of 38? Did I see that right? I would expect this weather if I lived in Alaska and if we had just not endured the longest coldest and snowiest winter ever!!
So this is why I have not planted a darn thing, it has been too cold. Except those few hours that we had summer on Monday
Gotta love spring in Wisconsin, NOT!

Tuesday's Green Tip

I have decided to dedicate Tuesday as Green Tip Day, I challenge you to join along.

Some of you may know that I made it a goal this year to living a more Green life. It has not been difficult at all, in fact it has been ALLOT easier then I thought it would be. Today's tip is ...bring your own bags to the grocery store.

Plastic bags take 1,000 years to decompose in our landfills. Sure some stores have bins for recycling them but only 1% of plastic bags used to hold our goods are recycled! Paper is only good if you recycle it.

The bags I have been using are Envirosax, I LOVE THEM!!! (I went with the Retro colors)They are big, hold up to 2 "Plastic" bags worth of groceries. They are super light weight and fold up neatly in a little pouch so you can carry all 5 bags in your purse! Since using these bags I have not had to use any plastic bags. You can you even carry the bags like a purse meaning less trips between the car and house. I have had at least 1/2 dozen people ask me about them. I saw one of them with the bags last week. I am so happy that I am making a difference, a small one, but a difference none the less.

Friday Foto Finish Fiesta!

So here we are again Friday Foto Fiesta! The brain child of Candid Carrie.
Here is another one of my favorite pictures. This was taken when S was almost 1, I just love this one.

Um..What? Rocket Booster?????

I was going to put this off as happening to a "friend" but I thought what the heck, I am already over the embarrassment.
I picked the boys up from school on Monday, hair cut day. Not a happy day for T as he likes his hair longer but uniform policy at school states that boys hair shall not touch their collar. Can't seem to find this in writing anywhere in the parent handbook but I know this would not be a fight I would win.
I am sitting in the parking lot waiting for the mass exodus of the school when my cell phone rings, it's the school secretary asking me to come in to the office. CRAP! What did S do now? See this child has had to pull a card every other day this entire school year. Pull a card? In short it is a disciplinary tool they use at the school. Pull 1 card 5 min off recess, 2 cards no recess, 3 cards tot he office, 4 cards the student has to call their parents and tell them what they did. Harsh huh?
I go into the office and the secretary hands me some thing and says
"Seth had this in his pocket and was playing with it when he had to stay in for recess" (He did get in trouble, he never fails to be contestant)
I look down and OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! I am looking at a sample of "Emotion Lotion"! ( A lubricant that is warm the gets hot when you blow on it, just in case you we wondering :) )
I feel my face getting redder by the nano second. Earth now is the time to end! But that did not happen.
My question was "Who else saw this?"
She replies"Um a teacher and the principal"
Oh did I mention that it was empty as in used by us? That just makes it worse.
I am dying I look at her and say " I am officially embarrassed and I am leaving now"
I walk out red faced and the first person I see is the teacher who knows. UGH!!!
I so looked the other way like I did not see her!
I grab the boys and RUN RUN out of the school. As we are leaving S is screaming
"I want my tube back, I want it now, it is my rocket booster!!!"
Rocket Booster??? This kid is smart! he he
He said this like 5 times louder and louder then started to cry when I said I did not know where it went!
Note to self bury stuff that you do not want the boys to see in the garbage, better yet burn it!

I've been tagged!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPIE!!!

I have been tagged, I feel so popular, seriously! Thanks Blarney Spot you made my day! I was tagged to take the "What kind of Flower are you quiz ?"
I will admit I was not born with a green thumb. I use to have beautiful house plants, I killed them!
We ripped out the overgrown evergreen shrubs from the front of our house last year, actually almost exactly a year ago, still nothing planted! I want to plant native plants, it is the Green way! Native plants need less watering and fertilizing. We will be "working" on this project over the weekend, like we have been for the past year.
Honestly I still have NO IDEA what we are going to plant! Any suggestions are welcome. I am in zone 5 or 6, hard to tell by the map.

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

6 things you do not know about me

I have been challenged by Candid Carrie to divulge 6 things that people may not know about me. I have been thinking about this all day, kid you not. So here they are

1) I HATE tuna fish, it smells like cat food. then mix it with mayo? To me that is wrong on so many levels. Sorry to those who enjoy this concoction but it is about me not you !

2) I will ALWAYS choose the Cleveland Browns over the Green Bay Packers, again sorry, but it is about ME!

3) I had no friends from 5th to 7th grade! Yes it is awful but I was the new "odd" kid from Ohio who did not have cool enough clothes. Damn snotty Connecticut kids! I bounced back and got through it. Met an "odd" kid from Dallas and we are still good friends. Love you Alyssa!

4) I was with child when I got married! Shhhhhh

5) If I got pregnant again it would not be the end of the world, just my husbands!

6) I am an slob! I work so hard on trying to keep things tidy but it ALWAYS backfires! Better call before you stop over so I can shove everything under the couch in closets and drawers to never be found again!

There you have 6 things you did not know about Susan, your life is now complete!

Heroes

Heroes, everyone has them. They come in all shapes and sizes, today I will blog about my heroes, my grandparents. They are known to me and my family as Babcia and Dzia Dzia, grandma and grandpa in Polish. Why are they my heroes you ask? Keep reading.

Both of my grandparent were born in Warsaw Poland. Both of them were teenagers when WWII started. Hitler was ordering his troops to clear the streets of Warsaw of not only Jews but of students, shop owners and anyone who did not fit the blond hair blue eyed bill. We are not Jewish.

During this time my grandfather had been taken off the streets of Warsaw after being told by his mother not to go out that day, she had a bad feeling-he never saw her again. He spent the next five years in Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria. He was put to work in the quarry mining rocks. Then had other jobs and was actually treated somewhat humanely, why he does not know. It could have been he just did what he was told. One time he got really sick and one of the soldiers made sure he was nursed back to health a guardian angel of sorts?

After the camp was liberated in 1945 out of the 200 Poles that were sent with him only 8 survived.

My grandmother became a member of the under ground army and was a survivor of the Warsaw uprising of 1944. Not many people are aware of the fact that Warsaw had a whole functioning "underground" city including schools! She helped many people escape the Warsaw ghetto and risked her life every time she did so. I will always wonder how many lives she saved.


After the war is when my grandparents met. According to my grandmother he courted her and once tried to kiss her and she slapped him! Too funny! They settled in England while my grandfather finished engineering school and they had my mother. They were able to locate what family members survived the war but most were killed.

They moved to America, Cleveland Ohio and settled down and raised a family, having 2 more daughters and a son. Making a very comfortable life for themselves.


They would take care of me and my brother after my biological father left us, they were a huge part in making my brother and I who we are today. I named my first born Antoni, after my grandfather.


They retired to Florida like all grandparents do. They then moved to Billings Montana to be closer to my aunt as they are getting older and having no family near by they needed help. I do think the breaking point was when hurricane Charlie hit and they were "living" in their closet until the storm blew through. That was too much for me to think about!


They are still here with us and I am so grateful for that. They recently celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss, maybe not all bliss but they made it 60 years, crazy huh? They are getting old and frail. My grandmother not so much, she is the strongest woman I know. Don't get me wrong she is 81 and she does have her share of health issues, it is my grandfather I worry about.


He is old almost 87 and is getting tired and forgetful, he has dementia. Last time I spoke to him I honestly do not think he knew who I was. It broke my heart in to a million pieces! Here was this man who survived a Nazi death camp and he could not remember me his oldest grandchild.


I am going to see them in July for my cousins wedding and this might be the last time I see him. Damn I am going to miss him so much!



My heroes Dzia Dzia and Babcia

Friday Foto Finish

Candid Carrie is hosting a Friday Foto Finish Fiesta. This is one of my favorites!

BREAKING SUMMER CONCERT TOUR!

It appears that Motley Crue is planning "Crue Fest" a summer concert tour featuring several bands. What I find absolutely hilarious is that not even 4 years ago Vince Neil, the lead singer, was a headline act at our very own Brat Days! If you are aware of what Brat Days are then you find this to be a funny as I do!

Rocket Car and Stiches

This morning was like any other typical Saturday morning in our house hold but with the lingering excitement LCA's first Pine Wood derby. The kids get up are STARVING eat a whole $4.00 box of cereal and turn on the TV. I am barley awake and Larry is downstairs on the Ab Lounge.
T was pretty EXCITED about the Pinewood Derby, his car "The Rocket Car" was super cool. Larry and T take off to their event and S and I decide to play some Wii. First I needed to call a friend/business associate and discuss some things. We were talking when all of the sudden I hear this LOUD, I mean LOUD thud followed by a BLOOD CURDLING scream. I turn around to see S with his hand over his forehead and blood pouring out of this HUGE gaping wound! I hang up on my friend and grab a wet paper towel, (100% recycled paper towels of course) and put pressure on the wound. I take a better look at it and called the clinic be here in 15 minutes they say! I knew from past experience that when the sides of a wound do not touch you need stitches and this fit the bill! I was still in my PJ's so I frantically threw some clothes and scooped S up and was out the door.
As I was headed to the car Larry comes home T took 3rd place in the Pine wood Derby! I explain what happened Larry rolls his eyes, if you know S then you know why.

At this point the crying has stopped and now the fear has set in. You see this is quite similar to what happened last summer while visiting grandma and grandpa.

My parents take the kids for a month every Summer and this was S first time. It was the day before Larry and I were heading down to get them they were having "last night with out mom and dad party". They were in the hot tub and S was sitting on the edge sneezed fell back wards and spit the back of his head open. That took 4 STAPLES to close.


So now he is screaming "NO STAPLES IN MY HEAD" over and over. I assured him no staples. Well it took 5 stitches to close up the wound on the forehead. He was SO BRAVE did not even cry the whole time we were at the Clinic. He is such a tough man.

We never did play the Wii, I called my friend hours later and filled her in. By the way this is the 3rd time S has been to the "ER"; he will be 5 in June!!!!!