Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

I've done this in the past but used a different photo. Don't really remember who came up before so I thought I'd try it again. I'm not really seeing the resemblance on most of these but it's fun anyway! Thanks to Shannon for the reminder.

Cross it off the list

Way back in March, I made mention of starting a life list, things I'd like to do before I die. This month I got to cross a few things off. Well, one thing.....I didn't know I had the others on there but I had the opportunity to try something new and did it.

The first was going on a whale watch. That one was on that list. We did this in Plymouth, MA and it was so cool. I took over 100 pics trying to capture something decent. I got a few, here's one:

The next day we went to an ecotarium (museum of science and nature). They have a tree canopy where you can walk through the treetops and then ride a zip line back to the ground. It's about 40-45 feet up. No problem, I thought. That's not that high. Until you get up there. My heart starting racing a bit before I sat in the chair and swung my feet out. But I made it through and it was fun. My brother was in charge of my camera when I was up there.

My aunt started kayaking last November so she wanted to bring my mom out for a ride. We ended up all taking turns so I got to go too instead of just watching from the dock. It took me a bit to get the hang of it and I almost got caught up in the lilly pads before I got going. This time my daughter was in charge of getting pics of me.

Skowt was pretty much a natural in the kayak. Guess what's she's been asking for ever since!

Who's Hungry?

One of the best parts (besides seeing family I hardly see) about visiting MA is the food! It's also the reason I gained back 4 of the 5 pounds I lost before our trip. :(

These are what my family calls "Wilsons". Not sure if that is the real name for them. That is what the bakery they used to get them from called them. That bakery is no longer around so we went elsewhere. Yummy! But too huge to eat an entire one........well, unless you are my brother!



This is a party size pizza from one of the best pizza places around! It fed 9 people and cost less than $25! Around here it would have cost at least $45-50

And since we are a bunch of Polacks we of course had to have some Polish food. We all downed it so quickly I forgot to get pictures!

They all talk funny

First of all I'd like to welcome everyone visiting from Blog around the world! Thanks for stopping by. Have a seat, take a look around and make yourself at home. Feel free to come by anytime. My blog-door is always open!

I thought this would be a good time for this post I had in mind after visiting family in Massachusetts last week. I was born there but moved to Wisconsin when I was 11 years old. I'm now 38 so I've spent more of my life here than in my "home" state which means I talk like a Midwesterner I guess.

There is one word that I refuse to change my pronunciation on and that is AUNT. It is pronounced 'ant' around here and I will not say it! lol

Every time we get together with our family I notice differences in how we talk and thought it would be fun to list some of them here. I usually will pick on them for some of the stuff they say or how they pronounce things. But hey, they're family, I'm allowed! This is just for fun and not meant to offend anyone.

Here's a list of some of the things I noticed we have different words for:

What we say (WI)/What they say (MA)

liquor store/package store

basement/cellar

purse/pocketbook (this one really cracks me up)

sub (sandwich)/grinder

sprinkles/jimmies

naughty/fresh (as in a child misbehaving)

garbage/trash

garbage can/barrel

garage or rummage sale/tag sale

(shopping) cart/carriage

quarter to, after/quarter of, past (as in the time, quarter to 12)

Another thing that cracked us up is every time they referred to noon or the lunch hour they would say "noon time". Why not just noon? You don't say one time or two time etc at any other hour of the day. Why is noon so special?

There are also some pronunciation differences. They add syllables and extra letters where there aren't any! The main thing I usually notice is their misplacement of the letter R! They drop them off the end of words or add 'em where they aren't supposed to be.

I caught my self dropping my R's by the end of the week. When cashing in lottery tickets "I'll take any five doll-ah ticket" Doh!

My aunt was most noticeable with the adding of the R's.

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I saRR it"

So what about you? Where are you from and what are some things you've noticed when speaking to people from another area?

Edit to my list: Bubbler (WI)/Water fountain (MA)

How could I forget BUBBLER?! That is like the biggest one. I had it in mind but never wrote it down. Thanks to Hot Tub Lizzy for the reminder! I even did a post on Bubbler Rides

Where do I start?

I want to share what we did on our trip but where do I begin? lol It was an 11 day trip and I have too much stuff to cram it all in one post. I also don't want to drag it on for too long and bore the crap out of everyone!

I guess I'll just play it by ear and post as I think of things while going through pics. Which could take forever and a day.

Official trip photo count: 973

Only 27 less than what I predicted.

My daughter took about 300 on her new camera.

I had the idea before leaving to take some shots at each of our destinations from the point of view of our feet. Call me weird but I like photos of feet or of people that don't necessarily include the face. I saw a couple other photos in different places that gave me the idea.

Well, it didn't quite go as I'd hoped. I started out a little overboard and took a lot. Then as the week went on it dwindled down to taking none the last few days. I wanted them to be unique and for you to be able to see something that indicated where we were. That was more challenging than I expected I guess. Plus, I don't know about other photographers but my family can be quite impatient with my picture taking sometimes. There have been many times where I've wanted to take more but have felt rushed to move on to something else.

I was going to put together a slide show but I'm not too happy with my results so you will all be spared. I will post this one family portrait of sorts though from the night we arrived.

From the bottom middle going clockwise is me(brown shoes), Skowt, Tiger, my mom, her brother (my uncle), his girlfriend, my aunt (mom's sister), her dog Smitty and my mom's cousin.

I'm Home and a Bday wish

Whew! We are back home. Got in yesterday afternoon. It was great seeing our family but it was a long week. It's always nice to be home and sleep in your own bed and shower in your own bathroom. Though our shower could stand a cleaning, I don't think hubby touched it while we were away.

Hubby was working yesterday when we got in so I didn't see him for a couple hours. But this is what we came home to:

He has his moments but for the most part I couldn't ask for a better guy! I probably could have gotten a better pic, but I was tired!

Speaking of great guys.....I'd like to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to someone who has been a very important part of my life since I was 12 years old. Rick Springfield turned 59 yesterday! Can you believe it?

Amy seems to think he is her man, but beg to differ!

Withdrawals

I'm suffering from computer and blogging withdrawals!

I've only been able to get on for a minute or two here and there. But I'm having fun with family (most of the time ;)! Went whale watching yesterday and rode on a zip line today for the first time. That was cool. I do have pics to prove it and will post one when I get home. I actually trusted my brother with my camera while we went up there and he did a decent job and didn't drop it once. WHEW!

I'll be back to my regular posting and visiting of other blogs sometime Sunday or Monday. Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hello from Massachusetts!!

Got in yesterday, had a really smooth flight. We got our luggage in record time. It was already coming down the belt just as we were walking up to baggage claim. That is definitely a first!!

Mostly been spending time with family so far and eating! I think I've already gained back the 5 pounds I lost over the past month! I have absolutely no willpower.

We went to the Yankee Candle store today. They have a really big one right near the main corporate offices here in MA. We also went to a butterfly exhibit, hopefully some of those pics turned out well. Tomorrow, my cousin gets in to town and we're getting ready for a party my aunt is throwing on Saturday.

Oh, and I'll officially be the mom of a teenager tomorrow!!

Happy Birthday Skowt!! Love you!

Nail polish emergency

I wasn't sure if I was going to have time to post today. But here I am. All packed, ready to go with time to spare. Amazing!

We don't have to leave for the airport until around 11am so thought we'd sleep in a bit. But then we had a little bit of a nail polish emergency last night.

The kids decided they had to do their nails before the trip so around 9pm they got all their stuff out. They, of course didn't want help from mom. They took their time to get it just right. Well, Skowt, trying to get it dark enough, went a little overboard on the amount of polish she used. It wouldn't dry properly and she ended up getting it all over her hands.

Of course, in the process of trying to get it just right she used up all the nail polish remover and couldn't even clean up her mess. So she just tried to get as much off as possible with her fingers, let the rest dry and washed her hands good.

We had to run out this morning to get some more remover so I could fix it. I made her get up early and go with me and pay for it since she used all of mine! What an awful mom I am!

Later!

It's packing day!!

I've been spending the day getting ready for our trip. Finishing up laundry and charging all the ipods, Nintendos and camera batteries.

Been out on two last minute runs to the store already. One of them I had to go all the way to one side of town to get to the opposite side of town. Grrr! They just closed another road in town that I didn't realize was closed. I couldn't make a left turn on the main road I wanted to get on because the cross road I was on was closed across it. So I could only turn right and had to go out of my way.

It takes me forever to pack! Gotta help the kids first and make sure we've got enough clothes and stuff to do on the plane. Then it's time for me to decide what to take. It's not easy when your wardrobe sucks! lol Right now all my clothes are spread out all over the bed! I needed a break.

And why is it that it's normally like pulling teeth to get the kids to put their clothes away after I do laundry. But yesterday, the one day I left the basket in the living room because most of it would probably being going straight into a suitcase, Tiger decides she is going to put away her clothes away. Um, no. Why bother? We're packing tomorrow.

I plan on taking A LOT of pics and hope to have some good ones to share here and on my photo blog. I have an idea of something I may try for a series here but we'll see how they turn out first.

Not sure if I'll post tomorrow morning. And as far as the rest of the trip goes I may stop in a couple times from my aunt's computer. Otherwise I'll see ya around the 24th!

I'm on vacation!!

I don't actually leave until Wednesday but I'm off of work for at least 18 whole days!! The schedule is up through the 28th and I'm not on it! Oh yeah!

Tonight is family movie night. We have College Road Trip in from Netflix so hubby wants to get it watched before we go so he can get some of his own movies from the list to watch while we are gone.

Better go, I'm getting complaints about making typing noises in the movie theater!

So frustrating

Skowt had her last tennis match today. Tiger and I always stay and watch. It's so frustrating though watching your child participate in a sport and not being able to help. Seeing her make little mistakes, or watching her miss the ball or seeing her not getting it over the net! The worst was her opponent calling a ball out when it was cleary in! Thus causing her to take a loss on that game! Argh!



The coach walks around and watches. But they are pretty much left on their own to score and make calls on balls being out. Mostly in an effort to teach them the game and to pay attention. Also getting them ready for when they play in high school and have to know what's going on.



Don't get me wrong. I love watching her play and she has made great improvements this summer. But she's my kid and I want to see her succeed and win.





Also, check out my new favicon! What's that you ask? That little square up in the address bar that used to be a blogger B is now an L for Lynn of course! Wasn't sure what else to put there so went with that. I added a camera on my photoblog. Thanks so much to Carrie for the instructions on how to do it! It was so easy.

Vacation Undies

The kids and I are heading out next week to visit family in Massachusetts. Hubby doesn't have much vacation time so he isn't able to join us :(

So I've been getting things ready for our trip and picking up things we need. One of those things is our "vacation undies" as our family likes to call 'em.

I know, you're probably thinking "this woman is crazy, what is she talking about?" Well, since the 80s sometime our family (mom and us kids) and my Uncle's family (mom's brother, his wife and kids) have had a little inside joke about packing our vacation undies when we travel.

It's funny, it wasn't until a couple years ago that we realized that their idea of VU was completely different than ours!

Here's what we do.......before we go on our trip we go out and buy all brand new underwear to take with us. Because you know the old saying about getting in an accident with old, dirty underwear.

Here's what they do......they pack all their old, ratty underwear to take on the trip. Each day as they finish wearing a pair they throw them out. Then they figure there's that much room they save in their suitcase when returning home.

Well, I don't know about them but my undies aren't that big that they save me that much space or weight for the return trip home. How many souvenirs can I buy that take up the same space as my undies?

So unless they're wearing big old fashioned granny bloomers it ain't worth it!

My theory

I was looking at the pictures that Skowt took on her new camera. Besides the ones I shared yesterday there were a bunch of family pics. Including one of me. Which I do not like. At all.

I've pretty much never liked pics of myself. Most people I know have said the same thing when they see pictures of themselves. So I have this theory as to why. Well besides the fact that I don't like some of my features.

You see yourself everyday. In the mirror. A reflection yourself. The opposite of what everyone else sees.

When you see a picture of yourself it's how everyone else sees you. The opposite of what you see in the mirror. So of course it looks different.

Clear as mud? I thought so.

Fun with new camera

We gave my daughter Skowt a new camera for her 13th bday. Her bday is not until the 15th but we are going on vacation so we gave it to her early so she could practice a bit before our trip.

We went out to dinner and the kids saw me taking pics of the design on the table and the ceiling and were questioning why. So I told them not to be afraid to take pics of what they think are ordinary things. Try close ups or different angles. Sometimes those turn out to be the best photos.

So Tiger took this one of my water glass:



Skowt (and grandma) decided to play with her food and create this masterpiece. Notice the hole in the tortilla looks like Africa.

I took this one when we came home for cake

BTW, it's a Canon Powershot A470 and so far I like it.

Checking out my old school

Today my daughter's tennis match was held at my old high school. I haven't been back there since my brother graduated in 1991. I had to go inside and check it out. Luckily there were people around and it was open.



It was kind of weird walking around those halls. It was the same yet different. They added some trophy cases and vending machines. They painted some things. All the lockers were green now (the school colors are white and green) instead of that puke grey color lockers usually are.



It felt kind of strange though, like I was trespassing on someone else's property. I didn't stay in there too long or go around the entire school. I still felt like I was gonna get in trouble for wandering the halls without a pass and get detention! LOL



My daughter played two matches. One singles and one mixed doubles. She lost both but she is getting better though and not losing by as much. She's been trying to perfect her serve.



Then when we got home the kids talked me into going in the pool. I'm not much of a swimmer. I used to love it when I was a kid. We spent most every day in the pool at the sitters house. But at some point I changed into a boring adult who doesn't want to get wet. Not to mention I look hideous in a swim suit. I was thinking about when and how that happened.



Then it dawned on me, having been inside my old school today. It must have been the swimming classes I had to endure in high school gym. It was bad enough having gym with the boys but then having to swim with them too! Enough to traumatize any teenage girl.



I had the cool male gym teacher though who was willing to let the girls sit out *ahem* during that time. Not so with the other female teacher who not too many people liked. Too bad everyone knew that your little visitor was in town and that is why you were sitting out.