Signs, signs, Everywhere a sign!

Yesterday I started out thinking that I would go out and take 12 pictures on the 12th. In doing so, I found all my favorite signs. So today, since I'm feeling silly, here's my favorite signs on my normal 40+ miles a day commute (not reducing my carbon footprint all that much).

This is an ad for a TV show. The name translates to 39 and a Half. This ad alone made me very interested in this show. It's actually a pretty interesting show, even if it is all in Polish and I only understand about half;).

This ad just confuses me. My best translation of this is "Beware (of) me Father" or perhaps "I should beware, Father". Really, totally confusing. I'm working on getting a Polish friend to give me a better translation and perhaps it will make more sense. But Pamela and I figure it's for a clothing line called Virginity. Just a really weird sign. Updated: It means "Keep an eye on me, Father" which makes much more sense, but is still weird.

This one is one of many shops around town that sell "Cheap Clothing". I don't know if they have actual names or if they are a chain of "Cheap Clothing". I've never been in, but I'm actually quite interested. In some of them the price is based on how much it weighs. Which sounds fun, and if I ever had a "partner in crime" as my friend Patty says, I'd TOTALLY check these places out.

This is my ABSOLUTE favorite sign. It's a road sign and it says that there's construction on Puławska (a major artery) from 29 Feb. - 30 June. It says there's a detour on either Sikorskiego or Sobieskiego, but it's where this one is located that makes me love it so much. It's on my way to Seth's school, and because of this sign, my commute time is cut by 30-45 minutes each day. It TOTALLY rocks!

And I got two packages yesterday. One from JoAnn's:

And one from Lisa, Toby's godmother and one of my best friends:

She spoils us all rotten and we LOVE her for it:). I think Toby knows her handwriting because when he saw the package he REALLY wanted to see what was in it. Forget that stupid JoAnn's box, this has got to have candy in it (although he was eager for books really).

And in the last two days I've broken 100 miles in my virtual walk! I'm still behind (that week off killed me) but I'm catching up!

Wordless Wednesday

Why don't you get a job?

It cracks me up that you all like my pink boxing gloves. I like them too, and the kids and I have fun playing with them (although I have banished them to the closet for now because when they are in sight the two older boys put them on and beat each other up with them).

This comment from Amy had me laughing and thinking:

"I LOVE your pink boxing gloves...too fun...he thinks your a bad ass...LOL"

The part that got me thinking was the "bad ass". Am I a bad ass? No, I'm pretty much a wuss. I can't tell people off, I can't criticize anyone, I suck as a leader, heck, I can't even ask Toby's preschool to refund the money for the time that he wasn't there (2 weeks missed for surgery). The worst she can tell me is no, but for some reason I can't bear to hear it.

I skipped the Lenten retreat on Saturday because I chickened out. I can't go into a room with people I don't know without a tremendous amount of anxiety, which usually makes me not try new things.

I could so totally become agoraphobic, especially with the life we live. And then I would sit in my house and blog all day...hey...

And speaking of fear, here's me on the motorcycle going out for a ride (we went down to the Shell station and back):

So it's very cool that Dylan thinks I'm a badass, 'cause I SO don't think I am:).

Shadowboxer

So when Dylan and Toby were gone he called me one day and told me "I got you a present. It's a surprise!"

When they got back, he says "Do you want to see what I got you?" I said yes, of course.

So here it is:
What do you think he's trying to say?

And, because I'm going to pick on him for a bit, the night he and Toby returned, I made turkey burgers for dinner. He said, "Wow! Real meat? What's the occasion?" For those of you who know my husband, you know that he "doesn't eat meat" and he'll go into his whole spiel about how he doesn't eat it and why, and every lent when our family talks about what we're giving up he responds "I give up meat all year. It's my sacrifice." This year, I started making a LOT of vegetarian dishes (I'm not all that crazy about meat myself, but I do eat it), and Mr. Vegetarian has been complaining about it. He'll run down to the store (or send Pamela) and get kabanosy (a dried skinny Polish sausage of sorts), so that he can have his meat fix.

I love him anyway:).

*in all fairness to him, he does eat meat, but only poultry and fish, no red meat or pork. But he is nowhere NEAR vegetarian.

Toby - New and Improved Version!

They're back!

After a 15 hour train trip, 10 days away, a surgery and a 2 hour flight, they're back! When I picked Toby and Dylan up at the airport, Toby jumped into my arms and we just hugged and hugged (even though he's the middle boy and no one really cares about the middle child;). When I finally strapped Toby into his car seat, Dylan looked at me and said "Do I get a hug?" I said, "Ah, you're secondary. This is my baby!"

And this is the new and improved Toby. His new features: instead of not actually being able to hear you, he now IGNORES you (but you can tell because he smiles while he does it)! When asked why he insists on being so loud, he responds that it's because of his ears. Same as the old features: smiles like a goof when you take a photo of him:).

I'm going to the commissary. Who's coming with me?

I went to the mailroom today and I ran into the supervisor who asked me, "Hey, did you get your package?" I was like, "I'm just coming to get them." and he said "The one that went missing, I think it's here." (We had a package just disappear and Dylan had been hounding this guy. As an aside, I SO want his job!:)

So I go to the window and talk to the Polish guy behind the counter. It went something like this:

Him: "Prosze." (Basically "May I help you?")
Me (in English): "There's a package for me. Hrncir (phoentically Hern Sir, you know you were wondering;)
Him (after checking the packages): "No."
Me: "W. told me there was a package."
Him (checking again): "No, sorry."
Me (looking over at the packages, recognizing a company that I ordered from): "What about that white package over there."
Him: "No, that's for Hern Cheer."
Me: "Yeah, that's me." giggling "Sorry, I mispronounced my name."
Him (laughing): "Prosze bardzo, Do widzenia." (You're very welcome. See you later.)

The joke in this is that because it is a Czech last name (another Slavic language) he is actually pronouncing it correctly. But because it's my husband's name and his family is from the States, we pronounce it differently.

So Pamela's confirmation dress came. We need to do some altering (take in the bodice a bit and shorten it to about mid calf) but here's the "before" picture.
Oh, and don't worry, I won't actually ban the girl who set off my alarm from my house:). I still find it amusing to imagine her face when that alarm went off.

*edited to correct spelling.

It's a sick house! - insert music here

I've been playing around with my blog name. I wanted something more creative than who we are and where we are (no to mention that I always get a little freaked out when someone in Warsaw leaves me a comment, which is funny because I think Amy and Trevor think I'm stalking them;).

I think I have decided on "I've been everywhere" which is, at least the best known version in the States, the title of a Johnny Cash song. Americans have probably heard it on the Quality Inn or Best Western commercials. A little bit of trivia, it's actually an Australian song, the names were changed throughout other countries, but it started out in Australia! GO AUSSIES!:)

My kids are all sick, all the ones that are here at least. While this usually makes my job a little bit easier, it is also inevitable that I will get the sickness. I will be the last one, of course.

We had a scare over the weekend. Pamela had some friends over and they were watching "The Shining" (yes, I do know what a bad mother this makes me, but it kept them fairly quiet and out of my hair). I set the alarm and went to bed. At about midnight, the alarm went off. Now, when the alarm goes off it alerts the embassy and the local guards, usually we set it off accidentally by opening a door or window without disarming the system (or walking around in the attic, but who does that really??). The girls were freaked out. Then shortly after I disarmed the alarm and convinced the embassy and the local guards that we were really alright, our chime that tells us when a door or window opens went off twice (indicating that the door was opened and then closed). The next morning, after a horrid night of sleep due to the unexpected alarm and the horrible winds, I suspected that one of the girls had done it to freak the other girls out (they were watching a scary movie) and then got the shock of her life when the alarm went off. Once I got a chance to talk with Pamela without the other girls, she described all the events and one of the girls was not in the room with them each time something weird happened. So obviously it was one of the girls.

My only dilemma here (because I found it hysterically funny imagining what this girl had done when the alarm went off) is whether she should be allowed at my house again. It disrupted my sleep, which is really my biggest problem with it.

See ya later, from the sick house!