Recycle More Part 2

Here's an list of easy ways you can recycle MORE in Minnesota. Some things may surprise you! Not all of these items can be put in your curbside bin. Please check with your county recycling coordinator to learn what can be left curbside and what needs to be brought elsewhere.

Recycle more paper
• Magazines and books with hard covers removed
• Window envelopes and junk mail. No need to remove the window!
• Cereal, pasta, rice and other boxboard containers. If the box holds food from your cupboard it can be recycled, if it goes in your fridge or freezer, it usually can't.
• Don't for get the bathroom: toilet paper rolls and tooth paste boxes are paper too.

Recycle more of those "odd ball" items

• Shoes- Minnesota-based Wipers Recycling recycles shoes into oil spill clean up kits.
• Clothing- U'SAgain and Goodwill both recycle clothes that can't be resold.
• Crayons- You can send in your unwanted, broken crayons to be recycled into new crazy crayons.

Riley Meets Blitzen

Saturday, there was a petting Zoo at The Woods in Maple Grove. Basically that meant one pony, a mule deer, a hedgehog and a reindeer. But Blitzen was pretty cool and so was the hedgehog! (I have a thing for hedgehogs, can't help it, they are just cute!) Riley liked the Bear mascot too! And of course the carmel apples were a draw ;) Yummy!!! We also bought Riley's Halloween costume this weekend...it's pretty funny, but I'll keep you in suspense on that one!

A Night to Blog About!

Josh and I had a date last night and it was a fantastic evening! A friend of mine from high school was in the play Forever Plaid at the Old Log Theater in Excelsior. He got us tickets to the show so before that we decided to go to dinner at Jake O'Connors Public House in Excelsior.

If you want a REAL Irish bar setting, this was the best so far...I love The Claudaugh in Maple Grove, but this place even serves BROWN BREAD! It was a great reminder of our trip to Ireland a few years back. Also, I ordered a Magners which is a cider beer. I started drinking Bulmers in Ireland and haven't been able to find that here, but I liked the Magners too, well Josh talked to the bar tender last night to see why you can't find Bulmers in the US and apparently Magners IS Bulmers...It's made by the same company and shipped to the US under a different name! Sweet! So I had my Brown Bread and Bulmers and some Butternut Squash Ravioli with Scallops and then we went to the play.

Forever Plaid was HILARIOUS! I can't say enough about it...I laughed so hard I was wiping my eyes through the entire show! I wish I could tell you all to go see it, but last night was the final performance. If any of you have seen the show, my friend TJ was "Jinx" and he was awesome! And the rest of the case was amazing too. Ok...so I'm rambling on and on about Beer, Brown Bread and Musicals! You now think I'm crazy or I drank too much...Oh well...it was a great date night!

TG Homecoming! Go Eagles!

Friday night we ventured to Riley's first TG Homecoming game. I think last year it might have been raining or insanely cold or something so we didn't bring her. This year it was almost 80 degrees still and a perfect night for taking the kids to the game. Alumni kids were given a foam finger to play with and Zack and Riley liked that - for a while anyway. Most of the time we were there the kids spent running literally in circles around the parents. I got dizzy trying to keep Roo from knocking over "big people" but they had fun! Kiley Marie even made her debut since it was such a great night! Most of us left by half time (right after the E'gals performance that Riley kinda got into with some dance moves of her own) but TG was leading so I assume we won. GO EAGLES! (P.S. Zack was pretty scared of the Eagle Mascot!)

Busy Weekend Part 1

Friday was a busy day for us. Josh took the day off of work and we went to Ren Fest in the morning and TG homecoming in the afternoon. I'll start with pictures from RF, but there aren't many good shots. We only stayed about 2+ hours because Riley wanted to take pictures with Mommy's camera phone, and she doesn't understand that Mommy has to set it up for her after every picture so she melted down! Now, that is mostly our fault. We're trying to push her to a later nap schedule but the transition means we sometimes have a crabby kid around noon. So we knew we were probably close to our limit anyway.

The pics are of Roo and my favorite - Chocolate Covered Strawberries! And of Riley assisting in a Merry Band...of course we didn't get a picture of the guy with the violin who invited her to join his Merry Band, but you get the idea.
More pictures tomorrow, Stay tuned...

Recycle More

More from my Living Green 365 newsletter. Haven't posted anything Green in a while and there's a lot of good stuff in the new newsletter so there will be more to come:

Simple actions make a big impact

• Recycling is easy and lots of people do it, yet I often get asked, "Does recycling matter? Does it make a difference?" The answer is "yes."
• At 43.2%, Minnesota has the second highest recycling rate in the nation behind only Oregon.
• In 2003 recycling resulted in a net reduction of greenhouse gases of 1.5 million tons, this is equal to taking over 1 million cars off the road.
• Minnesotans saved nearly $1.5 million in energy costs just by recycling their plastic in 2006.
• The recycling industry in Minnesota employs approximately 20,000 Minnesotans.

TIGF

In keeping with my Fall fun this week, I'm thankful for all the festivitites we have to keep us busy this month and next. We went to the apple orchard which was awesome, Ren Fest was this morning (next year I think we'll go on a Saturday, the Friday crowd is mostly school field trips - No Woodchuck:( and some of my favorite vendors weren't there today, but still a beautiful day for Ren Fest) and Homecoming is tonight. Couldn't be a nicer day for it. We still have some fun planned for this weekend too! And mostly today I am loving Good Earth decaf tea and pumpkin bars from Emma Krumbees! Yummy....oh, and in case you were wondering, my apple pie turned out pretty darn yummy too!

Emma Krumbees Rocks!

We spent the day with my friend Shannon and the two girls for whom she is a she nanny. (Yes I know that sounds formal, but I hate ending sentences with the word "for" - Blame Mrs. Briel.) They had tractor rides, train rides, hay mountains to climb, and of course pumpkins and apples and scarecrows, Oh my! I was even inspired to BAKE an apple pie! (did that rhyme? Oops!) It's in the oven right now:) We had a great day despite the rain showers that kept us busy with umbrellas and rain jackets, Thanks Shannon, Emmy and Izzy!

Wanna Know a Secret?

I have a confession to make. I LOVE FALL. Ok, most of you are saying, "No you don't. You've always said you hated Fall." Well, guess what? I lied! I've always secretly loved Fall, but because Winter comes next I wouldn't admit it. Cuz we all KNOW how I feel about cold, wet, white stuff. But I love the leaves changing colors, I love Honeycrisp apples, I love cider and pumpkins and most of all I LOVE Halloween! All this comes up today for two reasons. (ok, more than 2 really) 1) I am looking for happy things to report and 2) Tomorrow Riley and I are going with my friend Shannon to Emma Krumbees Apple Orchard for their Fall Scarecrow Festival. Ooooh, did I mention I love scarecrows too? Oh, and I guess there's a 3) My mom says there's a petting zoo at The Woods in MG this weekend too. And wait, there's a 4) TG homecoming is this weekend! And 5) Josh and I are going to Ren Fest this weekend too! (Thanks Annie for the tix!) Ahhhhhhh, I love Fall! Oh and I almost forgot one very important reason! Josh and I celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary in 2 weeks and we're going to Stillwater to celebrate...then I could go on and on about how much I love Stillwater too:) So get ready for LOTS of Fall updates with pictures! Happy Fall Y'all!

NOTE: Revised photos are all mine!

Vikes WIN!!!

This is just a cute pic of Riley's new favorite game...Hold the baby...Did I mention ~ YEAH VIKES! WE finally won a game. GO GUS!

Firefly Crossings

Under my Favorite Charities on the right hand side of the blog, I have added Firefly Crossings. This is a foundation being set up to honor Tori and Frankie Roth, the kiddos of my friend Meg and her husband Will. Many of you have followed their battles and know how much the family has been through in the past 2-3 years. Some of you have asked where donations might be sent in baby Frankie's memory. Firefly Crossings will work to help families with sick kids make lasting positive memories away from all the medical equipment and doctors. Please check out the site if you want to know more.

Girls Day!

Ok, today was a day for girlfriends. My high school bunch of friends (minus Vieve who had to work, but I'll include a pic of her so she's included cuz she was bummed she couldn't go) spent a retail therapy day in Stillwater today, a few drinks, some sugar and some shopping to brighten Fred's day! I love my girls:) Thanks ladies!!!

Oh, in the pictures its Fred and Emily, Me and Fred, and Meg hiding behind Adrienne. Vieve is the one who looks like she's not in Stillwater;)

Schuster/Paulson B-Days

AS i mentioned before, September is a CRAZY month of B-days and Anniversaries for us. Thursday we celebrated Jessie's (on the 14th) and Aunt Pam and Grandma Mary's (both on the 18th) birthdays. Notice, at a Schuster dinner there is ALWAYS lots of dessert. The Raspberry cupcakes on the left are quite possibly the best cake of any kind I have EVER had!!! One of Linda's co-workers made them and they were AMAZING!!!!

Riley now thinks all birthday parties are for her. She loves to help blow out candles!

New Feature

You'll notice a new feature on the right. If you're a "Follower" of this blog, you can add your name to the right so people can see who checks in on a regular basis. I know who is a subscriber, but this is a fun way for you to see if I have friends or not... You'll probably notice this will be mostly my family anyway;)

TIGF

I'm glad my hair appointment went well today. The color is darker than I expected, but I like it and I LOVED the experience at New Reflections soooo much better than at Crappy Sams. I recommend Gretchen at the Maple Grove location! And if you go, tell her I sent you, I get points;)

On a down note, one of the ladies I visit at the nursing home every week died, I think yesterday. Still fuzzy on all the details, but she wasn't doing well last week so this is not unexpected, but still sad:( Riley liked to say Olive...she will be missed!

Skol Vikings?

Ok, so we had 4th row tix in the End Zone to the Vikes vs. the Colts this weekend thanks to Meg and Chris. That's the good news. The bad news is that the Vikings couldn't score more than 5 field goals and Peyton beat us even though the Colts played terrible most of the game. Here are some highlitghts. We tailgated before the game, got to see Peyton up close as well as Jared Allen for the first time. Got to see Ragnar and got to see one of my sorta distant cousins as a Vikings cheerleader. Skol Jenny!

Tea anyone?

I have three boxes of tea that I want to get rid of and I feel guilty throwing it away. Does anyone want Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane, CS Perfeclty Pear or Small Pleasures Maple tea? (the Maple isn't as maple as it sounds though, just a warning)...If I don't hear from anyone by Friday or so, I will throw them out I guess.

Erica's Bachelorette Party

Saturday night we had a little shin-dig for Erica and her girls...and Adam who is the Man of Honor and Erica's best friend for six years. (The guys call him the Iron Maiden). We went to dinner at Dangerfields (very nice) and then to Mystic for a while. Apparently it's not legal to take pictures in the casino for security reasons, so these are mostly at the bar in Shakopee after the casino. Mystic is a "Dry" casino so we had to adventure out a bit for drinks after at a place called Arnie's. We were very entertained by some of the locals! Let me just say it was like watching a train wreck, you just couldn't help but stare. I have video, but I don't think it's blog appropriate:)

More of Beautiful Baby Kiley

Here's some pics I took at Katie and Darin's on Friday. I love the thinker pose! I guess Zack did the same thing when he was a baby. (He's getting so big!)

Scheduled Posts

I'm going to schedule some posts this week because it's going to be a pretty rough week. I will be attending a wake and funeral for baby Frankie Monday and Tuesday, so there won't be much to say but that it just isn't fair and it should never happen. That is stating the obvious so I'm going to choose to keep myself a bit distracted with happier thoughts when I can. I feel a little bad about that, but it's how I cope. Please continue to keep Meg and Will and their family in your prayers as they go through some really hard times in the next few weeks and months.

TIGF

I'm struggling this week to be thankful. Obviously, I'm thankful for my little girl and all the kiddos in my world, but there's a very heavy sadness with that gift given the current situation. Please hug your babies for me and I do apologize for the gloom that's hanging over the blog right now. Any good news would be greatly appreciated and I promise I'll try to blog about happier things to come.

Unspeakable Sadness

Baby Frankie earned his angel wings this afternoon. As I type this, I wonder if I even should, but I think many of you might only hear this from one place. I can't even tell you how devastated I am that this happened. No parent should EVER loose their child and certainly they should be spared from this heartache TWICE! If you want to know about funeral arrangements, please let me know.

More Funny Riley-isms

Here's a couple of things Riley did this week that made me laugh.

Well, for starters, her and Zacky always make me laugh. We babysat Zack on Saturday so my parents could attend a wedding. While Zack was watching Curious George, Riley was playing hide and seek(Nothing holds Zack's attention like George, and Roo isn't as impressed). I have lots of nicknames for Riley, but I guess her favorite is Buggy cuz she's under the blanket saying "Where Buggy Go?" and then she peeks out..."There she is!"

Monday morning Riley was sitting in my room on my bed while I was getting dressed. I came out and asked "How do I look?" and she said "Pretty" and then she thought for a minute and added "You look wonderful!" I've never heard her use that word before so it was cute AND funny:)

She also likes a show called Sid the Science Kid on TPT Kids. At the end of the show he always has a Super Duper Ooper Schmooper Big Idea. Riley has been walking around telling me she has a SUPER DUPER idea. Not sure what that idea is...she doesn't get that far, she just likes saying SUPER DUPER really excitedly!

Monday night she called Tavaris Jackson, the QB for the Vikes...Boris...Go Boris! Go this way!

Tuesday, she was playing on the ottoman and doing something that was making me nervous. She looked at me and she knew she was doing something she shouldn't and she said "Mommy, you give me heart attack?" No lie...that's what she said:)

Bridal Shower

Saturday morning, Riley and I went to a bridal shower for Erica. Ashley was very "helpful" with Riley and wanted to hold her hand everywhere we went. Riley was a little overwhelmed, but overall she was happy to be with her buddy.

More Kiley

I'm dying to go see my little niece again, but the Bartsch Grandparents are here from out of town and I will get my time with Kiley, so I'm trying to let them have some quality time too...I might sneak over there sometime this week, but in the meantime, here are some pics from Friday night and Sunday when I went up to visit. The first two pictures of Friday, Riley wanted to "hold her" "put her on me". She loves this new baby. Katie and Darin have great video of her holding Kiley and saying "I love her, She's cute." And for those of you pushing for a second Schuster baby...don't count on it anytime soon...too many things up in the air right now (we'd have to move, I have to fit in a dress in October, etc.)

The second pictures are Sunday when Kiley got to try her first DQ...no not really, but it's almost a tradition now, Auntie Annie and Uncle Doug...Or Uncle Duck...have brought Blizzards up every time one of us has had a baby...it's a fun treat!

One more September b-day!

I have one more September birthday to add. My friend Aimee had a baby boy yesterday. Welcome to the world Nolan David Kizewski! more pics of Kiley Marie to come later today...

Here's my niece!

Here she is, Miss Kiley Marie!!! There re more pics posted on Katie and Darin's blog (The Bartsch Beat on the right), I had to put my good shots on their blog instead of mine, so just to confuse you a little...The picture with Adrienne in it is ME with Kiley and the picture with Riley Roo in it is MEG...and NO we didn't plan that....I assumed Meg would wear pink for the baby girl...who knew she wanted to be me so bad? Riley was a LOT past naptime, but we got up there to see baby and now she's napping. We're going back up tonight with "Uncle Dude"...or maybe he will be "Uncle Josh" to this one...Zack calls him Dude. more pics to come!

TIGF

Darn thankful that Frankie is hanging in there...please pray for him today as he is scheduled to have yet another surgery in his short two months on earth. This family needs a miracle!

Note: Frankie did not go for his surgery today. The need to balance out his blood-clotting meds before the can do more.

AMMENDMENT: I'm also very happy for a new baby girl in the family. I wrote my TIGF last night before Kiley was born!

Welcome Kiley Marie!

Katie and Darin are welcoming their new baby girl to the world. Kiley Marie Bartsch was born at 2:44 a.m. by c-section and weighs 6 lbs. 14 oz and was 20 inches long. Officially that makes her birthday September 5th! Welcome to the world baby girl! I'll post pictures later today after I've been up to the hospital to visit. I assume you can call Katie or Darin on their cell if you'd like to visit or wish them well!

September Birthdays!

Ok, September is a busy month for birthdays and I don't want to forget ANYone so in an effort to cover everything:

Happy birthday to Mark, my Father-in-law, whom we already celebrated on the 1st
Happy b-day to my grandma, today September 4th (it's 10 p.m. so I didn't miss it yet!)
Happy b-day tomorrow to my longest lasting friend, Katherine Elizabeth Anne Marie Formerly Lhotka, not Kantor (bet you didn't think I could make your name LONGER!)
Happy b-day to my flower girl and buddy Kelsey on the 9th
Happy b-day to Kenzie (Katherine...'s daughter) and my cousin Tim on the 12th
Happy b-day to my sister-in-law Jessie on the 14th And anniversary on the 29th
And on September 18th...are ya ready...Happy b-day to Jenny Rabon, my good friend from MNMO, To Pammy and Mary, Josh's aunt and grandma, AND Happy aniversary to Matt and Amber
On the 20th, Happy anniversary to Scott and Danielle


And at some point this month HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NEW NIECE OR NEPHEW!!!!
Whew...I think I covered everyone? I think my cousin Chris has a b-day this month too but I can't remember...is it the 16th?

Frankie Update

I think I e-mailed most of you yesterday with more urgent requests for prayers, but here's the latest update on Frankie. He is still hanging in there, but he's not "out of the woods" according to Meg. If you sign the guestbook, you can get updates e-mailed to you whenever Meg posts on the site.

Mark's B-day

Here's video, as promised, of Mark's birthday celebration on Monday.

Updates all around...

A reminder today to please say lots of prayers for Baby Frankie as he has a major surgery today. As of this blog, he has been in surgery for about 4 hours and the procedure was scheduled to take 4-6 hours so I'm hoping to hear good news any minute. It's a pretty scary thing, and it is considered open heart surgery...so please continue to pray for them. They have been through more than most people will ever have to go through in a lifetime, I just can't imagine how scared they are, but they really appreciate all of you thinking of them and praying for the care team, the family and especially Frankie.

One more update, my grandma could go home from the hospital as early as today. They are just waiting for one little function to happen (I won't go into detail) and then she can go home. Thanks for all your prayers there too! The docs are amazed at how fast she bounced back from surgery...they keep telling her she needs to slow down:) That's my Grams! Grandpa still seems to be doing ok at home alone, but I will be happy to have them both in one place so they can keep an eye on each other!

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

Oh, no! Riley has decided that the cow shouldn't jump over the moon. Whenever you tell her the cow jumped over the moon her response is something like this "Oh, no!" or "Oh my goodness" or "Oh, my!" And now she has Zacky doing it too!

Dinner at the G-T's

(That's Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom = G-T's) We had dinner at my parents house last night for Labor Day weekend...Dinner was FANTASTIC and Riley had her first corn on the cob all by herself! The picnic table the kids were eating at was ours when we were little!

Tonight, we're off to dinner with the G-S's for Grandpa Mark's b-day...Happy Birthday Mark!

And on the baby front, still no Baby Bartsch born yet. We thought for sure she would go in August, but today is September 1 and still no labor! That's good...who wants to have a baby on Labor Day...too ironic! My friend Aimee is due any minute too, so I'll have lots of baby news to report soon.

And remember to keep Baby Frankie in your prayers. He has his major surgery tomorrow to repair his broken little heart!

That's it for now...more to come after the b-day party tonight, I'm sure!

Practice Day

Josh and I will be in a wedding in October for Josh's best friend Jimmy and his wife-to-be, Erica. Yesterday the girls got together for practice hair and make-up. Here's a shot from our play day...you won't see pics of the finished product until after the wedding, that would ruin the dramatic effect! We got some really pretty dangly earrings and a cute glass nail file from Erica for our bridesmaid gifts...Thanks, Erica! I love them both...the earrings are going to look AWESOME with the dress!

State Fair '08

I haven't posted with picture in a while, plus most of my posts have been prayer requests, so I thought I'd do some more lighthearted fun posts this week. These are pics from our two trips to the State Fair with Riley this year (yes, TWO, and I would have gone more if I had the time and endless funds, I LOVE the fair!) Riley had her first Fudge Puppy (not shown, but it's a belgian waffle on a stick dipped in chocolate and this year covered with strawberries) She had some chocolate shake and snow cone...loved that! And tried some big fat bacon on a stick. She didn't like cheese curds as much as I thought she would and she wanted to try the Wine Ice Cream, but that was not in her Fair Food agenda...it was however in Mommy's agenda:) She loved the goats and the puppy barn and of course the HUUUUUGE fishies at the DNR exhibit. And she LOVED the Merry...or the Merry Go Round and Round as she called it! (Who is having more fun, Riley or Grandma?) She would have done nothing but that all day but big bad mommy told grandma no more so lots of tears were shed, but overall we had a great time last week!