This Weekend's Adventures

Money does NOT grow on trees!

Happy weekend everyone! Mine started a little early because I didn't have to work today. It was some kind of teacher-in-service thing. Hey, if it gives me a day off, I don't need an explanation.

I'm glad we had the day off. It gives me an extra day to nurse my cold. Actually, it's like a sinus & upper respiratory thing that I usually get a few times during winter. I was lucky enough not to get it this winter so now that the weather is starting to get nicer, I get sick. Sometimes it feels like I have an elephant sitting on my chest.(good thing it's not a pig sitting there, instead. We'd have to make up a whole new virus.) I won't gross you out with the details just suffice to say that I feel like crud!

I do have better, less disgusting things to share. I finally got one thing on my car repaired. I had the trans leak taken care of. Only a gasket & seals, so it was ONLY (like any one of us has money to be throwing around these days!) $250. I'm just glad I didn't need the trans replaced. I paid $2500 for this car a few months ago & will not put more into it than I bought it for. It's a '96 Mercury Grand Marquis we bought from a friend. My babcia says it looks like a gangster car...LOL! It's white with the blue, fake convertible look top. I love the way it rides though. Very smooth. It's a far cry from the car I had before which was a '96 Dodge Neon. I'm finally getting used to driving it as my last car was a little bit smaller. Ok, maybe a few feet bigger! It's got XM radio & we signed on for our own subscription but I a having a hard time with the reception. Everything is so close together here so maybe that is the problem. I'll have to check out the manual when I get a chance. (sigh) Anyway as for the other problem on the car (that we know of), they said the oil pan is rusted through. Doesn't sound that expensive, right? Ah, no! It will cost $500-$600. Well it seems that the oil pan is way down under everything & you have to remove it all to get the the pan to replace it. So, I was thinking, why can't you go from underneath, where it is right there. But, I am not a mechanic & there must be a reason although my hubby has not come up with one yet. The oil leak is not as bad as the trans leak so we may have some time to figure out a way that we won't have to go that route.

Another good thing about this weekend is my Uncle from Minnesota & 2 of my cousins from Massachusetts have come in for the weekend for Mother's day. Their flights were close to each other so they met up at the airport & came down to Babcia's together. This uncle is my Babcia's youngest son & my cousins are 2 of her grandchildren. We hung out a little today but will be at my youngest sis' house tomorrow for her annual Cinco De Mayo party. It's a few days late, but who cares! LOL! Then on Sunday, hubby, daughter & myself will go to church & then have breakfast with his mom. After that, we will head to Babcia's & spend time with her & my uncle & cousins. Of course, we will probably eat there, too. Always have to have food there! Then their flight is later on in the evening so we'll head home when they leave for the airport. We only live a few blocks from Babcia's house, so it takes no time at all to get home.

So, I guess I won't get to rest up as much as I want to this weekend, but spending time with family that we don't see often enough is always a great time with lots of laughs. And they say laughter is the best medicine (unless you have a bad cough & start choking from laughing too hard!!!)

Let me know how your weeknd goes! I hope it's a great one!

Love & Babushkas,

Collette

My Easter Traditions

Now that Easter is almost here, I want to share some of the Polish traditions we have this time of year. Some have been intact as long as I can remember & some a little newer but just as important to me.


Both pairs of my grandparents were born here, I believe, but their parents were born in Poland & came over in the early 1900's. My Babcia, (dad's mom). is the only grandparent still living @ 92 years old. So, we have 4 generations living here in the U.S.


We have many traditions through the year & Easter is one of the main ones. Before Easter, we have Lent, which is a Catholic time for fasting and praying for forgiveness. The day Lent starts is Ash Wednesday. The day before is Paczki Day! On this day, we eat paczki (jelly donuts with more fat than usual) to get rid of all the flour, sugar, yeast, & sweets before Lent starts. The bakeries here are packed from morning till night on that day!


On the Saturday before Easter, my Babcia, my 2 sisters, my daughter & me go to church to get our Easter baskets blessed. We take some food that will be eaten on Easter such as: kielbasa, ham, hard boiled eggs, bread, salt & pepper, and anything else you want to add, for this will be eaten Easter morning as our breakfast. We usually add a butter lamb, made by each of us, to our baskets. They usually turn out looking like any animal other than a lamb & more than likely, will have been, stabbed, squashed, or otherwise deformed due to self-consciousness of other lambs looking too professional...lol.


On Easter Sunday, we eat our blessed food for breakfast. In the afternoon, we go to a family member's house to share our meal. It consists of a sliver of raw horseradish on a slice of hard boiled egg for blessings & good wishes to all. The first course is the barszcz (white borscht), made from ham & kielbasa water, juice from dill pickles, sour cream, & peppercorns (which I usually end up biting into!). Into the soup, we put a mixture of ham, kielbasa, eggs & bread. The main entree is ham, smoked kielbasa (store bought), fresh kielbasa (made by us),bread, butter, cole slaw. Later on if anyone is hungry, we have ham & kielbasa sandwiches, usually with lots of horseradish.


Our traditions are based on lots of food & the love that goes into making them! Spending time with family is one of the best traditions you can have.


So, what are your Easter traditions? I'd love to hear what everyone does!

Talk to you soon from beneath "My Babcia's Babushka"!


Collette