When we moved into our new home in march of 2008 only one fire place worked. After our fence was built we tried using that fire place, but it didn’t work anymore. A light bulb went off when they build our fence they turned the gas off and when construction was complete they turned it back on. Jerry our contractor had to relight the pilot light to our furnace. Hmmm I thought if the furnaces pilot light needed to be relit, maybe the pilot in the gas fireplace needs to be relit. So with this idea in mind I googled Fireside Hearth&home, low and behold they had directions with pictures on just how to relight a light.
So on Saturday night the husband decided to take a whack at it, i showed him the site and its directions. With in minutes we had fire in the basement. Feeling brave and knowing what to do now he tackled the upstairs fireplace too. He wasn’t having any luck with finding the pilot light. Babes why don’t you move the fake logs, I bet its under there some where. Oh I love being right there was the pilot light and he lit it. We have fire in our living room too. Yay the husband and I make a great team.

I am a firm believer in living green and making less of an impact on our planet. Native people see them selves as custodians of the land and preserve it in the best way they know how. Growing up my family ate organic before it was cool and conserved our resources. To this day I practice what my parents taught me don’t use chemicals, by local, and have little impact on the environment around you.
In the bear house hold I use natural cleaning products. There are some awesome brands out on the market today. I even use organic floor cleaner. Before at our old house I would use Lysol floor cleaner the rescue pups would walk on the wet floor, lick there paws, and throw up on my carpet. I put two & two together and bought the J.R Watkins floor cleaner the pups walked on the wet floor, licked there paws, and hey no barf on my floor. Ever since then that is what I have used.
Also when you think about it how good can chemicals before you any ways. Not good at all my friend. I love the Target’s Method all purpose cleaner, I use it on everything in my kitchen. Yes. i use green cleaners in my kitchen. Some people don’t because they are afraid of bacteria. When you think about it, before our modern time ladies used vinegar and water to clean there homes, and well they didn’t get sick from bacteria. I admit that after I cut up meat or chicken I do wipe my counters down with a mild bleach solution.
We are even green in our bath room, I love cleaning with Target’s Method all purpose bathroom cleaner, the scent is awesome eucalyptus mint. it makes my bathroom sparkle. For the Mirrors I use Green Works Glass Cleaner, it is streak free and doesn’t leave a film on the glass. Method works great on soap scum, trust me I do not miss the harsh smell of Scrubbing bubbles nor do i miss what it did to my hands.
I even live green outside of my home. The Husband bought my a 2002 Toyota Prius back in 2008. Man oh man do I love my Prius. I decided that unlike everyone else if I was going to have less impact on our environment I was going to buy a used Prius instead of a new one. As it does take energy to build a new one and well why buy new when slightly used will do. The Prius even has a name, yes I named my car, he is lovingly known as Bert. Bert does a great job getting me around in the Minnesota winters. Well sometimes he has a hard time getting up those icy hills and has ended up in the ditch a few times.
The only thing is when you buy a Prius they don’t tell you that in the winter he’s just like a regular car he only gets 32mph gallon in the winter months and when summer rolls around he gets a cool 47 mph gallon.
We also buy local. You can find me at the farmers market in the summer, buying from a cheese factory and other local grocers. There is nothing like fresh right out of the creamery cheese, fresh from the mold dark chocolate, and fresh from the field fruits & veggies.
The Bear’s favorite Green Cleaning Pproducts:
Target’s Method all purpose surface cleaner in Lavender or Sea mineral
Target’s Method all purpose bathroom cleaner in Eucalyptus mint
Green Works Glass cleaner
J. R. Watkins Lemon all purpose cleaner
J.R. Watkins Aloe floor cleaner concentrate
Green in the Home:
HE Washer and Dryer
Fireplace, cuts down on the heating bills
Energy saving appliances in our kitchen, including the Refrigerator and Stove
Energy saving light bulbs are a must.
We only turn on our air conditioner when it is super hot and humid.
Even our Christmas lights are energy saving LED bulbs.
Bert the Prius.
We buy in bulk to reduce packaging and look for packaging that is made from recycled materials.
The bears have an over flowing recycling bin every week and only one bag of trash.
Instead of buying bottled water, we use a Britta water filter and fill up our own reusable water bottles.
We just bought new carpet. It is completely green and made out of recycled materials
Bear’s Favorite Organic and fair trade products for people and dogs:
The rescue pups love Trader Joe’s Organic beef dog jerky and chicken sticks
Mystra loves Trader Joe’s Organic Hip and Joint peanut butter dog biscuits
Organic fruits and veggies from the local farmers market
Organically grown flowers are a must:)
Trader Joe’s organic shredded wheat squares with maple
Trader Joe’s organic cheese sandwich crackers
Nan’s likes Trader Joe’s organic alphabet cookies
Chihuahua Chocolate’s truffles
Bass Lake Cheese Factory Cheese
Organic flour and sugar make the best cookies
Fair trade chocolate chips
Fair trade coffee
Fair Trade spices
Local Organic chicken and Pork, straight from the farm taste oh so good
I hope this inspires everyone to try a natural cleaning product or their local organic growers. Be happy, live green, and enjoy the taste of organics:)!!

When I was in college I got the chance to travel to different conferences and share my Families story. Below is a piece that I wrote about and for my Great Grandma Grace and my Grandfather.

Grace
Up stairs in my Grandma’s house there is a picture of a woman.
Her skin has been kissed by the sun and her face weathered by the wind.
She has the saddest eyes you’ve ever seen, when you look into them they pull at your soul.
Daddy who is the lady in the picture, why does she look different from you and me, why is she sad?

My Daddy scooped me up and said: baby girl meet my Grandma Grace.
She lived during a dark and sad time, a time where it wasn’t cool to be an Indian.
Where she couldn’t dance, where she couldn’t speak Ojibwa, or pray to the spirits.

Grace is the reason that we’re free today.
She suffered and endured.
She was relocated, assimilated, they took her lad, they stole her children.
In an attempt to break her down, to make her conform to their way.
They beat her and knocked her down, they tried to break her spirit.
But there’s one thing the white man under estimated and that was the power of the Ojibwa soul.
So Grace stood up, dried her tears and dusted herself off and walked on.
She knew there had to be a better day, where she would be free.
Grace is the reason I’m free today.

Grandpa, Daddy told me about your mama and I don’t understand.
Grandpa sat me on his lap and said: Handy Mandy my mama and I lived during a time when it wasn’t cool to be an Indian.
They took me away from her when I was your age. Brought me to the city.
They cut my hair, took my buck skins away and put me in a uniform.
They told me that I was a white boy now.
They said if I spoke my native tongue they would beat me down, if I didn’t pray to Jesus, i was going straight to hell. Hell, I didn’t even know what hell was.
Back then it was wrong for an Indian man to marry an Irish woman like your Grandma Irene, they would of beat me, possible killed me back then.

Baby Grace is the reason we are free today.
She suffered and endured.
She was assimilated, relocated, they took her land, and stole her children
In an attempt to break her down, to make her conform to there ways
They beat her and knocked her down, they tried to break her spirit
But there’s one thing the white man under estimated and that was the power of the Ojibwa soul.
So Grace stood up, dried her tears, dusted her self off, and marched on.

She knew there had to be a better day where her people would be free.
Where she would be free, where her children and grandchildren, could be free.
Free to speak Ojibwa
Free to pray to the spirits or Jesus if they chose
Free to follow the teachings of our people or the message of the Bible.
Free to choose, free to live, free to be an Ojibwa
Free to dance around the drum and practice our past.

Grace is the reason that we are free today.
Grace and my Grandpa are the reason we are free today.
All Indian people who suffered and endured are the reason that I am free today.

A lot of things are changing in the bear household.
I am leaving my current employer, the giant pharmacy benefit management company on October 16Th, for a new job with a law firm. Yes a law firm. I am very excited, I will be working in a collections firm. An with great accomplishment comes reward. The husband and I decided that since I will be making a bit more we can afford new floors.
Yes, new floors! We are getting Lamenent floors installed in our kitchen/dinning room on Tuesday. I chose pecan hickory as my floor color. I am so excited, my kitchen will be one step closer to being remodeled. All we will have left is the counter tops. Also our formal living room, family room and office are getting new carpet. So that means frecks the rescue pup is in trouble if she potties on Mommy and Daddy’s new carpet. I cant wait for next Tuesday and Wednesday to come, the floors are going to look great.
The inside of the bear home isn’t the only thing changing. The outside is changing as well, we will be ripping out old bushes along with over grown plants and replacing them with new foliage. My Dad will be helping us with this project and helping with the design of our front yard. We will be going to the nursery on Sunday to purchase our plants.
Change is a good and wondrous thing:)
Even we as people change every day. I am not the same person today as I was on Thursday. We are constantly evolving and working toward the greater good of mankind.

Out of all the bears Nans does the most traveling. Here he is sporting his new shoes that he just picked out from Target.

Showing his Minnesota Vikings Pride

Mr and I met back on April 3rd 2005 after a week of chatting online and on the phone. I decided to invite him up to Superior WI for a date. To my amazement he said yes and came up that Sunday. Our first date was awesome. Little did I know he was holding back some information. The Wednesday after our date he called to tell me something, he told me he would understand if I didn’t want to see him again. I thought what could it be…………He blurted it out, I have a son. Oh I said and wanted to know more. That was almost 4 years ago and we are going strong.

Today Mr. Nans came up for his first weekend visit. For some reason or another his mother managed to miss his first flight out of Austin. Luckily the air line found him a seat on the next plane. An at 8:30pm last night our little family was whole again. We are a family of six once again. Nans fur sisters were very excited to see there boy, especially miss frecks. It was good to see him tucked in his little spiderman bed without a care in the world snoring like a frieght train.

I don’t think Nans will ever realize just how much I love him and how lucky he is to have a Mommy and a Nannie.

Right now we are decorated for Halloween.
First house on the block to do it, all others will follow soon!

Porch Kids and Scarecrow by the front door

Zip cording in Alaska