Next time I say, “Since we aren’t going to be able to actually go camping this year, wouldn’t it be fun if the troop just came to my house!” please, please, please talk some sense into me.
My Brownie troop is almost finished for the year. It has been fun, but so crazy. I received an award last week for Outstanding Leader. I’m pretty sure it was just because I was the only one willing to take the entire 1st grade troop of 24 girls, but it’s nice anyway. We have one more meeting left—a parents’ party.
For our final activity we are “camping in” at my house to earn an outdoor badge. I thought that was much better than actually sleeping outside in a tent. We’ll cook on a fire, pitch tents, “hike” through my neighborhood, and sleep inside where it’s nice and cozy!
This week has just been awful, thus the lack of posting. I still don’t quite feel like updating so you’ll have to deal with bullets:
- Monday we went to a funeral. Spencer’s great-grandmother passed away over the weekend. She was 94 and lived a full life. I was always amazed at what she was doing well into her 90s. She was a sweet lady who adored my children—always a plus in my book.
- Spencer is still sick. They ran several blood tests earlier this week, but can’t figure it out. They now have him on Zithromax and it seems to be working. I’m thinking it was just a particularly difficult strand of strep throat and the first antibiotic didn’t kick it.
- All morning sickness all the time—I won’t go into details except to say that’s pretty much why I don’t post much. Something on the second floor makes me sick so I stay downstairs.
- So much for laundry.
- My first Brownie field trip was postponed. There will be no hiking in the rain for me. The girls did surprisingly well for our indoor activities considering the disappointment factor.
- Stacia’s first soccer game of the season is tomorrow. I was so glad to hear the weather has cleared. They tell us repeatedly “soccer is an all-weather sport” which pretty much means prepare to sit in the mud.
- Brenia is now officially known as Naked Baby. She has a new thing with spontaneous shedding of clothing. She likes to be “nake” and I just don’t have the energy to fight it. At least I’ve gotten her to quit including the diaper.
- CBS just called to say they weren’t finished editing due to another out-of-town news story. The segment has been pushed back to next Friday night. Now I get to go about the process of calling those who were planning to watch me tonight—which pretty much includes everyone I know and lots of people I don’t.
The article about my brownie troop came out today. You can read it here. She used quotes from all 3 girls. They are a talkative bunch, and had some great things to say. They actually printed our entire collection list too. That’s something I couldn’t even get the school newsletter to do.
Now if only I can convince hubby to go out and buy 10 copies.
In other news news, the CBS producer finally got back to me. Things just keep coming up to bump our interview. Right now it’s his kiddos’ spring break. Ah, priorities. I’m just glad to hear he’s still interested. It looks like we’ll finally connect the first week of April.
Now to find a new pregnant-lady outfit since my new, hot power-suit no longer fits!
I was contacted by a reporter again this week, this time for my work with Stacia’s Brownie Troop. She wants to do a feature article in next week’s paper about the service project we are doing. I think it’s really neat that they are getting some recognition this early in their Girl Scouting “careers.”
In January, when we were planning something to do with our cookie money the girls had a bunch of suggestions for using it to help people. I was going to suggest something anyway, but it was quite impressive to hear 7 year olds say we should give our money to the Tsunami vicitms. We elected to send half of our cookie booth profits to the Red Cross Tsunami Relief Fund.
I wanted them to take part in something more than watching me write a check though, so a few weeks ago I suggested a few hand-on projects: Any Soldier care packages, Ronald McDonald House toiletry collection, or one girl’s suggestion Toys for Tots. I really wanted to do an Any Soldier drive at the school, but I just knew they would vote for buying toys. We took a vote, as is the only way to make decisions with 24 1st graders. Any Soldier won by a mile. They loved the idea of helping our soldiers who were in another country.
So we have a big box setup at the school with a list of supplies the soldiers are requesting—energy bars, personal hygeine, stationary, and entertainment items—and plan to put together as many care packages as possible at our next meeting. The cookie funds come in when it is time to ship them overseas. Our principal was kind enough to not only allow us to setup a collection bin, but add our request to the school newsletter. That is, apparently, how the reporter heard about our efforts.
I’m meeting her at the school this afternoon for a short interview, and then she wants to ask a the girls some questions and take pictures. She asked for 3-5 girls. I felt bad that the whole troop doesn’t get to be involved in such an exciting aspect of it, but I just called my assistants to borrow their kids. I’m going to suggest that she do a followup at our next meeting for some shots of the girls sorting donations for our care packages. Even if she doesn’t run a second article, at least the whole troop will feel a part of the excitement.
Let’s play a counting game:
Number of Brownies in my Girl Scout troop: 24
Number of days “World Friendship Day” has appeared on our calendar: 171
Number of times I have reminded troop of said event: 5
Number of families who forgot anyway: 5
Number of hours I spent preparing for presentation: 4
Number of hours the girls spent learning about Zimbabwe: 1
Number of girls who remembered anything from our study: 1
Number of countries represented: 18
Number of girls who learned anything from the other 17 countries: 0
Number of hours event was supposed to last: 2.5
Number of hours event actually lasted: 3
Number of times I looked at the clock: 24396234
Number of Tylenol needed to surpress resulting headache: ??? (I’ll let you know when I get there!)
Things I have found in the laundry this week:
- 3 new kids’ shirts stained beyond repair
- a Brownie Girl Scout SWAP pin
- a Daisy Girl Scout patch
- a whole pizza roll
- LEI jeans—a brand I have never worn—in a size I haven’t been for 10 years
One of these days I’ll actually participate in ANBOW, but until then my Monday morning recaps will have to suffice. This one’s a doozy, so grab a cup of coffee and settle in. The weekend started like any other. If you hadn’t checked my calendar, you would never know a Super Family Fun Weekend was about to occur. We had our typical fast, cheap and easy Friday dinner, followed by my weekly sleep day. I get Saturdays; he gets Sundays.
As per our arrangement, Saturday starts with the kids waking me up and me kicking Spencer until he gets out of bed. Then I snuggle in for a few more hours of uninterrupted guilt-free extra sleep. This is the one day of the week I get to wake up, shower, and get ready without a tagalong. In fact, this is generally the one day a week I actually get to shower before naptime. While the sleeping in may not be all it’s cracked up to be, this is bliss!
After lunch, I run my weekly errands. This day was no exception. What made it so great was a serendipitous meeting with someone who works at the newspaper delivery station. I have been going through their old paper stacks for 6 months to get my weekly coupons. Last week, the station manager kicked me out, saying it was for employees only. The lady I met had spoken to me in the past, and even given me her extra Sunday papers. She told me on Sunday that she argued with him for 10 minutes after I left, and that she wanted to help. I typically pick up 15 papers each week. Some for my personal use, some for my sister, and some to get extra freebies for food banks. She is working out getting me way more than I could have ever collected in the newspaper bins.
After my errands, it was back home to prepare for the first phase of Super Family Fun Weekend—SuperCross 2005! This was my 5th SuperCross, and it started quite by accident. The first year my father-in-law was all excited because he was getting tickets for Valentine’s Day. He asked if we’d like to go. Spencer said sure, which made his dad very happy. A few weeks later, his wife calls me to make sure we really wanted to go before she bought tickets. I said if Spencer said we’d go I guess he wants to and double checked the calendar. Spencer’s sisters would babysit, so we were set.
Spencer had no idea what I was talking about when I told him we had tickets. No recollection whatsoever of the conversation. Since his dad was so excited about the opportunity to share this with us, we decided to go anyway. It was so cool! At least I thought so. Spencer? Not so much. He stays home with the girls now and his little sisters come along. There is just something so exciting about the buzz of all those motorcycles flying through the air. I look forward to it every year.
Ricky Carmichael is back from last year’s injury and kicking butt. As expected, he flew right passed the competition, including our Hoosier boy, Mike LaRocco.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, SuperCross 2005 pictures (click to bigify). And picture me right there in the middle!
To balance out the hick, I rounded out the weekend on Sunday with a Symphony Orchestra Concert. My Brownie troop finished up our Sounds of Music Try-It with the Family Fun Concert. The symphony opened with the Star Wars theme. I was still waiting for late Brownies, but rushed Stacia inside to hear it. After giving up on the ones who were now 40 minutes late, I joined the girls. Stacia leans over to me to whisper “They just played Star Wars! It sounded just like it!” We’re raising such geeks.
The orchestra went on to play some classics, like Beethoven and Pachelbel. The kids were invited onto the stage to hear the music from the orchestra’s point of view. I was concerned about the length of the concert (almost 2 hours), but by the time intermission came around the kids didn’t want to leave! Never fear, I came prepared with snacks—which could only be eaten out in the lobby! The second half of the concert was nice, but not near as interactive.
The orchestra had invited 2 local young musicians to play with them. These girls—one high school, one junior high— won an award and scholarship for their musical accomplishments. They were truly amazing, but did they really have to choose the 2 longest songs on the face of the earth?! After the concert, we stopped by the “musical petting zoo” so Stacia could try out a violin. I sure hope she chooses a different instrument. The hesitant, I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing sound of a new violinist is not something I’m prepared to tolerate.
I hope your weekend was a Super Fun as mine! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a nap.