It's getting worse

I had a message from Ali's hubby... she's getting worse not better... they are waiting to see when the doc wants to take the baby... Happy Birthday little one... get better sis, I need you still.

I wish I had my passport

I wish there was some way I could be with my sister right now.

I don't want a Christmas niece!!

Crap! Crap, crap , crap!! Ali is in the hospital! I don't have my passport yet so I can go and see her. The doctor's don't like some of the numbers from her 24 hr. BP test from earlier this week so they have her in for 2 days for observation. They're giving her BP meds, etc. but she's only 28 weeks (as of Christmas Day anyway) it's TOO soon. Ok everybody... prayer time, PLEASE!

movie review: Australia

Last weekend I went with my friend Jen to see the movie Australia. We left the kids with the men-folk and set out for the 10pm showing. Yes that late, I had a flat and was running late (as usual).

Here's the movie's official site... http://www.australiamovie.com/

Anyway, this movie opened really well, got you moving and interested then kinda fizzled. Not for long mind you but at times it really was dragging. The story is of an English woman who goes to Australia to find her husband and bring him home, only to find him murdered and the local athorities blaming an aborigini. It goes on to show all is not as it seems as she finds that she is falling in love with the land that her husband fought so hard for. The story continues with her hiring and working with a local cattle driver and their journey through the country to get the cattle to the ship. Even then, when you think the movie is over there is more. There is the the misionary island for the "orphan children" or "creamies" as their called. There's the Nazi bombings. There's romance. There's action. And every time you think it's done there's more... 3 hours worth... and no even at the slow parts you don't want to go to the bathroom - you might miss something and really you don't want to miss it!

Would I see it again at the theater? Probably not.
Would I rent it or watch in on tv? Yep.

In all it's a good movie, nice bits of history thrown in too.

"Craft" of the night

The scout troop baked cookies. Only. I should them where to find things in the kitchen, even told them where to find the recipe books. Then I walked away. They had to figure out what recipe to use, if we had all the ingredients, what utensils to use (I did say no the the kitchen aid). The only thing the leaders did was put things into and out of the oven (wall style, don't trust anyone but me with them :))
Anyway more of the chocolate chip cookie mix made it into the girls then on the pans... After everyone got to try one we have just over a 1 and 1/2 dozen. Not bad for a spur of the moment craft!

Making Bread with kids

Last week the kids had the day off before the holiday. The cousins were at the inlaws and we were at home cleaning as usual. Anyway we decided the night before that we would go over and all the kids would make the rolls for the Thanksgiving dinner. You see the cousins were going to be with their mother for the holiday so if we wanted to do something with them we had to do it then. Ok I'm talking too much....

We get to nana's house around noon. I go about fixing lunch for everyone - corn dogs and fries for the kids, stir-fly for me and MIL. After we clean all that up I set about making the dough. I tried to get the kids to help with this but they weren't interested in mixing at this point. Now once the dough had doubled and was time to make the rolls or knots actually. I divided the dough into 3 pieces, rolled that into a 14 inch roll and divided that into 14 pieces, now the kids come in. 6 kids making long dough "snakes" and then tying them into a knot it was so cool to see.

Oh and the rolls were SO good. About 1/2 of them didn't make it to the dinner table the next day. Everybody kept wanting to try one (or two for the kids).

Ok this is amazing

Check this out!

Movie Reviews

I didn't know I talked like that. It makes me wonder how they get this rating...

Good news

The cast is OFF!!

Experiments in the kitchen

I am in love with the sugar. I use it in my morning coffee and refuse to share! Go make your own. It's really simple, just a few cups of regular sugar into an air-tight container with a whole vanilla bean that you split and scrape (all into the sugar, no waste!). Let it sit for a week, shake and use. Delicious!

On another note... the marshmallows have turned into a BIG hit. The science fair next week should prove to be interesting. I've been doing more searching for other ideas on recipes and have come up with some really cool ideas that I want to give to the big girl to try. She proved her self right that you can substitute the flavored gelatin for the plain, even if the texture changes, it's not by a lot and it still tastes great. I'm going to challenge her to find one that tastes like salsa (think "spicy brownies"). Maybe even try for a coffee flavor....

Oh and before I forget again her basic recipe is
3 packs of plain gelatin (or 2 plain and 1 flavored)
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (for use with plain gelatin only)
cornstarch and powdered sugar to dredge

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup water in stand mixer, let sit
Combine sugar, 1/2 cup water, corn syrup and salt in pot, medium heat to simmer
Pour sugar syrup into gelatin mix with mixer on low, once done pouring bump speed until it's at high for about 15 minutes (we put a towel over the mixer to keep it from getting marshmallow everywhere) adding vanilla at the last minute
Combine cornstarch and powdered sugar and use it to dust a 9x13 pan
Pour marshmallow into 9x13 pan and let sit overnight, then cut with a pizza cutter, dredge each piece in the cornstarch/sugar mix and store in an airtight container (it doesn't last long in our house so I'm not sure how long you can store them for)

Marshmallows

So the other night my daughter starts her science fair project... Homemade marshmallows and mixing of ingredents to see if she can make it less sticky on the outside and healthier. I got to say, I like it the way that it is, they taste GREAT!! So we're out of ingredents and I just got back from getting more.... Now I'm doing my own experementing... I'm going to make vanilla sugar. It's easy so it's really not an experement but this kids will have fun making it.

Happy birthday Alice!!

I can't believe that it's really been more then 1 week since I last posted. Lots of things happening in the house.

Tonight I have the cousins over. They get to go to work with me and the kids tonight and tomorrow morning. I forgot what it was like to have a bunch of boys around. Little man is far too calm when he's only with women.

The scouts got lots of compliments on their behavior and attitude from the camp weekend that they worked. I've never seen so many adults say so many nice things about tweens!

Little man is officially in cub scouts. He's been to about 4 or 5 meetings now, next week is the holloween party. I thnk the family is going to go to it, it sounds like it will be lots of fun!

Alice is officially 34 today. I got to see her online but it's still not the same as giving her a hug. {{{Alice}}} this is me hugging you.

I think that does it for the short update. Later.

just a little brag

This weekend was the first in what I hope will be many events that my 6th grade cadettes get to work as PAs. I was very nervous about having them actually be in charge of activities even with an adult nearby if needed. I wasn’t the only one to be apprehensive about it, the other cadette troops’ adults weren’t sure how these 11 yr olds would do helping with fire building, archery, games, songs, ceremonies, astronomy and camp history. We were all pleasantly surprised. My 5 little 6th graders soared with the 8th graders and even took on a lead role or two. I had 3 of them ask if they could get the specialty training to help with the telescopes again (they got a crash course on the manual ones) Even my newest member (1 month now) was able to teach scout songs and graces and help the younger girls learn.

Part of me knew they were ready for this… but an even bigger part wasn’t so sure. They proved that they can do it. We can set the bar and the will soar over it. We just have to give them the chance.

They have started working on the new cadette Amaze journey. I’m hoping they like it as much at the end as they do now… yes that surprised me too, I didn’t think they’d go so quickly with it. Next up is learning about the silver award and working on the basics to earning it (the few parts that can be as a troop and I think would be good for them all), camping more then 20 miles from home, and doing something new (No they haven’t told me what that is yet)

I am SOOOOO tired

What a weekend. The girls had a blast. The weather was pefect. The moon was just bright enough for the hike and not too bright for the observatory. I even got 3 of the girls started on getting trained on the manual telescopes.

Est. Time of Departure

We have 4 hours and counting until we leave to go to camp this weekend. This will be the first offical activity that the girls will work as program aides. They get to stay at one station the whole time and teach (or help) other younger girls how to do whatever the station is. Last year was great with the hayride and pumpkins and I'm really hoping that this year is a hit! It wasn't looking good a few weeks ago when we almost had to cancel due to lack of attendees. But we got more people so off we go.

For the last few weeks I've been teaching the program aide training and the camp prep/training for the girls that will be program aides at this event. We've had a blast (I think so anyway) learning and doing and leading (New GS model). Every girl that made all the meetings got their PA pin and 4 hr. toward PA patch. I just think this is way too cool.

I got my training for the obseratory on Tuesday night. Tonight is promising to be clear so we'll get to show the girls Jupiter, Saturn, Alphacentari, and all sorts of other deep space stuff. I can't wait. The best part of all that prep stuff the last few weeks is that the girls have little to do tonight so I can really keep them busy with the telescope for a while!!

Oh I forgot to mention that we made troop shirts... we tie-dyed them last night, they look really cool. Next up is ironing on the troop number. We'll wear them tomorrow and I'll try and post a pic later.

Updates

Ok. Big B is going to have heart surgery in the AM. I'll keep you up to date as I get more info.



And the little boy I mentioned before.... Well they were all set to operate when the doc found out that his 2nd whooping cough test was positive. Seems this whole thing is whooping cough so they took him to recovery to let the anesthesia (ya they were that far into the surgery) wear off and sent him on his way home.

One home. One to go.

Big Bob

I just got a call from mom. This is the third in 2 days and I have no minutes to talk so I let it go to voicemail and check it after 9pm. Well I called back on J's phone. Big Bob is going into surgery again. Emergency this time... some sort of blockage but nothing to do with the pacemaker they put in last week. I called Y and told her I'd meet her at the job later today so I can go to the hospital and sit with Lo for a little while.

This makes 2 people that I personally know having surgery today, and not the routine kind.... the other is an 8 yr old getting a lung biopsy. He's 8 yrs old for crying out loud!

If you are reading this... say a prayer for them both!

Funk of a day

Today was (is) the anniversary of dad's funeral. Not an all together bad day, the weather was nice, the kids were all to school on time. It's just well let's start at the beginning.

I didn't get to the store for groceries AGAIN! Life has been so hectic that I haven't really gotten to stop and do nothing during the day for any real length of time (after 9pm maybe just not before).
Anyway.... I started the day running late... no milk so no real breakfast for the kids... but at least they were to school on time right?
I skip my 9:30 meeting to go shopping, get the food for the next week and 1/2 for lunches and meat for dinners... Short of cash so take all the meat off the bill. OK now I'm down to $0.75 to my name... Take the kids some lunches for today... Go to work and put the perishable (ie. milk) in the fridge there and then get to work making circles for scouts (more on the later... maybe). By now it's creeping up on noon and my next meeting. And I forgot the get a lunch for me. So now I'm sitting in a lunch meeting without a lunch... Talk about fun.. NOT! Oh and by this point depression is sinking in. Gee I don't know why....
After the meeting I get some more stuff around work done... Mind you that only the noon meeting is actually work, the rest is all volenteer hours, so it's stuff that in a different frame of mind, I'd be glad to do. Just not today.
So now it's 4pm. I'm home and unloading the groceries (after I go back to work since I forgot the stuff in the fridge). Little lady decides to make some jello... I say fine you know how to do it... next thing I know there is an exposion in my kitchen and glass is everywhere! thankfully none got on the kids but WOW!! Turns out she didn't remember how we made it before and set the glass bowl on a burner and turned it on!! What a mess... what a smell. I now have melted glass and grape jello stuck to the burner and the under side of the stovetop.

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed!

It's getting close

This is the recipe I found online and tweeked a bit. I just mixed it all in the bowl and microwaved it for 4 minutes, it did stick to the bowl a bit but it was soft, moist, spongy, and pretty good. I think it was the best one so far. Now to just get it to a coffee mug size for easy indulgence without the over eating....

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt

DIRECTIONS
Spray a medium microwave-safe bowl with non-stick spray and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, and milk; blend together. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; blend into the mixture until smooth. Pour into greased bowl.
Cover and cook in the microwave on high for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched. Since all microwaves cook differently, adjust the cooking time to accommodate your machine. To serve, let the cake cool five minutes, then cover the bowl with a plate and turn both bowl and plate upside down so the cake falls onto the plate.

butterfly garden

milkweed

tickweed

black eyed susan

cone flower

queen anne's lace

bergamont

Its' official!

The girls finished their Bronze this week. According to the person I talked to the paint we used will stay on the clay tags for the garden. I figured that if it doesn't then we can always re-write them in another type of paint or dye. The girls were so proud of themselves for finishing it, especially since it morphed from this little part in the beginning to some very major work by the end (at least that's how they see it)
See this link on the way to bronze regarding some of what they did.

Here is another part.

After they dried we put them in the garden. Hopefully they are still there and in one piece when we go back next month.

With this finally under their belt they got to receive their bronze awards. And about 10 minutes after that ceremony we had the bridging ceremony. Now everyone is at the cadette level. I feel like the girls were some how cheated out of a year at the junior level, but really there wasn't much left for them to do at that level.

This year we are going to try this new thing that national has called Journeys. I have to admit that it's a good program for the cadette level, but for my girls specificly I'm not sure they'll like it since we do character education at school and this year it's the same as what is in the cadette journey. Oh well, we'll find out on Thursday at the meeting when they all get their books.

Experiment munber 5

I decided to try again after the girls tried the following wih varying results...



Adding peanut butter - really BAD, had to throw it out.
Adding extra vanilla - no real change
Adding peanut butter chips - not bad with the chocolate, still has the same issues as the others though

Adding 1 extra TBS of sugar, honey (didn't measure) :(, 1 TBS brown sugar and NO cocoa - Not bad, tasted like a honey cake, still has a funny texture thanks to the egg but you get that will anything you use egg in with the microwave. - Verdict is I'd do this mix again. Forget the chocolate until I can come up with a better mix.

Cake number one

Ok this one tasted better then the one I made last night. This time they used the Hersey's chocolate instead of the Nestle And they added semi-sweet chips. It came out really moist and tasted good. Not great but better then before.

3 minutes to chocolate heaven

A few weeks ago someone emailed be the 3 minute chocolate cake recipe. I forwarded it to a few people without trying it (something I never do) and now I have to say that I don't like the recipe as it stands. You see I'm not a chocolate fan. I do like good chocolate but not a lot of it. So now I'm handing the recipe over to the girls to let then have fun in my kitchen trying to make a better chocolate cake. This is the recipe that they will start from...
4 TBS flour
4 TBS sugar
2 TBS baking cocoa (not hot chocolate)
1 egg
3 TBS milk
3 TBS oil or melted butter
3 TBS chocolate chips
Splash of Vanilla

Mix the dry then add egg and mix then add milk, oil and vanilla and mix
Bake on high in microwave for 3 minutes.
Let cool slitely and eat.


Having said all that I guess I should go and taste test each version they come up with... Maybe I can get them to add some Nutella....

Results will be coming soon.

visitors

I just found out some really interesting stuff. I have a program that tells me where people are from that look at my sites. And I really do have people other than my sister reading my blog! Australia, India, Greece and Portugal. That is so way cool!

In other news we are having a new girl visit our troop tonight. We're really hoping she decides to join us. It would be so great to have another person in our troop.

Speaking of scouts, I start PA training next week. I'm hoping that everyone from my troop can come. I've got some really cool stuff for them, I'll have to take a picture later and show you.

Frazzle dazzle day

I am forcing myself to stay home today and work on the class the I'm suppose to be teaching next week. It's program aide training for the cadettes in our service unit.

The material that I've seen so far is way out of date so I'm trying to get it up to date and fun. Who wants to sit there and listen to somebody talk for 4 hours! Yuck! But I must say that it's a lot more work trying to get the program interesting then I thought it would be. I definately won't open my mouth next time... or maybe i will... it could be fun.

The real frazzle of it all is while I'm getting this class all set up I'm also getting the first aid, cpr and babysitting classes set too. ANd not jsut for the scouts, I'm getting this for the adults that volunteer at the church and for the youth at church that are volunteering in the nursery. Lots of work with very little time to do it.

Now the dazzle is the SU campout. That looks like it is going to be so much fun this year!! My girls are signed up as helpers (PAs) this year so they get to help teach and lead all the activities. And the great part for me is all I have to do is make sure the girls get trained, then supervise!! I won't have to be "in charge" of anything (as of right now). Someone else is cooking and planning all the activities.

That's all for today. For now anyway since we all know that my schedule changes quicker then Ohio weather!

It's amazing

What a half bottle of Riesling and a hot tub will do to one's perceptions. I feel much better now. Still missing the family but at least I know they'll be home by tomorrow night.

I've had the house to myself for 60+ hours now. Haven't done much work but I've done lots of introspective thought. I've decided I would much rather have the hubby and kids around for all the chaos then to be without them for this long again.

How to spend time without the family

Yesterday the family left for WV. I had no clue what to do with myself and was contemplating getting drunk and sleeping until work Saturday night until my friend, Lady T, called me. She invited me to come over for dinner and to hang out since I didn't have my family with me she would share hers. Now this sounded much better then the plans I came up with so off to Vermilion I went. And stayed. It was a great dinner, the kids cooked these awesome teriyaki pork chops and noodles and we made a salad and WOW was it good. Lady T and I stayed in the kitchen for a little while watching her hubby and friend install the new washer and dryer and stove that she had won. Yes you heard that right someone I actually know won something huge from a contest. Huge as in $10,000 in kitchen (and laundry) appliances! After all the excitement died down we settled in for a Star Trek Enterprise marathon. These are so my kind of people!

So anyway, it was way too foggy for me to go driving home at midnight last night so I stayed on Lady T's couch and drove home in the morning. That's where I am now, cleaning house and getting ready for the cable guy to get here so that we can get a new internet set-up and cable, which we haven't had in years. I can so see me not sleeping tonight... or the next night... or the next night.

5 days into school.... what to do now

I don't know.

Class schedule nailed down finally. Still working on the library schedule. Haven't even started on the scouts calendar, wonder if we have a board that needs decorating?

Why do I get myself into things like this? I love helping out, but really I keep forgetting to clean the house. Laundry is an issue too.

Weather's cold, were did the summer sun go? I think it liked FL too much and headed back south!

Suprise!

It's 4am right now. And guess what I woke up to??



A hot tub full of drunk people!! At 4am!!



I tell ya, my SIL never ceases to amaze me, Let's not even get started on the rest of those in the tub!

Home sweet home

We got in around 2am this morning. Straight to bed. In the am (actually I think it was after 12) we unloaded the van and cleaned up the house. It's amazing the amount of dust you get even when nobody is home.

I finally got to a Beta Sigma Phi meeting this year... granted it was in my house, but atleast I got to see everyone.

School starts Thursday (YAH!) More on that later.

Talk about a view.

Last night we went to the roof of the Aegean. It's only 5 stories up... with a little wobbly railing, and a straight drop down. But it was so beautiful to see the city at night from here.

I tried to write about this last night but my connection wasn't any good. So today I'm in the lobby and I'm watching the people as they check in and out of the condos. It's so fun, especially since we never have to check in and out ourselves since the in-laws check us in before we get here so they can get in and put stuff in the fridge and we just drop the keys on the counter when we leave... just need to remember to take the laundry key with us since that's not a renter thing, just the owners have individual laundry facilities here, otherwise it's the big laudry room on the 4th floor for everyone... at $1 per machine per load, I'd never have clean cloths!

Has it really been a week?

It's amazing that just last week we were on the road on the way here. Today started out ok, double red flag to start, but switched to single so the beach was fine, even if the waves were way to high to be in. We went out for dinner again. This time the Twisted Palm. We had the seafood dip (to die for, it was SO good) and oysters on the half shell. I haven't had raw oysters in years, so I decided to try one... Oyster on a cracker topped with cocktail sauce. It was really good. I think I'll order it tomorrow if we go out again. Followed with grilled talapia and coconut shrimp, good but I like what cousin A had better... steak! Then again the pizza Jman ordered looked good too. Oh I also had 2 Stress-inis... Absolut, Coconut Rum, pineapple and cranberry juice... very sweet but good. Topped the whole thing off with an excellent Key Lime pie.

Did I forget to mention the wedding...

There was a wedding on the beach a few days ago. Here's my favorite pic of it.

I love the sailboat (ship) in the background. I wonder if I should figure out who it was that was getting married and send them a copy.

NO SWIMMING!!

That's what we have today.

All that rain and stormy weather has made it a closed beach day!!

Life's a beach... and then it rains

Doesn't it just figure that it would rain during vacation. Last camping trip it rained, last vacation it rained. I know we need the rain but come on, it's like every since time we are down here we have 4 days of rain!!

So it did finally let up after we got back from lunch. Half the crew went to the pool and the other half went to the beach. Which left me all by my lonesom in the condo. (can you here the tears) I got quite a bit further in my book so I'm happy. I'm reading Wicked right now, well not right, right now since I left it at the condo and it's downpour rain so I'm not going back to get it. But you know what I mean.

At around 6 or so I go and get the swimsuit on and head to the pool. Everyone is there, talking, laughing, swimming. We are having a great time and the guys play chicken with the kids and jump in and have swimming contests. The highlight though was when Jman and his cousin decide to throw my BIL's fiance into the pool, chair and all. Wish I had the camera but with my luck, and the family luck, cameras and pools DON'T mix.

Rain again

Woke up early again today. This time from the storm outside. Not much thunder but lots of lightening and hard rain. Hard, vertical rain. Soaked the patio doors and everything out there.

It's finally starting to let up a little. The sun is coming out so we may actually have a good, if a litte wet, beach day.

Just to tell you about the pizza

It was great... a little salty but I'll get to that...

I got a small Pollo Bella which is 6 slices of roasted chicken, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and cheese with extra italian spices on the crust. It smelled so good my mouth was watering before I even took a bite. I have 3 more slices in the fridge for breakfast/lunch, just have to remember to brush off those spices... seems like they may have added salt to the mix, hence why it was a little salty, but if you don't eat the crust you'd never notice.

Waiting for dinner...

Today was spent talking and visiting everyone at the condo. We go to talk about the upcoming weddings. yes that is plural, it seems that Jman's aunt is getting remarried this winter and she and the BIL's finance were trading notes.
Once the rain stopped half the group headed to the the beach with the older kids going to the pool. The 3 oldest females actually had time to chat and catch up from last year's talk.
About 5 or so everyone decided they wanted to go out to dinner, we decided not to. Not that I mind, I'm not a fan of the Louisiana Lagniappe. It's not bad food, it's just I was raised on the real thing so anything less is just not going to cut it.
So we decided to order pizza from Merlin's Pizza down here. I ordered the Pollo Bella pizza and everyone else is getting a pepperoni... they just can't seem to try new things, I just don't get it. Atleast I got them to not order from Papa Johns or Marcos.
More on the food in a later post.

Early morning wake up call?

Why is it that I keep getting up at 6am?? I'm up before the sun or the beach chairs and umbrellas. This never happens at home when we have school or something like that... no it's when we're on vacation and I can actually sleep in if I wanted to.

Oh well... up, showered, fed, and ready for the beach. J man's playing tennis in about an hour, the kids are either going with him or to the beach with me. Should turn into a fairly uneventful day.

Sleeping with the surf

Just to let you know... I opened the patio doors last night and we slept to the sounds of the surf. It made the condo smell better too!

I think he's really asleep

Wow!! I thought he was just pretending to sleep. He's not. Now he's farting, YUCK!!

Wonder if there's space in the kids beds... it's going to stink in here.

Edited for content: Aug. 19

Sun, surf, and tv

You'd think that we would spent the day and night at the beach or pool but no. We are currently watching the Olympics on the tv. It's been on the tv for most of the day too. Yes we were at the beach and we did our nightly pool swim until it started to rain anyway. Then it's back to the condo, visit some more and now we are back at our place and watching the swim team getting metals.

It's funny, the kids bug you all year to go to FL to swim in the ocean and what do they do when we get here? Complain about the sand and the jellyfish. Pick fights with each other (there's 6 under 13) and gerenally make themselves miserable. Oh and even though there are at least 2 t.v.s in each condo they complain that the show they want isn't on the t.v. they want to use. Oh well, I'm chalking it up to the fact that the 4 older ones are all to close in age (9, 11, 11, 12) and the younger ones are only a year apart.

But I just have to say... my younger neice can SWIM. She's diving off the boards at home and gererally looking like a little fish in the water.

Beach day

Can I just say that I love hearing the waves when I go to sleep at night? I may not love all the sand in places that mother nature never intended but the waves... now there is something I can deal with at little sand for.

Ocean Breezes

Well we made it to FL in record time... about 16 hours!

I'm sitting on the patio as I type, listening to the waves crash and watching the sun come up (it's 6am here)

I can see the fishing boats getting ready to leave for the deep sea fishing soon. The lifeguards are setting up the umbrellas and chairs.

I know I had stated that I didn't want to come down this year... but I was wrong... this really is a wonderful place.

White sand, clear water, great family (ya I lucked out, I LOVE my inlaws)


View from the condo. I'm going to have to find my camera (hope I didn't leave it at the house) for a better pic of the beach.

More later.

Training dayz are gone again

Well I think I'm finally rested from all the training. Tuesday was fun, I learned some new t-shirt designs and did some more cooking. The evening course left a LOT to be desired, but I'm not sure it that was due to the material, the trainers, of the fact that it was training number 6 and I was really tired.
Yesterday was fun. I got to make a charcoal stove and a vagabon stove and a few charcoal starters. Then went to a SU training meeting... I started out not happy about it... then asked lots of questions and got some great ideas... Not thinking about it I think it was really good that I went and will hopefully be able to take the info back to the SU.
Then I got the kids and went home. Then to Timberlane for more training,, this time the Observatory. IT's STILL not installed, we've had to much rain. I find that strange since, ya it's rained but all the grass is brown around here. Anyway, it was cloudy and raining and we really didn't do much other then talk about what we will be able to do with the girls once we get certified on the equipment (we aren't certified now) and how it will be great eventually. We did get to see the moon (same magnatude that I get with my telescope) and we looked a Saturn for a few minutes until the clouds covered it (I didn't get a good look since my eyes need to adjust and there wasn't time for that) Oh well. Hopefully we get a real training on it soon.

Home again. Time to get packing. ETL is 8 hours.

Day one of training done

WOW!! That's all I can say about the camp that the training is at this year. WOW!!

As for the trainings...
I started with a hands on outdoor baking... Let me tell you that I finally feel comfortable about using a dutch oven for cooking at camp. And I now know how to get a box oven make correctly so that it will work (they tell me that I will be making one in another training later this week). We made a Lasanga in the dutch oven and a cheesecake in the box oven. As well as a cobbler and a dump cake. I had NO room for lunch!

Next on the adgenda was Silver training... Boy did I have a LOT of questions. Most got answered which is great and the trainers were wonderful with handling them all. They almost topped the trainers from the baking class!

Last on the day was the Journeys Roundtables. Not a lot to tell there, we talked about the new books and had the whole question and answer session. It actually ended early so I got home before 10pm which was nice.

It's my birthday

Happy birthday it's a great day
Happy birthday
(insert dance moves done badly)

Well I"m finally up showered, dressed and fed... now to go to the store for some shopping and then the pool to swim...

What a day.

It's happened

I've just had the most horible thing said to me. It's not that I'm extremely offended, but really I didn't mean for it to happen, and well.... Oh I didn't say what it was that was said...

I was told I'm just like my mother.

No it's not that bad I know. It's just that well, I really like to think I'm my own person, not a stamp of someone who came before. And well... it kind of hurt to be told this... Especially since it's coming from one of my oldest and dearest friends. Not my sister or the friends that see me all the time or even my mother. No it comes from the 1 person that I see maybe once a year. I mean even my husband hasn't said it... that is until I told him what she said and then he's like... "well ya, I can see that. Even back at HS band camp your mom would yell at me."

Have I truely turned into my mother? Is it really that bad?

Ok so I read the posts from the park incident... YES I HAVE TURNED INTO A BAD FORM OF HER!!

Mom I am so sorry for turning in to a witchy form of you... Everyone else... WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHING?!??!(Insert whiny voice) I will try to be nicer, more polite, and not such a drill sargent. I will say please and thank you. I will not raise my voice (This one will be hard!) I will try not to take over every situation that I am it... (scouts, church, and school included)

For those few of you that read this... tell me to shut up and sit down next time I get over bearing, please.

the rock hall

Today was a fun and interesting day. Friends from Virgina were in and we made a little GS troop and took a trip. We are notorious for this, we always find stuff to do as a troop when we are together. Today was no different. you see, today we took a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you've never been I recommend it, lots of really neat stuff to see and read. Of course we had the obligatory scavenger hunt... Do you know which president Les Paul played for? Or how much Joplin paid for her porche? These girls do!! They even got the patch to prove it!! Ok so part of the reason that we decided to go the to rock hall was to finish the Ohio Badge and IPP for the girls but for the most part they did have fun.

The best part though was afterwards at the park. We ate lunch there and then went for a walk on the rocks and took pictures. lots of fun!

A pic that is LONG overdue

Many many months ago when the oldest had the flu and we had feet of snow outside a friend gave me something that I'd like to share with you. For those of you that know me well you can understand why I stayed up most of the night to get it together and why it now has a place of honor on my computer desk where I can see it ALL the time.

These are the pics...

Yes that is the Enterprise, in pieces and it wonderful captain.

If you didn't know before you know now I'm a sci-fi nerd... Trek, Dune, Star Wars, a few others but that's it mostly. Oh and for those that are in the know, never leave home without one of these...

No that's not the one I always have in the purse or pocket (mine's a bandana, much easier to dry) And no that towel didn't get used again after we put the toilet back.

Anyway... Today isn't a good day to die, Life long and Prosper, and ALWAYS remember your towel!!

IDIC

I just have to vent!!

ok so I'm at a little fair/fund raiser at the park today. There's a few girls from a local troop volunteering. I see one have a Bronze pin on so I ask what she did for her project... this is the conversation...

me "what did you do for your project"

girl #1 "ummm"

girl #2 (now she doesn't have a pin on) " We make some books for a day care center."

me "umm Ok."

girl #2 "ya, we had to do like 5 hours of community service for it, but I have more then that."

me "Really? The girls in my troop have over 30 hours each and still aren't done with their project."

girl #2 "I haven't finished mine yet..."

me "so your going into the 6th grade? Have you bridged yet?"

girl #1 (finally finds her voice) "No we're going into 5th grade."

me "Wow! you finished your project in less then a year?"

both girls "ummm"

I finally just walk away. Little man was done with is art project that the girls were helping him with. I never did see any leader type person there.

I know, I know the Bronze is done when the Leader says it's done, but really, how can you justify giving the pin to a girl or girls that #1 can't tell you what they did and #2 didn't even know the requirements for the pin and #3 got it done in less then a year??? NO WAY!!

My girls have been working on it for 2 years now and will be done before Oct. 1 which is when they will officially be cadettes thanks to the new allignment of levels (Not a gripe, just really glad we'll get it done before bridging!!)

And don't get me started on the fact that these girls vests weren't even put together right!! I know that I harp on this with all the troops I help with (including day camp) but really, if you are going to volunteer as a Girl Scout then you had better make sure that your uniform is correct!!!!

Scouting

I've been reading lately. Ya I do that a lot. I've been talking to people too. Something else I do a lot. But the subject is a relatively new one for me since it's a "new" subject in general. It's about the scouting program and the coming changes.

It all started about 3 or 4 years ago when I first heard we were going to be changing things in how we ran the troop or badges they could earn or whatever. Back then national came out with Studio 2B. It was new and different and it held some girls in that would have left the movement. Similar to when they started with the Brownie try-its or the Daisy movement or even the Daisy petals. ALL of these changes were to help INCLUDE others to get more girls involved and stay involved in scouts.

I read somewhere that people think the asterik next to God in the GS promise is negative. It's not... It was done with the intent to include girls of religions that were not Christian in the orginaization... the word God can be filled with Yawah, Allah, or Father. The orginizaion may have been founded by a Christian but like our country it isn't religion. It's what's so great about scouting... you can get to know people from ALL walks or life and ALL religious backgrounds. But I digress...

Scouting has always strived to stay with the times in that it wants to keep girls active, involved, stimulated, and educated. Looking back on all the changes that have taken place just since I was a Brownie and I can see why each and every one of the changes happened, and I can see that they were for the better of the orginization.

Did some people complain... maybe... but I'm really trying not to be one of them. Do I have questions on these new changes? Yes, of course I do, it affects my troop(s) and the better I understand it the better I can explain it to the girls and the better the program will be.

I guess what I'm saying is that this... GS is for the girls, it's here to help them learn and grow and lead.

You'd think I'd be done by now...

Well another year of VBS has come and gone. In all it went well, I was in charge of all the crafts this year. We canceled the t-shirts about a week before, and killed 2 other crafts before the week was out. We just ran out of time. But the crafts we did do were really neat. We made a sand castle tissue box (ok, not the cleanest craft, but lots of fun to make); sand candles; wiggly fish; doorknob message boards, coffee filter suncatchers; mobiles; and prayer pails. Considering I only had about 1/2 hour per group I think I got a LOT in.

But that's not the reason for this post... The reason is that you'd think that now that we nolonger have a dog that I would be done with dealing with dogs that have been skunked. Not a chance. You see after VBS tonight (hence the lead-in above) I called my friend who was going to have my oldest overnight to let them know we were finally on the way. Anyway she has her DD let the dog out and then we hear a cry and oh no and she tells me that dog's been skunked and so has her daughter! So I tell her that I'm on my way, don't bother with the store since that tomato juice thing doesn't work anyway and call another friend to see if she can come up with any good suggestions.

So I get there. The girl is in the shower getting the oils off, I give her some dish soap to use since it a great grease cutter and will work well to get the skunk oil off. I then help to calm down my friend and put the dog in the cage out back with instructions for her to take the dog to the groomers in the morning or to bath at home. Either way she needed to sleep and calm down.

I checked the dog and saw no marks those I'm sure she's not happy with the smell on her. The girl smells fine thankfully I think it was all transfer from the dog and not directly from the skunk. And I'm hoping my friend is fine and trying to sleep. I've found a recipe for removing the skunk smell so I think I might call or email it to her.

I tell ya, it's always something!

Only a few months to go

That's hopeful but if all goes well we will have our Bronze Project done for scouts before Oct. 1!!!

We have to go and buy clay sisnce what we thought was clay was really mud, but we had lots of fun getting it!

You may be asking what we need clay for... we they girls decided in Aug. of 2006 to work with the butterfly garden at camp as their project.

They learned origami specifically the butterfly and taught it at the garden opening to everyone.

They made cement stepping stones and thankfully the method we choose had held up and all our stones are still in one piece.

The last part of their project has taken the longest... They are making clay tags for all of the flowers and trees in the garden. Since it may actually be fall before we can place them the girls will need to make a map of the garden to mark out what flowers are what. Thankfully they have identified all the plants and trees so all we have to do is make an acurate map, figure out how many tags we need to make, make, fire, and place the tags. YA!!!

All's quiet on the home front

We had a nice rain storm come through again. Not as big as the one last week at camp but enough to make you look for a flashlight just in case.

I'm finally getting things to where I want them at home, now the get work to where I want it... That may be asking too much for now. I still need to orginize the supply room with all the stuff from about 3 different closets, redo a bulletin board, send out flyers and cards and get ready for teaching in the fall! Ya know I never realized how much work it was that a teacher did before the kids even got there... and I only have them for an hour or two on Sunday!!

It's funny it's only 8pm and I'm ready for bed. It feels like it's been a long day but it really hasn't, just a busy one. Now with me and the kids at home it's showers and bed for everyone. Maybe I can find a book around here that I haven't read yet...

I'm not wobbly!!!

I'm not wobbly anymore!! I finally got around to replacing the van tires that I was suppose to take care of last year before the FL trip... Nothing like procrastinating!!! Now $300 later I have new tires that are warrentied for 40,000 miles and a van that doesn't do the shimmy every time it moves!

Home from camping

It started out a rough week. We had to put Jake down on Monday. (see previous posts) Wednesday we went to Findley State Park for a campout with friends. The original plan was 3 families, 1 night. It turned into 2 families, 2 nights (1 family left after 1 night), LOTS of rain, thunder and lightning, and tons of fun.

So we get there Wednesday morning, unpack and set up the tents (yes we stayed in tents!). We then take the kids fishing...




After that it was swimming and then back to the campsite to start the fire for dinner.





We had just finished cleaning up from dinner and smores when the rain decided to start. And it rained, and rained, and yes the 1 tent did get wet but not badly.

We cooked breakfast between downpours and by dinner it was beautiful again. I love foil packet chicken and veggies.

Friday was bacon, eggs, toast and sausage again and then we packed up and before we left we decided to go canoeing. 2 hours of paddling, without any real help from the kids... boy are my arms tired! J man didn't want me to take the camera in the canoe (just in case we tipped?!?) so I didn't get any good pics from there but I wanted to show this one of a tadpole I found while we were fishing.



In all it was very relaxing. We made a few new friends, and saw a few GS cadettes dedicate their Silver Project during the rain Thursday.

This is the end...

We kept a close eye on him. He's not eating, he can't walk, he is still not looking well. J man has taken him into the vet. We think this is the end. I hate this.

Sicky at home

So I've talked about everyone in the family but the dog at this point. So now it is Jake's turn...

Isn't he cute??

So you'd think this would be a good post, a happy one even. But the truth is that this cute little guy is 12 years old and is a sick little puppy. He's been throwing up and doesn't want to do a lot of anything. No barking, running, begging, eating, playing... nothing. He just keeps looking at me with these sad eyes.

This isn't the first time that this has happened. The first time was a few months ago, he was lossing his control over his hindend and peeing on the floor and having seizures. We took him to the vet, all they could tell us was that he was anemic and they wanted to do x-rays. Our thoughts were that why x-ray for you to tell us that he's dieing... So now a few months later, after nursing he back to health and him doing well we are here. Where I don't want to be.

More house guests

So my sister and her family left on Thursday morning. Mansfield A and friend are coming to visit Friday night (overnight) and Saturday one of J man's friends and family is moving in. I feel like we are a hotel, except that the guests pickup after themselves and cook and help with food. Ok so I guess it's not like a hotel.

And she's off

I just got back from the UCC camp that my little lady decided she wanted to go to this year, instead of GS camp. It's quite a drive to Mansfield, but the camp looks nice. It's her first boy/girl camp. I can't wait till Sat. when I go and get her and hear all about it. She didn't want me to walk her to her cabin, she's getting so big, so we said goodbye at the camp store and she was off!

I'll miss you...

How to get new tiles and flooring in the bathroom

So we are still painting here in our lovely abode. Today's project the upstairs bathroom. It is also going to be BRIGHT yellow, just like downstairs. The only problem is that I can't stand the color now that I have half the room painted. It's not a bad color, just not any good with what we have on the counter and floor. I called J man and told him my opinion.. he asked can we change the floor and counter and it look good... I say well ya, but... he says ok, I have stuff at the shop.

So now I'm going to get new floors and counters upstairs too! That was way too easy!

For those of you that don't know. My oldest little lady is allergic to EVERYTHING!!

This pic is what her back looked like about 1 hour after we had the testing done... can you say itchy!!

I'm at it again...

I think I'm asking for trouble... A and R will be in tonight. Sis and family are still here. And I'm planning on painting the girls' bedroom and the upstairs bathroom tonight. Really that's only 5 kids with 3 or 4 adults maybe 5 is the J man gets home early. That will leave only the hall and stairs to be painted. I think I've definately gone of the deep end. 2 weeks of home guests, only 3 weeks left ( 2 with sis and 1 will J man's friends) then all will be back to normal. Nice and quiet... What am I talking about... I've never had nice and quiet around here! I thrive on the chaos! I posts pics when we finish the painting.

The new leadership model

So we had our first scout meeting with the new "girl led" model, the meeting last 1/2 hour! Ok so we had an activity that took an hour (no cleanup) but the meeting part only took 1/2 hour. I'm thinking that with such a small troop we may not need a secretary, just have all the girls take notes. Our chairperson needed coxing to keep us on track and to take a poll for deciding dates for events, but in all she did well. Our next meeting is actually going to be at the library, we are attending the council meeting and getting ID books for later in the week. I guess time will tell if this style will work for these girls.

What is with Tuesdays!!

So I missed the meeting again. Tuesday nights are just too busy for me.

Here's a typical Tuesday during school...
kids off the bus at 4pm
dinner at the church or at home at 5pm
classes at the church at 6pm
BSP meetings (2nd Tuesday) 6pm
PTA meetings (2nd Tuesday) 6pm

Here's a typical Tuesday during the summer...
Musical practice at 4:30pm
soccer practice at 6pm
BSP meetings (2nd Tuesday) at 6pm
PTA meetings (2nd Tuesday) 6pm
dinner at 7pm

Add to that the fact that VBS prep meetings are Tuesday night and J man never being home that night and the kids really needing to be in bed by 9 and you can see how I have a problem with Tuesdays. Something just has to give... Unfortunately it's the ones I really need for my sanity.

Oh well... I can keep in contact with everyone via email and blog right?

All quiet on the home front

Today was a very busy day in the house. My BIL was up at 4am to get a cab to the airport for a week in RI for work. A sister from Detriot and her daughter came in on Saturday night and another from Mansfield and her son, and my mother came in to visit today. Lunch was great, we had 10 around the table and lots of laughter and love. Mom stayed for a few hours, Mansfield had to leave right before dinner, and Detroit left after dinner hopefully missing most of the storms that came through.

In all it was a wonderful weekend visiting with everyone. Dinner Saturday included about 20 people around 2 tables. Hot dogs and burgers on the grill that mom gave us and lots of kids in the hot tub splashing around. Sunday was a busy day, work in the AM then getting the youngest from his cousin's house since he got sick (it seems to be a pattern, the boys stay up too late and one of them gets sick!), daddy and my ballerina went to the dance recital, sister(s) went shopping, me and the kids hanging at the house.

It's going to be hard to go to sleep tonight now that there are only 7 in the house... Tomorrow is shaping up to be another busy day.

Garbage picking

I always laugh when I see the guys come around and grab all the recycle bags... mainly becuase I don't have any metal in my bags, it almost all plastic, so they make NO money on me. Tonight though I join their ranks. I was at the theater for dance recital practice and as we left I saw it. The most wonderful thing for our school. No not new computers or more space for extra classes... I'm talking about stage curtains!! They are great. I called hubby and told him to get up here with the van and help me get them, since there was NO way they would fit in the car. They literally take up the intire van!! It's great. I can't wait to take them to school in the morning!

I hope they like them.

2 more days..

2 more days till summer break!1 No more alarm clocks going off at 6am!!

Another new addition

Thank you Joe!!!

Let me explain... My brother decided that he didn't want his hot tub anymore so he gave it to us. We just got the electrical lines run out to it yesterday and last night it was up and running great!! Hoping to get in tonight after dance practice!!

Move in time!

So now that my sister and her family is all moved in I thought I'd take a second to write a note... 8 people with only 1 and 1/2 baths is suprisingly not as crowded as I expected. For the moment the kids are all in the same room, but once I finish going through all the toys left in the basement the girls will move downstairs for the summer. I have to admit that my fridge and freeze haven't ever been this full.

But it sure is nice having someone else helping with the dishes and meals.

Talkin' about the car wash yeah!

What a way to spend the day...

And we still have the game tonight... GO TRIBE!!!

almost done!!!

It's done, it's done... well almost done!

Here take a look...

Now to get the baseboards back in place and put everything back where it goes...

Nine days and counting

Nine school days left to summer vacation!! 2 full weeks. 14 days to freedom!! Ok more like 16 since we have the dance recital 2 days later, but really FREEDOM!! YAAHHH!!!!



Can you tell I'm tired of fighting with the kids to get ready for school?

New Floors day 3

This is where we are now at with the tearout and install of the new floors. We still have to paint the walls but the paper is down finally.

This is the family room....

Here's the dining room walls minus the wallpaper (yah!!)

The little bath minus some of it's wall boarder... not sure how to remove the rest of it...

And the hall looking very wonderful.

More to come. Later gater.

New floors

Well it's finally happening. My Dh is tearing up our floors so he can put in new next week! It's only taken a few years of asking to get it done... go figure he does this for a living!

Here's a pic of him hard at work.

The J man's birthday

So we are at the in-laws for the big J man's birthday tonight. So he asked for a Jello cake... I've never made one but what the heck I'll give it a try. Looks good, I wonder how it tastes?? And for the big suprise of the night.... J man got a Webkinz from the kids for his birthday. The first one in the family... isn't he cute? His name is Dingo and he's a musician like his owner and he loves getting cookies on his birthday! The cookie thing is what is so awesome, J's grandma makes everyone cookies for their birthday.

Explain something to me....

Why is it that when I say that I don't want to do something everyone thinks I'm joking? Just because I'm good at my position doesn't mean I want it! I love volunteering at school, at church and with scouts, I just don't like have "job titles" as a volunteer when the orginization is HIGH stress! Scouts I love, I do the leader thing and the service unit team thing, and that's fine, it doesn't consume my whole life. Church is the same thing, it's fun and it's low stress. Now school on the other hand that's high stress. We have the teachers and staff that we love but there are a few rinkles this year that just made the whole PTA thing leave a sour taste in my mouth. I love the ladies we have on the board, they are great at their jobs and they seem to enjoy it. The stress isn't them it's all the stuff that's happened this year, I just can't handle it like they can. More power to them, my BP goes up just thinking about talking about the stuff!

We're Baaaaaccccckkkk!!

That was soo much fun! This weekend was the first 2 night overnight for our troop without council or service unit sponsoring. It was GREAT!!!

We went on the perimeter hike, 2 night hikes, a creek walk, and we got to visit with another troop that we got to show the ropes to since they had NEVER been camping before!!

The weather cooperated with us this weekend. We got to cook out Friday night and Saturday during the day. Saturday night we used the fireplace and breakfast was in the kitchen both mornings!

I discovered a really cool bridge at camp too! Ok so it's been there forever but I never knew it. See isn't it cool!?!

So at the end of the second night we invited the other troop from side B over and we did a flames of many colors in the fireplace!! that was the most AWESOME thing to see! We actually got blue and green and red and white flames it was soooo neat to see. The girls had a blast!

And of course no trip to camp is complete without a picture of Swanson. Here he is about 5 feet from me!

It's finally done!!

Well it's finally taken down. Today was the day that we finally took down the Christams tree. Yes you heard that right it's after Easter and we are just now getting the tree down. It's so nice to have my room back. I can finally use my fireplace again.

Now to just get it all back up into the attic.

Easter break reflection

Not much of a break. I started a new job this past weekend. I am now the Nursery coordinator for the church! God works in mysterious ways, he really wanted me back in the church so when it looked like the classes were done he made sure there was something to keep me there!! I don't mind, it's like starting from scratch since I'm with the little ones and get to get them interested in church and wanting to go to all the really fun stuff like VBS and Good FriDay Camp.

The only downer this break was forgetting to call my brother to say "happy easter" Ya I know totally crappy. What can I say I was tired from 5 hours at church then the easter stuff with the in-laws, I totally spaced and forgot to call!! Today is Thursday and he still isn't returning my calls or my emails... I think he's still pissed off!!!

We are finally have the little man's birthday party on Sunday. Only about a month late! Cookies and winter storms make scheduling a nightmare anymore.

How to get a new car battery part 2

Actually I should cal this one... I don't actually know WHAT to call this one....

Step 9. Drive around for a few more weeks until the car really dies on you... in your in-laws drive, after having gone to Lodi, and downtown Cleveland within the last week!!!

Step 10 Borrow your mother-in-law's car for the weekend to run around and work on cookie booths because the car shop isn't open until Monday

Step 11 Finally have the car towed to the shop

Step 12 Get a rental car and go to the car shop to get all the rest of the GS cookies out of the van

Step 13 Go do all the cookie booths, have the rental for over 2 weeks, then finally have them tell you it's the allternator and that it's ready for pick up!!

Step 14 Jump for joy that you finally have your van back... now to get ride of the rest of the cookies...

B-ball game results

Well we lost the game... but the kids played GREAT!!! The C team really showed everyone how much they learned in regards to the game and how to work as a team. Teams A and B still had the "favorites" that always had the ball, but in all everyone saw play time and ball handling.

Now to sell the last of the cookies.... 10 cases left....

Cookie Crunch

We're getting down to the wire now. We still have over 200 boxes of cookies and only 2 booths left to sell them. The snow storm last week really did a number on our sales since we lost 2 booths that weekend.

We have the finals for basketball today. The games start at 8:30 in the mornnig... I have to find some money for coffee or I'm not going to function!

Flick and Fellowship

So last night was the first movie night at the church. I can honestly say I had a good time.

We eat dinner there, green eggs, blue and red pancakes and sausage. Then we watched Freaky Friday in the chapel. That was a first for me, i've never watched a movie with the screen right next to the pulpit before, it was fun!!

Afterwards we split up in to adult/teen and kids. The adults did a short (20 minute) class on active listening and the kids did freaky science experements.

They will be doing the Wizard of Oz next month, can't wait since I can get even the hubby to that one!!

Cookie Time

It's started. It is finally here. Girl Scout Cookies.

We pressure the girls to go out and sell these wonderful tasting cookies, nevermind that we don't want to eat them becuase the are just too good to have only one, I mean really I can't just have an open box at the house, it will be gone before you can say Girl Scouts.

So this year we have a new council. 18 counties worth of scouts all trying for cookie booths in the same 18 counties at the same time. Add to this the fact that there are no booths at the local mall this year and you get very slim pickings for our county!!

My troop averages 12 booths a year. It's how most of the girls get their boxes sold. This year I have us signed up for 10, probably won't get them all, which is fine if I can still do the booth during voting day and the Lent fish fry. Ya know it's getting harder to sell these things with so few places allowing booths and the price going up.

Oh well what can you do....

Batteries and strep

Today we bring you....

How to get a new car battery.



Step 1 have a child complain about a sore throat for 2 days. (started after the bball game we lost)

Step 2 Actually look at child's throat and see white spots and swollen glands.

Step 3 try and find an urgent care in the area so you aren't paying $150 to sit in an ER for 6 hours

Step 4 find a place called MinuteClinic that closes at 4pm, about 2 hours from now7

Step 5 get everyone dressed and ready to go

Step 6 (this is the important part) Try and start the car and hear click, click, click...

Step 7 call for help!!

Step 8 help jumps the car.... we are off

Pep Rally

Ok to start with we no longer have 1 4-5 grade b-ball team. We have 3. The oldest is not happy because she's not on the same team as her bff, but atleast her other bff is on her team so it's not SOOO bad.


So the games were today. Totally not ready for it. Team C lost to LAGS something like 10 to 20 or some other horible score. They were really, really good. It didn't help that we had only 1 practice with the "new" team lineups. But now we know how they play so we will be practicing to their style.

Oh did I mention that they only have 1 team that is not from our school? That's right the team A, team B, team C and LAGS. Needless to say this is going to be an interesting bball season.

Later.

poems and such

So I was reading a friend's blog today ans she was talking about her hubby's poems. That got me to thinking of the stuff that I use to write. Talk about morbid (my stuff). Death, rape, abuse and all sorts of other nasty stuff. It's amazing I turned out normal...


I looked through the writings from back then... I can't even bring myself to typing any of them on here they are so bad. Major rabbling of a teenage mind. Kind of like this blog is my rabbling of a 30something mind.

Banned books??

Ok so I finally got to see Children of Men, and realized that I'd read the book years ago. When I went looking for the book online I came across this list from the ALA.

Items in italics are books I can actually remember reading when I was growing up. These are challenged books, based on the content or the author. I remember reading about banned books as a child, and then hearing about it when my own children started school. I still find it amazing that people try and ban books. Yes we do need to know what are children are reading, but not to censor it. We need to know so that we can talk to and help educate are children.

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–20001

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

And just to make this "fair" this is the list for 2006
10 Most Challenged Books of 2006:

"And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
"Gossip Girls" series by Cecily Von Ziegesar
"Alice" series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
"The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things" by Carolyn Mackler
"The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
"Scary Stories" series by Alvin Schwartz for
"Athletic Shorts" by Chris Crutcher
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky "Beloved" by Toni Morrison
"The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

Oh and let's not forget the Golden Compass series... (banned in a few schools in our county) And no I have not read it, I probably will, eventually. It's at the public library. It's not at school yet but that's only because noone has donated it to us.

books, books and more books

So I'm sheving the books in the school library since we have no librarian and the teachers aren't doing it, not right anyway and the kids well don't even get me started on that one.

I spent 3 days last week going through ever since nonfiction book and putting them in order via the Dewey Decimal system. Ya remember it? We learned about it in grade school oh and the public library in town uses it too, so this isn't a new concept. But for some reason every time I'm in there I get kids and teachers asking me where do I find this or how do I find that or I want a book about... Really people the charts are on the wall it will tell you that animals are in 500 and that jokes are 811 and that biographies are 900s on reference is 000 and so on. Can't find the ficition book you really want but know the author, try looking it up by he's last name!! Ficition is by author's last name, again just like the libary in town. don't even get me started on the picture books, we have 4 shelving units of them and no one, kids and teachers alike, can seem to get them in order.

It's like to newly cleaned window that the kids have to touch, the shelves never stay straightened. Oh well just one more thing for me to do when I'm at the school. Speaking of which I should get going.
Later gater.

Things that have happened in the last few months...

J and B had their little girl in Nov. Here is a pic of me holding her. (Yes that's a camp shirt)

Christmas at the club the day of the "big" snow storm. Santa didn't make it but we did!

Looks like that's all that on the computer... I can't wait for my system to be back.