Planning for camping

Well, I went to the camp planning meeting.    We broke up into teams of 6 or 7 to plan for our big camp out.  Of course, we will be at Camp Choee, which is GS camping lite.   We will be camping in cbs block cabins, complete with cots, mattresses, and a/c.   I'm thrilled.  Plus, bathrooms are in the cabins.  No tromping across the camp at night, dodging all sort of crazed creatures like foxes, raccoons, and armadillos.  

I'm thrilled.


I'm twice thrilled b/c I was assigned lunch.   The group voted for sandwiches.  So, I'm in charge of bringing all the fixings and preparing the sandwiches.   Perfect!   If the GS teachers insist, I supposed I can attempt to toast the bread over the fire, but I don't think that's required.

I, of course, said instead of me schlepping all  the fixings down to the camp...why don't I just pick up subway already prepared.   Well, that caused the GS teachers to spontaneously huddle up in a conference, come to our table and announce that my ingenous idea of picking up subway defeats the point of the training...which is planning the meal and remembering to bring the required stuff to prepare it. 

damn.

I think my team is very clever volunteering me for the non-cook meal.   They did that themselves without me pushing the idea.  

The camp out is not this weekend, but next.   I need to buy a bandana for the experience, and a dunk bag to hold my plate cup and utensils.  

They also announced that no alcohol is allowed.  Hmm.  I'm not a Florida Gator for nothing.  I've snuck more booze into more places than they can imagine.   I'm thinking some baileys, kahlua based drink for the end of the night, to make us sleep soundly. If anyone asks, I'll just claim its iced coffee. 

There is an ice machine at the camp.

SCORE!!

On the mend...

Well, I'm happy to say that I'm on the mend.   I've been self medicating with drugs I had in the house.   Taking what was prescribed for me when I was having problems with discs in my neck.   Its worked like a charm so far with my lower back disc.   I was walking w/o the walker by late wednesday.  

I was able to go to a girl scout meeting on thursday night.  Luckily, I had a friend scheduled to come to lead the meeting, so i just had to walk to the scout house, sit in a chair, and walk back to the car.   The other moms help cart around my stuff for me.   I survived, but it was a very dicey thing. I probably should not have gone, but all was already arranged. 

 I used the walker the rest of the night at home, popped more meds, and watched the presidents speech at the DNC.  That's right, anyone who knows me, knows I was drinking the Koolaid, inhaling the smoke of all that was the glorty of the democratic convention.  Took the time to read the actual GOP platform online, and once again reaffirmed my conviction that I am a die-hard democrat. NOT. EVEN. CLOSE.   My sign's in the yard, my bumperstickers are on my car, and I'm hoping everyday for 4 more years.   End of political content!


Monday I'm off to work.  It will be interesting to see how long I last.  

Meanwhile, T had a ball at the GS meeting.  It was the first real meeting of the year.   We earned the painting badge.   Close readers of this blog no I am no artist.  So, I had my friend Jodie come in.  She gave a quick lecture on styles of painting and different applications, then the girls got dirty.  Literally.

First, we made puffy paint.   That is paint made with shaving cream, elmers glue, and food coloring.  Classic girl scout endeavor.   The girls were thrilled and used the concoction to create a color, to paint a mood.   I was laughing.   As soon as the shaving cream came out all the moms jumped up to do it for the girls.  I had to caution them, telling them to let the girls do it themselves.  That's the fun of it right?   I'm happy to report there were no impromptu shaving cream fights.  

then, the girls practiced painting with things other than paint.   q-tips, straws, cotton balls, sponges, etc.  

Lastly, the girls used watercolors to paint a picture on canvass boards I got them.  Like real artists.   They did great!

A quick snack and we were out the door by 8:00 p.m.  

Badge Earned!

No news is not good news

Nope, this time no news means I threw my back out today.   Bent down to move a pillow in my chair before I sat down, and felt a big pain in my back.   This seems a bit different than all the other times, as it hurts more.  Praying that it eases up soon, as i ahve a girl scout meeting on thursday.   Hope I don't have to cancel that!

Luckily, it happened this week and not next, when dot is out of town for 2 weeks.

The Taj Mahal of Utility Rooms....and hurricanes.

Have I mentioned that I have the frickin' Taj Mahal of utility rooms?   As I mentioned my new dryer was delivered on Friday.   To get the thing in and connected, we had to take out the washer and also the utility sink.   Once the room was emptied...I started thinking that this would be an ideal time to paint.  I mean really, once everything was put back, I suspect it would be another 15 years before everything was out again.   So I had a spare can of khaki green paint laying around.  I had bought it when we were re'doing my parent's kitchen.   I slapped that paint on the walls and I LOVE it!  All I want to do is stand in my tiny utility room and stare.

In other news, we've been dodging raindrops today in anticipation of Isaac.  Woke up this morning and it seemed to be coming right at us.  We broke into action filling up our cars and putting up and/or closing our shutters.   We also went over the closed the shutters at my dad's house.   The plan is for us to go over there tomorrow, and probably sleep there.   He has a nasty habit of wanting to go out in the hurricane to "fix" things.   We'll be over there to help keep that from happening.  Luckily, he has cable and not satellite, so we will have TV all storm long. 

 

So, we're hoping for the best.  T had the age-old hurricane prep dinner of ice cream.  Gotta eat it all up before it melts.   We'll be taking some vanilla over to my dads, along with some jamaican rum.   I'm thinking I'll be partaking of a spiked milk shake.  Haven't had one of those since my days in G'ville and the Chelsea street pub. 

 

Stay dry everyone!

 

First day of Second Grade!

 How in the world did I forget to post about the first day of school???  T decided to wear her skirt, a new addition to the uniform.   Luckily, its actually a skort which is a good thing for modesty's sake.

T has taken to doing cartwheels...in all places all the time.   She will be walking here or there, doesn't really matter where, and break into a few cartwheels.   The skort means that her plaid bottoms don't end up around her ears.

T is very happy with her teacher, and the students in her class. 

In other news, my dryer died.   I can't complain.  My dad bought the thing 15 years ago from the jewish thrift store.   It was about 10 to 15 years old then.  Paid about 50 bucks for it.   It didn't work.   50 bucks later and a new belt, and the thing has been working great for the last 15 years...until the other day.  It was a maytag!   So, today I went out to Se@ars and bought a new one.    Kenmore Elite.   Very new fangled.   I also got one of those pedastal drawers to raise the thing about 15 inches, which is HUGE for anyone with a bad back.   The thing gets delivered tomorrow.     I'm very interested to see if this one, which cost SUBSTANTIALLY more money than 120 bucks, will last 25 to 30 years.   I'm hoping for 8  :(

 

Here's T in her new classroom.  We were there bright and early, so there weren't too many kids in class.   Typical with that age, the boys and girls were sitting separately by their own choice.   Too bad that doesn't last through jr high.

 

 

Olympic Fever

Not much to report, other than I've caught olympic fever, and I'm dragging ass all day b/c I've been up all damned night watching the games.  

We're going to start some serious sleep training next week in anticipation for school starting.   We've gotten very lazy over the summer staying up late and sleeping in.  Oh how its going to hurt getting her to school by 8 a.m.

Breaking Blog News!!!!

Oh my word....I just learned that the modern dance portion is not modern dance at all.....IT'S BATON!!!!

Now I'm going to have to stress over whether she'll drop the thing or not.  

How do these Olympic moms do it???

Costume Craze

Well, T's end of year camp show is Friday nite.  I received a list of what she is to wear.  There are apparently FOUR segments to this year's show, each with a different costume. 

First, there is modeling.  They are instructed to wear anything representative of any country, preferably their country of origin or descent.  We dove into the basket of chinese clothes I had purchased while in china, and came out with a gorgeous chinese silk dress in a turquoise color.

Next, is modern dance.   The girls are to wear shorts, tshirt and black close-toed shoes. Preferably in neon colors.  Seriously?  Neon colors??  Clearly, the camp counselors didn't live through the first neon craze of circa 1984.  I vowed never to purchase anything neon again.   Yet...there I was a target on my lunch hour, scouring the kids department for neon.   Much to my surpise, there it was.   Neon pink shorts, with neon orange patent belt, with a neon green cute  cropped T.   I must say, a skinny little 7  yr old looks soooo much cuter in neon than a pudgy college girl.

Third, is the flamenco.  Close readers of this blog may recall that my little chinese gringa girl stole the show and was named the "Spanish Rose" for her flamenco skills at the age of 5.  The girls are to wear a black tank top, leggings of any color, and a coin belt.   I got T black leggings and had no idea what a coin belt was.   Its a scarf that wraps around the hips, with lots of coins hanging off it.  Belly dancers wear it.  So does Shakira.   I plugged "coin belt" into the amazon search engine and there it was for less than 10 bucks.   SCORE!!!!  T chose pink.  It was delivered the next day. 

Lastly, there is cheerleading.  T won the prize for the best cheerleader last year.   I doubt she will win again this year, as she is in a show with the older girls, aged 7 - 13.  The costume is her camp tshirt and shorts.  

So, there you are.   T is so excited she can't stand it.  I must admit so am I.  I'll try and get video.  Only problem is, its hard to watch the show when filming.

Red Cross Certified

Well, on saturday my friend Marie ( a junior GS leader) and I (the new Brownie GS leader) spent the day getting first aid and cpr certified.  It was literally an ALL DAY EVENT.  Quite the intensive course with lots of information.   I'm good for 3 years.   After all I learned, I feel like I could open a MASH unit in my back yard, and have been humming Suicide is Painless for the past 2 days.

For those of you who are annoyingly YOUNG, that was the name of the theme song from MASH, which was a hugely popular show in the 70's and 80's.  With the completion of this class, I am almost a fully-certified leader.   All that's left to learn is camp training.  

I'm dreading it.

And when they say camp training, they mean camp training.   I will literally have to camp overnight at Camp Mahatchee.  That's the girl scout camp down on old cutler road, known for its scorpions and rustic camping atmosphere. I.e. no cabins or a/c.    While I enjoyed the camp at the age of 10, something tells me it will leave alot to be desired at 46.  That's scheduled in the beginning of October.

And yes, I'll be pitching tents, learning to build camp fires, learn to cook on a camp fire, a bunson burner and a BBQ, and learn other camping skills.   Since I can barely cook on an electric stove, this should prove to be interesting.  

Can't we just have domino's deliver?

The Kid had a Ball!