Last Sunday night, Food Network aired an episode of Cupcake Wars with the theme of the Girl Scout's 100th anniversary celebration. If you haven't seen the show before here's the premise in a nutshell (I guess I should say in a cupcake wrapper). Four cupcake makers compete to have their cupcake display at a big event. There are three rounds and one cupcake maker is eliminated after each round. The producers usually prescribe some ingredients that must be used and the theme for decoration.
We love the show anyway, so we were excited to see this episode. We liked it. It was fun. I've read some criticism of it, but overall the GS volunteer community seems to have liked it also. More thoughts from us:
Violet and I were really glad to see that the guest judge was a Girl Scout, and not some muckied-muck from Council or worse Corporate in New York. The girl was an Ambassador, likely a graduating senior. She was poised and well spoken. She was obviously hand picked by her Council, and she did a great job. Very inspiring to young girls and a great role model. I bet she does well in life.
One cupcake maker uses beer in all her cupcakes at her bakery. I think it was unfortunate that the producers had her on this particular episode. The Girl Scouts are "honest and fair" and frankly it wasn't fair of the show to book her for that week. Have her on for a sporting event, not an event for girls. She opted to stick with beer in her cupcakes and was (rightly) eliminated in the first round. Sure she could have changed her approach, but sticking to her way of baking is a quality that Girl Scouts (should) admire. But you can't serve young girls cupcakes that were made with beer, whether all the alcohol cooks off or not. It isn't right. It doesn't promote the organization's values. Shame on Food Network for booking her that episode.
In the first round the cupcake makers were supposed to copy a Girl Scout cookie in their cupcake. Why cupcake makers chose to add other flavors to "enhance" the cookie flavor is beyond me. While a peach lemonade cupcake sounds really delicious to me, it isn't the flavor of the cookie. (Man, a peach lemonade cupcake sounds really, really good. I could snarf a few of those down right now.) And a few of the winning flavors really didn't seem right for girls. I can't imagine serving lemon basil cupcakes to my Juliettes. Maybe a peach lemonade one though. But not claiming it is a Girl Scout cookie flavor.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Happy 100th Birthday, Girl Scouts
We had nothing special planned for today, the actual 100th birthday of Girl Scouts. But Violet and I did wear green. We've done some other celebrations with our small groups, but chose to skip all the big area events. It was more fun doing things with our friends, not with big groups that the only thing we have in common with is membership in a national organization. Maybe we are just introverts.
What would Juliette Low think of the changes to her program over the years. I know she was in favor of the program evolving as girls did. So the fact that it has changed wouldn't bother her. But I wonder about the diminished focus on girls doing things for girls being leaders. The new badges and journeys sure do have a lot of sitting around and talking involved. Yawn. That's a far cry from the controversy of girls playing basketball and hiking in dresses!
And cookie sales. Let's get real for a minute. Do we really think that girls learn leadership and business skills from selling cookies? Are we that naive? The parents take the forms to the office and hit up their co-workers. Or the girls sit at tables outside of businesses and harass shoppers. The leaders and adults handle the money and the paperwork. The adults often steer the girls into how to spend the money. Not that I'm against that. I don't think a 6 year should be in charge of cookie sales and as the adult who has to do all the paper work and driving, you bet your thin mint I want a say in what they do with their earnings. But let's call it what it is...fund raising.
Three new badges at each level for cookie sales!!! Come on, people. 'Nuff said.
The new badges are long overdue and incredibly disappointing. Gone are the days of working hard and learning something. So much for mastering a new skill.
Yep, the new Girl Scouts is definitely all about the corporate entity and the adults. They've totally adopted the public school formula (I once laughed out loud at a training session when the trainer tried to claim it had nothing to do with schools - come on, get real, it is completely public school-focused). And since we know public school has nothing to do with the children, why should Girl Scouts have anything to do with girls?
So why do I stay in it? Because I think you can work within their rules, embellish it, and make a nice little program for a group of friends to have fun together every other week. Sad that you have to change it to make it work. But maybe Juliette would want us tailoring it to the girls. When asked what the girls should do, Juliette responded "What do the girls WANT to do?" That's what we should all be asking ourselves before every meeting.
Happy Birthday, Girl Scouts. May you survive the current corporate nonsense and live on for another 100 years!
What would Juliette Low think of the changes to her program over the years. I know she was in favor of the program evolving as girls did. So the fact that it has changed wouldn't bother her. But I wonder about the diminished focus on girls doing things for girls being leaders. The new badges and journeys sure do have a lot of sitting around and talking involved. Yawn. That's a far cry from the controversy of girls playing basketball and hiking in dresses!
And cookie sales. Let's get real for a minute. Do we really think that girls learn leadership and business skills from selling cookies? Are we that naive? The parents take the forms to the office and hit up their co-workers. Or the girls sit at tables outside of businesses and harass shoppers. The leaders and adults handle the money and the paperwork. The adults often steer the girls into how to spend the money. Not that I'm against that. I don't think a 6 year should be in charge of cookie sales and as the adult who has to do all the paper work and driving, you bet your thin mint I want a say in what they do with their earnings. But let's call it what it is...fund raising.
Three new badges at each level for cookie sales!!! Come on, people. 'Nuff said.
The new badges are long overdue and incredibly disappointing. Gone are the days of working hard and learning something. So much for mastering a new skill.
Yep, the new Girl Scouts is definitely all about the corporate entity and the adults. They've totally adopted the public school formula (I once laughed out loud at a training session when the trainer tried to claim it had nothing to do with schools - come on, get real, it is completely public school-focused). And since we know public school has nothing to do with the children, why should Girl Scouts have anything to do with girls?
So why do I stay in it? Because I think you can work within their rules, embellish it, and make a nice little program for a group of friends to have fun together every other week. Sad that you have to change it to make it work. But maybe Juliette would want us tailoring it to the girls. When asked what the girls should do, Juliette responded "What do the girls WANT to do?" That's what we should all be asking ourselves before every meeting.
Happy Birthday, Girl Scouts. May you survive the current corporate nonsense and live on for another 100 years!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Weekend
I went to work yesterday. It was pretty routine. I did collect the last of the GS cookie money. One of Violet's customers had been out due to a death in her family, poor thing. She found me to pay for the cookies I'd left at her desk. I did some mentoring with a new person in our department. And we had Italian beef and pasta for lunch. Oh, and they brought in chocolate cake in the afternoon. Not a bad day.
Today we went to my parents and delivered the last of the cookies. A old friend of the family (well, okay, he's retirement age, but I meant old as in we've known him forever) and his wife swung by to get their cookies while we were still at my folks. I hadn't seen them in ages, so it was nice. My mom also set Violet up with some herbs from her garden, so Violet can try to grow her own herbs. We're studying botany this semester. Honestly, my mom should be teaching her botany. I'm hopeless with plants.
Back at home I put some more Juliette stuff together. I made a GS history bingo game for our 100th anniversary party next week. I gathered up the other stuff we'll need too (still need to get more things together for the Cadettes). And I found the items for a Kim's game. The girls love that game. We play in pairs since we have 4 girls. We take 10 to 15 small objects. One pair leaves the room. The other pair hides 2 objects, and the other pair returns and has to guess what is missing. We like to play in pairs because then no one feels like they are on the spot if they can't remember. Yeah, we're touchy feely sort of Girl Scouts. We don't mind. We like it like that.
I also cleaned Squeaky's house (yes, I know, it just gets more and more glamorous, doesn't it?) Squeaky is an elderly hamster. In the last few weeks I've noticed he's been hoarding more and more seed. Should I worry when a hamster's behavior changes like that? It could be dementia setting in. But I'm afraid HGTV will show up to do a documentary on him. You know, Hamster and Gerbil TV. When Hamsters Hoard Too Much.
Okay, I lost an hour today, I've also lost a bit of my mind.
Tomorrow we were supposed to go on a sugar maple field trip, but the group sponsoring it screwed up our reservations. Thank goodness. Violet and I didn't want to go anyway, we've been before, several times. And now it is supposed to storm tomorrow. I didn't need to be hiking through the woods in a storm to see how they tap sugar maples for syrup.
So we have a free day! Yay! Gotta love those. And after our stress last week, gotta NEED those!
Have a good week!
Today we went to my parents and delivered the last of the cookies. A old friend of the family (well, okay, he's retirement age, but I meant old as in we've known him forever) and his wife swung by to get their cookies while we were still at my folks. I hadn't seen them in ages, so it was nice. My mom also set Violet up with some herbs from her garden, so Violet can try to grow her own herbs. We're studying botany this semester. Honestly, my mom should be teaching her botany. I'm hopeless with plants.
Back at home I put some more Juliette stuff together. I made a GS history bingo game for our 100th anniversary party next week. I gathered up the other stuff we'll need too (still need to get more things together for the Cadettes). And I found the items for a Kim's game. The girls love that game. We play in pairs since we have 4 girls. We take 10 to 15 small objects. One pair leaves the room. The other pair hides 2 objects, and the other pair returns and has to guess what is missing. We like to play in pairs because then no one feels like they are on the spot if they can't remember. Yeah, we're touchy feely sort of Girl Scouts. We don't mind. We like it like that.
I also cleaned Squeaky's house (yes, I know, it just gets more and more glamorous, doesn't it?) Squeaky is an elderly hamster. In the last few weeks I've noticed he's been hoarding more and more seed. Should I worry when a hamster's behavior changes like that? It could be dementia setting in. But I'm afraid HGTV will show up to do a documentary on him. You know, Hamster and Gerbil TV. When Hamsters Hoard Too Much.
Okay, I lost an hour today, I've also lost a bit of my mind.
Tomorrow we were supposed to go on a sugar maple field trip, but the group sponsoring it screwed up our reservations. Thank goodness. Violet and I didn't want to go anyway, we've been before, several times. And now it is supposed to storm tomorrow. I didn't need to be hiking through the woods in a storm to see how they tap sugar maples for syrup.
So we have a free day! Yay! Gotta love those. And after our stress last week, gotta NEED those!
Have a good week!
Friday, March 9, 2012
The Plan
I took your comments and talked with Violet more. She said she felt like she needed more time at home to just veg out. For now, day trips are crossed of the de-stress plan. That's fine with me, I feel like we are running around too much as well. And if she has more time at home without school work to do, that gives me more time to work and get my 25 hours in. (25 hours a week doesn't seem like much, but when I'm already working full time as a mom, homeschool mom, housekeeper, cook, well, you know the rest, they get hard to squeeze in and still have any time left for me!)
We sent Mr. Incredible off with a shopping list for stuff we need for banana splits and/or ice cream sundaes. And I added to it the stuff we need for super nachos, my favorite meal. Violet set out some microwave popcorn, her favorite snack that we never think about, so we can remember to make it this afternoon.
It looks like we de-stress with food!
We are on the right track. We are always open to other ideas, so if you think of others, let us know!
We sent Mr. Incredible off with a shopping list for stuff we need for banana splits and/or ice cream sundaes. And I added to it the stuff we need for super nachos, my favorite meal. Violet set out some microwave popcorn, her favorite snack that we never think about, so we can remember to make it this afternoon.
It looks like we de-stress with food!
We are on the right track. We are always open to other ideas, so if you think of others, let us know!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Stressing
Violet and I both seem to be stressing this week, for no real apparent reason. I think we've just been too busy. Not enough down time. She has more activities than she's had in a long time. We sat and talked for a while today and agreed, all her activities are really good, quality activities. Nothing we'd suggest giving up. So, I think we just need to be more efficient about our days. And super careful not to add anything else to them.
I think the better weather will help a lot. Who can help but feel better when it is warmer and sunny than when it is grey with ice falling from the sky? And maybe we need to get over to the pool for some fun splashing and floating. Maybe we need a day off sometime soon. Like a trip to the mall to get the new 100th anniversary Girl Scout Build-a-Bear, which is supposed to be available starting on March 16th. Violet loves Build-a-Bear and has a $10 certificate to spend. The closest mall with BAB is about a 45 minute drive though. Several local museums also have special Girl Scout exhibits. We should try to hit a few. Getting away together, without plans with anyone else, tends to work for us. We can be early or late or get distracted by shiny things all we want if we aren't in a group.
Maybe an ice cream sundae afternoon? Or some baking?
Anyone have any good family destress ideas?
I think the better weather will help a lot. Who can help but feel better when it is warmer and sunny than when it is grey with ice falling from the sky? And maybe we need to get over to the pool for some fun splashing and floating. Maybe we need a day off sometime soon. Like a trip to the mall to get the new 100th anniversary Girl Scout Build-a-Bear, which is supposed to be available starting on March 16th. Violet loves Build-a-Bear and has a $10 certificate to spend. The closest mall with BAB is about a 45 minute drive though. Several local museums also have special Girl Scout exhibits. We should try to hit a few. Getting away together, without plans with anyone else, tends to work for us. We can be early or late or get distracted by shiny things all we want if we aren't in a group.
Maybe an ice cream sundae afternoon? Or some baking?
Anyone have any good family destress ideas?
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Tax refunds came!
Yay! The federal refund arrived yesterday, the state came today. That helps the old savings account a lot! Real Estate taxes will be due before we know it and real estate tax in northern Illinois is HUGE. They are really outrageous. We'd sell our house and move somewhere smaller, but we can't sell without losing boatloads of money because the property values have decreased so much. You'd think that would mean the taxes would go down, but you'd be wrong. See the politicians have a way of making sure you pay your fair share while they just collect huge salaries, even bigger pensions, free health care, and what ever else they can sink their fangs into. The politicians don't give a rat's ass about the taxpayers. They only care about votes.
Now how did such a happy post turn so negative?
Now how did such a happy post turn so negative?
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Where were we?
Oh yes, I left off the captivating story of our lives on Wednesday, Leap Day. Thank goodness February is over. I hate that month. It is too busy with birthdays, holidays, Girl Scout cookies. The weather always stinks. And this year, we were all sick as dogs.
March is starting out much the same. Sigh.
I think we are pretty much all over the cold. Except now my dad has it. We were going to deliver their cookies today, but my mom thought it best if we waited. That was fine with me, I've had so much to get done!
We had another snow storm on Friday. It quickly dumped 4 inches of snow on us, then quit. Mr. I. got up early Saturday morning to shovel the driveway so I could get to the office. I've mentioned my 33 mile commute each way? Well, we had 4 inches of snow. There wasn't a flake on the ground at the office. It is snowing again now. I don't think this snow will amount to anything. It is supposed to be 50 degrees by Wednesday.
I've got school ready for this week. I've been trying to take things more seriously and less "by the seat of my pants." After all, she is in 7th grade. I think middle schoolers are supposed to be somewhat serious about their studies. Well, teachers expect them to be anyway.
The orthodontist was the shortest appointment we've ever had. We go back in 6 months and that's when he decides what else he might want to do to her teeth. And we decide if we're going to let him. I'll write more about that guilt/stress as it gets closer, so I won't bore you with that now.
The bank tour was awesome! It is a small community bank and they were so friendly. They gave the girls each a small basket loaded with goodies, all money themed like green nail polish (the color of money) and chocolate coins. They gave us moms travel mugs with the bank's logo on them. I've got a big piece of poster board folded into a thank you card and as we see all the girls this week we'll have them decorate and sign it.
Tuesday is our rescheduled Thinking Day party. We're ready to go with that. Well, I spent part of the afternoon getting us ready for it! I've decided our here and there Juliette schedule for our original group just isn't working for me. I contacted the other two moms and said I'd really like to make the rest of the year an every other week thing. It looks like, barring illness or sudden emergencies, everyone will be able to make it to the rest of the meetings! I'm excited! I started planning a lot of these projects last summer, I'm so glad to finally get the girls together to do them!
Last week Mr. Incredible bought me 2 shelving units to go inside my closet in my office. And on Saturday he moved all my stuff out and installed them. Then he put some of the stuff back in and gave me a bunch of nice boxes to fit things in. Well I could have just crammed everything in and said I'll deal with that later, but we know I'd never deal with it later. So last night and this morning, I sorted and rearranged and filled the closet neatly. I'm calling it Phase I. There are still several phases to go in the "Freakmom Cleans Out Her Office Once and For All and Makes it Usable Again" project. But it was a great start! I really hadn't planned on spending time this weekend on something like that, but gosh when someone buys you shelves and installs them you say "thanks, this is GREAT" and fill them! I am happy with the start I've made. And I can live with the rest of it for a while longer. My goal is to have it all done by the time school starts next fall. He's also going to get us some new shelves for the homeschool/guest room so we can organize in there too.
Hope you all have a good week! I finally caught up again with reading all of your blogs. Keep the posts coming, I love to know what you've been up to!
March is starting out much the same. Sigh.
I think we are pretty much all over the cold. Except now my dad has it. We were going to deliver their cookies today, but my mom thought it best if we waited. That was fine with me, I've had so much to get done!
We had another snow storm on Friday. It quickly dumped 4 inches of snow on us, then quit. Mr. I. got up early Saturday morning to shovel the driveway so I could get to the office. I've mentioned my 33 mile commute each way? Well, we had 4 inches of snow. There wasn't a flake on the ground at the office. It is snowing again now. I don't think this snow will amount to anything. It is supposed to be 50 degrees by Wednesday.
I've got school ready for this week. I've been trying to take things more seriously and less "by the seat of my pants." After all, she is in 7th grade. I think middle schoolers are supposed to be somewhat serious about their studies. Well, teachers expect them to be anyway.
The orthodontist was the shortest appointment we've ever had. We go back in 6 months and that's when he decides what else he might want to do to her teeth. And we decide if we're going to let him. I'll write more about that guilt/stress as it gets closer, so I won't bore you with that now.
The bank tour was awesome! It is a small community bank and they were so friendly. They gave the girls each a small basket loaded with goodies, all money themed like green nail polish (the color of money) and chocolate coins. They gave us moms travel mugs with the bank's logo on them. I've got a big piece of poster board folded into a thank you card and as we see all the girls this week we'll have them decorate and sign it.
Tuesday is our rescheduled Thinking Day party. We're ready to go with that. Well, I spent part of the afternoon getting us ready for it! I've decided our here and there Juliette schedule for our original group just isn't working for me. I contacted the other two moms and said I'd really like to make the rest of the year an every other week thing. It looks like, barring illness or sudden emergencies, everyone will be able to make it to the rest of the meetings! I'm excited! I started planning a lot of these projects last summer, I'm so glad to finally get the girls together to do them!
Last week Mr. Incredible bought me 2 shelving units to go inside my closet in my office. And on Saturday he moved all my stuff out and installed them. Then he put some of the stuff back in and gave me a bunch of nice boxes to fit things in. Well I could have just crammed everything in and said I'll deal with that later, but we know I'd never deal with it later. So last night and this morning, I sorted and rearranged and filled the closet neatly. I'm calling it Phase I. There are still several phases to go in the "Freakmom Cleans Out Her Office Once and For All and Makes it Usable Again" project. But it was a great start! I really hadn't planned on spending time this weekend on something like that, but gosh when someone buys you shelves and installs them you say "thanks, this is GREAT" and fill them! I am happy with the start I've made. And I can live with the rest of it for a while longer. My goal is to have it all done by the time school starts next fall. He's also going to get us some new shelves for the homeschool/guest room so we can organize in there too.
Hope you all have a good week! I finally caught up again with reading all of your blogs. Keep the posts coming, I love to know what you've been up to!
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