Five AM Loopiness and the Trip to Butthump

I finally got up around five yesterday morning. I had awakened at 11:15, 12:20 and 3:40.

I laid there, all warm and relaxed on the outside... all cold and angst-y on the inside.

I finally gave up at 4:45 and got out of bed.

Hormones suck. And if certain times in my monthly cycle coincide with any type of upheaval in my life, I'm just a mess.

I did it again this morning. Woke at 5. I'm still awake and it's nearly 7:30.

My brain is out of control and thoughts are zooming around like a pinball.

Lots going on.

I'm getting ready for a little trip.
Going to Butthump, Oregon to visit my parents. I have a brother who is stationed on the airbase in Alpena, Michigan. I don't see him often (Michigan is sort of out of my way) and he will be in Butthump with his family. I always enjoy seeing my nephew, their youngest. Their oldest is currently living with some girl in picturesque squalor somewhere in New York.

My other brother will be there with his family, too. That means I get to see his two kids as well.

Lyssa is going with me, but Matt and Eric are staying home. So I'm traveling next week. I really prefer staying home. Own potty, own bed, ya know?

I worry about getting in a car accident.

I worry about the car breaking down (although it runs fine... and YAY, the AC works!)

I'm aggravated at the price of gasoline. We're still driving a hog for a few reasons. Even with the price of gas over 4 bucks, it's still less than 200 a month for me to continue driving the same eleven year old vehicle. That includes full coverage insurance, with towing and rental car. No way would driving a newer, more gas-thrifty vehicle cost less than that for me. The hike in insurance rates alone would probably bump us into the stratosphere.

We're also driving the hog because the monthly payment on the hardware in Matt and Lyssa's mouths is $300.00 a month, although Lyssa's are done in August. Yay. But before her braces are done, she has to have two teeth out. The lower Wisdom teeth need to come out. So I'll continue paying as if she is still in braces for a few months to cover the extractions that are not fully covered by our insurance. We have our coverage through the D.C.S. Insurance company. You've heard of them, right? Doesn't Cover Shit.

Monday, our Girl Scout troop has a field trip to the local police station. We may get to picnic in the park... or not. Depends on the weather and everyone's schedule.

We had our last regular meeting on Monday. Now I need to get over to the church and finish cleaning out our supply cubby. Over the next year or so, I'll be emptying the craft containers taking up a whole wall of shelves in my bedroom. I'm making up a few 'new leader' boxes for the fall and will distribute them when I show up in person for the first fall leader meeting. I'm showing up in person so I can hand them my Troop Disband paperwork and say goodbye to some old friends. I've been doing this 10 years. It will be strange to stop.

Monday night, we have our annual family picnic and badge night. I've been trying to make sure that everyone gets all the things they've earned, and will be heading out to the Girl Scout council store today to buy all of it.

Alyssa has a birthday this next week. Matt does, too. Hers is the 18th, his is the 22nd. How did they end up with birthdays so close together, you ask? Well, if you do the math, you'll figure out that at least two different Labor Day weekends, (1986 and 1992) we stayed home and had nothing to do.

This week is also the first week of summer program. I'll be working fewer hours this summer (I love that) but I have Monday off. I'll miss the first day wackiness. I'll also be missing Thursday and Friday for the aforementioned Trip to Butthump.

Last week was the end of the school year, and work was sort of wacky. We were busy closing out our site as well as choosing the items we wanted to bring to summer program with us. The site that's hosting the program has only 15 children registered. It's a very small program compared to ours.

I'm sure you can figure out that 39 kids need more 'stuff' and more toys and more activities to do than 15, so we needed to choose some things to bring along.

It's awfully important that we have things for the kids to do. Ever had even one bored child on your hands? Okay, now multiply. Add in, oh, 10 for the three who will be off their medication for the summer.
Yeah.

So, we were going through the items we have with a couple things in mind. First, anything we chose to bring may not make it back to our site in the fall. So we had to bring things that aren't going to be horribly missed, just in case. But it still has to be fun stuff, ya know?

Thursday, I worked with Sunshine for a few hours in sorting the items we wished to bring.

First on the list was yarn for crafty projects that take several sessions to complete. You know the old saying about idle hands, right?

I will be making cardboard looms this weekend. We use them to weave little drawstring bags. It's an easy project, but it keeps little hands busy for quite some time.

I have eight wooden frames to make yarn trivets, too. If eight seems like a small number to keep more than 30 kids occupied, consider trying to teach 30 of them how to make one at once. Eight is more than enough.

We brought beads. Fuse beads are always fun, and time consuming. Pony beads to make little animals with. It's a favorite activity at our regular site, and the kids ask for it often.

We brought our bowling pins and ball. The pins are regulation size but made of hollow plastic.
The ball is also regulation size, and looks like a real bowling ball. It is very light, though. Our kids love playing with it.

There's more... but why would you care? Let's just say that between crazy camp songs, lots of crafty stuff, a willingness to play with Legos and mediate arguments, I'm ready to handle most of what summer brings. Oh, and it's only about five minutes from my house. If it wasn't straight uphill for a mile, I'd walk there.

So those are a few of the things on my mind this morning. The house is a mess (that's not unusual, I know) and I'm also in the major planning phase for our two Girl Scout outings this summer. One will take me until August to plan, and I'll still be stressing the day we leave.

What are you up to?