When I say Noro, you say Virus!

It's the daycare provider version of Marco Polo.

Ugh.

I'll spare you most of the details.

But I wasn't feeling right on Friday afternoon. I got COLD sweats twice while working, but I was moving furniture and setting up program, so I didn't pay much attention to it even though it's weird to have cold sweats... it just didn't occur to me.

About 5:15 I started having a bit of cramping in my lower intestinal region.

By the time I got in the car a little after 6 to make the 35 minute drive home, I was worried that I might not make it home in time. I was trying to figure out what to do, would it be easier to just hope I made it home and not take the time to try to get off the freeway and back on? And if I stopped somewhere, would I be stuck there indefinitely? What was going on felt unpredictable.

I made it home. Just.
Then I spent the next three hours in the bathroom, tossing ballast. 
I threw up with great enthusiasm. Or maybe it was just volume? 
Other things occurred. Blech.

I have been sick this entire weekend. Fever. Mostly sleeping or lying down, I seem to feel a little better that way. I'm grateful that the vomiting was a singular occurrence. The rest, well, it seems to finally be better. I don't remember how much Imodium I took.

The first time I had this, it was actually four days of vomiting until I finally listened to Eric and went to the emergency room on Saturday morning. I had no frame of reference for it... my past illnesses like this had been get sick, feel better in a day or two... not vomit every 15 minute to half an hour for four days. I was starting to feel a little better periodically so I kept telling Eric I was fine and didn't need to go to the doctor.
He was right, I was wrong.

They gave me 2 liters (!!!)  of IV fluids and some kind of narcotic thing that stopped the puking. I was grateful and mad at myself that I hadn't gone in for help sooner. I vowed never to let something go like that again.

Checked in with my doctor the following week and we discussed Imodium use (use it each time *it* happens). She told me she had some patients who didn't understand that it might be a few days before they had to go again after taking it, so then they took a laxative and ended up in a cycle, but not to worry about taking it as needed. She also told me that if I ever threw up for 24 hours to seek medical attention, a decision I'd already made.

So it's been an awful weekend. 
It's really sad that I don't feel like I can take a day off for illness, too. My assistant is a great kid. But he's not up to running things and someone from the management team would have to spend the whole afternoon there, there are always a bunch of people who can't make it to work on any given day, and it's a hardship for my employer when people don't make it to work. 

I have a dental appointment on Tuesday and requested that day off six months ago, but unless I'm doing a LOT better tomorrow (or today as you read this, I guess, setting it to post Monday) I'm going to have to call and let them know I can't make it anyway. 

If my bathroom issues are resolved, I'll go in, but I don't want to right now, still feeling really weak and wimpy. 
I know my fever seems to be gone. It was pretty big for awhile.

On the good side, I've just updated my site guide (a sort of instruction manual for anyone who works at my site) and when William and I went and did a reorganization of that back room, I made a big box of miscellaneous crafty stuff and labeled it 'sub box'. Anything in there is fair game for projects. The kids aren't bored anyway. Lots of things to do on regular days.

So I'm hoping that I feel a LOT better and can make it to work. And hoping that William isn't sick, too. 'Cause of course I picked up the illness from the germy butt-diggin' booger picking coughing sneezing little weasels I hang out with every day. He's been exposed to the same stuff. Yippee.

If you missed the post about Andre that I posted on Sunday, do scroll down and read it. I'm doing everything I can to make my program a good space for him, he deserves the support. He is a good kid, I have thought that from the beginning. Definitely takes some getting used to, though. And allowances have to be made. He has loud outbursts and sometimes doesn't know the appropriate response to things.

Honestly, can't you say that about almost everyone you know? 

Keeping Busy

Back at it today. It was a nice break.
Odd. Waking up on that first Saturday morning with all that free time stretching out in front of me is so full of possibilities and thoughts about fun things to do. Of course I didn't do most of them. I had thoughts about painting a picture or two. I really do want to. And nope. Didn't.
Didn't even manage to clean off my desk, which is in dire need of cleaning.

So I went back to work after not getting anything done for the last couple weeks.
I can't say I feel bad about it, but I can't say I feel good about it, either.

So.

My work kids are like that old joke.
Men don't want to know what's on, they want to know what ELSE is on. That's why they always want the remote.

My kids don't want to know what we have to do, they want to know what's next.
I've been trying to come up with more things that are hands on and interesting. Although it's not fashionable to say boys and girls are different, most of them really are.

When they're in Kindergarten or first grade, the boys are more likely to play with the dolls or doll house stuff, they usually move to more hands on stuff by third grade.

I've always had a variety of stuff around, but the group of kids I have is always different, too.This is the first place I've worked where most of my young humans aren't attending five days a week.

I have kids whose parents share custody. So for example I have Ryan every other week when he's with his mom and then when he's with Dad, he goes home on the bus.
(once again I don't use real names)

Several attend two days a week, but not all of them attend the same two days, so maybe I have kids who are there Monday and Thursday and two other kids who are there Tuesday and Wednesday and another one who's there Wednesday and Thursday. It's a lot to keep track of in planning, but not too bad in actual practice.

We have an app that lets us know when they're going to be there. If a kid isn't on the schedule, no worry.

But there are some activities that I plan for specific kids, knowing that he or she will really enjoy it and not wanting them to miss out.

I've finally started (most of the time) just doing the activities and telling kids who are upset about missing out that we have so many schedules that sometimes they're going to miss something.

Today was the day I finally brought out the cardboard and cardboard tools.
I won't allow the kids to cut corrugated cardboard with scissors, it's dangerous and I really don't want accidents. Once in awhile I have saved up a bunch of cereal boxes and other thin cardboard and we have a 'trash day'. They go through a lot of masking tape. LOL.

So the cardboard tools are pretty good. They're child safe. 
I am hoping the next time we do the cardboard thing they'll get a little more creative.
They did seem to enjoy it, though, which is the whole point.

This isn't one of 'my' kids, it's an internet photo.

We still have all the regular stuff out, too. The LEGO, the game cart, the art cart, dramatic play area. There's a small kitchen set, burners, microwave, sink. I got it from a person on teh Book o' Face Buy Nothing group.

The dramatic play boxes have play food and knitted scarves the kids use as baby blankets/slings to carry their babies. We have five babies. The rule is that we must treat them like real babies. No being mean to them or making them do things like fly or hit each other.

It's usually either small kids, K or 1st or some of the older girls. 
They are good parents, snuggling and comparing infant milestones.
"My little boy slept all night long!"

So when we got ready to go outside this afternoon, and the usual crowd had been playing with the babies, I was surprised to see how the babies had been left. I'm pretty sure it was an accident, but there's a little part of me that wonders.

I have introduced a lot of stuff to the company I'm working for. There are now traveling boxes like the one in the photo above, filled with all kinds of interesting things. There's a mad scientist box with lab coats and goggles and test tubes and computer keyboards etc.

A couple dress up boxes with a bunch of different costumes, jewelry, glasses, scarves. You get the idea.

Another idea I had a few months ago is a big bin to make Rube Goldberg machines.

I'll be introducing that to the kids tomorrow. The box contains a lot of different things, marble run stuff, dominoes, croquet balls, tennis balls. String and things that balance.

I will take some photos of all the stuff they're doing if I can.

Part of what I have to do is write up best practices and watch for things that can happen with the items included. Kids get up to all kinds of shenanigans. It's up to us to head them off before they become a problem. Always fun.

Yep, I'm back at it.
Guess it's too late to change career tracks, huh?

More Shenanigans

 Because of course they never really end, do they?

This week I am not working except for some planning and prep hours.

I'm doing some punching of flowers and circles and other items for collage art, figuring out some experiments and things to do over the next couple months, and trying to get things into a coherent plan so it's easier to know what we're up to daily.

It's the ADHD thing for me (not an excuse, an explanation) and I can't seem to plan stuff far enough ahead. We aren't ever bored, there are too many choices of things to do, but there are days kids come to me wanting to know, "What's the project?" and I have to grab one of the go-to things that are ready to do with minimal effort from me.

What are those go-to items? Coloring sheets. Of course.
But also....
We have scratch art, pony bead animals, stuff to make bracelets, fuse beads, watercolor paints. The art cart has several drawing books and different ideas about being creative. There is also air dry clay in about 50 different beautiful colors.
Weaving projects. Four or five different ones, depending on what I'm up for/what they ask for.

For those kids who aren't into arty stuff, we have a lot of other choices.

I have some 'rattlesnake egg' magnets.



 

They love playing with those, making them spin, picking things up with them, seeing what sticks. We have a couple experiments to do with them, too.

Many construction toys. The usual, blocks and LEGO and magnets and Lincoln Logs.

About 300 dominoes to do chain reactions.

A ton of games. I have some cardboard dividers and ping pong paddles and balls, we make one or two of the long cafeteria tables into a ping pong table about once a week.

Oh! Music. A speaker we can pair with the computer or the phone.
Dance party or get out the limbo stick. 

They love it. Also in the construction zone (as an extra)  a bin with somewhere around 400 red plastic cups. We had more, but they get broken. The rule is that if a cup has a split or a tear, it gets tossed. We don't want anyone getting hurt with them.

We have a bin full of fake food and cookware, a little kitchen, a bin full of babies (we have six now, different skin tones and eyes.) The kids notice, believe me. More than one delighted, "Hey! This baby looks like me!" makes it worth the money I spent. The boys AND the girls have both said those words. In case you wanted to know.

Four of the babies were new this year, I brought in two I already had from Goodwill, I bought one new one, the company bought two, and a friend I've never met bought one. (Thanks, Jill!!)

We don't have doll houses at this location. I had several of them at my last placement, but I could not leave the kids and take all their favorite toys with me. Yes, I know I paid for them, and I know the company crapped on me until I had to quit, but at the end of the day, it's not about who they are. It's about who I am, and I am not a person who will hurt a child's feelings if it's in my power to avoid it.

I have a dollhouse stuff bin, though. A bunch of dolls and dollhouse furniture that I've scrounged up here and there. Drove up to Camas at the beginning of the school year and gave this really nice lady 50 bucks for a huge box of dollhouse items. Goodwill has produced a bit for us, too. So instead of doll houses, I have two plain white tri-fold boards that I cut in half horizontally. Standing on the table, one of them makes a 3 sided room. Having four of them is just about perfect.

I bring in books and extras sometimes, too. This month we had a family open house and I brought in all my Seuss books and some of the stuffed animals.

And because I do all these things at my site and they're not offered at the rest of the sites, I have now been asked to make at least some of that happen for other sites.

So they've given me a budget (it's not large enough, but it's not bad) and basically told me to come up with ways to use it.

Haha. Never too old to learn.
I've found it's a lot easier to stock my own site than it is to make choices for an entire company.
I've also been asked to speak at tomorrow's director meeting about what I'm doing.

They want portable programming. For example, a dramatic play box. So the kids can do a restaurant or make their own little houses or ???

It needs to be open ended, as in take off the lid and let the kids use it, and all of it needs to fit in a tote.

I'm considering a puppet show tote, a restaurant box, a dollhouse box and a dress up box. Masks and capes and wands and feather boas and stuff like that.

I plan to ask the other directors to email me their ideas, too. This is an opportunity for input from everyone.

Then, this fall we're talking about making a full rolling shelf cart for each program with items all combined for dramatic play.

When I was asked to do this, I said yes.

Do you ever wonder to yourself, 'what was I thinking'?

Childish Capers

Eric makes me laugh all the time.
We work to make each other laugh, actually.

Our latest silly thing is making everything on the grocery list start with a C.

It originally started because I had a few things to get at the store on my way home from work and forgot to bring the list. So while the stuff was still fresh in my mind, I made a C list.

The items were
pizza crust
eyedrops
milk
quik
money


So, crust, clear eyes, cow juice, chocolate and cash.

Today I needed to stop and get gas (we use the Fred Meyer gas station 'cause we get anywhere from 10 to 100 cents off per gallon, depending on how much we spend. We spend a lot, I should just have my paycheck deposited at Freddy's.

celery, bread, milk, bandages, heartburn stuff, peanut butter, orange juice...

Obviously the celery can't just be called celery, am I right? So it's Crunchy Green Stalk. The bread is Crusty Goodness, bandages are Cut Repair, heartburn stuff is Cimetidine, peanut butter is Creamy spread, orange juice is Citrus Cocktail.

The gas? Car Go.

Thankfully, cookies start with C already.

Traveling Man

Back in June, just before I found out what was wrong with my knee, I told Robin that our family would host a flat traveler for her son, Pete.

The traveler showed up either the day before or the day after I had knee surgery, and that whole week is a blur in my brain.

The flat guy sat in an envelope on the kitchen table, and was gradually buried by stacks of paper... release notes from the hospital, post-surgical prescriptions and gauze pads and ace bandages and crutch padding and clean socks (don't ask). And all the incoming mail. And the debris that just seems to fall from people onto my table as they pass by like dirt falling from Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen.

Poor flat guy... I know he felt neglected. But it was just my knee and its lousy timing, that's all.

For two full weeks after the surgery, I hurt too much to go anywhere, and then, since I whined about it here, you already know I put my back out somehow just as my knee started feeling better. Of course.

I finally did go through the mess on my table and find the flat man. Alyssa volunteered to give him some color... after all, it's summer in Oregon. The only time we really see the sun. :)

Finally, I felt enough better at the end of last week to get out and do the tie dyeing at Tami's house.

That flat guy went with us. He's going home in a tie dyed shirt. :)




















On Tuesday of this week, we gave him the grand tour of the attractions in our area. Well, at least some of them.

We took him to Multnomah Falls . Stayed awhile and took some pictures. This was my favorite one. (He was headed up to that bridge with Matt and Lyssa when I took this shot. I'm still not ready to hike, and someone had to stay down below to take the picture...)














Then, we headed up the Columbia Gorge to Bonneville Dam, where he got to see one of the giant original turbines that originally lived in the dam.




















Then, we caught a picture of the huge spillways on the other side of the dam.














They're at peak capacity right now, sending water downriver. Sort of amazing to see, really. Doesn't he look surprised?

After our trip to Bonneville Dam, we drove back across the front of the dam (only way to get back and forth) to the fish hatchery, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.














We made one other stop on our way home, which Pete will have to wait to read about when the flat guy heads back home today. :)

Thank you Robin and Pete for allowing your flat guy to come visit us in Oregon. We had a good time hosting him once we got around to it. ;)

Fit to be tied. (Or, I'd rather dye.)

I decided on Thursday morning to experiment a little with new folding patterns during this round of Tie Dyeing, (you can follow that link and see some shirts I did a couple years ago) and spent a couple hours online watching video tutorials. I found some that were fairly informative.

I love the internet.

Thursday night, I spent an hour and a half mixing dye in the kitchen.
I was a good, safe dye mixer, I wore my mask. See?























(You do NOT want to inhale any of the chemical stuff or dye powder. It's very bad for you. Can make your lungs bleed. Eww. Who needs that?)

Here are the dyes and some paraphernalia.
Red, Tangerine, Yellow, Yucca, Blue Green, Violet Blue and Raspberry.
















I was sort of aggravated that I didn't have any plain old blue, I had thought there was some in my supply of dye powders. Ah well, next time.

:)

I decided to fold the dry items, band or tie with string, and transport them dry instead of soaking them in the soda ash solution first and then tying them, (which is what I've always done in the past) figuring that way I could help everyone who needed a little assistance and still manage to get the myriad of projects I'd planned finished. I had seven shirts, eight pairs of socks and two pillowcases to do. I got up early so I could fold them and get our stuff packed up. We still ended up running about half an hour late.

Lyssa and I loaded the dye, all the t-shirts and socks and dresses and pillowcases and a big tub to do the soda ash soak and hmm, rubber bands, our small card table, vinyl gloves, masking tape, ziploc bags, scissors, the flat guy we're hosting for Robinella (he's going home in a tie dyed shirt) and the camera into the car and headed over to Tami's house.

For the next few hours, we hung out on the back deck and dyed. (ha ha ha ha). We made many bad jokes about that, as well as appreciating aloud the fact that we had friends worth dyeing with. Tami and Nicole and Lyssa were done long before I was. Lyssa hung out in the house, drawing pictures, and Tami and Nicole kept me company on the deck while I finished.

We arrived back home about one (because sometimes it takes awhile to dye... snort) glad we'd done it early in the day instead of waiting until it got hot.

I pondered a little about what 'they' say about tie dyeing. One of the things I've always known-but-didn't-really-know-why was that the garment or item one has dyed needs to sit in the ziploc bag for 24 hours for maximum dye retention. I know that the dyes start to break down after that time, and become less effective, and I've read that the chemical reaction of the dye with the soda ash stops at about 24 hours, too. So I've always left the stuff in bags for that amount of time.

I was curious, though. If I immediately opened and rinsed one or two of my projects, would the colors come out pastel instead of the vivid results I usually get with the fiber-reactive dyes?

So after a very brief discussion with myself, I decided to try it on a couple of my experimental projects, reasoning that if it didn't work out, it wouldn't matter much since I was learning something new. I was dyeing (oh my gosh, the jokes just keep on coming) to see how the new patterns would work.

And you know what? The colors were just as vibrant and beautiful after a couple hours as they are after the regulation 24 hours. And I learned that tying the items dry and then soaking them works very well. I will probably use that method in the future. If I dye again. Ha.

I made two like this one. One is a 3x and one is XL. They're for some friends of my mom and dad. They're a nice couple who have been wonderful friends for my parents, and I didn't mind that Mom asked me to do this. Every time my parents wear the shirts I helped Mom do last summer, this lady comments on them.

It was hard to get a really good picture of this for some reason, but you get the general idea, I'm sure.




















This is a pajama shirt. It's huge. I wore it to sleep in last night. Like the heart pattern? It's not as much lighter on the lower left of the shirt, even though it looks that way in the picture. I mean, it is lighter, but not as much as it looks like. Holding the camera sideways in a fairly dark room made the flash uneven.























Very comfortable.


This is for Tami. She knows she's getting it, so we don't have to keep it a secret.




















These are pillowcases for an online friend. We've known each other online for 12 years.









She doesn't know she's getting these. Shhh. It's our secret.

(It's okay, she doesn't read my blog.)

What do you think? Want to come over and dye?
As always, you'll get a larger picture if you click on the image.

And the answers!

Wasn't that fun?
And here are the answers:

1. Have hither ward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.
Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness
Silent Night

4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere
Joy To The World

5. Decorate the entry-ways
Deck The Halls

6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened
Angels We Have Heard On High

7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

8. The Christmas preceding all others
The First Noel

9. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem

10. The lad is a diminutive percussionist.
The Little Drummer Boy

11. May the Deity bestow an absence of fatigue to cheerful male humans
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

12. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.
Frosty The Snowman

13. Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift giver.
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

14. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.
I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas

15. The first person nominative plural of far eastern heads of state.
We Three Kings (Of Orient Are)

16. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic spheres.
Jingle Bells

17. In distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture
Away In A Manger

18. Leave and do an elevated broadcast.
Go Tell It On The Mountain

19. Jovial yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us
We Wish You A Merry Christmas

20. As the guardians of little woolly animals protected their charges in the shadows of the earth.
As Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night

21. Boulder of the tinkling metal spheres
Jingle Bell Rock

22. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element
Silver Bells

23. The Apartment of Two Psychiatrists
Nutcracker Suite

24. 288 Yuletide Hours
The 12 Days Of Christmas

25. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs?
Do You Hear What I Hear?

26. Present me naught but dual incisors for this festive Yuletide.
All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

27. Behold! I envisioned a trio of nautical vessels.
I Saw Three Ships

28. Frozen precipitation commence
Let It Snow

29. Standing on the cover of the domicile
Up On The Housetop

30. Parent was observed osculating a red-coated unshaven teamster
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Name that Tune, part 2

16. Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic spheres.
17. In distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children's slumber furniture
18. Leave and do an elevated broadcast.
19. Jovial yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us
20. As the guardians of little woolly animals protected their charges in the shadows of the earth.
21. Boulder of the tinkling metal spheres
22. Cup-shaped instruments fashioned of a whitish metallic element
23. The Apartment of Two Psychiatrists
24. 288 Yuletide Hours
25. Do you perceive the same longitudinal pressure which stimulates my auditory sense organs?
26. Present me naught but dual incisors for this festive Yuletide.
27. Behold! I envisioned a trio of nautical vessels.
28. Frozen precipitation commence
29. Standing on the cover of the domicile
30. Parent was observed osculating a red-coated unshaven teamster

Name that Tune, part 1

In honor of the season (yeah, that season) I am posting this list. Can you name the holiday songs?

I'll post the second half tomorrow.
I'll post the answers on Saturday.

Leave me your guesses in the comment section.. or don't. Whatever works. There is no big cash prize, but if you get them all right and you're first, think of the prestige!!


1. Have hither ward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.
2. Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.
3. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness
4. An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestrial sphere
5. Decorate the entry-ways
6. Exalted heavenly beings to whom harkened
7. Twelve o'clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival
8. The Christmas preceding all others
9. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem
10. The lad is a diminutive percussionist.
11. May the Deity bestow an absence of fatigue to cheerful male humans
12. Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of minute crystals.
13. Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift giver.
14. Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as a hallucinatory phenomenon for me.
15. The first person nominative plural of far eastern heads of state.

It was great!

The only way the weekend could have been better was if the Good Fairy had flown over the site in her helicopter, happily sprinkling hundred dollar bills over us. I was only about an hour later getting up there then I had planned. Alyssa and I arrived about one. I drive an Expedition (yeah, I know, but it's paid for and the insurance is cheap... even with gas as high as it is, I still drive for about 200 a month.)

The back of the truck was crammed full of supplies and groceries for the weekend. Lyssa helped me unload, and it took us a good 20 minutes to carry everything in. I spent about two hours unpacking, putting groceries away, doing a little mini-inventory to make sure I'd remembered everything, organizing the packets for our trail hunt and making sure all the little details were in place.

I stuck some chicken pieces in the oven to bake when I first arrived, and by the time I was ready to go out and hide the trail stuff, my food was ready. I took time out to eat, and when the next two girls arrived with a mom, went out and hid the packets on the trail. The weather was mostly good, we had a bit of overcast and a very fine mist during the first half of the day on Saturday, but it really didn't even wet the ground. It was a teeny bit chilly on the back deck of the lodge where we did the tie dyeing, but in my personal opinion, that beats the hell out of frying in hot sun while trying to work. The girls did the Caper Chart on Friday night. I let them know that I would not be available to cook or clean up until Saturday night, since I had stuff to help with/do all day on Saturday.

They assigned tasks to everyone, and no one complained. There were people to cook every meal and people to clean up after. There were four moms there, and four group meals to prepare, which worked quite well. (Why they call chores "capers" I don't know. The girls know it means chores. It's not like you're sneaking up on them, fooling them into helping out. "Hey Cindy. Wanna do CAPERS?!" "SURE!! Hey. Wait. Isn't that just another word for chores? Are you trying to put one over on me?")

People arrived until about 8:30 Friday night. I had no formal activities planned, but thanks to some anonymous donor, an old piano now resides in the main room of the lodge. We were treated to several repetitive bits and pieces of music for the evening. Chopsticks, anyone?

:)

I mixed the dyes for Saturday in the kitchen after posting moms near the door to keep the girls out. I'm extremely careful about wearing a mask and not flinging dye powders around, but it's not good to breathe the dust, and I did not want any accidents.

We did breakfast on Saturday (Pancakes and fruit) and then started our morning activity.

Tie dye!

One of the girls (one of the only two whose moms were not able to attend) brought ten things to dye. Her mom had emailed me and asked me earlier in the week if she could bring a little dress and hat for her little sister and dye it. I said that there would be plenty of adult hands and lots of supplies and that it would not be a problem. I guess she took that to mean that her daughter could bring as many things as she wanted. :D It really wasn't a problem except that it took quite awhile for her to complete the dyeing. It was actually sort of funny. We didn't have room at the tables for everyone to work, so only four people at a time could dye. I helped her with a couple projects, then had her go play awhile so other people could use her spot. After everyone was done, I had her come back out and finish. As each project was completed, it was sealed into a large ziploc bag and labeled with the person's name. I printed up an instruction sheet for rinsing and washing. The dye needs to stay on wet fabric for 24 to 48 hours for maximum color retention, so everyone took their projects home still rubber banded and wet.

When she finally finished her stuff as lunch was being served, she had a whole paper grocery bag full of ziploc bags to take home! I had a little giggle yesterday afternoon when I was rinsing the dye out of the three things I made. It took me about half an hour to rinse them. Whoever had to help her with hers is probably still rinsing this morning.

::snicker::

The trail event Saturday afternoon was successful, too. My daughter and one other girl are just not all that excited about doing crafts, so they just sort of hung out with the rest of us during that time. Everyone else seemed to enjoy solving the codes and completing the tasks.

This is a picture of the nut that didn't fall far from the tree. I'd LOVE to show you a campfire picture of all the girls, but can't.
::sigh::

I'll settle for showing you my favorite girl... who is NO LONGER IN BRACES!!

(Photos tomorrow, I hope.)




















I supervised cooking on Saturday night, but when I returned to the kitchen after dinner to help with cleanup, one of my girls told me to get out.

"You've done enough for us today," she said. "So go sit down and relax, we can handle this."

She did not have to tell me twice.

Campfire Saturday night was perfect. It wasn't cold out, but it wasn't too warm, either. The girls toasted marshmallows and made S'mores, sang camp songs (I hardly had to lead any!) and enjoyed themselves.

During campfire, the grandparents of one of the girls arrived to pick her up. She had decided that she wanted to go home that evening.

I've never been a leader who tries to jolly a kid out of going home. I think it's disrespectful to the child to do so.

I make sure to inform parents who are dropping off and not able to stay that, "If your child wants to go home at three a.m., you will get a phone call at three a.m."

This particular girl is one of the younger members of the troop, and has had some anxiety issues, too. There was no question about sending her home. With her really huge bag of tie dyed items.

:::snicker:::

We decided that in a couple weeks, we're going to get together at a local park for a picnic. Everyone will wear the stuff they dyed, and we'll get a group photo or two. I'll hand out the pictures from the year and upload the picnic photos to Snapfish for everyone to order as they wish.

We're Girl scOUTING!

Ha. Get it? Putting the OUTING in Scouting.

This is the full day that we'll be up in them thar hills. If things are going according to plan (and my obsessive personality almost always assures that they do, ) then depending on the time of day you're reading this, we're doing at least one of the following:

Eating a breakfast of pancakes, fruit and juice.

Tie Dyeing shirts, pillowcases, socks, etc.

Going on a trail hunt. We're starting the hunt by assembling a small (63 piece) puzzle that I painted the first clue (in code) on.

They'll have to go to the Peace Pole that's located outside the lodge to find the compass directions needed to locate the first packet. From there, we're locating the packets I hid next to the trails around the property yesterday afternoon.

The packets contain pieces of a puzzle to be assembled back at the lodge at the end of the hike, a stamp for each packet (the girls stamp their logbooks with the packet stamp, and the packet with their own individual stamp) a balloon that has to be inflated (I used a balloon pump to inflate the balloons, wrote on them in teeny letters with a Sharpie, then deflated them).

To read each one, the girls will have to use the balloon pump they're going to get in their big trail pack. to read the next clue, (those clues are also written in code) and an activity.

In the first packet are a bunch of Sharpies with wood cookies. They're making and decorating name tags, which is a Girl Scout tradition and always fun.

In another packet are the materials to make a dream catcher in the traditional fashion... no pre-made rings here! Got into my supplies and found some feathers. I discovered that feather dust makes me sneeze. Don't you dare suggest it's just regular dust.

Another packet contains beads and stretchy string to make a bracelet or two. One to keep, one to share. As I write this, I am trying to think of a way for them to share bracelets so that no one gets more than one (and no one has hurt feelings) from someone else. Maybe pass them around the circle at campfire?

One packet contains rocks and acrylic paints to make a garden rock... for a houseplant or for outside plants... or just for your bookcase at home.

The last packet (which will not be 'planted' until the morning of the hunt due to animals) will contain granola bars and raisins, cups and a jug of water.

Now depending on what time you're reading this, we may also be sitting down to a lunch of tacos/burritos. It's a smorgasbord of sorts, all the ingredients are there to choose from. We have vegetarian options as well as some hamburger for the meat eaters among us. Chocolate cake for dessert.

If you're reading in the evening, we're having a spaghetti dinner complete with garlic bread and salad. And of course a meat-free sauce for those who don't eat meat. We'll add a bit of hamburger to mine, though.

Around 8, we're going to be sitting outside around the campfire. We'll be singing Girl Scout songs, toasting marshmallows and making S'mores.
We'll hang out there awhile before going in to sleep. Really as long as the girls want to. This is our last campfire, after all.

::sniff::

Let's hope everyone is able to fall asleep after our busy day, huh?

And wish me luck.

"See" you tomorrow. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. Maybe even Wednesday.

It was a good time to dye.

For years, my mom has said, "Next time we get together we'll have to try tie dyeing." but it never happened.

This time, I ordered some new dyes and t-shirts from Dharma Trading for my folks.
I even bought a shirt for Daisy.
A ruffly one.
It said on the website that no one would have to ask if your dog is a boy or a girl if you buy this shirt. :)

While Mom was driving some packages on Friday, I mixed up some bottles of dye. We had some pretty vibrant colors. I've done this enough times that I'm getting pretty good at explaining it to others.

When she got home and we finally got started, she expressed concern that she might not be doing it right.

I assured her that I've taught eight year olds how to tie dye with great results, and that her stuff would turn out well, too.

Here we are, working together.




















And here are the ones Mom did. See Daisy's shirt off to the left in the 2nd picture? I think they're terrific. Daisy isn't wearing hers in the 3rd pic, she thinks anything you try to put on her is an invitation to play. Bite, wriggle, bite and growl, all the while wiggling her little stump of tail.

Jesus and Hillary Clinton

We had a rare evening last night. Everyone was home, and no one had to get up at midnight to go to work. We hauled out the Pictionary game. It was kids vs adults. The kids won twice, we won once. In the past, it's been the other way around.

Lyssa was drawing for Matt. She drew a stick figure holding a hammer in one hand and a saw in the other. He guessed construction worker, builder, worker, hammer, saw... she became more and more frustrated. Finally she added some long hair and a halo.
That did it. He was completely mystified.

When the timer ran out, she informed him that "It was a CARPENTER!! That's why I drew JESUS!"

Lyssa and Eric were both drawing. They looked at the word, and Lyssa said, "I'm confused. I don't know which one..." and Eric said, "Come in here." and led her to the kitchen for a conference.

They came back, sat down, grabbed their pencils, and I started the timer.

Eric began drawing an elephant. Lyssa began drawing a person.
I figured out the elephant right away, but then he started drawing a zebra? Giraffe? Camel? I couldn't tell.

Meanwhile, across the table, Lyssa had drawn the circle with the line through it over her drawing of what appeared to be a woman.

Neither Matt nor I could figure out what our partner was drawing, and time ran out.

We learned that the word we were supposed to get was 'Republican.'

Alyssa had drawn a woman and crossed her out... it was Hillary Clinton!
(cross out the Democrat... duh.)

Matt was evidently supposed to figure that out.

I've been giggling off and on ever since.

just for fun...

Click to Play!

There's a slight but very real chance my hubby may be a little nutty.

With no offense intended to those of you who are also a little nutty. There's nothing wrong with being nutty, you understand.

Just sayin'.

So we have this piece of white laminated stuff hanging on the side of the cabinet in the laundry room. There's a dry erase marker on the top of the cabinet, and the way it's supposed to work is that we write it on the list when one of us runs out of something, or one notices that we need to pick something up on the next grocery run.

That's how it's supposed to work. Sometimes it actually does. But you know what I hate? I hate transferring the list to a piece of paper, erasing the white sheet, leaving, doing an hour and a half of grocery shopping, hauling home a boatload of groceries and FINDING ITEMS ON THE DAMN LIST AGAIN!! Sorry, I drifted into the land of rant there... if you lived at my house, you would have already tuned out since that rant has been used about 28 times this year alone.

I realized today that we're out of plastic wrap (my fault, I used the last of the really crummy stuff I paid extra for last time it and didn't put it on the list.) So I wrote on our list 'some plastic wrap that actually works and isn't just some shit brand.'

I came home to find the rest of the white space taken up.

First, someone wrote 'asswipe', which I think means we're out or soon to run out of toilet paper. As of this writing, I have not checked.

The rest of the board was evidently just begging to be used for hubby's creative writing efforts.

Since I've had more experience deciphering his handwriting, I will type out what he wrote.

~~~~
But wait! Call within the next 15 minutes and receive three revolutionary SPACE BAGS!
Guaranteed to temporarily compress some of your clothes, shortly before failing! There's more! Order 2 and receive a sphincter massage therapy ring. Simply insert massage therapy ring into your sphincter and enjoy hours of digit free sphincter massage. Call now!! Operators are....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~














Edited to add... Matt just informed me that the whole Space Bags 'guaranteed to compress some of your clothes shortly before failing!' was his contribution. The 'asswipe' came from Alyssa, and Eric did the rest.
I could try to manufacture some fake embarrassment or something, but all I can do is laugh.

You Put Your Whole Self In...

Yes, even your head.

If you don't put your head under water, you're still going to get your hair wet.

That's why you should bring shampoo to your water aerobics class. I did not. But Tami did. As always, she was generous.

Everyone in my family liked the scent. When I came home from my class and hugged everyone, they all commented on it. Every time I emerged from sleep a little during the night, I could smell shampoo.
And aside from being sort of floofy this morning, my hair looks pretty good. Shiny. I think going to bed with wet hair had something to do with the floofy-ness. (funny... Blogger does not think floofy-ness is a word. Shows you how much they know!)

It was really an excellent workout, too. I've never taken a class like this, and did not know what to expect. It seems that most of the participants have taken the class before. Many of them knew each other. Not one of them was a skinny person, which added to my comfort level.

I really enjoyed the class, but I'm a little bit sleepy this morning. I think I went to sleep a few minutes before eleven.

I wasn't freezing when I drove home, either.

So, I will call it successful. I would never have gone alone.
I'm so glad to have a friend who will do crazy things. :)

We'll see if it makes the scale move. I'm still stuck at 20 lbs lost.. I know parts of me are shrinking, because I can see it, and for the first time yesterday, someone at work commented, but that damn scale... argh.

I am not giving up, and I'm really not focusing on numbers, but it would be nice to step on the scale and see a different, lower number someday soon.

Writing Assignments

I took a writing class about 14 years ago. It was a once a week class. I learned about editing my work, deadlines and trying to write with a nursing toddler in the house.

(For example, did you know it doesn't work to prop one on the keyboard shelf while she's nursing, even if you're really in a hurry and MUST get something written? Toddlers wiggle a lot unless they're asleep... and that particular toddler wiggled in her sleep, too. It was like sleeping with a bag of snakes.)

I found I wrote better stuff when I *had* to get it done. Some of my favorite things were written two hours before class time.

As I sat here this morning, staring at the blank screen, I missed the days of assigned writing. It was sometimes easier to be told what to talk about. I don't really suffer from writer's block, but sometimes it takes me quite awhile to figure out what I'd like to write about.

So I wondered if anyone else would appreciate writing assignments. I have two interesting books that suggest topics to write about, and evidently more time on my hands than one person needs, considering what I have accomplished this week while I'm off from work. (Nothing.)

As I wander around people's blogs, I see Fun Monday, Wordless Wednesday... I know there's one other, but right now it escapes me.

So what would you think about Say Something Saturday?

I am technologically challenged, so it might take me a few tries to get it right, but here are the bare bones of the idea.

Check in here on Friday night for your assignment. That gives you all night long to think about it. Post it sometime before midnight on Saturday. Comment here and leave a link to the post.

Too simple? Not interested? Worth a try?

Let me know.

What kind of weirdo thinks these things up ?!!?

This post is written in baby shit tan because of my exciting activities yesterday.

I attended a baby shower because one of the people I work with is expecting her first baby in about a month.

Now as one of my friends recently put it, I am not really a party animal. I go to things on occasion, and can smile and be fun and engaging, but I'm very choosy about which invitations I accept.

I like this person, and I think she will be a careful and thoughtful mother. I wasn't thrilled that they had scheduled the shower on a Wednesday, since we have to be at work more than an hour earlier that day, but I wasn't the one planning the party.

Upon arrival, we were given a safety pin with a blue ribbon tied on it, and were instructed to pin it somewhere on our clothes.

If a person said the word baby, the person who caught them first got the pin. The person sitting next to me was quite excited and competitive about this game, and when we both caught the guest of honor saying the word, insisted that she had spoken first.

Since it wasn't all that important to me, I just smiled and let her have the pins.

By the end of the shower, I had one more pin than she did. No one else had any.

So I won the prize... a vanilla scented candle and a pretty swirled glass to put it in. Now why would I want to bring home a migraine trigger in a bag??!

So I asked my nearest competitor if she used candles, and she ended up taking the prize home with her after all. She was happy. Me too.

We played another baby shower game, too.
The hostess brought a stack of six disposable diapers to the table, and we were given a piece of paper and a pen.

We were to open the diaper and smell the melted candy bar which had been poured into the center, and try to figure out what kind of candy bar it was. It was really revolting. I had a passing thought that it could be used as some sort of aversion therapy in someone who is trying to give up sweets... but as a lunch time party game... uh, no.

Truly disgusting.

Are you having fun yet?

Last night, while surfing around, I found an interactive geography game. I've posted it at the bottom of this page.

So far, I haven't been able to get past level 6.

How well can you do?

I dare you.

Today's Time Waster

I was reading someone's blog this morning (Dr. Deb) and she had a post on resolutions. Instead of resolutions, she does Real Solutions. An excellent idea, and probably worthy of an actual post of its own.

However, with my wandering and zippy little brain, I was far more interested in how she made her alphabet soup picture. Fortunately, someone had already asked this question, and with a little searching, I found The Generator Blog. I only did a few custom things, but I could spend a whole day playing there and not exhaust all the possibilities.

Go play. Post something. Then, come back here and link us, baby!!