Flamingo Flocking!

Our Girl Scout troop wants to run a flamingo flocking campaign. What fun! Everyone we ask says yes - we will need to get some birds!

I watched our town day parade the other day, with the Girl Scouts and my daughters marching. Those moments of small town life make tears well up! Sweet little girls, earnest politicians, the Public Works guys in our town's trucks and bulldozers, followed by the marching band and the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts.

Our booth in the field was a hit - we sold most of our cookies and all of the little rubber ducks we bought for a game. No one wanted the prizes - they wanted the ducks!

We made money, had plenty of snacks, and had a ringside seat to the festivities - I love having a booth at the fair!

Girl Scout meeting

Sunday's Girl Scout meeting ended too soon! Our Senior girls got together to come up with some fundraiser ideas and boy, they have plenty! The troop has some very different personalities: some studious, some glamorous, some TOTALLY EXCITED ALL THE TIME! Co got hot drinks and kettle corn - our favorite troop activity is eating.

We will flock people with flamingoes, the theme being Think Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month! at our booth for town day. Our families will donate food too - yum! We should have a lot of fun! We have 9 girls registered for the new year, and our town day will be our "last" fundraiser for the year before October 1. Most likely all 9 will show up at some point or another to get their nails done and help sell - we usually can't get rid of them once they arrive at our booth! Our advertised plan is the trip to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay - the one girl who wants to go gets free air travel so maybe we'll actually get to go!

My main contribution for the day will be my presence - although I need to consume fried dough several times during the day!

Who would have thought?

My busy weekend caught me up in how wonderfully my life gets filled!

Our museum Craft Fair buzzes with estrogen - so many ladies and their hand made goods! I spent no time looking though, but helped pop up the ez tents and guided the minivans to back up to the shoe-polish corners on the grass - 3 hours! Slipped into my not-glamourous 18th century garb and burbled about the beehive oven for an hour, working on my fascination factor. My triumphant moment: rescuing a family from our most venerable (read talkative!) guide once I realized they had been in the parlor for 45 minutes!

At 11 I put on my Girl Scout uniform and dashed to the Service Fair at the council office. What a refreshing afternoon! People recognize me from trainings, and say hi! Some know me through my daughters and give me the latest on their own girls. Others read about me on the forums and like to just see my face!

Mostly, back in suburbia, I have memories of our recent vacation, and I realize: I choose this existence and grow and learn in it! Tada! Who would have thought?

The First Day of the Rest of my Blog

So, today I have decided I will blog every day. Nothing profound - just a little list every day, maybe a tidbit.

My life is suburban - the girls are back in school, happy with their teachers, happy to see their friends. My job continues to move along slowly - no surprises! I drive my minivan everywhere, even though I bought a bike in May to ride the 6 miles there and back - it's been too hot! Instead, my friend Bea and I walk around the block every day...IF we don't have meetings or doctor appointments or company coming over or kids to retrieve. So, consquently we don't walk much!

After work, I met up with Moo and her mom, to go off to their first Girl Scout troop meeting as merged Cadettes. The group of 7 girls brings 4 from one troop and 3 from another - my visit was to introduce myself and my camping club that the one troop belonged to last year. Our first trip is set for October - which means cold weather hereabouts and some of them were a little nervous. There are cabins though, so if we get too cold we'll move! Around here, we could have snow or a heat wave for Halloween!

Two of the girls are mentally challenged, and didn't camp well last year. We work on communication and conflict-resolution a lot when these girls are part of the group. My friend Jude has a good handle on their behaviors and that helps tremendously - she's been their leader since the beginning (maybe Daisies?).

I'll attend even more meetings, starting tomorrow: House Museum Guides tours, Girl Scout leader fair and trainings, Parents Association meeting, Teen Girl Scout meeting, Marching Band uniform fittings, Girl Scout Leaders meeting, Principal's meeting, Parade Committee, Brownie meeting, and Saturday is the parade and Girl Scout recruiting day. Some days there are 2 meetings, if you are counting! Plus working and getting my girls to Marching Band practice and back.

Tidbit: found out about the behind-closed-doors life of Bea! So titillating to find out what other people do at home. No secrets being given away here - sorry, I am looking for readers and I can't alienate my friends!

Continuing with the brainstorming theme: Fate leads me often to just the right phrase in the hundreds of websites I read – which are all about Girl Scouts these evenings. From a Swift Water Girl Scout council girl-planning patch booklet:

"When we speak about girl decision-making/girl-planning, we are speaking about two different concepts. Allowing girls to make decisions about their activities is different than allowing them to plan their activities. Girl decision-making begins on the first step of our steps of planning. Girl Planning is the ultimate goal for experienced girls."

A continuum! First and second graders get a choice of what to cook and eat on our camping trip: soup and sandwiches or macaroni and cheese with hot dogs - simple!

I have collections of recipes, but my daughter’s STUDIO 2B troop sticks to their favorite: Tacos in a bag. My older one mixes it up a bit with baked tortilla chips in a Ziploc over which she’ll put the taco elements, but the rest of them love the tried-and-true Doritos.

One time some marinated and grilled chicken breast got added as a topping - only once. You can still mix it up time after time too, by having cheese tacos now, the meat later - just the veggies when you get a little full.

I find a lot of recipes on the Internet - I am entertained thusly every evening, and I have moved on from the nesting pots to “easy, tasty camping recipes” that the Brownie girls would eat and have the skills to cook (“no skills” is the level).

Looking through recipes for the trip, I found http://desertcandy.blogspot.com with tasty pictures, like Coconut-Mango-Lime Parfaits desert..., yummy! This recipe is hostile to first graders though, and one of my Brownies is allergic to mango, so I thought I would make up my own recipe and call it "Camouflage Pudding" by matching the colors of the parfaits, layering the puddings in more haphazardly than the recipe. I thought vanilla, butterscotch, and chocolate puddings – which can all be purchased as little boxes of Jell-O – and then whipped cream.

If I actually get to this I’ll post a picture.

Brainstorming with Brownie Girl Scouts

My friend Mrs. H and I look forward to a Girl Scout event planned by our troops in October: a camping trip with Brownie Girl Scouts! We decided our theme will be "Fire" with a side of cooking. Safety lesson first, of course, and then the day will be filled with lighting matches, collecting twigs, and avoiding snakes. Aaahhh, nature!

Mrs. H will brainstorm with the girls at their family picnic tomorrow, butI think she hesitated to agree to that because she takes brainstorming more seriously than I do...not that I don't take girl-planning seriously mind you, butI suspect that a dozen soon-to-be second graders will pretty much run the gamut of "mac and cheese" up to full out "Osso buco with tagliatelle" when asked what they'd like to cook on their camping trip, there by killing two Girl Scout birds with one stone so to speak: girl-planning and progression. Girl-planning by getting the girls' ideas, and progression by some of them finding out that the world isfull of wonder, mostly of the food variety.

My idea behind brainstorming: work it like a thunderstorm: little warning, suddenly the time is NOW, get all of the downpour at once - then relief! You can get a sheet full of ideas in two, three minutes tops. Make sure to have an exciting activity planned for right after, because the girls will be totally riled up after screaming at you and jockeying to get their ideas on the sheet.

You and your coleader can sort through the lists, plan ahead, get the supplies, do all the legwork - but the girls feel like they had a say in what's coming up and that'sthe main goal in Girl Scouts.

Use Resources Wisely!

The scissors, tape, and coloring markers all go into the kitchen drawer under the phone. Unlike TV kitchen mess drawers, our divider is neat and tidy: scissors on the left, markers on the right, and tape in the front. Lots of time saved, with all the goods in one spot. So, if I can’t find my scissors, I assume they got hijacked at a Girl Scout venue: I buy another pair. Lately, I have been cleaning the teen hangout room in the back of the house, which not only promises to give the gals a much roomier place to hang out, but also appears to be the best way to cut out my monthly scissor purchases. Four pairs rescued from the debris!

Messy kids rooms are a perennial story: My own mom’s playroom clean-up story included monthly rake outs – literally pulling everything into a pile with a garden rake. Good ol’ shag carpet loved the treatment too. The girls take it to heart that their rooms are their own, and follow in my childhood footsteps: trash everywhere, clothes and candy in the layers, school books, library books, birthday cards (Happy Birthday, Love, Grandma – with a check!). Big One does a decent job keeping her space picked up, but Little Luce uses her floor as permanent storage.

Before she left for camp, I forced Luce to start cleaning. Liken her reaction to asking her to count the grains of sand on Cape Cod beach – the weeping! The gnashing of teeth! A 30-gallon trash bag of trash and 4 loads of laundry later, still no sign of the floor!

After Luce left, my week has been a respite from the daily, nay, hourly, arguments from her: I have energy to finish her clean-up. Oh, the nail clippers are here. Oh, my travel scissors, my Sharpie markers. A treasure trove in the permanent storage! Hair brushes, combs, towels, my odd socks, Mr. Lamonda’s shorts? Yes.

And the plastic shopping bags abound too, what with my habit of sticking her stuff in a bag in the kitchen for her to take up to her bedroom after dinner. Many bags full of stuff!

My gut feeling has always been: plastic shopping bags suck out my soul as they lurk in my house. They proliferate, worse than coat hangers, multiplying AND swelling! We used to keep them under the stinky kitchen sink – now we have a neat and cheery shopping bag holder that Mr. L got from a generous crafty friend at work. Our lumpy baggie-sausage can hold no more though, and apparently we are not alone in our dismay of these swarming bags. Check out this website: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1Y1-107470867.html - lots of articles about how bad, bad, bad the little shopping baggies are proving themselves to be! Boston is considering banning them, and Uganda has banned them already – no manufacturing and no importation! When I go to Whole Foods, and feel especially organic, I get the paper bags with the sturdy handles, but I still usually end up with the plastic. I maintain an eclectic collection of reusable grocery bags, but I'm convinced they don’t like riding around in the car all week, so they use their Jedi powers on me as I head out the door to get me past them: "No need to carry those bags out - no need to store these in the car."

I do what I can at Girl Scouts to reuse the shopping bags. One of my future projects will be to knit a rug out of them, but I haven't figured out where I would put it.

Here is a situpon to make out of them – if you put two shopping bags in a container and wait a few weeks, you’ll have a 100 of them, so use as many as you can for this project!

For Brownie Girl Scouts: Use 8.
For Cadette Girl Scouts: Use 16.

You twist them or roll them the long way, and include the handles in the layout. I got fancy once and put a half sheet of newspaper in each one, then rolled the plastic bag around it and taped in at the top where the handles are. (That method uses only 12 of them, though.) It was a lot of work and too bulky to put into our packs so not useful.

Lay half of them side by side, then weave the others across these. Even-out the fringes so they are all the same length all around. Now, the fringe will fold over and tuck into the end row, making a neat rolled edge. For Brownies, you can help them along with duct tape: tape the first set of weaving strips together, perpendicular to each other, and when they are done weaving, you can finish by taping the edges, or you'll be there all day tucking the edges for them - or take them home and do that for all 10 or 14 or however many girls you have and then vow to never make these situpons again!

These are an ENORMOUSLY time-consuming activity for all ages – girls spread out when they prep their goods, so it’s a great outdoor activity. Girl Scouts love crafting these, rolling, taping, counting, neatly arranging, counting the bags and hording them from that one girl who hates to prep her own stuff. They jump right into work, and whine and cry about not being able to do it, can't keep the weaving tight, can't get all the pieces to fit, wah wah! – and then they’re done! TA-DA!!

You do not need scissors for this project.

Make the World a Better Place - please.

Last night, falling asleep, I drifted off to the yipping and yapping of coyotes across the river, sounding like a big pack barking away. How lucky I am to live on the edge of the woods on the edge of a river, trees all around. Some nights the white-tailed deer wander the streets chomping on the hosta like maniacal midnight gardeners leaving walkways and flower beds with so many bad haircuts...

Nature all around us, and me as Troop Camper for Brownie Girl Scouts gets me searching for easier ways to stay comfy outside. My list includes mattresses, packing gear, etc.; my latest search is for some nesting camping pots, for Girl Scouts and for sailing. Funny, “maybe the girls would like this” runs through my head as I read about a museum exhibit about fashion, and “how could we change this for a first grade Brownie to be able to do it?” making pancakes for Sunday breakfast. This cookgear search is no different - ostensibly the pots are for lightweight gear for sailing on our boat, but my mind is really working on packing for the first grader trip in October.

As a recruitment tool for Girl Scouting, I started collecting articles about children while I was reading the Sunday news, thinking of somehow working the articles into presentations somehow – and then I remembered one of those horrible things that I know as a grown-up and must face, like it or not. I put off doing many unpleasant actvities but I have to take care of this as soon as possible.

Our Girl Scouts, the teen group and the Brownies that I mentor, both have collected cookies and written cards to a couple of men overseas to share with their troops far from home. One has come home for good, unfortunately not the way we had hoped. Since the one returned was the nephew of a co-worker, we had seasonal updates on his status, and therefore a direct notice of our communal loss – I believe his family’s grief must be devastating, given how I feel having just a passing acquaintance. How do I tell the mom who has our last few boxes to mail that our soldier is deceased? The world is not small enough.

The Sunday news included a story about a cemetery where an alley of trees is labeled with the names of those lost in Iraq. Quiet comtemplation of those brave souls is the focus there – although I think the author of the article just didn't express the sentiments carefully, adding these phrases that set me shaking my head: “the every growing alley…is just a part of life” and “trying on somebody else’s grief” – I have my own grief from the war even though I am not related to anyone who has died: we disrespect ourselves, we minimize our collective needs, by thinking the people who suffer are the parents and sisters and brothers and close friends – if you read about a death, an injury, a close call, and you are horrified: that is your grief. That is your reaction to our choice to start this war in Iraq. That grief is your own and that horror will lurk in you. End the war, please, I have had enough now, thank you very much.

I don't have the stress of weekly Girl Scout meetings these days, due to the season. During the summer, I do not connect to Girl Scouts except through leader meetings and the girls (my girls) leaving for camp. This weekend the birds were the main family entertainment, between the hourly poking of Luce to get her closer to “packed” on the ready-for-camp scale.

I baked a pie yesterday so Little Green had a great treat tonight – birds love seeds and berries and anything with fat, so the pie was her FAVORITE. Blackberry/apple pie with No-Fail Pie Crust. The blackberries, you see, have not only juicy, sweet outsides, but also little seeds inside!

Do you want the pie recipe? You have to have blackberries and mulberries.

The little bird expressed delight in her constant discoveries in her teaspoon of pie – nibble, nibble, snip – seed! Yum! Pets make for simple enjoyment, both for them in enjoying the simplest pleasures, and for us watching them. Imagine a little bird, marching left and right on the back of her chair at the table. She’s young, her legs don’t quite work elegantly yet. Her bowl sits neatly into the top of a coffee can – just the right height for a baby bird. Bird dinner is a scoop into their bowls of whatever isn’t too fatty from our dinner. She tosses what she doesn't like - he pushes it to the side (his bowl is bigger!).

Finally, after weeks of packing, we drove our baby to camp. Yeah! Since Luce is off at camp, we can eat anything! Indian food is on the list for this week, and tonight we had pizza. Luce doesn’t like mushrooms, generic pizzas, anything with spices, jalapenos, most beans, brown rice – well, you get the point. The only thing Big One won’t eat is soy products – she’s fine with tofu, but any faux-foods are a no-go. Can’t stomach the soy taco “meat” though she does try to eat it if I serve it.

Tonight I pan-fried chicken breast, served with yolk-less egg noodles and mesclun mix. Very healthy. Though the world is not perfect, we work hard to be able to stay here as long as possible!

Just Can't Shoot 'em

Birds, and cats, often have the right attitude about their lives. Blue has a loving, caring philosophy. If you want to rub his head, chin, neck, he is grateful, endlessly. Endlessly! Rub his head, neck, eyes (oops, sorry!) ready any time!

Food-wise he is not so wise. Top picks: cheese, pasta, bananas. Nuts except no walnuts. Seeds of any kind or size. Couscous salad with celery and carrots exercises bird tongue. The little pastas, the yucky vegetables. My carefully diced bits end up in a short but sweet pile next to his dinner plate.

Blue and Little Bird eat at our table but their meals don't match ours! Little Bird DOES love the whole collection - although tonight the bananas got an indignant toss onto the table. Pasta, bread good, veggies great, anything green the BEST.

Fact about birds: birds do not eat peanut hearts. Their skills extend to purifying the peanut down to the meat - no shell, no skin, no heart. Pleh!

Nobody touched the eggplant, either. Homey don't play that, from the mister on down to the cat. I tried a variation of Fainting Imam - Recipe below!

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant peeled and sliced into half inch slices - no salt, don't weight it down or anything.
vegetable oil - maybe a quarter cup total
olive oil - 1 tablespoon
1 can of Hunts diced tomatoes with green pepper, celery and onions
4 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon of chopped dill weed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon2 tablespoons of raisins
salt to taste

Procedure:
Heat up the grill or preheat oven to 400 deg F.Layer two pieces of foil big enough to hold eggplant in a single layer (or one sheet of heavy duty foil). Brush eggplant lightly with vegetable oil on each side - use about 2 tablespoons altogether. In a skillet, brown each side of the eggplant. No need to cook through. Remove the eggplant to the foil. Add olive oil to skillet, heat, add garlic and saute 1 minute to soften. (I burnt some, it still came out ok.)

Dump in the diced tomatoes, cilantro, dill, cinnamon, and raisins. Boil briskly for about 5 minutes until the juices reduce some. Pour the tomato mixture over half the eggplants and layer the other half on top. Fold up and seal the aluminum foil tightly. Place on the grill and heat 6 minutes on each side. Remove, plate carefully!

Ok, I love eggplant, so I loved this recipe. Dinner was eggplant, nectarine salsa, grilled tuna brushed with lime, and mesclun greens with raspberry dressing. Except everybody else had rice instead of eggplant.

The dinner was a celebration of sorts, what with me surviving Big One driving me to the supermarket and gas station and all. Lots of surging with the gas pedal but no crashes!

Meanwhile, : Little Luce, 14 going on 40, goes to camp tomorrow and there will be rejoicing!

Such a torture it has been to have her pack! The packing is like a long tediuous journey with a troll - a cranky one - who can't find the other sock, or just the right shade of waterproof mascara, or flip-flops for less than $14.95. Plus she leaves a swath of trash and laundry in her wake! Such a slob for such a fashionista! Has she yearned for getting on the bus July 8? Yes. Since February. Does she have all her clothes, netting, lotions, potions, and spells packed? No.

Luckily sharp knives are cherished around here or somebody would get hurt. Probably me.

I had been waxing poetic on a forum, all about the empowerment of the Girl Scout leader, changing the world, one girl at a time, rah, rah! The driving and the packing, though, are reality biting the mom heinie.

Bless their hearts!

Rare - Steaks, Medium Well

Greetings! My world is small: home, work, shopping at the plaza. Once in a while we go to the mall. Often we go to Girl Scout events - my two daughters and me. The man of the house goes from home to work and back. He loves that. We have lots of pets - he loves them and we play with them for hours, one of the many hobbies that go on in our space.

I love food. Any kind - even bad food. My mother learned to cook the Old Irish way - I didn't know green beans could be eaten crunchy until I got access to the Internet a few years ago. I have been voted as "most likely to have edible food in the glove compartment" by the Girl Scouts though, as I do allow, nay, encourage, eating in my car.

Meat has always been on my "any time, anywhere" list - never a day as a vegetarian in my life (on purpose, anyway). And today I figured out how to grill!

Mr. Lamond has given up the seat - after 23 years as grillmaster, he no longer grills. Not really sure why not, just that the Big Kid had to be taught, got good at lighting the briquettes to smelting temp. She gets antsy and bored with the actual cooking though, so she also quit. Baby Luce has no interest - hence, my learning. So. The trick is to have patience. The briquettes will light. The charcoal chimney will get the charcoal hot all the way to the top. No, you do not have to have the cover on to appropriately cook steaks. Wait til the timer rings before turning the meat. Apples do not make good grilling items. I am also a huge fan of Alton Brown, and his instructions for grilling steak perfectly in "I'm Just Here for the Food" are incredibly easy to follow. Just look it up and you are an instant EXPERT!

There. Years of outdoor cooking and camping practice in one paragraph. Having the broiler handy (in my house, at home) got me comfy with the whole array of outdoor cooking methods (fire and charcoal in addition to the camp stove). Voila, anyone can do it! Do not expect step-by-step procedures from me. All I can say is get your own books and practice.

I did have Girl Scout leader camping training many years ago, which taught the fundamentals and launched my outdoor cooking avocation in 1998. The problem with that training is that the trainers do not go to camp with you and the handful of girls (maybe even two handfuls). The practicing goes unsupervised, except for the close scrutiny by young girls who are waiting for their turns as grillers (well, match-lighters, really). Hence, there is a lot of pressure at camp to cook without the grill so that you can eat the same day you start cooking. Or else, give it over to the girls, who somehow manage to catch on. Contrary to what we might think, these children actually listen to what you say, make critical judgements about what you do, analyze how to get the theory to work, and then get the grill going! Metaphorically as well as grill-itarily.

So, Big Kid was quite able to get charcoals and fires burning brightly at camp and then at home too. Plus, Mr. L allowed her to set things on fire (in the yard, during the appropriate seasons, with the hose nearby). He also has her driving his car (with her learner's permit), thereby reaffirming his reputation as the sky-diving, motorcycle-riding, devil-may-care kind of guy I married long ago. Of course, if he has to yank the wheel to the correct lane, he is stronger than she (so far) and would not experience the "I can do it myself" yanking in the opposite direction by Big Kid that I survived as we drove over the double-yellow lines into oncoming traffic (Aarrgghh!!! I am never driving with this person again!!!). Ok. Not so bad the second time, but I think it is really like being a lobster in the pot slowly heating to the boiling point - I will be fine until it is too late!

Back to grilling: I set the timer when I put the meat onto the grill. I did not peek under, or mash the steaks with the spatula, nor did I marinade them. Set, time, turn. Time. Remove. Oh, so yummy! Stop & Shop has some Certified Angus Beef that came out crusted on the outside, juicy on the inside. Next time I will take pictures - I have the cutest little tabletop grill (also from Stop & Shop).

One time at Girl Scout camp I made Turkey in a Trash Can. This worked out great! Except girls at camp do not eat turkey. Despite that, my recipe and procedure gets published soon, in Tim and Christine Conner's new book, "The Scout Outdoor Cookbook" that is coming out soon (supposed to have been June so any day now!). My method is less messy than the Boy Scout sites you'll find - Keep your fingers crossed that I make the cut! If not, I'll put the procedures here but I want Christine's book to do well.

The steaks grilled today came out great but I feel the adventures are just starting. High cholesterol and beef are a bad combo - hence Mr. L's mandate "no beef please" which I don't heed on the 4th of July! Next up: eggplant!

Happy Fourth of July!