Monday
Since we're going to be gone for three weeks, I was trying to get my visiting teaching done before I left. (Visiting Teaching is a program our church has where women help and teach each other. I have four ladies I try to visit each month. I have a partner who goes with me.) The woman we were visiting on Monday loves to visit and so does my partner so after 1 1/2 hours, I had to be the bad guy and say, "Sorry, I've got to get back home." Then, my partner hung out at my house for another 1 1/2 hours visiting with the kids and I. That was a bit easier because we've known each other long enough, that I can just start getting done what I need to do. But, it made it tough to home school!
Court of Honor
Tuesday was our boy scout troop Court of Honor. It's the first one since I've been troop committee chair. I was concerned I'd forgotten something but the program went well. We had a lot of rank advancements and merit badges to hand out. Leading up to the Court of Honor, there were board of reviews to give the boys who were getting rank advancements. I hadn't sat on a board of review for years and suddenly I was in charge! If you aren't familiar with scouting, a "Board of Review" is where the boy scout who is seeking rank advancement meets with a group of adults. They make sure he's met all the qualifications for the rank advancement and ask him about his life and interests. Each boy takes about 20 minutes. We must have done seven boards over the course of the proceeding week and I've definitely gotten more comfortable and better at it.
waiting for the Court of Honor to begin. One of the former scout leaders had remarked when we were doing boards of review that one of us should probably be in uniform so I went and got myself one. The girls wanted to know which badges were on my uniform. I had recieved them in the past 10 years for Cub Scouter, Den Leader, Religious Award, District Merit Award.
Isaac receiving his Star rank from his scoutmaster Scott Bigger
receiving my mother's pin. After seeing lots of photos of myself getting these pins, I've learned not to look down at the pin and prevent the dreaded triple chin effect that does!
Food Storage Class
Thursday I taught the same three month food supply class I'd taught in May to a group of women in Marysville. When I'd taught the class last time, I thought it was a one time thing so I didn't sit down when I was done and think about what I'd change for "next time". That was a mistake! When I found out I was teaching again, I would have loved to have had that information for making the class better. I did end up changing a few things and I think the class went well.
I know a lot of women in the area from day camp and the produce co-op so it was quite surprising to arrive at the meeting and not recognize anyone! Then, part way through the meeting, Isaac Colson's mom, Kim, arrived. She's a talker and I knew it was only a matter of time before she'd feel the need to say something that would embarrass me. I was right! She raised her hand towards the end and admitted that what she had to say was totally off topic but she just had to tell everyone how wonderful I am. While I appreciated the kind words, it was really pretty uncomfortable for me!
Day Camp Training
Friday night we had our 2nd day camp volunteer training meeting. At this meeting, I hand out the class information to the volunteers who will be teaching the classes. Handing out the information first means I need to gather it! So, all week I was finishing up my day camp program and creating the information for the classes. Each teacher receives a binder with information about the class they're teaching and instructions on how to do the activities. When they arrive at camp, I'll have purchased and prepped all the supplies they'll need for their class. I've learned that just giving them one thing to do for their 40 minutes doesn't hold the cub scout's interest so each of the 28 classes has multiple activities all centered around a theme. It's a lot of work to find learning activities, crafts, and games for that many classes.
Co-Op
Saturday was our last co-op before I leave. One of my friends will be taking over for me while I'm gone in June. Also this week I had to train her and walk her through what she needs to do to run the co-op. The driver called at 5:15AM and it was painful to get out of bed. I don't know why, but we didn't have very many volunteers this time so the morning felt very chaotic.
Because of our lack of volunteers, it took longer than normal for us to finish dividing out the produce. There is always produce that doesn't divide out equally so everyone gets to select one or two "extra" items for their baskets. Volunteers get one extra "extra" item as a thank you for helping. We had someone show up 15 minutes before pick up was supposed to start and she started getting her basket and extras. Volunteers were still busy dividing out the produce and collapsing the boxes. I saw what was happening and debated if I should say anything. I decided that I had an obligation to my volunteers who had been there an hour to let them get first choice of the extras. I felt bad and thought, this is the burden of leadership. Making me feel even worse was the fact that she had to be at least 70 years old and I really try to respect my elders. I explained that the volunteers get to go first. That lady really wanted extra blueberries and already had them in her hand. I could tell that she didn't want to put them back. She hovered right next to the extras impatiently waiting to pick them up again. By the time the volunteers were done picking their extras, there were no blueberries for her. She grabbed something else and grumbled off to her basket. Then, as she was leaving I saw her go back over to that area and grab a few more things. I had to go up and kindly say, "Did you purchase more than one basket because it's just one extra item per basket." She put one of the extra "extras" she'd taken back (still keeping more than her share). She was not happy with me. I wonder if she'll be back but even though it was uncomfortable, I know I did the right thing. Running the co-op isn't just the good feelings I receive from the thank you's of the participants or even the fun and games of getting up at 5:15 am to throw around two tons of produce, it's also dealing with people issues that'd I'd much prefer to hide from!
Because the volunteers took longer than normal to finish, people were arriving before the volunteers left. It led to a traffic jam in the driveway that lasted for 20 minutes of chaos while people came and went. Anastaya and my dad do traffic control each week. My dad stands down at the street and Anastaya is up by the house. People were parking really badly with big spaces between their cars leaving less room for those coming behind them, so Anastaya wanted them to start parking in a different area. She's try wave them to where she wanted them to go but they'd just wave, smile, and drive on. Dode went out and gave her some instructions, "Point straight to the driver forcefully, then point where you want them to go." She was thrilled the first time she was able to get them to park where she wanted.
It was great to get our baskets and try to figure out what I can take on my trip, what will store in the fridge for three weeks, and what we need to eat in the next four days. My goal is to throw nothing away.
One of my co-op participants is covering my newspaper route while I'm gone so Friday night/Saturday morning in my few spare minutes, I was printing out maps and writing up instructions for them. Then, as I did checkout I was just sure I'd miss them and not be able to get the information to them. Luckily, it was a slow time when they came and I successfully handed on the information.
Packing
Saturday was also our big packing day. When Sharon came to get her produce, she volunteered to take William for the day. Miriam wanted to go too and they had a very fun time with grandma. Throughout the day, Dode and I kept catching ourselves with the thought, "Where is William, I haven't seen him in a while,?" and "It must be time to get William up from his nap, he's been asleep a long time." William had given us a big scare earlier in the week and we're still on edge and keeping track of him. We were babysitting and the mom came to pick up her kids. Although they'd just been playing in the other room, we couldn't find them anywhere. We looked all over the house and couldn't find them so we started looking outside. There's a lot of ground to cover out there! Her son also has mental delays and all kinds of worried thoughts were going through our minds as to where they could be and what they could be up to. Anastaya finally found them hiding in the toy closet. They'd pushed all the toys forward and were hiding behind them, perfectly hidden.
We have all the camping equipment loaded with "just" the clothing and food left! Dode made some modifications to the lighting and shelves in my trailer after feedback from the last trip. Standing there in the driveway, they seem like great ideas. Once I've used it for a few days, I'll be able to tell him if they're improvements or not.
All in all, it was a busy, exhausting week. I slept like a log Saturday night. Most of the week, I just wanted to be like Miriam and do this...
pass out on the couch with my favorite cuddle partner!
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