Preface: I just read through this and I am such a nerd. Good Lord.

I’ve mentioned it before, but last year at the end of May, our council asked us to fill out a survey and estimate the number of hours we put toward Girl Scouting. I guessed 300. My husband thought it would be more, so out of curiosity, I used an online app called My Hours to count them. I started at the beginning of October (well, really mid-October and estimated the first half) and measured them through the end of May. Continue reading

Pet Peeve About Badges That’s Been Beaten to Death

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations 4 Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, dead horses, girls guides, leader issues, memes, pet peeves

I’ve already covered a pet peeve about the Girls Guide notebooks and how the three additional Skill Building Activity Sets packets barely fit in it. This next pet peeve concerning how the badges are set up in general has been discussed ad nauseam on various GS Facebook groups and town halls and service unit meetings I’m sure, but let’s beat the dead horse some more for posterity’s sake, shall we? I have to share this experience in order to demonstrate to everyone how absurd the current badge system is (in case you’re not already aware of it). Well, that’s not really the reason. I just wanted to vent and get it out of my system. It’s been a long year. Continue reading

May 25 2016

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Experiences as a Leader 1 Comment badges we don't need no stinkin badges, bronze award, da-nice, daisies, delegate, juniors, leader issues, llamas, mountain magic, scrapbooks, stress, troop 2562

I read this in ninth grade. Didn't do much for me. — I read this in ninth grade. Didn’t do much for me.

Other than turning in the paperwork for our financial report and troop forecasting form, this year is wrapped up. We had our end of year ceremony Sunday afternoon and bridged six Daisies and six Brownies. We are waiting to bridge our Juniors until the start of school due to us merging Juniors/soon to be Cadettes from another troop. They are still working on their Bronze Award, plus it makes sense to kick off the new year by bridging together as a new unit of Cadettes. We did go on and have our Bronze Award ceremony though. Thank you Lord and council for expediting our Bronze Award paperwork because I was starting to sweat about it. I was gone all last week on the 5th Grade DC Trip from Hell, so a friend of mine picked up the pins for me after I forwarded the approval paperwork to her. Thank you Hannah! Continue reading

May 11 2016

Black Holes and Random Patches

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 1 Comment city slickers, girl scout mafia, leader issues, OFFICIAL scarf, random patch of the day, serenity now, trips

the black hole — I’ve never seen this movie and really have no interest in seeing it.

There was going to be such a huge gap between the last post and the next one that I thought I’d throw in a quick one just so everybody didn’t think that the Girl Scout Mafia (wearing official scarves, of course) finally caught up to me.

In case you’re not familiar with them, black holes really aren’t holes. Because I don’t feel like coming up with something in my own words, here’s a description from NASA Science:

Don’t let the name fool you: a black hole is anything but empty space. Rather, it is a great amount of matter packed into a very small area – think of a star ten times more massive than the Sun squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of New York City. The result is a gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

April 27 2016

Big Boy Mountain in the Spring

Hikes & Outdoors No Comments big boy mountain, camp wabak, hiking, mountain magic, patches, wildflowers

I’m supposed to be preparing for our Junior camping trip to Hunting Island State Park right now and finishing up plans for our troop’s Cherokee, NC trip in May, but instead I’m taking a break (a.k.a. procrastinating) to post about Big Boy Mountain in the spring! Continue reading

April 22 2016

Happy Leader’s Day!

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 2 Comments gsusa, OFFICIAL scarf, the 80s, uniforms

It’s April 22nd and you know what that means! HAPPY LEADER’S DAY! Party! And then get back to planning your next meeting and working on paperwork, pronto!

To celebrate Leader’s Day, I present to you the famous Bill Blass designs from the 80s (courtesy of gscatalogs.com):

work it leader outfit — Work it girlfriend!

April 20 2016

Surveys and Random Stuff

National Operations, Opinions 2 Comments big boy mountain, camp wabak, gsusa, leader issues, mountain magic, surveys, troop stuff

A few weeks ago, the Girl Scouts Voices Count surveys were sent out. Both of my girls and I each received one. A few years ago my oldest got a t-shirt for completing one! Where’s mine? Maybe it could read, “I FILLED OUT THIS REALLY LONG SURVEY AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT.” Continue reading

April 10 2016

The 2016 Service Unit 639 Encampment is in the Books!

Experiences as a Leader 2 Comments camp pisgah, camp wabak, cookie dough, patches, service unit, stem, troop 2562

We just wrapped up our service unit’s Encampment Weekend. It was a great one – albeit a little cold! I always get a little depressed after a big event has passed whether it’s a Girl Scout weekend or a church retreat. This song runs through my head for the next day or so until the melancholy passes. Really, it does:

April 3 2016

Troop 20 at the J-Low Birthplace

Reminiscing 2 Comments I get injured, j-low, memories all alone in the moonlight, mrs. vickers, newspaper clippings, savannah, sonja, the 80s, trips, troop 20

In 1983, Troop 20 followed our 1982 World’s Fair Excursion with the pinnacle of all Girl Scout trips – a visit to Savannah, GA to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. There are things I remember about our Savannah trip – like the boot glass I got from the Pirates’ House (that I still have!) and being creeped out during the tour after finding out that graves were buried above sea level and at one point floated away during a flood. I remember asking the tour guide later if that white thing floating out in the river was a coffin – which made the tour guide laugh but some in my troop scared to go to sleep that night. Continue reading

March 28 2016

Camp Mary Elizabeth’s Wildflowers

Hikes & Outdoors, Traditional Stuff No Comments camp mary elizabeth, history, outdoors, squirrel, tina, wildflowers

Camp Mary Elizabeth is known for its wildflowers. Well, I don’t know for sure if that’s true, because I bet the average leader in our council would have no clue about this – but they should! But as I stated in the previous blog entry, the fact that it is home to so many types of wildflowers is part of its charm.

The area around CME grew and developed throughout the years, and at this point, CME is an island of woods and nature surrounded by asphalt and concrete. There’s a stream called Holston Creek that flows through it, and unfortunately, a lot of trash that makes it way from the surrounding parking lots ends up on the sides of the stream. Holston Creek turns into Fairforest Creek which eventually grows into the Fairforest River. Here’s the progression to the Atlantic Ocean, in case you’re wondering: Fairforest River → Tyger River → Broad River → Congaree River → Lake Marion then EITHER → Santee River → Atlantic Ocean OR Lake Moultrie → Cooper River → Atlantic Ocean. Yes, I followed it all the way on Google Maps. I’m weird like that, but I was curious. I MEANT to only say that it’s part of either the Tyger or Upper Broad watersheds and stop there. What’s a watershed? I’m glad you asked. Continue reading

Girl Scout with a Cause

And the Final Tally Is…