October 2 2015

Llama Trek 2015!

Experiences as a Leader    2 Comments    , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Llama Face
Llama face, you’ve got the cutest little llama face….

This past weekend our GS troop visited Cosby, TN and the llamas (and one alpaca!) of Smoky Mountain Llama Trek.  We had a great time.  The gloomy clouds and drizzle broke apart once we got past Asheville, NC, and we had a great day.

So what is a llama trek,  you ask?  Well, basically you go hiking with a llama.  You don’t ride them – they carry your stuff.  We only went on a two mile hike, so there was nothing for them to carry.  But each girl had her own llama (and our smallest Brownie her own alpaca), and we didn’t hear one “I’m tired” or “my feet hurt” complaint!  So parents, if you don’t ever want to hear your child complain about walking, just get him or her a llama to divert her attention.  Continue reading

September 25 2015

Eeyores, Scrapbooks, and What Nots

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    No Comments    , , , , , , ,

eeyore-1Eeyores:  This is another pity party post.  Every once in a while I have to get these out of my system.

As I whined in another post, this has been a hard year Girl Scouts-wise for me.  I won’t go into the details since this is a public blog, but there have been some things that really start to wear on you if you’re as enthusiastic and hung-go as I think I am.  Actually now that I think about it, there have been some constants that have been chipping away little by little in my past five years as a troop leader.  Don’t worry – I’m not quitting GS by any means, but I think as with anything that you care deeply about, the things that wouldn’t necessarily bother you in one context do in another.  Continue reading

September 22 2015

The Scorpion Patrol at Our Cabaña

Reminiscing    No Comments    , , , , ,

Our Cabaña has a new mascot, and they are asking you to name it!  They’ve already named it Iggy!

iggy

Personally I would have given it a scorpion for a mascot, but obviously that wouldn’t go over so well in the cute and cuddly department.  No, I wouldn’t have actually suggested a scorpion.  Maybe a cute scorpion.  Just kidding (not really).

Well, WHY should it be a scorpion you ask?  Or even if you don’t ask, I’m going to tell you anyway.  Continue reading

September 14 2015

Barbie is Back! (and you’re gonna be in trouble)

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    No Comments    , , , ,

gsbarbieHey now, hey now, Barbie’s back!  So the other day, I get an email from the GSUSA Shop with the title, “Barbie is Back!”  In case you aren’t aware, GSUSA has some kind of partnership with Barbie to promote Girl Scouts or something… blah blah blah. I would link to the Barbie campaign, but GSUSA recently revamped their website, and I have no idea where anything is anymore, and I’m too lazy at this point to try to find it. No, I’m never too lazy to attempt to find something on a website.  Here it is.

The whole partnership doesn’t really bother me as much as it does Samona (just ask her), but I do kind of shrug my shoulders about it.  I’d be interested to see what kind of membership response they get from the Barbie campaign.  Does it really work?  Does it actually draw girls in?  The cynical side of me says that it’s just another marketing campaign for both Mattel and GSUSA.  Continue reading

September 10 2015

R.I.P. Big Boy

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    1 Comment    ,

OrionA little while back I mentioned that we had a cat nicknamed Big Boy.  Unfortunately, Orion passed away yesterday.  He was 15.  My husband and I got him from the Greenville Humane Society right after we got married.  We had already gotten a stray kitten named Athena, and we wanted to have two kittens at the same time.  So the two of us drove up to the Humane Society and picked him out.  He was in a cage all by himself, and unlike the extremely loud kitten in the cage next to him, he sat there very quietly.  He reminded me of my cat growing up because he was all white with a black tail.  My cat Garfield was the same, except he had three black spots on his head and three on his side along with the black tail.  People always commented about how his tail didn’t match the rest of his body, and this was just one part of his charm.  I would say it was as if God went to a Pull a Part auto shop when He made him. Continue reading

September 9 2015

How to Use Google Forms for Sign Ups

Ideas    No Comments    , , , ,

This is an extremely dated post and Google Forms is no longer formatted this way.
For great justice.
For great justice.

I’ve been asked to create a tutorial on how to use Google Forms for event signups.  I tell my parents that emails get buried, and I forget if they tell me in person (especially at a meeting – SQUIRREL!), so I require that they sign up using this form.  It’s an easy way for me to keep up with who has signed up for what event all in one place, and I can also save the data to an excel spreadsheet.  It’s easy for the parents too – I send them a link, they fill out the form, they hit submit – and that’s it!  Continue reading

August 23 2015

Moonshine Falls at Asbury Hills

Hikes & Outdoors    2 Comments    , ,

I’ve decided to start logging my hikes in this blog because I do get asked what hikes I’ve taken and which ones I’d recommend for troops.  I hope that’s OK with all four or five of you reading this blog.  😉

Back in March of 2014, my friend Meggan and I drove up to Asbury Hills, a United Methodist youth camp near Cleveland, SC, to hike to Moonshine Falls as recommended by our Methodist minister.  You can download a map on the Asbury Hills website.  It’s called Moonshine Falls because it used to be the site of an actual moonshine still way back when.  And the 55 gallon drums are still there!   I’m guessing Asbury Hills wasn’t there at the time.  At least I hope not.  You know those crazy Methodists, though!  Continue reading