Proud of Girl Scout Troop 60570!

I'm so proud of our girl scout troop! The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts recently featured our troop in their Centenary News for 2011. We're featured with girl scouts from all over the world are the only ones from the US!   

I pledge to be nice to everyone


Daisy Girl Scout Troop 60570 in Western New York, USA



Leader Julie Brubaker tells us how her troop celebrated:

I am the leader of the Daisy Girl Scout Troop 60570 in Western New York. We are 15 girls in Kindergarten, all aged five and six years. I follow WAGGGS on facebook and was glad to see the 'I Pledge' photos and get all the ideas and updates about how to celebrate the centenary.


We celebrated the centenary by making the 'I Pledge' shirts. Here is the link to the photo set.


We also completed two of the activities in the Centenary 2011 activity pack - we talked about proper hand-washing (Millennium Development Goal: Preventing diseases) and we made handmade soap. We also participated in the hour without electricity (Millennium Development Goal: Saving the planet) - this activity was also part of our Forever Green Girl Scout project.


Finally, we collected US pennies for the Girl Scouts of Japan from our friends and neighbours and broughy those to the meeting. This is part of the US Daisy Girl Scouts' initiative to collect 1 million pennies for the Girl Scouts of Japan. Our little girls, aged five to seven have trouble understanding what has been happening in Japan, but with this project, we have been able to let them do their part to help, and feel likethey are part of the worldwide community of caring people. See http://1000000forJapanGS.wordpress.com for more information about the project.”

I can't say enough about how fabulous Girl Scouts is for our girls. This year we are working on badges for each petal on the Girl Sout Daisy, each petal represnts demonstration and understanding of one of the Girl Scout laws, which are honest and fair (light blue); friendly and helpful (yellow); considerate and caring (light green); courageous and strong (red); responsible for what I say and do (orange); respect myself and others (purple); respect authority (magenta); use resources wisely (dark green); make the world a better place (rose/pink); and be a sister to every Girl Scout (violet). What more could you want your girl to understand at this point! They are also have a great time getting to know each other and we've planned a bunch of great activities that correspond with their badges. We've seen a police officer, a conductor, been to the museum and visited a Bird of Prey Sanctuary as well as doing a host of activities in our meetings.

I was a girl scout growing up as were the other leaders in the troop (I'm the treasurer) and I'm so excited that my girl gets to have this experience as well.

More Declaration....

Since we've been talking Declaration of Independance around here I thought I would bring one home from work. I got a lovely copy on parchment for $1.95 in our gift shop.

I came home and gave it to my daughter who gave me a wan smile and said "Thanks a lot for this mom but next time could you bring me the original."

Where does she think I work???

Little did I know that I didn't even have to spend $1.95. The National Archives has the neatest application whereby you can add your own signature in the style of a Colonist, and American or a Patriot and then print it in color.

Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.... No, I'll enter my daughter's name, not my own.... Ok, maybe my own.... I'll print 2....

I've actually been to the National Archives and have seen the Declaration live. It was awesome.... Awesome!! However, you'd really like to be able to stare at a long time (well at least I would) but you see it as part of a long line of people who mill past it, so you need to be kind of quick about it... I wonder how many people look at it a year? I bet I could Google that....

First Harvest

 Or last, depending on how you want to look at it. (and don't ask me why they are sideways like this, for the life of my I can't turn this picture...)

After I finished the taxes today. (I KNOW, so late...) I got to play outside and boy it felt great. I picked these turnips today although I planted them months and months ago. Proably June of 2010.  I like turnips that overwinter in the garden because they are sweeter than if they don't. And it's nice to have something to pick in early spring. Turnips are satisfying to pick because they protrude out of the ground a bit and it's satisfying to pluck them from the ground. Come to think of it, it's pretty satisfying plucking anything you've grown isn't it?

Turnips grow well in my yard, I don't know why. Potatoes grow well too.  Perhaps it's my slavic heritage. Or perhaps it's that turnips are easy to grow (not beets, don't get me started....I never grow good beets...) And they are so pretty too.

 At this time of year I love to go to the garden store and buy new seed packages. However, this year I realized I have an awful lot of seeds already so I'm going to plant what I have before going crazy with new seeds. For instance I have snow peas (2 packages), and regular peas and sugar snap peas already. So today I planted a lot of snow peas.  Tomorrow I'm going to buy some onion sets and spinach seeds but I'm going to try to reign it in a little and stick with those. I have a ton of seeds for different greens that can be planted now too.

Look at this rhubarb... It's so beautiful. It's really the only red thing growing anywhere.  It's so dramatic against the rest of the yard right now. What a welcome sight.

A lot of other things are sticking their little heads up as well. I've got a ton of garlic planted, the horseradish looks crazy already even though I harvested it last fall-it's finally really established, herbs are waking up and I saw some strawberry plants that survived when I ripped them all up last year...This year I'm not hoping for any berries because the damn squirrels eat them all but I am going to keep the plants to make strawberry tea with-My friends at the museum taught me that one. 

By winter I'm always ready to give up the garden for the year. By the time spring rolls around I really can't wait to start planting again. And each time I do, I'm almost surprised by how happy I am to be out there!

Rocking The Revolutionary War-Too Late To Apologize-A Declaration

I'm really supposed to be doing my daisy girl scout homework for Monday night's meeting that I'm leading but I can't get this video out of my head. I ADORE it....

We've been rocking the Revolutionary War around here these days. My husband is a history teacher and a lot of times our daughter will ask about what he's teaching and we talk about it. (in an age appropriate way.) They've spent a lot of time watching Liberty's Kids, which if you have not seen, is an awesome series for kids about the revolutionary war.

I really like history, but as an adult, with a child, I feel like I'm discovering it in a different way than when I was youger. For instance when I read the Laura Ingalls books as a child, they seemed like a grand adventure. I mean who wouldn't want to head out west in a covered wagon? As an adult I can grasp what that must have taken to pack up your family and leave for parts unknown. Alone, facing god knows what dangers on the way. Remember when all the Ingalls family had to eat was turnips during the Long Winter? As a child I though that sounded gross. As an adult I imagine the horror that Ma and Pa Ingalls must have felt as their family slowly starved to death.

And now the Revolutionary War. As a young person the Revolutionary War was but one more page in my history book of battles and dates. Upon deeper reflection, and in telling someone else about it, in teaching someone else what it means, I imagine the passion and fire. The fear and anger. What it must have took for those people to sign that Declaration. The conversations they must have had at home...

I think I have a little crush on Thomas Jefferson in the video....

Lyrics

Halfway across the globe

And we're standing on new ground

Screaming 'cross the waves

You can't hear a sound

There's no fair trials, no trade, no liberties

No tea

We've colonized America; we won't stand for tyranny,

Oh king

And it's too late to apologize

It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize

It's too late

And it's too late to apologize


It's too late

I said It's too late to apologize

It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize, yeah

It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize, yeah

Halfway across the globe

And we're standing on new ground

We've paid your foolish tax, read the acts

And they just won't do

We want to make it clear, we believe this much is true

All men were created with certain
Unalienable rights

Among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit

Of happiness

It's too late to apologize


It's too late

I said it's too late apologize

It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize, yeah

It's too late

I said it's too late to apologize, yeah

Halfway across the globe

And we're standing on new ground.

Fluuuuuuzie.......

So add to my list, another experince that I've never had before that I recenly got to experience....

I'm suffering from Influenza....Like the real flu.... I got my nose swabbed at the Dr's today and everything.....Although by today I wasn't surprised that was what it was, I've been dealing with the symptoms since last Thursday night.
I'm actually at the end of the suffering periond (I hope) My daughter and I have both had high fevers since late last week (well she had hers since Wed) today they finally came down. We're on the mend.

The last vestiage is the cold sore sprouting on my lip currently....

My saving graces were my nook, where I was able to read and dowload one trashy book after another (I read 4), Edys fruit bars, which I consumed in much the same manner as the trashy books, and my husband who let me sleep whenever I needed to (which was whenever I was not consuming fruit bars or trashy novels.)

Said husband is also now in the first stages of this flu today-I feel bad for him because I know what's coming....

The best part of my daughter and I being  ill together is that we did a lot of laying around together and I got a lot of cuddles. Today we ate popsicles in bed and then slept for much of the afternoon. It was nice.

Other than that (and the trashy books and popsicles) the flu very very much SUCKS.... I don't think I've ever had this before and I can't tell you another time that I've been THIS sick.... I mean like my whole skin hurt to even touch....And the fever...UUGH..... And the deep chest coughs wracking my lungs. And I looked real ugly too.....

The Dr reminded me today that thousands of people a year DIE from the flu... (I think he was frustrated that neither my daughter nor I had gotten a flu shot) And while I nor my daughter were ever in danger of perishing, I could easily see how someone with a compromised immune system could. I mean they don't even GIVE you anything for the flu... All the Dr did was give me a sympathetic look and say, "I'm sorry you feel so bad, take care of youself." Seriously.

What I'm getting to is that I don't usually get a flu shot. In fact the last time I think I had one I was pregnant. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these anti-vaccine people, and no offense if you are one of those people, I'm just not.... (and I'm not getting into any kind of debate over this people....)

I've just always enjoyed (taken for granted) my good health. A flu shot seemed like, I don't know...Overkill....I reasoned I probably had the flu before, and it wasn't so bad.... I now realize I've NEVER had the FLU before..... I figured we would wait until my daughter had her checkup to get her shot-What's the hurry, she's also a kid mostly blessed with good health (Ear infections excluded..)

I was completely wrong on this one.  I'm never going through this again. My child is never going through this again.  My parents (who have both had flu shots) were watching my daughter when she came down with her symptoms last Wed. My mom held her most of the afternoon until I got there. My mom will catch ANYONE's cold and it's usually bad, because she has Asthma. My parents have been fine and symptom free.

I guess those shots actually work.