Sunday, April 15, 2012

THIS is What I Did All Day


Twice a year, our council offers leader training. I got in the grade-level training I needed and a record-keeping training and then picked a couple of fun classes to go to. So, okay, apparently there's this tradition in Girl Scouts that I had no idea about...called swaps? You make these little bitty crafts and trade them...apparently girls love them. SO, I signed up for the 100 Years of Swaps class, hoping that I could get some history and context in with my miniature crafting but OH MY WORD the facilitator was a complete whacko. She spent literally half the class telling us how she sources all her stuff for free (ie stealing tongue depressors from the doctor's office) or really cheap and how she came up with all the swaps she was showing us the week before....this is while she was pulling out a frightening series of gallon ziploc bags full of random stuff. We each paid an extra $5 for this class for materials and this crazy person told us that she didn't bring pins (I guess people pin these swap things onto hats? I still don't know how it works.) because she didn't want to buy them. Then she told us how she has a collection of 700 Build-A-Bears and oh yeah she's not employed. Whaaaaat?

Anyway, I did manage to get these three ideas and a packet of misspelled and confusing directions to make more. It's a semi-complete bird feeder (the lady told us she didn't want to buy the wood for the roof or dig through all her stuff to find yarn to hang it), an old-fashioned washtub and a 100th Birthday card. Overall? Well...let's just say I cannot wait to get that evaluation survey in my email tomorrow. =)
My second fun class was the complete opposite. It was with a 75-year old master gardener and retired Montessori teacher...I know, say no more, right? It was awesome. We practiced making (organic!!!) terrariums and gathered some stuff out of the woods, and she gave us ideas and lesson plans for how to engage our girls with nature. This is my work of horticultural art. The vinca, btw, was not from the woods. There aren't very many flowering plants in that part of the state, so our facilitator brought some in.

It was, honestly, THE most beautiful day! I took this on one of my walks to and from the classroom spaces. The camp is great. I said something about this on facebook yesterday, but even though the furthest pavilion was less than half a mile away from the conference center, and on relatively even ground, most of the other leaders were driving from place to place and missing all the beauty and serenity of the woods. I think maybe it's true of people who habitually give of themselves to others that there is less often enough left over at the end of the day for that sort of person to care for themselves in a healthy way. Which is a kind way of saying that, out of the 150 participants, MAYBE 10% looked like they were rocking a healthy BMI. How are we as a group supposed to set a good example for our Girl Scouts about living a healthy and active life if...well, you know. It was so sad. I left feeling thin, which is saying a LOT for me in general and particularly now, at three hundred months pregnant.

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