As of Tuesday, my life will be headed in a different direction. I was informed, after almost 4 years, that my flexible work schedule that was begun at my previous boss’ request “no longer works” for my current boss and I was being let go. Interestingly, this happened 2-3 weeks after I mentioned to him that it will be great when school starts because my kids will both be riding an early bus and I will be able to arrive at the earlier start time from there on out.
Okay, enough of the sour grapes. Time to “turn and face the strange changes”.
Since the last time I posted, here’s what has been going on:
Ditty’s Math & Science Field Day did not happen. She didn’t receive any rsvp’s from the troop leaders of the younger Girl Scouts, so we cancelled the event. Two of the leaders of two Junior Girl Scout troops were shocked and appalled by this and agreed to get their troops together for an evening Math & Science event so that Ditty could still earn her Silver Award. Bless their loyal hearts! Ditty will meet with their girls in early September.
The baseball tournament was interesting, not my cup of tea, but interesting none the less. We didn’t make it back to Cindy’s (I’m bummed), but we did have a very nice time at the Living History Farms in Urbandale (a suburb of Des Moines).
When we got back, we participated in our town’s festival parade the following Saturday. The week after that was the local rodeo. Yes, it’s the Bulls & Broncs kind even though we’re not out west. BooBoo’s Boy Scout troop sold popcorn & other items there and we had our turn in concessions that Saturday. At least our night was dry, the other two nights there was rain. At some point late Friday night, we also had strong winds that damaged the rodeo grounds and mangled the old bleachers. The committee got the grounds cleaned up and temporary bleachers were rented so the show could go on Saturday night. The following weekend BooBoo & I went camping with friends up north. This was another of those double scheduled weekends so DH & Ditty went to their blacksmithing class at Fort Snelling instead. BooBoo and I got help setting up the tent. Not because I can’t set one up but because the wind was so strong that day that it took 3-4 people holding down the tent in order to get it staked & tied down properly. No damage occurred and the wind did die down that evening, but what a pain. Rain would have been worse though so we counted our blessings and made do. And so endeth June.
July brought the usual pilgrimage to St. Joe for parade & potlucks on the 4th. The following week brought Emma’s bridal shower on Tuesday night and their wedding (& accompanying parties) that weekend. It was a beautiful wedding and they are such a happy couple. The following week was spent at Girl Scout day camp. This was my final year in Outdoor Specialty Skills, next year I will be doing the Nature program. I’m currently in the process of writing an entirely new Nature program that will include progression in activities and allow the girls to learn about different areas within Nature each year. No more boring lectures about the reproductive system of mussels! Our day camp begins with 2nd grade girls and each grade up through 7th gets the Nature program, so 2nd grade will be all about Mammals, 3rd grade will learn about Minibeasts (aka bugs, spiders & butterflies), 4th grade will learn about Trees (& how to identify them), 5th grade will learn about Birds (both songbirds & raptors), 6th grade will learn about Amphibians, Fish & Reptiles (but not snakes-I just can’t do snakes), 7th grade will learn about Wildflowers and make flower presses. 7th grade will have a very full program time since I only get them once and the other grades three times, but it will be so fun to help them learn about all the different areas as they grow up. And good, hands-on learning complete with nature “hikes” (really more of a walk since camp isn’t that big). I’m so excited (!) but I’ve gushed on long enough.
The end of July brought us back to Duluth for the Tall Ships Festival. Very nice in spite of the rain, although the rain did find us in the entryway of a place called The Rustic Olive. It’s a specialty store that carries many types of imported olive oils and also balsamic vinegars. I’d recommend against tasting the olive oils. This store doesn’t have you dip bread in them, you actually drink about a tablespoon of each oil you agree to taste. That wasn’t my cup of tea either, but I was trying to be polite. I did taste the balsamic vinegars as well. Partly to counteract the oil I just drank and partly because they actually tasted good. I ended up buying a blueberry, a tangerine, a cinnamon & a dark chocolate in the vinegars section. Those four, 200 ml bottles cost $32.00. Not an expense you’d want to incur on a regular basis. We’ve had the blueberry as a vinaigrette with salad and cooked green beans. It was lovely. Haven’t opened the others but I’m looking forward to having the dark chocolate one with fruit.
The beginning of August brought the soccer season to a close for Ditty & BooBoo. Both of their teams took 3rd place out of 4 teams in each section. Enrollment in the program is down across the older age groups due to a “new” sport being offered, lacrosse. Lacrosse as a sport has been around for a long time, but in our area it has only been offered in the past two years. The following week brought the unofficial beginning of the high school swim season. Ditty met the captains and her teammates at “Captains Practices” that week and real practice began the following week. She will be swimming JV (junior varsity) at the meets, but is looking forward to improving her times and eventually getting to swim varsity at the meets. We all attended the annual pig roast at my friend’s house the third weekend of August. The following week brought our Girl Scout troop to the State Fair as volunteers at the Little Farm Hands booth. We worked the first 2 days of the fair and I’m glad we didn’t work any farther into the week because the weather here has been more like Florida than the great white north. We’ve had an extremely hot & humid week this past week. The National Weather Service has actually issued heat advisories due to the incredibly high (and dangerous) heat indexes. We’ve never enjoyed our air conditioner so thoroughly. Both kids had open house at their respective schools last night and we will be staying home this weekend and relaxing.
I need to get a working printer so that I can update my resume. Until then, I’m cleaning our house and trying to keep up with the produce coming out of our straw bale garden. In case you’re wondering, I’ve used or given away quite a bit of zucchini and summer squash. I only planted one of each, so if anyone knows how to plant just a half of a plant, let me know. I’m sure you could make $millions$ on that idea. I’m also losing the battle of the cucumbers. I should have brought my extras (they fill a crisper drawer by themselves) to BooBoo’s open house since I’m the volunteer coordinator for his school. “Volunteer and for each area you help in you get a free cucumber”. Somehow, I think they’d be laughing at that one. I certainly would.
Well, I’ll get the schedule updated and then it’s off to clean the grout on my bathrooms’ tiled floors. Hey, it dull work but I’m making great progress in knocking things off the list.
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