I woke up late last Sunday afternoon. Allison and I and my girl scouts were up all Saturday night at our local mall, putting on programs for younger girl scouts. My girls were busy making lanyards(key chains) all night with 4th and 5th graders. This is great volunteer work when you need hours, but most of my girls have completed all their volunteer hour requirements for school.  They just enjoy staying up all night, talking and eating chinese food at 3am.  This is the first year I had to take a nap around 3am in my camp chair. I wasn't drinking caffeine this time since I did not want to take any chances with my antibiotic recovery. I did not need to feel dizzy when I had to drive the girls home at 5am. I also did not have any other adults to talk to since most of the parents and leaders I know did not come this year. The crowd of kids seemed a lot lower too ever since they changed our girl scout program(and they changed it to bring up the numbers). Go figure.

     I feel your pain Susan. I was so happy to be able to make it through a full week of work finally. I switched to hot chocolate from coffee just in case for breakfast. I don't know how long I am going to have symptoms from the antibiotic. But hopefully not for much longer. I have too many things scheduled!

     I spent Saturday morning running errands and stopped into the Y to see if I could get SCott signed up for the next swim level. The good news is that he graduated to the next level, but the bad news is that the classes were full(of course). Fortunately his instructor filled out a report card so Scott can move up to the next level during the next session, and his instructor said she actually had some openings in his last class,  so he can continue with his previous lessons starting next Saturday. She had to drop a few kids down to a lower level that were signed up but just weren't ready. She said Scott was actually her best student!

     Allison had to change her work schedule all around since she is so busy this month. She had to work last SAturday afternoon, before our GS event, so Tom took her and picked her up. I was busy babysitting one of the girls whose parents dropped her off at 6pm. The girls weren't scheduled to show up until 10pm. I wanted to catch up on my sleep, but instead I was visiting with our guest. Her parents had to drop her off early because they were going out to a fundraiser for a fellow school teacher that was recently paralyzed. I understand, but I also don't like to be treated like an unpaid babysitter. And that coming from a fellow girl scout leader. Sadly this happens quite frequently.

  But I enjoy seeing the girls all together. And there are some terrific opportunities with the scouts. Allison had a big day last week when she played hooky on Tuesday and spent the day with her Girl SCout mentor. Her mentor owns a Chemical company in Baltimore that she took over from the family. Tom and Allison had to be down to the shipping yard in Baltimore at 7am to catch a shipment, which they missed as it was switched to 6am.  But Tom and Allison met the whole family, including the Dad. Allison got to try out a fork lift, had a warehouse tour and then spent the day visiting a school which the company is providing funding for and ran into a bunch of University of Michigan education students doing an internship on their spring break. She also sat in on a hearing at the Mayor's office discussing shipping and chemical safety. All in all a very busy day. She even got herself a baseball cap with the company's insignia. And a reporter from GS council followed her around in the morning taking photos.  Next Sunday, Allison and I are invited to a High Tea as a GS fundraiser put on by the Chemical Company. Allison will be the guest of honor. I think she made a very good friend. And we all think her mentor looks like Jane Goodall. Now Allison just has to work on her presentation which is due at the end of April at the GS gala. Allison also ran into the reporter at the Mall Sleep IN and this time we both had to sit and do interviews and get a photo shoot.(Big year with our 100th anniversary and Maryland's own GS council celebrating our 50th anniversary). So lots of coverage.

     On Friday, both Tom and I were off work so we stopped into Costco to pick up a new tv for our bedroom. The old tv has been around for many years and the tube finally went, so no picture(yes tube).  Tom said he could probably try to fix it, but the whole plastic casing was dissolving and cracking from years of moving and being dropped and just plain wear and tear. So we picked up a nice, small flat screen. Then I spent the evening with Scott at his gymnastics class.

     I also had to spend an evening in class myself last week for a volunteer project for SCott's school. His 6th grade class and the 4th grade class are participating in a business day with Junior Achievement Biztown in a few weeks, so I had to go through orientation. I will be working at the UPS store. Scott is interviewing for an engineer job. The kids have jobs and collect pay checks and deposit them in the bank. They can take out money to buy things, like their lunch or souvenirs, buy health insurance, or invest in  a few companies and earn more spending money. Their companies just have to make enough money during the day to pay their lease. There is also a mayor, and each company has a CEO who is in charge of making sure everything runs smoothly(and then there are us volunteer parents). I think it is going to be a fun, long day. Scott is really excited about it too. I also had a dentist appointment(again)to remove my broken crown and make another mold for the new tooth. The dentist was amazed that my new crown only lasted a day and a half. That's me! Nothing can be simple. The dentist had a few choice words for his lab that made the crown. So I will be heading back in a few weeks for the new crown(which hopefully will make it past 1.5 days).

And Allison started a class to prepare for the SAT in a few weeks(this one is for real). She was not too happy as her first class was on the same day as her GS Mentor Shadow day. She was very tired and had a lot of tests to study for and not enough hours in the day. But I think the review program is a good idea. (Even if she didn't think so).

  She and Tom also finished up their Indoor Field Hockey Season. Allison played one game as goalie, and then a defense position as another girl tried out the goalie position. Allison really enjoyed trying something new, even though the travel team they played completely wiped them out(travel teams are very serious and practice and play games several times a week).  Allison made the travel team when she was a freshman, but Tom and I were not up to driving her around every week to DC or New Jersey or Delaware for tournaments and games.  I think Tom is happy most of all not to have to worry about coaching anymore.

  He and I have our hands full with this Boy Scout troop! Tom has been taking SCott to his meetings, and even Tom is getting frustrated with the fact that we both have not received our Boy SCout membership even though we paid two years in a row, and filled out the applications and took the Boy SCout safety training program. And it appears that the boys have a different schedule than the parents, so things have been a bit crazy these past few weeks as they work on two merit badges-Communication(which stinks right now-they pointed that out) and Citizenship. Although Tom likes the idea of a small troop, they are just not as organized as I would like. It makes it hard to plan ahead when schedules are so lax. Good thing Tom and Scott are so flexible.

  Enjoy the pictures of Allison and her Girl Scout activities! She is in the back, right in this last picture having her interview!
Kathleen