Monthly Random Acts of Kindness - October

Here is my update for October.  My monthly Random Acts of Kindness.

As I said in my January post, it's pretty easy to reach a goal of one random  act of kindness a month.  Especially if you look at all of the little things that you do.  This is a summary of the kind things that I have done this month.

Gave away some produce from my garden
let people ahead of me in line*

Gave a quarter to someone for a cart
Greeting people on the paths during my walks
Read books to kids on Star Wars Read Day
Saying hi to people in the car next to me

*I let a guy ahead of me at the grocery store and he must have thanked me a half dozen times.

How did your list for Random Acts of Kindness look this month?

Looking for ideas for Random Acts of Kindness?  Check out this post here. 

Accident Prone

Lately I have had a long run of accidents.  We aren't talking car accidents.  Just small, little situations where getting hurt is involved.

Lets start off with getting bit by the dog.  Yes.  Pippen bit me.  It wasn't his fault.  I don't think he realizes he bit me.  I brought him to the bus stop with me.  We are trying to work on his social skills...he gets a little crazy when around other dogs.   It's not a good crazy, more like a psycho attack dog crazy.  Anyway, Pippen was being "OK" when two other dogs approached the bus stop.  I made him lay down.  All was well until the two dogs decided to bark viciously at him.  I went to hold his snout and, he moved, my finger went between his teeth as he continued to bark.   Ouch!  No, I didn't get upset with him.  Like I said, he had no clue.  I should know better (the little rascal!).  This happened a couple of weeks ago and my finger is still sore.

A couple of days later, as I was making cookies, I took the last cookie sheet out of the oven and placed it on the counter and somehow burned the inside of my arm.  I did a good job.  It got infected. It's getting better now but, my arm still hurts.

When I went to check on dinner in the oven last night I burned the top of my hand.  I should have pulled the pan out of the oven, but, somehow spaced out and just put my hand in there to check it.  Yea, I guess I'm not that smart.

Today at work I was checking in boxes and got a paper cut (cardboard box cut?) on my hand.

I think my plan is to stay away from hot pans and sharp objects for a little while.

Juniors: Juliette Gordon Lowe Birthday Party

As you fellow Girl Scout's know, Juliette Gordon Lowe (the founder of Girl Scouts) was born on October 31.  For our Junior Girl Scout Meeting, we decided to have a little birthday/Halloween celebration.  We let the girls wear their Halloween costumes.  This meeting happened to take place on a Friday, the day of their Halloween party at school, so, they were already dressed.  :)

When the girls came in, we had them start making their haunted gingerbread houses.  Our materials:  graham crackers, orange frosting, Halloween M & M's, candy pumpkins, candy corn, chocolate chips and ghost peeps.  We let the girls use their imagination and I think they snuck a few candies for themselves...

We had some games lined up:

Juliette Gordon Lowe Says (shortened to, Juliette Says)
Eyeball relay
Halloween buckets (bozo buckets, but tossing the ball into pumpkins)
Juliette Gordon Lowe Story
Freeze Dance (with Halloween songs, of course)

We ended the party with a sweet treat.

Ghost Town

The other day, RT was out working on the deck.  A chore that goes faster with two people.  I helped out a couple of times but then got sick.

While RT was working on the deck, I decided that it was time to officially end summer and take down the garden.  Taking down the garden is always a sad time for me.  With two gardens, it's a huge task, and with me not feeling well, it makes the task that much harder.

I worked away for quite awhile.  Finally I said, "Isn't it funny that when we have work to do around the house, the kids disappear?"

I went into the house and all was eerily quiet.  I looked around, not a kid in sight.  It was like a ghost town.  Dirty dishes left around the sink. (yea, they left a huge pile on the counter)  I was waiting for the ghost sounds (chains, screams, etc.)It's like the kids heard my footsteps and ran away.  Well, it's not like they are going to actually volunteer to do the dishes or empty the dishwasher.

I called down the two who were home and put them to work.  There wasn't much left to do in the garden, but they complained about it anyway.

Getting in the mood for Halloween

Fall is finally here!

I have a few crafts that I have done in the past here on the blog.  Here is a quick list of my Halloween crafts:

Halloween
Bat Pencil Cup
Extra Crafts - using construction paper, owls, witch, ghost, foam monsters
Mosaic Pumpkin - using paint chips
Mosaic Pumpkin - using construction paper
Owl - using construction paper
Pony Tail Craft - using ribbon
Pumpkin and Ghost - using Popsicle sticks
Pumpkin Magnet - using foam
Spider - using pipe cleaners
SPIDER
Spider (under $1 craft)
Witch's Hat

You can check out my full list of crafts here.

Thought I would put some links to a couple of yummy fall favorites:

Halloween Candy Cupcakes (not a recipe, but, what to do with extra leftover candy)
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hopefully these will help you get into that Fall Halloween spirit!

First Junior Girl Scout Meeting

It seems I get quite a few hits on Girl Scout Meeting Ideas, so, since our girls have bridged to Juniors, I thought I would continue to share what we have been doing at our meetings.  I hope these posts help you.

It's difficult planning a first meeting.  You know the girls will all be excited to see one another and will all have a lot to tell everyone.   We decided to make this a fun meeting for the girls.

Our meeting is one hour long without snack.

Our opener (when the girls start filing in) is to have the girls fill out a note card with three ideas of what they did over the summer.

We started the meeting off with our pledge, promise, law and attendance.

We went around and had each girl share just one of the fun things she did over the summer (we only have an hour, and if we let them, the girls will talk and talk).

Then we moved into the fun part of our meeting.  We had the girls make Duct Tape purses using empty Girl Scout cookie boxes.  Yes, we saved these from the previous years  We used these when the girls were younger with some of their financial badges.  We thought we would do a craft with them and the girls can use them as a purse or a place to store their Girl Scout treasures.

We purchased several rolls of duct tape.  We told the parents (prior to the meeting) that the girls can bring in their favorite duct tape for this project.

While the girls were covering their boxes and making little designs, we discussed the badges that we were going to earn during our two years as Juniors.  The girls were excited about all of them (I think they would have been happy if we started them all right then and there!).  We then discussed the Bronze Award that we would be earning during these two years.  How it's a two year project and that it's the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can achieve.  We gave examples (ideas) of what other girls have done and a few suggestions that they might want to do for their award.  We told them to think about what they would like to do (our girls pretty much knew what they wanted to do, but, we said to think a little more and we will discuss and decide at the next meeting).

Here is one of the duct tape boxes.  Bella used white duct tape so she could use a dry erase marker on it, so there is a little green tint to it.

And, there you have it.  A quick, easy meeting that's informative and fun!

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Just reading the title sounds delicious, doesn't it?

What to do with those bananas as they are starting to go bad.....

Make banana bread!  


"When life hands you ripe, mushy bananas, make banana bread."


I wanted to try something different than regular banana bread.  I searched around and found this recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread here.   I wasn't sure how it would go over here, but, hey, why not try something new, right?

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar*
2 eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Directions:

Oven 325 degrees F.

Grease a 9x5 glass loaf pan**

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Stir bananas, milk and cinnamon in another bowl and set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in banana mixture.

Stir in Flour mixture until well blended.

Add Chocolate Chips until combined and pour into loaf pan.

Bake for 70 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean)  Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool on a wire rack.  (cool completely before slicing)




* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Of course, there are some changes....

*I read through some of the comments and decided to change white sugar to brown sugar.  I even cut the amount in half.

**The recipe says that it works better in a glass loaf pan.  I used a glass loaf pan and had no problems with this recipe.

This Chocolate Chip Banana Bread disappeared within 12 hours, so, I would say that it was a hit.

If you try making it, let me know!

Enjoy!

Bus Stop

Bella asked when she can walk to the bus by herself. I said, why?  She asked, when I'm in ninth grade?

Me:  well, I plan on going off to college with you. 

Bella:  Oh. 

Me:  and walking you to class. And rooming with you. 

Bella and I then thought about what it would be like...me, in college with her.

Flash forward to that time:  

Me:  (reading a letter) We got invited to a party! 

Bella:  But the invitation says, "To Bella"

Me:  Yea!  We got invited! 

Bella:  I think it's time for you to go home. 

Me:  but who will walk you to class? Or cut up your food at meal time?  Or read you a bedtime story?  Or yell, "Don't forget to wipe!" As you are walking down the hall to the bathroom?

I think she's getting scared. 

Manic Monday

Six o'clock already
I was just in the middle of a dream
I was kissin' Valentino
By a crystal blue Italian stream

Alex missed the bus this morning.  When I knocked on his door he said he didn't miss the bus because it's 6:16am.  I said it's 7:16am.  (the bus arrives at 6:30am)

So, there I am, quickly driving him to school.  I made a stop at the grocery store on the way home.  I couldn't remember all of the things I needed so I'll have to make another stop at the store on the way home from work.  

There is dance class today and I promised Alex we would pop tags at the thrift store to find some items to wear for homecoming week (that's this week).

It's just another manic Monday

I wish it was Sunday

'Cause that's my funday

My I don't have to runday

It's just another manic Monday

So, that's my theme song for the day.  If you want to hear it and see the video, click here.

Hope your Monday is off to a better start.

Cough Attacks

Yes. I finally went to the doctor. And, just as I thought, it's a cold. Apparently it's going around and the cough can last up to three weeks.  RT said, "That isn't bad considering you're a week and a half into it."

I'm just happy that it isn't bronchitis. I do have some real bad cough attacks. I have been coughing so much lately that the kids can identify me by my cough. Alex was at the orthodontist and said he heard coughing and immediately knew it was me. 

My side hurts from coughing so much.  

I find it interesting that if I go into a full cough attack, my family ignores me. I think they are so used to hearing me cough that its like a background noise to them. I can cough myself to death and they wouldn't realize what happened to me for a week. 

Again, hoping this ends soon. 

Oh, that constant coughing you hear in the background?  That's me.  I can use a glass of water, by the way. Thanks. 

Zoned Out

Lack of sleep.

Taking this medication may make you drowsy.

Coughing fits in the middle of the night.

Lozenges and Vitamin C are now a part of my diet plan.

Coughing fits during the day.

Hoping this ends soon.

I think I have perfected the art of coughing.

While waiting at Dance class....

Me:  (coughing)

Janitor:  "Are you going to make it through the night or what?"

Me:  "I hope so.  I didn't make it last night."

Sleeping on the Couch (part 2)

I have another bad cough. Not sure if its allergies. Maybe it's bronchitis. Or maybe this is just how it is for the rest of my life. I'm the one with the horrible cough. You can pick me out in a crowd. Especially if you're blindfolded.  Just listen for that one person coughing up a lung.

I was sleeping on the couch the other night. I think the couch is just an extension of our bedroom. One of us is sleeping on it. Anyway. It was late. (Maybe 11pm?) (when you are up all night coughing and you don't get any sleep, 9pm is late) I'm laying on the couch trying not to cough and I hear Nick come home. I know he left to take his girlfriend home and was surprised he got home so quickly. He walks into the house talking. I thought, great. He didn't take his girlfriend home. Or maybe he brought a friend home. He's talking and talking. Making his way to the kitchen. And here I am laying on the couch in the family room in my pajamas.  Embarrassing.  He walked into the family room and stopped talking.  I couldn't say anything for fear of a coughing attack. So I just stayed there quietly.  He walked back into the kitchen talking. I wasn't listening to anything he was saying but at some point I figured he was just talking to himself. He eventually went to bed and I fell asleep. 

I relayed the story to the rest of the family the next day. RT thought it was hilarious. Bella said he talks to himself all the time in his room. Alex wanted to know what he was saying and why he was talking to himself (he thinks Nick might have been talking on his phone).  I was just glad he didn't turn the light on in the family room and sit down on the other couch with a friend (or girlfriend).

*Want to read more about Sleeping on the Couch?  Click here.