Life With Frenchie

So, I’ve mentioned that I’m a Girl Scout leader and I’ve made mention of some of the various activities that I have participated in with MM and the troop, but I’ve yet to really talk about my Girl Scout experience. To be honest, I’ve been avoiding it. That means that this post is going to be a Girl Scout potluck of sorts. It’s just going to have random stuff in it to try and catch y’all up and, once again, get you inside my head.

I’ve been MM’s Girl Scout leader for the past 3+ years. I started when we were in CT and she was in first grade. It was somewhat by default because I had been trying to get MM into Girl Scouts since she was old enough to be a Daisy but there was always a lack of leaders and then we moved a couple of times. Finally, in CT, I was put in touch with a very wonderful woman who’d been a part of Girl Scouting for years and she helped me get started as a leader. Really, she was the leader of the Brownie troop, but she was only doing it because the original leader had left and she already had two older troops of her own. Together with another mother, I helped take over the troop. I really enjoyed being a leader and working with the girls. I did run into a slight bump when my co-leader did not fully understand what it meant for me to take actuarial exams and that studying took a lot of time! Shortly after that, MM and I moved to Florida and I was actually looking forward to not being a leader because of how much time it took. Being a single mom and taking actuarial exams, I had little free time as it was. Well, all my plans that I made for all the free time I was going to have went right out the window as soon as I realized there were not an abundance of leaders in the Sunshine state. I was somewhat reluctant to take on the responsibility of having a troop again and even more reluctant of co-leading for fear of having another co-leader who did not understand my other responsibilities. I was extremely lucky to find a co-leader who was just as busy as was and was extremely understanding about my career and what went along with it. We started our first year in the middle of the Girl Scouting year and only had 5 girls. At the beginning of the next year, when MM was going into 3rd grade, we lost one girl and two others were only part-time because of other activities. But, as the year progressed, we began to grow.

Going into this year, I was so excited to get going again. We were going to lose another girl, but we had picked up others along the way and had prospects of more girls joining. Our girls were growing right before our eyes and we were finally getting the hang of this leader “thing”! As the year has progressed, I am sad to say, my excitement has quickly faded. We have 11 10-year-old girls in our troop! OY! Yes, I am crazy! This must be some of the most difficult years for girls and we have 11 of them! I have had to deal with attitude, disrespect, Queen B’s, you name it! And, honestly, I’m just not up to it at this point. I have already told my two co-leaders (our awesome cookie mom signed up to help us co-lead) that this year will be my last year as an official leader. I will stick around to help out as a volunteer parent, but I can not stay on and be disrespected in the way I have been by the girls this year. I understand that this has a lot to do with the age that they are and the point they’re at in their lives, but that doesn’t mean I am any more capable of putting up with it. Who knows what will happen in a year or two. Maybe I will be ready to come back, but as of now, my life is overflowing with things, and this is going to be the first to go. Some of you may be thinking “Man, what a cold-hearted wench.” So be it. But I no longer look forward to going to the meetings. I actually dread it. And until I get back to the point where I can honestly say  I want to be at the meetings, I think it’s time for me to take a break - for the sake of my sanity and health, and for the sake of the girls. They deserve to have a leader that is fully involved and if I can only half-heartedly participate, it’s best I don’t participate at all.

That being said, I still have half a year to go and the next thing we have coming up is something I still look forward to - GIRL SCOUT COOKIES! I’m actually excited about this because MM has very lofty goals for her sales this year. She wants to sell 1700 boxes of cookies so she can earn a week at Girl Scout camp. Yeah, crazy, I know…but whoever said I was sane?!?

Oh, poochie wants out….I’ll have to finish this later.

What a busy weekend!

I think I already mentioned this, but I’m having a jewelry party this week. Because of this, I convinced EP that we needed to go ahead and get the front hall and living room painted. We decided a few months back that we were going to eventually have the whole house painted. As of Friday, we had only gotten as far as our bathroom! Neither one of us ever seemed to have enough time, or motivation, to get more painting done. We went last week and picked out a color which was an adventure in and of itself. The way our house is set up, it’s like one long continuous wall from the front door. Even though there are doorways along the wall, there’s no clear division of the wall between the entrance and the living room. We decided to go with one color the entire way but to use a different color for the kitchen/dining area. There’s not much of a division there, either, but enough of one that we could work out a way to end one color and start a new one.

When I got home from work Friday, EP had already painted the hall area with one coat. By the end of the night, we got the second coat finished and the first wall of the living room also got its two coats. We then decided to do the “back” wall of the living room in a different color to kind of add a twist to the scheme. As of this morning, we still have the back wall to do! Our house has a few “soft” corners which are more rounded than 90-degree angles. Have you ever painted those? What a PITA!!! Now’s the time to have my brother, who owns a painting business, come for a visit. LOL We also, once again, confirmed exactly how poorly constructed Inland Homes are! When painting over the archway to our bedroom, the paper covering the drywall kept coming off with the paint roller! How frustrating!

By 6:30 Saturday evening, we had only progressed one wall further from where we were Friday evening. Poor EP started on it early Saturday morning while MM and I were marching in the Christmas parade with our Girl Scout troop. I am of limited utility since my height prevents me from painting much higher than eye level for the majority of the population.

On top of all the painting, both the adults and the child had parties to attend Saturday evening. There was also shopping for a birthday present, shopping for charity, participation in the town Christmas Parade, cleaning, dinner out with the visiting comedian, and a stealth move by moi when I bought MM’s Nintendo DS while at Target with her shopping for the birthday gift! As far as she knows, I bought a gift for EP and I wouldn’t let her see it because she has a big mouth! LOL

Well, at the latest, our walls will be painted and the house back in order Wednesday night. I know…that’s 3 more days, but both EP and I have packed schedules until then. So, for now, I will continue to navigate around the bookshelf that’s parked in front of my bedroom closet and hope and pray that doggie doesn’t get a craving for any of the actuarial texts piled on the floor around the house.

I can’t believe there are only 11 days left until Christmas! I haven’t even opened the Christmas cards, much less signed and mailed them! Also, for some crazy reason, I’m hosting a jewelry party at my house next week, so EP and I are going to be painting like mad folk over the weekend to get that done in time. Hmm…what else can I add to this crazy schedule? Oh yeah, let’s count them off:

1. Christmas parade with Girl Scout troop
2. Birthday party for MM to attend (which means shopping for card and gift)
3. Neighbor’s Christmas party to attend
4. EP’s comedian friend is in town performing this weekend, so dinner and show with him
5. Girl Scout Cookie meeting (YAY! Almost cookie time!!!)
6. Jewelry party
7. Painting
8. Finish Christmas shopping (must get away from EP to buy the last of his gifts)
9. Send Christmas cards
10. Finish client project (not very Christmas-y but, alas, it must be done *le sigh*)

I’m sure there’s tons of things I haven’t covered, but I still feel swamped.

But, it is Christmas time and I LOVE this time of year! We got the tree up this week and it’s gorgeous. We normally go to Home Depot for their trees because their prices are great! Imagine our surprise when we couldn’t find any HD trees this year! We first went to the relatively new HD by the house. There wasn’t even a tent up. We gave them the benefit of the doubt that the store was still new so they weren’t doing it this year. We then drove to the other HD we normally shop at. They had a tent - an empty tent! I talked to my friend who works there and she said that corporate office orders the trees and only ordered 1 shipment for the store! WTF?!?! We ended up going to one of those random lots where the trees are crazy expensive. Our tree was about $20 more than normal. But, I must say, it’s GORGEOUS! I LOVE our tree!

Christmas presents that I’ve ordered have also started arriving. Of course, I’m going to put off wrapping until the last minute. I mean, hey, my life wouldn’t be complete if I actually did things in advance!

So, to close this randomness, I have to figure out how to answer the whole “Is Santa real?” question for MM. Last night was her school’s Winter Wonderland. As a part of the festivities, they had Santa & Mrs. Clause there for pictures. I reminded MM that she had yet to give me her letter to Santa and she started to tell me that some of her friends told her Santa’s not real. I asked her what she thought and she said that she believes Santa is dead and it’s his brothers and sons that do the work for him! Part of me laughs at that, the other part of me wants to say “He’s not real! It’s me & EP that are buying the presents!” I distracted her long enough with my questions that she forgot that I had yet to answer her question about whether Santa existed, but I’m not sure how long I can stall! Any suggestions?

Apparently others have finally caught on that my birthday is supposed to be a multiple-day celebration!

Yesterday evening, after working late, I arrive home to a beautiful flower arrangement. EP’s dad & step-mom had sent it. YAY!

This morning, when I woke up to my alarm, I reached in my pillowcase to turn it off (I use my cell phone) and there was an envelope. It was a gift certificate for a massage! EP rocks!!!

I guess it’s time to come down from my high now…I’m figuring the presents have ended and I have to go back to being a mere mortal. It was fun while it lasted!

So, the school nurse at MM’s school called me this afternoon. I was thrown off because the area code was not the area code of the town where we live. She called to tell me that MM had a “collision” with another child on the playground and was given aspirin and an ice pack. She let me talk to her, and poor MM sounded just awful. She was still sniffly and really soft spoken (for anyone who knows her, that is very out of character! LOL). I asked her if she wanted EP to pick her up, but she’s a trooper and decided to stay at school. She also did not want to ride the bus home, but stay after school for a pizza party. Glad to see my kid has her priorities in order - party before health!

Yes boys & girls…today is that most glorious of days that I have referenced recently. Thirty-three years ago today, at precisely 12:13 PM Eastern, on the hallowed ground of Ft. Benning, inside the sacred halls of Martin Army Hospital, this grand planet was blessed with a presence never before known - ME!

I am a total kid when it comes to my birthday. Even though I am beyond the years of having presents waiting for me when I wake up, I still am just all giddy on my birthday. I enjoy receiving cards, e-cards, e-mails, calls, telegrams, smoke signals…everything. It’s even more special these days because MM loves my birthday, too!

This morning, I went in to kiss her goodbye before leaving for work and she had my presents waiting. There was an artificial carnation (I think from her briding to Juniors in Girl Scouts), a partially used bottle of hand lotion (you’ll smell me coming a mile away!), a little ceramic teddy bear holding a heart (origins unknown…did MM turn to a life of crime to keep her mommy happy???), a picture keychain (I paid for it when I ordered school pictures), a dime (????), a squishy toy that my co-worker and I enjoy playing with (it’s looking kind of old and crusty these days…eewwww!), a keychain that she won at Girl Scout Bingo Night (I keep trying to give it back to her!!) and her favorite little monkey that she sleeps with (all together now - “AWWWWWWWW!!!!”).

Okay, so now where are all the cards with money???? Feel free to leave unsolicited praise and birthday wishes as you drop by!

Well, we made it home safely from our visit with the family. We got on the road around 5:00 PM Thursday and made it to my father’s house just after midnight. EP made it most of the way to Macon before I took over driving. I was worried at first because I was feeling pretty tired myself, but we stopped for gas and coffee and I was amazingly wide awake once I got behind the wheel.

Friday morning we took our time getting up, having breakfast and getting ready. We spent the early part of the afternoon visiting with my best friend from high school and her family. It was good to see them and just sit back and talk. Unfortunately, there’s so much to catch up on, even a few hours is nowhere near enough time. But still, it was great to sit with them for a while. It was even better to walk through the front door and have their two older girls run up and wrap around my legs yelling “Frenchie!!!” (and yes, they call me ‘Frenchie’)

After leaving their house, we made our way over to my brother’s place. My sister-in-law (SIL) was busy cleaning the house for the arrival of my mother (and for our arrival) and the kids, as usual, were everywhere! I LOVE their home!! We relaxed that evening and just ordered Pizza Hut (which reminds me, I need to submit my complaint to them because it was an AWFUL experience) and watched tv.

Saturday, we were up early to go get my mother from the airport. MAN! Has the Atlanta airport changed, or what? Luckily, we were in and out fairly quickly. The only snag was when we got back to my dad’s side of town, there was a motorcycle parade or something going on, so we got stuck in traffic as cops stopped traffic for, literally,  hundreds of motorcycles! UGH! We visited with my dad for a while then headed back to my brother’s place. EP and I promptly planted ourselves on the couch to watch some college football! He was particularly interested in the SEC Championship game since Tennessee was playing. After the first quarter, we made our way to the Japanese steakhouse where me, EP, mom, brother, SIL, dad, my friend, and her fiance celebrated that most glorious of events (c’mon! If you’ve forgotten already, shame on you!!). I had a great time. After dinner, my dad and my friends went their separate ways and the rest of us stopped at one of my brother’s employee’s house where they were celebrating the christening of their daughter. We left with all these neat keepsakes the mom made which, according to them, is tradition to give to the families that attend.

We left Georgia around noon yesterday and were home by 7:00 PM. We were all pooped, but it was very nice to get up to Georgia to spend some time with my family and friends. Needless to say, my eating this weekend wasn’t stellar. I did do my best, but I came back home two pounds heavier than when I left. I don’t think this week will be any easier with going out to eat with EP’s dad and step-mom and the office holiday party Friday night.

Oh, and yeah, there’s a point to the title of my blog entry…I think I got sick on the trip. My throat has been feeling not-so-happy since yesterday! I don’t want to end up getting sick!!! I escaped it last year when MM & EP both came down with miserable colds when we visited at Christmas. This can’t be my turn!! On top of that, I’m pooped!!

So, we had decided that we would not go anywhere far for Thanksgiving this year because we were tired of constantly being on the go for holidays. Like I told you in my recap of Thanksgiving, we did go over to the other Florida coast to visit EP’s family, but that was only a 2 hour drive. So what do we decide to do the week after Thanksgiving? Drive to Georgia of course!

Turns out my mother will be in Georgia for the week on business, and it just happens to be the weekend prior to the anniversary of the most glorious of events (my birthday of course!!), so EP agreed to load ‘em up and head out!

We leave this evening and will spend the night with my father and probably get some visiting with friends in tomorrow while my Sister-in-Law and Brother are at work. Saturday we’re going out to eat and more friends are joining us to help celebrate the most glorious of events (refer back to the 2nd paragraph in case you’ve already forgotten). Since we’re not going anywhere for Christmas this year, except back over to the other coast, this will be my holiday visit with the family. MM will also get a chance to see her cousins and hang out with them for a day or two.

The point still remains though - I need a real vacation!!! Visiting family does not count!

With buying Christmas gifts for MM and EP, that is. I all of a sudden realize I don’t know what to do! Well, I’ve got some stuff listed for MM:

• Nintendo DS (EP & I are still discussing this one)
• DVDs (3)
• Outfits (2)
• iTunes $$
• Books
  • A real dictionary. Her current one is a kid’s dictionary and frequently doesn’t have the words she’s asking us to spell.
  • The Daring Book for Girls
• Jewelry Box (already purchased on clearance)
• Jewelry (earrings & necklace set already purchased)

I need more little things now to fill in and for stocking stuffers. I’m just not sure what. EP doesn’t want her to get things like lip gloss, so that’s out. I’m thinking maybe lotions and powders or bath items.

As for EP, I’m at a loss, and since he browses the blog, I’m not listing my thoughts on what I would like to get him. No cheating EP!!

What are you guys giving? Anyone have suggestions for a 10-year-old girl who’s outgrown “toys”??

It’s been a very busy 3 days for me. This year, we decided to spend our holidays here in Florida and do a little less traveling. We didn’t cut it out completely, but we decided that we didn’t want to spend our entire holiday driving all over the place. El Presidente’s grandparents live across the state and Grandpa is not doing so well, so we headed over there to spend the day with his family. But, of course, it could not be just a relaxing trip cause that would be downright un-American to have a holiday where you rested!

We were on the go from pretty much Wednesday. Along with EP’s Aunt and Uncles, we were all responsible for various parts of dinner, so I prepared a cake and sweet potato souffle Wednesday night along with doing laundry and running last minute errands. MM helped with the laundry and the cake (especially licking the bowl clean!). EP did his part by getting in 18 holes of golf and hitting the bed by 7:30 because he had a headache! We headed out early the next morning and spent the day cooking and playing musical countertops at his grandparents’ house as 5 adults attempted to put together a Thanksgiving meal. I’d say we were all on our feet from about 10:30 AM until we ate around 2:30. Again, after an extremely delicious and filling meal, we were all on our feet making sure the kitchen was clean so as not to leave anything for Nana to do. Of course, you know strong, independent women! There’s no telling them “no”, so she was there by our side making sure all dishes were washed, dried, and put away.

After dinner was had, and things were cleaned up, we sat down around Grandpa and enjoyed such a nice evening with the most wonderful people! Grandpa is not doing well these days and he was home for the day, taking a break from the rehab center he’s living at while he strengthens up his muscles and, hopefully, regains the ability to walk again. We spent several hours with Nana and Grandpa reminiscing about their lives lived all over the world. We laughed and we joked. It was truly an honor and pleasure being invited to spend this holiday with EP’s family. Even though it was only the second time that I have had the chance to meet everyone that was there this Thanksgiving, it felt like I had been a part of the family for years. Nana gave me a tight hug as we loaded up the car and Uncle made promises to MM that there was a paddle with her name on it waiting for her on her next visit.

Today, we did not get much more rest. EP and I headed to Target, at a decent hour, to check out some of their deals. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re my wallet), the deal we wanted was all sold out, so we scooped up a couple of DVDs to add to MM’s Christmas presents and headed home. After an hour or so of rest, MM and I headed out to gift wrap for our Girl Scout troop’s fundraising. Lucky me…I got to spend another 5 hours on my feet!

Now, it’s nearly 11 PM and I’m doing my best to do justice to the past 3 days that I got to spend with my family - both old and new. MM is off at a friend’s house for the night and, surprise, EP is in bed. Actually, he did all the driving and was on his feet all day yesterday and now he’s concerned he may have plantar faciitis, so he’s more than earned his rest. Me? I’m restless and still have a lot to do this weekend, so of course I’m staying up late!

 I am very happy with the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday that I got to spend with my family. I hope that you all had a great holiday, too!