The Queen's Rambles

I’ve been so busy that I can’t believe it’s only Saturday.

Friday was nuts. We had Erik’s conference (went well, he’s at a first grade level for most things, he’s stopped telling his teacher “I already know that” and will listen to her most of the time, he is an asset to the class, he’s wiggly–nothing I didn’t already know), a birthday party and a dinner with new friends. That’s a lot to pack into six hours. How did I become a social butterfly? It’s almost a relief to go to Elsa’s new class and not know a soul. I am not even going to try to be vivacious. I don’t have room in my life for more new friends.

I’ve just made a friend who wanted our husbands to meet because they are in the same business. I think she wants her husband to get a new job so she doesn’t have to move to an undesirable location in the very new future. Networking with Mike couldn’t hurt.

It turns out that her husband and Mike have a lot of people in common. They were both shocked to meet someone in “the business” here in our little town and seemed to have an enjoyable time talking about stuff that flew right over the non-rocket scientists’ heads. I see more dinners in our future.

I think I was really tacky because I took home the left overs from the dinner. The hostess said they don’t eat leftovers; they just throw them away. This was a travesty in my little money saving heart, so I asked if I could take them. I felt bad asking, but not bad enough to keep my mouth shut. The food was good! Better it go in my belly than the trash can.

We got home late, got the kids in bed and watched Fringe. I can’t believe the fall finale is next week. It just barely got started.

Today was really outside my norm.

I had to get up at 6:45 so I could make it to Camp Fire training at an ungodly hour. Ok, so it was at 9. But the location was a good 45 minutes away in good traffic, which means my overachiever friend and I left 1.5 hours early. We only got there with 20 minutes to spare after getting lost because of Google Maps and a road that didn’t exist.

The training was . . . interesting. I think the trainers needed some serious training on how to train. I’m still confused about a lot of things.

Our Council (what they call a big area) is not very large at all. For several years they were completely dormant, so they’re still in the re-building stages. They only have five family clubs in the whole area. They focus on after school programs, in school programs, and programs that meet the needs of at-risk youth. They have a staff paid for by grants and the staff runs those programs. The office is in a ratty, old apartment complex that was kind of scary. It was not comfortable, but they have meetings there with the kids in the neighborhood. They actually do a whole lot of good in communities and I am really pleased that we hooked up with them. I do wish there were some more family clubs in the area so we could do group outings with them. I don’t know if all the clubs feel like a low income thing or if that is just our area vibe because they don’t have many family clubs. Everyone I talk to has never even heard of Camp Fire. I guess it’s a lot bigger on the West coast. As soon as Erik started talking about scouting I knew we would try to do Camp Fire. I refuse to put my son in a program that discriminates against anyone.

We are all trained now, though I still feel like we don’t have much of a clue what we are doing. We have to figure out how to finance all our projects. We have a few options. Pay dues or just all throw money in a kitty. Do we need a treasurer and bank account? How much do we each pay? Sounds complicated. I prefer to be told what to do and have become used to money being very tightly controlled because of my MOMS Club involvement. I am not comfortable with money talk.

At least the meetings are completely planned. They have a curriculum that we follow. We can change things up a bit, but overall everything is spelled out, which will make it very easy in the beginning. We’ll just have the kids pick a goal, then we’ll follow the page in the book that will get us to that goal. As the kids get older they get to make more choices, but we will learn about that when the kids enter 3rd grade. We’ve got a ways to go. Right now our kids want to dig for fossils, so I don’t know how we’re going to fit that in or if there is a page in the manual for fossil digging.

I’ve been so busy that I keep thinking today is Sunday. I’m so glad I have another day to rest, though I don’t think it will be very restful since Mike has to do a lot of working from home tomorrow. Bah humbug. It makes me want to go have a little retail therapy.

There will be no retail therapy for me. Mike and I have made a deal. As soon as we (and by we, it is mainly me since I’m the spender and he’s the saver) have saved XXX amount of money, we are going to buy a new dining room table. It’s going to be our Christmas gift to each other (though I made a rule that we still have to stuff stockings for each other and give each other a $30 present under the tree. I like opening presents.). As I continue to save money through out the year we will buy the chairs. I get a new chair each time I reach a certain savings goal. I think this will work well for me. I have a hard time saving money when the goal is “retirement” since that seems so far off* (even though I logically know how important it is). It is easier when it is a tangible goal.

Once the dining room set is complete, we will move on to our next household goal. I can’t decide if a new bathtub or hardwood floors are the priority. Or maybe a new sofa and chair for the basement. You shouldn’t have to find a pillow pet to sit to make the couch tolerable. Not only is it mentally disturbing to sit on a pillow pet, the head is really uncomfortable if you don’t position it correctly.

Maybe this problem could be solved with other cushions. My son is obsessed with pillow pets, though, so we have several floating around the basement.

*Don’t worry. We are still saving for retirement. That money comes out of the paycheck immediately and doesn’t count towards my dining set fund.