Terrible, I put all kinds of stuff on my google calendar, and now it is down, doesn't google know I need that info?

How could it be down!

I do have a paper version I printed to take with me somewhere..but the whole point of an online calendar is that I always know where it is!

I called last week to speak to the guy in charge of scouting int he area, and the bank we want to set up our account with.

The guy in charge said no big deal, just make sure you have enough people with ID to sign off on it, try this bank the local scout troop has theirs at it.

Fine, no big. I can do that.

I call the bank, they said opening an account is no big deal, but they will have the rep call me back...who never did.

So today my husband and two other willing volunteers head down to the bank at 9am, to open our account.

Not only can they not open it, they are given a list of 10 things you need to open one! WHY didn't they give me this list last week!

And why didn't they guy in charge of scout troops and packs know anything about it?

AND the check we have from the Scout troop needs two signatures on it...which it doesn't have!

I am SOOOOOO NOT HAPPY With any of them right now, Not to mention how unhappy my husband is at having to get up. AND how terrible I feel looking like an unorganized idiot who convinced the other two folk to get up and go, for NOTHING.

I may be an unorganized idiot, but I try really hard not to look like one....

If I had enough dirty laundry to be 'knee deep' in it, I wouldn't have anything to wear and neither would anyone but my husband.

I don't want more clothes, because I am lazy, I hate laundry, I wash it mostly in time to have enough clean towels to take a shower, and enough clothes to have a choice. I aught to do it more consistently (there are 4 loads waiting right now) but I am lazy. I know that.

So keeping my wardrobe small is my defense. Laziness wont let me not take a shower, or not change clothes so after 3 days of not washing towels I have to do some. Or else my husband does . I have the same problem with dishes. If I had enough to skip washing them I would.. terrible but true.

On the plus side, this means a bad streak cannot leave me with too much work to do after!

Eat em plain, make egg salad..and err. yeah

So remind me again why we made so many?

I try to make Challa every year for Easter. In the last 7 or 8 years I have made it 5 times...and every time it is different!

This year I decided to use whole wheat flour in addition to the white...6 half cups of white, half a dozen half cups of whole wheat. The end result was pretty good. Only it tasted better the day we made it than Sunday...

We also tried making 'resurrection' cookies. They are a merang (egg white, no idea how to spell that) style cookie that you make while telling parts of the Easter story. Then you leave the cookies in the oven overnight to cook. They didn't cook quite right so I think we will try them again this week leaving the oven on longer.

Saturday morning we went to the church egg hunt and crafts. The kids had tons of fun, both the older two got hands painted..they really don't know what to think of face painting..the youngest thought the hands was crazy enough! Plus several crafts, and some cool trinkets mixed in with the junk food eggs.

Then after a nap (for mommy) we died eggs, 4 dz just like other years, but unlike other years we didn't have any one to send home a dozen or so with . The kids were very sad about not having any one to share the egg dieing with.

Sunday since it was just us we had burgers for dinner...I think I like the idea of burgers..we o steak for Christmas dinner. Not very traditional, but oh so us.

Next Easter that is. Every year the church has an egg hunt sponsored by the youth group. And the first two years I let the kis enjoy the fun, then dumped all the candy in the eggs into my husbands lunch box. Then I got smart, I went to the after Easter sales and stocked up on little trinkets that would fit in eggs. I actually bought some large eggs on sale as well to fit some larger trinkets.

So while others are out shopping today, I plan on shopping next Thursday (the kids have a dentist appointment, so Husband will be home to drive us around.)

We just got a bunch of rank badges and insignia at the scout store, the total came to $62! How on earth a pile of little badges can add up so fast is a bit beyond me!

I sorted out the reciept to figure out just what was spent on what. only $23 was spent on Rank advancement, the rest was uniform insignia for 4 people.

Which is still a lot!

I noticed that Webelos are more expensive than any other rank. I wonder if we should charge them more or not?

I also decided it would be a lot easier if the total was $25, because we owe 24 for camping, and I would rather eat a dollar than ask them to...and I would MUCH rather not have to cash checks or any other work like stuff.

Right now I have plasn and needs for the next rank of cub scouting, plans and needs for summer, plans and needs for the next few months, plan and needs for a Webelos bike trip, a campig trip, a day camp trip, a summer webelos trip, a august cub trip....and a few other things, like church details and service projects, and fundraising..and well a ton more.

So I sat down today to accomplish a few tasks and blankly stared at the screen. I have so much to do, I couldn't figure out where to start.

I solved it by surfing....but then I got smart. I figure taking it in calendar order might miss something, but not as much as if I spend the rest of my hour surfing!

Finances are a lot like that...if you spend so long debating between highest interest vs lowest amount you will miss the best time to act. Which is now. Hardly ever will paying down something now be the end of the world.

So I am off to organize tonights notes, then Aprils leaders meeting and then April's Pack show.

If there is time, I will pick a new task as well.

I mentioned at our recent leaders meeting that we wanted to firm up the summer plans, and we wanted one event each month that was totally free for all cubs to particiapate in (and mostly free for the pack to run)

I heard some excellent fun suggestions, some kind of mine, a camping trip, etc...none were free. low cost yes, but not free. And when you consider that summer is often a very expensive time for publicly schooled children (no more free kid care) Not to mention the council opportunities are expensive (day camp, resident camp) I cannot see adding our costs on top of that.

I do think the mine and camping would be a great fall or spring opportunity, just not summer.

And I am in confusion as to what is so hard about the word 'free'.....

So far the 'planners' (not leaders) have come up with a bike rodeo, a cub olympiad, a 'fair'...all things that would be free to participate and cheap to run.

I am wondering..can I buy used badges on ebay to give out? I would (will) use used ones for my kid (hand me downs from brother in law) but I am not sure other parents would be willing to use them.

I am going to try and scrounge up leader books on ebay...I see no reason we can't reuse them if I can find them..and we certainly cannot afford new ones.

Of course making sure they are the proper year format is important (to others, my kid can suffer!) and washing any cloth (shirts neckerchiefs) would be important, but I wonder if we could use the pins and such used?

Betcha BSA wouldn't approve! but BSA isn't the one with $50 worth of badges to buy and $16 in the bank!

While commenting on the success of getting another volunteer for the church nursery, I was asked "Just how many pies do you have your fingers in?"

Well umm, not that many, scouts, nursery staffing, Sunday school leading, and my own kids. Oh yeah and minor assistance on the CE team.

Since most of it involves sitting down it isn't so bad even while pregnant. I imagine all of the jobs would be better done if I focused on any one of them...but I am not a very focused person anyway! If I can find a replacement I will, but in the meantime I just try my best.

Aside from gas there is insurance and tags (the sticker on the back) and taxes.

Suppose I wanted a car...what would it really cost me?

Most folk think it can't be much, tags and taxes are often not much more than 200 a year. And insurance for an extra old car isn't much.

The secret to my savings is I do NOT drive. That means I am not insured at all to drive (I do not have a license, I do NOT drive)

Sure it can be inconvenient, and it has created a few raised voice discussions in the house. But in general, once you get used to something it is no big deal.

My husband does ALL the driving. I do all the scheduling..as in honey drive here and here, and here .

This also means that when I see a cool class or neat show, I don't go unless it is after my husband can get off work. further savings. I would find room in the budget to pay for many fun things (trips to the science center, and the like) if I had the ability to get there.

But I don't. Now if I had more money and less needs I might consider it, after all I find trips to the nature center to be very good for kids. As is we only go once a month or so. Also as is, we save that money. Right now saving/paying of the car is more important.

For once it will be an easy task..we are so busy there is no way I can cook most days! So no 'fancy food' grilled cheese or something I can nuke will be it.

Fortunatly I am not known for good food so no one will be to terribly upset

I had this whole post rant about volunteers and how folks need to not expect a volunteer run pack to be perfect (and/or they could help make it so) but I lost it.

So just imagine a tirade against folks not living up to the cub scout motto of 'do your best' here.

Apparently there are a lot less ebay bargains for wolf scout supplies than there were for Tiger.

And Daisy scout is nigh on impossible! fortunately we have time.

PA has tons of 'education stuff' museums, art, children's, and history, science center, Aviary, zoo, plus many parks exhibit farms, conservatory, and so on.

We don't ever have time to do them all, but while in PA visiting family we aim to do one a trip. This trip was the Aviary.

The youngest, UE liked it best, he was talking up a storm about all the different birds, unfortunately we went too late to see the best shows and feedings, but we did still see birds, my husband got to feed a couple, and the kids learned a bit.

GMC had a chance to see a Hyacinth Macaw. which he had recently read about. And there were several (injured) Bald eagles.

When we got back we lamented the cost to a friend...their response "did you think it was cheap" in the kind of tone I would use to ask "why the .... did you waste money on that?"

Now I could be reading into it, after all the words used were not "you are an idiot to spend that" so I promise to let it go after this post, but I did want to complain about money first.

I would rather spend 30 dollars (rounded for the sake of simple math) on one trip to see and learn about birds with my kids than buy 30 dollar store toys. How about 10 typical 'cheap toys? Nope I'll take the Birds. 2 trips to McDees? nope I will pass and see the birds.

You know I really don't like 'cheap' things. I have expensive tastes in some ways.

Speaking of expensive tastes, we also ate out (I could have packed, but well didn't want to....I used my birthday money to eat out)

Did we go to McDees? Nope, a sit down place that served whole wheat bread with the meals. OK fine it wasn't exactly 100% whole wheat (I assume) and the pasta was white pasta. But the veggies were not canned, and the food was good. And this nice waitress lady brought me lots of refills on my water . The total fat content of the meal was lower than a fast food meal, and the veggie availability was better. (not that we never eat fast food, we just lean toward Arbys and the like, where we can get fruit and non white bread)

I don't ask for money from family, nor government, I do spend it in 'odd' ways. I go to expensive museums and the like, I eat whole wheat bread (that cost twice or even thrice that of a decent white loaf) I spend my money where I feel I get the most benefit..and what is the point of having enough money to live till I am 180 if I my health has long since given out due to lousy eating? (don't get me wrong I am not giving up my chocolate or pringles any time soon - just moderating them).

By the same token what is the point of being 180 if I never get to see/learn of more than what in my own front yard? Nah. I want to spend my money on good healthy (ish) food and good healthy (ish) entertainment.

So no, not cheap, but worth a good deal of loot to me.