Girl Scouts

Since I was a kid, Girl Scouts have added another level for younger kids below Brownies, so Genevieve is a Daisy this year. She could have done it last year, but no one wanted to help me lead the troop, and I wasn't dumb enough to do it alone. This year another woman stepped up to the leadership position, and I am "helping." At their first meeting they made Daisy smocks to use as their "uniforms" and learned all that GS stuff like the GS Promise and the Friendship Squeeze.

(This is Genevieve's friend Lauren making her shirt. Genevieve and Lauren were the only ones who got size small.)

(Here is the Friendship Squeeze in action. Genevieve is the one in the dark pink shirt on the far side.)

I am a little peeved that the GSP is still "On my honor I will try to do my best to serve God and my country ..." GSA goes overboard with showing girls of different races/ethnicities at every opportunity, yet they still stick to the old religious underpinnings that come entirely from Christian doctrine. (I haven't heard much about their stance on homosexuality, but I assume it's similar to the Boy Scouts, who are known for being intolerant.) It makes me feel like their message of inclusivity is a load of crap. The current leader is completely oblivious of course, and I think all the other girls in the troop are white and Christian (except for one part-Hispanic girl who was adopted into a white family). I'll be less grumpy about it once they stop doing Christmas activities.

On Saturday we sold GS cookies at a booth outside a local dairy owned by one of the girls' family. This is so much better than the door-to-door method! After my horrible experience with that, I'm not sure if I'll ever let her go door-to-door anyway.

(These are two of the other girls who were selling cookies with us. They used the bells to try to drum up business with the Christmas tree shoppers.)

After that Genevieve went to a birthday party at Sweet and Sassy, a salon for young girls started by a marketing genius. They all got updos, nail polish, blush, sparkle spray, and put on costumes to dance under a disco ball.

(This is after she got home from the party. She's playing her favorite game, chess. She is constantly asking us to play chess with her lately, or she plays it on the computer.)

Getting there

I haven't shown the room in a while, so here's an update. It's now a functioning office, although we still have a lot of work to do to finish it up. The ugly door and window are slated to be replaced professionally in the near future, and we have lots of molding to put up and other small touches.


One thing that made a surprisingly big difference was re-staining the paneling. We had to stain the areas that had been hidden by the old drop ceiling for years, and we found a color that was close but not a perfect match. So we ended up redoing the whole thing, and I like it much better now.


For comparison, see this previous post.

Obama WINS!

Woo-hoo!!!!

Finally, we get rid of the Republican regime! Maybe we can start to fix this country. I hope he can do it. This article from the Onion is sadly accurate in many ways.

I think it's cool that we elected a black man finally, but that's not the big victory to me. I am much more interested in the candidates' ideas and attitudes than in any of their personal attributes. The whole Republican greed + religious idiocy combination makes me so angry and frustrated all the time.

Besides, I have been saying for 20 years that we would elect an African-American president before we ever got a woman president. For a while there was a chance I would be proven wrong, but no, Hillary Clinton's intelligence and ambition were too threatening to most of the moronic public. In addition to what I think is a greater exposure to and tolerance of multicultural backgrounds, Barack Obama is hardly the stereotypical black man, so he's really not all that threatening to most Americans.

P.S. I know it's a little late for Sarah Palin bashing, but if you haven't seen this video, it's hilarious. I think if she had managed to get elected I would have lost all faith in America and started looking into moving to another country.

Picture Perfect Halloween

Fall colors are so beautiful....

This was the first year Genevieve was able to carve her own pumpkin. She picked it out at the farm, drew on the face and did most of the scooping and carving herself.

I think it came out great! She dubbed it Frankenpumpkin.

We had the most perfect weather possible for Halloween this year. It was warm enough to go without coats, which always ruin everyone's costumes. This was truly amazing since it had snowed all day just two days before. In the morning I went to Genevieve's school for a Halloween party where they decorated pumpkin-shaped cookies and made lots of spooky arts & crafts. I didn't see the costume parade because I had to go to work, but it was a lot of fun to see the kids in school. Apparently they walked next door to the nursing home and visited the old folks there. Must have been nice for them, too.

Here is Wonder Woman getting ready for Trick-or-Treating (coat tossed aside). Note that this is the child-appropriate 40's version of the costume, not the over-sexed 70's version.

We went with friends in a nearby neighborhood. This year they really got it. The girls were running from one house to the next, and really enjoyed themselves. The younger siblings could not keep up, and one by one they gave up and went home. We kept losing the other parents, too, as they stopped to talk with friends. Genevieve had no patience for that!

When we got home and sorted the candy, I was amazed to see that it was all good stuff that Genevieve liked. All I was able to snitch was a packet of peanut M&Ms. That's what happens when you go to the good neighborhoods, I guess.

It was really nice to have Halloween on a Friday night, and to have John able to join us for the whole time. Overall I give the day an A+.

Happy Birthday to Doo

In honor of Doodles' 10th birthday on 10/10, Genevieve insisted that we have a party for her. We made one "cake" for Doodles out of canned cat food, treats and catnip, and another for the human guests that was more traditional... Genevieve had to help blow out the candles. I think the cat was more confused than anything, and she got away from there as quickly as possible.

Prince was also invited, although he's not in the photo. We offered him some cake crumbs, but he seemed more interested in running around sniffing at everything. Lately Genevieve has been "teaching" him tricks like a miniature gymnast. A couple of nights ago he came up with his own trick--he figured out how to escape the cage! Smart little rodent.

Also, as long as I'm in my Pictures Folder, here's one of Genevieve on the carousel at the Strong Museum a couple of weeks ago.

Baby Pictures

I had my 20 week ultrasound today! Here's a profile shot of Baby Boy Wright (yeah, we need to work on the name). Isn't he cute?





Here are his little feet and hands.

And here's one of those spooky alien/skull shots from face on.

To spare him future embarrassment I won't post the picture of his "boy parts"!

First Grade!

Well, my little girl is officially a first grader now.

There was a little confusion about the bus this morning. It came on the wrong side of the street. But that means she gets to wait with the girl from across the street, so that will be fun. Also, it turns out that many of her old friends are on the same bus.
Genevieve seemed very happy when I picked her up. The Y after-school program seemed good. She said "everyone is so friendly here!" I asked her what they did in school today. "So many things I can't even remember them... We had free choice time! And snack!" During "star time" she found a book with a picture of a hamster who looks "just like" Prince. Music was apparently her favorite activity. That's not surprising considering she loved it last year, and these days she goes around singing constantly. I am hopeful that it's going to be a good year!