I'm not dead, but I am about ready to throw in the towel.

I've spent the past week working on the most most hideous bathroom in the world. It has a skylight....so very high ceilings. It also has wallpaper that was put up over unprimed drywall.
(shudder)
It also has carpet.
(double shudder)

I have the wallpaper down and have finally found the path that will lead to nice smooth tan walls. I also have all the stuff I need to have a beautiful tile floor.
What I'm short on, however, is time. Every moment that isn't spent in our homeschooling, sports, scouts, therapy, family....is spent in the bathroom.

One the floor and walls are done then it's time to move on to stripping the vanity and replacing the faucets and light fixtures.

Aw shoot....I forgot all about the water damaged ceiling that needs to be re-textured and painted and the trim that needs to be repaired around the skylight that caused all this work to need to be done in the first place.

it will get done....it WILL get done....but when is the question.

So.....if I'm not here.....I'm in the bathroom.

The Army Giveth and the Army Taketh Away ... plus some knitting

ZD was all excited about his upcoming change of duty station, even though I was a little reluctant to move to a place where all the "trees" were better classified as tall bushes.

Well the General is not as big a fan of change as ZD is. So the change of duty station is not going to happen for quite some time.
Nope.

So I'm back to wondering if we'll ever end up somewhere that I can wear all those neat hand knit things. I'd love to make some mittens and sweaters that actually have sleeves.
Because I live in the sweltering South, I'm limited in what I can knit and actually wear for more than a two week period in February.

Here's my one and only sweater.

The color is off in this picture. It's really more of a lilac.

The Details: This sweater, which is more like a glorified vest, was knit in the round from the bottom up. (I love that.) It made out of KnitPicks shine which is a cotton. This puppy weighs a ton, but it doesn't stretch out of shape through the day like most cotton knitwear is prone to do.

All in all, I love it. It was fun to knit and looks great on me. I may pick out that that bind off edge at the neckline and do a few more rows of decreases and make the seed stitch trim a little larger. The boat neck is my only beef with the entire pattern. Oh, the pattern is from the Fall '09 issue of Interweave Knits and was simple enough for me to understand.

Here's a little closeup of the heart-shaped cables up the front. These were so much fun after I learned how to cable without a cable needle.

This little seed stitch section in tactically delicious. My niece has requested a sweater made entirely of seed stitch so she can pet it all day.
And since the weather has finally gotten a little cooler, I might be able to wear it for a couple of hours.

An answer about Science and Scouts

LimeGreen's Mom wrote:

I am amazed at the size of your cub pack!! How do you do it? My son's pack
is about 23 registered and 20 coming out on a cub night, and that is a
VERY healthy well attended group where we live. There is just too much
competition with other activities now and the numbers in scouting have gone
down(in Canada).
On another note, I am going through science curriculum
choices and I noticed you went from Singapore to Science Explorer and wondered
if you could tell me your opinion on the programs and why the switch to
Explorer.......and how easy it is to run the labs in both Singapore and
Explorer.
Thanks Zillions,
Robin

Robin,
We're actually not that huge for a pack in this area. There are several with over 100 Cubbies in them. There are 22 packs in our county, one for each elementary school and 2 LDS packs. We have about 20 to 25% participation in most schools. This area is very big on Scouting and I am so fortunate to have the District headquarters and Scout Store about 20 minutes from my house. It sure makes things easier for me. That said, sports are also big in the area which is big competition for Scouting. I just let parents know that it's okay to miss a scout event every now and then. I would rather have the boys in the scouting program than not. If they have to miss meetings for a month due to soccer practice, then Mom and Dad can work on achievements at home.

As for Science,
I use the Singapore Science through 5th grade and then switch over to Science Explorer. I don't have any experience with the middle and high school Singapore Science texts, but I'm sure they are good. I already owned the Science Explorer books and I enjoy them. Of course, every year is different and I may change my mind by the time the younger two get to middle school. But it works for now.

I use Singapore Science for 1st-5th because I think that's the time to teach scientific thinking and how to process and inter-relate information. Singapore is excellent for that. I like that scientific process and reasoning is the emphasis instead of science facts.
For middle school, kids are ready for a more meaty program. They can handle the vocabulary and the heavy science facts. That's when I switch to Science Explorer. I know that it is completely opposite of the Classical education model but it's just my experience from teaching public school, homeschoolers, and my own kids.

As far as running labs, I don't have any problem. But, big caveat here, I have a lot of equipment in my house....even before I started homeschooling.
Space is always an issue because we have to live in this house and I don't have a dedicated homeschool space. But there is always something growing over in a corner and you should check the food containers to make sure the contents are edible and not part of an experiment. (I have some eggs de-calcifying in the fridge at this moment for an osmosis experiment.)

In both programs, it is easy to substitute materials and the experiments themselves are not difficult to perform. Singapore is harder to schedule but easier to use. Science Explorer is easier to schedule but you'll have to write your own tests.

Neither is as easy as BJU or Apologia where everything is all scheduled, planned, and you can buy a materials kit.
But they are both excellent for those looking for a secular science text.

I hope that helps.

A bit of knitting and a lot of corn

I've decided that since this my blog, I'm going to post what I want on it. Which means I'm going to talk about my 4 boys, life in the Army and occasionally I'll talk about why I think home education is great and a little bit of my knitting. I'm also going to continue to delete the cowardly anonymous comments.
Really, if you're going to post nasty comments about a 6-year-old child, at least put on your big girl panties and put your name on your nastiness.

So I knit some stuff.
Actually, I knit a lot of stuff but I've only taken pictures of a couple of lacy things.

Hi ya'll! Here's my first bit of lace. I had never knit a shawl before. Hats, socks, scarves...I even knit a sweater. (It was kind of a cheater sweater. I'll drag out some photos later on.) This particular shawl was great for me because I knit it with sock yarn. And it was ridiculously easy. Other than that, I can't tell you anything else. I can't remember the pattern, the yarn color, or what size needles I used.

Here's my second piece of lace. I can tell you more about this one.

The red yarn is Socks that Rock (Brick) that was double stranded. The multi-color is Noro Iro in some unknown colorway. The pattern is from the Fall issue of Knitty, Colonnade. I knit the red for a few extra rows and knit the multicolor for a few extra rows. I also added extra toggle buttons and totally skipped that i-cord stuff. (The thing has holes in it for the buttons. Why make more.) I wanted this to be more of a poncho than shawl. I figure it will be nice on those "too warm for a coat" days. I totally love it and I'm really glad that I finally found a use for all that Iro.

And what have the boys been up to?

(See, I do discipline them.) We headed out to the Corn Maze with a couple of the cousins. There was much corn, lots of stuff to play on, and many, many little critters to hold and pet.

All the boys want ZD to build a "Corn" box for them to play in.
Matty wants us to install the zip line that we own but is still sitting in a box in the garage.

The oldest one has embraced his naturally curly hair and started using my shampoo. (ZD says he looks like he has a perm.)
Sammy....well, he's being the bold, grab-life-by-the-horns kids that he's always been.

And Anders has decided that he wants to be a farmer. (Good thing we have a farm for him) He has a special affinity to pigs and chickens.

Much fun was had by all.

It's been a few months so it must be time to go camping again.

Yep, We're packing up all the Zoo gear and heading 14 miles up the road to camp at the Lake. Just me, ZD, the boys and 116 other folks from our Cub Pack. And I'm in charge of this little dog and pony show.
Actually, this is my second time camping this month. I'm sure getting my money's worth out of all those supplies.

This camp out is our annual fall camp. With so many participants, we've elected to do our own instead of going to the district sponsored event.

I'm get a little woozy thinking about where I'm going to put all the tents and how much food to buy for the Saturday night dinner. (Which thankfully, I do not have to cook.) We're having spooky games, finishing the Leave No Trace award, having some den time, and eating a criminal number of s'mores.
And just for fun, we're bringing a half-dozen Boy Scouts along to camp with the Webelos II's. They are camping as a patrol and cooking their own meals in a their own little camping areas. The Scouts a little nervous and wildly excited about the whole idea. The parents are just nervous.
We're kind of in denial about the fact that these boys will be full-fledged Boy Scouts in just a few more months. For most of them, this will be their first time they've camped in a tent without Mom or Dad.

I'm packing everything that might be remotely useful. Even the microwave for popcorn. We're Cubbies....we don't have to rough it.

Another reason why my children must be homeschooled

I can't send them to public school. Nope.
The "baby" who is 1st grade this year in here in the living room doing his math workbook on the coffee table.
As he does each problem, he says it out loud in a game show voice....."Seven plus two is...NINE. Then he sings his little theme song while he writes down the answer.
Dun-nu dun-nu nuuuuu dun-nu-nu-nu.
Which I guess is better than him randomly singing verses of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" like he was yesterday.

Oh yeah, the PS teachers would just love this kid. He'd be "on red" and I'd get phone calls every single day.

First Pack Meeting 2009

Our Pack has really grown this year. We have 75 registered Cubs and Webelos. Tuesday night, 38 of them came to the pack meeting. That's pretty good considering that the fall soccer program is huge here and we're in the middle of football season also.

All the boys were excited and happy to get involved. I had 5 Boy Scouts at the meeting whom helped my Most Awesome Assistant Cub master herd all the boys into the largest game of Duck, Duck, Goose that I've ever seen. (We had multiple Ducks. It was a fun chaos.)

While the MAAC entertained the boys, I met with parents about popcorn sales, the upcoming Scout event on post, and our plans for Boo! Camp.

We have so many people interested in camping that we are skipping our District Spook-o-Ree and are hosting our own fall camp out instead. We're going Tent-or-Treating. We're going to have games like Doughnut-on-a-string, Pumpkin bowling, Spider Toss, Mummy and Ghost Relays, Bobbing for apples, and pumpkin painting. Or course there will be a campfire with scary stories, songs, skits, and s'mores. We'll even throw in a pack fellowship dinner and a service project for the church that gives us the entire lakefront campsite with a playground, swim areas, full kitchen, rec room, and seriously hot water in the showers for $40....for the whole weekend. We have the place to ourselves, it's only 15 miles from our church, and it has cell phone service.

Now I just have to get planning the activities. Anyone have any other ideas for activities?

Army Induced Whiplash

ZD's branch manager is quickly becoming one of my least favorite people.
I don't care if I move or even where....I would just like a general idea of when.
One year...two years...one year...two years... 10 months!
I'm getting whiplash from the whole thing.

Guess what?

My computer has been raised from the dead. Hooray for ZD! My system is all wiped clean and I'm back on a keyboard that I can actually type on.

But I've lost all of my links. That was one of the files that ZD didn't save. So send me the blogs, homeschool sites, curriculum providers, boards, and knitting sites. (And if you happen upon some good right wing political blogs, I'll check them out too.)

I have my computer back. Dude, I do love my Dell.

Answers have been posted for the ones no one could guess.
The rules:
1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie (or get them out of your capacious memory).
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating!

Good luck...I have a very odd taste in movies.

1. "I wish I could do something about this. But I can't. But I can promise you two things. One: I'll always look this good." (hint: Cartoon with Eddie Murphey in it.) "Shrek." I guess y'all haven't had to sit through this one as many times as I have.

2. "When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled."
(hint: this one is sung. Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin!) "Monty Python's Holy Grail." I can't believe no one got this. You know the movies with the great lines about killer rabbits, flesh wounds, and the average speeds of sparrows.

3. "I wanna name her Dottie after my wife. She's a vicious life-sucking b!tch from which there is no escape." (hint..."No Harry. You da' man." Bruce Willis is in this one.) Seanna must not have been ny because she would know that this was "Armageddon," one of my favorite movies to rewatch.

4. "You're not much use to me alive are you, Turkish?" (Brad Pitt plays an not so attractive dude in this flick. Violence, profanity, and some of the best one-liners ever.) I'm not Surprised that no one knew "Snatch" directed by Guy Ritchie. ZD and I love this one and quote this line to each other all the time.

5. "Lee-loo Dall-as mul-ti-pass." Nisha knows that one is from The 5 Element and I know she knows at least one of these.

6. "Insanity runs in my family... It practically gallops." (The first of my favorite Cary Grant movies.)Mary got this one. It's Arsenic and old Lace.

7. "I think I at least deserve a chance to be with Derek!" (This one's not out on DVD yet. Jacob keeps quoting this line spoken by a gelatinous creature.) Monsters Vs. Aliens. Make sure you get this one on DVD. It's really great.

8. "Well, you see, actually I was on my way to Australia..." (One of two movies that have the same cast and basic story. And made back to back. Something about a sheriff.) Support Your Local Sheriff. And the go-along Support you Local Gunfighter.

9. "Oh, I love you, Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is, I love you! I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you!"
(Another Cary Grant movie. This one co-stars Audrey Hepburn.)Mary got this one too. Charade. If you haven't seen this one, queue it up on Netflix.

10. "According to the War Department, I *am* my wife."(My last Cary Grant movie. I have a thing for Cary Grant. I recently bought the DVD of this one. Poor Cary has to deal with being an Army spouse.) Hopewell got this one. I Was a Male War Bride.

Day 9 without my laptop

My laptop bricked. It's just a glorified paperweight at this very moment. Thankfully, it died in a dramatic fashion and while it was in it's throes, ZD managed to save all of my pictures, files, music, and my beloved Outlook pst file.
However, I can't access any of those things. They exist on an external hard drive upstairs in some little dusty corner of ZD's study. I really hope it's not on that noisy humming one. That's one is going to give up the ghost any minute.

So I do have everything. That's good. I also have access to a computer and can check my email online. Which is also good.
But that's it.

Don't ask me for a file or to look up an email address or what time I'm supposed to be at the boys' doctor appointment. (I really hope I get a reminder call about that one.)

ZD has been too busy to actually see if my little Dell is worth reviving. Something about working on that last class he needs for his Master's degree and while working 14 hour days.
He probably could have looked at it Saturday if I hadn't made him haul the boys around to football games even though he's in a walking cast, but you know, we've got priorities here.

But since I'm online less, I've gotten a fair bit of knitting done and undone and almost redone.

I also got to dance a little victory jog and sneer at ZD when something work related happened that he expected not to but I knew would. The "something" may change the amount of time we have left here and is also a pretty good thing for ZD. It's not a good thing for me because it may mean 16 hour work days and even less time at home with us.

In other news, Anders and a neighbor boy have found a Luna moth caterpillar. I was hoping that once the thing spun a cocoon, that I would have less frequent updates on the caterpillar's activities.
Nope....we've slowed down to hourly but the conversation has taken a turn from boring to downright repetitive.
There's just only so many times that you can hear, "He's still in the cocoon. That's a cocoon made of silk and not a chrysalis."
Add to that the speculation of what the moth is doing in the cocoon. at. this. very. moment.

I'm kind of wishing that I had my own cocoon with wifi of course.

Perils of marrying an Army guy

I called ZD at work and apparently he was in full out Army mode.

"Major ZD speaking," said over the speaker phone.
"Hey!" Speaker phone clicks over to handset.
"Wife?"
"Yeah....."
"I'm working fires here. Is it hot?"
"No."
"Can I call you after 1500?"
"Sure."
click

And that was that. In all honesty, I didn't really process the conversation until after he hung up. Then I had to convert 1500 to regular time.

I love the Army

As soon as you start planning, they change the plan. And it's not like you can just sit back and wait for stuff to happen without making plans.
Well, you can do that...but you'll be miserable. The question is .... will you be more miserable than you would be with plans that constantly changed all the time?

My new home education station.

This year I added my fourth and final boy to our day of home education. This final edition, exhausted my limited "school shelf" storage.

Never fear....I have an Ikea near.

So off I went to the Ikea store. It didn't take me long at all to find the perfect new book case. (In fact it took me longer to make it downstairs to actually purchase the bookcase than it did for me to pick a bookcase. Ikea is a huge place.) After much scheming and sliding and pushing and very poor steering of the shopping cart/flat bed thing... I brought home the crazy big bookshelf. We're talking really big....so big that there was concern that it might not fit in my van, even with all the seats folded down.
The thing is seven and a half feet tall. I'm sure glad I ignore ZD's advice to buy two of these buggers. I t really didn't look this big in the store.

I'm not quite finished "cutesy-ing" it up. I have ribbon and gingham and some really cool fabric that I have big plans for. But it looks ok for now. Plus it's not my only storage area for school stuff. I have another small bookcase, a pantry type cabinet, a high boy with lots of drawers, and.....um....a little closet under the stairs that's overfilled at the moment. (and a couple of bookcases upstairs...and another cabinet in the kitchen. This is kind of embarrassing.)

So here's my lovely new bookcase all filled with home learning goodies.

The very top shelf holds two closet drawer organizers with office supplies, CD roms, music CD's, manipulative's, and even my 3-hole punch.

Shelf two holds a basket of higher math supplies: calculators, protractors, rulers, compasses, right angle rulers. It also holds two black totes of books to be read. One is mine and the other is Cobb's.

Below that are two more reading totes for Matty and Anders, my King Frog who's acting as a book end and a clay mug from Germany that houses paperclips.

The fifth shelf has picture books for Sammy and Anders, Art supplies in a little wicker basket, and a black tote with my teacher guides.

You can't see the sixth shelf which is very narrow and holds buckets of crayons and markers, a jar full of counters, and several jars with pencils, pens, and highlighers.

The bottom two shelves hold the totes for each boys' school work. Their textbooks and workbooks all fit neatly inside a tote. Each tote has a ribbon with the boy's name embroidered on it. When they start work, they can easily grab their tote and take it anywhere in the house to work. (Cobb's is actually on the table in the first picture.) I also have magazine holders to house my Progeny Press Guides and all our out Latin course work. And also a place to store the cat.

What? You mean you don't have cat storage in your homeschool space?

In a strange groove

We've settled into a strange groove here at the Zoo.

School is back in the swing of things. So I spend my days teaching the boys, going to speech therapy, and dealing with Cub Scout stuff.
That's sort of normal stuff. Well, as normal as it can be while dealing with my 13-year-old who thinks that there must be some relationship between height and intelligence. Since he's taller than me, he must also be smarter than me and every other short person in the house.
He's already lost computer access this week due to his back talking. We'll see what else he loses before he finally accepts that the proper answer to any request made by his mother is "Yes, ma'am."

My evenings consist of a little knitting and sorting through a chosen area while ZD pours over the "job" list.
It makes for an interesting conversation.

We've discoverd that we've held on to more junk than we should of and that we also know each other better than we thought.

The list is being whittled down. When you get down to rank and date available, there aren't a lot of choices especially when you add my need for sunlight, greenery, and some space to wander about in.

Overseas is out for now (this very moment, we might change our minds tonight) due to the fact that both of our mothers are in their mid 70's. Plus I don't think I could handle that much of change in my first move in 10 years.

Right now we're looking at DC/Virginia, Florida, or Nebraska. And I'm not that sure of the Nebraska part. I like to be near the ocean.

Hawaii made my list for sun, greenery, and ocean but ZD giggled about the idea of me being stuck on an island that I could circumnavigate in 3 hours.

Of course, I find the idea of him dealing with DC traffic to be equally hilarious.

Arizona missed the list due to lack of greenery and the fact that I was a dry husk of a woman after spending a week in Utah. I can't imagine Arizona being much better. But ZD did remind me that living there gave me the ability to vote or not vote for John McCain.

So we continue talking, looking up stuff, and digging through stuff to get rid off. Pretty soon we'll have to turn in our dream sheet and just wait and see what happens.

The purge begins

Things are stepping up around here regarding our next duty station. Before March, I was aware that someday I would have to move if we continued to be an Army family. In March, I found out that the job that ZD is currently working would be the only job he'd have at this base. That meant that instead of 3 years, we'd only be stationed here about 18 months.
Ok.
That changes things.
So we'd be moving in the fall of 2010.

Last night, ZD got an email from his branch manager. Yep, 18 months maximum. In fact a summer move would be preferable. At the very least, we'd move by August 2010.
Now, that really changes things.
Especially, since we've lived in this house for more than 10 years.
We've accumulated 10 years worth of clothes, toys, books, knick-knacks, and garage junk. I dread going through it all....but it must be done.
And while I'm doing that I have to finish all the house projects that still haven't been completed.
I have to get the house ready to go on the market.
Then I have to find people to take over all my "jobs:" Cub scouts and home school support group
And most importantly, I have to prepare my boys to leave the only home that they have ever known and all of their family and friends.

All while doing all the stuff I normally do.

12 months may not be enough.

Chloe la chat

I mentioned that we adopted a new cat.
Chloe was a stray on post who was trapped and socialized. She spent 4 months living in a kennel until we brought her home to live with us.
She's a beautiful tuxedo cat with a sweet disposition.

She seems to be adjusting just don't you think? But she's a little odd.

Her new favorite spot to sleep in on the back of the love seat, right behind my head. That part is not odd though....this part is.

She sleeps stretched out like that. Cobb calls her "Thriller cat" because she looks like she's doing a Michael Jackson move.

After pestering her for a while with the flash, she rolled over. But stayed all stretched out. I like the hands over her head pose.

Yep...she's an odd one.

More Scout stuff

This is for Dy.

This is the Bridging Ceremony that I gathered from several ceremonies and then tweaked. It went over very well with the Cubs and the parents. We were wet and covered in mud but each boy was very excited about starting their new rank.

Bridging Ceremony 2009

Notes: Cubs on one side of the bridge. Bonfire on the other. Pile of sticks on the ground for the boys to add to the fire. Neckerchiefs rolled and arranged on a table in order so the viewers can see them. Cub master on the Cub side of the bridge. New den leaders or assistant CM on the bonfire side to put the new neckerchief.

Good evening everyone.

Tonight we gather to honor our Cub Scouts that are bridging up to the next rank.

When a boy becomes a Cub Scout he starts on an upward trail. I say 'upward' because as he grows older he advances in Cub Scouting. He does not join a Cub Scout pack and then wait idly for 5 years until he becomes a Boy Scout.

As a boy moves along the Scouting trail, his badges of rank and his changes in uniform show his progress. One of the changes in uniform is the neckerchief.

These are the five neckerchiefs of Scouting. On the bottom is the orange neckerchief worn by Tigers who are brand new to scouting. The next is the yellow neckerchief that is worn by the Wolf Cubs. The next neckerchief is the blue one worn by those working for the Big Bear badge. The fourth neckerchief is for the Webelos Scouts who are preparing to be Boy Scouts. The fifth is the neckerchief worn by Boy Scouts.

Take a moment to look at our Bonfire. The logs in the center represent the fellowship of the boys and families in Cub Scouting.. The fire represents the spirit of Scouting.

As each of you crosses over tonight into your new rank, you will add a piece of wood to our Pack bonfire.

Without you, the pack would gradually grow dimmer and die. You are the fuel that keeps the pack going.

Your wood makes the pack’s fire burn stronger and brighter, just you make the pack stronger and better.
Now it's time for the Cubs to bridge to their new rank.

Will the Tigers come forward with their adult partners?

For the past few months you and your family have explored all sorts of new and exciting things and places.
You and your adult partner have searched in your home and community for new activities that have shown you how people work and have fun together.
You and your adult partner have discovered that by doing things together with friends and family that you are part of a great family, community, and country.

Now it is time to move along the Scouting trail and become Wolf Cubs. As Wolves you will learn about our environment, how to take care of yourself and others. Parents, please remove your Tiger’s Neckerchiefs so they may receive their new Wolf neckerchiefs.
Will the Tigers now cross over to become Wolf cubs and add their wood to the pack fire?

Will the Wolves come forward?
Can I get a wolf howl? Wolves were my den.)

The wolf was greatly admired by the Indians for his swiftness, his hunting ability, and his endurance. In fact, the Indian scout was called a wolf, and the sign was two fingers spread apart, symbolizing the erect ears of the wolf. The wolf was considered a great 'medicine animal" and in some tribes, the Indian scout wore the skin and head of the wolf when on a scouting expedition.

You have followed the trail of the Indian by attaining the rank of Wolf Cub Scout. But now you must go on to greater honors for yourself and your parents by earning the Bear badge to prove your greatness. Learn the ways of our animal friends. Learn about the earth and how to grow food. Look up to our skies and learn the stories the stars tell.
Please remove your Wolf Neckerchiefs and cross over the bridge. Let this neckerchief be a sign to others that you are now a Bear and add your wood to the pack fire!

Will the Bear Cubs please come forward?

Bears, you have in the past worked on the Wolf trail and your most recent adventures have been on the Bear trail. You have proven yourselves to be good Scouts. You have now earned the honor of joining our Webelos den. Our Webelos den has one purpose....that's to prepare our Webelos Scouts for Boy Scouting. You will work on exciting activity badges, learning things that may lead you to lifelong hobbies or vocations. At the same time, you will study the Boy Scout requirements so you will be ready to become Boy Scouts when you are eligible.

Will the current Webelos come to other side of the bridge to greet your new Webelos brothers?
Bears, Please remove your Bear Neckerchiefs and cross over the bridge to receive your new Webelos neckerchiefs and add your wood to our pack fire.

Will the Junior Webelos come forward?

Your path in Cub Scouting is close to the end. In this last year you will prepare to become a Boy Scout. You will learn the Scout Oath and Promise and begin camping with Boy Scouts as you work towards your Arrow of Light. You will have the responsibility of being the youth leaders of our Pack. It is your job show the younger cub scouts how to live up to the Cub Scout promise.
Next year you will cross this bridge for the last time and you'll take on the neckerchief of the Boys Scout.
Will you add your wood to the pack fire to help the fire grow during this last year in our pack?

As you get ready to leave our pack, new cubs join to take your place. They will carry on what you have started. Will the new Tigers and their adult helpers come forward?
You boys are embarking on a great new journey with your parents. You will learn so much over the years as you earn your Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos badges.

Parents, please put on your son’s new Tiger neckerchief and cross over to join the Cubs of Pack ZZZ.
Webelos will you help our newest pack members add their wood to the pack fire.

Parents are also an integral part of the light of our pack. Cub Scouting is a family program, and that means not only that your son is advancing in rank, but that the whole family has taken another step upward, too.
Thank you for dedication to scouting and for giving your sons the opportunity to be part of something that will shape the rest of their lives.
I ask that you come forward and add your wood to the pack fire because we would have no fire without all that you do.

We close tonight with prayer.

A Scout is reverent.
(Follow with prayer of thanks.)

It's almost Cub Scout time again

We took off for July due to Boy Scout camp, the general heat, and everybody's vacation.

But now it's time to get back in the swing of things.
Our schools start back in early August so we have to wait until parents get back into the school groove before we start stuffing Cub stuff in.

Since the boys had so much fun with it at day camp, our first pack activity will be a Water War at the local fountain park. Everyone will bring water guns and wear swimsuits and we'll duke it out in a very wet version of Capture the Flag. Afterwards, we'll roast hot dogs on one of the charcoal grills and talk about bringing a friend to the next pack meeting.

The pack meeting for the month is "Bring a friend to game night." The boys who bring a friend will get a marshmallow gun that I made for about $1. They will also bring their DS's, Gameboys, and PSP's as well as any favorite board games. I'm bringing a Wii with some group games that require the boys to get moving. While they are playing, I can talk with parents about the new year. (I need a Pine Wood Derby Chair and an assistant for the Popcorn Kernal.)

This will give the boys a chance to socialize in a way that boys do and ease back into our pack meetings. Plus the visitors won't feel as "on display" and can break the ice easier.

I can't wait to see them all.

I need your decorating help!

Remember how I painted my new door red? Well, the paint bubbled up and started peeling off. I know....I was heartbroken.

I had to strip off all that old red paint, which took two days to do. Then prime the door and finally pick a new paint color. I chose an olive green called Mark Twain Grey Brick. I know, it says grey but it's really green.

So I got one coat on the door and thought....you know....that looks a little pickley. Hmmmm......

Now I love green, including this named grey but is really a pickle green color but I'm not sure if I like this on my front door.
So what do you think?

Warning: excuse the mess in any these pictures. I had to undecorate the doors to paint the silly things. And I haven't scraped the glass yet.
Here's my front door.

My house is taupe with green undertones. I have black shutters and storm door trim. That's my pickle green door. As soon as I finish painting, those old brass lights will be replaced with black ones.

Here's the door without the glare from the storm door. Right after I took this picture, I realised that I had locked my self out of the house. (The door knobs have been off for days so I used to no locks.) Just so you know, my door hardware is all black also.

So I had to scale my backyard fence....barefoot with my camera. Walk through the dog yard....barefooted where thankfully I had this door.

Which was thankfully open and also painted the pickle green that is not grey.

So what should I do?

A. Put that second and third coat on it. It's wonderful even though it is pickley.

B. Find a darker color that is a more mossy green.

C. Find a lighter color that does not looks like it came out of a Mt Olive bottle.

D. Paint it black. Everybody has a black door these days. You should too.