Dory SWAPS 2012

One of the best parts of Girl Scout Camp as an adult is that you're not you for at least a week. I'm Dory. I don't really recall if my camp name is for my forgetfulness, my positive "just keep swimming" attitude, or my whale speak. However, it fits.


This year I made Dory swaps (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere) for everyone at camp. I purchased flattened pop caps from Michaels along with neon yellow and blue acrylic paint. After painting a yellow triangle for the tail, a blue circle for the body, and white and black dots for her eyes, I gave each little gal a swipe or two of Modge Podge. The last step in creation was to stick a safety pin on each one.




These bottle caps are swanky in more ways than one. For starters, they come out of the package with the holes already punched! I found the package of 48 bottle caps on the aisle with all the bracelet making supplies. These were less expensive than the one in the scrapbooking/jewelry making aisle.

Note...modge podge doesn't travel in a purse or bag well. When I got to camp, many of the little Blue Sheilas were stuck together, and when I pried them apart, the fish was toast.

Nevertheless, they were a hit! Since I was in charge of the mail at camp, I kept a tally of who received mail and who needed a pick-me-up. I tried to make sure everyone got a Dory and a note from her. That's probably why on the last night, I received a camp-wide chant, "Dory! Dory! Dory!" I needed that pick-me-up. PROOF! When you give love, it comes back to you ten-fold.

UPDATE: We Lived by the Law and the Promise and We had Girl Scout Camp

UPDATE: All of this began for me because of my sister-in-law's adoration for Girl Scouts. Here is what she wrote on the Petition that was put together:

I feel like I have no voice as an individual. I have tried to talk with adminstration, and have submitted concerns to the Board with no return comments. I feel like the principals and foundations of the organization I have been a part of for 29 years--and that has made me a large part of who I am today-- is being thrown out with the current leadership of the council. Girl Scouting in the jurisdiction of Diamonds will not live through the second 100 years if we, the volunteers, do not demand that the corporate side of the organization be accountable for its actions. Juliette Gordon Low would most certainly NOT be proud of the way our professional leaders have lost sight of the importance of the girl in Girl Scouting. I am hoping that when my voice is joined with 1000's of others, those individuals who have been entrusted in positions of leadership within our Council will open their ears and allow the heart of this organization to be heard.   

Please sign our petition to hold the CEO and COO of Diamonds Girl Scouts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas accountable to the volunteers and Girl Scouts of this area.

Original Post from June 21, 2012:

Back in late January, I wrote a letter to the CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA about the lack of representation that the members of the former Conifer Council in Texas and Arkansas had in the new corporate atmosphere in GSUSA. In my letter I was outraged that the new council of Diamonds Girl Scouts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas were ignoring their constituents, that they had decided without much consideration or constituent input to not have resident camp in Mena, Arkansas, at Camp High Point, and that Diamonds were shunning their resources rather than embracing these constituents. There really was not a positive response from the corporate offices of either GSUSA or Diamonds.

Staff Cheer During Last Night Campfire, Photo By Crystal Smith at Little Bird Studios

However, the response from the leadership and girls of the former Conifer Council was resounding. Because of the donations from area businesses and individuals, the 40+ volunteers, who gave their time and talents without pay, were able to provide 50+ Girl Scouts a resident camp at Camp High Point in Mena, last week. Despite the many obstacles and hoops the Diamonds Council kept throwing up to dissuade us, the Resident Camp was a success!
More importantly, the leaders and girls did everything the way Girl Scouting had taught us. We lived by the Girl Scout Promise and Law, we learned something new everyday, and we had fun. To make sure the new Council understands we are Girl Scouts through and through, we also made sure we left our beloved Camp High Point in better condition than we found it. I like to think Juliette Lowe is somewhere applauding us. 

Even if the Diamonds Council has not intended for their leaders and long-time members to feel this way, I was shocked at how many of the volunteers made the statement, "I am sure Diamonds wishes I/we would just go away."  Perception is reality, Diamonds, when you are dealing with customer relations. Your handling of this entire situation has put your leadership in a poor light. Don't you think it is time to start embracing these leaders and applauding their efforts? Aren't you ready to start working as a team to bring Girl Scouting to this area? We have already shown you that we will have Girl Scouting with or without Diamonds support. I can just imagine how great Scouting would be in this area if you got on board and we all worked together. 

The Girl Scout Promise

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,

and to

respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

Introducing The Thursday Scrawl: Cliche

My Word Collection--words with which I can fall in
love adore and canonize (thank you thesaurus.com).

During my month off from social networking, I decided that I needed to go back to the old school of writing...pen, paper, scrawl. My best friend Sosie helped me out by giving me prompts to attack (she is going to make a fab-tastic English teacher!). To share what I accomplished, I thought I would try a linky and see if anyone wanted to play along. One rule...post your on-topic writing below.


Prompt 1: Being a good southern woman, I talk and write in cliches so this was a little more difficult than I had first anticipated. Write a paragraph using nothing but cliches (that part was a cinch). Then re-write the same paragraph avoiding cliches (like the plague...get it?).


My contribution:


Writers block has been like swimming in molasses. I keep slapping lipstick on that pig and calling it a day. As a result my writing has been a few bricks shy of a full load. When the month off from social networking is up, I may discover I should have zigged instead of zagged. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it may also make my fans abandon ship. Although, since actions speak louder than words, maybe I will gain too. All that glitters is not gold and the luster of blogging has dimmed for me. So far though, I have written my heart out and everything is coming up roses. I guess even a blind dog finds a bone once in a while.


The obdurate resistance that is writers block restricted my creative process last month. I continued to persevere by writing anything, hoping it would be enough. As a result, my products were lacking so I decided to abstain. When the month off from social networking is up, I may discover that I should have kept writing if only to maintain my readership. One can hope her readers abide the hiatus and maybe, just maybe, inspire others to participate. Blogging, a cherished activity that sparkled and kept my interest with its novelty, had begun to dull and become more of a chore than an outlet for creativity. So far though, the pause in publishing has given me more of a desire to just write, and I am finding the aftermath typically falls into two categories..."I Can't Wait to Share This" and "Do NOT Push the Publish Button!"




Link up below!

Namaste Y'all: Yoga--Physical and Mental workout

Groupon sent out a fabulous deal a few weeks back for Hart Yoga in Frisco (Lisa Hart from Buns of Steel!). I couldn't pass up 12 sessions for $45 even if I knew that once those 12 were spent I could never afford a monthly membership. I just jumped in hoping I would love it so much I could convince myself to give up other things like putting gas in my car and eating.

PHOTO SOURCE

Class 1: 75 minutes spent thinking to myself that it was crazy how much sweating I was doing and that I was a tad bit proud of myself for not giving up. The instructor, Tara, was fabulously supportive at the end of class telling me she was impressed with me and bragging on my form. Another Yogi commented on my gracefulness. I was so thrilled to be bragged on that it didn't sink in that that little white lie I tell myself everyday that people are too engrossed in their own appearance to pay attention to yours is probably not for real.

Class 2: Started crying in my class tonight. I was melting into the floor trying to catch my breath and only gulping down the steamy exhales of the other 40 participants when this thought crashed into my frontal lobe: "What have you done to yourself? I cannot believe you have let yourself get this bad." I started crying and couldn't stop...had to step out of the room because it was that ugly sobbing cry. The instructor from my first class was a participant in this class and encouraged me to write down what it was that triggered the crying. She said, "Yoga is a mental exercise as much as a physical." After I recovered and rejoined the class, I found my laughter not 10 minutes later. While using my towel to pull my knees into my chest for an inversion, I accidentally towel snapped the sweet lady beside me when the towel slipped from one of my hands. She was in a full inverted something (both legs together and folded over your upper body with your toes touching the floor right above your head while your arms hang loose down by your buttocks). I wanted to sink into the floor and be eaten up by the beasts of hell for a split second until she started laughing while still holding her pose. I just kept saying I am so very sorry. She just kept giggling. Mental note...towel snap the person next to you the next time you think you're about to start crying.

Class 3: I absolutely love Tara's classes! She is supportive, instructive and encouraging. She informed me that the second class I had taken yesterday was an advanced class and that I should be proud of myself. Maybe the calendar should be labeled by level too. Hubby Dearest and Darling Daughter are way competitive supportive and wanted me to show them a few poses. Remarkably, HD is quite adept at yoga and has never participated in the practice. DD is surprisingly inflexible. I think I will start getting them both to practice with me to help them with their hockey games.

I am a louse...fell off the yoga wagon while I was at Girl Scout camp and am just now getting my energy back...I am hitching a ride tonight! If you have never tried yoga, find a studio and tell them you're a newbie. See if they won't bend over backwards (get it? ;-) to show you all about it!

What I Figured Out in a Month Without Social Networking...

Day 1: Well doesn't that just figure! Literally at midnight on May 25, I had like three writing ideas pop into my head. It's as if telling the world I would not social network for one month unleashed my writer's block. Maybe it was the yoga instructor performing a Reiki at the end of our Hatha Yoga class last night. I wrote a letter to Mark Zuckerberg with an idea for a feature to add to Facebook. I made a cocoa and sugar body scrub out of olive oil, cocoa, sugar, salt and vanilla. I smell like a candy bar.


Day 3: I must have really been an obnoxious poster since I catch myself picking up my phone or iPad several times within an hour. Here's one post I really, really wish I could have put out there this past weekend. "Dear Loud and Mean Couple at the MIB3 movie in Texarkana, you hurt my feelings and made my Mama extremely unhappy with your loud and rude comments and pseudo patronizing argument about which one of you would sit next to me. The arm rest is up because I paid just as much for that movie as you did, and I want to be comfortable. There were hundreds of other places for you to sit. You should have moved. You should not get away with being mean to people. However, I know I feel like the better person because I didn't move to make you more comfortable. I moved because I DIDN'T WANT TO SIT NEXT TO YOU!"


Day 5: Righteous indignation..."typically a reactive emotion of anger over perceived mistreatment, insult, or malice" (wiki), is somewhat kept in check when one is on hiatus from the social network.


Day 6: Signed up for Linkys Tool and will have a Scrawl Along coming out the first Thursday I am back. I hope you will play along.


Day 7: Goodness me oh my! I must have been OB-FREAKING-NOXIOUS with my social networking. I wish I had a dime for every time somebody tells me, "This DOES NOT go in your blog/FaceBook." BTW...I read a blog about "Happy BS Day" today; it acknowledges the anger in the mourning process and celebrates it. Heck yeah!


Day 10: I had to break the pact and post on the Girl Scout Camp Staff Facebook page this weekend. In this case, though, it was because this is how we are communicating and planning. In this instance, social networking is saving time verses draining it.

Days 13-23: Girl Scout Camp! I volunteered to work my tail off for a good cause. I even paid my own way so that our resources were used most efficiently. It's a good thing I was on hiatus from social networking because I probably would have made a mess complaining about a person who trampled all over my feelings. Even though the girls and other volunteers made it worth it, I question whether I'll do it again. My feelings are just too fragile. That's my problem/issue for me to deal with or get over...no one elses. Don't go to bed angry. Don't respond when you're angry. Don't promise when you're happy. Don't decide when you are sad. Don't lash out online when someone makes you feel like a bad person for caring about others.


Day 24: With only one week to go, I oopsied a titch when I was accepting friend requests from all the new friends I made at GS Camp..."make new friends..."

Day 26: I have made time for phone calls and lunches with friends because I am not in the "know" on what's up with the Gang. Has social networking made us less communicative? Now we don't have to interact to know what is going on with our nearest and dearests...we can stalk them online. Tisk, tisk, tisk!

Day 27: I had to tell my hubby dearest Happy Birthday!

Day 28: I broke my silence a little early...who cares! I gained perspective and learned a lot. Now I am ready to get back out here.