11 Things to Do Other Than ________________________ (insert your bad habit)

My bad habit is currently YouTube.

1. Blog

2. Journal

3. Exercise

4. Clean

5. Declutter

6. Read

7. Plan

8. Cook

9. Write

10. Study

11. Budget

World Thinking Day - Cyprus

We are lucky to have a well traveled mega troop. In summer 2017, one girl ventured to Cyprus. We chose Cyprus for our booth at our Service Unit Thinking Day event where visitors made butterfly necklaces out of tiny clothes pins and mini cupcake liners.

We also had a Cyprus party and earned a badge. Here is our party agenda:
Find Cyprus on a glob
Make Cyprus T shirts (outline of country with fabric markers on white shirts)
Play games

• snail game
• foreign words
• overlapping worlds

Our delicious snacks were figs and baklava.

February Service Project

On Saturday, we joined another Service Unit to make Valentines for kids in the hospital. We used one of the rooms at the public library. The girls loved crafting the Valentines with pink and white card stock, stickers, and glitter glue. I love that they were thinking of others.

Of course, there's a patch for that. https://makingfriends.com/product/valentine-card-making-patch/

Earning the Speaking In Sign Badge

We had a great time at our last meeting. The grandmother of one of our Brownies works at the School for the Deaf. She led part of the meeting, brought sign language alphabet book marks, and showed a video of a sign language presentation of Cinderella.

The girls enjoyed learning to sign their names and say, "Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" in sign language.

They also tried lip reading and word-less skits.

The CSA requirements are here:
http://www.gscb.org/02_for_girls/awards_recog/councils_own_awards/Speaking%20in%20Sign%20CSA%20Badge.pdf

The Junior requirements are here:
http://www.gscb.org/02_for_girls/awards_recog/councils_own_awards/signing_badge.html

Brownie:
http://www.cbgsc.org/02_for_girls/awards_recog/councils_own_awards/Speaking%20in%20Sign%20Brownie%20Badge.pdf

We ordered a fun patch for Daisies:
https://makingfriends.com/product/sign-language-fun-patch/

What I know about Mammography

A couple of years ago, my beloved co-leader was diagnosed with breast cancer. Today, she is a survivor. Thank God.

We wanted to help her and her family, but we didn't quite know how. We had to respect her privacy and avoid revealing too much information to her young daughters and the other girls in our troop.

In the end, we were thrilled to help at a 5K fundraiser. Our girls happily passed water cups to the participants. And the event managed to raise a little for her mounting medical bills.

Fast forward to last week. I received a letter from the clinic where I had a mammogram in August. The letter said there was a problem and I needed another mammogram. Apparently something about my left breast changed from my last mammogram.

After a brief panic and what my husband refers to as disaster fantasies, I did a little research. About half of the mammograms for women in my age group show problematic results that are not actually cancer. Less than one percent of the problematic images are actually cancer.

Hallelujah.

Strange Places Girl Scout Leaders Sleep

In addition to sleeping in tents, cabins, and scout houses, girl scout leaders get to sleep in some unusual places.

Here's where I've slept as a leader:

• at the zoo
• on a minor league baseball field
• on the covered ice at a hockey rink
• at a children's museum

I plan to spend the night at:

• NASA
• a drive inn movie

Checklist-Planning a Service Unit Campout

Form committee.
Set date and location.
Set budget and cost/camper.
Choose theme/patch/badge.
Set campout agenda.
Write packing list.
Publicize.
Plan meals or plan to have troops feed themselves.
Recruit volunteers and vendors to run workshops, prepare meals, etc.
Create registration form and distribute.
Set registration deadline.
Organize campers into workshops/activities.
Evaluate.