A snapshot of me right now

Given that I've pretty much abandoned this space of late, I think I'll just give you a quick snapshot of me right now... Actually, it's more for the me of a future since most of the time I figure that's who I'm writing for anyway.

I've made a small change in my daily eating habits that I feel could have some great long-term benefits and just plain makes me feel better about how I'm treating myself: I'm eating vegetarian lunches which must include a good amount of raw vegetables.  Fish is allowable (and encouraged).

I'm completely ADDICTED to Camelot on CBC.  Have you been watching it? If not, watch the first episode and then don't give up.  Watch the second episode and I guarantee you'll be completely hooked.

I'm getting excited about the plans that Isobel (dearest neighbour) and I have for Sugarplum Fairy Homebaking.  I love that I now have a partner in crime to share the burden and generate ideas with! Also, she rules at decorating cakes while I decidedly do not.

Why is it that it is always the same small group of people in any large group that are always the ones who volunteer?  Church, school, the community... always the same few people.  And we same few people are starting to get tired out!

Yesterday I decided that I'm tired of how our house looks inside.  I'm sick of our wood furniture.  I'm tired of looking at late early 2000s IKEA furniture.  I'm tired of our once-beloved earth tones.  I want some bold colours, some great art and a cool mix of eclectic furniture - American colonial, modern, even Victorian.  With some leather here and there.  I want a bunch of money so I can do all this redesign.

Have you seen this photo?  I'll link to it but I won't post it so that it doesn't show up on people's mobiles or iPads as the photo that introduces this post.  You all know that I'm new to Girl Guides of Canada but I love the organization and what they give girls around the world as though I've been a lifetime Guider.  When I saw this I was disgusted and angry.  Maybe you'll choose to make jokes and take it lightheartedly.  But not me.  I've reached my limit on the sexualization of girlhood in every sphere.  Nothing is left untouched.  This is an organization that goes against every message in this photo and to take it lightheartedly is to miss what this is really doing and to miss the messages that our girls and young women (and we old ones) are being sent by the world around us on a daily basis (just the tip of the iceberg is that we are valued mostly as sexual beings).  We in Girl Guiding (not to mention parents, teachers and many, many others who work with girls on a daily basis) work really hard to combat these messages each time we're with our units because a pillar of the Guiding movement is building strong, independent and confident women who are leaders and feel empowered to make great choices for themselves.  To use the very image of a Girl Guide to send the exact opposite message is disgusting at best and downright offensive at worst.  So laugh.  Make jokes.  Shrug it off.  Say you wouldn't say no to her cookies.  Just don't say it to me.

And... she's back. And now with more pumpkins!

Whoowhee. 

I was on a roll there but then the old Karen came back to her infrequent stop-ins round these parts.  I know.  None of us like change so I'm sure you're as pleased as I am that I'm back to my old ways.

Also, my new stint as Guider-spread-thinly has taken up a lot of my time recently what with two Brownie meetings now under my belt and my new roll as a Spark Guider. 

Yes, you read that right.  I'm now leading a Sparks Unit as well. 

What's that?  Crazy?  Yes, I am.  I fully acknowledge that and also my inability to say 'no'. At some point I'll learn that word but for now I will continue in my roll as over-tired and stressed over-achiever. 

My issue is that I love to be loved.  I accept it.  I own it.  Let's move on to pumpkins.

(But not before you go and read this blog post that I wrote for the GirlGuidesCAN blog, the first in a series I'm doing for them about being a first time Guider.  Go on.  I'll wait.)

Today my lovely friend Isobel and I dragged took Henry to Miller's Pumpkin Farm just south of lovely Manotick for a morning of frolicking among the pumpkins while we took hundreds of photos of the boy.  Okay, I took the photos.  Poor Isobel.  She has a gorgeous camera and excellent photo-taking skills but her remembering skills were left behind today... with her memory card.

Luckily, I threw in my point-and-shoot at the last minute and the photos, while not as good as what Isobel would have taken, were not bad.  Not bad at all.

A smattering:

Taking a look inside the pumpkin hotel

Peek!

Yeah, I'm cute all right.

Pensive pumpkin perusal.

It's hug a pumpkin day.

Hmm, I think this one deserves a Churchillian consideration.

Gah!  Camera!  I will wrestle that from your puny hands.

Gourds.  Me like.

Witty caption here.

It was a lovely, lovely morning.  The weather was perfect.  I drank in every moment of sunshine because I fear that we are running out of days where the temperature gets over 20 degrees.  I have to imprint this in my mind to get through the coming Ottawa winter. 

But let's not talk about that right now.  Let's just think of sunshine and roses.

Girl Greatness Starts Here

There are so many posts I have swirling around in my head and none of them have been moulded into anything publishable. I want to tell you about our time at the cottage, about the creative project that Emily and I finally completed, about Emily's birthday and about my sudden desire to get this house organized (one can only tolerate squalor for so long).

Instead I'm going to tell you about something I know virtually nothing about: Girl Guides of Canada.

Emily has been part of a Sparks unit (the youngest group in Girl Guides) since she was eligible at 5 years old. She finished Sparks last spring and was keen on moving up to Brownies. The difficulty was that most Brownie units are held in the evening, finishing around 8:15 pm. That's not good for a girl whose school hours are 8:00 am to 2:30 pm and who requires about 11 hours of sleep to be tolerable. So I toyed with the idea of starting an after-school Brownie unit held at Emily's school. I talked to my friend Julie about it (a seasoned Guider). She was keen to get back into Guiding after a long break and said that she would run the new unit with me. Girl Guides was very interested in my idea and after a couple of phone conversations and a screening, Bob's your uncle. The Unit is starting this September.

Um, yikes.

I was never a Brownie or a Guide (although I openly coveted the chance to wear that brown pleated uniform and matching tam). I know very little about the organization save for the delicious cookies. But, I totally believe in this organization and what they stand for and what they've given to Emily. Here is Girl Guides Canada's Mission Statement:

Girl Guides of Canada-Guides du Canada enables girls to be confident, resourceful and courageous, and to make a difference in the world.

And then there is this excerpt from their program description:

The program fosters creativity, a wide variety of interests, self-esteem, healthy living, initiative, self-reliance, resourcefulness, leadership and the development of core personal values.

and this about Girl Engagement:

By developing and implementing girl engagement at all levels of our organization, we enable girls to develop leadership and life-skills and in turn improve their communities, their country and the world.

How could I not be fully-supportive and excited about being involved? This is girl empowerment at its best. This is fostering and supporting a generation of strong, independent and confident women. I'm fully dedicated to that.

So, even though I'm starting down this road blindfolded (albeit with a friend with a map along for the ride), I'm excited.

If you have a daughter in Ottawa and are looking for a great activity for her this year and are interested in the after-school Brownie Unit, send me an email and I'll send you all the details!