Powell Gardens - Festival of Butterflies

The Butterfly Festival at Powell Gardens (http://www.powellgardens.org/) was excellent this year.  I think it was my favorite thus far and we have been going for a while.

Powell Gardens also has wonderful LEGO exhibits throughout the Gardens. You wouldn't believe how many LEGOS it took to make some of them.

Highlights of the Week!

1. Last Day Camp payment was made! YAY for an extra $140 a week!

2. 1 more loan payment, 10 more student loan payments and 22 car payments left. The extra money is in my sight!
3. My credit score went up!
4. Awesome Black/Green Derby Scrimmage
5. Friday night BBQ with friends!
6. The “Poop on a Stick” Lecture
7. Mary Kay Makeover by my derby sister, Zombina.

I have a trading card...what?

Photos Courtesy of Fire Branded Photography

Girl Scout Junior Badge - Flowers

Alli and another girl from her Girl Scout Troop visited the Kansas City Community Garden this past Saturday to work on their Flowers Badge.  The Flowers badge is part of the Legacy Badges.  This one covers the Naturalist section.

(picture of a Cicada Killer)



Needless to say, they had a great time and learned a lot of new and helpful information.   It was a wonderful learning experience had by all.  I even took in some new information.

The program started out with the girls identifying parts of the flower.  This is one of the requirements to complete the badge.  The girls were having a tough time with it.  I was having a tough time with it.  Who knew flowering plants were so difficult?

 

Do you know how to tell the back end of a caterpillar from its front end?  Touch it.  Press down on it and it will rear it’s front side and put its antenna out and try to be scary.  It wasn’t too scary.  In fact, it was quite cute.

In the fruit garden, we got to sample some fresh, organic fruit.  At the garden, they do not spray any of their fruits or vegetables, so you can eat them right off the plant.

We sampled some super sweet strawberries.  The blackberries were a bit tart but still good.  All the children enjoyed them.

 

Can you find Alli?  She was hiding in the Gourd House.  The entire structure is hidden with the vines and gourds.  We got one of the gourds to take home and cook on up. 

Flower Badge Requirements

Naturalist: Flowers

Purpose: When I've earned this badge, I'll know all that's wonderful about flowers.

1. Uncover the science of a flower:

            * Go on a flower hunt to find your favorite flower and five other kinds in your town. Record     or sketch             what you see.

            * Plant a seed or bulb of your favorite flower and grow it until it blooms.

            * Interview a botanist, ask why they became a flower specialist.

2. Look under the petals:

            * Dye a flower by putting the cut stem into water with food coloring. Keep track of the changes.

            * Find out about why flowers smell. Watch a fragrant flower and record who or what visits it.

            * Find out about different flower families. What are some other flowers in your favorite's family?

3. Find out how flowers help people:

            * Find a flower that turns into a fruit and make a snack using that fruit or an edible flower.

            * Find out about three different medicinal flowers or herbs and how they help people.

            * Try a recipe for bath beads or another product that uses flower scents to help people relax. Does it             work?

4. Have fun with flowers;

            * Make a flower necklace.

            * Make a work of art with dried or pressed flowers.

            * Make your own flowers out of craft materials.

5. Send a message in flower code:

            * Make a bouquet of flowers.

            * Make a corsage (broach or bracelet) of flowers.

            * Make a flower arrangement in a vase or other container.

Getting Ready for Derby

Here is something I wrote for the dgdrecruitment.wordpress.com website.  I wanted to post it here, too.  If you want to join derby, here are a few things that you can do to prepare.

Getting Ready for Roller Derby:

You’ve made the decision.  You want to play roller derby!  Here are a few things to consider getting ready for the Dead Girl Derby training camp:

1.       Attend a Bout!

No matter what you have seen in the movies or on TV, you MUST experience a roller derby bout live!  Attending the game will help you understand the mechanics of the game.  It will show you what you are getting into.  You may also be able to chat with some of the players before or after the game. 

Dead Girl Derby has three upcoming bouts:

                July 27^th at Kemper Arena

                August 17^th at Hale Arena

                September 21^st at Kemper Arena (Championship Game)

2.       Do Research!

Check out the history of Dead Girl Derby!

(Or whichever League you are joining)

Dead Girl Derby skates with the M.A.D.E. Rule Set. A good place to look is Skatemade.org.  At this website, you can take a gander at the rules.  It will link you to popular articles on M.A.D.E. Skating.  There are links to quite a few rookie specific articles.

YouTube videos of M.A.D.E. Derby games.  You can learn a lot by watching.  There are also lots of videos on skating technique.

3.       Budget

Make sure to add a section in your budget for Monthly Dues (can also be quarterly or yearly, whatever you decide works).

Skates and gear will need a space in your budget also. (There will be more posts on gear and where to purchase soon)

4.       Skate, skate, skate and skate some more!

Get on wheels!  Hit up as many open skates as possible!  Don’t worry if you do not have your own skates just yet! Rock the Rentals! Get confident on your feet.  Try skating faster each time! Practice those crossovers!  Try skating in derby stance for extended periods of time!

5.       Get in Shape

Roller Derby Boot Camp will test your fitness and you want to make sure your body can handle the different challenges thrown at it!

Try to spend 30 minutes/5 days a week doing some type of cardio activity.  Sprints and suicide drills are always excellent!

Strength training is great!  You will need strong legs and core!  Squats, lunges, calf raises and wall sits will help with legs.  Planks, crunches and pushups will help your core!  Don’t neglect the upper body through, you will need that strong for your balance.

6.        Stay positive!  It’s hard work, but you can do it! 

So many things I want to write about, but I don’t feel like I can on here right now. 

When one door closes, another one opens.  It opens to a journey that will be life-changing.

10. Describe your most embarrassing moment….

You would think my most embarrassing moment would be when I was jumping around and peed my pants in public or when I feel up the stairs in front of people, but it’s not….

My most embarrassing moment took place in the summer of ’95.  I had just finished 7^th grade. I was on a mission trip with my childhood church. WE went to Red Bird Mission, deep in the Appalachians.  It was beautiful and serene and I am still waiting for the day when I can return.  Even thought I don’t actively participate in a church or organized religion, I still believe that the Red Bird Mission is a great cause and I was deeply impacted by visiting.

Anyway, to my story. Red Bird Mission has a K-12 school. Some of their students live too far away to commute daily to the school. Therefore, the Mission has dorms.  One of our jobs while we were there was to repaint the bathrooms in the boy’s dorm room. (And you boys are dirty! It was not fun scraping the rust off the dividing walls of the stalls because you couldn’t aim) the first thing we did was scrap all the paint. That morning, we had tackled the lower parts of the walls. After lunch time, we needed to do the upper walls.  I was the first one to arrive back.  I got on top of the nasty boys toilet and began scraping the paint.  When I had finished that spot, I stepped back to get off the toilet.  I failed to remember that there was no lid on said toilet.  I stepped right into the nasty toilet.  I thought I was still alone in the bathroom.  I was wrong.

For a few hours, everyone was staring at me. They were giggling and smiling at me, whatever, I could not put my finger on to it as to why they were doing this.

One person finally asked me how it was to take a swim in the toilet.  My little just got out of 7^th grade heart was devastated.  People were laughing at me.  They were laughing at something I did.  The person, who heard it all happen, had exaggerated slightly. Making it just a little worse.  I think it was so embarrassing to me at the time because I thought I was alone and got away with it.  And the fact that I was only in 7^th grade.