I have been absent from life, for a single reason: Girl Guides. My youngest daughter’s unit was going to close because no one wanted to be a leader, so I caved. She loves Guides; Guides has done great things for her and her older sister. I didn’t want the unit to fold, so I signed up about three weeks ago.

Since then I have breathed Guides. My every waking moment is spent reading about the program, or designing upcoming meetings, or ordering stuff online, or taking a First Aid course. I go to sleep at night thinking about Guides. I wake up thinking about Guides. Today I spent three of my hard-to-come-by work hours pickup up and sorting cookies.

The other night, I was super stressed about the patrols – how we divide up the girls into smaller groups – and then I had a dream in which they arranged themselves nicely. I AM DREAMING GUIDES.

It’s a situation.

I hope it all settles down eventually and I can go back to Life As We Know It. I’m publishing a book this fall, if I ever actually get around to being able to upload the files. I’m working extra hours, after taking August off, if I ever actually get time to put together a website or two.

Sir Monkeypants is helping as much as he can – taking the brunt of things around the house, schlepping stuff around, making phone calls on my behalf to places we want to book. This past weekend, he and Little Miss Sunshine took on the task of going through two giant Tupperware bins full of craft stuff that we inherited from past Guiders and documenting what’s inside.

I was typing up the list afterwards and found out the bins included things like:
* pushpins, used to make Grade 2 clocks
* milk bag clips
* one craft box with pencils and glow sticks inside, also little aliens and lipstick pens and some earrings
* plastic sheets for doing needlepoint crafts like Ba likes to do (his mother)
* plastic Madonna bracelets.

All EXACTLY on point, no? I knew immediately what all these things were. He’s a crafting genius, that guy.