Donating to the Ronald McDonald House

Our youth wanted to do a service project at the children's hospital—but I ran into a considerable amount of difficulty setting it up. There were certain age requirements, paper work to fill out, employees who worked at the hospital couldn't figure out who to talk to…so I changed gears and called the Ronald McDonald House. (Place for families to stay while a loved one is recuperating from injury or illness.)

They make donating so easy!!! So for youth group we put together care packages for kids. We had four stations set up.

• A cat ear making station.
• A Batman mask making station.
• A stuffing station (we stuffed the rest of my left over inventory of plushies)
• And a drawing station (they wrote and drew on the paper gift bags)

We also included other items in the gift bags like stickers and glow sticks.

I found it necessary to throw together a couple of "How to" papers for the Batman and cat station. They're almost too easy. I hate putting directions to waste so I posted everything here and here.

Adam and I delivered 17 gift bags two weeks later. We wheeled them in, signed their book and that was it. No paperwork, no appointment, nothing. So completely easy.

At the time I wasn't sure if the kids liked the activity it or not, but subsequently I've heard good things. So yay!

Little Herb Garden

Since last year's garden was a failure, I decided to go with herbs this year, and it went very well! We've had fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and as you know plenty of basil. I've really liked it…it makes me feel French and sophisticated every time I go out in my apron to clip some for a meal I'm cooking.

Just after taking these photos I harvested the herbs and dried them on a very low setting in the oven. (I dried them on silpats…and now my cookies taste like rosemary, so I won't do that again.)

This has been our first year growing sage and I have to say, I liked it. I started it from seed. It's not a quick grower, but that's ok. It smells wonderful.  I've put it in some mayonnaise with a little lemon juice and used it for a sandwich spread (which Adam practically eats alone). It was divine. And we use it in homemade ground turkey sausage. But other than that I don't really use it. Do you have any recipes where sage is the spotlight? I'd love to try it.

Crappy Week

A few weeks ago we experienced—quite a bit of crap. (Warning, this article is NOT for you high society readers.)

Church
During youth group at church one of my girls comes rushing in all flustered and animated and quite loudly states, "Guys, the bathroom is disgusting! Someone pooped all over the toilet and it is smeared everywhere…in two stalls! I didn't even go to the bathroom because I was too busy throwing up!"

You can imagine the face everyone in the room is making at this point. I look around to realize NO ONE besides me is going to step up to investigate, nor offer to clean it up. This thought takes me back to my bathroom cleaning days in college and I think "Well okay then, we can't just leave it—I have experience with poop smears...I'm going in!"

I borrow one of the girl's hair ties to keep my hair out of my face (well let's face it, out of the toilets while cleaning) and head for the janitorial closet—which to my dismay has NO plastic gloves in stock. NONE. So I shove my arms into a couple of trash liners and tie them around my armpits. I dive into the bathroom stalls armed with every kind of cleaning spray I can find and about a million paper towels.

I'll spare you the finite details. Let's just say the problem isn't as bad as my friend has described. But yes, there is poop involved. I go ahead and clean ALL the stalls and doors/handles while I am there. It takes me a half an hour to return things to normal.

Next time I will ask for help. Next time I will get the youth involved—teaching moment! (But please don't let there be a next time.)

Babysitting
The day before the stall incident, Adam and I watched a couple of girls and the family dog at their house. We took them out on a wagon ride to get the girls' wiggles out, give us something to do, and allow Rosie, the dog to take care of business.

While we were out Rosie DID NOT take care of business. A half hour after our walk, We discovered a LARGE, fresh present piled on the hardwood floor. She must have been saving it up, I've never seen this much come out of a dog before. The girls thought it was hilarious! A lot of giggling and chastizing of the dog ensued.

Later we were playing hide and go seek.
And I stepped in another present.
With my bare foot.
It was wet and squishy and now smeared into the carpet.

If you think the girls were laughing before—you should have heard them now. One of them could barely talk. My foot did not think it was funny.

The part of me that does not like babysitting, and the part of me that does not like pets, held hands and in affirmation said "See? THIS is why."

Marathon
Adam ran a marathon at the end of the week. Before starting the race, while it was early and still dark Adam decided he better take care of business. You can imagine how dark it must have been in his unlit port-a-potty. So to be safe and take care of anything he couldn't see, he wiped down the seat with some toilet paper before sitting.

Upon standing Adam realized his leg was a little wet. Upon further investigation he sickeningly discovered he'd SMEARED someone else's crap all over the toilet before SITTING in it! Evidently someone had  "hovered" and MISSED! Are you gagging yet? He was. And furious!

Pouring his entire water bottle all over his leg he commenced to consume ALL the toilet paper to wipe himself down…fighting reflux the whole time. You can bet he washed his hands three times over. Too bad he still had to run a three hour race with an "infected" leg. Shudder.

We did not stay to hang out in the city after the race. It was a shower or death.

Epilogue
At this moment, I don't know of a better time to say "Shit happens."

Get Away

Last weekend we escaped. And we both had a legitimate excuse to dump our responsibilities for 24 hours which was wonderful. It was un populated. It was quiet. Password: Camping is like... (include capitals and spacing)

Camping from Anna Zenk on Vimeo.

Too bad a sudden downpour with frightening lightning and hail ended our bliss on the beach a few hours too early. We escaped, but not before EVERYTHING was drenched and shoved into the back of the car in a sandy sopping heap....Can't have it all.