Author Archives: mbajane

Basket Weaving Merit Badge, Part I

Posted on March 14, 2013 by mbajane

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,882 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,641 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Basketry Merit Badge, I actually followed through on the course I like to tell people I majored it in college: Underwater Basket Weaving. Minus the underwater part. I mean, maybe when I get a little more experience under my belt and dry-land basket weaving just isn’t challenging enough, then perhaps I’ll channel my inner mermaid and attempt to kick it up a notch.

I was actually pretty thrilled to learn this ancient art. I love baskets. And what holiday are we coming up on, my little chickadees? That’s right: Easter. Easter baskets! And Easter bonnets, too, don’t forget the bonnets. Is there a bonnet-making badge? I need to look into that. I’ve always had a secret yearning to be a milliner. I think it’s because of Jane Austen. Who doesn’t love Jane Austen? But, anyway, back to the basketry.

Now there are a few different types of basket weaving, and I decided to go with the one that seemed most familiar: wicker. (I do get weepy over willow.) I’ve been collecting my willow for a few weeks now, so if this is a badge you want to try your hand at (or to be more specific, both your hands), then decide when and how you are going to find your stack of appropriate materials.

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Buttoned Up

Posted on March 10, 2013 by mbajane

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,819 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,550 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Buttoned Up Merit Badge, I was happy to start a new collection/hobby. After all, I haven’t collected anything since the infamous and embarrassing Beanie Baby craze of ’97, so I am pretty due. And what could be easier than buttons, right? I mean, come on, there are aisles and racks of them at the craft store.

Wait. Extra badge kudos go to finding them, not buying them, you say? Okay, I am up for a challenge. I can do that. Give me a pipe, a monocle (manacle?), and a Sherlock trenchcoat (I love plaid), and call me Nancy Drew. Alright, so I’m mixing metaphors and stuff, but you get the idea. I can be a button sleuth.

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Safe Toys

Posted on February 27, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Safe Toys Merit Badge, my memories harkened back to the good old days of playing hacky sack at the corner of Childhood and Games. Not really; it was the corner of Maple and Main, but you get my poetic license, right?

These double-jointed knees of mine can lob some bean bags through space like you wouldn’t believe. I was the hacky sack champion of ’85-’89, till Skipper quit the Double Dutch Team and really dedicated herself to being my arch nemesis. Grrr … Don’t even get me started on our Macramé War from ’92-’93. Epic.

Anyway, having fun with bean bags is no strange idea for me, so I was all about this badge! I got out all my fabric pieces (you know, those odd-shaped edges you weren’t sure what to do with but didn’t want to throw away?) and some iron-on transfers. First step was locating the iron and then promptly blowing all the dust off of it. Ahem. Never let it be said I don’t know how to iron, precisely; I prefer to think of it as saving energy and occasionally rocking the “lived-in” look. I call it lived-in, you call it wrinkled. Potato, potAHto. Let’s not split hairs.

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Languages and Culture Merit Badge

Posted on February 21, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Merit Badge, Each Other/Languages and Culture, I was excited to try my hand at learning American Sign Language.

(Get it? Try my hand? Sign language? I slay myself).

When I first started this badge, I only knew one phrase in American Sign Language (that’s ASL, for us in the know): “Rock on!” Turns out what I thought was “Rock on!” and what I sported all through my last Jefferson Airplane concert last summer was really ASL for “I love you.” Now I’m starting to rethink what I thought was my traditional Hawaiian greeting … I thought I was saying something like, “hang loose, bro,” but for all I know I could be saying, “please pass the toilet paper.”

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Light the Way

Posted on February 18, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

Being a girl who likes some twinkle in her life, a little sparkle, some bling if you will, I was excited to try my very own * drum roll, puhleeze! * …

Outpost Chandelier! (Merit Badge Madge, specifically, beginner level for Make It Easy, Light The Way.)

That’s right, chickadees, nothing says glam like a chandelier, and putting it outside, to shine and glimmer for an evening picnic? Oh my. Perfection with just some fencing, candles, and baby-food jars!

Now before you start jumping to conclusions about me doing any procreating, simmer down and let me tell you, my bestie, Midge, has a collection from her triplets that would put the Gerber company to shame. Seriously, I think we could make everyone in town an outpost chandelier and still have enough left over to store my glitter collection (also extensive).

So, with my jars in hand, and not one, but two pairs of pliers (needle-nose and wire-cutting … look at me, all tool know-how-y!) and a lovely piece of rusty old fence webbing, I was ready to start.

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Relaxation Merit Badge

Posted on January 30, 2013 by mbajane

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,690 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,500 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Make It Easy/Relaxation Merit Badge, I thought I had it made in the shade. That’s right, girls, how hard can it be to relax?! I mean, seriously, this badge was in the bag, so to speak.

I was blindsided however, by the sneaky difficulty of relaxing. The insidious lurking feeling that I must be doing something. The niggling notion that I couldn’t turn my brain off.

I first realized how hard this was going to be on me when I found myself with my Blackberry in hand, scheduling my five-minute period of relaxation.

Um, grammar isn’t my strong suit, but isn’t that some sort of oxymoron, or something? Like a jumbo shrimp, or all-natural artificial flavor, or “a little bit pregnant,” or specifically vague?

Sighing at how in over my noggin I was, I scheduled my five minutes of relaxation right after my Hot Yoga class, but before my appointment at the The Doggy Beauty Parlor. Ms Twinkles is overdue for a grooming and a toenail clipping. I swear, that dog takes tap dancing to a whole new height on my hardwood floors at 3 a.m. My Pomeranian thinks she’s Gene Kelly.

I found myself looking forward all day to my appointment with Relaxation. That’s right, I thought of Relaxation as a person I was meeting. Perhaps a long lost girlfriend, or a grandmotherly type, or a tanned cabana boy … ahem. Back to the badge at hand!

After Hot Yoga, I kinda wished I’d scheduled a few minutes to die properly. I had sweated away buckets, which sadly, in the world of physical fitness, meant I probably worked off half a blueberry muffin (sans butter). But, no matter! I had time to shower off, and then I found a perfect spot to meet with my elusive and mysterious Relaxation.

Evidently, Relaxation is not a punctual guy. I laid down in my favorite recliner and waited for him to arrive. Would he be soothing and gentle? Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Have a pencil thin mustache? My mind whirled. My thoughts swirled.

I. Could. Not. Find. The. Off. Switch. To. My. Brain.

ARGH! Stop thinking, Jane! I told myself, fiercely. Just relax! Relax! RELAX RIGHT NOW!

This badge was going to take longer than five minutes. This whole process was new to a get up and go kinda girl. I was lost. I decided to research a bit on the benefits of relaxation and the health hazards of stress. Turns out, the smartest, most successful, and happiest people in the world know the importance of little things like:

saying “No” occasionally
not over-committing
getting a full night’s sleep (No, not just on the weekends! Every night!)
recognizing what stresses you out and eliminating it
surrounding yourself with your definition of beauty

Huh! Who knew, right? I always figured the most successful people were the ones running around like chickens with their heads cut off, having a million and one things to do, and people to hire to do it! Maybe after I redefine what relaxation means to me, I can redefine what success means to me …

Whoa. Getting deep here. Suddenly, I felt a weight off my chest. I felt lighter. More energized. Less stressed. Could it be *gulp* that I did it?! I calmed down, and (dare I say it?) relaxed?

And I didn’t even have to schedule it this time.

Self-sufficiency

Posted on January 28, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

Now that I’ve cultivated my green thumb with my ever-so-lovely herb garden, it was time to dry some herbs and package them as gifts for this beginner-level Self-Sufficiency Badge. There’s nothing better than a DIY gift, I always say, and these were going to be fabulous.

My marjoram and thyme and basil were pretty much out of control. Those babies were over-running my kitchen windowsill. They were like weeds, only much more fragrant and tasty. They grew at a phenomenal rate, kinda like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors, only they hadn’t eaten anyone (yet).

My parsley was a little peaked, I must confess, and my cilantro was hit and miss. I also had a couple of different kinds of oregano, a rosemary tree (that I may or may not have to decorate), and a gorgeous batch of velvety sage, not to mention some beautiful dill that had me craving pickles every time I walked by.

I’m telling you what, girls, if you want your home to smell like a Williams-Sonoma store or a Yankee Candle shop, then get thee to a seed store, posthaste! My kitchen always smells amazing, if I do say so myself (and I do).

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Build It Green Merit Badge

Posted on January 26, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

For this week’s Beginner Level Make It Easy/Build It Green Merit Badge, I’m going green in my decorating. At first, yes, I may or may not have thought that meant a green theme, as in the color green, as in sage, pea soup, lime, forest, emerald, etc. But I quickly wrapped my brain around what it really meant: responsible, earth friendly, no regrets, kind of green. I knew that!

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Nellie Will-Do, Part II

Posted on January 20, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

In Part I of this beginner level Stitching and Crafting Nellie Will-do Badge, I gathered all my supplies for my “What Not to Sit Upon” upholstery makeover. Then I got hungry and took a break. Now, we’re ready to roll. Staple gun in hand, I’m all business.

Speaking of the staple gun, that thing is a beast! My thumbs will be sore for weeks, I do believe. (My texting is really going to suffer. I may have to *gasp!* call someone! Like, with my voice. I’m not sure I remember how to do that. Why, I haven’t held a phone to my ear in, like, forever.) Also, it’s quite loud—the gun, I mean. When I finally got it to fire correctly, I screamed and ducked and nearly ran for cover. Of course, I’ve been watching too many crime dramas, so I may have thought for a moment I was in the middle of a drive-by.

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Nellie Will-Do, Part I

Posted on January 16, 2013 by mbajane

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life …

This is a beginner level Stitching and Crafting Merit Badge that made my living room smile. Hello dolly!, did my living room need a makeover, stat. The problem? My furniture all had good bones (after all, it’s been handed down for generations, mostly from the original Dream House), but the upholstery was …

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