Author Archives: mbajane

he adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Make It Easy/Collect It! Beginner Level Merit Badge, I had to stop and listen the next time I was out at a tag sale/estate sale/thrift shop/antique mall. Which is, you know, like, frequently.

Did you hear it?

That soft, soft cry?

Almost like the plaintive siren call of something just a little other-worldly? A bit ghostly? A haunting and beckoning song?

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Cleaning Up/It’s In The Bag Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I cautioned my young’un that this was a more difficult badge than what first meets the eye of the beholder. So to speak.

Getting in the habit of collecting and using reusable shopping bags isn’t as easy as it looks. I should know; it’s taken me approximately forever to get good at it. And I still occasionally leave them in the car … or the pantry. The guilty feeling I get when that happens and I am forced to take home a ridiculous amount of plastic sacks is not something I wish on anyone.

Especially cute lil’ Nora …

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Dyeing for Color Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I got myself a three-ring binder.

I heart binders. I long for Trapper Keepers. I live for file folders and I swoon over tabs and color coordinated dividers.

Wilson Jones supplies, Amazon.com

In short, I’m pretty much an Organization Junkie.

This particular binder—after I decorated it with glitter, collages, and stickers—I planned to use for my color swatches. After getting the hang of dyes earlier in my Beginner Level badge, I was ready to move on.

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Cleaning Up/Water Conservation Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I thought teaching Andy to conserve H20 would be easy peasy, lemon squeasy. And I wasn’t necessarily wrong … he took to it like a duck to water, like a pig to mud, like … like a small boy given too much responsibility too quickly.

It all started when I suggested he make a list of ways to help him and his family conserve water at their house. Sounds reasonable, right?

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Organic on a Budget Expert Level Merit Badge, I harkened back fondly to when I knew Mr. Wonderful really had fallen for me. It wasn’t that sparkle in his baby blues, it wasn’t when he sat through an opera performance when there was a perfectly good football game on television, it wasn’t when he asked me to go camping and I sneakily turned it into glamping, it wasn’t even when he went to meet my Gramma Barbie.

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,962 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,905 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Make It Easy/Rethink Your Space Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I needed to take a deep breath, inhale some calming lavender essential oil, and give myself a pep talk. And this was all before the badge earning began …

You see, this badge was all about a youngster in your life cleaning their room properly.

I chose Andy.

I should have chosen … anyone else.

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Make It Easy/Furniture Makeover Beginner Level Merit Badge, I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Step One of earning this handy-dandy badge? Settling in to watch some DIY furniture tutorials.

I love me a good tutorial.

Confession: I even love a bad tutorial. Laughter is the best medicine after all, don’tchaknow.

I plead guilty to …

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Each Other/Let’s Go To Town Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I was still in the library …

… where I had misplaced one small child, two Young Adults, and a couple of elementary-aged bookworms. Not to worry, dear readers, my local librarians are amateur sleuths in their spare time (evidently, detective skills are required in order to become a Children’s Librarian), and the little ankle biters turned up posthaste. One had snuck into Story Time and was sitting on the lap of a mom (who had several children and didn’t seem to notice the extra thumb-sucker), one was gleefully scanning books at the Self Checkout machine, and the teens had found the coffee shop.

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Out There Kids/Park Place Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge, I channeled my inner child (and also Nora and Andy) and we went to the park.

Not having had kiddos myself, I was totally immersed and enjoying the whole “playdate” experience. I mean, I’ve scheduled playdates for my doggies and maybe one or two for the chickens (Chickens are social creatures, too, you know!), but I hadn’t seen any human ones in action. There were mommies sipping on lattes while their offspring climbed trees and daddies taking business calls while their little ones went down the slides. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting.

If Norman had had Andy and Nora with him, though, his paintings might have been a little less perfect. More like they were painted by a totally distracted adult being run ragged by two adorable urchins. Did Norman have children? Must Google that.

photo by David R. Tribble via Wikimedia Commons

Anyway …

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The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane 

For this week’s Young Cultivator Farm Kitchen/Icing on the Cake Beginner Level Merit Badge, I sat down with the two whippersnappers in my life (Nora and Piper) and we made ourselves a list.

Lists are my life.

I brake for lists.

Me and lists forever.

Lists: A Love Story.

Normally, the rugrats scoff at my list making, but this one was one they could get behind. And in front of, and across from, and so on and so forth. Why, you ask? Because it was a list of Things You Could Put On a Cake (T.Y.C.P.O.A.C. for short).

Who wouldn’t want to keep adding onto a list like that?

photo by James Petts via Wikimedia Commons

We were going to need more paper …

Frosting went without saying, though surprisingly, none of us are fond of it. We all agreed it is what’s under it and on top of it that could float our boats, culinary-ly speaking.

Nora, Piper, and Yours Truly’s T.Y.C.P.O.A.C.:

• Powdered sugar dusted over a paper doily would make a lovely pattern.
• Glazed nuts are a delish alternative.
• Dislike of frosting can be remedied by cream cheese. Turns out, we all swoon for cream cheese icing.
• Coconut makes a wonderful presentation, and if you tint it with green food coloring, you’d have edible “grass.”
• Marzipan is fun to shape into creatures and such (and tastes a bit better than most fondants).
• Pretzels
• Dried fruits
• Candy (Well, come on. They’re kids. Not gonna get away without some candy.)
• Peppermint sticks
• Graham crackers, either in pieces or ground into crumbs
• Gummy worms or bears
• Edible flowers: nasturtiums, dandelions, day lily, squash blossom, lavender
• Small toys (do not eat)
• Coconut, brown sugar, butter, and nuts, all spread on top then broiled under the broiler until bubbly
• Homemade whipped cream
• Meringue
• A dollop of yogurt or sweetened sour cream
• Marshmallows
• Sprinkles (use them one at a time to make an “embroidery” like pattern)
• Cereal (think Trix, or Fruit Loops, or Lucky Charms, but look for their organic alternatives)
• Chocolate that has been drizzled into shapes, then hardened
• Cookies
• Chocolate rocks
• Cinnamon sticks
• Orange-peel curlicues
• Chocolate shavings (or white chocolate)
• Raisins
• Berries
• Small sprigs of pine tree branches make a pretty forest
• Fruit leather cut into shapes
• Crumbled Oreos (the organic kind, of course!)
• Chocolate-covered coffee beans
• Popcorn
• Poppy seeds
• Candied ginger
• Star anise
• Birthday candles (What? We were getting tired, and our hands were sore from writing.)

After all this brainstorming, we were seriously famished. Ravenous. Starving. Our bellies were rubbing our ribs. Our tummies were rumbling.

In short? We needed cake. Stat.