Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Miranda Strickland!!!

Miranda Strickland (#3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Grease Chicks Merit Badge!

“Well, I am actually applying for all three levels at once. It started with me doing a tuneup with my husband and my mentor on my OLD truck (’04 Trailblazer) as well as the oil change.

But, Memorial Day was a bad day for folks in my area. Several people lost their homes or businesses, or had damage. Others of us lost our vehicles. I was blessed, however, and a family friend traded me my Trailblazer (severe water damage and all) for a 1974 Chevy C10 pickup. Now, most would not call it a fair trade, but it really was. The truck is awesome!

I have been keeping an eye on fluid levels and gas mileage (which is how we figured out the carburetor needed a rebuild) and changed out a headlight, tail light lens, assisted in pulling spark plugs and, as I have an oil leak at the moment, I have been keeping an eye on my oil levels and refilling as needed. (New gaskets will be another project.)

Once I got it, we discovered I had a few more problems than originally anticipated. This included the Master Cylinder (which had been replaced less than a month prior to my taking the truck) blowing out. We pulled the cap off and found the front chamber empty. We pulled the back wheels off to check the brakes, but they were clean. My husband had me put the wheels back on (I’d never used an impact driver before … it was fun!) and my mentor (the shop foreman at the shop where we got the truck) inspected the front brakes and all the connections. We determined that the system likely had not been bled properly before, and so the master cylinder blew, which meant getting a new one installed. I did not get to assist in that, but they walked me through the steps and even let me fill the old master cylinder with fluid to see if it was leaking. It wasn’t after that, but it also wasn’t working. I also sat in as they installed the new Morosa valve covers and the gasket material.

My third “expert” level project (plugs, brakes/wheels) was last Sunday at the shop, assisting my mentor with rebuilding the Quadrajet carburetor. I did the cleaning, part of tearing it down, part of reinstalling and listening/watching carefully as he explained everything that was wrong with it. He seemed very impressed with how much I understood!

The truck still needs a lot of work. New gaskets, all new wiring, new battery cables, new hood, new mirrors, etc. It’s not truly finished, but these old vehicles are not cake walks.

I learned with my previous vehicle, however, that NO vehicle is a cake walk. Let me tell you, being 5’4″ and trying to pull plugs from an Inline 6 is NOT an easy task.

I have discovered that I am actually pretty good at mechanic work and have been in school to be a motorcycle tech for a little over a year. With the experience I have gained over the past month and a half, I have decided to start looking for a job in the field!”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Katie Wright!!!

Katie Wright (#5600) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Intermediate & Expert Level Blogging Merit Badge!

“I started my blog on 11/23/2013, but went slowly at learning things from a book called Blogging For Dummies. I posted on Country Katie and Daisy Mae at that date and have continued to do so with topics about glamping, gardening, knitting, and more. I have added my blog to GirlGab.com some time ago.

I have learned a little at a time, and just recently have started adding color and also pictures. I have learned to change profile photos and some other things. This seems to be something that I will enjoy for a long time, including reading others’ blogs. I look at knitting, quilting, gardening, and travel blogs, also.

I learned how to add my profile picture and then how to change pictures. Now I also am able to add pictures at the beginning or end of the blog. I also have published more than 10 blogs, as I have been doing this since the end of 2013, but this is the first time I have applied for the badge, as it just takes a while to get things going with a blog, at least for me. I have visited others’ blogs and they have done the same with mine. I do not have a big following, but I believe that in time, and if I learn to add some more decor and “class” to my simple blog, it will be looked at more.

I believe my blogging is doing fine. I know I could be on more often and respond to others’ blogs, maybe ask questions at the end of my posts so people may respond, and maybe list more topics. I enjoy telling things about gardening, knitting, glamping, and my sweet Daisy Mae Foxhound. As your blogging section states, it takes time to build a following. Actually, I am not so concerned about a large following, as I am enjoying it for the writing experience.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,487 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,234 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Farm Kitchen/Get It Together Intermediate Level Merit Badge, I got to start with one of my favorite things to do:

Making a list.

I heart lists. Sometimes I make lists about making lists. Or about how much I love lists, numerically or alphabetically.

photo by Adam Diaz via Wikimedia Commons

I sense your confusion and raised eyebrows from here. Let me explain:

• Make a list for DIY rainy-day projects
• Make a list for veggie shopping
• Make a list for camping destinations
• Make a list for prioritizing your lists

Etc, etc. You get the drift.

Anyway, I love lists because I love order and peace and the sense of accomplishing something, and also because I really have a thing for bullet points. They rock my world, chickadees.

So, my list today was how to have a working kitchen. At first glance, when I read that title, I pictured some sort of robotic, maid-and-butler-occupied, steampunk kinda thing, but I was making things more complicated than they needed to be (control your surprise). A working kitchen, my girls, is …

Well, I suppose it’s a bit different for every woman, isn’t it? For example, my friend, Midge, has triplets. Her working kitchen is likely going to include easy-to-clean, wipe-down-able, child-height, types of things. My gramma, Barbie? Her working kitchen would include a high-quality blender for Daiquiri Night when her girlfriends come over for Bunco, and the oven is only for decoration (she has a crush on the pizza delivery man).

photo by Bradross63 via Wikimedia Commons

For myself, now, a working kitchen is going to include some real key items, and they aren’t necessarily the same key items I would have included a mere few years ago. I am a changed woman, you see … and I no longer have a need for a microwaveable egg cooker, a touchless paper-towel dispenser, a hot-dog scorer, an automatic pancake maker, a corn kerneler, and a few other things that make ya go, whaaa?

Oh, and possibly three different makes of salad spinners.

Ahem. How embarrassing.

Anyway, I sent all my priceless artifacts weird inventions to my local thrift shop and got busy making my Dream Working Kitchen List.

MBA Jane’s Must-haves for a Working Kitchen:

• A multi-level baking rack. How neato is this for my Annual Home-baked Pizza Cook Off?
• A good quality mixer (pizza dough doesn’t make itself, peeps). Maybe a royal blue KitchenAid … or a bright red … or a lime green … or a pumpkin-orange … so many choices, so little counter space …

photo by g2boojum via Wikimedia Commons

• My apron collection and a lovely place to hang/display them.
• Good-quality kitchen shears for slicing me some chives (mmm, baked potatoes …).
• A French press and a tea kettle.
• A crockpot for long winter days (or conversely, long summer nights; I like to plug mine in on the porch when it’s just too darn hot to have anything warm in the house).
• Good knives. I only need two really: a butcher knife and a bread knife. I keep them outside of a drawer to avoid nicks and cuts when searching, and instead keep them in a cute letter holder.
• And the most important, I gotta have it, no holds barred, I will not be budged from ordering this right now this very second.

I’m sure the foodies out there agree with me. It’s just the bare necessities, really!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Terry Steinmetz!!!

Terry Steinmetz (teryouth54, #3600) has received a certificate of achievement in Outpost for earning an Intermediate & Expert Level Disconnect to Reconnect Merit Badge!

“My girlfriend, Mindy, and I set up our glampers at a campsite that I built. We stayed out there for the weekend. We left everything behind and just enjoyed the outdoors. We sat by a fire every chance we could get. Played games. Looked at the stars, cooked over the campfire. It was just nice to be there without anything to distract us.

We felt so relaxed, got to share ourselves more, and came back so-o-o refreshed. Looking forward to doing this again in September.

I decided I needed a few days away after the hectic garden and canning season. So I packed up what I needed and went out to my glamper at my campsite on the back of our 40. I brought 2 books, a magazine, and some knitting. Ahh! I looked forward to just me, myself, and I—alone and peaceful. I spent 3 days and 2 nights, enjoying every minute.

I read both of my books and my magazine, took naps when I wanted, and did some knitting on a scarf as a gift for my son for Christmas. I was so happy to have a heater in my glamper, as the temps dropped into the 40s with cold winds out of the north! I cooked most of my meals by the fire, except for the last meal of homemade chicken noodle soup. It was wonderful to just be totally by myself and do some self-indulgence! I loved the experience, even the cold weather.”

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 6,487 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—9,234 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ 

For this week’s Make it Easy/Relaxation Expert Level Merit Badge, I took my newfound sense of relaxation and clear-headedness to my local yoga studio. That’s right: I became a yogi.

photo, Robert Bejil via Wikimedia Commons

Well, kinda.

Turns out, some people really dedicate their whole lives to this pursuit of relaxation, so perhaps I didn’t become quite an expert while earning my Expert Level Merit Badge, but I gave it my all. Besides, my vast collection of yoga pants were under the mistaken assumption that they were created to lounge around on my couch, eat snacks, and participate in Netflix marathons. I had to have a little heart-to-heart with my pants.

What? You don’t have heart-to-hearts with your pants? Huh.

Back to what I was saying. I gave it my all. All my sweat. All my muscle mass. All my flexibility (or lack thereof). All my blood, sweat, and tears.

I.

Am.

Not.

Exaggerating.

Okay, I’m being a little dramatic, but only a little. You know how the infomercials and the girls in their organic hemp clothing, with their pseudo-messy buns and their nonfat lattes, MAKE it look?

They Make It (Look) Easy.

Haha! Just a little merit-badge humor there.

But truth be told, I was in way over my head. To be precise, I was in over my head with my legs twisted around my ears, my toes spread out like spider monkey’s, my bum poking the yogi behind me, and—artistically speaking—I was up a creek without a paddle. I had seen less complicated poses playing Twister. I was pretty sure I was going to need the Jaws of Life to remove my poor self from the Dragonfly Pose.

photo, Robert Bejil via Wikimedia Commons

Dragonfly Pose. Downward Dog. Eagle Pose. Elephant Truck Pose.

I needed a Sloth Pose. Or a Roadkill Pose. Can I get an Amen?

These were tough. I wasn’t entirely certain I was going to make it out of my class alive, much less earn my badge. The students around me were pros. They were twisted into shapes I’d only ever seen at the mall when I was buying soft pretzels. They oozed capability. I oozed wheezes and gasps and beads of sweat larger than a crocodile’s tears.

I wasn’t sure this was exactly relaxing me, and wished I had signed up for a nice watercolor class instead as I dipped my body into the Flying Crow Pose. Or tried to. I got tangled in my newfangled yoga toe sox (I was suckered into them because of the name, peeps!).

http://www.socksaddict.com

I accidently dangled my hair in my non-full-fat latte, and my yoga mat took on a life of its own. Basically, it transformed itself into a magic carpet. I took a ride—and a header—into my neighbor. Well, it IS called Flying Crow Pose.

Anyway, my new pal was very forgiving (something about yoga relaxing her temper, I think she said. It was hard to hear because I had latte in my ear, my messy bun was in my line of vision, and I was trying to untangle myself from my mat where it was attempting to murder me).

I made it through though, and although I didn’t feel precisely relaxed, I did feel accomplished.

And dare I say, so did my pants.

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Caitlin Hargett!!!

Caitlin Hargett (#6460) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Gaining Ground Merit Badge!

“I set up a worm farm for composting and read Worms Eat My Garbage.

Worm farming is actually pretty tricky. I lost all my worms in the first week and had to buy more. So far these have lasted about 3 weeks, but I don’t have them happy enough to eat all the compost I have to give. I’m going to keep up with it and hopefully find a good system for all of us.”

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Jennifer Follestad!!!

Jennifer Follestad (#6468) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner Level In the Garden Merit Badge!

“I used saplings we had to cut down from under our power lines and bamboo that I had on hand and twine to build the trellis. I shoved some longer and thicker sapling trunks into the ground and used the bamboo as cross beams and then wove twine through out the trellis. For the bean teepees, I used more bamboo and twine.

I think it turned out pretty well. All structures are sturdy and stable. The trellis will be used for cucumbers, and since I usually grow bush beans, I’m using the bean teepees for peas to climb on.”