Our pack based its dues annually to cover supplies for the den leaders. Many never put in for reimbursement, but some did. We had an annual planning meeting once a year in the spring to plan out the next year. Our council also gives one free adult for each summer camp. We always gave that to the den leader (or scoutmaster as we moved into the troop). I know different councils plan things differently though. It is okay to drop being a leader if you can't do it any more either financially or just mentally. I say this as someone who was always sad to have leaders quit and hated having to always be on the lookout for new leaders. But we tried to treat our leaders well. We provided training, materials, etc. I think that the lack of support from your pack is pathetic. Getting parents involved can help. We had to be pretty up front with parents about the needs of the den leaders, and that without their help things just weren't going to happen. Can you ask the parents to provide materials for their own children, instead of having to pay for supplies? Can you ask the pack where the money from dues is going and if you can get reimbursed for supplies? Or ask parents to contribute to meeting, maybe put out a supply list asking for donations or just say here is the supplies I need so everyone needs to bring $5 to help cover the cost. Maybe the parents don't know you are covering everything out of pocket. We are no longer in scouting. We were scout leaders in the pack and later in the troop for over 13 years. Our oldest made Eagle and aged out and our 16 years old made Life and decided he was done. The cost of scouting has gone up tremendously since we joined. When our 19 year old was a tiger it was only $10/yr registration fee, and camps were much cheaper. When we first registered him we paid $10. Now to register for cub scouts it is $97 which includes a one time joining fee of $25, plus the annual fee of $72 (pro-rated depending on when you join). His first day camp was only $80 for a week (which he paid for with fundraising), and his first resident camp (3 days/2 nights) was only $160 if I remember correctly. Now there are no more day camps in our area, and cub scout resident camps (3 days/2 nights) are $266 for the early bird pricing. Scouts BSA camps are even more averaging around $450 (they were somewhere around $260 for DS's first Boy Scout camp). Recharter fees and camp fees are really starting to price people out of scouting. We did fundraising every year, and we able to pay for all our boys camps that way except the year DH had cancer and we didn't have time to fundraise.

Trax as a puppy, 3 years ago, and a picture from a couple weeks ago.

I am one of the people that owes due to poor planning on my part, however, it is not all all my fault. I knew that the monthly payments were an advance on the child tax credit, but instead of being careful to investigate it thoroughly, I trusted that our earlier adjustments to our paycheck tax withdraws would be sufficient. I am not a tax expert. My husband is not a tax expert. We follow the guidelines on claiming exemptions and even tried to be conservative and have them take out more, but it didn't work. This year we are having extra taken out to be on the safe side next tax season. Although on the bright side I figured out yesterday that we forgot to claim DD's college expenses, so that makes it so we owe a lot less. I am glad we hadn't filed yet.

I have a Seamus and he loves his name. He doesn't mind having to correct pronunciation or spelling. He actually gets a lot of compliments on it. My other son and daughter also have traditional Irish names but we used the anglicized spellings. DD wishes we had used the traditional spelling of her name, and is considering changing it legally at some point. Other names I thought about for any future children were: Siobhan, Mairead, Finn, Tadhg I also really like the name Ophelia, but DH was very against it. I shouldn't have let him watch Hamlet.

My parents had to hire a lawyer, who sent a letter to the neighbors to get them to stop. They tried to claim that my parents driveway was on their property, but my parents driveway is clearly on theirs, and it has been established there for over 60 years, since the previous owners so even in the neighbors were correct (which they weren't) they have no legal remedy at this point. I would, if you can, contact a property lawyer who will know the laws and ordinances. I would not give up part of my established backyard without a fight. I am tired of bullies who get their way, emboldening them to keep being bullies. Sorry, a lot of personal baggage I suppose. But I would not just roll over and cater to them, especially if you have such a small backyard as is.

We owe, and I had a feeling that we would. The amount is a bit more than expected. However, we made adjustments to DH's paycheck deductions for this year, so we shouldn't owe next year when we file. I wish we had done a better job last year of planning ahead, but not much we can do about that now. We will just have to pay more attention going forward.

It is a grey raining day here today, and I don't have motivation to do much at all. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny though, so that will be nice. Just after my middle headed out for boot camp, I got into a big reorganizing phase. I have changed up where a lot of furniture is placed. I like to change up furniture placement several times a year, which drives DH batty. I also finally went through our books and gave a whole bunch to DD to trade in for credit at the bookstore. I really need to get the downstairs bathroom cleaned, stairs and upstairs vacuumed, and the downstairs floors mopped. DD is home for spring break and has offered to help out with some of it. I should also go through the pantry and get it cleaned out and organized. I have a whole bunch of stuff that we have collected that needs to get donated. I just need to find a place to take it all.

It is abusive, and wrong. I had an aunt that did that to me once, and I wasn't even the one who said the bad word. But we all got in trouble for one cousin saying something. It was at my grandma's house. My mom was furious when she found out, and we spent much less time at grandma's house after that. The most ridiculous part to me was she was the most foul mouthed of all of my aunts.

Many times I will tell DH things in Skype just so I can tell him that I did mention it, look at Skype. We have had this for years. But lately I have been questioning my own memory. DH will be certain he told me something and I have no memory of it at all. I have been very stressed lately, and I am sure that is part of it. Keeping things on the calendar and in messages that I can go back and look at helps tremendously.

Wonder woman was the first to come to mind Corrie ten Boom Ruth Grace O'Malley

There weren't good ones when my DS had to be taken off it, but that has been about 10 years. When he came off of it he was already taking Qvar and antihistamines. He also had his rescue inhaler and nebulizer. They added in Advair and changed his Qvar to be taken nasally (added a baby bottle nipple to it to make it work). He was on that combo for several years. It worked okay, The biggest improvement we saw was age and allergy shots. He is now 16 and is not on any medication for his asthma, and only uses his rescue inhaler a few times a year. He also occasionally needs antihistamines when allergy season is bad.

I don't think you are being a jerk at all.

I don't like the idea at all. I hate changed times twice a year, but the idea of it being dark so long in the morning is depressing. I wish they would just stick with standard time.

I have always found it a bit odd, but a great excuse to make pie. I love pie. And there are no extended family obligations for pi day. I suppose now I should go make my pie.

DD college sent out an announcement yesterday evening that they have decided to extend the mask mandate after all campus. There has been a recent uptick in cases on campus. The mandate will now remain until at least next Saturday, which is when students will be off for spring break. DD is very relieved and hopes they will decide to leave it until the end of the semester which is in early May.

Even with a mask mandate in my area compliance was low, when it goes away tomorrow I don't think it will change anything for any practical purposes. People who want to mask will continue to do so. People who don't will continue not to (although hopefully now without out the 'I dare you to say something' angry stares). We will continue to do things like we have at least for the time being, which is avoid going inside stores, restaurants, theatres, etc. Our personal family goal at the moment is to not get sick before DS's graduation and then re-evaluate after that. We will likely start to do a bit more going out. Maybe if the weather is nice go to a restaurant with outdoor dining or something. I very much hope we will do more visiting with family and friends, and of course as weather improves we can meet outdoors more which is more my comfort level. But of course if a new variant or whatever comes through, that would change things. My DD is very concerned about masking going to optional on campus and several students have put together a petition to ask the admin to reconsider. Last I heard it had close to 200 signatures. This is a small private college which has been very pro-vaccines and pro-masking.

I made a mistake when I ordered troop activity shirts a few years ago. The actual problem was that I sent a layered picture and on my computer. One of the layers was turned off while I was working on the design and I didn't notice when I saved to send it to the print shop. It ended up saying "Troop ### Troop ###" under a logo. I was very embarrassed. I wish that the print shop had caught it, or I had. Nobody expected me to foot the bill to have them all redone. They just laughed it off as a funny thing and wore them. Those shirts saw a lot of use. But really, if your group wants the logo they made readable, then the larger is probably the only way to make that work. Honestly I think it looks nice. I can't imagine any of my kids complaining about something like that. I would apologize and then move on. I would not being paying for a re-do.

6:00 most nights

We still have a state indoor mask mandate until the 12th of the month. Once that is gone I don't foresee us doing things any different than we are now. Doctor's offices will still require masks, and that is about the only place we go. We do almost everything with curbside pick-up for shopping. We have had two times in the last few months that we needed to go into a store and then we masked. We will continue to mask in stores if we go inside. I am especially anxious not to get sick before our upcoming trip. We have, however, told DS that we will take him out to a sit down dinner on our trip. The one thing he requested in his letters home. We will try to find some place with outdoor seating if possible, but if not we will go inside. Through out the whole of the pandemic we have been in one restaurant last summer when numbers were low, DH and I were both fully vaccinated, and seating was still limited. DD's campus is going mask optional next week. At least one of her teachers has said that she is requiring masks in her classroom. DD plans to continue to mask as do a lot of her friends. She is nervous about coming home for spring break and possibly bringing sickness with her. But she will test before leaving campus, and DH and I are okay with the risk (I think).

We are very fortunate that DH works from home. If he were still commuting it would be a huge strain on the budget, which is already strained with the increase in groceries and pretty much everything else. I am glad DS's allergy shots are now monthly. That is a 40 mile drive each way. I am trying to limit store pick-ups to once a week when possible. We are trying to keep our vehicles topped off as much as possible. We are still going on our road trip next month. We have been saving for months to be able to make this trip. I do not want to miss DS graduation if I can at all help it. We will likely overspend our gas budget for it, but we can afford it I hope. We may decide to change our route back to be a bit more direct home instead of sight seeing, but I doubt it. We have never done much travel as a family and this is something we have all been looking forward to. I do think we will cut out some day trips we were planning, which is sad because getting out and hiking has been good for our mental as well as physical health.

$4.49 for the cheap supermarket gas yesterday, I expect it is higher today. I am just glad DH has a work from home job now, but I am concerned about our upcoming trip, because we will be traveling where there are some of the highest gas prices.

I am not in a conservative Christian homeschooling group or anything, but my DD has kept in touch with friends from the conservative Christian art school she took classes from in high school. Most of them, from what I have seen and DD has related to me, are very pro-Ukraine and have been involved in prayer groups for Ukraine. These are people that are pro-former president, anti-mandates. I have not seen anyone who is pro-Russia among my friends or "friends" on Facebook or IRL. But I have seen a few (not many), who believe that if we still had former president then there wouldn't be a war because he was so awesome. 😟

We are taking a road trip to San Diego for DS's graduation from boot camp in early April. I am so excited to see him. We aren't doing anything fun on the way down, but on the way back we are driving along the coast most of the way and doing some sight seeing. We haven't done the California or southern Oregon coast since before DD was born.

Thanks everyone. I am just concerned about them. My MIL is a social butterfly and loves being out and about around people. It has been hard for her to be locked down, and now that she has her vaccination she has decided to go back to life as normal. Most of me thinks it is good she is enjoying herself and their retirement years, but I also worry about their health and being so far from family.

My ILs who travel full time have been sick with "bad colds" for about a week now. They took the rapid home tests which were negative, so now that MIL is feel a tad bit better she decided to go shopping. Last night when DH talked to them they were both coughing a lot and sounded not good. DH is going to call them again tonight to check on them. I realize it could be just a bad cold, but I was wondering if we should gently suggest they get a test from the doctor's office, just to be safe. I hate the idea of them out spreading diseases. And yes, I know it is none of my business and I also know there are other things going around other than covid. Also, DD was exposed to covid this weekend at her first in person speech and debate tournament she has had since the pandemic started. One of the members on her team tested positive the day they got back. They mostly stayed masked but did have some meals together and were on a plane together (masked). DD is getting tested today with a rapid test and then again in a week. Since she is vaxed the school said she can be out and about but has to wear a mask (which she would do anyway). She is so far symptom free. I am guessing if both tests are negative and she has no symptoms she should be fine.