The local swans met at the end of summer to make some general plans for the coming year.

A major goal for the year is for Swallow to move up to Senior and for Duckie to move up to Cadette. There is some possibility that this will occur in January, but if not it will definitely occur in June. We discussed the general activities that would have to occur for them to transition to the next level.

We have decided to abandon the Journey books. They just don't work for us. Instead, Duckie and Swallow will be doing the leadership badges for their respective levels. We made that decision on the basis that we went with Juliettes rather than a troop so that it fit with *our* lives. Therefore, the cumbersome program has been abandoned.

For the upcoming year, we are adjusting our meeting schedule:

1 time per month there will be a large group meeting with all the active swans; this meeting will include socializing activities, but may include badgework that lends itself well to meetings. Typically, these meetings will occur on Fridays.

1-2 times per month there will be badgework meetings and b/c the local swans are often working on different things, using the computer, or doing things that are relatively independent, these meetings will not have an online chat b/c it will bore the bejeebers out of Pelican

1 time per month there will be some kind of field trip/outside activity/special event

Also, Duckie has set the goal of earning the Junior Aide award, which involves working with younger girl scouts. Sandpiper will have to get the ball rolling for her.

The younger swans have made plans for specific badges for the year, which Sandpiper will help with overall planning to make sure we can fit in. We're going try anyway ;)

Swallow: Reading, The Play's the Thing, Visual Arts, Museum Discover, and All About Birds

Duckie: Dance, Drawing and Painting, and Communication

They were asked to pick three, but Swallow couldn't decide ;)

Also, Sandpiper has informed the troop that they will be doing their respective leadership and photography badges.

In the last few weeks, Duckie earned the Swimming Badge and Swallow earned The Lure of Language and the "healthy lifestyle" badge.

The Michigan Swans recently upgraded their inhome internet hardware, so we are uploading some long overdue images. A few months ago, Swallow made a pillow for her "Textile Arts" badge that needs to 'decorate various places in her home'. As shown, it does so very well:

Food Smart Badgework

I thought I should mention that eating disorders are of course very unhealthy and bad for you. If you know someone who you think might have an eating disorder, and you are a child (like Duckie and I), you should tell an adult about it. The goal isn't for you to get them to stop having an eating disorder, but to get them to go to someone who can help them with it.

Just A General Update

Today's Angry Swan meeting will only be Swallow, Duckie, and Sandpiper, because Pelacin will be out of town for the holiday. There will be carrot cake, and we will be making an effort to finish the on-going badges. Both Swallow and Duckie are working on a Food Smart badge, and as far as Swallow knows, the only thing left to earn them is participating in a food drive, which we will be doing at the first oportunity. Swallow also has to post a message about eating disorders online. Duckie and Swallow are also working on a Sewing badge. Again as far as Swallow knows, the only thing left for Dukie to do is to sew a puppet of some sort. Swallow has to finish the Angry Swan quilt with Sandpiper, and sew pointe shoe bags for the girls at dance. Swallow also has earned the Once Upon a Story badge, which we recently discovered. When she finishes her badges, Duckie will be working on the Pet Care badge, and Swallow will be working on the Lure of Language badge. Additionally, we also managed to get an Angry Swan figure for Pelican at Target, where Swallow also got the Pinocchio DVD because it was on sale and like three dollars cheeper that it is on Amazon, plus you wouldn't have to pay shipping so it seemed like a good deal, and I've allready watched it twice and it's awesome, especially Jiminy Cricket, who is like the best Disney sidekick ever, I'm just saying. Swallow hasn't sent the Angry Swan badge along, but it's on her list, so hopefully it will happen this month.

Swallow's Badge Work

Swallow made a pillow for her Textile Arts badge. The activity was part of the Career Exploration portion of the badge and Swallow needed to sew something to decorate 'various rooms' in the house. As shown here, the pillow does, indeed, decorate various rooms.

Photos coming soon due to technical difficulty.

A meeting of three

Duckie was at a sleepover during our most recent meeting, so it was just Sandpiper, Pelican, and Swallow. Since it was Duckie's job to plan the meeting and Sandpiper didn't realize until a day or so ahead that Duckie was missing the meeting, it was loosely planned, but a lot was accomplished.

Swallow and Sandpiper made peanut butter cup brownies for the snack, based on Swallow's choice. We didn't have a chance to plan a group activity that worked online, so the focus of the meeting was on Swallow's Textile Arts badge and she was able to complete three of the seven required activities toward the badge - now she has only two more activities to go, which we are hoping to wrap up soon.

Our meeting was plagued with some technical problems and once again we could see each other, but could not hear Pelican for the majority of the meeting. Pelican's husband came home toward the end of the meeting and we think we've found a permanent solution to that problem.

Before the next meeting, Swallow needs to plan her Dreams to Reality badge and contact an aunt who has agreed to help make Angry Swan badges. Duckie has quite a few things to do, which Sandpiper will work with her on. Sandpiper is going to work on organizing the craft room with a goal of making the area usable for crafting, including the troop meetings (Swallow's help is one of the things she'll need to do toward her badge).

Our swan figures joined in the meeting, which Swallow and Sandpiper really enjoyed, b/c they are silly like that. Everyone also remembered to wear their beads, also fun. Even though the meeting was planned on the fly, we think it went pretty well and a lot was accomplished.

The next meeting is January 30 and we have agreed to wear our Moon Pie shirts for the meeting.

Xmas vacation with Sandpiper, Swallow, Duckie and Blue Heron was a blast. We had our meeting, planned by me (Pelican) face to face, built gingerbread houses and worked on ocean badges (even though technically I live on the Gulf of Mexico), but to me, the water all goes into the same place. We ate pringles and drank fruit smoothies for a snack and played a new card game called Phase 10. Duckie taught me a new card game called Garbage, which she is very good at. Our vacation was action packed and I'm still recovering from all the walking and exploring we did. We experienced "mystic societies", ate throwed rolls, watched a moon pie rise over Mobile, collected sea shells and ate alligator bites just to name a few, and I stress "few" things we did. Sandpiper documented the entire experience through pictures and I can't wait to see them. Speaking of pictures, I will take pictures of my Christmas decorations before I store them for another year. I loved having y'all here and miss you already. See y'all soon via cyber space cam. Love to y'all. Pelican