Procrastinator General says...: Guides, Rainbows and Birthdays

I'm feeling a little sorry for myself this morning. I have the start of a cold coming with it's annoying runny nose/watery eyes/fuzzy head fun. I should be used to it by now. Every time madam starts a new term at school she brings home a new cold. But it sucks.

I have been doing very little with myself in this new free time I now have (technically today is the first time I have *new* free time). But I have got back into doing some proper cooking. I love cooking but loathe doing it just for a small number of people. I have tried to combat this by using a bit of planning.

This week I bought a whole chicken and roasted it off yesterday. So we had a nice chicken dinner last night and I have half a carcass (well, plus a wing) left for today. And then I shall make stock with the leftovers :)

Now, this isn't exactly revolutionary. But usually I make extra helpings of things and then never really fancy eating the rest of it so it languishes in my freezer. Not really *actually* a money saver. But this technique means I will get 3 completely different meals out of what I bought! Genius. It's something I've been meaning to do for ages and then never quite getting around to it.

So tonight I will take the other half a chicken (possibly just the breast) and turn it into a chicken and mushroom pasta bake-type thing. Then I could make chicken soup. Which we can have on Saturday as mum makes tea for us on Fridays.

This Friday is the first one back at guides for this term. I'm excited to be going back, though worried there will be no guides left! I need to think of an activity to do with everyone that will be easy to do with a small (miniscule) number of people.

Before we broke up for summer we spent an evening making recycling boxes. We had the tables in a horseshoe for this activity. Usually each patrol sits around their own table. But I noticed how much better everyone was when they were closer together and, whilst we are so small, I wonder if we should keep the arrangement. We can always send them off to different areas if they need to work separately.

But I get the impression trying to break with tradition might not go down well! I'm also trying to persuade my mum to come in as a unit helper. She could just come once a month even. It would just be nice to have someone who knows how much effort I put in and comes from the same standpoint as me. Not that I'm saying I feel underappreciated, more that I feel impotent.

I'm always trying to ramp the guides up, but they tend to look at me as if I have three heads. I also think we need to do some proper planning and have ideas for what we're going to do over consecutive weeks. I know that we seem to have given up letting the patrols organise themselves as they just don't. Or more accurately, some of them do it. But not all. And not every week. There is *always* a patrol with nothing to do. It drives me insane.

We also always seem to be a last resort. You know, they have nothing else to do this week so they'll come to Guides. I was under the impression they were meant to come every week... But there is no point in my frustration.

They don't come every week as they're not inspired. So to an extent it's my fault. I just wish I could find the thing that does inspire them. I don't want our unit to fold. But at the rate it's going it'll be gone by Christmas. And then where will I be :( Because I have that unit in my heart. I guess I'd have to move to Toll Gavel.

Madam will be at Toll Gavel for Rainbows soon enough! I can't believe she'll be 5 in 5 weeks time... Plans for her birthday party are starting to have to be set into action. We have the play centre booked for her and a few friends. I guess I need to think about what I'm even going to get her for her birthday!

I have younger brother hunting for The Little Mermaid on DVD for her. But I want to get her something more. She doesn't need any more toys. Or clothes. What do I get her then? I guess I'll have to ask if there is anything she wants... Perhaps she'd have Rainbow uniform as a present...

This is her birthday last year...