I may be crazy

I've hit the switch in the laundry room every time I've walked in today (so dozens of times) and each time I do it the light is still burned out. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing expecting different results then . . . yeah. (This could also apply to my continual tidying efforts.)
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Ken got called as first counsellor in Young Mens on Sunday. After he was sustained the Bishop was reminded by a counsellor that he had forgotten something. No, not to release me as Young Women's president, but to release the previous Young Mens first counsellor.
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So last night Carmen and Chloe got their first taste at raising themselves for however long this lasts while Ken, Jaclyn, Steven and I went to class and quorum presidency meetings (Steven because he is deacon's quorum secretary and Jaclyn because she needed to be there later and we were her ride.) Then Ken and I both participated in Bishopric Youth Council which was followed by Stake Standards Night. Jaclyn remarked to me later that she sure gets more compliments when she plays the organ than when she plays the piano.

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While we were gone Carmen and Chloe made a chocolate milkshake, which wasn't much of an ability stretch for Carmen who made dinner two or three times last week, not counting the sandwich cook-off that was our dinner on Sunday night. Ken challenged Carmen earlier in the week to see who could make the best sandwich, and we finally found out last night. (Both of them put white bread products on my grocery list, am I the only one in this house who prefers brown bread?)

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Ken's

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Carmen's

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We all ate 1/2 of each kind of sandwich and then Chloe, Steven, Jaclyn and I voted on which we liked the best by scoring each sandwich out of ten - Carmen won by two points. Chloe took her judging very seriously, and I wish we hadn't been in such a hurry to get out to our Sunday night meetings because I think she would have liked score cards - it would have been fun.

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Chloe takes just about everything very seriously, or maybe the right word would be intently. Last week a scout who attends our school organized a shoe drive for shoes to be shipped to Haiti. While the other kids in our family dug around the house, Chloe canvased our neighbours and brought in 3 garbage bags of shoes to the school. I told the parents of the scout behind the project about Chloe's efforts and they were so glad to hear it because it made them hopeful that the project would be a success, which I totally understood since Steven has been working on his citizenship project through the school to earn the Chief Scout award.

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(He used leadership on his hockey team to fulfill the leadership portion of his challenging program.)
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Speaking of which, just over a week ago the Young Mens president in our ward asked me if it might be possible for Steven to complete his work for the Chief Scout Award before the Baden Powell dinner on February 2nd. Considering I had just asked two laurels to complete their Young Womanhood Recognition requirements before New Beginnings (one of them being Jaclyn) I felt like I had to ask Steven to try. He didn't have much left, in fact the request to finish up was helpful because by Wednesday he was done and Wednesday night he met with the Scout Group Committee Chairperson as well as his scout leader to go over his binder of completed badges, camping, and projects. They approved him for the award. We then warned them Steven will be late to the Baden Powell Dinner because of a basketball game the same evening, and that was that.

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One last thing: Jaclyn wrote the SATs on Saturday. Her results will be available February 11th and it will be interesting. She thought the test was very easy - much easier than her finals last week had been and she got 100% on her math final (as well as her final mark in the class). Ken pointed out awhile ago that finding a test easy probably means one of two things: 1) the student was well prepared and aced it, 2) the student is clueless and failed it. We shall see.

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Oh, Ken and I have been up to stuff to. On Saturday night we attended the Stars & Spurs Gala which is an event to raise money for Stars, a charity that provides rapid emergency transport. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Stars, and a young woman who flew in the Stars Air Ambulance as a premature infant and the first Stars Air Ambulance passenger was there to give a touching address. Mostly we just watched the money fly in raffles, silent auctions, and live auctions. It was incredible and by the end of the evening over $400, 000 were raised. My favorite experience of the night was touring the Mobile Simulation Van which drives out to smaller rural hospitals for education on emergency medicine. I kept thinking on that tour that I need to find out about opportunities for future tours of the Stars facilities and vehicles, but a tour for who? The Young Women? Well, we're planned out for long enough that I may not need to make more plans. Scouts? Nope, Steven's all caught up till he becomes a Venture. Maybe I don't need to be thinking of taking a group out then.

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More time for tidying up and thinking it will stay that way, I guess.