quidditchgrrl

*unfolds from fetal position*

Nothing makes you welcome the relative peace and quiet of your home more than spending a weekend at Grand Assembly.

Good things this year:
The girls placed for the third straight year in SuperTeams competition (for water balloon toss)
The girls placed FIRST for our door decorations (which are in the pictures) in GWA theme (for the first time in a loooong time, we had actually qualified by decorating the doors)
The GWA (from our Assembly) met all of her goals for the year, including more than $10K for Miracle Flights!
We raised more than $1500 for a Rainbow family whose home had been damaged in a flood, then by a fire
We met in the Kenyon Athletic Center, in the basketball arena, the way Grand Assembly ought to be! (And the tubular lights in the picture actually light up in rainbow colors!)

The not-so-good:
Two girls getting sick during Chubby Bunny (which is why you shouldn't CHEW in an attempt to cheat!) - good thing I brought chewable aspirin for post-Bunny tummyaches
Partnering with that, realizing that if you buy marshmallows, they need to be stale, or you need to buy them a couple months in advance, or they will be too sticky
Forgetting to bring cups for Saturday night :(
Not having an older Rainbow girl to help out in the dorms

Wanna see pictures of our gorgeous girls having fun, our door decorations, and life-sized Nerds? Go my album.

I had an awesome day today. Today was a "safe and sane" halloween party thrown by the Mid-Ohio Workers Association. MWA is a private organization (so they aren't beholden to government strings/agendas) that advocates for low wage workers - seasonal and domestic workers, temp workers, migrant workers, etc. - to get them access to the benefits they deserve. People who take care of the old, the young, the sick, who pick your veggies, who ring up your groceries, and who keep those Wal-Mart prices low (while Wal-Mart gets billions in government welfare).

We packed bags of candy, hot dogs, potato chips, and ice cream (Jeni's!), then headed to what is arguably one of the poorest areas of the city - Mount Vernon Plaza. I totally got into the kids' energy and enthusiasm; they were SO much fun. We had relay races, freeze tag, face painting, masks/wigs, and coloring. The "parade" up and down the area was super-cute.

There were a couple of things that threatened to wipe the smile off my face, but I managed to put those things out of my mind. Several teenage girls were walking around with kids on their hips, and it took me a minute to realize that those were their kids. No older than 15, but they were completely unwilling to give those kids up for a second. The brothers and sisters got dumped off immediately, though! A couple of moms were trash-talking each other, but they finally got over it and chilled out.

The hugs and smiles were wonderful. I called one of my Rainbow Girls and told her how the day had gone, and I told the MWA coordinator that we would likely help with the Christmas party - it's the perfect thing for our girls. We really needed them for games today - 3 adults + 25 kids = chaos at all times.

I believe in the semi-tired adage, "give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime," but there are several different feelings about this:

Left-wing/liberal: They want to talk about the best way to teach fishing, what kind of rods are best to catch fish, and how to get everyone the same amount of fish regardless of their fishing skill

Right-wing/neo-con/conservative: "It's not MY job to teach people how to fish and damned if I'm going to contribute to buying poles!"

Then there's the small minority who says, "everyone grab a pole, let's tie flies and catch us some dinner!"

Caught lunch/dinner at North Market and found Pam's Market Popcorn. Simply popcorn heaven. I know what I'm getting my dad for his birthday! :-9 I also bought a little Christmas gift for rlanto.

That is, I think, quite enough.