A Ridiculous Martyr I Tell You

Ava is a Brownie. She's a card carrying member of two troops if truth be told. There is the local troop and a city wide all Chinese adopted troop as well that she hangs with now and again. Me? I was never a scout, unless you count that unfortunate 6 months I spent with the Camp Fire Girls somewhere around 1978. I admit to not being terribly gung-ho when people I meet share with me the inordinate pleasures of sleeping with nature, which you know means a significant lack of toilet paper for 3 days. I myself, have always preferred the Hyatt to tents, and have a special disdain for anything looking or smelling like a baked bean. So, when Ava expressed serious interest in scouting, I entered cautiously. But, she enjoys it. I mean really enjoys it. She loves her gal pal cronies and relishes in each and every new activity they jump into with reckless abandon.

A few months ago her troop leader thought it would be so fun for the girls to "design their own" Brownie bag for their book and vests with the pleuthera of multi-colored badges. Then I would take their requests and make up 11, yes count them 11 unique bags based on the design whim of each Brownie in the troop.

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where you know this is too much work and you don't really have the time to fill the request bequeathed upon you, but you simply cannot say no out loud? There is all this agreeing and nodding going on, but inside your head is saying "Say no woman, it is ok to say no sometimes. You are a 40 year old woman, SAY NO. It will be good for you to say no." And then you say yes. One week later you find yourself making 11 tote bags for your daughter's Brownie troop. (My mom helped so don't feel too sorry for this sorry martyred sap.)

Well, here they are. And the girls LOVE them...and their sweet parents have even called me to thank me, the Troop leaders have taken me to lunch (completely amazing thank you gift) and I'm not sorry for even one hour I invested in the project. They are simply so darn cute all lined up at meetings on the wall over their coats. A few of the girls like them well enough to ditch their school backpacks in lieu of carrying their new tote. Is this not the highest honor that could be bestowed upon me my an 8 year old?

If you are interested in a similar project for your little scout, which I honestly have no idea why you would be, but heck...you can find this amazingly fun fabric here. Girl scout fabric, made by Robert Kauffman. They have a boy scout line too. You know if your boy scout wants a handbag?


Have you ever been on ebay or ETSY and the seller goes into great detail about how her house is smoke free and pet free and she only uses eco-friendly detergent to wash that fabric you are buying? Yea, that's not us. We don't smoke but as you can see Chloe the Puggle was most interested in the Brownie bags. They were probably delivered with a tiny bit O' fur attached. And yes, that is a hand knit scarf she is wearing courtesy of my 4 year old who begs me to make her scarves while shopping at craft stores only to then turn around and tie them around the dog every damn day.

Kind of looks likes she's saying, "Where's my Brownie bag"?