I never really wanted to be a girl scout when I was little. It wasn't that I didn't want to be one, but I just didn't care one way or another. Maybe because none of my friends were really into it so I didn't feel like I was left out of all the fun. And, I already knew how to rough it and put up tents, build campfires; I even went on a 3rd or 4th grade camping trip where we had to build our own "debris huts" to sleep in. (Nora? Anyone else from my class remember what year that was?) That night it rained so hard, and we all ended up in tents, but I did almost end up sleeping under a stick propped against a tree with other branches and leaves carefully arranged to keep out the cold. I was basically raised by a pack of wolves in the wilderness.
Also, I don't think that the Girl Scouts have cool badges like the Boy Scouts. You know, the I Passed the Fishing Test badge, I Started a Fire With Two Sticks badge, I Remembered to Bring My Canteen badge, and my personal favorite, only because Craig got the badge without doing the test and he kept it, guilty to this very day, the I Learned How to Drive a Motor Boat badge. For me it would have been all about the badges and the outfits. So, maybe I should have joined the Boy Scouts, or, maybe I should have time traveled back to when this awesome scarf was Girl Scout material! This find was also from the 4th of July, and fits into the ever-growing category of things I buy for $1. I was digging through a box of scarves, saw this pattern down at the bottom and immediately assumed it would be a Vera scarf. Wrong.
Okay, this post is getting a little out of hand. For those of you who don't already know this about me, I don't do time travel. I won't read about it, I won't watch a movie or tv show where it is involved, and I won't have a conversation about it. I used to watch Lost, but as soon as they started time traveling all over the place I was DONE. I'm getting worked up even writing about it! And I also got to the point where I actually wrote the words "I was basically raised by a pack of wolves". Wow.
Are you still reading? If so, sorry about the longest story ever about a $1 scarf and my analysis of the Girl Scouts (which I really know nothing about except for the cookies). I hope you were at least able to enjoy the pictures!
*Yet another area of this post where my "facts" got a little foggy; Craig has corrected me about the badge issue. It was the I Learned To Shoot a Rifle badge, and in is words: "It was mistakenly sent to me and unethically kept by me." He went through the whole rifle training but was unable to shoot the clay pigeons, thus not really earning the badge. When asked if he still feels guilty about it, he said no because he never benefited from it; never moved on to Eagle Scouts, and doesn't have it on his current resumé. And that's the facts, folks. LONGEST POST EVER.
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19 comments:
I was a girl scout and we totally had badges! Not sure if ours were that badass, but we definitely had them. And why do you not like time travel? That's so interesting!
laurie- see? I have no idea what I'm talking about! You always do such good research in your writing; I have no patience and go all willy-nilly. I stand corrected! What badges did you have?
time travel: I can't handle things that aren't real. The only exception is fiction, but it has to be about things that really could happen. I don't do sci-fi, fantasy, or books and movies like LOTR and Harry Potter. Or Star Wars, ugh! Now, if I experience time travel at some point I'll be okay with it. : ) It is kind of strange for a pet peeve...
Oh, interesting! I'm not 100% like that, but I am definitely less inclined to be interested in things that "couldn't be real". Though I'm much more bothered by fictional human relationships/emotions that feel like they "couldn't be real". I have pretty much zero tolerance for that.
I don't have a strong memory of our badges, other than that we had them. I dropped out of Girl Scouts around 2nd grade, I think. I feel like the badges marked things like community service projects, camping trips, etc. There might have been some to indicate that we learned how to do something. I feel like one in particular marked that we attended a sock hop?? I wonder! I'm sure my old sash is at my parents' house...
YES, Laurie, that is pretty much what I was trying to say about fiction writing. The only thing that differs (maybe) is that I feel more passionately about all of this for some reason.
Oh no... I just realized another contradiction. I can accept the weird arty kind of impossible movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Adaptation. (Which brings us to another thing that I usually cannot do; Nicholas Cage movies!)
My mind is pure mud today!
Oh Ursula. I succeeded in Rifle Shooting and failed in Shotgun Shooting.
The authenticity of all of the these badges are suspect: wilderness survival (wouldn't last a day), rifle shooting (scared to death of them), citizenship in the community (attended one Coon Valley village board meeting, although you really should get some reward for sitting through one of those), and finally, swimming (can't swim).
We did go camping, though. I would prefer not to discuss the uniform.
That's it. I'm trading in my camera and the computer for a head scan, mental health evaluation and hearing aids. I'll also wear mittens 24/7 lest my fingers try to find their way to some other keyboard.
hahahahah
Well, it wasn't an "I learned to shoot the clay pigeons with a rifle" badge. You're so particular!
Do they teach you to sew badges onto your sash in girl scouts, and do you get a badge for badge-sewing? That's what I was wondering.
Here ya go... I did a quick search. Vintage girl scout badges galore :)
http://www.vintagegirlscout.com/badge.htm
I like the 1938-63 collection :)
Thanks for the idea, CP.
Merit Badge Wiki
According to this, I only had to shoot 12 of 25 targets (48%). I think I got 5.
The Girl Scout patches look way cooler, anyway. Rabbit raiser, observer, typography, pen pal, etc. There should be a post just on these badges [hint, hint].
I happen to still have my Brownie sash, where I earned several badges, sewn lovingly my mom. They don't have real titles, but they show pictures of cooking, paper airplanes, beakers, gymnastics, music, bird watching, and what appears to be killing a ladybug with a magnifying glass. It now makes a great (although small) Halloween costume, and I am proud to earn every one from Troop 260.
Camp fire girls got colored wood beads to sew on black vests, and didn't have to sell cookies
Oh, this has all been so interesting for me! I finally know the facts about Craig's Merit Badges, and have made it until this moment not revealed that he also has the swimming badge and cannot swim.
Also, Melissa: would love to see you whip up some fancy paper airplanes and fry a ladybug!
Sofie- good question! It seems like a good idea, although Melissa has indicated that she didn't do the sewing herself. (Why did I have to embroider my entire Irish dance costume by myself?!?)
miss T- nice that you didn't have to sell cookies; Craig and I have a policy that we won't buy cookies from adults trying to sell them for their kids. They should really call them Girl Scout Mom Cookies.
I'm a little late to the party, but I remember that camping trip! I don't remember what year it was though. Besides building the shelters we also learned how to start a fire with that wood/string spinny thing. We totally would have earned all kinds of wilderness badges and yes, sewing badges for those irish dance costumes. We never joined girl schouts because we didn't want to show up the other kids with all our skills, right?
Like hanging on a rickety trapeze over a kettle of dry ice and poison ivy, at the tender age of 12, in the part of the Pythion Oracle--if only there were a badge! As for having to sew your entire Irish Dance Costume, I know that your mother felt it would build self- esteem and personal confidence--which you would sorely need performing Irish step dancing in public.
i, too, was a camp fire girl. we sold chocolate candy. i might have been a blue bird. i don't remember. as a girl scout, i recall the main badge i earned was for cooking. i might have earned a sewing badge, but that was the limit of my limited interests. not that yer askin'.
Nora- I knew you'd have the something to contribute when you stopped by! And it helps my credibility a bit that someone else can attest to some of the things that I write about! : ) I had forgotten about making the fire with the stick and string thing! I think that the entire class had to fit into 2 tents because that was all that anyone thought to bring.
M. Teariest- I'm beginning to think that I need to write a book! And let's remember the colored lights shining through the haze from the dry ice that I was hanging over- with bare feet- as the Pythian Oracle. See, I never would have had those experiences in public school!
Sarah- you must still have those badges somewhere, right? It could be such a cool piece of artwork if you displayed them correctly. Plus, imagine the sense of pride that you would feel every time that you walked past them or when a guest inquired about them.
Officially the most comments on a post here at the old shop ursula! A lot of them are mine, but still!
from MIL or MOM to you Craig: I'm shocked--and all those swimming lessons. Not to mention the parades and hikes and Camp Decorah. I think you deserved every badge--I would have given you more--especially for enduring the mosquito infestation that brought you and the other dads running from camp at daybreak. All well earned!
Now that is a mother's love! I'd like to give him a badge for putting up with me telling stories about him! At least this is a public forum, and he gets a chance to set me straight.
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