CPRMom

One of the many mom hats that I wear is that of Girl Scout Leader. So it should be of no surprise that my daughters' and their troop are selling Girl Scout Cookies! Each year the Girl Scouts adjust the cookie lineup and this year the Girl Scout Councils that offer cookies from the Little Brownie Bakers are offering a new cookie..... Thank You Berry Munch This is a cranberry cookie which contains dried cranberries. The cookie had a slightly nutty or oatmeal like hint to it, but the ingredient list does not contain nuts or oatmeal. While I'm located in the Girl Scouts of the Green & White Mountains Council , I had the opportunity to receive a complimentary box from the Girl Scouts of Nassau County . Since I think reviews of food items are really very subjective, I brought the cookies to my troop meeting in early January. I figured just because I liked the cookie, it did not mean that everyone else would. So how did everyone like them? The grownups liked the cookie. We a...

Last night I got a prank phone call. I haven't had one in years. This was on my business phone from some man who wanted to talk about scheduling a CPR class. At first I thought it was a legitimate call, but when he talked about his own mannequin and then made a few poorly worded racial comments I politely hung up on him. I am by nature a really sarcastic person who finds humor in things that other people don't. I've worked as a part-time dispatcher in law enforcement for over 20 years, it takes more than this to upset me. I don't find his call funny, but what I'm laughing at is that this wasn't made by some teenage clueless kid. This was from someone whose driver's license states that he is a grown up in the year 2010 - the age of caller ID. Yup, my highly intelligent prank caller tried to prank me with some borderline adult themed call from his cell phone which promptly displayed on my phone. Any other recipient of this call would probably call and ...

Today I was going to write about my kids, but then I received this email which I thought was much more important to share: Hi, Gail, Just thought you'd find this interesting... I took your CPR and FA classes in Sept....and in October my husband's life was saved by a bystander who knew CPR (I, of course, wasn't thinking straight, and it never occurred to me that it was a CPR-type situation). The bystander did CPR for about 7 minutes until the ambulance arrived. The EMTs shocked him twice before getting him on the ambulance. It was his heart. He's now fine! You who are and train lifesaving techniques are truly appreciated!! MS This is why I teach CPR and I love to hear that it is used successfully! I am so thankful that her husband is fine and feel honored that several months later she sent this wonderful email. Take care, Gail

There are many organizations raising money and supplies to help the victims of earthquake in Haiti. But keep in mind that while the work of many to help is good, the coordination and shipment of all these supplies can be difficult or overwhelming. I watched a brief interview with former President Clinton on TV the other night and he said something that made a lot of sense. He said if you want to help out, please donate to the Red Cross. They can purchase & ship supplies, they can mobilize aid. By focusing donations on one organization that is one large group that can make a large impact rather than having many smaller groups all trying to ship smaller supplies that will have a smaller impact. Please don't interpret this to not support other very worthwhile organizations. But the quickest and largest impact can be made by pooling resources to one large group that has the skills and training in disaster services. I know times are tight for many of us, believe me... I do kn...

This may sound odd, but we live in NH and we don't ski. There are many beautiful places to go skiing, but yet we don't ski. So today I thought I'd try to change that. On my other blog I posted that January is Learn a Snow Sport Month. As part of this many ski locations are offering fabulous deals. Today, 1/9/10, was Winter Trails Day. So I thought I'd take advantage of the free rentals and free skiing to take the kids. Oh, did I mention I was taking 4 kids, ages 2 to 11, by myself? It actually went somewhat well. It could have been worse. I rented a Pulk - a special cross-country sled - for my youngest to ride in. The rest of us had skis. I got a lot of exercise trying to get 3 kids into the skis and froze my hands in the process. In hindsight I should have bundled my 2 year old into the sled last, not first. By the time we were all set she had been in sled for a while and just lost patience with it ... especially when we had to wait our turn for our ski l...

The Official Girl Scout Cookie Sale for Girl Scouts of the Green & White Mountains begins on January 1, 2010. Girls and Troops in New Hampshire and Vermont will be selling cookies to raise money for their troops. Girls will be going door to door selling cookies in January and early February. Mid-February through mid-March Troops will be hold Cookie Booth Sales. You can check out all the varieties of Girl Scout Cookies offered by our GS Council here . Girl Scouting has specific safety rules for the girls to follow when doing door to door sales. Thus many girls are only able to take orders on the weekends and may not be able to visit every home in their neighborhood. If you are in NH or VT and would like to place an order you can contact the Girl Scouts of the Green & White Mountains Council office and they will take your information and have a local troop get in touch with you to take your order.

Lately I feel that I've been in a cooking rut. I'm always cooking the same things. So today when I finally checked my email I found this yummy looking recipe in my inbox: This is "Ham and Cheese Foldover Sandwiches" from the Bisquick website. Of course when I make it, it looks nothing like the picture. Mine looks like: And of course I omitted the Dijon mustard (which I don't have and no one in my house really likes anyway), and I substituted Cheddar cheese for the Swiss, which again is an ingredient I didn't have. And the recipe called for thin deli slices of ham and used dices leftovers from my Christmas ham. Anyway, it came out good! The kids liked it which is all that mattered.