October 01, 2007
Not-So-Mossy Cottage
As predicted, vacation was a mix of the suffocatingly adult and the giddily fun. Most importantly though—the Great Moss War of Ought Seven? I win. In fact, I kicked some green, slimy arse and took names.
Things did not go well at first since the Y Chromosome arrived four hours late. He offered some lame-o explanation about how he couldn’t find my house because his MapQuest access was wonky. Then he craftily kept his industrial-strength earplugs firmly screwed in so there was no point in my saying what I was thinking, which was, “If only there were another way. If only there were a way to have a picture of the city streets printed on an overly large piece of paper, cleverly folded to a convenient size, which you could keep in your car and refer to whenever you needed it. If only.”
But he redeemed his youthful self by pressure washing not just the driveway and brick walk I had contracted for, but everything that wasn’t moving. (Thank God Frankie wasn’t there because if she had chosen just the wrong moment to have a contemplative sit, she would have been shot halfway across the garden. But she would have been clean, if minus a strip or two of fur.) This included my cement stoop—which caused water to leak into my home under the walls—and a cement area outside my kitchen door—which caused dirt, mold and moss to ooze under the door and halfway across the kitchen floor. I offer as Exhibit A:
But da yout’ had no way of knowing how crappily built my house is and how minimally it is actually attached to the foundation, so none of this was his fault. I just dogged his route outside the house from inside the house, mop, bucket and rags in hand, like one magnet matching another, move for move, on opposite sides of a piece of paper.
He further redeemed himself, almost to the point of my smiling upon him in a saccharinely sweet motherly way, hands clasped to my heart, when he gently rinsed my dahlias. And then rinsed the hose he had used to rinse the dahlias. (My head almost exploded watching him rinse something that was producing water with the water that the thing was producing. Too paradoxical, too cyclical, too self-referential, too infinite loop! Ack!)
I have so much else to write about, including, following closely on the heels of the Moss Wars of Ought Seven, the Sewing Disaster of Ought Seven, but this will all have to wait while I finally reveal my Dulaan treasure, promised you, lo, these last two weeks.
As I mentioned, while I was at Stephanie’s presentation, someone gave me something very special. The “someone” was Saralyn, the person who invited me to participate in the Girl Scout “World Thinking Day” event, and the “thing” was this…
…my very own Dulaan Girl Scout badge. How totally frickin’ cool is that? How totally frickin’ cool is it that they used the Dulaan font and colors? How totally frickin’ cool is the embroidered map of Mongolia? How totally frickin' cool is it that I, who had never set foot in a Girl Scout event before, now have a badge? How totally frickin'... Wait. Stop. Need. To. Catch. Breath.
And, now, apologies to everyone at the event who was rudely interrupted by my shoving the badge in their faces and shouting, “Lookie! Lookie! Lookie!” Problem was, this included people I didn’t even know well.
as a lifetime member of Girl Scouts I will say ths: totally. fricking. cool.
Posted by: anj on October 1, 2007 11:57 AMThat badge is worth a million "Lookie!"s. That is just beyond coolness.
Posted by: Cookie on October 1, 2007 12:04 PMThat badge rocks.
And the guy who watered your dahlias and then rinsed the hose? Totally deserves a cheek-pinch. You pick the cheek.
That's awesome. Are you going to sew the badge onto an article of clothing? Or just pin it to whatever you happen to be wearing each day so that you ar enever without its awesomeness?
Posted by: Jennu on October 1, 2007 12:48 PMWow; that really so very cool. I hope you showcase it someplace!!
Posted by: Bonney on October 1, 2007 01:02 PMWow. Much cooler than any of the GS badges I ever got.
Posted by: Kat on October 1, 2007 01:17 PMTotally cool badge! Hope you had a great week ('tho sounds like you did) and hope you didn't get a crappy, broken mammo machine........
The badge is cool. It really offsets some of the grief, doesnt' it?
Posted by: kim on October 1, 2007 04:33 PMThe badge is cool! I think you need to make a sash to sew it to so you can wear it around.
Posted by: Brenda on October 1, 2007 04:39 PMOh, wow! Great badge! I still have my sash with my paltry few badges sewn on it... and I think you need a sash for this one.
You could wear it for any important high level political dignitary type meetings... people wear sashes to those don't they?
In 7 years of Girl Scouting, I never ever earned a badge as awesome as that. It is beyond cool!
Does this mean you can sell me some Samoas now? :)
Posted by: jules on October 1, 2007 05:09 PMWell, that might be the frickin' coolest thing I've seen in a month of Sundays, as my mother used to say. :-) I'm grinning from ear to ear on your behalf!
Posted by: Sam on October 1, 2007 07:26 PMHad lunch today in Ulaanbaatar with several FIRE volunteers, one of whom was a Dulaan knitter. They're rarin' to go. Your knitted cozies will warm Mongols in Bayan-Olgii (Kazakh NW), Hovsgol (north where the big lake is and it's really, really, really in winter), Dornod (very poor east), and my own stomping grounds, Dornogov (Eastern Gobi). Now, despite Events of the Past, your on-site Buddhist monk has cultivated diplomatic relations, and I feel confident that you will see photographs showing the payoff of your loving work.
Posted by: Cuzzin Tom on October 2, 2007 01:21 AMFantastic patch!!! not trying to ruin the coolness of it, but technically it is a patch. the badges are the things GS's earn from the badge book and they go on the front of their sashes. patches are what they get when they attend events and they are worn on the back of the sash. With that said though, you can call it a badge! Cause it is the coolest one (patch or badge) I've ever seen!
Posted by: Weaver on October 2, 2007 07:24 AMVery cool badge, I say you wear it with honor. Now I'd like to order a couple boxes of Thin Mints now :-)
Posted by: emma on October 2, 2007 09:42 AMDude. Seriously cool badge.
Posted by: Rachel H on October 2, 2007 10:42 AMYou know, pressure washers aren't that expensive. I saw some at Big Lots for $60-99. And they are really fun. It is strangely satisfying to just point and wash away grime.
Posted by: Laurie on October 2, 2007 12:34 PMMAZEL TOV!! That's much cooler than any of the history badges we get to hand out at the Museum. I think you need either a cap to wear it on the front of or, as others have said, a sash. And pin it on, so you can pin it to your PJs at night. But then...badges and patches are EARNED, and if that's not the most EARNED-nest thing I've ever seen nothing is. If you stick your head out the door you'll hear a strange little clicking sound - that's the Wild Applause wafting your way from Wisconsin!
Posted by: dale-harriet in WI on October 2, 2007 01:09 PMTOTALLY frickin' cool!!!
Posted by: Renee on October 3, 2007 04:58 AMThe moss-washing/dahlia-rinsing/hose-rinsing guy is totally frickin' cool, even if map-challenged. But the badge is TOTALLY frickin' cool!!!!
Posted by: Norma on October 3, 2007 06:15 AMRyan, that is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Bar none. Better than Olympic gold, 'cause it's the only one EVER. You wear that badge with pride, and every time you see it, you'll remember what you did.
Posted by: terri on October 5, 2007 07:55 AM