Daft Musings

by Carolyn Bickford

Menu
  • Seven Years Gone and A Pandemic In Between (Tales of an ex-Californian in Tennessee)
  • Share Your Craziest COVID Memories Here
  • The COVID Masks
  • Old Journalistic Ethics vs. Social Media Screeds (updated below)
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy
Menu

Happy Chinese New Year! (and the Girl Scout Cookie Intrigue)

Posted on February 7, 2008 by cjbickford

Last week Neil asked me if we could go to a homeschoolers’ park day again, and I was delighted to oblige. We usually go to a San Jose group which meets on Thursdays, but regrettably usually only has teen boys. But on Tuesday I was feeling stir-crazy, and another group, which happens to have more children Neil’s age, was meeting in a San Jose Park. Neil was willing to take the break, so off we went.

As it turns out, we walked right into the group’s Chinese New Year celebration. One of the organizers had brought a full-on Chinese feast for all, with vegetable lo mein, potstickers, watermelon seeds, and candied lotus. In the meantime, another family had created their own paper-mache dragon and lion heads, as well as a long red runner trimmed with gold that other children stood under to form the dragon’s body. Around 4 o’clock the children gathered for the parade, which included a few boys banging drums, and one boy carrying a toy torch while he cycled along on a unicycle.

My own children seemed uninterested. Neil was attempting “tightrope-walking” feats on some exercise bars, and Kelly was sampling everything from the Chinese buffet (except the potstickers, since she’s decided she doesn’t like potstickers.) But then I looked up from my conversation and noticed Kelly had disappeared. As the parade had passed by us, she’d decided to join in. At the end, she decided to have a lively conversation with Mr. Dragon, who since he was being animated by a 10-year-old girl was chattier than I would have been. Kelly was delighted to pick Chinese candies out of Mr. Dragon’s teeth as well, and somewhere, somehow that afternoon, she got ahold of a mandarin orange, which she brought home.

So, hey, happy year of the rat. Combined with the craft day making Chinese New Year’s crafts a few weeks ago, we’ve been now more on top of the annual fete than we’ve ever been, thanks to the homeschoolers.

I also discovered the dark underside of Girl Scout cookie sales. Several of the girls in the group are Girl Scouts, and apparently the Girl Scout cookie drive had just ended. But I heard about the travails of being the Cookie Mom, and how happy one mother had been to pass that responsibility on to another. And more darkly, there was the intrigue of the Girl Scout cookie buyer poachers. One mother, Elizabeth, had had her husband take their daughter’s Girl Scout cookie sign-up form to his office, where he put it in the kitchen area, and sent an email to the office asking people to sign up if there were interested. When he went to pick it up, the sheet was gone.

I was completely puzzled: who would want to steal a Girl Scout cookie list? But other Girl Scout mothers nodded sagely, and asked if any other parents in the office had Girl Scout daughters. As a matter of fact, Elizabeth recalled, when her husband brought a new sheet to the office and sent out an email asking people to sign up again, those who had said they’d been approached by someone else in the marketing department and had signed up on his daughter’s sheet in the meantime. Isn’t that ever low down and rotten?

I pointed out that I will happily buy girl scout cookies from anyone and everyone in the group next year. Peter thinks Kelly should join girl scouts, but frankly, I’m not up for the girl scout cookie drama.

Category: Daft Musings

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Seven Years Gone and A Pandemic In Between (Tales of an ex-Californian in Tennessee)
  • Perspectives on Theranos 2: Some Good Ideas
  • Perspectives on Theranos: Silicon Valley Kool-Aid Culture
  • COVID Vaccines in 100 Days or Less
  • The Fun of Unscientific Social Distancing Markers

Recent Comments

  • George Haberberger on Concern Trolling Control Freaks
  • Roll With It: Diving into 2021 – Daft Musings on Hippie Hiking Adventures in TN
  • cjbickford on Performers and Audiences in the Pandemic Looking Glass
  • George Haberberger on Performers and Audiences in the Pandemic Looking Glass
  • George Haberberger on Destroying People and Freedom with the Power of the Perpetually Offended

Archives

  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • December 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • August 2019
  • February 2019
  • September 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • August 2017
  • February 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • February 2016
  • October 2015
  • June 2015
  • January 2015
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007

Categories

  • art & fashion
  • Cult of Personality
  • Daft Musings
  • Death
  • Death to COVID
  • Education
  • Environmentalist Ramblings
  • Germany
  • Holiday Ideas
  • How Covid Changed Us
  • Idiot Thieves
  • Local Lore
  • music
  • Nashville
  • Our Amazing Cross-Country Road Trip
  • Out & About
  • Parking It
  • Parties
  • Pointless Complaining about Gas Prices
  • Religion
  • San Diego Comic Con
  • Southwest Tour 2014
  • Taxes Suck
  • The Next Great American Band
  • Travelling
  • Uncategorized
  • Yukky Medical Stories

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2025 Daft Musings | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme