On the Status of Plans & Planets

On Wednesday I participated in a planning jam session in the form of an Activity Days meeting with my partner, Sarah. I'm pleased to report that it was highly successful. (I'm also pleased to report that two planning-oriented minds work extremely well together.) We now have activities planned for every first and third Wednesday from September through January. Here is a sampling of the activities we'll be having:

• Sewing a scripture case and learning how to use/mark/etc the scriptures that will be kept inside;
• How to eat healthy & how to plan and serve a meal to someone else;
• Writing letters of appreciation
• A mother/daughter activity (which the girls will plan and prepare for -- with our guidance)

Ooh, it'll be such fun. I'm really looking forward to it, especially now that I feel so prepared and in-the-know. I organized all of the necessary details of each activity (date/time, where, brief description of activity, what Faith in God requirement it fulfills, and what the girls need to bring with them) into a calendar which I will present to the parents this Sunday. Hopefully this way, everyone will know what's going on and when, and I can save trees by not making the families an invitation for each activity. Also, I drafted a letter to the parents to highlight some points in the calendar. Goodness, I feel so on top of things!

And speaking of plans, here's what's on the docket for this weekend:

• Tonight two young couples who are pretty new in our ward are coming over to our apartment for games and desserts. One couple grew up in this area; they just got married in June. The other couple just moved here from Logan, Utah to attend graduate school. It should be fun. (Also, I was pleased to discover this morning that the rice krispy treats I made last night for tonight's event had not dried out, as mine usually tend to do on the second day...making them a day ahead of time was a bit risky on my part, but I wouldn't have had a chance to make them had I waited until today.)
• Tomorrow morning at 8:30 we'll be at the church donning rubber gloves and arming ourselves with vacuums. It was our turn to be volunteered to help clean the church. I hope it goes quickly because...
• ...At 10:00 there is a book sale at the library. All books are 50 cents a pound and CDs, DVDs, and audio books are $2.00 each. I've have not yet been to a Muncie Library Book Sale. Hopefully it will prove to be fruitful because Blake and I have a serious book addiction that hasn't been tended to for a long time.
• Our check engine light came on again just as we were leaving Columbus last Saturday. (What is it with Columbus turning our check engine light on? The last time it came on, we were leaving Columbus as well! Maybe Columbus likes us and doesn't want us to leave...) We've actually been kind of hoping for the light to come back on because a few days after we spent much more than we wanted to getting the oxygen sensor replaced, the car started acting like it had never been fixed. We took it back in to the shop, but were told that they couldn't see what the problem was and bring it back if the light comes back on. Our plan is to take the car into AutoZone tomorrow to get the problem diagnosed (requesting though, that they leave the check engine light on as proof to the car shop that there really is still a problem), then, based on the diagnosis, we'll either next week take it back to the original repair shop, or to a different one (if it's the same problem, the car will go back to the original shop because their work is under warranty; if it's a different problem, we're taking the car to a new guy, maybe).
• On Sunday I get to participate in another Visiting Teaching marathon. Sarah and I will be visiting with 2 fabulous-yet-incredibly-talkative ladies back to back. Last time it was no picnic (delightful and charming though they are), but maybe this time it won't be so bad because now I know what I'm up against (and, if history dictates anything, I'm up against 4.5 straight hours of visiting teaching).

I suppose you all have probably heard by now that Pluto is no longer a planet. Kind of sad, but probably for the best. I mean, I wouldn't want to be the elementary school teacher (or any science teacher, for that matter), who has to constantly update their Solar System bulletin board every time a new planet is named (which, from the sounds of things, would have been quite frequent, had they not re-defined the term "planet"). It would be much easier, I think, to just remove one planet from the board and be done with it. Plus, Pluto's been nothing but a controversy since it was found 80ish years ago, and it's always pleasant to resolve controversies. (If you are totally clueless as to the whole Pluto Isn't A Planet Anymore business, please go learn about it here.)

All right, I'm done here. Have a lovely weekend, all!