Well its been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon...wait a minute. That doesn't sound right. Ah yes....now I remember...
Well its been a quiet week here near Lake Wausau. I say quiet because most of the office is at a meeting or on vacation. That doesn't mean it hasn't been busy though. I've been working on quite a bit.
Monday was spent organizing and cleaning my desk. I'm working on trying to at least straighten it up everyday. It only sometimes happens like that. Monday was also the day that I made my game plan for re-organizing the craft closet. I've booked all of next week for working on that. Literally, I've booked one of the conference rooms all week so I can spread out. I'm actually pretty excited to do it. I don't mind doing work like that. Its pretty relaxing.
Tuesday was spend figuring out what I was going to be doing with my JDC kids on Wednesday. I did finally come up with something, as well as coming up with something for the next week. I also started putting together everything the YAC kids need for their Trick-or-Treating event on Halloween. This meant making copies, cutting out door-hangers, making new copies because I made a mistake on them, and cutting out the new ones. Its going to take me awhile, but again, its kind of relaxing work sometimes.
Yesterday was a good day at the JDC. We made dog toys with jute twine and tennis balls. These will be donated to the Humane Society, and possibly a food pantry, if I hear back from them soon. While I was there we were talking about what they wanted to do after high school. Many of them had no idea what they wanted to do, but they are still young. They have time to decide. Perhaps I should find an activity that would start those wheels turning and they can come up with ideas so they have something to work toward. One kid there has already decided what he wants to do. I don't think he realizes that he has to start working toward getting out of trouble before he can start doing what he wants to do. He was talking about how they wanted to put him in the Group Home I have a program with, but he had some very interesting reasons for not wanting to be placed there. I don't think he put it together that the reasons he doesn't want to be there will keep him from reaching his goal of becoming a mechanic for Mercedes. I hope he does go to the Group Home, I think it will be good for him. He once told me that 4-H was not a necessary thing in his life. He had gotten along without it. I resisted the urge to point out to him that maybe if he had had some 4-H in his life, or some other program or sport, maybe he wouldn't have ended up in a shelter home for three weeks with the possibility of going to a group home. Since I am not trained in anything like this, however, I cannot say for sure. That is just my opinion. Before I left one of the women who works there gave me some more knitted hats that the youth had made. One girl can crochet, so she even made some little baby mittens. I'm excited to deliver those to the Hospital.
Today has been filled with more work cutting out door hangers, planning out JDC, planning logistics for the Trick-or-Treating thing, and getting ready for upcoming events.
One thing that I'm really excited about is the Financial Wellness Conference in January. VISTA hopes to have many service projects all going on simultaneously for Martin Luther King day. I had an idea to have a Hands On type day for community members where there would be sessions like meal planning on a budget, re-purposing clothes, fixing holes and others. When I discussed it with people in the office I discovered that the day I wanted to do it, there is a Financial Wellness Conference going on. So I've made inquires and I hope to partner with them and find volunteers to teach a few classes. I have some ideas already as to who to ask. I'm excited to get going on this project.
As far as my Spanish Reading Program goes, we've made some progress, but are waiting to hear back from a few people to figure out logistics and everything.
I'm also waiting to hear back from people about my After School program. Hopefully that gets going soon.
One distraction I found today was at VandalEyes.net Well to be more specific, as I got on Blogger to write this, I saw that Wil Wheaton had a blog post that I hadn't read yet, so I read it, which lead me to his wife's website with all these adorable pictures of things that have been...well...VandalEyes'd. Really you should just go to the website. That would be easiest. I spent my entire lunch break on it. It kinda makes me want to find the googly eyes in the closet while I'm cleaning and after work one day VandalEyes things around the office....hmm.....
Until Then!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Pencils, Origami, Runners, and Tickld....oh dear....
After a weekend of being sick, but still getting to spend my time with doing something fun, I went back to work hoping to have lots of ambition.
I mostly do.
Monday was good, I put together the agenda for the YAC meeting that night. Getting some last minute details together for the Trick-or-Treating event they are doing. They are going trick-or-treating for non-perishable food items and donating them to the Community Center of Hope. They youth have also decided that for Christmas they want to donate to Heifer International. Their goal is to donate enough to give the Gift of the Gardener's Basket. If not then they will get shares of a flock of chicks, a llama, and a pig. This, however, is not all they will do. They will also give gifts to North Central Health Care Center. The November meeting will be for decided what exactly they will give.
Tuesday was productive because I had a meeting with one of the Spanish teachers at a local high school about my Spanish Reading Program. There are alot of details to work out, so we will see if this will even be possible. There is alot of red tape and hoops to jump through before we can get there. I hope this pans out.
Wednesday was the first day of an Activities Fair at the two middle schools here. It was good. There were alot of kids who seemed interested in 4-H and joining and took information home with them. Of course there were also the kids who just wanted the tattoos and pencils. Who would have thought that in a world of mechanical pencils and fun pens, ordinary pencils would be so attractive to middle schoolers. Huh. Not this girl! The second day of this fair was more revealing about the difference in ages. The sixth graders took the information just because it was there. Very few of them actually seemed interested in what was being offered. They ran me dry of pin and almost my pencils. The eighth graders seemed hardly interested at all. In fact very few of them walked through our little set up at all. The seventh graders were much more enthralled. They gave me hope that our YAC and our 4-H numbers might go up. All in all, it was a good experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to spread the word. I was also able to do some networking while I was there. I met a very nice woman from the Girl Scouts, so I was thinking I might try to put together some sort of program partnering with them. Possibly for MLK day. We'll see.
My visit to the JDC was interesting this week. For starters, I had never had as many as I did that day. We worked on some origami. I admit that it is not the most necessary of life skills, but I told them that it taught patience, which was always a good life skill. The second thing was that while I was there, one of the kid's moms came to visit, and after a conversation with her the kid made a run for it. Out the door he went. This is entirely possible because I was on the shelter side. Shelter is not necessarily for detention. It is also for protection, they do not lock the kids in. I never heard if they found him or not. Hopefully they did. He was supposed to get out the next day. Well...that doesn't look like thats going to happen.
So my goal for this next week is to start putting together some ideas for something that we could do for MLK day. I've got to get my brain in gear. I have some ideas floating around. I suppose I should put them on paper before I forget...or maybe Tickld....I think I've got an addiction....
I mostly do.
Monday was good, I put together the agenda for the YAC meeting that night. Getting some last minute details together for the Trick-or-Treating event they are doing. They are going trick-or-treating for non-perishable food items and donating them to the Community Center of Hope. They youth have also decided that for Christmas they want to donate to Heifer International. Their goal is to donate enough to give the Gift of the Gardener's Basket. If not then they will get shares of a flock of chicks, a llama, and a pig. This, however, is not all they will do. They will also give gifts to North Central Health Care Center. The November meeting will be for decided what exactly they will give.
Tuesday was productive because I had a meeting with one of the Spanish teachers at a local high school about my Spanish Reading Program. There are alot of details to work out, so we will see if this will even be possible. There is alot of red tape and hoops to jump through before we can get there. I hope this pans out.
Wednesday was the first day of an Activities Fair at the two middle schools here. It was good. There were alot of kids who seemed interested in 4-H and joining and took information home with them. Of course there were also the kids who just wanted the tattoos and pencils. Who would have thought that in a world of mechanical pencils and fun pens, ordinary pencils would be so attractive to middle schoolers. Huh. Not this girl! The second day of this fair was more revealing about the difference in ages. The sixth graders took the information just because it was there. Very few of them actually seemed interested in what was being offered. They ran me dry of pin and almost my pencils. The eighth graders seemed hardly interested at all. In fact very few of them walked through our little set up at all. The seventh graders were much more enthralled. They gave me hope that our YAC and our 4-H numbers might go up. All in all, it was a good experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to spread the word. I was also able to do some networking while I was there. I met a very nice woman from the Girl Scouts, so I was thinking I might try to put together some sort of program partnering with them. Possibly for MLK day. We'll see.
My visit to the JDC was interesting this week. For starters, I had never had as many as I did that day. We worked on some origami. I admit that it is not the most necessary of life skills, but I told them that it taught patience, which was always a good life skill. The second thing was that while I was there, one of the kid's moms came to visit, and after a conversation with her the kid made a run for it. Out the door he went. This is entirely possible because I was on the shelter side. Shelter is not necessarily for detention. It is also for protection, they do not lock the kids in. I never heard if they found him or not. Hopefully they did. He was supposed to get out the next day. Well...that doesn't look like thats going to happen.
So my goal for this next week is to start putting together some ideas for something that we could do for MLK day. I've got to get my brain in gear. I have some ideas floating around. I suppose I should put them on paper before I forget...or maybe Tickld....I think I've got an addiction....
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Tweet First...then Blog
Fall is in the air. Yesterday I scraped frost off my car windows for the first time this season. It was wonderful. I am very much a winter person. I could do without summer. The other thing I really like in summer is the Fair. And I would probably enjoy that more if there was snow on the ground. Don't get me wrong, I love the Fair, but sometimes its not so fun when you are sitting in a building in ninety degree weather, 100% humidity, no air conditioning and no air flow. I'm excited for all the things winter brings: apple cider, hot chocolate, snow fall, snowmen, baking, pumpkin pies, sweatshirts, and mittens! I've been working on crocheting alot lately. I've made a few pairs of fingerless mittens and have given two pairs as gifts because I liked mine so much and they are a super easy pattern. I can finish one pair in just a few hours. I'm also working on a pair of texting gloves right now, meaning they have flaps for the index finger and thumb. I'm excited for these. I also hope that this year I get to go on a tractor ride through the snow....I'll have to drop a hint in someone's ear.
As far as work goes, its been a typical week I think. On Monday we had a staff meeting as usual. Then I just planned out what I wanted to get accomplished this week. The Community Resource Development Agent in my office told me about the Marathon County Life Report. I was intrigued, so I started reading it. Basically, it is a book of all the data collected through surveys and the census about different aspects of the community. These include diversity, economics, education, resources, safety, social amenties, unemployment, alcohol and drugs, obesity, basic needs, aging, domestic abuse, and many other categories. This report breaks down each of these categories, defines it, explains what the county is doing well, what it needs to work on, and gives an action plan to make it better. This study is done about every two years so it gives an update as to how the are doing since last year and all that. It was really interesting to read since I've lived here all my life and have never really thought of my community in the ways they are describing.
I've also been working on cleaning the craft closet a little more. I'm just reorganizing things and finding project ideas that I could suggest to the leaders of the afterschool science program I'm putting together. I've decided to just take it one box at a time. My idea was that I would do one box a day, but maybe it will be one a week.... yeah....
As far as the afterschool program goes, I've gotten as far as writing a position description for a leader for the program. The roles of this leader will include writing the lesson, organizing supplies, and teaching the lesson. My role in this is just to help the leader, and to organize the volunteers. This is one of the important things about VISTA. Our goal is to build sustainability, so what I am trying to do build a relationship with the UWMC for a service learning project that the next VISTA can just keep going. Hopefully this goes well.
The youth at the JDC finished painting the bowls for the Empty Bowls benefit. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the finished ones. I've got before and after pictures. Now I just need pictures of the final project. But I should be getting those soon after they are fired. I think the best part of that, was discussing our Zombie Apocalypse plans with one another while they painted.
Next week looks like much of the same as this week. If anything super exciting happens it will not be here first. Probably on Twitter actually...but it will make its way here eventually.
Until Then!
As far as work goes, its been a typical week I think. On Monday we had a staff meeting as usual. Then I just planned out what I wanted to get accomplished this week. The Community Resource Development Agent in my office told me about the Marathon County Life Report. I was intrigued, so I started reading it. Basically, it is a book of all the data collected through surveys and the census about different aspects of the community. These include diversity, economics, education, resources, safety, social amenties, unemployment, alcohol and drugs, obesity, basic needs, aging, domestic abuse, and many other categories. This report breaks down each of these categories, defines it, explains what the county is doing well, what it needs to work on, and gives an action plan to make it better. This study is done about every two years so it gives an update as to how the are doing since last year and all that. It was really interesting to read since I've lived here all my life and have never really thought of my community in the ways they are describing.
I've also been working on cleaning the craft closet a little more. I'm just reorganizing things and finding project ideas that I could suggest to the leaders of the afterschool science program I'm putting together. I've decided to just take it one box at a time. My idea was that I would do one box a day, but maybe it will be one a week.... yeah....
As far as the afterschool program goes, I've gotten as far as writing a position description for a leader for the program. The roles of this leader will include writing the lesson, organizing supplies, and teaching the lesson. My role in this is just to help the leader, and to organize the volunteers. This is one of the important things about VISTA. Our goal is to build sustainability, so what I am trying to do build a relationship with the UWMC for a service learning project that the next VISTA can just keep going. Hopefully this goes well.
The youth at the JDC finished painting the bowls for the Empty Bowls benefit. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures of the finished ones. I've got before and after pictures. Now I just need pictures of the final project. But I should be getting those soon after they are fired. I think the best part of that, was discussing our Zombie Apocalypse plans with one another while they painted.
Next week looks like much of the same as this week. If anything super exciting happens it will not be here first. Probably on Twitter actually...but it will make its way here eventually.
Until Then!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
And the Beat goes on...
This week was one of those more mundane weeks. But thats ok, I still managed to get work done.
On Monday I had a staff meeting. I managed to get the majority of a crocheting project done during it. Don't worry, I was still paying attention. Apparently studies show that you retain information better when you have something to do with your hands. So doodling in class is good for you!
Monday night I went to the Group Home for the first time and met with the boys there. They are really a good group of kids. Or at least they were for the two hours I was with them. We had a few people from Trout Unlimited come in and teach them how to tie flies. It went really well. Since there were only three boys there, they were able to work one-on-one and they seemed to pick it up really well. The newest boy there did not seem that interested there. But he had only been there for a few days so he was still trying to find his place in the house, he picked up on it really fast and was really good at it. Hopefully he will be more open to doing it more when we come next month. It was a good activity that I think they enjoyed very much.
Tuesday was mostly office work, but I did get to meet with one of the Bilingual teachers at Thomas Jefferson and she was excited about the Spanish Reading Program I'm trying to put together. The next step is to talk to the High School teacher again about it, and see if we can find some times that will work for her students to come to the elementary school and read. After that we need to find some good books to use for this.
Wednesday was fun because I went to the Secure side of the JDC. I had not been on that side yet, it was an eye opening experience. Now, it wasn't as eye opening as say going to Africa and seeing all the hunger and AIDS, it was more like the kids that were there did not seem like they wanted to change anything in their lives. One of them said "if you come here once, you always come a second time." When we asked them what they wanted to do when they "grew up" one responded with "I can't do much, I'm a felon." I guess I never thought much about how kids in detention centers like this feel. None of the kids there seemed to have much hope for themselves. I guess I wish I knew that there was something I could do for them other than give them a fun project to do. I think what I need to do is get them thinking about how to not only help themselves, but to help other people as well. I think giving them the opportunity to think about how they can help others will help them improve their situations. That could be wishful thinking on my part, but it never hurts to give it a whirl.
The project we did with them was painting bowls from the local Clay Corner Studio so they can be donated for the Empty Bowls Benefit coming up at the end of October. They seemed to really enjoy it. it was something they could do with their hands. I think they will turn out looking pretty cool. Today I'm going back again to the Shelter side to paint the rest of the bowls we bought. In all we will be donating six bowls. I think I can count this as a success story.
Next week, I'm hoping to finish up some planning and projects!
Until Then!
On Monday I had a staff meeting. I managed to get the majority of a crocheting project done during it. Don't worry, I was still paying attention. Apparently studies show that you retain information better when you have something to do with your hands. So doodling in class is good for you!
Monday night I went to the Group Home for the first time and met with the boys there. They are really a good group of kids. Or at least they were for the two hours I was with them. We had a few people from Trout Unlimited come in and teach them how to tie flies. It went really well. Since there were only three boys there, they were able to work one-on-one and they seemed to pick it up really well. The newest boy there did not seem that interested there. But he had only been there for a few days so he was still trying to find his place in the house, he picked up on it really fast and was really good at it. Hopefully he will be more open to doing it more when we come next month. It was a good activity that I think they enjoyed very much.
Tuesday was mostly office work, but I did get to meet with one of the Bilingual teachers at Thomas Jefferson and she was excited about the Spanish Reading Program I'm trying to put together. The next step is to talk to the High School teacher again about it, and see if we can find some times that will work for her students to come to the elementary school and read. After that we need to find some good books to use for this.
Wednesday was fun because I went to the Secure side of the JDC. I had not been on that side yet, it was an eye opening experience. Now, it wasn't as eye opening as say going to Africa and seeing all the hunger and AIDS, it was more like the kids that were there did not seem like they wanted to change anything in their lives. One of them said "if you come here once, you always come a second time." When we asked them what they wanted to do when they "grew up" one responded with "I can't do much, I'm a felon." I guess I never thought much about how kids in detention centers like this feel. None of the kids there seemed to have much hope for themselves. I guess I wish I knew that there was something I could do for them other than give them a fun project to do. I think what I need to do is get them thinking about how to not only help themselves, but to help other people as well. I think giving them the opportunity to think about how they can help others will help them improve their situations. That could be wishful thinking on my part, but it never hurts to give it a whirl.
The project we did with them was painting bowls from the local Clay Corner Studio so they can be donated for the Empty Bowls Benefit coming up at the end of October. They seemed to really enjoy it. it was something they could do with their hands. I think they will turn out looking pretty cool. Today I'm going back again to the Shelter side to paint the rest of the bowls we bought. In all we will be donating six bowls. I think I can count this as a success story.
Next week, I'm hoping to finish up some planning and projects!
Until Then!
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