{"id":58483,"date":"2016-03-20T00:09:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T07:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=58483"},"modified":"2016-03-20T00:09:24","modified_gmt":"2016-03-20T07:09:24","slug":"young-cultivators-merit-badge-lets-go-to-town-beginner-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/58483","title":{"rendered":"Young Cultivators Merit Badge: Let\u2019s Go To Town, Beginner Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tThe adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/span><\/span><\/a>, now with\u00a06,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my <\/span>former life<\/span><\/span><\/a> \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For this week\u2019s Each Other\/Let’s Go To Town Beginner Level Young Cultivator Merit Badge<\/u><\/a>, I gathered up my large stack of (barely overdue) library books, my biggest and sturdiest reusable tote bag, and my posse of neighbor kids. I had learned something about the little whippersnappers earlier and I was appalled.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t have library cards. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Joe Crawford via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

The only thing stopping me from crying bloody murder over their shocking lack of bookish culture was the fact that I knew how busy their parents were, I had been in their house and knew they at least owned <\/em>some novels, and they hadn\u2019t lived here in town all that long.<\/p>\n

What I didn\u2019t take into consideration was how their mommy probably knew how difficult it was to take them all in public at once and was silently laughing at my naivet\u00e9. But then again \u2026 it was an afternoon adventure and it was just the library.<\/p>\n

A place that has a reputation for being quiet.<\/p>\n

Well, anyway, I felt pretty up to the challenge, seeing as how I had just had a bracing cuppa black tea with local honey, so off we went.<\/p>\n

Turns out, you need more than tea to thrive <\/span>survive an excursion with a small gang of undersized rugrats.<\/p>\n

(And they didn\u2019t even have tea. Unfair.)<\/p>\n

First, I got to introduce them to the ever-so fun job of pushing my (barely overdue) library books through the slot in the wall. They landed with a satisfying thud each time and it was quite enjoyable to see the tiny humans express their excitement. Unfortunately, I ran out of books and when Andy grabbed the last one before Piper had had a chance to push any through, she hit him over the head with the nearest copy of War and Peace<\/em>. Ouch.<\/p>\n

Note to self: Maybe don\u2019t show them the drive-up version of the book return. Don\u2019t want any casualties on my head when we try to return a dog-eared copy of The Berenstein Bears Learn How to Get Along with Siblings<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Next stop was searching for books (the best part). Before I could say tiddlywinks, they had all gone off like I had shot them out of cannons. Two took the elevator to the Young Adult section, a couple more scampered off to the Early Readers, and I think I may or may not have misplaced one in the bathroom. This was harder than I thought. I figured the Young Adult readers were okay on their own (I mean, Young Adults, <\/em>right? Right? Why do I hear crickets?), so I wrangled my bathroom squatter back to the public area, and we filled up my bag with all sorts of fantastical fairy tales, riddles and joke books, poetry, serials, picture books, and most of the back issues of Stone Soup<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Photo by Zipig via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

And we hadn\u2019t even reunited with my own personal Young Adults yet \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 to be continued at a library near you.<\/p>\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with\u00a06,861 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20149,721 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! ~MaryJane\u00a0 Wondering who … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}