Some Other Stuff I Do, or, an Ode to my Mother's Club

So far, I've only blogged about TV, movies, food, and "stuff". I realized that this is not painting a picture of the real me. (Except the coupon part, I haven't even scratched the surface of crazy on that one yet.)

Shortly after Dash was born, I joined the local mother's club. I was a first-time mom (had no idea what I was doing), and I was dealing with some tough postpartum depression and nursing issues. I had left my job to become a stay-at-home mom, and didn't really have any mommy friends. We were a one-car family at the time and that was rough too. I was driving my husband crazy.

I thought the local mother's club was the answer. I joined and went to my first meeting. No one talked to me. I am a very shy person at heart, and it's very hard for me to just walk up to a group of people and start a conversation. I felt like everyone had their "cliques". I felt weird and out of place. I left and never went back. Maybe I got the wrong impression, but sadly it didn't work out and I felt even more lonely.

Fast forward a few short months, we bought our first home, moved 3 miles down the road to a new township--and they had a mother's club too. I was nervous about joining, but I forced myself (this is were Mr. Incredible is laughing his head off). I had to find some mommy friends.

I joined the new club and the first event was their huge May dinner. Yeah, the best way to meet new people is at a big, loud event. Brilliant. But, I went anyway and it was SO great. I had talked to Kendra on the phone beforehand, and she sort of took me under her wing at the dinner. She introduced me to lots of people and even sat with me. We ended up sitting with a group of ladies who all had kids around Dash's age (Stephanie, Jen, Lisa, Kris), and they invited me to their playgroup. I cannot even begin to tell you how much that meant to me. I'm pretty sure this group saved my sanity. And, Heather, who would call me just to say hi, and I would end up talking her ear off for an hour and a half!

Since then, I have gone to pretty much every single mom's club event (this would be why Mr. Incredible was laughing). I joined the book club and reorganized the supper club. I joined the board as "webmaster" and update our website. I have made incredible, lifelong friends. There are so many lovely women in this group, I can't possibly call them all out here. {Thanks, ladies. I love YOU.}

So, one of the club's purposes is to be involved in our community. One of our projects this year is to get more involved in providing casseroles to St. John's Hospice in Philadelphia. You can learn more about them and their programs here. The casseroles are frozen and picked up from our local Catholic church. They are then used for St. John's noon meal, which serves hundreds of homeless men in Philadelphia.

Many of our members have supported this cause over the years by donating  individual casseroles. We got to thinking... what if we got a group together to make a large quantity of casseroles? So, we organized a Casserole Night where everyone picked an ingredient(s) to bring. Then, we all converged on our hostess's house last Tuesday for assembly. (Thanks, Steph! And, my goodness, don't you want that gorgeous kitchen?)St. John's provides the pans and lids. We decided to make a revised version of Tricia's Chicken Macaroni Bake (no onion, added broccoli) and Robin Sue's Cookie Dough Pie. My sister-in-law, Missy, made this delicious pie for a family get together a few weeks ago and it seemed like the perfect no-bake dessert!

I was a *little* anxious about how all this would come together. Because I must worry about everything. It's what I do.

We rocked it. That's all I have to say. These lovely ladies (and a few more not pictured who generously donate ingredients) banged out 10 pans of Chicken Macaroni Bake and 7 pans of Cookie Dough Pie in a half an hour! Our Community Outreach organizer has even made this a monthly event!

The group (I'm kneeling all the way on the right)

Heather O., Kris, and Amanda at their Chicken Mac station

Kendra and her invisible team (I'm taking the picture and Renee was getting our milk)

Renee (getting said milk), Sandi, Margo, Ramona, and Carol
assembling the Cookie Dough Pies