Going to Guild - January Budget Rant and a Really Cool Bead

Last Monday we finally got in our guild meeting, and this week I finally got around to writing the post.  Warning: I'm a little grouchy.

The January guild meeting is my least favorite of the year, although I know it's a necessary evil. It's when we introduce all the new programs and classes, which is exciting, and when the UFO list rolls over, which is fun (see below), and when we hear about any changes that are coming, which is fine. What makes me insane is the approval of the budget.

The budget is one of those things that I don't care about AT ALL. Unless the treasurer takes a trip to Tahiti with the raffle quilt money, you probably aren't going to be able to make me care about the budget.  Don't feel bad - The Pit Boss has similar issues getting me to engage when the topic is finance.  Nothing makes me happier than online banking and the little app that lets me deposit a check without ever having to go into the actual bank building or talk to any bank people. 

I understand that some people do care about the budget, and that is fine with me.  What drives me nuts is that a) the income and outcome are printed in every month's newsletter; b) the budget changes very little from year to year; and c) anyone who has thoughts on the budget is welcome to share them via email, letter, phone call OR to actually attend a board meeting when the budget will be discussed.  If you have suggestions or concerns about the budget, the time to voice them is around November or December when the new board is gathering to plan the upcoming year, and NOT at the January guild meeting where the budget is all typed up and copied and presented so that we can say "Aye" and move along to the stuff we really want to talk about.

I have to fight the urge to scream when someone decides that the January guild meeting is the time to ask why the line item for the batting for the raffle quilt is included on this line instead of this other line.  Can that not be done in a private conversation with the Treasurer and the two accounting nerds who care?  The other forty-seven of us who drove to the meeting, even though we are exhausted from work and kids and the house, want to socialize and talk about fabric.

It happens every single year.  I'm getting to the point when I want to finish my UFOs ahead of time just so I can skip this meeting and read about the new programs in the next newsletter.  Except we know that's not going to happen!

Speaking of UFOs and on to more fun topics, I earned the coveted UFO bead for the first time.  Isn't he awesome?  Every January we list five projects we want to complete; if we finish at least four by the following January, we get an awesome bead to add to our name tag.  I've made a list every year since I joined the guild, but this is my first one of these.

Now I have to think of what projects to put on my list for next year, and I have to think carefully.   Hopefully the Finish Along will help keep my eye on the prize.




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