Sharing Reports - March, 2007
OLT has had a busy few months since our
last sharing report.
OLT sisters, Vivian Marie lost her husband, Bob,
and Juanita lost her daughter, Gael, in the Fall.
Several sisters have been ill and are now
recovering. A couple of sisters are still ill and
not able to be active right now. OLT continues
bubble/prayer day on Wednesdays for these
sisters, several relatives who have been ill, and
military service members—Juanita’s grandson,
Jesse, and Arlene’s nephew, Ryan, who has just
reported to Iraq.
OLT celebrated with Christina who has a new job,
Marti who has a new position at her workplace,
Carolyn’s new grandchild, and Arlene’s
retirement. We’ve cheered as good health reports
and successful surgery reports have been posted
too.
OLT held the Ritual of Jewels ritual for
Christina after her successful pledge training in
the Fall. We are happy that Christina has also
joined a land chapter in Oklahoma. We welcomed
new member, Mandee Smalling in early November.
Mandee was a legacy member. We had a pledge
ritual for Mandee and she is currently in pledge
training. Mandee will move to Florida soon and we
hope that Florida sisters will be on “watch” for
Mandee in the Tampa Bay area.
OLT collected emergency numbers as well as
daughters/son’s numbers for members so we will
always be in contact with one another.
Three members from OLT, Vivian, Charlene and Ann,
attended the Kansas state and online convention
in the Fall. Everyone wished that they could
go----maybe next time. Vivian took her laptop
computer and made reports on the good time they
were having in Kansas City.
OLT entered sweetheart, Arlene, in the
International sweetheart contest. It was our
first time as a chapter to enter our sweetheart!
OLT has enjoyed programs of our favorite quotes,
favorite tea and whether tea has health benefits
or not, sleep and why we need enough of it and
most recently Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s, and
sisters’ personal experiences with it, was a hard
discussion program but, in the end, was
“cleansing” for some of our sisters.
We are still playing our long running bingo game.
Every few weeks, another round of bingo begins
with lots of information on a new subject.
Sisters learn something new or remember something
forgotten as well as having fun playing! Recent
“rounds” have included California trivia, the
80’s, and the lakes of Michigan. The next “round”
hostess promises cooking and cooking terms.
The book club is still reading and reporting on
good books. We’ve looked at cookbooks and online
recipe sites, Christmas themed books and several
favorite authors’ books. Many books have been
exchanged through the mail so no sister has to
panic when the last book on the shelf is
read---there may be another book in the mail!
Spring has come to some OLT sisters home, while
some still have snow on the ground! Spring means
officer elections will be soon as well as
Founder’s Day and OLT birthday celebration on May
16. OLT sisters are looking forward to these
events.
Judy
OLT Rep
February was a fun month for OLB in spite of the weather. We welcomed Lisa Perfetti from New York to our chapter last month and we conducted her Pledge Ritual on line at the beginning of our March meeting. Our Vice President, Julia will be working closely with her during her pledge training. Lisa is very enthusiastic and excited to be a member of Beta Sigma Phi.
February was a wonderful month for chocoholics. Our Recipe/Craft Committee sent us a complete chocolate meal!! From appetizers, drinks, entree, salad and dessert, we dined s-o-o-o divinely. There was something for everyone to enjoy. We also were given 2 craft ideas - one for the unskilled and one for the more skilled individual.
For our February online social, our sisters enjoyed their first trip aboard the Beta Bus while they traveled to the states of Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Indiana in search of everything CHOCOLATE and great chocolatiers. The trip was smooth, the chocolate smoother, and everyone was able to share something about either their knowledge or love of chocolate, love of states, or got the “yen” to travel!
As part of our February program we learned we had quite a few sisters involved in theater. We were asked to share our favorite Opera or Broadway show and whether we had actually ever been to one.
We also elected our new Valentine Queen and are proud to announce Judy Alexiou as our Queen for 2007.
Susan our Bio Keeper, sent out updated bios so we now have all the pertinent information on all our members. She also put together a directory of all our members which includes a photo, mailing and email addresses, phone numbers, birthday/anniversary/special day for all our members.
OLB is planning a gathering in San Antonio for September 2007. I will share more information on this at our next council meeting.
Hugs to all,
Dianne
OLB President
Onlinekappa Chapter welcomed our new member Karen Asplen.
OLK is busy making plans for this year's "Gathering."
Our members are working on their 2007 "Goals." We give a report every
Monday (except during meetings) as to how each of us are doing.
Our February 2007 Program was about the History of Valentine's Day
given by Dean Ann. Each member that wished to participate was asked to
tell how they met their husband and the stories were wonderful.
Erica was our Social Hostess and she made delicious refreshments. She
had hot tea, hot chocolate and coffee. Cherry and Strawberry Tarts
along with Carmel Walnut Brownies. We played a game by naming love
songs and naming the group that sang the song or the singers. We first
had to fill in the missing words. A prize was given to the one that
had the most correct.
Our 2007 Sweetheart is Barbara Gingrich.
Hugs to all,
Barbara
OLK
OLE has had a quiet month it seems. I think everyone has just been
recovering from the holidays and illnesses. Some members have moved
and others are traveling. We did have some "conversations" about what
makes Valentine's Day special to each of us and this month we are
participating in a fill in the blank questionaire. Our programs lately
have been on Honeymoons and this month we have been discussing the
problem facing BSP of lack of new members especially younger sisters.
Many of us are afraid that when we old folks die out there will be no
younger chapters to carry on our wonderful traditions. Some of us feel
this is a crisis situation that International needs to address.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane
OLE President
On Line Sigma is an official chapter now we are proud to say.
We meet once a month for a week to give everyone time to participate and welcome visitors if you need to make up a meeting.
We do have a membership cap of 30, but there is a waiting list for those who wish to be on it. Our February program was focused on "The Oscars". There were web sites for us to explore which were fun and interesting and a ballot you could print out and make your vote.. The Febraury social was "Everyone loves a Parade". We learned of the Mummer's Day Parade in Philadelphia and then shared some of our own parade memories and participations. We were then treated by a wonderful Hostess of the month with lots of comfort foods to ward off the cold weather and then sat by our vitural fire place quilting and visiting. Plans are being discussed for future OLS reunions with Vancouver Island, Canada for the spring of 2008 and maybe Indy in May or June. We did our first rituals
since becoming an official BSP chapter. Six sisters traveled from places as far as Canada and Hawaii to New Braunfels Texas to surprise a sister (me)for her birthday so she would not have to spend it alone and then surprised the sister (me) again with a beautiful preceptor ritual and 25 year silver circle ritual.
This was so very special to me as being disabled and on oxygen 24/7 and unable to travel I thought I would never be able to progress even though I am a 38 year member. What a special group of sisters we all are ....... everyone one of you.
I am thy sister and so proud to be. Stay save and until next month remember OLS's theme...
There are Angels Among Us,
Ruth
OLS Rep
Eta has some new officers, and they are April, PR-Judy, VP and Karen,
RS. Congratulations to all three of them!
Stacy was named Miss Cogeniality for Valentine's!
Margie joined a land chapter and is doing very well.
The chapter welcomed Jan in Australia back after a year away.
Natasha works for Starbuck's and doesn't like coffee.
Betty and husband were in Corpus Christi, TX and are headed to San Antonio.Betty says, "We are living our dream. I thought about this often in the last six years when I was sitting at work bored out of my mind. Wouldn't
it be nice to run away from home and travel the country/world? Traveling
in an Recreational Vehicle is the way to go; there is the ability to
pack up and go if you don't like your surroundings."
Sharon says, "What a hoot !!! Our Red Hat group saw Menopause the
Musical last night - it was great. We are in a small community and don't
always get the 'fun' things larger cities have playing - somehow we
lucked out !! If it happens to play near you I highly recommend seeing
it. No matter your age. My sister (who by the way is 48) said - "Who
would write a musical about menopause" but worse "What kind of people
would want to see it" - needless to say, she doesn't have a lot of fun
or laughs in her life (a little stiff I believe they say).
All enjoyed a Valentine program complete with history, traditions,
puzzles, games, interactive art and recipes by Karen
Submitted by
Karen
OLETA Rep