Rainy days and Thursdays!

Today was one of my favorite kinds of days!  Rainy, chilly and gloomy!!!  Whenever we get a day like that, I know it's a perfect day to stay indoors, sit by the fire and relax!  Today we did just that!!  I did do my Flylady mission of course, which was to wipe off all the counters in the kitchen.. Here's where having a teeny kitchen really helps!!  It took me all of 5 minutes to do!!  I did also wash, dry and fold a load of laundry but somehow when you fold it sitting in front of a fire, it doesn't seem so much work!!  I did have to go out for a moment to get some more milk this morning, and since I was out anyway I thought the kids might enjoy a donut... so we made some hot chocolate, took our donuts, sat by the fire and watched reruns of Frasier on Netflix!!  It was such a peaceful day!

In the afternoon I thought I would do a little "school" with Jack... ( Jessie had worked on some math in the morning on the Kahn academy website) so I tried this neat idea I'd seen on a website today.  I got a large piece of paper and drew a road on it with several parking spaces.  In the parking spaces I wrote words or numbers and then Jack had to drive his car into the right spots!  He LOVED this game and kept begging me to play more!  We'll play more tomorrow I expect!


As of right now we have had dinner, the counters are clean, dishwasher is loaded and MILLIE IS TRYING TO EAT MY ARM as I type!!  She's sucking  on it so hard I'm afraid she's going to leave a mark!!!  I guess I should get her some milk!!

Until tomorrow then!!!

:D

If not now, WHENsday!!

Today was anti procrastination day!!  I put it off as long as I could!!  Flylady said we should take care of those things we had been putting off... so.... I started to make a list of all the things I have been putting off!!! LOL!!!  I did get some things done though.  I wrote two letters to my friends to tell them how much I love them!!  I did a 27 fling boogie.... ( went through the house throwing away 27 things, then finding 27 things to donate...)  I did two loads of laundry, sorted out the junk drawer in the kitchen and the "Stuff" cupboard in the kitchen.  Made a yummy dinner and cleaned out the fridge!!! :D  

The kids and I took the dog for a quick walk... it was 50 flipping degrees today !!!  FIFTY!!  So naturally a walk was in order.  We weren't alone in our thinking!  Half the town passed by our house today I'm sure!!

It's been a lovely day, but feels like a long one... going to sit on the couch with hubs for a while before going to bed....

Night all!

Tuesday

Today was a looong day!  Woke up early to miss M chatting away, she fell asleep again but I got up and got ready for the day.  Mum was getting ready to go back to England this morning and much as we argue and fight sometimes when she is here, I knew I was also going to miss her terribly.  It's a crazy wheel she and I are on.  She is a HUGE help with the kids and really helps me with chores, laundry, dinner....  It's going to be a trick to keep things running smoothly with her not here....  :(    Anyhoo... Hubby came home around lunch time and took Mum to the airport.  We normally go too but Mum suggested that she just go alone this time, to dispose of the long goodbyes which are painful for us all but especially for her.  This way was more like a bandaid I think.  So off they went and I set to getting my chores done for the day.  Today's mission was to wash the cabinet doors in the kitchen.  Oh boy.  I HAVE done this in the past 10 years, but you wouldn't know it from looking at my doors!!!  It took me a bit more than the allotted 15 minutes to get them cleaned, but they look SO nice now!!  Today's Holiday Mission was to go through the Holiday Control Journal ( which I downloaded years ago! ) and to review Christmas with regard to any changes I might want to make or things to try again and so on.  I did actually get to do that tonight but I may also do some more tomorrow... I found an old Control Journal FROM 2002 !!  ... it needs updating!! ;D    Tuesday is Plan and Play day so I took sometime to make a menu for next week!!!  (HAH!!!) and am pretty happy about that!!  As for the Play part I took the kids for a walk this afternoon to the Bookmobile.  ... It was a balmy 41 degrees out but I think we may have dressed a little cooly for the  weather!!  It was a BRISK walk!  But then, of course, once we reached the van....

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Sorry... had to stop for a moment to clean up after a PUKING CAT.  What is WITH that damn cat?!?!
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..once we reached the van they had the heat on HIGH and there were other patrons in there too... it was SO hot and claustrophobic I had to leave pretty quick! I usually hang out and visit with Rebecca who runs the van but I couldn't stand it this time!!  We got a ton of books out though and hustled home through the thawing snow.

So, there ya have it!  An exciting day, right?!? :D  Mum has texted me from the airport... she's in Canada now....  good to know how she's getting along but BOY what a long day it will be for her.. She's still got to get to Heathrow, then to a bus to the town her car is in THEN hours of driving before she gets home.  It's hard to really relax until I know she's home safe and sound.

Anyhoo... time for me to shower and lay out my clothes for morning!  I've found that REALLY speeds things up for me... also to have Millie's stuff all laid out too... HUGE help with getting the day going!!

G'night all!! ;D

Monday Monday...!

Today was a good day..!  Flylady suggests today as Whole House Cleaning Day and back in the day I used to get my house cleaned in an hour... sheets stripped, washed and changed, trashcans emptied all through the house, vacuumed all through the house, windows and mirrors cleaned, papers purged, floor in kitchen washed... all in about an hour.  THAT was Before Miss Millie of course!!!  Today I made a good start, I strapped Millie into her sling and we set off!  We got the vacuuming done, I chose to strip the beds later in the week as Mum is leaving tomorrow and I'll do hers then too.  We cleaned the bathrooms and emptied the trash, I cleaned the mirrors and took out the recycling... then I worked on today's zone mission. This week's zone is the kitchen and the mission was to clean UP... any cobwebs on the ceiling, light fixtures and the top of the fridge.  Oh boy.  It's like I'd NEVER cleaned up there!!  The DUST was so thick!!!  I gave it a good clean though and I also took down our light fixture and cleaned it.  (I've NEVER done that!)  When hubs got home I told him I'd cleaned it, he shielded his eyes and flicked on the switch!  It's RIDICULOUS how much brighter the light shone !!!!

I also FINALLY got the trees out of the house.  I'd taken all the ornaments off a few days ago but left the trees with just their lights.  Today as it was so warm ( 43 degrees ) it felt like the day to get them out.  Both trees out, all needles swept up and away OH!  I also took my vacuum cleaner and washed the canister and filter today!! I'm shocked at how much filth we store in our carpets... how gross! : }

Anyway, yes, it was a busy day!  I couldn't have done it without help from Mum and Jessie though!!  Millie needs tons of attention and though she loves being in the sling, it was KILLING my back trying to clean the floor with her on my chest and taken down the tree would have been rather eye pokey!!

In other news... Papa Murphy's Thin Crust Pizza for dinner!!!  ( Hawaiian for me!! )

:D

Sunday.

Sunday is "renew your spirit day" and Flylady suggests curling up with a good book, going to a movie, taking a long hot bubble bath... basically something just for you.  I chose taking everyone to breakfast!! ;D  Rex was out with his bud moving a water heater so I took my Mum, Jess, Jack and Miss Millie out to breakfast.  We got there at the exact right time.  Late enough that we missed the folks who wanted to eat BEFORE church and early enough to miss all the peeps who wait to eat AFTER church.  Believe me you don't want to get there with the THOUSANDS of faithful who pour out of the huge churches in the area!  So we had a lovely breakfast and before our meal even arrived Hubby came to share it with us.  He just had coffee ( since he'd already eaten) and he held the baby whilst I ate!!  We played many rousing games of 20 questions with topics ranging from The Eiffel Tower to Stuart Little, to a chef's hat to primordial ooze!!  It was huge fun!  We had several tables around us listening in!  Jess asked if that could be how we do our homeschool from now on...!!! ;D  Once we'd finally finished breakfast and left the restaurant we headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things.  The kids came with me and we made a game of them trying to find items on my list and timing their results!  They had a blast and I barely had to do anything!! We headed home and Mum and I sat on the couch watching episode after episode of Frasier whilst crocheting ( Mum ) and felting ( me ).  It grew cold as the afternoon wore on so we lit a fire and, since we were watching Frasier, we each had a glass of sherry!  Now dinner has been eaten, the kitchen is almost completely tidy, Millie and Jack are both sleeping and I have a nice warm glow in my insides!!  My spirit feels renewed!  Whole house cleaning day tomorrow!

I love you guys.

Today, according to Flylady, is Family Fun Day.  Ours started off well... I got up at 5:40 to feed the baby and ended up staying up since I was wide awake.  I got ready, cleaned up the bathroom and the kitchen etc and just generally made a good start to the day.  Charlotte and Jess got up early too and were surprised to see I was already up and about.  Mary came at 9 to visit and pick up Charlotte and they left around 10.  I decided to check my email about that time and that's when I heard about Alaina.  Alaina is an online friend of mine.  I've known her for years on a homeschooling list I belong to and also on Facebook.  She is a w... she was a wonderful woman, writing long posts about her family, her animals, her love of beautiful coats... she had 6 children and a husband who seemed to love her with all his heart.  She suffered a horrendous accident a few years ago and was still traumatized by it.  She underwent countless painful surgeries and was still in recovery.  Yesterday afternoon her and her husband were involved in another car accident.  He survived, Alaina did not.  The shock of discovering that one of your friends has died is unbelievable.  Only yesterday I was reading one of her posts online and now she is gone.  Her loss has impacted so many people, far and wide but of course the biggest impact will be on her beloved family.  What can I do to help them?  So very, very tragic.  In order to honor Alaina I want to make sure that my friends know how special they are and how much I love them.  Over the next few days I will take a moment and write a few words to each of my friends letting them know how much they mean to me.  I hope Alaina knows how many people cared about her and what a big hole she is leaving.

On the fourth day.....!!

Another early start... managed to get up before hubby and the kids!!  Got dressed etc and got Miss Millie dressed and changed too!! ;D  Today's mission was to clean the skirting boards and up along the ceiling in the dining room AND the holiday mission was to take down the rest of the Christmas decorations.  I got the trees stripped of everything but their lights ( I love the glow of the tree lights and it's the hardest thing for me to give up!) and every other Christmas ornament is now put away ( thought I REALLY need to organize that closet ...  it's such a mess!)  Tomorrow we'll put the trees out and hubby can bring in the shopvac for the needles!!   Jessie's friend Charlotte came over to visit today, I chatted with Mary, her mom, for a while, then my mum wanted to go out to the store.  She headed out to the van and we prepared to wave her off.  Moments later she returned... no washer fluid.  I found some, we refilled the van and off she went.  I came back in the house to find Mary leaving!!  Her plans had changed with a phone call and she was off.  The baby woke up so I started to feed her.  I could hear the dog barking outside ( but apparently no one else could.....!) and I tried to relax to feed babe whilst ignoring the dog.  Suddenly I heard an all too familiar sound... the sound of a cat puking under the dining table!!  GAH!!  STILL nursing I tried to shoo the cat into the kitchen where he could puke on vinyl ( for EASY clean up!!) but to no avail.  Since I was standing anyway and the dog barking was getting on my last nerve I carried Millie down to the basement to let the dog in.  The dog tore past me and headed up stairs and proceeded to devour the cat puke.  Oh. My. GOD I hate when she does that.  I screeched at her and the kids came running!!  Madness I tell you. Once Millie was fed I put her in her "spaceship" and started to wipe the boards.   I pulled the couch away from the wall and about fainted.  There was another cat there!!  Well... there was enough FUR to MAKE another cat there.  Bloody cat. I continued on along the floor wiping up dust and cobwebs.  I found Jessie's long lost hat BEHIND THE PRINTER....(!!???  What?!!? ) and I moved the piano and cleaned behind that also.   The DUST was horrifying.  Of course during all this Millie sat quietly and played fussed and whittled so that I had to get the girls to entertain her.  For some reason every time Charlotte looked at her Millie would cry!!  Poor Charlotte!!  Rather, poor Millie!!  Charlotte thought it was hysterical.  Jessie and Charlotte tormented Millie by telling her the ending to the Harry Potter saga... !!  Those girls are a hoot!! :D

Anyway, I eventually got the room put back together and although it's not immediately obvious it's nice to know how clean it is behind the couch now!!    I made fish for dinner with a peach cobbler for dessert, cleaned up the kitchen, shined the sink, got the kids to bed, got myself showered and ready for bed and now I'm playing words with friends and crocheting a basket!!!  Why yes, I will sleep well tonight!! ;D

Family Fun Day tomorrow!!  Thank goodness!! ;D

On the 3rd day of January...!!

Still here and hanging in there!!  Today's mission was to sweep the front step and clean the front door and the Holiday mission was to spend 15 minutes putting away more decorations!   I put on Jack's winter coat, my boots and some gloves and set to work sweeping!!  It really did improve the look of the place and, as a bonus, I found the lost bird seed.  It was where we store it, in a trash can, right by the front door.  We've walked past it every day for a year, maybe two years.  ..  Do you KNOW how many hours I've spent looking for that thing!!!!! LOL!!! **sigh**

Anyway, I swept the entryway, cleaned the door, put away various bits and pieces that had been left by the door "on the way" to the garage.  Looks lovely out there now!  COLD, but lovely.   The inside entry looks much nicer too!  Coats are away, shoes are neatly placed, the divider area is clean (AGAIN!) ...  people do love a flat surface to put things on!! :D  I spent my 15 minutes in 3 separate 5 minute portions today.  I put away various little things and later took down all the baubles that were hanging from the ceiling.  I suppose I'll HAVE to take the trees down tomorrow....  ah well!  Can't very well be minimalist and yet cling to two giant, dead trees!! : D

This afternoon a guy from Andy's appliances came by to fix my dishwasher!!  Thank goodness!  and also to investigate why the dryer was making such a noise.  I'm the type to not sweat that kind of thing. I HATE paying a call out charge to people just for a "noise" but luckily (!!) the dishwasher fell apart so the call out fee made more sense.  The lovely appliance guy arrived early, fixed the dryer and the dishwasher AND the little gizmo that tells us how many minutes are left on the washer!!  Yay!  I'm sooo happy the dishwasher is fixed.  I kept my sink clean all day but BOY that was a pain!!!

Hubby went out to hang photos in Starbucks tonight and Jess and her Garry went out to the mall... shopping, a movie and Panera.  They had lots of fun!  Jack, Millie and I stayed home and spent a lot of time dancing!!   Rex came home with Burrito Bowls from Chipotle.  Oh how I love those things!! ( If you know something horrible about them, please don't tell me....!!)

Oh!!  I'm thinking of shaving my hair off again.  I'd hoped to do it on the first, for the New Year, but hubby talked me out of it.  I'm not sure that he meant to, but it was enough to make me not do it.  Now it just seems odd to do it in the middle of the month for no apparent reason, but still... I did receive a lot of compliments on it when I did it before and honestly, I think it suits me!! ;D  What do you think??

Well, that's all for now... oh yes... one more thing... when I came down from my shower tonight hubby said he'd made me a "small but significant" present...  warily I opened the cupboard to find he had bought me one of my favorite chocolate bars, Ritter Sport MINT .... AND INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED EACH SQUARE!!!! This is a HUGE deal because usually I open one of those bars and I can eat the whole damn thing without blinking.  Individually wrapping the bits is a genius move!  I had said in the past that I wished they were individually wrapped!!  It will  a) slow me down and b) force me to acknowledge how many bits I've eaten since I'll have the wrappers to contend with !!!!  What a wonderful guy!!! ;D

Ok... well I'm really going now!  Catch you on the flip side!! :D  G'night!!

(Did I use enough periods for ya, Apes!?!?.......)

January 2nd, Day TWO! :D

Well today started out great too!  I did all my morning stuff as yesterday, dressed to shoes etc!  Hubby noticed the make up this morning...!!  The sink was shiny from last night and the kettle was full and ready to go!  I'd laid out Millie's clothes along with mine last night so getting her dressed was easy too! Today's missions were to take down some more Xmas decorations and to clear the hallway.  I did both of those and then went to tackle Jack's bedroom.  BOY that kid's room was a mess.  He has so many toys.  Nothing really major, just little plastic this and thats.  Stuff that people give him at the store or the bank or the beach, junky nicknacks...  stuff that makes me bananas!!!   We cleared it all out!!  I got a huge contractor sized trash bag and together Jack and I tossed a ton of stuff.  Anything in good shape that doesn't get played with is going to the Children's home.  He's happy to give away his toys "to another boy" so it feels good to clear out and leave him with only the things he loves.  Luckily my Mum is here to take care of Millie otherwise I wouldn't get any time to do things.   I know ultimately a tidy house isn't the be all and end all, but BOY it makes me feel a lot better!

After Jack's room and lunch I took some time on mine.  I had three laundry baskets full of clean clothes to put away.  Since the baby's room is our room and I cleared out some of my drawers to make space for ALL her clothes, it's a PITA to put my stuff away since I don't have enough room.  I'm REALLY looking forward to tossing out some of my clothes from my closet! ;D

The house is starting to feel cleaner already and I'm much more happy about it!  It was really getting to me!  I'm a tad reluctant to put away the decorations as the house always looks so bare without them, but hey, I'll do it if I have to !!  :D

The only snag we had today was the dishwasher.  Hmmm.  The door fell off.  Huh.   Guess we wore it out!!  In a moment of serendipity though, I had called the appliance repair guy an hour earlier to come out and check our dryer.  He's coming out tomorrow so I'm going to ask him to look at the dishwasher first!! We had to take everything out of it and wash it BY HAND in my shiny sink !!!   Didn't take long though.. not even 15 minutes!! :D  And it's SHINY again now!!

So, I'm curious, have you got all your decorations down yet?!  Have you started Flylady or another system for taking care of your house??  Would you like me to start writing about something else now?!?! :D  LOL!!  (Don't worry, I will, when Something Else happens!! LOL!!) Oh and would you like me to post before and after pics when I tackle projects??  I wish I'd taken pics of Jack's room!  You would be amazed!! :D   Let me know in the comments, I love to hear your feedback!!

Going to start getting ready for bed now, see you tomorrow!!  Night all! ;D

New Year's Day!

So.... I started my Flylady following today by getting up, washing my face, getting dressed to shoes ( and putting on make up!!) cleaning the bathroom sink, mirror and toilet and making my side of the bed!  Hubby was confused!!  He said "What's going on?! You are moving with some sort of.... purpose!!?"  LOL!!  I guess that just shows how I'd been moving before!?! :D  I went downstairs and put the kettle on. Whilst it was boiling I unloaded the dishwasher and put in a couple of cups that were out from last night.  I dried the sink, wiped the counters and checked today's missions.....  One was to clean the fingerprints off the walls and windows in the dining room and the Holiday mission was to clear out any Christmas leftovers from the fridge.  I decided to do those both after breakfast.   Hubby decided to make us all breakfast...  french toast, eggs, bacon and so on!  We all ate it up ravenously and I thought I'd have to reclean the kitchen... BUT, and I'm not kidding at all here...  hubby and the two big kids cleaned the kitchen back up and loaded all the dishes in the dishwasher without me even mentioning it....!!  AND IT'S JUST THE FIRST DAY!!!!!  Wow!!! :D

Whilst baby was napping I set my timer for 15 minutes and got to work on the walls and windows.  I didn't think I'd have to worry about the walls but no sooner had I looked at the first light switch I was amazed!!  YUCK!  It's amazing how dirty stuff can get without you even noticing!  I cleaned the walls and then tackled the window.  Here I was lazy and just wiped the window without using my special window cleaning thingy...  now they are clean but streaky.  Not fun when the sun shines in!!  Ah well.. at least they are clean.  I'll worry about the streaky next time.  I still had 6 minutes left so opened up the fridge and tossed out all the leftovers, rinsed out the bowls and loaded them into the dishwasher.  It filled up so I decided to run it.  I took the trash out to the garbage can, tomorrow is collection day so I thought I'd just walk it to the end of the drive for pick up.  (Um.. I was wearing regular shoes and it's thick snow out there... no grip no grip no grip!!)  Anyway, I have since unloaded the clean dishes and the kitchen is looking lovely.

Jessie is busy cleaning out her bedroom today... she's got bags of donations and stuff she's throwing out.  I can't wait to get to my closet... I'm going to let the Minimalist train of thought lead the way for me.  I don't need hundreds of outfits ( I don't really HAVE hundreds....) in the winter I wear jeans most of the time and in the summer I wear capris.  I need to just accept that and be done with it!  I guess I keep thinking I'm someday going to turn into a romantic with flowing skirts and buttoned up blouses, but I'm just a T shirt and jeans kind of gal!!  So anyway, I'm planning on going through our things and purging.  The less we have, the less there is to clean up! ;D

Well... baby is calling!!  I should get back to my cuddling by the fireside with the hubby.  Sooner or later Jess will return ( she had to stop her cleaning project when she spotted a runaway dog in our yard, she's out with her Granny trying to find it's home now ) and I'll need to get some hot chocolate going to warm up the detectives!  Ooops... spoke too soon... apparently Jack is hungry now too ... what a surprise!! ;D  Can't wait to work on my menu planning...  that's going to help a lot too!!

Tonight after dinner and after the kitchen is cleaned and the sink shone, I'm going to lay out my clothes ( and Millie's too ) for morning. I think that's such a great time saver in the morning and really cuts down on the faffing about!!  I'm excited to be back on the Flylady wagon!!  I'm such a nerd!!

Enjoy your first day of the year!!

New Year's Eve...!

Well since we had a new baby and hubby got a new job this year... I wonder WHAT can happen NEXT year!? We Do have "An Exciting Thing" planned... more on that later.  For now I want to lay out some goal for next year.  Not resolutions, I know how they are so discouraged these days, but something to aim for.  Right now my main goal is to get back to Flylady!  I'm going to try to follow Flylady every day for a year.  Now I've done it before and I think it works great, but I've fallen off the wagon and need to get back on by golly!! :D So, starting tomorrow, it's Flylady 365!! I'll keep you posted how it works out.... I need to blog it to keep me honest!

I know I have more goals to post too, but baby is stirring and I've got "things" to do!  Have an awesome New Year's Eve... even if it's spent doing nothing more than pureeing baby food!!

See y'all next year!! ;D

Day Twenty Five ( a bit late! )

Well today, being Christmas, was a bit on the busy side!  We had a wonderful day with the three F's...! Food, Family and Friends!!  (I had a bit TOO much food and ended up rather unwell but that's beside the point and for another time! ) Anyway, the RAK this time was a quick and easy one.  I forgave a debt that was owed to me.  It wasn't a big debt at all, but I felt good forgiving it.  I hope it made someone's Christmas a tiny bit easier.  Compared to all our other acts, this one may have been a small one, in that it didn't really require me to DO anything, but nevertheless, it still counts.

We have thoroughly enjoyed this past 25 days.  I know the kids and I have all learned important lessons about the meaning of Christmas but basically the meaning of kindness.  There are SO many ways in which we were kind throughout the past month that we didn't write down as they weren't intentional... we rescued a neighbor's dog... twice.....!!  We held doors open for people, we paid genuine compliments, we let people go infront of us in the store, we were patient in traffic, we returned other people's grocery carts to the corrals, we helped with chores, we made cups of tea for tired Mummys in the morning.... (!!Thank you Jess!!) and so on and so on.

We have enjoyed ourselves so much that we intend to keep on with our acts and aim for one a month for the next year.  I am so glad that we took this challenge and encourage everyone to have a go for themselves.  Start with the smallest thing and the thrill you will feel will encourage you to do it more and more and more!! :D

Thanks for following us through the past 25 days!  It's been good having you along.

In case I don't get online again before then, have a FANTASTIC New Year....!!

Toodles!

You don't owe me!!

Day Twenty Four!

Well!!  I've had a busy day!! You?! :D  All that pre Christmas prep has taken me all day and I still have one or two little things to wrap ( including a gift that we just found in the mail box!)  I was beginning to panic that I had NO IDEA what I was going to do for our RAK today!  Usually on Christmas Eve we bake cookies and take them around the neighborhood but we didn't do that this year so I was starting to panic, then I had a thought!!  I went to my Christmas closet and found a Christmas mug.  I raided my pantry and found several different types of teas and coffees, all individually packaged.  I tucked them into the mug, stuck in a candy cane and wrapped the lot with red cellophane, a wired ribbon and a Christmas ornament stuck on a glow stick bracelet!  I wrote a Christmas card and said "Don't forget to take some time for you this Christmas" and this time I signed it "Your neighbors, The Bakers"  I figured if I found a gift on my doorstep of food or something and had no idea who it was from, well I might be suspicious!! ;D

Anyway, Jessie and I got in the car in the freeeeeezing temperature of 17f and headed out.  We decided to choose a house based on their Christmas lights display.  Points were added for "extras" !  The particular house we chose had their tree in the window and all their lights were so pretty.  Jessie took the gift up to the house and knocked on the door.  They answered with their dog and two small children in tow!  The man looked JUST LIKE my BFF's husband so we knew we were in the right place!  He listened to Jessie's explanation and then accepted the gift!!  It was so lovely!! :D

THEN as we pulled into our driveway we picked up our mail that was sitting in the mail box... and.... we found someone had Randomly and Kindly gifted us!!! :D  Two chocolate filled candy canes for the big kids and a pink rubber ducky for Millie!! :D  Yeahy!! :D  I love how acts of kindness go round and around and around!!!

I should also mention that Hubby and my Mum have also picked up on the habit... only today Mum gave up her shopping basket for a poor guy who had gone to the store "for just one thing"!!  He had his arms full and was apparently hugely appreciative!!

Ain't life GRAND people?!!?

Merry, Merry, Happy, Happy.....!!!  Have a wonderful Christmas Day!  See you on the flip side!

xxxxxx

Day Twenty Three

Today I actually saw a random act of kindness happen infront of me in Target!!  THAT was kind of weird!!!    Our act today was to take some cookies to our neighbor across the street.  She's a lovely lady with two sweet boys who love to play with my little guy.  He's short on friends and so we both really appreciate their friendship.  She and the boys looked after Jack for me when I went into labor with Millie this summer, so cookies really seemed like the least we could do for them!

:D

Day Twenty Two.

I think today was one of my favorite Acts! :D Hubby and I went out to do some last minute Christmas shopping together.  (No. we still haven't finished.  Yes.  I am starting to panic!!)   We headed out early to avoid the crowds and started at Panera to make our battle plan.  Turns out having a strategy makes short work of shopping which is just how I like it!!

Anyway! My idea for today was to buy someone's turkey.  I had planned to do this towards the end of the 25 days as I had hoped to have enough money saved up to perform a big Act.  We had managed to save a LOT of money so I took it all with me to the grocery store and hubs and I kept our eyes open for someone with a turkey that looked like it needed buying!!! ;D  We saw several shoppers who looked like suitable candidates and then I noticed a lady unloading her cart.  It was so very full... and full of own label goods. Absolutely piled high... with two containers of cat litter on the bottom rack.  I reasoned (and obviously I was guessing and making a judgement here) that a) she had a lot of people to feed and b) she had cats! :D I sidled up to the cashier who was just finishing up with a previous customer and handed her $20.  I explained that it was for the next customer to put towards her groceries and it was a random act of kindness for Christmas.  The cashier was keen to help and I walked away as quickly as possible to try not to draw the customer's attention.  We continued around the store a while picking up one or two treats for dinner and Rex pointed out another lady.  This was an older lady who was carefully going through all her coupons as she shopped.  Apparently she reminded him of his mom who died this past March.  I ran up to her and handed her $20.  "Merry Christmas!!" I said "This is for you!"  Her disbelief and thank you were so heartfelt I got a lump in my throat so I beamed, said "You're welcome!"  and ran off before I cried!  I love doing that so much I could do it all day long!!  SUCH a great feeling!

So now, time for dinner and then wrapping and some more wrapping!!  Not long now 'til Santa!!

Day Twenty One

Well since this was supposed to be the end of the world today I thought I'd better get today's act in FAST!!!  LOL!!  Actually it was ridiculous cold ( 1degree with the wind chill...!!) and I told the kids I was just going to drive out to the City Office and give them a plate of cookies.  "Can I come?"  Jessie asked.... ok.....  so I said to Jack... I'm just going to drive to the City Office to give them some cookies, I'll be about 3 minutes max..... "Can I come?!?! " he asked!!..... Oh! Ok !!  So we all bundled up and headed to the office to give them the cookies.  Jessie and Jack jumped out and ran in to the office whilst I sat in the car and kept the heater running!  Jessie said the lady behind the desk was very surprised but had a big smile on her face as she said thank you!  The kids hustled back into the car, I drove us carefully  back home and I got cozy and warm on the couch.... the kids....??... they went outside to dive into snow drifts.  C.R.A....ZEEE!

Dark Chocolate Chunk and Oatmeal Cookies!! :D

Day Twenty!

You never know what you might find in Hancock's!

It was soooooo cold and snowy today that we decided to stay HOME!!  My mum, however, was drawn to Hancock Fabric store... one of our favorite hangouts!! :D  I asked her if maybe she would like to participate in our 25 acts and she said "Sure"! :D  I wrote two notes, the usual, Merry Christmas, enjoy this random act of kindness, and stuck them to two $5 bills.  I asked Mum to put them somewhere where they would be found.  She first went to the dollar store and was served by a nice young man who was saying he hadn't seen his mother in over a year.  My Mum felt sorry for him and so hid the money where he would be sure to find it when he returned to the checkout. ;D  The next bill she hid in Hancock's....  in the ladies bathroom!! :D   She'd hidden in under a layer of toilet roll so that the next person to pull on the paper would find a nice surprise!!! :D  Much better than most surprises you find in a public restroom!!! :D

Anyway, lots of fun and I'm sure she's made at least two people happy today!!

Twenty days down, five to go!!  I think we are going to make this!! :D

Day Nineteen!

Oh boy NOT LONG UNTIL CHRISTMAS NOW!!!  Eeeek!!  So much still to do!! :}

Anyway, on to today's Act.....  this morning it was trash pick up day.  Our garbage collectors are the nicest garbage collectors around!  So polite and friendly.  This morning we saw them driving up so Jessie dashed out the house in nothing but her PJ's clasping a big old bag of home made fudge!!!  She stood at the end of the driveway only to watch them drive off in the other direction.  She stood and waited.  And waited.  And... waited. And hopped from one cold, bare foot to the other.  She hugged herself to keep warm but she did NOT come back inside, she did NOT stray from her post!  I felt sorry for her so threw her lovely warm coat and fur lined boots to her from the deck and she went back to her waiting, a little more comfortably!   Before much longer they drove up and I watched out the window as Jessie excitedly offered the fudge to the guy.  He asked if we made it ourselves and when she said yes, he said he supposed he would have to share it with the driver eh?  Yeah, that would be the  Christmassy thing to do, she said!!! :D  He gave her a big smile and a high five and off they went on their way.  Jessie came back in, happy, but chilly! ;D

Day Eighteen.

Working fast today....  Mum flies in from the UK tonight and I want to get the place picked up a bit before she gets here.  I won't go crazy ( it freaks the family out if I get stressed about making the place perfect and I know that a) Mum probably doesn't care anyway and b) it won't stay perfect for more than 10 minutes once she arrives!! )  these days I just aim for tidy (ish) and clean (ish!) anyway, still got lots to do..!

Today's act of kindness was a very spontaneous one though probably wouldn't be for those adults amongst us who are organized!! :D  I was looking out the window and noticed our recycling collection people had arrived to do our weekly pick up.  They are a lovely organization, so helpful and just all round good people.  I grabbed $10 from our collection and tore out of the house, baby in one hand, money in the other!  I ran up to the guy and thrust the cash at him!!  "Merry Christmas!!  This is for you!!"  Another day brightened! :D

Day Seventeen.

Well!! :D  A crazy day in retrospect though it didn't sound that bad to begin with!!  I finished up making the donuts and cupcakes I have made for some friends to give as gifts to their kiddoes... I LOVE making them, I just had a hard time finding the time with my smallest wanting so much attention!!  It's really quite hard to sew with sharp pointy needles and a wriggling, cooing little bundle of joy in my arms!! ;D Anyhoo, they got done and I went to town to meet Rex at lunch, ran some errands downtown, stopped at Hobby Lobby to pick up some more fabric and felt and then headed home after dropping off my "baked goods" !! Oh, but did I mention that I did all of this with an ever worsening headache, the lowering sun streaming right into my eyes and a baby girl who screamed at the top of her lungs for most of the trip?!  : (   Poor girl.   I pulled over and fed her a couple of times and managed to reinsert the pacifier more than once, but eventually the crying got the better of me and my head.  By the time I got home I had to go to bed with a migraine.  Awesome. Anyway, after a little sleep and some Tylenol I managed to procure from my friend's house,  I'm all better now!  I DID manage to get in another act of kindness though!! ;D Whilst leaving the parking garage today we noticed that the lady who took our cash was wearing a santa hat and reindeer antlers on her head!  We issued a hearty "Ho Ho Ho!" as we rolled up and she chatted happily with us as she found her change. Well I thought that she might appreciate a little kindness, so I took two individually boxed truffles, one cappuccino and one salted caramel and handed them to her... one for her and the other for her cohort across the way!!  She was delighted!  Made her day I think! :D  Later whilst at the craft store I noticed a lady carrying a huge and heavy shadow box picture frame...  I offered that she might go ahead of me in the check out line... again, she was very grateful and thanked me again after she got checked out.  It really is remarkable how small things can make a person's day brighter just as much as big things.  I've said before how I'd love to give out one hundred dollar bills but sometimes just opening a door for someone, letting them go ahead of you in line, complimenting someone on their hair cut or shoes... these things can make a big impact too.

Life is like a box of chocolates.

Day Sixteen!

Today was a stay at home sort of a day.  The kids and I spent a lot of time dancing round the living room to Gangnam Style... (yeah, we like it under our rock....!!),  I spent an hour on the phone with Alicia... ( Sorry Alicia!!!!)  and the rest of the day I spent cleaning the house ( can I get a Whoop Whoop?!  ... No??!  Bueller???!! )  So our Act of Kindness today had to be something we could do from home.  We decided to bake cookies for hubby's Uncle who is in care.  He went into hospital in March and will never come out again from what we hear.  : (   It's a tragedy as before he went in he was such a vital man, always had projects going, always emailing us and making us cool magic videos and such.  An awesome man.  An awesome man who loves Tollhouse cookies apparently!  I thought a nice BIG batch might make his day, so that's what we did!!!   I mean really, who DOESN'T love a good cookie?!?

A Good Cookie!

Day Fifteen

Today was Gingerbread House Making Day!!  We'd hoped and planned for a big turn out but due to one thing, another, and some no~shows we had Charlotte come over!  We still had a fun time.....!

Parts and plans laid out...

Making the "cement"

Charlotte's house

Jack's house with garage!

Jack's house finished

Jessie's house finished

Later hubby, baby and I went into town to run a couple of errands and I took two $5 bills with notes attached and planned to hide them in one of the stores we stopped in.  The trouble was, I'd eaten a lot of my construction frosting before I left the house and my focus was a little...um... off?!  I totally forgot to plant the money until we were on our way home!!  My lovely hubby took a detour and stopped at a gas station for me.


He went in ostensibly to get me a cup of coffee but also took in the cash and hid it for me!!  One bill behind a box of pop tarts and another behind a KitKat bar!!  I love the idea of someone finding free money!!  Especially at the gas station!!  I wish I could afford to buy someone's gas or to hide $100 bills!!



Anyway, that was today's act.  Now I've got to figure out how to finish off MY gingerbread project whilst holding a baby that just won't nap!!!!

Day Fourteen

Our friendly little grocery store.

Walking his baby sister.

December 14th started out as a lighthearted, fun day for us and the rest of the country I imagine.  It was only when I scrolled over to Yahoo to see what the rest of the world was doing that the day shifted dramatically.  20 children murdered in an elementary school in Connecticut.  11 days before Christmas. Children.  Babies.  Needless to say the day went down hill right there and I struggled to keep it together for my children, my babies.  I mourned, I cried, I tried to find some reason, I ranted online and on the phone and then finally I had to pull it together for the children.  We decided to take a walk into our little town and to the grocery store where we took our 9 dollar bills, each with a little note on it, and hid them, three apiece, all around the store.  Upon leaving the clerk asked us "Did we not have what you needed??" ... I explained that we were on a little acts of kindness mission and she said "OH!  It was YOU guys who stuck the bag of money to the pop machine?"  I had to admit that yes, it was us..."Well"  she said "We did it too!  We refilled the bag!"

The loot.

I was talking to a friend today and she said how quickly one person can change lives by destroying them with an assault weapon and yet how slowly one can change lives with kindness.  It's true, it's a very small step, but as long as we take that step and then someone takes another step right behind us, then we can get there in the end.

Hug your children.  Never let them go.

My babies. (and the dog!)

Jack wanted to take a pic too...

Day Thirteen!

I may sound a little more subdued tonight.  It's called a sugar coma.  You'll be able to guess why when I tell you my stunningly stupid  clever  idea for an Act of Kindness today.  See, most years we bake cookies and take them around the neighborhood, leaving them on doorsteps on Christmas Eve.  One year I made a batch of fudge, bought some fun dishes, wrapped the both in fancy plastic wrap ( I can't think what it is called!!  It's on a roll, it's different colors, it's see through.... OMG... sugar coma...!!)  anyway, I made it look pretty and gave that out instead of cookies.  Well, the lovely lady who runs the post office REALLY loved the fudge.  I remembered her mentioning it, so I made a big batch of fudge today intending to give it to her as a random act of kindness.  I made up the fudge, (chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanuts, Heath bits, raisins, ....!!) put it in the fridge to set, bagged it in a cute Santa bag... but.... alas.... there was quite a lot left over.  Wisely I made up another bag for a friend I was going to see in Drama class this afternoon.  ( we ballsed up the time, missed the whole thing... I still have the bag of fudge in the pantry....  this could be bad.... ) Anyhoo... even after the second bag... there was STILL fudge left.  Well I don't know about your house but in our house, if there's fudge... well, let's just say there wasn't any for long.  To be honest there is STILL some left ( note to self, next time, make less fudge ) but we have been doing our best to eliminate it from the house ( in the form of sticking it in our faces as much as possible. )   Jessie was the first to notice the side effects.  She was giddy and hyper for a while, pretending to be a dog, jumping on the couch, laughing hysterically and uncontrollably at first, and then, the crash.  She complained her body felt funny, her eyes weren't focusing and her head hurt.  S.U.G.A.R baby.  My eyes start to flicker from side to side at a rapid rate.  My heart rate accelerates and I can't spell or think!  It's not a stroke, don't worry, it's the FUDGE!!  It's GOOD fudge, but I have NO self control.  NONE.  If one piece of fudge is good, then surely half a pan is even better!!!   We tried to fix the problem with protein.  Scrambled eggs and cold chicken for all!!....  it hasn't worked!!  I MAY have to take the remainder and either a) pass it off to a neighbor or b)   throw it in the outside trash.  I could throw it in the inside trash but I MIGHT go crazy and try to fish it out!!!  (not really!... well maybe!!  Nooo!!!.... possibly.  Best to be sure. )

Anyway, it really was an Act of KINDNESS to give it to our lovely post mistress.... SHE has self restraint!!!  We went for a walk in the glorious "winter" air ( 50+ degrees?? Please. ) and took her her fudge! She was delighted.  We were pleased!  ...and a little sleepy.

oh fudge. 

:D

Day Twelve!

OK... today was another example of expecting one thing to happen and instead doing something else!  Firstly, it should be noted that today is 12/12/12.  Insert obligatory shot of kids and kitchen clock at 12:12 12/12/12......

We got our gingerbread baked ready for our Gingerbread House Day on Saturday then we headed out to Barnes and Noble to perform today's act!  

We'd planned, since it was 12/12/12 to get a copy of the Twelve Days of Christmas and give it to anyone in the store who had a 12 year old OR who KNEW a 12 year old!! :D  ....  our plans were somewhat thwarted when it was discovered that the only version of the 12 days was A Pirates 12 days of Christmas.  

 

That wouldn't have been SO bad but it was about 20 bucks!!   (The price of books in this country just staggers me.  In the UK books are SO inexpensive AND tax free...!!)   anyway....  It turned out that Barnes and Noble was having a book drive for the Children's Home in Lincoln.  They had a selection of books that you could buy and donate to the home.  We checked them all out and Jessie picked 
A Smart Girl's Guide to Sticky Situations.  It must have been a pretty good book as she read it all the way up to the checkout counter! We purchased the book and gave it to the clerk to put into the donations pile.  It felt like the right thing to do, even if it wasn't the original plan!  A stop by Trader Joe's on the way home to try the Dark Chocolate coated Peppermint Joe Joe's made the afternoon complete.... oh my....   where have those things BEEN all my life?!?!? 

The absolute kicker though, the piece de resistance, so to speak, is when my littlest girl LAUGHED for the first time in her entire (almost four months) life!!!  Yeahy!!  Life is pretty awesome around here!!

So there ya have it.  Day twelve!!  We are getting this thing down I tell ya! ;D 

Day Eleven!

Isn't it a STUNNING bus!?!?

Oh today's act was FUN!!!! : D  We took 9 $1 bills and wrote a little note for each bill saying  "Merry Christmas" and "random acts of kindness".  We headed to the bookmobile where we have spent many an hour over the years.  We hadn't actually been since the summer... it was SUCH a hot one and I was pregnant.  Pregnant and summer heat don't mix for me.  I stayed home in the A/C.  Well, we CERTAINLY didn't have to worry about heat this time! :D  It was COOOOLD as we headed out.  We tracked down the bookmobile ( it had changed locations since we were last there! ) and were amazed to find it was a totally different vehicle!!  A BRAND SPANKING NEW BUS!!!  Wow!  It was lovely!!  We hustled on board and the kids went giddy!  They LOVE the bookmobile and were so excited to scan the shelves and pile up books to take home.  I headed to the back of the bus to chat with the librarian, Becky, and also to select some of my favorite Christmas books.  Into nine of these books we slipped the dollar bills... somewhere in the middle of the book so it will be a delightful surprise to any little reader!  One book had a CD in the back and we hid a bill back there too... just to see if anyone listens to it!! ;D

It was really fun for some reason!  The idea that some little reader will be sharing the holiday spirit with Mum or Dad and will suddenly come across a whole dollar bill!! ;D  Warms my heart right up it does! ;D

Day Ten!

Today started out as one way and ended up another!  We had originally intended to go to the Goodwill Store and drop off a ton of donations, then whilst we were there we were going to hide dollar bills in the pockets of pants and coats so that people would find them when they bought them.  Then we got to thinking, finding a dollar isn't that big of a deal anymore, I mean it will be for children when we hide the bills in the Target toy section, but for an adult to find a dollar in a pair of pants well, it won't really raise any pulses.  I often find myself wishing I had $100 bills to hide!!  How exciting it would be to find one hundred dollars!!! ;D Anyway, we then thought it might be better to just hide ten dollars all at once for one person to find.  We taped two $5 bills together and added a note saying "Merry Christmas" and got ready to find a nice winter's coat we could seclude the loot in!

We got to the store and headed in, looking for winter coats.  ...  ...  ...  No winter coats.  Really?!?  Really.  I didn't see any anyway.  Hmm.  We continued to browse the store and the kids picked out books they wanted to buy.  I noticed an older man shopping too.  He looked through the houseware section, he was in the sweater section and finally I noticed him picking out a pair of pants.  He's the one, I thought.   We hustled over there and I rather forwardly handed him the money and note and said "This is for you!!"  .....  "Why?"  he asked.  Suspiciously and not unreasonably in my opinion!!!  I explained that we were doing 25 Acts of Kindness and he said "Nooo.... buy the baby some formula!"  ( as a FERVENT Breastfeeding advocate I thought that was hilarious!! ) "We're fine there..." I said "She's a breastfed baby!" ... this left him no wiggle room so he took the money and smiled.  "Thank you!"  he called out.  "I'll remember this Act of Kindness and pay it forward" .....!!


Awesome. :)

Day Nine!

We made another batch of cookies today, Norwegian Butter Cookies no less!  They are so delicious and simple to make too.  It was Jack's turn to be "Santa" today so he put on his hat and coat and made ready to deliver cookies to the retirement home up the road.  It was about 26 degrees outside.  You'll note Jack's outfit...  Ahem.

Yes Folks, those are shorts.  And Wellington Boots.  And an enormous coat that will make you sweat.  Still, he was in the mood and Ho Ho Ho'ed with me all the way up there!!

Once we arrived we found a staff member and told her we had made cookies for the residents and staff.  She seemed quite grateful, if confused!  Jack said "Ho Ho HO!  I'm SANTA!"... she smiled at him nicely and we headed home!  Jack asked if perhaps we could have "warm chocolate milk" when we got back.  Not hot.  Warm.  I'm on it, Kiddo.  :D

We presented the cookies with an ingredients list also, incase any of the residents had any dietary restrictions. 

Day Eight.

Today Jessie had a partner in crime!!  Both girls donned Santa hats and headed out in the chilly air to find someone walking in town.  (I kept Jack home with me!! ) When they found someone the girls were instructed to hand them a bag of delicious Lindor Truffles and explain that this was a Random Act of Kindness.  Apparently the lady they stopped as she left the post office was most delighted at their offering and left with a big smile on her face! ;D  Mission accomplished!!!

Day Seven!

Today's Act was a quickie but appreciated none the less! ; D  We put a $5 Starbucks Gift Card in the mail box for our mail carrier, Becky.  She is so lovely and works hard all year long, a little unexpected pick me up should brighten her day we hope! ;D  

We were peeking from behind the curtains when she drove up today and she looked for us when she opened our mail box and found her treat!!  She waved and mouthed "THANK YOU!!" to the kids!  

Spreading the Starbucks love!! ;D  

Day Six

This was a cheap, easy and effective Act today!  We baked a big batch of sugar cookies and took them to the gas station where hungry folk on their way to work could help themselves to yummy cookies to go with their coffee!  Those who took one whilst we were there were very grateful!  Frankly I was surprised they let us leave them there and had banked on telling the staff to eat them for themselves if that was the case but the manager didn't seem to blink!  The benefits of small town living I think! :D