Workin' at The Car Wash

  Today's act of kindness was for my sweet husband. This past week we have switched cars so he can get some much needed maintenance done on mine and so I could take his to get the emissions tested today. Since I've been driving his car around the last couple of days I've noticed it could use a bit of a cleaning and having the kids go everywhere with me in his car is only making it worse. So for today's good deed I washed and cleaned his car inside and out. I ran the outside through a car wash and then went to work cleaning the windshields, scrubbing the tires, vacuuming the entire inside and wiping down the dash and upholstery. I'm no professional but I thought it looked pretty good when I was finished. I just hope he thinks the same, lol. My husband works hard and sometimes long hours to support our family so I thought it was time to do a little something for him. Now, fingers crossed it stays all clean and shiny until we switch cars back!

Special Delivery

   Tomorrow is one of my good friend's birthday and a few of us had plans to take her out to lunch today for her birthday but her little girl has been sick and she and her husband haven't been feeling well either so we had to cancel. No one likes not feeling well on their birthday or fixing meals when they don't feel good for that matter. So for today's act of kindness I took them some of my favorite chicken soup and bread from a restaurant here in town to help them all feel better. I also made her a few special birthday treats to go along with it because chocolate always makes me feel better.  They were surprised and very thankful for the goodies. Hoping the soup does the trick and everyone is feeling better soon cause we have a lunch date to reschedule! 

Common Kindness

   Today I came across an organization that I am so excited about. I in no way consider myself a coupon expert or anything close to it, but I do like to use them when I can to save money on our groceries and am always stockpiling the ones for items that my family uses the most. In the past several months I have found a few coupon websites online that I really like and get coupons from them almost every week. Today while hunting for some good ones I cam across a website called commonkindness.com . There motto is "Save money and help others." What they do is provide you all kinds of coupons to redeem at the grocery and several other stores and every time you use one they donate to a non profit organization of your choosing. You can sign up for free and when you do you select from literally hundreds of deserving organizations to receive donations. So that's exactly what I did for today's good deed. It took me only a minute or two to sign up and like I mentioned it is 100% free. The money they donate to the non profits comes from the advertisers on the website. Common Kindness also spotlights different charities each week to raise awareness for them. So if you ever use coupons this is a great way to give back and to save some money of your own and who doesn't love to do that??? 

Quarters For Cleaning

   Today the kids and I got to go and meet my husband for lunch and afterward we had a few spills in the backseat that called for a little vacuuming. There is a car wash not far from my husband's work so we swung right in to clean up the mess. I pulled up and saw that it cost a dollar, which isn't so bad, but it only took quarters. It wouldn't take dollar bills , any other change or any kind of plastic for that matter, which to me is kinda inconvenient. There was also no change machine there where you could get quarters for your dollar.  Luckily I had several quarters on hand so it worked out okay for me this time, but I usually don't have anywhere near as many quarters as I had today. I just happened to have a lot of them leftover from our trip this weekend and they were still in my purse. I got to thinking while I was cleaning, and it occurred  to me that I bet most other people don't have strictly quarters when it comes to the money they are carrying around. So for today's act I took the quarters that I had and placed them on all the car vacuums so that others would be able to vacuum their vehicles and not get caught out of luck. I know if I hadn't had the change I did today we would have been in a sticky situation and hopefully I helped someone else avoid that as well. 

Let Them Eat Cake

   This weekend we've been celebrating my husband's birthday with some of his favorite things, including our trip to Memphis. This evening I had planned to for us to end the weekend celebration with my husband and the kids enjoying the birthday cake we got for him at home. But as we were getting back into town this afternoon, the opportunity came up for us to get to visit with my cousin and her brand new baby Brantley and was so happy because at least one person in our home has been sick since he was born almost a month ago and we haven't been able to meet him yet. So we decided it would be nice to take the birthday cake to share with my cousins. I mean come on... who doesn't love some birthday cake, especially an ice cream cake. So they enjoyed some surprise birthday cake and I finally got to meet and cuddle an absolute adorable baby. 

St. Jude Target House

  Today's act of kindness has been in the works for a couple of weeks now and I have been super excited about it. My husband and I have been planning our annual February trip to Memphis and this year I knew  I somehow wanted to incorporate St. Jude's Children's Hospital into my acts of kindness since we were already planning on being down here. After making some calls and talking to several representatives for St. Jude, it looked as though the places that could really use some help were the long term housing facilities for the families of St. Jude patients. There are three major ones and the Target house is where families who will be needing a place to stay for three months or more are placed. Target House runs solely on donations and funding from Target. This place has a special meaning for my husband and I since we stayed in a Ronald McDonald house for almost three months after the birth of our daughter and know first hand what a blessing it is to have a place to call home and not have to worry about the day to day things so you can focus on your hospitalized child. There Is so much I want to say and tell you about the Target house and could literally go on for hours after our visit there today, but since I'm trying not to write a novel, please go and check out there website here. 
So after asking several friends and family members if they wanted to donate any wish list items to Target House in addition to what we were bringing, we had a great response. We  literally took a trunk load of paper products, cleaning supplies, bedding, toys and kitchen items to give to the house and the families staying there.

The staff was so great and very appreciative. They even gave us a tour of the amazing facility.  Here are a few of the shots we took.

Here is some of the art work done by some of the kids that live there

 more art work in the arts and crafts room...

 We even got to see one of the model apartments that each of the families stay in.

Here is the kitchen..

 They also had a great outdoor area with huge covered patios and pavilions and a great playground for the kids.

I just can't say enough about this organization and all they do for the St. Jude families. Thanks again so much to all of you who donated items for us to bring today. It was such an amazing experience to be able to give to them and help out any way we could. We also decided within minutes of walking in that this will become a part of our annual February trip to Memphis each year and possibly a reason for an extra trip to Memphis each year. 

Leftovers

   This morning I had to take my daughter for a special appointment for school and because she did so well we went for a special breakfast afterward, just her and I. We went to Panera Bread and enjoyed some yummy bagels and muffins with our coffee and milk. I think our eyes were bigger than our stomachs because we got full pretty quick and had plenty of left overs. I asked her what we should do with all our goodies and she had a great idea. She said, "let's find some people who need them." After she said this, I immediately thought of the homeless people we had passed this morning on our way to the appointment. So I had the Panera employees bag up what we had left and we headed back out to give them away.  I found the few hungry homeless people that we had seen before and pulled over and gave them our bag of bagels and muffins. They were very grateful and thanked me for stopping several times. Seeing hungry people, especially in the country we live in where there is so much abundance breaks my heart. As we left, my daughter had several questions about the homeless people and I answered them as best I could and told her that every chance we get to help others we should. I hope the bagels and muffins we shared today help them make it through another day.

   On an unrelated note, my husband and I are going out of town this weekend, but the acts of kindness will continue of course. I just may be late about posting them because i am not sure what my internet connection will be like. But please keep checking back because we I have a great act for tomorrow that I've been working on for a couple of weeks and am so excited about.

It's A Dirty Job But Somebody's Got To Do It...

Every Thursday morning around 10am when the garbage truck comes down our street, my son gets really excited and asks to go outside so we can watch the truck pick up our trash. So most Thursdays when we're home, he and I head outside and and sit in the driveway and watch the truck go up one side of our street and back down the other picking up everyone's trash. My son loves all the sounds and watching the arms lift each trash can.  When the garbage man gets to our house my son waves to him like crazy and shouts "Hi" over and over again. Luckily our garbage man is very friendly and always smiles and waves back to us. But when we went out today, we had a little something extra for him. I know picking up trash probably is not the most exciting job in the world but it has to be done and I'm thankful we have such a nice and polite man who comes and gets our each week. So today we took him some cookies to say thanks for working hard for us.

Here's my son, waiting patiently for him to get to our house so he can give him his treat. When he pulled up to our driveway, my son waved the package of cookies at him and he opened the door. He was very polite and thanked us many times for the thoughtful treat. Hopefully a few cookies made his day a little brighter. I know it made my son's to get to get up close and personal with the garbage truck and give him the goodies.

A Little Positive Feedback

To me customer service is oh so very important but sometimes it can be hard to find anyone who cares about it anymore. So when I go to a place where the customer service is good, or even better, when it's exceptional I want to let them know what a great job they are doing. So that's exactly what I did today for my act of kindness. Who doesn't love to hear some positive reinforcement?  I LOVE the Publix grocery store I shop at. They are always eager to help me find whatever I need, order items for me, take things out to my car, they always recognize my kids and shower them with attention and they even help me save money when they can. After I got done checking out this morning I thanked the cashiers for their help and politeness and then asked if I could talk to a manager for a moment. They quickly called one and asked if there was anything else they could do for me. I explained that I just wanted to brag on the great service and that they had done a great job. When the manager came I told them how helpful each employee was and how everyone had gone above and beyond today to help us with our shopping. He thanked me several times for the positive feedback and stressed how nice it was to hear things like that. When we get bad service we often have no problem letting someone in charge know, but sadly we (myself included) rarely take the time to let them know when service has been exceptional. Don't get me wrong, I feel like a business should know when service is bad so things can be done to correct it because a lot can be learned from mistakes. But I also feel like a compliment or a little positive praise can go a long way as well.

Shamrocks Against Dystrophy

   Today's act of kindness was supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association and it was so easy to do. Since I've started this mission to perform acts of kindness, I'm finding more and more each day that if I simply open my eyes and pay attention to things around me, opportunities to help others and organizations are everywhere. Today while I was in the check out line at the grocery, they had these shamrocks out for anyone who wanted to donate to MDA. Most of the time I just go about my business and don't pay attention to signs like these asking for donations or help but today I gladly donated a few dollars to a great donation. The MDA is an organization that helps to support and find a cure for a number of neuromuscular diseases that affect millions of Americans. They have great information and ways you can help on their website if you are interested. The Shamrocks against Dystrophy is a yearly campaign that is supported by all kinds of businesses in the U.S. and MDA provides all the materials for them . Like I mentioned before this act was so simple, didn't take any extra time and went to help a great cause. If I can just continue to literally keep my eyes open, performing acts of kindness all year should be a breeze!

Recycling Today For A Better Tomorrow

So for today's good deed I decided I would save the Earth... okay, so not exactly but today I'm starting to pick up some of my slack. Sadly my family and I don't recycle much of anything anymore. I had bins that I used at our previous home, but since we moved here they have gone by the wayside. Recycling is such a no-brainer and very easy once you set up some sort of bin or receptacle system. And that's exactly what I did today. I found boxes that we weren't using and just taking up space and designated them for paper, plastic and aluminum. I picked these three to start since my family throws away a lot of each of these materials. So now instead of tossing them in the trash, I'll put them in their designated box and when they are full I'll take them to the recycling center. These will be easy for my kids to participate in and hopefully pick up the recycling habit as well. So maybe I didn't save the entire Earth today, but I did do something nice for our future.

Making A Difference...

   So today I've been home sick in bed and wondering what I'm going to do for my RAK, since I don't even really feel like sitting up. But I said I was going to do this everyday this year and I'm sticking to it! My first thought was perhaps not sharing my germs with the kiddos and husband should count as my act of kindness but I think that is just more human decency than kindness. So then I looked over my list of ideas I've been compiling for acts later this year and all of those involved me doing much more that I think I am capable of today and I don't think the recipient of one of my acts of kindness wants whatever virus I'm hosting either.
Then I hopped online to see what I could find and came across a website called Spreading Joy. This website and organization is focused on performing acts, no matter how big or small, to make a difference for others and hopefully inspire more to do the same. They even have a list of 50 acts of kindness you can do that don't cost a penny, only a little time. You can view this list by clicking here. So my good deed for today will be to perform a few off the list but also sharing this list and website on here so that you can go out and make a difference.  

In Need Of A Loving Home

   Today was another one for the dogs. When I went to pick up our dog Homer from getting a much needed bath and haircut at Petco there was a long line of other people picking up or dropping off their furry friends. So I started walking around the store waiting for the line to die down a bit. A few days a week local animal shelters bring in some of their dogs that are up for adoption in hopes that some of the pet store customers will give one of them a new home and they were set up there today. They of course all looked so sad and pathetic, but I guess I would too if I spent the majority of my time in a cage or kennel constantly watching people come and go and hoping that one of them would take me home. So since I was just waiting around anyway I figured I could do a little something for these dogs for my act of kindness today. I went and bought some treats off the shelf and then asked the shelter employees if it was okay for me to feed them to the dogs. They were more than okay with it and happy I was giving them a little extra attention. I went to each dog and gave them lots of treats and rubs and played with them for a bit. I was really trying to show how fun and loveable each of them were as possible adopters came by.  We got our dog from a shelter and he's a great part of our family and hopefully soon these dogs will be a great addition to another family.

Campus Candy Craze!!

  Today is one of my favorite days of the year... that's right, the day after valentines day when candy is deeply discounted. I always look forward to going out and finding the best deals on goodies, not that we ever have a shortage of them in our house. This year that is especially true and we really don't need anymore candy in the house because we are still working on our Halloween and Christmas candy. But I hate to pass up such good deals so I figured I could some how work all this incredibly cheap candy into an act of kindness today. I even asked for some suggestions and got some great ideas, all of which I already had plans to do something for or I'm storing them away for future use. While I was out scouting the best cheap candy, it hit me who I should give it to. I was close to the local college and saw a couple students walking through an intersection. I remembered back (long ago) when I was away at college and how free food and getting care packages of sweets were some of the best things ever. So I pulled a quick turn and headed for the campus to give out the candy to random students out and about. We drove all around approaching kids who more than welcomed free chocolate. I was worried that some might be creeped out by some strange lady driving around offering candy from her car window, so I had some of the cards that my husband made for me on hand to explain that this was just purely a nice gesture and that the back door of my SUV wasn't going to swing open and someone jump out and grab them, lol.  Everyone was happy to get some unexpected chocolate. After I drove all over the campus for a while I headed to over to one of the college ministries on campus and gave them what I had remaining in the bag. They were also very sweet and appreciative. I was really happy to share a little love with those college kids.
   I also wanted to mention that I found out today that this week has been National Random Acts Of Kindness Week. It goes through this Sunday, the 17th of Feb. I think this is great that a whole week has been dedicated to RAK's. If you can, take a moment to do an act of your own. You never know how one simple act of kindness can change someone else for the better.

Puppy Love

   Today for my act of kindness I decided to show our dog Homer a little extra love. Now don't get me wrong I showed my other Valentines (my husband and kiddos), some extra love with some special treats and some of our Valentine traditions that we do each year but I thought it would be nice to do a little something for Homer today too.  Our dog is far from a puppy, he's creeping up on 9yrs old but he's still young at heart and loves to go for walks and smell all the smells of the outside world. So today I thought I'd take him on a nice long walk/jog just the two of us. Now before all you naysayers out there start thinking, "She took her dog for a walk and that is supposed be her good deed today??"  Let me give you a little background... We usually reserve walking the dog for times when we all go out for a walk so my husband can hold on to the leash because Homer likes to pull and drag a bit. And when I say a bit, I mean A LOT! He loves to run off after cats and dogs and anything that moves really. He also tires quickly so just we we get going good he's pooped and ready to stop. So I'm not a big fan of walking him and when he needs exercise I usually just open the door to our back yard that is fenced and let him run. But today I took him with me on my run and yes, he pulled and yanked me in every possible direction and yes, he had to go after every moving animal we encountered but I also think he loved it. He smiled his big goofy doggy smile at me each time I let him stop to smell each bush, person, animal, poop, piece of trash, etc... that he encountered. I think he also liked that he got to choose our path rather that one of our kids which is usually the case. So while my neck and arm will be sore later from all the pulling an jerking I know he appreciated a little special time for just him. He enjoyed it so much that he's been napping ever since we got home and probably will thru Sunday ! Happy Valentines Homer!

More Donations

Supporting the military and our veterans is something that is very important to me as I've mentioned before in some of my earlier random acts of kindness this year. So today I donated a couple of boxes of my family's clothing and shoes and a few new items to an organization called AMVETS. They are a group that supports our veterans as well as active military and their families by collecting all kinds of clothing and household items to give to those in need as well as monetary donations. AMVETS also makes it incredibly easy to donate to them since they come to your home to pick up, so all I had to do was set it outside. They also work to make sure that veterans get the benefits they have earned through service to their country and that community programs are available to help those who are getting back into civilian life. You can learn more about all the great programs they provide and read more on their organization by clicking here.

Sharing A Story

   Today has been another one of my absolute favorite acts. I volunteered today to read at my daughter's school to her class. I've really been looking forward to this ever since I spoke with her teachers about it last week and I think she has too. As I've mentioned in previous posts I feel like reading is so very important to instill in our kids and that performing acts of kindness to children seems to have the greatest impact. This morning I feel like I was able to accomplish both those things.
   I let my daughter pick one of her favorite books from home for me to read today and she picked "Officer Buckle and Gloria", which is a great story about teaching safety. The kids were very kind and paid great attention and even asked a few questions afterward. It was great seeing how excited some of them would get over the funny and silly parts of the story and hearing them laugh was the best sound. I hope they always can get this excited and happy about the simple things in life. It was a great way to start my day and I hope the kids enjoyed hearing the story as much as I enjoyed reading it to them.

Oh No... After You....

   Today's act of kindness was a very simple one. The kids and I had several errands to run and every where we went we let people go in front of us in line, including on the road while I was driving. At the bank, I let everyone in the lobby who was waiting for a teller go before me. At the post office we let those rushing in behind us go first. Then while driving in and out of parking lots I let anyone pulling out or in go while I waited even if I was there first. Not everyone took me up on my offer to let them go first but most were happy to jump line a bit since they were in a hurry or rush. I figured since I had the luxury of not having to be anywhere at a specific time today that it would be nice to let others go ahead. Today's act was a small one but one that most anybody would appreciate. I felt like this one was really over due for me because several times people have let me go ahead, especially when I have the kids and one or both is on the verge of a melt down. So I'm really happy today I was able to pay it back.

A Call To End Domestic Violence

  For today's act of kindness I helped support the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Sadly in our country many become victims of domestic violence every hour of every day. Some of the main goals of The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence are to empower battered women and children, promote and unify the service programs that help domestic violence victims, educate the public and obviously bring domestic violence to an end. They have a very informative website where you can read some alarming statistics, learn more about their programs and even donate to them if you's like by clicking here.
  Today I helped by donating our old cell phones, digital camera and mp3 player. They partner with Cellular Recycler and get a portion of the sales of the refurbished electronics and their parts. They also help provide victims with phones so that they can get out of unsafe situations. It was so easy to do and they even pay the shipping if you have 3 or more items to donate, so it cost me nothing today to help support a great organization and keep useable items from piling up in a landfill somewhere.

Routine Checkup

   Today my husband and I took one of our cars in for some routine maintenance and a check up. The place we go is great and so is our car guy... and I'm not just saying that cause he's my father in law, lol! But since no one really likes working on a Saturday, especially one as beautiful as today is, I thought we'd bring all the mechanics a little something extra to say thanks for all the hard work they do. And it never hurts to bribe the guys who are doing work on your car a little bit, right? The doughnuts were very well received and didn't stick around the shop long before they were all scarfed down. They were very appreciative and welcomed the sweet surprise on a crazy Saturday.

Crafts for Cuties

   Today's good deed was brought to my attention by my friend Kendra. She told me about some family friends whose child, Addy, has been in the hospital battling cancer and having numerous chemo treatments. She's had a rough go of it with the treatments and suffered some setbacks but through it all her love of all things crafts has remained strong. There isn't a whole lot else she can do while she's in the hospital and this is the case for many of the other kids at Vanderbilt. So Addy's mom started a drive to collect several kinds of  arts and craft supplies to give to all the children in the hospital. Specifically with the hope that they would all have items to make whatever they wanted to for Valentine's Day.   
   So when Kendra told me about this I started asking around one of my mom's groups to help me gather and collect items to deliver. I got a great response from so many donating every kind of craft item you can think of and today I picked them all up and delivered them to the organization that Addy's mom started called Crafts for Cuties. I hope these items can brighten the days of some really sick kids.

The Sweetest Kiss...

   So my random act today involved me cleaning out all the pennies in my car. While I was filling up my gas tank today, I started picking up all the trash I found in the front and back seat and I noticed I had collected a large number of pennies in cracks and crevices and cup holders all over the car. When the gas tank was done filling, I started to head inside the station to grab a drink and I thought of the pennies. I grabbed them up and went to the counter and dropped them all in the "take a penny, leave a penny" holder. I've always loved this feature at gas stations and have used more than my fair share. So I was happy to fill it up and then some.
   But this isn't the act of kindness that I want to talk about today. The one I'm most proud of is the one my daughter performed. When I got to her school today to pick her up, one of her teachers was letting the kids pick candy from the candy bucket. When it was her turn her teacher asked her what she wanted and she told her she was looking for a chocolate kiss. It didn't appear that there was any kisses in there, only suckers, but she kept digging and finally found one. Her teacher told her how lucky she was because that was the very last one. She then turned to me and said, "here you go mom, I wanted to get this for you because I know ho much you like chocolate." My jaw dropped! I was so touched and proud of her for giving up her special candy for someone else. Her teacher was too, so much in fact that she let her pick another piece for being so kind and sharing.
   My kids have been helping me with some of my good deeds since I started this challenge and I had been wondering if any of these lessons were rubbing off on them. Today I got my answer.

Raising Awareness

Not long ago I learned that an old friend had been recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis or MS. Before I had heard about their diagnosis, I really knew little to nothing about the disease and I have a feeling that most people also have very limited knowledge on this horrible disease. So for today's act I thought I would share a little info and helpful links to raise some awareness. MS is chronic disease of the central nervous system that affects over 2 million people. It has a range of symptoms like numbness, blurred vision, fatigue, memory loss, blindness and paralysis that can make it difficult to diagnose. There are also different kinds of MS. Many with this disease can function in their lives normally most of the time, but for a small percentage the disease is fatal. Sadly there is no cure for this disease, but hopefully by raising awareness and shedding more light on it, more can be done to find a cure. One of the of organizations where you can find out more about MS or even donate to help fund research for a cure is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society . They have tons of information and also hold several walks and runs all over the country to help raise money. I have found a walk here in my town later this year and have signed up to form a team to raise funds and walk. If you are interested in finding an event in your city, it shouldn't be hard, there are over 600 of them this year!  You can click here to see all the events and the dates and times. I hope for my friend's sake a cure is found soon.

National Pancake Day

Today is one of my favorite days... National Pancake Day! Every year on this day, IHOP gives a free stack of pancakes in exchange for a donation to the Children's Miracle Network. They are a great organization that donates and raises funds for local children's hospitals. If you are interested you can learn more about them by clicking here.  So this morning I stopped by my local IHOP after dropping my daughter at school and made a donation. But this year instead of eating my stack of pancakes I asked the manager if, along with my donation, I could give my pancakes to someone else who was dining in. He seemed kind of confused at first and I explained I was just trying to do something nice and since I didn't have time to sit down and eat them, someone else could get a truly free stack of pancakes since I was leaving a donation. He agreed and so I asked the lady at the counter to add the free pancakes to the order of the next people that came to dine in. I had just planned on the donation being my act of kindness today, but I'm glad I realized at the last minute that someone else could enjoy my pancakes absolutely free!

Mail Call

Today's idea was given to me by my fellow mom friend Sally who has been following the blog and my journey so far. While I was online earlier and thinking about what to do for today's act, a message from her popped up asking me if I had already completed today's task. Since I was sitting there at that very moment thinking about what to do today I considered it a sign that I should go along with her suggestion. Her idea was to leave a little something special in the mailbox for the mail carrier. I thought this was great and she herself had left something for her mail carrier today as well. Being the sweet tooth that I am, at any given moment you'll find an abundance of candy and sweets in our pantry and that is where I grabbed a treat for the mail carrier. I attached a little note thanking them for hard work they do each day and that I hope they enjoyed the candy. After tossing it in the mailbox I ran back inside quickly because I saw the mail truck coming down from the other end of the street. I stood at the door and watched through he little peephole like a child waits for Santa. When the truck reached our house, our mail lady grabbed the candy and I watched her read the note. She quickly grabbed a piece of scrap paper and wrote something down and stuck it in the box with our mail. After she left I went out to check the mailbox and she left a quick note of thanks along with the rest of our letters and bills. I really enjoyed today's act because our mail lady seemed genuinely surprised to get a little something special from a stranger. Thanks Sally for the fabulous idea! 

Breakfast Of Champions

   Today's act of kindness was performed for my family, and I'm not sure my husband is 100%  convinced that it actually counts. I see where he is coming from understand his view to some point but I still feel it counts, lol! So please feel free to comment or weigh in if you think it is a valid act of kindness or if I just kinda phoned this one in today...
   Since today is Superbowl Sunday, I figured my family could use a breakfast of champions. So instead of just pouring a quick bowl of cereal or throwing an Eggo waffle in the toaster, which is the norm most mornings here, I actually used the stove and oven and cooked a hearty breakfast. I made home made blueberry pancakes from scratch, hash browns, biscuits and of course coffee.  It seemed to go over pretty well and I didn't even burn the house down!  My daughter really seemed to appreciate the departure from our normal breakfast. And here is the aftermath of today's act of kindness...

And yes, I did the clean up as well because to me  it wouldn't have seemed like much of something special if they had to do they clean up. As much as I have really enjoyed doing the random acts for strangers I really enjoy doing them for my loved ones as well. There was nothing better than seeing the smiles my kids had as they stuffed their faces.

Cleaning Up the Carts

   Today's random good deed is one I had originally planned a few weeks back but the opportunity arose this afternoon so I jumped on it. I had the silly idea to go to the grocery today, the Saturday before super bowl Sunday, to pick up a few items we needed at home. It might as well have been the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. To say that it was a bit of a mad house would be an understatement. At first glance I dreaded fighting the crowds inside, but the hordes of people lead to several abandoned carts in the parking lot, which for this particular store is rare. So then I realized "Aha... Here's my chance!" I went in and got the items I needed as quickly as I could and after putting my things in the car I began grabbing random carts and pushing them together. Then once I got them all together, I took them back inside to the store, stopping once to give one of them to a man requesting one of the carts for himself. The employees assisting customers out to their cars with their items all had pleasant looks on their faces when they saw what I was doing. They seemed to appreciate a little extra help on this extra busy day. It wasn't much but maybe by me taking care of the parking lot, they were able to help customers inside finish their shopping a little faster. Another small act that I think went a long way to help others.

A Smile and A Wave

 

      For today's act of kindness, I took a page out of of my son's playbook if you will... We can't go anywhere now days, especially the grocery, without him saying hi with a big smile to every person we get within five feet of and waving like a mad man at them. His friendliness causes instant smiles and laughter from everyone he greets. Now, I'm not crazy cute and adorable like my two year old son is but I thought I would give it a whirl and greet everyone with a smile or wave and maybe lighten some strangers moods. So I tried it out while on my run this afternoon. Every person I ran past or came close to I smiled and said "Hello", I even greeted one man's dog as well. I also waved at cars while I waited to cross busy intersections. The reaction was almost all positive. Most smiled and said hello back, some were surprised that I paused to say anything and seemed happy that I took a minute to acknowledge them. To be fair though, I did have a couple that thought I was perhaps off my rocker a bit when I waved at them until I was sure they saw me. Hopefully though most who I stopped to greet will pass it on and take a second to make someone else smile.