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Another Day 29 already - wow, these go fast! This was a good 29th: I left a toonie ($2 coin) on top of a pay phone, gave another to a busker, reorganized and put some new files on the old iPhone I loaned my neighbour back in Round 1, I think (!), and I made a conscious effort to give a friend some support. If I weren't so tired, I'd write these out in more detail. And I'd look more at what I learned this round. I think I re-discovered some of the joy/expansion I felt in the earlier rounds.…

Well for day 24 I stayed home sick in bed.  I had plans and things to do but nothing got done.  I slept until 12:35pm and got up and went back to bed at 1:15pm and slept till 5:30pm.  So I guess my gift yesterday was sleep for myself. 

Today is Day 25 and I don't feel much better than yesterday but I HAD to get some stuff done today.  I got out and got my nails done.  On the way I made a point to wave at every driver I passed by.  I grew up in such a small town in Texas that…

After Saturday knitting group time, I went to the pet food store to stock up on cat food. I thought of doing one of those at-register donations, but they didn't have one this time. On my way out I noticed several shopping carts sitting in the parking lot. It annoys me to see them taking up spaces or rolling around and hitting cars, and the employees are so busy it's hard for them to get out and gather up carts. So after rolling mine back to the store I went out and gathered up the nearby…

VERY early start to my day today.  I rose out of the futon after about one hour of sleep or so.  I never fare well when I have to work a 1st shift.  Not since the one time last June when I didn't read my schedule closely and thought that I worked a 2nd shift when, indeed, I was scheduled to work a 1st shift that day.  Of course, I got a voice message along with a message on Facebook asking as to where I was.  THAT was the latest I had ever been to work.  I was 3.5 hours late for my shift…

For the past month and a half, I've been busy with the relief efforts in Cagayan de Oro City where a flash flood claimed the lives of thousands, damaged millions of properties and changed the lives of those who survived. Inspite of the heartbreaking devastation there, I was still filled with hope when I saw people from all walks of life stepped in to help.

With the amount of help that the local communities and the countries from all over the world have given, I realized that…

I was in Joann Fabrics, tonight. I used the bathroom and got stuck in a stall with no toilet paper... once I finally managed to get out of there, I washed my hands, and then took some paper towels back there, so that the next person wouldn't be stuck.

Just before Christmas, I gave money to a bell-ringer outside Walmart.

The other day, I threw the rest of my orange, and a bag of nuts out for the squirrels and raccoons.

I just made a donation to J/P HRO Haitian Relief Organization. I saw a bit about the work Sean Penn's organization is doing in Haiti on Oprah earlier today. I was really moved by the commitment to find homes for 20,000 Haitians displaced by the earthquake. The Oprah segment featured two mothers who remained positive and determined after suffering loss during the quake. What an inspiration. When it comes to big problems and crises in the world sometimes it can feel so overwhelming and we…

February 4, 2012

Gifts Three and Four

It is so interesting that my experience with the challenge so far has been very different than my “normal” life. My typical day is FULL of people and activity. At the Wellness Center, almost every minute is scheduled with classes, personal training, cleaning, or other tasks that have to get done that day. When not at work, my time is booked with yoga practice, my other students, personal projects, running errands,…

Today started off very well; my husband and son went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop.  (If you have young kids, this is a wonderful thing to do.  The first Saturday of the month, Home Depot has a free kids workshop.  On the first visit, the kids get their very own orange Home Depot apron.  They get a simple project to build with the help of a grownup.  When they finish, they get a certificate and a pin for their apron.  My husband and son have been going for more than two years now, his…

Yesterday during the course of the morning it started snowing. At first the snowflakes were tiny, barely visible flakes, but a while later they became bigger and soon my neighborhood started looking like a Christmas card. I love seeing the world under a snow cover and was quite excited about it. On Fridays I always do an hour of training in the gym. I go there by bike, which normally takes me about six minutes. Because of the snow I gave myself plenty of time to get to the gym, which was a…

I've started following a blog that a local woman does here in Michigan. She follows the Meijer sales really well. So I decided to take a stab at couponing.(Not the crazy extreme, as others) So I sat and made up an excel spreadsheet of what items I needed that were on sale, got all the coupons ready and headed out Friday morning. I ended up spending $98 and saved $90 with coupons and sales! I was so excited! I was able to save quite a bit of money for my family these next two weeks!

I'm still working on an afghan for a friend (to the right there). I wanted to have it done well before Christmas, but I still have five squares to go.

I've also ordered something through someone's website - their Amazon link - but as far as I know, they won't know it was me who ordered it (and that's the…

One of my dear friends has the idea of starting a co-operative society, to combine the efforts and skills of young political science graduates and take them as a combined product to potential customers, she sent me a power point with the general ideas and I sent her some ideas right back.

As far as job searching goes, I emailed the career counselor at the local university to see if she can provide some guidance on the local job market, I also marked my calender with the date…

This morning I signed up for the challenge and decided that even though i had not formally been 'accepted' i would 'accept myself' (self love) :-).

I started Day 1 by writing a letter to an old lady who i have not seen for ten years or so - she was like a mother to me when i was growing up. She is was my own mother's best friend and a lovely lady. I had moved away from the town i was born in and we lost touch but i recently found out where she was living and thought it a…

Sent a thank you e-mail to someone who gave me an opportunity last week to try something I've never done before.  It was also something, ten years ago, I could have never imagined I'd be able to do.  :)

Yesterday was one of those days where there seemed to be so many opportunities to give. I love those days! It was a typical day filled with work, dropping off/picking up kids and grocery shopping, but I was very happy to find many ways to give as I went through my day. Here is a list of the giving opportunities that I was able to seize:

*I left some muffins for the guys that repaired my heat pump....bless their hearts, I'm warm and toasty now.

*I found some "100 day" activities…

"I can never remember my own cell phone number," I heard her tell someone on her cell phone.  "But Rebecca has it in her phone - Rebecca, what's my number again?"  She used to have the number taped to the back of the phone.  I'm not sure if it fell off or if she's gotten a new phone since then, but last night my gift was this:  I got a label and wrote her cell phone number on it.  Then, I got two pieces of tape to reinforce it with.  I didn't know where her cell phone was, and she was on her…

There's a bulletin board at a Five Guys burger joint I visited recently. People had drawn pictures or written messages in crayon on index cards.  A couple were cute...I like a play on words, so appreciated the Cinco de Guy-o, clever, but one I can't get out of my brain is this one, it's kind of haunting me. I wanted to take the card to carry it with me, but Petey's friend deserves to have all the…

So I decided to start writing again. I make sure to still give something daily, but I just haven't posted on here. Yesterday was my day 1 to start posting again.

Last night was one of the hardest nights of my life. Earlier last week a former student (who was 16) was shot and killed over some petty stuff. His funeral was last night. My first gift I gave was rides to four former students who didn't have a way to get there.

The second gift I gave was the hardest.…