Round 12 - Day 10 already!

Day Ten (Mon 1/21/13):

Ended up *not* going downtown to the homeless project today, so...

*  Picked up another big bag of trash on the back industrial side of my block while I was walking the dog

Happy Tuesday,

L

Day Nine (Sun 1/20/13):  Big Fat Giving Day--nice & spur of the moment:

*  Gave my mom a call to see if she wanted to go to the movies to see one she wanted to see that's on its way out of the theaters.  Sometimes she's not up for spur-of-the-moment, but not only was she feeling up for that, but for an invitation to one of her favorite suppers out afterwards too.

*  In between, one of my friends called & asked if she could drop by--she had some thank-you flowers for me (Receive) for helping her through some dental surgery recently.  Meanwhile--since she was by--I had always wanted to give her Cami's book & I'd specifically bought her one of the journals here to track Giving if she wanted as I know her computer is down, but I'd never gotten around to giving it to her.  So I was able to give her the 29Gifts book, the journal, a bookmark, and a "Every Day is a Gift" button as a present (plus another book she noticed at my house that was in a stack to get rid of).  I'm so glad she came by.

*  Cleaned out a strip of sidewalk when I was walking the dog:  1) Spontaneously picked up a bag's worth of trash on the back hidden side of the block that runs against the highway wall as we went  2) There's been a heap of good men's clothes back there on the side of the sidewalk for a few days... ???  I think maybe someone had it on the back of a bicycle or something & it fell off???  I've been waiting to see if they noticed & came back for it, but, no, so I picked it all up, carried it home, ran in through the washer with some disinfectant, and plan to take it all to the homeless charity (Monday?).

Happy giving,

L

Day Eight (Sat 1/19/13):

*  Put my change in coins & then an extra $5 into the donation box at a checkout stand.

I did feel the need to put in extra $ this time to have it "count" & because I didn't see any other Gives coming up today... that giving the change (up to the next dollar or quarter) is my standard habit, so it's not a real, conscious Give.  I think that's good but do want myself to recognize that my "standard habits" have evolved as I have too, and that matters also.

Happy Sunday,

L

Day Seven (Fri 1/18/13):

*  Gave the dog the gift of a trip to the dog park on a sunny day

*  Then gave a stranger at the dog park that I'd never met before the gift of a listening ear & a hug when I left as she told me about her divorce coming up (apparently unwanted, although I did not ask details) after 36 years of marriage & the upcoming move away from her hometown to be with her daughter in an another state.  The best I could offer her is that Change can be Scary, but how much I've learned from my dogs about--Wow! I can hardly wait to Go!  Anything Can Happen & It Will Probably Be Great & Right Around the Corner Here!!!!  I Can Hardly Wait to Get There!!!  :-)  Gotta love it.

Happy Saturday,

L

Day Six (Thurs 1/17/13):

*  Gave myself the gift of not leaving the house today (well, not leaving the block--I did walk the dog)

*  So www.freekibble.com was it for me today.

Happy Friday,

L

Day Five (Wed 1/16/13):

*  Random Act of Kindness:  Went to Amazon.com & sent a gift to a complete stranger off their Wish List (sure, "Mary Smith" will work).  Yeah, this is an idea from another 29Gifter from a while back... very fun & the book literally only cost 2 cents (used, + $3.99 for shipping = $4.01 total).  HA!

*  Keeping Things Circulating:  Went to an event tonight where I mentioned a particular book to the group that many people found intriguing.  I took the business card of the woman that I had the longest conversation about it with (I took the card for a different reason), and when I got home I decided to email her the full quote of the paragraph that we discussed the most as a gift for her tonight.

Happy Thursday,

L

Day Four (Tues 1/15/13):

*  Gift to Dog:  Took him on His Favorite Walk this afternoon now that the weather is above 10 degrees for the 1st time since Thursday.  He was a little pent up, but that was the point, he hasn't been able to be out for a good walk for a while.  (Did feel more like Duty than Gift, though, so... )

*  Gift to Self:  Scrubbed the kitchen floor for the 1st time in longer than I want to say--I'll blame it on injuries etc.  (Did feel more like Duty than Gift, though, although it's feeling wonderful to look at it, so... )

*  Gifts to Community:  1)  Finally figured out the Ribbons on this site & sent out one well-deserved gift spontaneously in response to an action I appreciated.  2)  Picked up that piece of tissue that was hanging out on the track at the rec center tonight (with another piece of paper) so no one running would slip on it.  Those felt like the real Gifts-in-the-moment today.

Happy Wednesday,

(Winds-Day, as Pooh would say)<What??? Where did that come from?

:-)

L

Day Three (Mon 1/14/13):

*  Sent kibble to the shelter animals through freekibble.com

*  Waved someone into traffic when they were stuck trying to turn out of an alley into a busy street

*  One of my neighbors had left me a voicemail a couple days ago, which I had forgotten about, asking if I could get something off the internet for her (she's older & disabled & has neither computer nor computer skills).  I had remembered about it last night when I was eating the last piece of the most wonderful peanut butter fudge that she gave me last time she made a batch, so I gave her a call in the afternoon when I knew she'd be feeling her best, pulled up the site, found the form she was looking for, printed it out, and took it down the street to her.  I brought my dog, who loves her to death (why? because she gives him treats), so that yes, he could get a treat from her.... so that's a big Receive/Give/Receive for my household.

Happy Tuesday,

L

PS:  Another Big Fat Receive for the Day:

*  Got an immediate call back (like, 15 minutes) from an attorney I'd left a voicemail for in the morning.  I'd never spoken to her before, but she was the senior partner advising the attorney who worked with me a couple months ago on a personal matter.  I was surprised how fair (little!) the fee was at the time, and so I'd sent them both thank-you cards with gift cards last month, a little belated but something I still wanted to do to finish up the matter.  I did not send the thanks expecting anything, and I didn't expect to ever work with them again.  But an unexpected related question came up, and I was hoping she would at least email me a referral to someone else to talk to if needed.  Maybe she would have called me back anyway (don't want to take anything away from her personally), but even though she'd already emailed a thanks back, I think she appreciated the opportunity to chat with me for a minute herself & I did get some immediate answers which was a help to me.  Big Fat Reminder of the benefits of Saying Thank You and building relationships to help create the world we want to live in.

Day Two (Sun 1/13/13):

*  Took a care package over to a friend who was sick & so couldn't meet me for a movie as planned.  Funny thing was---she had just sent the person she lives with over with a care package to another friend's house who was sick.  Give/Receive for *her*, I think.

*  I went to the rec center & got on the elliptical machine & 2 minutes later, 2 older women who I had seen stretching out together came & got on the machines on either side of me, as there were no 2 machines together.  I asked one of them if they'd like to trade machines with me so they could be together.  They were very thankful & later I gave them some more support & info on the personal training services there when they were trying to figure out the weight machines & talking about their New Year's resolutions etc.

Receives for me:

*  In my friend's neighborhood, where I went to drop off the package... I stopped to go through a Good Times fast food place again to get lunch & the guy there was having a Great Time on his own, really enjoying the day.  The local football team had that traumatic shocker playoff loss on Saturday & he asked me if I'd watched the game.  I told him no (I know, heresy) & please don't spit in my food because I didn't--but had he or was he working?  He said he'd been working so he didn't get to see it, but--get this--he said he got to hear about it by asking everybody coming through the drive through what was happening on the last play, and, he says, leaning out the window with a big grin, "I think I actually ended up having way more fun that way, really."  Good for him.

*  Big thankful voicemail on my machine when I got home from my friend who got the care package.

*  Was invited to a lecture of a spiritual nature in the morning and Just Said Yes, I am happy to receive anything you want to give me, when they asked if I'd like some items & info to take home.  One item was a CD of a positive nature that I ended the day with & I enjoyed that.

*  Happy times with my dog practicing some obedience skills we started in an obedience class we began on Saturday.  He gets this little certain expectant, excited, little-boy face when he knows Treats May Be Coming & So What Do I Need to Do to Get Them?  It is so so sweet.

*  Also because I'd gone over to my friend's neighborhood to drop off the package... I stopped at a store there I don't go to that often to get special items for dinner & that was great.

Day One (Sat 1/12/13):

Time to get back on the horse.  I do not like how easily my mind starts to wander back to obsessing about MeMeMeMe if I am not committed to a Round.  The good news is that I see it much easier now because of these Challenges & my spirit does raise to a different level when I am focused each day on what I am contributing to others.  Even when I had decided to start again today, I found I got up in a little bit of a funk annoyed with everybody I ran into until the middle of the day & then it changed when I started my giving.

*  I got a personalized, handwritten thank-you card & a coupon for $10 off as a End-of-Year gift from the employees at a pet store I use a lot.  Used it today & then gave $1 back to the store's in-house charity for pet adoptions (gave back 10% of what I received unexpected... a giving principle I am trying out that was given to me from another source.  Not sure about it yet, but willing to keep things circulating).

*  Got a fast-food kid's meal for lunch & I have the cookies in it to a woman working an "Anything Will Help" sign at an intersection.  Didn't stop to chat, but I noticed she made good eye contact, was grateful but not self-demeaning, and I wondered what her story was.

*  Did an hour's volunteer work on paperwork for a non-profit I am associated with.

Intentions for this Round:

As stated above (& to keep it simple):  Just need to remain focused on others instead of myself, one day at a time.

I had some Grand Thought that Round 12 should be Particularly Meaningful, because 12 months are in a year & this will finish 365 days... but I think Round 11 (what I *didn't* necessarily write about) was very powerful, at the end of the year especially, and so this one... well, it's just living life.  And that's enough.