Happy New Year!

I found this awesome New Year's Resolution Generator via The Poptimist.

A resolution not to make any resolutions suits me fine!

Thursday thirteen: 13 stories of giving

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

Dr. Suess was a smart guy and he knew that each and every one of us carries something in our hearts that surpasses the ordinary of our daily lives.

one
[YouTube link]

At the Aramingo Diner in Philadelphia a mystery couple started a chain reaction by picking up the check for another table of diners. For the next five hours dozens of other patrons got into the holiday spirit and paid the favor forward!

two

[CNN link]

Drivers filling up at a Tennessee gas station got an unexpected holiday gift at the pump. A local resident, Don Reed, bought gas for 80 strangers, and then sent them on their way with a smile.

three

[CNN link]

Jeff Shinabarger and his wife, Andre, had a theory: there's at least one unused gift card in everyone's wallet or purse at any given time. That was the inspiration for their charity, Gift Card Giver, which accepts unused gift cards and passes them on to needy people and worthy projects.

four


A 6-year-old girl with leukemia saw her wish come true on December 2 when she spent 10 minutes with President Obama in the White House. Brooklyn resident Jasmina Anema met Obama in the Oval Office, where he gave her a box of M&Ms and a yo-yo, both emblazoned with the presidential seal. She was later given a tour of the East Wing, where she made a wish at the holiday tree.

five

[CNN link]

6-year-old Justin Martin is on a mission to make sure every child has a teddy bear — by building them himself. It has become a movement that translates to 2,000 bears over the last 2 years.

six


After Teanne Harris' fiance called off their wedding just 6 days before the scheduled date, she learned that she wouldn't get her reception deposit back.

It was then that Harris, at one of the worst moments of her life, decided to turn the situation into a blessing for others. She donated a free party to the residents of a retirement home across the street from the banquet hall near Chicago.

More than 300 seniors, some in costume, enjoyed Harris' Halloween-themed reception. Harris even attended the party and placed her bridal bouquet in the home's chapel.

seven


She knew her goal was "really big," but that didn’t stop five-year-old Phoebe Russell from running a can drive to raise $1,000 for the San Francisco food bank.

What Phoebe didn’t expect was the overwhelming response from friends, family and strangers, helping her raise $3,736.30 in just a few weeks.

With the matching donations from the food bank, Phoebe’s donation represented $33,624 worth of food – enough to feed 17,971 people!

eight

[NBC link]

Two hospitals in Washington, DC paired 26 people in the world's largest kidney swap and saved 13 lives!

These procedures are like putting together a puzzle. It starts with one altruistic donor who wants to give a kidney to a sick patient, but who isn't a match. So doctors match them with another patient, who also has an incompatible, but willing donor. Pay it forward, kidney style. In this case, it happened thirteen times.

nine


In Knoxville, TN a good Samaritan put a gold coin worth about $300 into a Salvation Army kettle!

Similar coins have turned up in Salvation Army kettles this year in Indiana, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois and Iowa.

ten


When a Vermont mom passed out in the bathtub after a minor car accident, it was her 5-year-old daughter's call to 911 that saved her! Little Nevaeh Lawrence received a plaque honoring her heroic actions.

eleven


Author Stephen King donated $12,999 to transport Army National Guard troops home for Christmas. Approximately 150 soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry travelled by bus to Maine from Indiana, where they are currently training for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan in January.

twelve
[link]

When Linda Cohen's father passed away she decided to honor him by performing 1000 mitzvahs, or good deeds.

thirteen
[YouTube link]

Starbucks launched their campaign against AIDS in Africa by putting together singers from 156 countries in one video performing The Beatles’ song All You Need is Love.

Here's to more of what we really need in 2010.


"Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have" ~ Jim Rohn

Mitzvah ~ day 30

Well, I'm coming to the end of another successful month of NaBloPoMo blogging. This month's MITZVAH theme was especially challenging: "to give something, to someone, every day of the month, and then blog about it. The goal is to act with kindness [...]. Your gifts can be as large as volunteering or donating to charity, or as small as a kind word to someone who needs it."

I had the time of my life with the MITZVAH challenge! In fact, Husband and Child enjoyed it too. Focusing on others throughout the month of December made our Christmas more special than ever!

I try to participate in NaBloPoMo at least 2 or 3 times a year and it always manages to get me off my blogging butt and helps me to flex my posting muscles. But, similar to when I used to enjoy PBS on Saturday nights, I've been thinking that I really should give back a little.

So that's exactly what I did. I went to the National Blog Posting Month home page and found the orange Donate button in the right-hand sidebar and I made a donation to NaBloPoMo!

It's the least I can do to help support something I enjoy so much.

Thought for the day

"If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less but to dream more, to dream all the time." ~ Marcel Proust

Mitzvah ~ day 29

I managed to go from Christmas Eve until this morning without leaving the house. During that time I didn't even comb my hair. And it was AWESOME!

But today I had to come out of my self-imposed hibernation, put on clothes, and make myself cute so I could go fetch Husband from the dealership where he dropped his car off for servicing.

And *sigh* I'll have to take him back again tomorrow to pick it up.

I can certainly see why Howard Hughes enjoyed being a hermit so much (of course, he was a gazillionaire ... and he eventually died of dehydration, malnutrition and neglect).

Thought for the day

"Therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: just DO things. Chase after the things that interest you and make you happy. Stop acting like you have a set path, because you don’t. No one does. You shouldn’t be trying to check off the boxes of life; they aren’t real and they were created by other people, not you. There is no explicit path I’m following, and I’m not walking in anyone else’s footsteps. I’m making it up as I go." ~ Charlie Hoehn

(via: The Poptimist)

I'm having the time of my life being off work for two weeks with Husband and Child, watching movies and playing Beatles Rock Band whenever we want to.

I'm not looking forward to going back to work next week. But I am hoping to go back with a fresh perspective.

Mitzvah ~ day 28

Today I gave my family the gift of faster internet!

We've had a wireless network in our house for maybe five years now and it seems like every gadget in our house is hooked up to the internet through it: my computer, Child's computer, Husband's computer, Child's Nintendo DS, a Wii, a PlayStation 3, and my iPod. I think the refrigerator may even be wi-fi surfing at night when we're asleep.

With so many gadgets connecting through our 5-year-old router, the internet has been veeerrry slooooow for awhile now. Child has the biggest complaints, since her internet habits are more graphics-intensive than mine or Husband's, but Husband and I have had our fair share of frustration too.

Since I'm the resident computer geek I figured it was about time we got ourselves a new router. So I bought one ... several months ago. Unfortunately, I was very good about buying it, I just haven't been very good about actually installing it. It's been sitting on my desk gathering dust.

Well, today I finally took the bull by the horns and installed the darn thing! Turns out it was super easy. And now the internet is screaming fast for all three of us.

I wish I had done this a lot sooner.

My horoscope today:
A situation requires a radical reaction. Don't just sit there. Take action.

Mitzvah ~ day 27

I've been wanting to do this for a long time and today I finally did it. I made a microloan on Kiva!

Kiva's website enables people to lend to someone across the globe who needs money for their business — like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks.

Each loan described on the website has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent — and you get updates letting you know how things are going. And, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back!

I made my loan to a group of 11 people in Bolivia named 16 De Julio Group. Most of the people who make up this group have scant resources, and their income is solely from their small businesses that they set up at Christmas fairs. When they are not selling toys they sell other merchandise like leather goods, bread, food, chicken, and soft drinks. Some provide housecleaning services.

Shortly after I made my loan, 16 De Julio Group completed their loan request of $2,625.00! But I didn't do it alone. 90 people from all over the world lent money to make up the requested amount!

I feel like I'm actually doing a little something about poverty in the world. And most of all, I know that I'm helping someone to build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their families long after my money is paid back.

You can make a loan on Kiva too (it can be as little as $25.00)!

Mitzvah ~ day 26

[link]

I ordered myself a gift yesterday. Santa must have forgotten to put it on his sleigh — just a small oversight, I'm sure.

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope you all had a great Christmas yesterday if you celebrate Christmas, and a great Friday if you don't.

Today is Boxing Day in Canada, the biggest shopping day of the year. I do NOT plan to leave the house today.

Mitzvah ~ day 25

A gift for you today! Create your own instant life lessons poem (via: Bit Rebels).

This is mine:



Note that it says I'm learning — I still have a loooong way to go.

Mitzvah ~ day 24

Today is jammie day!

When I was a kid my parents always let us open one gift on Christmas Eve. We always knew it would be a new pair of pajamas, but it was exciting nonetheless. I think my mother probably did it so we'd look presentable in Christmas morning photos.

It's a tradition that I've insisted on continuing with my own family. Child is always easy to find jammies for, but Husband doesn't usually wear pajamas, so he's a little harder to please (ummmm, that didn't come out quite like I meant it).

Tonight Child will open an adorable pair of fluzzy penguin panda jammies and Husband will no doubt ooh and ahh over his new 3-piece Batman jammies (top, bottoms AND boxers!).



I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve and an AWESOME Christmas Day!

Thursday thirteen: Christmas 2.0

(via: Greg Dixon)


(via: CartoonStock)


(via: CartoonStock)


(via: Savage Chickens)


(via: Savage Chickens)


(via: Matt Glover)


(via: Laughing All The Way)


(via: Laughing All The Way)


(via: Miss Cellania)


(via: Shoebox Blog)


(via: Comedynauts)


(via: TOONrefugee)


(via: The Wondermark Goodsery)

Join in the fun at Thurday thirteen!

Merry Christmas and may you all have a blogworthy holiday!

Mitzvah ~ day 23

Husband, Child and I scrounged in our pockets, purses and couch cushions and, between the three of us, came up with $20 in change to put into a Salvation Army kettle.

Mitzvah ~ day 22

Today Child and I sent 100 snails to a family in Liberia!

Far from being slimy pests, highly-regarded snails are actually a healthy part of the everyday diet in places like Gbarpolu, Liberia. They could even make for an alternative Christmas dinner! A gift of just £10 [about $17 Canadian] will provide one family with 100 snails, which can be bred for a staple food and will race off the shelves if sold at the local market!

I wonder if Liberians would think it's weird that we're going to have turkey for Christmas dinner.

Mitzvah ~ day 21

I thought it would be fun to get Child a Zhu Zhu pet for Christmas. You know, instead of a real pet. It would be such a cool surprise, because Child didn't even ask for a Zhu Zhu pet! Ooooh, I'm brilliant.

When I came up with the bright idea I had absolutely no clue that Zhu Zhu pets are THE must-have toy of the season. When Husband and I finally figured out how popular the cute little robot hamsters are (Don't believe me? Check them out on eBay), we decided that if we happened to see one, we'd get it. Otherwise, oh well.

Husband found out that Toys R Us was getting a shipment of Zhu Zhu pets on Monday morning, so he planned to be at the store when it opened to scoop up a hamster or two. Just to hedge his bet, though, he placed an order online. I don't know why he bothered. We had already agreed that if we got one, we got one. Otherwise, oh well.

Just for the record, the Canadian Toys R Us site sucks. When Husband put the toys into his online shopping cart they were available. When he got to the checkout, three out of the four items he had selected were no longer available! WTF? I thought putting something in your cart reserved it at least until you got to the stupid checkout.

Husband counted himself lucky that he was at least able to get one of the hamsters online. That should have been the end of it, right? Husband wasn't satisfied though. He was certain the online purchase wouldn't arrive before Christmas (so why did he buy it?!?!), so he thought he'd try his luck at the store.



He arrived at Toys R Us about a half hour before the store opened and was relieved to see there wasn't even a line-up yet. So, in a fit of unbridled consumerism, Husband bought THREE Zhu Zhu pets, along with some accessories. Don't ask me why he got three, since we had only talked about getting one.

Realizing that he now had 3 Zhu Zhu pets in hand and one on its way from the online store, Husband came home and promptly tried to cancel his online purchase. Again, Toys R Us Canada was a big FAIL. The site was very good at explaining what it meant to cancel a transaction, but it didn't actually allow Husband to CANCEL the transaction.

Husband ended up phoning Toys R Us customer service. They assured him that his transaction was now cancelled and told him that he would receive an email shortly confirming the cancellation.

Two hours later Husband received a confirmation email ... to tell him his order had shipped.

All this for a toy that Child doesn't even know she wants yet.

Edited to add: Husband received yet another email from Toys R Us online to let him know that one more Zhu Zhu pet is on its way! It's one that was unavailable when he got to the checkout yesterday. Apparently it was just on backorder. HOORAY! It's available now!

This is ridiculous.

Since Toy Mountain isn't taking donations any longer, we'll take two of our 5 (count 'em, FIVE!) Zhu Zhu pets to Toys 4 Teens (for tweens & teens age 10-17) this afternoon.

When the two pets arrive from the online store we'll return them. We only wanted one of these blasted things! Now I'm not even sure I want one.

Edited again to add: Husband knows how important Toy Mountain is to me, so he phoned the warehouse. They will still take donations, but they have to be dropped off directly at the warehouse. Husband is taking our extra Zhu Zhu pets there right now!

Yes, I do know how lucky I am.

Christmas newsletter

(via: The Presurfer)

Make your own holiday newsletter with the Merry Newsinator!

Mitzvah ~ day 20

Child is going to Mars! Well, her name is anyway*. Today I gave her the gift of a space adventure.

Join in the adventure too and your name will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!



* Not to worry, I used her real name on the certificate I gave to her (I think I even spelled it right)

Naughty or nice?

[YouTube link]

Mitzvah ~ day 19

(image credit: Roadsidepictures)

Husband, Child and I went through a McDonald's drive-thru and paid for the order for the guy in the truck behind us!

The McDonald's employee who took our payment was a little taken aback. He asked if we were friends with the guy in the truck. When we said we just wanted to do something nice for somebody he couldn't stop grinning.

Then we grabbed our order and skedaddled out of there. Even though we were giddy with the knowledge of our good deed, we also wanted to avoid any potential awkwardness when the guy was told that his order had been paid for.

We're having a blast with all our giving but, like a Philadelphia couple who started a chain reaction by paying for someone else's meal, we prefer to do it somewhat anonymously.

Mitzvah ~ day 18

Child goes to before- and after-school care. The caregivers there are outstanding and Child ADORES them, so we wanted to give them each a little something for Christmas to let them know how much we appreciate them.

We decided on Chapters gift cards (everybody reads, right?). And Child made fabulous homemade Christmas cards to go with them.

One of the caregivers was so touched, he tried to give the gift card back. He told Child he doesn't deserve it.

Child let him know in no uncertain terms that he most certainly does! :o)

Mitzvah ~ day 17

G and I each received a Cheers card from one of our clients this morning. Cheers cards are a sort of e-card at our company that staff members can send to each other to express appreciation for a specific act, assistance or support.

It really made our day! And it got us thinking about the people we should be sending Cheers cards to.

So we sent one to the Administrative Assistant for our area. She's just awesome. She fixes the meeting room projector when we have problems with it. She stocks our favorite pens and notebooks. She lets us know when there are cookies in the kitchen. And she does a million other things that make our lives easier. We needed to thank her!

G and I also sent a Cheers card to a colleague of ours in another business unit who frequently shares her knowledge and gives great professional advice. We needed to thank her, too!

I think we should do it more often.

Thursday thirteen: 12 _____ of Christmas

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve drummers drumming,
Eleven pipers piping,
Ten lords a-leaping,
Nine ladies dancing,
Eight maids a-milking,
Seven swans a-swimming,
Six geese a-laying,
Five golden rings,
Four calling birds,
Three French hens,
Two turtle doves,
And a partridge in a pear tree!

If you were to give your true love all of the items listed in The 12 Days of Christmas, it would cost you a whopping $87,403!

You might want to consider some of these other ideas instead:

1. The 12 Cakes of Christmas



A dozen tasty cakes to make the holidays sweet.

2. The 12 Songs of Christmas

Little-known facts about the most familiar and famous holiday music of all time.

3. 12 Books of Christmas



12 holiday-themed books that capture the spirit of the season!

4. 12 Dates of Christmas

Awesome date night ideas for you and your sweetheart.

5. 12 Holes of Christmas

A fun flash golf game (that I'm ferociously awful at!).

6. The 12 Days of Christmas Cookies



The holidays just got sweeter with 12 delicious treats that are ideal for sharing this season.

7. 12 Days of Christmas Journaling Prompts

Have you ever considered writing about Christmas as a journal topic?

8. Twelve Drinks of Christmas



Twelve delicious drinks to accompany classic holiday films coming to a television near you.

9. The 12 Dips of Christmas

Recipes for ... you guessed it: dips!

10. The 12 Links Of Christmas

Some great projects, recipes, decorations and more to help you prepare for the festivities.

11. 12 DIYs of Christmas



A series of 12 wonderful holiday craft projects.

12. The 12 Saving Tips of Christmas

A Merry Christmas can quickly turn stressful and expensive. To help you sail through the holiday season this year, check out these 12 essential tips.

13. 12 Days of Christmas Correspondence

It's probably just as well that you're not giving your true love all of that 12 Days of Christmas stuff!

Join in the fun at Thurday thirteen!

Mitzvah ~ day 16

Child has a skating party on the last day of school before Christmas holidays. Do Child's last-year's skates still fit her? No, of course not. So Child had to get a new pair of skates last weekend.

But what to do with the two pairs of old skates sitting in our basement? You know, the ones that look practically brand new because they've barely been worn.

I know! Take them to Child's school and ask if someone else could use them!

So that's what we did and Child's gym teacher graciously offered to find recipients for the skates.

Awesome!

Mitzvah ~ day 15

When Child was younger she went to school downtown. It was an amazing school and the wonderful teachers and staff taught the children to be proud members of the downtown community. The students were always doing community-building activities like cleaning up local parks or singing Christmas carols at office buildings.

When Christmas time came around each year, the children participated in "Warm Feet for the Street," an initiative led by The Mustard Seed, an outstanding organization that cares for Calgary's homeless.

Child loved filling stockings like Santa Claus. She would carefully select little travel-sized items to fill the socks (she always wanted to do one sock for a woman and one for a man): shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion, toothpaste, toothbrush, Kleenex, soap, lip balm, shaving cream, razor ... and anything else she could think of. And we couldn't forget to include some McDonald's gift certificates!

Child no longer goes to school downtown, so our family decided to contribute to "Warm Feet" on our own this year. We went to Walmart and Child picked out so many travel-sized gifts they wouldn't all fit into one sock! We ended up putting the items for a man into two socks and tying them together. Then we did the same for a woman.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Along with the socks, we also dropped some grocery store gift cards off at the Mustard Seed. They said they'll definitely be able to use them.

Mitzvah ~ day 14

Dear parents:

We would like to invite you to participate in a joint Christmas gift for the teachers, support and admin staff. This is a wonderful opportunity to say "thank-you" and to provide a truly meaningful gift for each staff member.

The idea was started by one parent for one teacher and has now been expanded to include all teachers and staff!! If you were considering purchasing your child's teacher a small gift, how about contributing $5 - $20 towards a larger gift instead? The pooled money will be used to purchase "Shop!" gift cards redeemable at both Chinook Centre and Market Mall. This will allow the staff to purchase personal items of their choice (perhaps even gifts for their own family if that is a priority).

Please consider donating to this wonderful cause!


That was easy!

Child's teacher gets something nice and, best of all, I don't have to run out at the last minute to buy a lame coffee mug. Win, win.

The hockey sweater

[NFB link]

This film, narrated by Roch Carrier, was always a favorite of mine when I was a kid.

Aw heck, it still is!

(via: poppytalk)

Mitzvah ~ day 13

The last time we were at Costco, Husband, Child and I picked out some toys to donate to Toy Mountain. We intended to choose a toy for a girl and one for a boy, but we were actually able to get four items for the amount of money we wanted to spend.

When Husband and Child went to the mall this morning they planned to drop the toys off at a Toy Mountain location. But when they arrived back home, Husband reported that he had not donated the toys to Toy Mountain. He just dumped them into the first donation box he chanced upon!

He's fairly certain he donated our toys to the Calgary Firefighters Toy Association, which I am sure will do a fantastic job of distributing our toys to children who need them. But that's not the point! We've been donating to Toy Mountain since before Child was born and it's a Christmas tradition for our little family.

I'm disappointed that our tradition doesn't mean as much to Husband as it does to me.


P.S. Husband and I talked about this and he feels really bad. I had to talk him out of going out to buy more toys to donate to Toy Mountain!

I can't help but love him.

Mitzvah ~ day 12

I finally got to donate blood today! It was awesome. No, really. The people at Canadian Blood Services are amazing and they make sure it's a very gentle, positive experience.

The questions they ask before they allow you to donate blood are unbelievably personal though. One of the questions was if I'd ever traded sex for money or drugs. (Um, no, but I have traded it for dinner, a movie and household chores.)

The weirdest question they ask is if you've ever worked with monkeys or handled their bodily fluids. The other night when Husband donated blood, he got to the monkey question and exclaimed, "I wish!"

I also learned some very interesting blood donation facts today:

~ 1 out of every 2 Canadians is eligible to donate blood and last year only 1 in 60 did.

~ The human body contains approximately 5 liters (a little over 5 US quarts) of blood.

~ One blood donation can save or improve the lives of 3 people (one unit of blood is divided into three parts: red blood cells, platelets, and plasma).

~ In Canada someone needs blood every minute.

After my donation (I filled the blood bag super-fast, by the way) I got to have a yummy Cookies By George cookie and they gave me a first-time donor pin (it was really my second time, but my first time was 22 years ago).

Afterwards, we went to the Calgary Humane Society. We donated a big bag of cat food and a huge box of kitty litter to the wonderful group that cares for stray and abandoned pets in Calgary and helps them find new homes.

Being there reminded us of how much we miss our departed cat. It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since she passed away. Maybe one day (when we're ready) we'll go to the Humane Society and adopt a new cat.

********************

Thanks to my teeny-tiny bladder, I had to take a potty break while I was at Canadian Blood Services. In the bathroom stall someone had written:
You are beautiful!
Beneath that, someone else wrote: So are you.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Liv, who won all of these fabulous items in my first-ever blog giveaway!

1 hand-bound Scrabble journal
+ 1 vintage wallpaper pendant
+ 1 pair of purple earrings
+ 4 bars of lavendar goat's milk soap
+ 2 crocheted face scrubbies