Task One Option:

Drop off a toy or game at a homeless shelter.

Task Two Option:

Take flowers to a hospital ward and give them to someone who hasn’t had any visitors.

Task Three Option:

Send a thank you to the employees at a hospital, or anywhere else that a cheerful thank might add a smile

Halloween is always a fun holiday. It is actually one of my favorites because I am a grown up kid and think dressing up is fun as well as all the great decorating that can be done for halloween. Who doesn’t like eating absolutely delicious food which looks like monster eyeballs and such?

Upon waking up today knowing it was such a crazy kid holiday, I honestly didn’t think that I would have the opportunity to do any kindness tasks or such today. I was actually suprised.

There is a new neighbor where I live who just moved here from Florida with her son. She is getting rather discouraged in trying to find a job…as well as worried with a son to support. So today I sent some emails out to a few people I know to see if maybe I could help her in coming up with some leads. I don’t know if any fruit will come of this, however just possibly something may come up to help her out.

Task One Option:

Leave a chocolate for a co-worker.

Task Two Option:

Send a thank you to the employees at a hospital, or anywhere else that a cheerful thank might add a smile

Task Three Option:

Offer to baby sit

Well as you could possibly tell,  reading about bans  of feeding the homeless is not something that puts a smile on my face. (Oh and by the way in the news today, in Vegas today a judge ruled that it was unconstitutional :)  on appeal of course, but at least that is one good thing)

So my choice today was to let that bother me and eat me up, or turn it around in even a little way. So I chose to use one of my tasks to help with my attitude. For my random act of kindness task today I chose to send a thank you to an organization. I decided to send a thank you to a group which is helping fight these bans to let them know that I admire and support their actions. So much better than just gritting my teeth when reading about such things.

I saw another great random kindness in action in the news today that really put a smile on my face. Today on Oprah’s show, she gave everyone in her audience $1,000 debit cards. The only hitch was that they had to give it away! Oh how fun! I couldn’t imagine what I would do with such an opportunity, but I certainly would have a blast! The people also received a recorder to film what they do with the money. Kindness encouraged as only Oprah can do it! Many Kudos to Oprah for helping encourage the kindness movement by giving such great opportunities to her audience.

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, oprah, giving to others, reaching out

Let’s see, Friday was busy at work. It was the last day my group would be in our old building. So the day involved packing up all my cubicle belongings into a bright blue crate for movers to sweep off to our shiny new building several blocks away. It was a rather light hearted day. I think with the company being up for sale, a move to a new building, it is almost like there is a surreal feeling at work. But it was a refreshing day nonetheless.

In packing up my cube I pulled out my collection of cards I have been collecting. Cards for thank you’s, cheer ups, and simple hellos. So I figured it was a good day to send one of my anonymous “have a great day” cards to a stranger. So I pulled out the phone book, flipped it to a random page, and dropped my finger down to select a name. And sent a card out to the person. If it was you by chance… honestly I am not as insane as some may tend to believe.

Saturday the kids and I had to finish all the last minute details for the Halloween trick or treating. Cleaning of course (is there ever a weekend without cleaning anymore?). However, I was able to find some time to get on the computer to work on some more changes I am hoping to implement into the site as well as hunt down more kindness news.

Sunday the kids got to go trunk or treating to raise food. Trunk or treating? Well trunk or treating is when a whole group of cars get together in a lot. All of the trunks are open and decorated for the trick or treater’s delight. The children go from car to car collecting candy and admiring the amazing and very creative decorations. The trunk or treat was sponsored to collect food for the needy. So all trick or treaters had to pay an admission of one can. We brought a few more than that wanting to support the cause. The kids had a blast and it was all for a great cause!

I have to say I had a down moment for a bit on Sunday, when I was reading an article about all of these bans which seem to be spreading across the nation regarding feeding the homeless in public places…. so I will stand just for a brief moment on a soap box…the homeless are people! I do not think people realize how short that step from paycheck to paycheck to suddenly homeless is. It could happen to anyone, and with the gap between the haves and the have nots expanding at such high speed as it is in our current economy, it is going to get even worse.

To not permit people to reach out to others to feed them because people don’t want to “see” the homeless? Shame on anyone that thinks that way!

Honestly……..I am really trying hard to keep this minimal because I honestly do not wish for this site of mine to be political. That isn’t what this site is about. I will have to save it for a different blog. I just feel rather strongly about such things. I have a good job, I have a home for my children and I. I have food in my refrigerator. Yet I know it is only one layoff, one unexpected illness, just one financial strain which pushes me beyond the “managing” into………..the world of homelessness. I do know this… because I have experienced it.

ok I am off the soap box now

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others, homeless

Well yesterday I had a very successful day in regards to helping others out.

A co-worker of mine was telling me yesterday how he needs to sell his house but feels overwhelmed with all on his plate. I pointed out my philosophy when I feel overwhelmed. I babystep things. If I get overwhelmed by things, I can suddenly freeze like a deer stuck in headlights.. and I become so afraid of all I see facing me I become paralyzed to the point of inaction which does me absolutely no good. I have discovered however if I break things down into smaller pieces and arrange how to attack the situation it doesn’t seem like such a battle against an unnamable giant. Then each time I successfully do one of the baby steps I also gain greater confidence in myself and a more positive feeling that I can actually succeed. A positive set of action is then set in place and step by step things get done and what once looked impossible when viewing the large picture gets accomplished.

So we focused on his plans to sell the house. He said he needed to get rid of so much stuff and didn’t know how to go about it. He said he didn’t care about selling it but just wanted the stuff gone. So I suggested he call a bunch of charity services. So he did. However, most of them wanted him to bring the stuff to them. Salvation Army would come pick the stuff up, but he would have to be there (time off from work), he would have to move it all out of the house to the driveway (he just had surgery so this wasn’t really an option and you have to hope for good weather such that the items do not get ruined).

So then… we had a discussion with my friend who had her house burn down in a fire. She has had mostly rental furniture for the past few months in her current home, however the lease on the furniture is about up, so she will be needing more furniture. She is going to go see what furniture he has that she can use, and most likely she can make a bit of a dent in some of the stuff he wants to get rid of.

I then introduced him to the world of FreeCycle. I explained how FreeCycle worked, and that the people would come to his house to pick up the items he put up if they wanted it. He decided to take a look and was suprised at how big of a FreeCycle community existed in his area. So he then tested the water and put a few items up. To his amazement, within 10 minutes the items were all taken! I think he immediately fell in love with FreeCycle, because he realized it was a positive solution to his need to dispell of his belongings, and he could do it at whatever pace he wished.

He then began to tell me that he had a parrot which although he truly liked and enjoyed, he felt he couldn’t take care of anymore. Well good news for him…my friend who’s house burned down? Well she also is a bird person, and has taken in birds for people on numerous occassions, sometimes keeping for her family, othertimes finding good homes for them. She has raised birds as babies.. the ultimate bird person. So I immediately re-connected them to discuss the bird..and now he doesn’t have to worry about his bird anymore.

He is feeling much more positive already, for his unsurmountable problem within a short time has started a baby step method…with several steps taken!

It felt so great knowing that things, some of which I have learned through this whole kindness process is really helping others. It is wonderful to see the positive in action!

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

Today there was a lot of hubub at work. Apparently our parent corporation is going to sell us along with many other companies it owns. So a lot of nervous tension was flowing from the moment I arrived. I do have to say it is sad when you learn of news like this from reading the news rather than hearing it through work channels (although I had heard some rumors yesterday at work). Are layoffs in our future? Could be… one can only guess or wonder. I tried to spend my day looking at the positive side of it all. Since we don’t know who is buying us it is too hard to guess about anything. Rather than think of the negative (which honestly can be hard at a time like this because everyone worries when it comes to job security) I chose to try and stay at looking at the positive possibilities. We might be bought by a company that makes our company stronger…that puts some changes into the company which actually helps it (and it needs).

I honestly didn’t think about a random act of kindness today. This whole work thing did rather consume most of my thoughts. I did treat a co-worker to lunch, but I can’t consider that a kindness act, because he is going to try and fix my children’s Nintendo Game Cube, so this was my way of thanking him for doing that for me.

Positive thoughts was my goal for the day

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, positive thinking

Monday night after I entered my blog….. I had a good friend call … very upset. Her grandmother had passed. She came over and I did the best to support her. It is so hard to help someone when they are hurting like that. All you really can do is be there. I just tried to be a friend….a shoulder to cry on a giver of hugs. My heart goes out to her and what she and her family are going through right now.

Yesterday one of the tasks was to tape change for a phone booth. Well I didn’t have the opportunity to find a phone booth yesterday, but I did encounter some vending machines, so I taped some change to a card and stuck the card to the vending machine.. providing someone a cool soda. (Not sure how appealing that was actually yesterday since it was rather chilly here).

[tags] random acts of kindness, giving, helping others [tags]

Task One Option:

Open the phone book, pick a name, and send them something (movie tickets, thank you card, you are appreciated card, book, etc.) anonymously.

Task Two Option:

write a note, send a e-greeting “just to say hello” to someone who might need a pick me up

Task Three Option:

Send someone an animated greeting card on the internet.

Well obviously I was meant to do some sending. So a great excuse to play around with great e-greetings. I saw a whole lot  of great e-greetings..there is always a wonderful supply.

I even sent one out which was a stress - relief egreeting…in which you get to select from some dogs then dress them up in a variety of outfits…to a whole bunch of my co-workers. Now did I help with productivity today sending them to people at work? Highly doubtful. Did I hear a whole lot of laughing coming from the cubicles after they were sent out? Sure did!

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others, cheer, greetings

Still trying to play the endless game of catch-up. I always seem to fall behind on the weekends…then regain ground during the week. I am unsure what that says about my time at work, or my time at home.

Saturday I woke up with (a new recurring issue - I think there is a draft I need to fix in my room) a painfully stiff neck. The type of neck stiffness which I would have been fine with had I worn rollerskates throughout the day so I could turn here and there with little movement to my neck. Yes it was that incredibly painful. I think I took no less than three soakings in the tub during the day to try to alleviate the soreness…to no avail of course. So I therefore decided we would stay rather homebound so that I wouldn’t draw too many looks from people wondering who robot lady was.

So I spent a bit of time working on the computer (hence in my updating finding the HowieIsFamous news story). I therfore not only added his story to my news section, and included him in my  blog, but I decided that I truly should tell him how much I admire what he is doing. So I went to his myspace site, and sent him a message and sending him kudos letting him know how I thought what he was doing was great. He was kind enough to likewise visit my website and said he thought it was nice. That was a warm fuzzy for my day! - recognizing what other people do and simple thanks, or simple…hey I think you are doing great! Really may not be so small! It may mean quite a lot.

I must have been less of a contortionist in my sleep on Saturday night, for Sunday morning although I woke feeling the familiar neck pain, it was less intense and enabled me to walk more like the tin man from the wizard of Oz looking like I needed some oil, but not quite looking completely robotic. So it was once again time to go through the closets to try to get further from the summer wardrobes and closer to the winter wardrobes. Packing up pretty much any remnants of shorts (although the boys are trying to hang onto the shorts as long as they can - I think there is a coolness factor in there somehow - but I am a dork mom). So in the clothes collection for charity area… I now have two HUGE tubs of clothes to give away of clothes my weeds have outgrown.

Did some practicing on the thank you note area with my kids. My sister sent us a wonderful photo book from our summer vacation. An actual photo book made with digital pictures she took while we were at the beach (although I do like that in photo albums you can pull out photos of yourself you don’t like…and I can’t take out the picture of me looking like a fat red lobster out of her book). The kids were so thrilled that they were in a book, so I reminded them that thank yous really do mean a lot. So they all eagerly wrote some thank you notes.

So that was my kindness weekend……..now it is time to look forward to the week

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, helping others

I have to send some Kudos out to a Florida man - Howie Handsel who is promoting random acts of kindness in a variety of ways including putting a huge billboard out saying “Who’s Howie?!” then directing them to his myspace.

He isn’t trying to get attention for himself but to inspire and encourage others to promote random acts of kindness.

So many many cheers of support for Howie and random acts of kindness!

Please visit his myspace page at Howieisfamous

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, inspiring

Day Two Hundred and I didn’t even manage to write what I did on that day!

Such is the life of a single mom…playing a lot of catch up on some projects. As you saw on Thursday I was thrilled to find the goodsearch.com site search that contributes money to your charity based upon clicks. So my task for that day was contacting several people I knew involved in nonprofits telling them of the good search so that they could get their charity listed and hopefully be able to bring more funds to their cause. Yes I know it is only a penny per search, but even pennies do add up.

Yesterday I had a really neat thing done to me which I have never heard of. I was “Boo”d. It is such a wonderful way to inspire fun and warm fuzzies. So of course I participated so it involved me leaving some warm fuzzies with some unsuspecting co-workers. Something I have done many times before but this time it was surrounded by some festive halloween fun.

So I will share it here with you. It is a great way to bring fun to the workplace or wherever and it is warm fuzzy random act of kindnessalicious! (yes I completely made that word up I know!)

BOO

The air is cool, the season is fall
soon Boo’s will come to all.

The treat that came with the special note
Is yours to keep, enjoy them both.

The fun comes with friends like you
now copy this and make it two.

Then others here among our friends,
will give warm fuzzies that will never end.

We’ll all have smiles upon our face,
no one will know who BOOed each place.

Just one short day to work your fun,
or a big ZAP will strike, SO RUN!

And don’t forget a nifty treat,
like something cute or something sweet.

Please join the fun,
let’s really hear it,
and spread some Boo’s and lots of spirit.

Directions:
1. Enjoy your treat.
2. Place the picture of your boo on your front door (or cubical).
3. Now you have 24 hrs to copy this twice, make 2 treats and 2 BOO’s and secretly deliver them to 2 neighbors (or coworkers) who do not have “We’ve been booed” in their front door.
4. Then watch how far tis spreads by Halloween!

It is so much fun well worth trying! So remember……….give them the poem…and give them a halloween “BOO” picture

Technorati Tags: random acts of kindness, giving, kindness, helping others