Day 92: Thank a Teacher + Help the School

Today my son, Keston, got sent home a paper selling "Cookie Grams" for Valentine's Day from his school. You pay $2 and a heart shaped cookie gets delivered to whomever you choose on Valentine's Day. The proceeds go to help the middle school kid's fundraiser, for their end of the year learning trip and someone gets a special delivery. Keston and I decided it would be nice to send one to each of his teachers to let them know they are appreciated! And that paired with the fact that we get to help the school raise money as well makes this one "sweet" Good Human Act!

When Keston wasn't looking I filled one out for him too, so he will get a special cookie on Valentine's Day too :)

Keston's "Cookie Grams"

Day 66: Recycle and Reuse Christmas Wrappings

Merry Christmas! Today's entry will be very brief. After opening gifts from our wonderful family we will recycle or reuse all wrappings! The big sheets of wrapping paper. that are still intact, we will save in a pile to use for coloring on the back, any bags we will regift, as mentioned in an earlier Good Human Act, most boxes we will keep to either ship with in the future or as in the case of an enormous box from my in laws, we used half of it it as a playplace/boat and more of it to save to create huge art on. Anything not keepable will go straight to the recycling bin! Hope you all have a magical day!

Cardboard for Art Projects!

Day 62: Christmas Caroling at Assisted Living Facilities

Today we were lucky enough to be able to join our MOMS Club and go Christmas Caroling to two Assisted Living Facilities that are nearby. The places are called Bee Hive Homes and they are in residential facilities that give custom care to smaller groups of individuals. Both places were warm and welcoming and had really homey atmospheres. As a group we were able to sing 4 songs at each location and give the residents a small Holiday treat, that our President Leslie provided. The kids and I have been practicing our singing for about a week now and they were excited to go, and even more pumped when they found out they got to ring real jingle bells while we sang. When we actually got there they clammed up a bit and got a little shy- but they still had a jolly time singing :) It was a great experience and really made me appreciate more personalized care places like the Bee Hive Homes.

Here is a tiny bit more information on the Bee Hive Homes:
Beehive Homes assisted living offers the very best of assisted living care. At Beehive Homes we make every effort to bring the comforts of home into our assisted living home. Meaningful relationships, home cooked meals, healthy and rejuvenating activities are all a way of life at Beehive Homes. We invite you to come and visit our Beehive family and feel what truly makes Beehive Homes assisted living the next best place to home.

Day 59: Give Homemade Presents

The day before we left to Arizona my boys and I made some homemade cinnamon ornaments to bring to Arizona to give as gifts this year. It was a simple recipe and they turned out so cute and smell just wonderful. My boys love helping me bake and this was just like making cookies, except there were no beaters to lick afterwards :) After mixing the dough you roll it out just like sugar cookies and my boys had fun choosing what shapes to make and cutting them out! When we got home yesterday from our trip our oldest son Keston was able to deliver some of the ornaments we made to our neighbors too to share a little Holiday love for our Good Human Act. Here is a recipe we based our ornaments off of, and our adjustments, from McCormick 

Cinnamon Ornaments

Makes 12 to 15 ornaments.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours or 1 to 2 days drying time

3/4 cup applesauce (we used 1 cup)
1 bottle (4.12 ounces) Cinnamon (we used 1 cup, plus a little more) 

(we added some nutmeg, some ground cloves and a few drops of doTERRA's Holiday Joy Oil too)

Supplies needed:Cookie cutters
Drinking straw
Colorful ribbon

Rolling Pin

1. Preheat oven to 200°F. Mix applesauce and cinnamon in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. (You may need use your hands to incorporate all of the cinnamon.) Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap. (We just sprinkled a little cinnamon on the counter and rolled out the whole ball of dough without plastic wrap) Cut dough into desired shapes with 2- to 3-inch cookie cutters. Make a hole at top of ornament with drinking straw or skewer. Place ornaments on baking sheet. 

2. Bake 2 1/2 hours. (Our oven cooks hot so we cooked for 2 hours at 175 degrees) Cool ornaments on wire rack. (Or, to dry ornaments at room temperature, carefully place them on wire rack. Let stand 1 to 2 days or until thoroughly dry, turning occasionally.)


3. Insert ribbon through holes and tie to hang. Decorate with opaque paint markers, found in arts and crafts stores, if desired.

Our Cinnamon Ornaments

Day 55: Give Toys to Goodwill

Continuing our giving adventure before the holidays, today the boys and I went through their toys to donate to Goodwill, or "to kids who don't have any toys", they call it. We were able to fill a 13 gallon bag to the brim with everything from superheros to stuffed animals, balls to cars, monster trucks to dinosaurs, they really got into it! Goodwill is a great place to donate because not only do they allow people to recycle their old goods into other people's new treasure, but they also employ people other companies may not consider. Here is a little more information on Goodwill:

Goodwill

For nearly 110 years, Goodwill^®has been an entrepreneurial leader, environmental pioneer and social innovator of the “reduce, reuse, repurpose” practice.

Goodwill diverts more than two billion pounds  of clothing and household goods every year from landfills by recovering the value in people’s unwanted material goods. In the process, we create job-training opportunities as well as entry-level and skilled green-collar jobs for people in need of work.

Join the Donate Movement

Your donated goods have the power to make a difference in people’s lives, strengthen communities and create a healthier environment. In 2010, Goodwill launched the Donate Movement, a corporate social responsibility platform and public awareness movement that focuses on the positive impact donating has on the people and planet.

Visit http://donate.goodwill.org to learn more about Donate Movement partners and to calculate the human impact of your Goodwill donations.

Employment:

Goodwill® inspires hope and self-confidence, helping people from all backgrounds and walks of life to feel successful, valuable and dignified.

We help people earn a living, improve their lives, and strengthen their families and their communities.

Our network of 165 independent, community-based Goodwills in the United States and Canada offers customized job training, employment placement and other services to people who have disabilities, lack education or job experience, or face employment challenges.

In 2010, Goodwill helped more than 2.4 million people train for careers in industries such as banking, IT and health care, to name a few — and get the supporting services they needed to be successful, such as English language training, additional education, or access to transportation and child care.

Every day, someone gets a good job, with help from Goodwill.

More than 170,000 people obtained meaningful employment in 2010 through their participation in Goodwill programs. These people went on to earn over $2.7 billion in salaries and wages, and contributed to their communities as productive, tax-paying citizens. Goodwills meet the diverse needs of people, including youth, seniors, veterans, immigrants, and people with disabilities, criminal backgrounds and other specialized needs.

Day 54: Donate Warm Clothes to a Homeless Shelter

My sons school is having a Shel Silverstein inspired Giving Tree that has been collecting food, blankets and warm winter clothes to donate to Joy Junction, Albuquerques largest Emergency Homeless Shelter. So, today my boys helped me go through our winter stuff and we were able to find 6 blankets, 2 scarves, 3 beanies, 1 ladies jeans, 6 kids pants and 5 kid jackets for him to bring to school to donate to the Giving Tree tomorrow. I love that his school is always having service projects, it is a great way to teach the kids to be charitable and thankful for what they have.

Here is the information the school sent out about the Giving Tree:

Giving Tree 2011

In the spirit of ‘The Giving Tree’ by Shel Silverstein, we welcome you to donate
to the Giving Tree to benefit the thousands of homeless people of all ages who
receive food, shelter, clothing and safety from Joy Junction every year.

We are collecting donations of: new or gently used adult & children clothing
(especially coats, gloves, hats, socks, and scarves), blankets and food (boxed or
canned). We will be placing the items under out Giving Tree in our front lobby area.
 For more information on this worthy cause, go to:
www.joyjunction.org

We thank you in advance for giving to local people in need.  
There is an immediate need for cold weather items & food for the ‘Lifeline of Hope’
vehicle which delivers the items to homeless people out in the elements during cold
winter nights.  No item is too small to donate!  Anything from individually wrapped
crackers & canned food to hats & blankets are much appreciated!  

Joy Junction is a place of refuge to those who have been forced onto the streets and is New Mexico’s largest emergency shelter. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless men, women, children, and families in Albuquerque by providing food, clothing, shelter, and safety. Each year they are able to serve over 100,000 meals thanks to the generous contributions of citizens and businesses throughout the city— because they are a donations-only charitable organization, they receive no federal, state, or local funding.

Day 51: Celebrate Your City

Last night was our city's Winterfest. Winterfest is a Holiday celebration with a parade, pictures with Santa, fireworks and other Holiday events, and this year it was in celebration of the city's 30th anniversary! Now, I went to the Holiday parade for the city 2 years ago and vowed to never go again. I had told our kids we would go and meet a friend there, but our friends kids got sick and they couldn't make it, my husband was stuck at work and couldn't come, we had never been so it took me 15 minutes to find a place to park, which turned out to be really far away, I stepped in cactus on our fast walk to the parade, I was pregnant and had two small kids that both wanted to be held because it was a cold and windy night, they both hated the sounds of the police motorcycles and cars that went off throughout the parade and it was the first year that candy was not thrown out to the kids so they were disappointed by that too, needless to say it was "zero fun sir". So, the thought of going out to the Winterfest again this year, even though it was for my Good Human Act, kinda had my skin crawling. But it was in a new location this year, we had friends who were coming over to meet us this year and the kids got wind of it and were excited, plus I really liked the fact that it was the 30th anniversary rather than just for the Holidays, so we ventured out to the Parade. There were tons of people out to support the city and it's efforts, there were 5 grounded hotair balloons doing a balloon glow and 10,000 luminarias around. It was much better than I expected and a million times better than last time. We had a prime parade spot and on the walk back to our car the fireworks show went off and we were literally underneath it, it was pretty awesome! The kids loved it and I would definitely give it another try next year. Plus, it was really nice to see the mayor and all the groups in the parade decorated to the theme of celebrating Rio Rancho and honoring it's 30th anniversary as a city! Yay Rio Rancho!

Ready for the Parade!

With the Intel Hot Air Ballon!

Day 44: Support Local Crafters, Groups & Home Based Businesses

Yesterday was so busy I never even got a chance to sit down and write about my Good Human Act. And what a fun act it was! I supported local crafters, home based businesses and a local Mom's Group called Bloom by vending, attending and spending at Bloom's 1st Annual Holiday Craft Boutique! The boutique was set up so adorably! It had all the booths matching to their cute theme, it had a marvelous hot chocolate bar and great raffle baskets that were made with a donation from every vendor! A few friends and I were lucky enough to be able to rent a booth at the boutique to spread the word about the doTERRA Essential Oils I am in love with! And by attending we were also able to shop and help support and encourage local crafters and other home based businesses! It was a terrific Boutique that I will be anxiously awaiting to attend again next year!

Day 42: "Adopt" a Child for Christmas

Happy December!! Our MOMS Club does many service projects throughout the year and for the Holiday season one of them is "adopting" some kids for Christmas, or giving gifts of clothes and toys to kids who are in need. We were given the names of 15 kiddos, from a local Church, that need toys or clothes for Christmas this year and our family is lucky enough to be able to provide the things on one little girl's wish list. We chose to do a little girl because I thought it would be fun shopping for girls' clothes, since we have three boys, but man was I wrong :)! Shopping is not my forte and girl shopping, wow, there are a trillion more choices making it so much more overwhelming.  At least I had Calon and Daxon with me, they were good helpers in making decisions for me and I think we came out of the store with some cute and useful stuff!! It is such a nice thing to be able to do, I have very fond memories of doing the same thing every Christmas growing up with my family and also at school. It is a great to be able to give!

Day 11: Happy Halloween!

Today is a very busy day. It is my son's first day back to school after his 11 day fall break, we were in charge of snack so we made and brought 54 Eyeball Muffins to class, it was my turn for carpool, I still hadn't bought candy for trick or treaters tonight (dang I am a slacker), I had to run to another store to get large envelopes so I could go to the post office to drop a few things off, plus make sure the house is tidy for my mother in law who is coming in 30 minutes and that is all before 11am this morning. And that's not to mention all the plans for the rest of the day :) Why am I telling you all of this? Because with all of this going on, and it being a Holiday, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to cram in a Good Human Act, but actually because of all these errands I was able to do one very small act many times over. My younger sons and I wished almost everyone we came in contact with today, everywhere we went, a Happy Halloween and we will continue to do this little act all day long. Halloween is so fun and it has made our crazy chores so much more enjoyable today to try and spread that spooky spirit a little. Happy Halloween!

Day 6: Neighborhood Halloween BOO!

For today's act of being a good human I am reverting to a tradition that we have done every Halloween for the last 5 years. It is simple but, unfortunately not free. It is so fun and really builds the excitement around Halloween. It's a Halloween BOO! You drop off a little Halloween goodie bag/basket filled with whatever spooky tricks or treats you are able to and drop it off anonymously at a couple of neighbors houses. With the basket you include a little poem, that I will include the link for at the end, that ask for the neighbors to do the same and you watch as it spreads around the neighborhood. People put a ghost in their window, that you also include with your delivery, if they've been BOOed so no one gets done more than once and it is just a great way to build a sense of community in a neighborhood! We just dropped off our 2 BOOS!


Link with 2 different poems you can include, instructions and BOO signs. Or you can draw or write out your own. Happy Haunting!
Minions Web