Day 83: Hand Deliver Misaddressed Mail

Yesterday we got 5 pieces of mail that didn't belong to us. Usually I would just drop it back in the outgoing mail slot, but I decided, since the addresses were near ours, that I could save the mailman a little work and just hand deliver the mail to the proper owner for my Good Human Act today. Easy breezy!

Day 82: Neighborhood Litter Patrol

I know I have cleaned a road before and cleaned up trash in my neighborhood before, but after 2 days of large cardboard and lots of styrofoam being in the road of our neighborhood I broke down and cleaned it up today. I kept hoping someone else would do it so I could get an original Good Human Act for today, but I couldn't drive past it another day and pretend to not see it, or not stop to clean it up. So, on the way to run errands with my family today I made my hubby stop the car and let me pick it up. Since we were going to the grocery and they have a huge dumpster we were able to drop the trash off without any extra stops, which made it really convenient and the road looks so much nicer again!

Road Cleanup.

Day 73: Doggy DooDoo Clean Up

There has been a large pile of dog doodoo on a sidewalk near our house for a bit of time now and noone has claimed it and cleaned it up, so for my Good Human Act I cleaned someone else's doggy poop to keep our sidewalks nice and clean, I should have done it long ago. Merry New Year!!

And I would like to thank whoever dropped a secret delivery of baklava by our house with a Happy New Year's note! It was delicious and so kind!

Day 72: Make an Anonymous Special Delivery

Yesterday I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my birthday from my mom. Right before I got her box I got a call from the wonderful lady renting our other house saying flowers had been delivered to me there also. Now who would be sending me flowers and still have that old address?! So, I went over to pick them up, had a lovely chat, and when I got back and opened them both I realized they were both from my mom, exact same order, same message... I was a bit confused. My mom explained that when she placed the order she didn't realize she still had our old address in the system and when she called the company to change the address over they said it was too late to change it but since she was a loyal customer they would send another order to the correct address. (Very nice of the ProFlowers company!) My mom didn't want to call me and ruin the surprise and let me know to just go get the original bouquet from our tenants and wasn't sure if they would be in town or at all able to get them to me... Any way to make this story a bit shorter, I opened, cut, vased, flower fed and decorated my counter with both bouquets. Then I chatted with my mom and we came up with a great idea, that I did for my Good Human Act today...I put some ribbon around one of the vases with a simple note wishing a wonderful New Year and ding dong ditched one of the bouquets to a lovely family in our neighborhood. I am glad the flower company and my mom allowed me to give such a nice special delivery to someone! And thanks Mom for my bouquet!

ProFlowers picture of the bouquets I got.

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 58: Clean Up a Street

While we were at my Mom's house, the first of the two days we were in Arizona, I was trying to think of what I could do for a Good Human Act when my sister pointed out a ton of broken glass out in the street. So, I grabbed my Dad's broom and dustpan and while my kids happily played in the front yard with their cousins, their Aunties and their Uncle JJ, I was able to clean up the street and help my folks neighborhood a little bit! And we were all able to enjoy the amazing weather Arizona was having!

Day 46: Have Neighbor Kids Over to Play

It is easy to let your family be an island, getting caught up in your own family's happenings and plans that sometimes, especially in the colder, home bound months, you forget you have neighbors...at least I do. But yesterday our boys were invited to play at the neighbor's house, they haven't been to in a long time, and today we had the neighbor boy over here to play. It is a small thing but it is important to keep those relationships up, it makes a much stronger sense of community!

Day 14: Trash Day Put Away

Ok, I think I am obsessed with trash this week :) Which is ironic because trash is my least favorite household chore, the one I more than happily hand over to my husband, and by hand over I mean beg that he does.  But today we were walking to get the mail and a trash related memory from probably 51/2 years ago popped into my mind. I was a first time mom, with a baby just a few months old, my husband was out of town, for just a short trip, and it  just happened to fall over trash day- which meant I had to empty the house trashes and bring the big suckers to the street, boo! I did it, reluctantly, and when I went out to bring them back in later in the day, someone else, I still am not sure who, had pulled my trashes up to garage. It was such a simple thing, but I was tickled and the memory of it has stuck around like glue! So, today after having this memory, and it being trash day in our neighborhood, I thought I could pay that favor, from long ago, forward as my Good Human Act. I was able to pull the trash and recyclable bins of 12 of my neighbors up to their garages today.

Day 7: Make a New Friend

Sometimes as we get older it seems it is harder to make new friends. It is comfortable to just hang with family or with people we have known for ages. But think of how many amazing people we are missing out on getting to know. How much we could grow as people with what others have to offer us. How much better the world could be if everyone was a little bit friendlier. I find it really difficult to put myself out there and meet new people, I would definitely not say I am shy, just very guarded, I guess. So for today,  I am taking a lesson from my kindergarten son who loves meeting new people and playing with new friends.

My son can't stop talking about a few of his friends from school, and at a recent family parade and potluck his school had I was able to meet a couple of the mom's of those kids. They were so easy to talk to and seemed just as excited as I was to meet the mom's of their kids playmates. So, this week all our kids have off for Fall Break and it just seemed natural to have them over for a playdate. It went fantastic! The kids and their siblings had a wonderful time and in 3 hours, with 9 kids, there was not one fight or tantrum (a couple accidental owies :), but nothing that a brownie couldn't quickly fix). My boys loved having them over and I thoroughly enjoyed talking and getting to know 2 new, what I hope to call, friends. We can't wait to do another playdate!!

As another side act we had some extra brownies, since I made 2 batches, so my big boys ran some over to our older next door neighbors! They loved doing a "special delivery". And the brownie recipe is so delicious and easy I will post it!

Simplest Homemade Fudgy Brownies

recipe from GoodLifeEats

Ingredients:

12 tablespoons Salted Butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla, orange, or peppermint extract, optional

3 large eggs

1 cup flour

A heaping 1/2 cup chocolate chunks, optional 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Set a medium sized saucepan over medium-high heat and melt the butter. Next, add the granulated sugar and your choice extract. Stir well. Remove pan from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl and whisk in with the eggs until well combined. Stir in the flour and chocolate chunks, but do not beat.

Pour batter into the previously prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes. Cool completely, on a wire rack.

Remove parchment paper (with brownies) from the pan. Peel away the parchment paper and cut the brownies into serving size pieces and store in an airtight container.

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