Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I've Moved to a New Blog!

Hi there!

Since having my 3rd child, my days have become more than just "life with twins."  So, I decided to move on over to a new blog!

Come check me out at www.MePlus3Today.blogspot.com!



My new blog deals with kids crafts and activities, mommy ups & downs, and what it's like to suddenly find myself as a 30-year-old widow with 3 kids under the age of 2.

So again, please stop by my new blog, and tell your friends too!

Thanks so much!

~Sarah


Thursday, February 20, 2014

6 More Acts of Kindness!

The following is an excerpt from another blog I began writing after my husband passed away.  I just wanted to share on this blog because I had been searching Pinterest for ideas on how to Pay It Forward.  I hope that by sharing, someone else might be inspired to do these or similar Acts of Kindness.  If you do, please share in the comments, or let me know of other good deeds you did!  Thanks!
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So, remember how I had started doing some Acts of Kindness to Pay it Forward during the Christmas season?  Well, I'm trying to continue doing more of that stuff throughout 2014.  January is almost done, and I think I've been doing pretty good so far!

Here's [6 more Acts of Kindness]:



1)  I let someone go in line ahead of me at Kohl's.  I had $20 worth of Kohl's Cash to spend, and I had found $21 worth of stuff to buy (you know that's how I roll!).  Well, there were 3 check-outs open, and as usual, I pick the one with the slowest people ever in front of me.  I could see one of the lines moving a lot quicker, there was actually nobody behind the current person checking out.  Instead of switching lines myself, I pointed it out to the person in front of me (the person ahead of her was the one being ridiculously slow with her purchase) and let her take that spot, so she was able to check out faster.  It wasn't anything major, but I still consider it an Act of Kindness. :-)

2) I brushed snow off the car parked next to me at work as I was leaving one day.  Ever since then, I try to brush off snow on the passenger side of the car next to me, so that way the person doesn't have to walk around their entire vehicle to brush it off, or hopefully it saves them at least 30 seconds of time in the cold!  I'm on that side of their car anyways, getting into my driver's seat, so it's just a quick swipe as I walk by.

3)  I recycled some of the Christmas cards we received with this unique method from St. Jude's Ranch for Children.  Basically, they recycle cards and then sell them to raise money for their program.  Good for the planet and good for people too!  Someone at my work was sending in a box, so I was able to include mine with his large shipment.

4) I made a small donation to Momsbloom to express my thanks for the help they provided after Will was born.  You and I had meant to do that anyways, right after I had returned to work from maternity leave.  But with the madness that ensued a month later, I obviously never got around to it until now.

5)  I donated your frequent flyer airline miles to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  I hope that's OK with you! :-)  At first I thought I would have to go through the hassle of having your miles transferred into my name, and all that junk.  But then I realized I just needed your frequent flyer number (which was in our joint email account, so it was easy to find), so I just entered that info in, and boom, over 20,000 miles donated!  I know you won't be using them, and I didn't want them to go to waste... So, when I discovered that miles could be donated, I saw it as another opportunity for kindness!  I also discovered that you can donate miles directly from most major airlines websites.  There are quite a few organizations that accept these donations from the airlines website.  But I just went straight through the Make-A-Wish Foundation's website, just to make sure they were going to the right place!

6)  I signed up to be a bone marrow donor!  As you know, my cousin's daughter has Fanconi Anemia (FA), and I think one of the treatments is a bone marrow transplant (at least, from what I understand...), so that is how I learned about becoming a bone marrow donor.  The process was really easy, I took a bunch of pictures of the packet of stuff I got (see below).  All I had to do was take a swab to the inside of my cheek, and send it in the envelope they provided.  If I'm a match for somebody, the process doesn't sound too bad for the donor (I think it's more complicated for the person actually receiving it though...).  I think since I can't donate blood (remember when I puked two different times all over the Innotec gym, once was beautiful Oreos...), I figured this was a unique opportunity to possibly help somebody someday.  Each packet comes with another kit for a friend to sign up to be a donor, and for some reason I received 2 packets, so maybe I'll find 2 other people I know to sign up (that would be like extra credit for this Act of Kindness!).  

The bone marrow donor packet that arrived in the mail.

Info on the back of the packet.

I have another kit for a friend if I can find one who wants to become a donor too (I actually have 1 more because I got 2 packets for some reason!)

Stuff on the inside of the packet.

More stuff from the packet, like the envelope and the swabby things.

Info on the back of the envelope that you put the swabby things in.
See, I told you a took a bunch of pictures of the stuff... I'm picture crazy like that! :-)

So yeah, those are some of the little things I've been doing lately.  I really liked these little Acts of Kindness because they were easy and free (except the Momsbloom thing, but that was planned a long time ago).  Thinking of things to do, and researching different charities and organizations has kept my mind occupied, and given me an outlet for something to do.  I think I'm doing pretty good on this New Years Resolution so far.  But it is only January still... :-P


If you haven't read about our first 8 Acts of Kindness, click here to see that post!

UPDATE: Since having my 3rd child, my days have become more than just "life with twins."  So, I decided to move on over to a new blog!

Come check me out at www.MePlus3Today.blogspot.com!
My new blog deals with kids crafts and activities, mommy ups & downs, and what it's like to suddenly find myself as a 30-year-old widow with 3 kids under the age of 2.

So again, please stop by my new blog, and tell your friends too!

Thanks so much!
~Sarah

8 Acts of Kindness

The following is an excerpt from another blog I began writing after my husband passed away.  I just wanted to share on this blog because I had been searching Pinterest for ideas on how to Pay It Forward.  I hope that by sharing, someone else might be inspired to do these or similar Acts of Kindness.  If you do, please share in the comments, or let me know of other good deeds you did!  Thanks!
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...I've been trying to get some Christmas cheer by paying those blessings forward.  That's what the Christmas spirit is supposed to be, right?  It is better to give than receive...

I guess some people call it Pay It Forward.  Others call it Acts of Kindness.  I guess we are doing Acts of Kindness to Pay It Forward... :-P

And I'm really trying to get the kids involved too.  They might not completely realize what I'm trying to do, but it'll sink in eventually, and I hope they'll love to give instead of get as they grow up.

I've read that some people do 25 Acts of Kindness, for the first 25 days of December leading up to Christmas.  That seemed a little out of our league right now, so we are just doing what we can, when we can.  Also, it seems like a lot of Acts of Kindness involve money, and we have done some things that cost money, but I am also trying to do "free-ish" Acts too, so we can keep on our budget!  :-)

Here are [8 Acts of Kindness] we've done so far:




1)  We put a toy in the Toys for Tots collection bin at the kids’ daycare.  I chose Monopoly as our toy, in honor of you.  You loved that game (even though you were a big cheater!). J  Plus, it was on sale for only $5.  Score!  I want the kids to be involved in our acts of kindness, so I tried to have the girls put the game in the box, and take a picture of them doing it.  Yeah, I’m sure you can guess how that went...  They wouldn’t take the game from me, they just stood there staring like, “huh…?”.  Oh well, if we keep doing it every year, I’m sure they’ll be excited about it eventually! 

2)  Since November, we've been decorating supper sacks for the organization in Grand Rapids called Kids Food Basket.  They provide suppers for kids who likely won’t have a meal when they get home.  I figured decorating the sacks would be something the girls could do.  So, I bought a bunch of brown paper sacks from GFS.  Then, I put the girls in their chairs with crayons and markers, and let them get to work!  I even decorated a few too, although the girls artwork probably looks better than mine! J  I had help from M and T on a bunch too.  The pack I bought had 500 sacks in it, so we definitely won’t be able to decorate them all, but I’m sure the organization will appreciate the blank ones too.  This Act of Kindness has probably been one that the girls participated in the most.  And Will can get involved with this next year!


Charlotte getting ready to color a supper sack!

Charlotte hard at work!



Violet hard at work!

Violet working on her supper sack!


A different day of coloring supper sacks.

A different day of coloring supper sacks.


Coloring!


Some of the bags the girls and I decorated. :-)  At this time, we had about 110 completed!!!

Some of the bags M & T decorated! :-)



3)  We had A LOT of diapers donated to us.  Unfortunately, big Will has grown out of size 3 diapers and we still had quite a few boxes of that size left.  So, I passed along the donated diapers to an organization out of Holland called Nestlings.  I brought over 300 size 3 diapers (3 boxes) to a donation drop-off near work.  I think that could diaper 1 baby for over 30 days!  We also ended up supporting this same organization at work for our Christmas Giving, so I brought in 2 more packages of diapers for that collection. I think we still have even more that I plan on passing along to others as they need them.

4) In more baby related Acts of Kindness, I gave L & B one of our infant car seats and 2 bases to go with it for their new baby grandson.  I know they were going to try and save money by purchasing a used car seat, so I'd rather have them get a car seat that they know is safe than to buy one from a stranger.

5) I volunteered to be on the Christmas Giving Team at work this year, where we supported the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans and as I said before, Nestlings.  I didn't actually do much because of my schedule, but I helped where I could.  I also passed along a gift card to a store that I don't shop at, so the team could shop for anything that was left on the list of items needed.

6)  A different department at work sponsored an elderly care home called Rest Haven.  They set up an "Angel Tree" type of thing, where each member of the home had a few items on their "wish" list.  So, I grabbed one of the names off the tree, and thanks to my attempts at "super couponing", I was able to snag her items for under the $15 limit.  They required multiple items to be wrapped in one package, as each person was only allowed to open one gift at the home's Christmas party.  In trying to get the kids involved, I tried to have the girls "help" me wrap the box... Um, that probably wasn't my best idea.  They just wanted to walk all over the wrapping paper.  Hopefully the person opening our gift didn't realize how wrinkled the paper was! :-)

Our gift to someone at Resthaven!

Charlotte holding the tag from the Angel Tree.


Will "helping" wrap...

Violet "helping" wrap our gift to someone at Resthaven.

Will "helping"...

Being good helpers!

Putting tape on!


Our gift ready to put under the Angel Tree at work!




7)  This is dorky, but thanks to Pinterest (click here to see the original blog with the printable I used), I put this little present in the mailbox for our mail carrier.  I feel like that person has been working a lot of overtime or something, because I got a package on a Sunday, two weeks in a row!  So I just wanted to show our appreciation for their hard work!

A little something for our mail carrier! :-)

8) Someone told me about another woman in the area who is also 30-something, and her husband passed away suddenly a couple months after you did.  They also had young kids.  I told the person to pass along my email address to her, if she ever wanted to talk to someone who totally understood what she was going through.  I haven't heard from her yet, which I completely understand.  But I sent her an anonymous gift card to Amazon.com, because I know it's hard to find time to get to the store, and shopping online is so convenient.  Plus, you can buy anything from Amazon, whether it be necessities like toilet paper or diapers, or just something nice for herself.  I hope it helps her out in some way, even if it just makes her smile when she gets it.

Since writing this, we've done 6 More Acts of Kindness!  Click here to read about those! 

UPDATE: Since having my 3rd child, my days have become more than just "life with twins."  So, I decided to move on over to a new blog!

Come check me out at www.MePlus3Today.blogspot.com!
My new blog deals with kids crafts and activities, mommy ups & downs, and what it's like to suddenly find myself as a 30-year-old widow with 3 kids under the age of 2.

So again, please stop by my new blog, and tell your friends too!

Thanks so much!
~Sarah