Today's Gratitude Activity

We have been enjoying all of the wonderful things to come out of our Gratitude Activity Jar! So far some of the activities we have done include: donated Jared Boxes to the hospital, invited a friend over to play, and visited the library. We are loving this little jar, and have even added more cards into the mix.

Today, Emily picked the Pie card, which meant it was time to bake a pie for a neighbor. I'm not much of a baker, but I think together we managed to do okay with this one.

We decided to make an organic pumpkin pie. Not exactly from scratch, mind you.... but a pie nonetheless!

I think our neighbor was very surprised! I know I would love to come home to freshly baked pie, and ours was still warm from the oven.

Then we started to prepare for tomorrow's activity. It involves being grateful for flowers. If you're in need of a mood lift, try visiting your local plant nursery. It felt so nice to surround ourselves in all the greenery and brightly colored flowers!

Emily fell in love with this wee little plant.

The colors were amazing!

So much fun, and we have much to be grateful for indeed.

Free Flowers and Hugs

One of Emily's favorite things to do is "make deliveries". This morning was spent preparing to make a special delivery to some of the residents at our local assisted living facility. We gathered up all the tissue paper and pipe cleaners we could find, and got to work making lots and lots of tissue paper flowers.

Once the basket was full, we spritzed them with a bit of perfume! They looked and smelled so cheerful. Next, it was delivery time!

The reactions were fabulous! Free hugs and flowers??? Yes, please!


So much fun!!

Spreading Some Cheer

We thought it would be fun to spread some cheer around our neighborhood this afternoon. So we made up these darling goody bags. Emily dipped the end of a cork in some red paint to make the cherries, and I helped fill in the stems.

While we waited for the paint to dry, we went to pick some fresh cherries at a local farm. It is the final days of cherry picking season around here, so they had reduced the price to just $2 per pound!!

Emily picked many, many cherries! When we got home, the paint was completely dry and we were ready to assemble the goody bags. We used red lunch bags from Target.

Now we have several deliveries to make... fun!

Fart Fest 2009

Yes, you read that right. Yesterday, I rushed Emily to the Emergency Room because she was showing symptoms of what we thought was Appendicitis. Her stomach had been slightly upset all afternoon. Turns out, it was just a locked-in fart on the lower right side of her abdomen. She was doubled over in pain, holding her side, screaming and crying.... That is, until she went to the bathroom and let out what I think could very well qualify for The World's Longest Loudest Smelliest FART!

While we were waiting in the lobby (this was pre-fart, so Emily was in a lot of pain then), one of the hospital's volunteers came to us with two Jared Boxes. This was a fabulous thing, and made the five hours of waiting bearable for both of the girls. I was blown away by the generosity and thoughtfulness of The Jared Box Project. I had never heard of it before yesterday.

The Jared Box Project started in 2001 by the children at Our Lady of Victory School in State College, PA to honor their classmate and friend, Jared. According to the paper left in the box, Jared was "a brave little boy who battled cancer with courage and faith that continues to inspire us all."

Once Miss Emily's stomach feels better, our next activity will be making Jared Boxes to take to our local hospital. For detailed directions on how to do this, click here. Most items for Jared Boxes are very inexpensive, and can be found at your local Dollar Store. Suggested items include crayons, coloring books, puzzles, small stuffed animals, silly-putty, or stickers. You could even get the kids involved by asking them to pick out the items for the Jared Box themselves!

In other news, I am absolutely loving the funny captions for our first Caption Contest! Contest ends Wednesday, July 1st at 6pm EST, so don't forget to get your entry in for a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card.

Frugal Generosity

Do you want to continue with charitable giving while still saving money? If you are low on funds, there are plenty of other creative ways to be generous to those who are less fortunate. Here are some of the best resources that allow our family to give more while spending less cash:

1. Click to Give -- Visit thehungersite.com and click the yellow button. The site's sponsors will deliver food to the poor every day you click the yellow button. Sign up for their free reminder email service, and they will send you a free "Seek Peace" bracelet! 
2. Volunteer Your Time -- Visit volunteermatch.org to find local volunteer opportunities that match your schedule and skill set.
3. Give Blood -- If you are eligible, consider donating blood. Visit givelife.org to find a local blood drive and set an appointment. It is important to remember that giving blood saves lives.
4. Donate Your Hair -- If you have long hair and would like to try a shorter style, visit locksoflove.org for more information on how you can donate your hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients. I did this several times, the most recent was while I was pregnant with Clara. I figured if I was not color treating my hair, I might as well grow it out so someone else could have it. After the pregnancy, I treated myself to a new style (and color), and donated over 10 inches of hair!
5. Try a Micro-Loan -- Kiva.org lets donors choose a specific entrepreneur from a developing country to help empower them out of poverty. Loans start at just $25 and once a loan is re-paid, you can re-lend it to someone else in need, donate funds to Kiva, or withdraw your funds. We always choose to re-lend it and make sure our donation helps the most people. Kiva also has gift certificates for Valentine's Day!
6. Donate to Goodwill  -- With your upcoming Spring cleaning, be sure to set aside any clothing items, small appliances, household goods, or furniture to be donated to Goodwill. The sales of your donations help fund job training and other career services that help people become successful at work. Click here to find a Goodwill store near you.

Has your family made use of these programs, or do you plan to use any of these for the first time? Do you know of any others I forgot to add? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment and share you ideas with us!