Publix Surprise

I fell asleep last night while watching a football game so I this is actually yesterday's post.

I think I previously mentioned that grocery shopping with my mom is part of our Saturday routine. LJ loves it. The free cookie seems to be her favorite part, but waving and blowing kisses to all of the friendly Publix employees is a close second. They treat her like a celebrity. It is probably one of the highlights of LJ's week.

When we check out, we always go through the same clerk's line (if she is working that day). We were pregnant at the same time, and her son was born a couple of weeks after LJ. I have gotten to know her a little bit over the last two years of Saturday morning grocery trips. She is very young, and I don't think her son's father is present. We were talking about their upcoming birthdays a couple of weeks ago, and my mom asked her what she was getting for her son. She told us that they were moving into a 2-bedroom apartment so he was going to have his own room. I thought he might like a few new toys to put in his new bedroom. So, I put together a little birthday surprise and took it to Publix yesterday morning. She wasn't working so I left it at the Customer Service desk with a note from LJ.


Happy Birthday, B.

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Parking Lot Attendant

There is something about being behind the wheel of a car that brings out the worst in people. When I was an elementary school teacher, I had car duty. My job was to stand at the top of the stairs and make sure the traffic kept moving and no children ran out into the street... general safety stuff. I dreaded car duty days. There was always some kind of drama and lots of attitude.

This morning, LJ and I crossed paths with a parking lot attendant who was in the middle of some kind of drama and lots of attitude. The guy was just doing his job (and he was actually a volunteer so he wasn't even getting paid). We walked over to him and said hello. I told him about my car duty days and my theory about it bringing out the worst in people. While we were chatting, LJ and I got to witness another altercation (which totally supported my theory). We thanked him, and he thanked us for being so nice. I carried that conversation with me all day.

This is another really simple thing that I would probably have never done if it had not been for this project. Hmm... maybe being kinder is becoming a habit.

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Yard Sale

Our neighbors had a yard sale today. There was a lot of traffic on the street. LJ and I cruised over on her tricycle to go shopping. She had her piggy bank in the front basket (along with a doll, half a pack of crayons and a plastic carrot). After purchasing some books, we came home and got ready to go to the grocery store with my mom. Grocery shopping with Grandmother is part of our Saturday routine. On our way to the store, my mom noticed that the neighbor's yard sale sign at the end of the street had fallen over. She told me that I should tell them when we returned. I thought about this project and decided to pull over and pick it up myself. I know that this is not a big deal, but there was a day when I would have driven by the sign without even thinking about it. It was a little thing to do, but hopefully it had big results for their yard sale advertising. All of the big spenders came after we left. ;-)

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Surprise Ball

I was in a lovely mood today so I wanted to do something lovely. I made a Surprise Ball for one of my aunts.
It is filled with all sorts of things that I found around the house. LJ colored a picture. I made the floral magnet in the bottom right corner by cutting and pasting a greeting card and gluing a magnetic strip on the back. After I had wrapped these things, I had to add a few more since the ball didn't seem big enough. The big ticket item was an envelope with $10 inside and instructions to take one of my other aunts out to breakfast at The Country Diner (a family favorite where they can both eat for under $10 and still have money left over for tip... what a place).
This idea came from Kind Over Matter. You can see their blog entry here. It was so very fun to make. It's all wrapped up and ready to go to the post office. What a lovely day!

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Cupcake Surprise

Today, I printed a completely adorable Build Your Own Cupcake Kit and clipped it to our neighbors' mailbox. They have a sweet little girl who loves to do crafts. I hope this was a happy, little surprise for her when she returned home from school today.

I think that I originally found this at Kind Over Matter, but I'm not positive. I have had it bookmarked for a while. If you want to build your own cupcake (it's pretty fun), here is the address: http://vol25.typepad.com/freebies/build%20your%20own%20cupcake.pdf

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Free Rice

Oh no! It was 11:30 pm, and there was no deliberate act of kindness for the day. What to do?

I went to Freerice.com and donated 1,000 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program by playing a vocabulary game. I checked it out at Snopes, and it's legit. For every correct answer you get, they will donate 10 grains of rice. Warning: it's addictive.

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor

Mission: Laundry Money

Doing laundry at a laundromat is such a pain. You have to transport all of your clothes and dig around for quarters. Whenever I have been in that situation, I have never had enough and always ended up scratching around inside my car for a few more to finish the job. Today I copied an idea from Secret Agent L's blog: Mission Laundry Money. I dropped a little sack of quarters in the pay out slot of the change machine. My nephew and LJ accompanied me for this mission. He snapped a photo of the Smiley Wash. I'll add it when he sends it to me. Hopefully, we made someone's trip to the laundromat a little more pleasant today.

Kind Regards,

Your Neighbor