An Amazing Haircut

Today I took Eric in for a long over do haircut. Yes depending on where the hair was cut, 2 to 3 inches came off. He looks all nice and handsome.  I have to admit that this was a pretty ordinary haircut. What happened while I was putting Eric's wheelchair back together was extraordinary.

A gentleman went up to the cashier and paid for Eric's haircut and tip. He asked for Eric's name and wished us a Merry Christmas.  We as a family are extreamly greatful for this random act of kindness. As a family we would like to ask you to help us pay this forward.  This can be done at your convince. 

Eric's main charity that he likes to help is the Ronald McDonald Hospility House, which is a lot like the Children's Inn at NIH which we were a frequent visitor when Eric was in elementary school. Eric currently collects tabs for the  Tucson Ronald McDonald house. If you are in Tucson you can give the tabs to me or drop them off at the Tucson JCC for Eric to drop off. You can even drop them off yourself. If you are not in Tucson you can drop your tabs off at your local Ronald McDonald House.  The tabs are sold for scrap metal and go to pay for the utilities with excess funds helping out families. If that is not possible you can drop a few coins in the collection box at your local McDonalds. 

If you are in the Besthda,Maryland area you can drop off can food items, new toys, toiletries or a check to the Children's Inn at NIH. The Children's Inn is a godsend to the families that have to travel across country for treatment. 

Another charity that Eric likes to help is our Community Food Bank.  If you can give a can of food to the food bank or your Temple or church pantry, that would be another great way to pay it forward.  We would like to thank you in advance for all your help. Working together we can make the world an awesome place.  

More Progress

Today I figured out that I can have too many large bags to store small craft project bags. I emptied a whole bunch of bags and found at least 5 projects per bag.  John put he smaller projects on the shelf. I should have the craft room finished this week.  I also found more yarn for cotton hats while I was cleaning today, enough for at least 8 more hats.  I figure that if I complete at least 1 project per week, I should be finished in just a few years with the bulk of my projects and a few more tubs of yarn.  Did I mention that I also found 1 bag with at least 4 hats in progress.  Below is a picture of the 5 bags that I emptied this weekend.  

Candles and Cleaning

Today I helped on a 5th grade history project. I got to help Lisa's son Matthew learn to make hand dipped candles. We almost got 50% of the project finished today. I think a good time was had by all. Although I did forget to take a picture of the finished project.  Hint, hint Lisa. 

The unpacking the kitchen is still going on. Another box was emptied today, and I will finish putting it away tomorrow.  I also went through my weaving supplies with a realistic look at the warp and some weft.  Lisa left with some. Some more is going to Jody and I kept just about 50% of it.  Although more might leave with Jody. I have already re pourpsed one of the boxes for my shrinking box of candle making supplies.  

A nice chunk of of Teri's floor was cleared and more things are finding their way to a new home in the house or out the door.  I am working on knitting UFO's too. I am hoping to make a lot of progress on all my knitting and sewing  UFO's. The Zennig of the house is going very good, but the pace has slowed down a lot.  I still believe in the 5 minute method. 

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving today. We had a laid back day. I got to use the oven for the first time since we bought it. The good news is that it was easy to turn on and the tempature  was  spot on. No more guess work and an separate oven thermometer.  The only problem was when dinner was finished, I could not find the off button.. Maybe I should have read the directions that came with the oven.  John was great and came to the rescue, he found the off button.   I might have to read he book before I use the other features. 

I forgot to cook the green beans, so we used the stuffing as our vegetable.  Before you say stuffing is not a vegetable, mine is made with a ratio of 80% vegetables and 20% bread. We had freshly baked sweet potatoes instead of whipped sweet potatoes. Since we used luncheon plates we did not over stuff ourselves. We saved some room for a slice of apple pie with ice cream. 

John added another shelf to the craft room. We will work on filling it this weekend. We are busy doing the little projects around the house. The kitchen is still in flux as we decide what goes where and then change things up yet again.  

To Spam or Not to Spam, That is the Question

This is an open letter to all the charitable organization's out there.

How To Land In My Spam Box

I know that raising funds for your charity is very hard work. Lets face it there are millions of charitable organizations out there. You do everything you can ethically to raise money and you are still not reaching the goal that your board of directors has said that you need to reach this year.

So you cross the ethical line. You think that because our parents or grandparents supported your cause that I should too. Is this because the letter addressed to them, but sent to my home address are regularly put in the recycle bin? So you start sending out fundraising letters to my e-mail account addressed to them. In fact I receive multiple e-mails a week, because it does not cost you money to send them out.

I really want you to think about this. Would you call my phone or ring my doorbell asking to speak to the person you know is dead. Probably not. So why then is it your new mission in life to clog my e-mail account by sending letter after letter to people in my life who have departed this world for the next? You organization has been told multiple times that they have passed. If you don't beleive me just Google their names.You do know how to use Google, don't you?

My generation thinks that my e-mail address is my own, albeit it may ultimately belong to my Internet Service Provider. Only a copywrite guru knows for sure. It does not belong to a family line. My parents or grandparents were not allowed to use my personal e-mail address when they are alive, even more so now that they have departed this world. If you must really send out letters to our dearly departed on a regular basis, please contact me once by snail mail asking for the name of the cemetery and the plot number. I am quite sure that they would enjoy the attention, as they currently don't receive much mail.

In the meantime just know that all e-mail sent to dead relatives via my e-mail account will be put in my spam box. No exceptions to this rule. If you still do not understand this, please send me your home number and what time you eat dinner and I will call then to explain it to you.

Results.

I meant to spend the day finishing with the cleaning and organizing of the craft room. I got distracted. I instead spent the day working in the living room.  So far I managed to fill 3 boxes for Goodwill. Hopefully we can get it out of the house tomorrow. With each bit of decluttering I do, I feel a little lighter. The space around me seems to be getting larger, with more room to move.

The things that I pared down today were baskets, about 50% are leaving the house. Flower vases seemed to be another thing that we have too many of, so far 7 are leaving the house and I will still have a nice selection of vases.  What are the odds of me finding anymore vases? How did I land up with so many vases? Also since we went to a new drawer storage system, all my old dividers are leaving the house too. Some things that seemed so important to me in the 1980's and 90's just don't seem to be necessary anymore.  I am a lot more casual when we have company over.  Can we all give a collective bye-bye to the individual butter plates. Yes, special plates just for butter, the thought of having a proper table and pulling them out then washing them by hand both before and after a party is gone.  

As a family member of generational pack rats it seems at times very hard to do all this decluttering. I think back to one of my grandmothers houses and my parents house and have made a conscious  decision to change my ways. It is a long and slow process. I strongly suggest that family members be patient and not do any pushing. You might cause a stalling of a project that you so dearly want. 

If One Nap is Good then....

Today started out very busy with 2 errands before Knitting Guild.  We had a lovely yarn tasting with Vicky Konecky from Grandma's Spinning Wheel here in Tucson. I so wanted to break my yarn diet and head over to Grandma's after the meeting, but I was so tired that I headed home instead.

I took some homemade chicken soup out of the freezer for lunch. John cut up some fresh carrots and celery to add to the soup. Before it had finished thawing and was warm enough to eat I had fallen asleep. Two hours later, I did not have time to eat the soup, but instead went and picked up Eric at his program. I did manage to cover a person's desk in yarn, knitting needles and knitting books before I left the building. I do love to do a good yarn bombing every once in a while.

We were not home for 30 minutes before I fell asleep again for another long nap. It is my hope that these naps today will help my body heal from both the cold, which is still lingering but also the arthritis flare up that it has caused. John served the soup for dinner along with some fresh bread.

After dinner I packed up some more charity to leave the house tomorrow. This time hats, scarfs and special needs bibs. They will head over to the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank.