One Hour Giving Project

• Each baggie holds enough detergent to do three loads of laundry. After visiting the food bank we discovered this was a need. Most people don’t want a whole jug of detergent as they have to lug it around. 

• The kids had a blast making their own coloring pages with sharpie markers and white copy paper and these are combined with crayons. The food bank loves to include “fun stuff” in the boxes that go to families...so families with kids will get these. There was a big need for both fun and functional stuff for kids. 

• We got baggies
• We got colors
• We made tags
• We made our coloring pages
• We designed some fun tags
• We made copies of our coloring pages and tags
• We cut all of our tags
• We made 117 loads of laundry detergent and perfected the manufacturing process
• We packaged up over 40 bags of crayons and coloring pages

The One-Hour-a-Week Giving Project: Part One 

• On day 14 of a 14 day holiday break, we had a family-come-to-Jesus moment. I had an ungrateful son on my hands. His emotions got ahead of him and he was convinced that this was the worst day of this life; he had to do things that he didn’t want to do but that he had to do...and for an entire day. I reminded him that unfortunately, this was the beginning of the rest of his life; doing things that we don’t always want to do.
• I feel like as as chatty-Mom, I engage in a lot of conversations with the kids that I am not sure “stick”. Many of you have been there: “You are some of the luckiest kids in the world”, “We have been blessed with a wonderful life”, “We should be so grateful....” and the list goes on.
• My goal for 2012 was to find some family “giving” opportunities that are repeatable and that engage an 8, 7 and 5 year old. I wanted this to be a family affair and not Mom calling her friend Angi who runs a non-profit -- as that would have clearly looked like Mom wanted to hang out with a friend; I had to think beyond my gut!
• So I started making phone calls and I had to make a lot of them. Ironically when you call  folks and tell them you have an 8,7 and 5 year old that would like to do some volunteering they think you are on crack. I had several people basically hang up after telling me I was weird and that they had nothing.
• The kids and I talked a lot about what we CAN do and what they WANT to do.  They like “making stuff”.
• We agreed that one hour a week was fair and that there may be weeks that we can’t dedicate one hour -- and then we can make up for that another week. The math was simple and understandable by all. There are 5 of us. If we all dedicate 1 hour a week that is 5 hours a week and 20 hours a month.
• We had a few ideas, I made a lot of calls, and we made one exploratory visit and we found a great fit!
• We are dropping off small 3-load servings of homemade laundry detergent and homemade coloring coloring pages and sharp new crayons to the Catholic Charities food bank bi-weekly.  More juicy details to come....

Contentment 

• Per my previous post on wiring, I don’t have that contentment “wire” that many of the happiest people in this world have. I try to spend 20-30 minutes exercising (well kinda sorta) and breathing deep and relishing today. My meditation mantra is a standard one: Live today. Enjoy today. Relish today. 
• Having spent a couple of weeks in India this year where I reckon some of the most content people in the universe live, it exaggerated my personal wiring opportunity. Additionally, I have pre-schooler that reminds all of us once in awhile that “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” . I am convinced that this mentality is life-changing. 
• Of the dozen Indian people that I visited with and unofficially interviewed -- they believe that their slice of the world is perfectly designed for them. They work hard. They enjoy life. And most importantly, they don’t complain. They also don’t judge. They enjoy their slice of the world and they ‘make lemonade’ out of it. 
•  Or as CR reminds us all “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”. 

 Wiring

• My mother-in-law, the mother of three boys, introduced me to the concept of “nurture vs. nature” early in our in-law relationship. When I met my Main Squeeze 18+ years ago I had grown up in what you could call a sorority house;  four girls under one roof. I didn’t really know what to expect in a family of mostly men.
• My mother-in-law has been a wonderful mother to three very different men -- though she warned me about the whole “nature vs. nurture” phenomenon. In some cases nature (or wiring) takes over and we have to hold on to the ride. As a mother myself now...this couldn’t be more true. As a parent, can we impact wiring or is wiring a birth-rite? 
• I grew up in a “family of girls”. We marched to our own tune, had great ideas, acted on them immediately, ate dinner at a weird early hour, bought three pairs of every pant that fit us in the butt-and-thigh-area, made VW van road trips big-ass adventures full of truck stop Twinkies and girlie giggling. My sisters and I were all nurtured the same and our wiring is very different today. 
• I look in the mirror and see my wiring. I look at my husband and am so thankful for his wiring. I look at the kids and can see their wiring already. Our wiring is the core of our character. It is who we are.
• As a mother, I feel my job is that of an apprentice electrician. I can’t re-wire. I can’t do big jobs myself. I watch, I learn and become more confident every day.
• My ultimate dream in this wild world is to have grown children who are bright lights in the universe. The brightest they can be. The brightest they want to be. I want them to be brilliantly happy and content with how they are wired.

Speaking of wiring, this picture was taken while swimsuit shopping with an 8-year old boy!  

Words I Love: Crafty

Words I Love: Best

Be your best.

Be the best version of your self.

Live your best life.

Words I Love: Tina

Words I Love: Optimism

Crazy. 

Texture.

I love this word as it can mean so much. What other single word can describe my thighs and fabulous fabric? It is also something that you can’t ignore when you are some place great. It can be someone else’s home, a public space, nature or the mirror. Texture is everywhere. Some times it is bright and captures your attention right away and other times it is so sublime and subtle that you need to touch it to feel it.

Kids are attracted to texture and typically point out textures that an adult wouldn’t ever notice. Aside from your thighs, does your every day life have enough texture? If not, ask a child to point some out to you!