11 Months

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Practice a NON-random act of kindness

The below article is a post directly from the blog The Happiness Project. I thought it was really interesting and hope you enjoy it as well!

A while back, I posted about Happiness Myth #7: Doing “random acts of kindness” brings happiness. I wasn’t arguing that acts of kindness wouldn’t make you happy, but only that those acts shouldn’t be random. Random, unpredictable kindness makes people puzzled and suspicious, but purposeful kindness is exhilarating. Non-random doesn't mean that you have to know the people involved; it just means that they have to understand the context of your behavior.
For example, I was talking about this myth on a radio show, and the host recounted that he’d once been stopped on the street by a large man who announced, “I’m giving away free hugs!” and hugged him. This hug, though free and a quite random act of kindness, was not appreciated.
On the other hand, a friend told me a wonderful story about a non-random act of kindness she’d performed. On April 15 a few years ago, she was standing in a post office crowded with people who needed to mail their tax returns. There was a huge line in front of the one machine that dispensed stamps.
When my friend’s turn finally came, instead of buying the minimum number of stamps, she bought $20 worth. Then she went along the line of people behind her, handing each person as many stamps as needed, until she ran out.
The people who got the free stamps were ecstatic – and even the people who didn’t get the free stamps were ecstatic, because the long, slow line got so much shorter so quickly. Everyone was surprised, excited, and laughing.
It makes me so happy to think about this moment! For $20, my friend transformed a miserable taxpaying visit to the post office into a moment of elevation – not just for herself, but for the strangers in line with her. And for me, too.
It reminds me of Henri-Frederic Amiel’s exhortation: “Life’s short and we never have enough time for the hearts of those who travel the way with us. O, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.”
As the Second Splendid Truth sets out:
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy;One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
A non-random act of kindness is a great way to put Splendid Truth 2A into practice. Have you ever done (or received) a non-random act of kindness that made you very happy?

Grab some tissues and watch...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/videos/en/?bctid=25329763001

Wordless Wednesday : Splashin'

I always end up almost as wet as they are after bathtime. They love splashin'!

The Challenge

I'm in love with blogs. I follow about 20 of them right now and my list just keeps getting longer and longer. (I just added two yesterday! Thank you Google Reader!) A few of them that I read are "frugal" blogs. I like to think that the money saving tips are soaking in without me having to make too much extra effort. I am fascinated with budgeting - and by fascinated I mean I like the idea of it but I'm not sure how it's relevant to me - kind of like knowing how to hand wash dishes or fold underwear. But I recently found myself BUDGETING. It snuck up on me...here's how.

I was reading about how Rachel spends $40 a week on groceries. The idea of only spending $40 a week at the grocery store intrigued me! So I thought, "If she can do it - so can I!" Never mind the fact that she is buying just for herself, her husband, and a small dog...while I have two additional mouths, a Lab/Horse named Lucy and a cat. But still! It seems like a reasonable amount and my two additional mouths are very, very small. So I broke it down like this:

Normally we spend around $100/week on groceries. This includes diapers, toilet paper, cleaner, etc. So instead of having the blanket $100 a week - I'll spend $40 a week ($160 a month) on food and a total of $100 a month on the miscellaneous stuff, including clothes and eating out.

So how am I doing? Well...

As of this morning we have spent $93.10 on groceries and $228.41 on miscellaneous. And it's the 8th. I still have 22 days to go! What the heck! I've blown the miscellaneous budget for this month (diapers for both kids, much needed clothes for my incredible shrinking husband and three dinners out...we normally don't eat out that much!) But I wonder if I could finish out the month with spending only $160 in groceries?!??! That's about $20/week...

Looks like I need to start paying extra attention to those frugal blogs!

My Big, Silly, Stinky Boy

Riley has nearly mastered potty training! We're still having issues with #2, but he's doing really, really well with it! What's our secret? Reverse bribery.

Before we kept telling him that if he went in the toilet, he'd get a new train. Since he already has so many he could have cared less! So we started taking away trains if he went in his pull-up (2 trains for #1, 1 train for #2) Worked like a charm! He can earn them back and hasn't had a train taken in two days! He has become strangely obsessed with his testicles (in our house, we refer to them as the politically correct term, "your junk"). I know it's just him exploring, but I'm finding things coming out of my mouth that I never imagined I would say, like:

"Riley leave your junk alone."
(and my personal favorite) "Don't wipe your junk on the shower curtain."

Seriously.

The interest is starting to fade - his junk is losing it's allure. For now.

What Would You Do?

For a Klondike Bar!

We picked these up at the store today and they were sooo good I had to share! Most low-cal treats have that 'low-cal' flavor. But not these! The ice cream was so creamy, the cookie was perfectly chocolatey...and only 100 calories. As I type, Riley is licking the bowl his was in!

Try them!