It's been a stretch, but no worries... I started writing my good deeds down. Here's the latest update...
January 18 - This was one of those days where my good deed found me... a friend found me on facebook and messaged me asking how my good deeds were going. I told him things were fine, but that I was always looking for new ideas because I'm only 18 days in and have 347 to go. He asked if I had done my good deed for the day yet and if I hadn't was looking for some advice. Now, let's be honest, even if I had done my good deed I would have been there for him, but I hadn't and now get to count staying on the phone and computer with him until 1:30am as my good deed for the day.
January 19 - I did a good deed for myself, but hopefully for someone else also. I sorted through ALL of my clothes. I packed anything up that I haven't worn for a while, and I only allowed myself one (yes one) box for clothes that I "hope to fit in someday". At the end of the day I had 3 bags full of clothes for Volunteers of America (who just happen to be coming though my neighborhood next week!
January 20 - I'm almost embarrassed to admit this because it's something I should have done from day one at the new job. I started recycling at the dance studio (and at our house as well). I have a box for all of our paper and pop cans at the studio and I'm bringing it to our house every week for pick up.
January 21 - while catching up on my DVR I was watching an episode of Oprah (love her!) about cell phone usage while driving. Did you know that talking on your phone (hands free or not) you are 4 times more likely to get in an accident? That's the equivalent of driving drunk. It gets worse... if you are texting while driving you are 8 times more likely to be involved in an accident!!! It was so sad, people talking about loved ones who they lost due to a driver who was using their cell phone. My heart ACHES for those families and for the people who caused the accidents. Truth be told, that could have easily been me. I constantly talk and drive and have been known to text and drive as well. Well, not anymore. I took the pledge on Oprah.com and will not be using my phone in the car anymore. I silence it and put it in my purse so I'm not even tempted. I urge everyone else to join me and make the roads a little safer for us all.
January 22 - I took some clothes to a friend at work.
January 23 - I went to see my sister in Dayton... we had such a great weekend! I took her to lunch at Mimi's Cafe (love!) then we went shopping at "The Green" all day long... major retail therapy!!! Then I went to babysit with her and we watched "Nancy Drew" with the kids (cute movie btw). Then the kids went to bed and we watched "Music and Lyrics" and "Julie and Julia" both of which I LOVED. It was so great to just get out of Columbus for a bit and forget about things that I let stress me out. It was also great to see Lindsay and be able to treat her to lunch!!!
January 24 - I mailed a random card to someone in the phonebook. I hope they don't think it's annoying. If someone I didn't know sent me a card for no reason I think it would make my day, so hopefully it did the same for them.
January 25 - I totally stole this idea from a friend of mine, but I mailed a card to one of my friends that said "Happy Friendship Day" on the front, and then on the inside it said "I just made that up because I wanted to send you a card." Again, I think that would make my day if someone did it for me.
January 26 - Today I got my oil changed and the guys at the service center were so warm and kind. They even threw away the trash from my floors and vacuumed them. The vaccuming is standard, but it's not their job to throw away my trash (which probably consisted of 15 water bottles and 15 Starbucks cups - I know, I know), and I thought that was really nice! I mailed them a card just letting them know that they made my day.
There you go, lots of fun, this whole good-deed-a-day thing is totally uplifting!!! More soon, big love!!!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Update Jan 17th (Today is my grandfather's birthday...)
Jan 15 - I went in to work planning to have a positive attitude. That place can feel toxic at times, so I made a huge effort to stay positive all day (12 long hours) and I like to think I was 99% positive... it was actually a really good day, and it rubbed off on everyone else, yay!
Jan 16 - I text-ed the word "Haiti" to 90999. This donates $10 to the Haitian relief efforts via the Red Cross. Please join me!!!
Jan 17 - I had to run rehearsal by myself today (usually my co-choreographer and I play good cop/bad cop and you can probably guess which one I am) so I made a solid effort to not yell at the kids. According to one of my students I passed.
Jan 16 - I text-ed the word "Haiti" to 90999. This donates $10 to the Haitian relief efforts via the Red Cross. Please join me!!!
Jan 17 - I had to run rehearsal by myself today (usually my co-choreographer and I play good cop/bad cop and you can probably guess which one I am) so I made a solid effort to not yell at the kids. According to one of my students I passed.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Update Jan 14th
Jan 11 - I left a note for a friend at work. I could tell he had been having a bit of a rough day and thought he could use a pick-me-up.
Jan 12 - There is a family at the dance studio I have known for 16 years now. I babysat the oldest girl (who is now a sophomore in high school) when she was only a year or so old. I feel like I have watched these girls grow up. Their mother was my 6th grade teacher (and one of my favorite teachers to this day). I am now blessed to call her a friend. We don't talk as much as I'd like to, but every time we do finally get a chance to catch up, it feels like no time has passed at all. Several weeks ago, the girls' father suffered a stroke and was in the hospital and then rehabilitation. The girls dropped their dance classes and focused on their father's health. He is doing great now and getting ready to go back to work so the girls have come back to the dance studio. The family owes for costumes that were ordered before Christmas, and while I know they would be happy to pay for them, I also know that not having to worry about that cost would be a weight off their shoulders and one less thing to think about. I'm making payments to my boss with every paycheck to pay off their costume fees. It feels wonderful to be able to do something for this family (and my teacher especially) to help them out. I know a couple of dance costumes aren't a life changing thing, but I also know they love to dance and will appreciate the gift. I'm going to do my best to keep this anonymous, we'll see how it goes.
Jan 13 - I wrote a dear friend of mine a "smile card".
Jan 14 - I have a friend who had to be out of town for her mother's surgery, she had documents that needed to be picked up from Office Max and I re-arranged my schedule to get them.
Jan 12 - There is a family at the dance studio I have known for 16 years now. I babysat the oldest girl (who is now a sophomore in high school) when she was only a year or so old. I feel like I have watched these girls grow up. Their mother was my 6th grade teacher (and one of my favorite teachers to this day). I am now blessed to call her a friend. We don't talk as much as I'd like to, but every time we do finally get a chance to catch up, it feels like no time has passed at all. Several weeks ago, the girls' father suffered a stroke and was in the hospital and then rehabilitation. The girls dropped their dance classes and focused on their father's health. He is doing great now and getting ready to go back to work so the girls have come back to the dance studio. The family owes for costumes that were ordered before Christmas, and while I know they would be happy to pay for them, I also know that not having to worry about that cost would be a weight off their shoulders and one less thing to think about. I'm making payments to my boss with every paycheck to pay off their costume fees. It feels wonderful to be able to do something for this family (and my teacher especially) to help them out. I know a couple of dance costumes aren't a life changing thing, but I also know they love to dance and will appreciate the gift. I'm going to do my best to keep this anonymous, we'll see how it goes.
Jan 13 - I wrote a dear friend of mine a "smile card".
Jan 14 - I have a friend who had to be out of town for her mother's surgery, she had documents that needed to be picked up from Office Max and I re-arranged my schedule to get them.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Update Jan 10th (I have to start writing this stuff down)
Jan 5 - I picked up a hole at work (again) and helped with a project that I really didn't want to. I' feel like I'm so over doing anything above and beyond there, but I still do it.
Jan 6 - I honestly can't remember what I did this day (I have to start writing this stuff down!) but I know it was something. I'll do 2 deeds some other day to make up for it, I KNOW I did something though... that's going to bother me.
Jan 7 - My birthday! I got the best present ever... a full day off! I ended up with a snow day from both my rehearsal and the dance studio. A dear friend of mine came to visit (which totally made my day) and I ordered a pizza for us. I also helped him clean off his truck in the snow when he was ready to leave.
Jan 8 - Worked all day in the ER today. A bunch of people wanted Panera for lunch, but it was still pretty gross out, so I offered to be the driver to pick up everyone's order. Not a big thing, I know, but hey I have 365 of these good deeds to do, they're not all going to be amazing.
Jan 9 - On of my dear friends, Lee, came over for lunch and to exchange Christmas gifts (LOVE my ornament babe!) and I took him out to lunch. I also emailed a friend who I haven't talked to in a very long time.
Jan 10 - I wrote an email to my cousin who I haven't seen in maybe 15 years to catch her up on family drama. She's coming to Columbus for a baby shower this weekend and wanted to be in the loop at least a little bit.
I'm going to try to do better about keeping track of these good deeds, I can't believe I forgot one already! Please give me ideas if you have any! Big love.
Jan 6 - I honestly can't remember what I did this day (I have to start writing this stuff down!) but I know it was something. I'll do 2 deeds some other day to make up for it, I KNOW I did something though... that's going to bother me.
Jan 7 - My birthday! I got the best present ever... a full day off! I ended up with a snow day from both my rehearsal and the dance studio. A dear friend of mine came to visit (which totally made my day) and I ordered a pizza for us. I also helped him clean off his truck in the snow when he was ready to leave.
Jan 8 - Worked all day in the ER today. A bunch of people wanted Panera for lunch, but it was still pretty gross out, so I offered to be the driver to pick up everyone's order. Not a big thing, I know, but hey I have 365 of these good deeds to do, they're not all going to be amazing.
Jan 9 - On of my dear friends, Lee, came over for lunch and to exchange Christmas gifts (LOVE my ornament babe!) and I took him out to lunch. I also emailed a friend who I haven't talked to in a very long time.
Jan 10 - I wrote an email to my cousin who I haven't seen in maybe 15 years to catch her up on family drama. She's coming to Columbus for a baby shower this weekend and wanted to be in the loop at least a little bit.
I'm going to try to do better about keeping track of these good deeds, I can't believe I forgot one already! Please give me ideas if you have any! Big love.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Jan 4th Update
January 2 - I worked a 12 hour shift in the ED. My coworker was not feeling well and was also training another young woman so while they were at lunch I took all of their charges and did them. Not an unusual thing for us to do for each other, but I know I appreciate it even more when I'm not feeling well.
January 3 - On this date in 1932 president Roosevelt started what is now known as the March of Dimes. I logged on to their website and saw they do a cell phone drive. I downloaded the mailing label and mailed an old cell phone in.
January 4 - Today was a little busy... I worked at the bookstore (yay Barnes and Noble!) in the morning then ran home to change and eat lunch and headed to the dance studio (yay JDSD!) for our first night of classes after the holidays. I was thinking I had to come up with a good deed but quickly got busy at work. Out of the blue one of my coworkers from another job (yay ER!) came in to say hi. She lost her husband just after Christmas and I haven't gotten to see her since before all that happened. I asked her if I could do anything and she said she needed a "Jenn hug" I was of course more than happy to help. Later in the evening I got a text from another coworker from the ER (Tammy) whose daughter was having trouble with her math homework. I was a math major my first year at OSU and I had told Tammy in the past that she could always call me anytime her kids needed help with their math. Chelsi was pretty upset over the homework (a feeling I know all too well) so I quickly got on line for a 2 minute refresher on "y intercepts" (everyone remember y = mx + b ?) and called Chelsi to walk her through a few equations. She got the hang of it and Tammy said she was in a much better mood for the rest of the night.
Part of me feels like these good deeds maybe don't count because they found their way to me and I didn't plan them, but I also know that both of these acts made a difference in people's days so I'm counting them. :o)
*****
More updates to come of course! Big love and please remember to send ideas my way!
January 3 - On this date in 1932 president Roosevelt started what is now known as the March of Dimes. I logged on to their website and saw they do a cell phone drive. I downloaded the mailing label and mailed an old cell phone in.
January 4 - Today was a little busy... I worked at the bookstore (yay Barnes and Noble!) in the morning then ran home to change and eat lunch and headed to the dance studio (yay JDSD!) for our first night of classes after the holidays. I was thinking I had to come up with a good deed but quickly got busy at work. Out of the blue one of my coworkers from another job (yay ER!) came in to say hi. She lost her husband just after Christmas and I haven't gotten to see her since before all that happened. I asked her if I could do anything and she said she needed a "Jenn hug" I was of course more than happy to help. Later in the evening I got a text from another coworker from the ER (Tammy) whose daughter was having trouble with her math homework. I was a math major my first year at OSU and I had told Tammy in the past that she could always call me anytime her kids needed help with their math. Chelsi was pretty upset over the homework (a feeling I know all too well) so I quickly got on line for a 2 minute refresher on "y intercepts" (everyone remember y = mx + b ?) and called Chelsi to walk her through a few equations. She got the hang of it and Tammy said she was in a much better mood for the rest of the night.
Part of me feels like these good deeds maybe don't count because they found their way to me and I didn't plan them, but I also know that both of these acts made a difference in people's days so I'm counting them. :o)
*****
More updates to come of course! Big love and please remember to send ideas my way!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year!
Everyone always has at least one New Year's resolution. For the past several years mine has been to loose weight. I'm fairly certain I am the exact same weight today that I was on January 1, 2009. This year I decided that though 2009 had it's ups and downs, I am definitely blessed so I'd like to do something positive for others. I know this is a big goal but I want to complete an act of kindness every day in 2010. Some may be big, some small, some for myself, some for friends and family, some for strangers, some anonymous. Some will be repeated for different people and some that I have planned may never happen. I would love feedback from readers about ideas that they have for me. I also encourage you to perform your own acts of kindness... let's spread some smiles in 2010! I'll be posting to this blog every few days letting everyone know what I've been doing. At the end of the year I hope to have a list of 365 kind things I have done... wish me luck!
January 1 -Today I cleaned the family room and unpacked the kitchen at our "new" house. This may sound selfish, but I'm sure my roommates will be happy!
January 1 -Today I cleaned the family room and unpacked the kitchen at our "new" house. This may sound selfish, but I'm sure my roommates will be happy!
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