Watching and Learning

Over the weekend, the hubs went down to help the Keep Windsor Heights Beautiful Spring Clean Up and has volunteered to help set up the IOWATER program for the creek nearby and while he was doing that, the kids and I walked along the bike trail and picked up litter. Of course, it's not much fun, but the kids were my watch eyes and would point out anytime they saw a piece of litter and they were talking about being "earth helpers." It was surprising to see how much we collected, but I told the kids anytime we walk, we'll bring an extra sack that way we can always pick up litter along our walks. I had to laugh while listening to them because they are young and it reminded me of how much I wanted to "change" the world when I was younger, most of my reports in elementary school were about endangered species and wanting to help them out and then you get older.
We also installed a rain barrel this weekend, it's not the prettiest thing, but it should get the job done. We need one in the backyard as well. My parents took the kids out and my mom was telling me how my little man was going on about trash and was informing her what to recycle, she started calling him Mr. Recycle. And granted we may not be the most eco-friendly family, but we are trying and doing what we can now and hopefully along the way we will pick up more tips and eventually get there because even though we are one family, we are trying. And I hope that my children will see that and it will transcend to them later in life.
And watching them soak everything in has inspired me, I purchased a notebook for writing. I said that one of my goals for the year was to continue to write and I started and have slack off, so I figured if I have my notebook with me, I have no excuse because my issue is that creativity strikes me at odd hours, so now I can write it down where ever I am. And not to mention that the last several weeks I have been given many signs that is pointing me in that direction and I need to start listening.

"When you are a child, you believe you can change the world. When you are an adult, you realize the world changes you, and then when you are a parent you hope to be the change your children come to admire." - DFife

Kindness in Motion

Well I'm in day 15 of my Random Acts of Kindness and have done several things that I have posted on my Twitter page, you can see what I've done on the right of the screen. You can also see that most of my acts are small, but never the less they are random acts of kindness.

The hubs picked up some remaining debris at our neighbors house, she is an elderly woman and I think she really appreciated the help.

I have noticed the more I do, the more I am receiving in small ways and perhaps it is because I am more aware, so therefore I notice it. And don't get me wrong, I've had some challenging days where things seemed rather depressing, but I try not to focus or put to much energy into those challenging days.
I also picked up several items for my giveaway, I have a couple more things I'd like to get, but remember you need to post the Random Acts of Kindness that you do in my comment section to enter the giveaway. To see more details click on Pass It On and you will see the details of my giveaway.

I've been doing a lot of gardening with the hubs and even just the kids. I forget how much I love the smell of freshly dug dirt and this year we are trying something new and starting all our vegetables and even some flowers all from seeds. Typically we wait and buy plants, but we decided to try it this way and if all comes up then we will have quite the selection of vegetables, so I'm excited to see everything slowly pushing through the dirt. We also received some really great plants from my FIL and step-MIL, we placed those in the front of the house and they look great. She also gave us some raspberry bushes, which I'm quite excited for....I love raspberries...yummm.

Anyway...I just wanted to post an update regarding the Acts of Kindness Campaign and hope everyone is beginning to enjoy the freshly emerging buds on the trees....till next time...Blessed Be!

"Never get tired of doing little things for others. Sometimes, those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts." - Unknown

Are There Chance Encounters.....

My mom took the kiddies this evening for a sleepover...leaving the hubs and I to fend for ourselves. The house is always quite when they are gone and when they are gone, I get just a tad excited because I have one-on-one time with my hubby, his full attention (as long as we aren't watching a movie). I wanted to do something tonight, anything really and he gave me signals that I knew it would most likely stick to be an evening at home...which didn't really bother me since we went' camping last night and I barely got a wink of sleep. There was a movie he wanted to see so I suggested we go see that and it fell on deaf ears, so I thought okay, whatever.
I sat in our bedroom and watched TV (sulking) and the hubs said he was going to WalMart and asked that I join him, I thought well, I don't want to go, but I have no excuse because the kids are gone, so I went.
I wasn't happy, but I wasn't angry...I was feeling frustrated because there aren't many nights when the kids are taken last minute and so I thought we could do something we always say we will do when we don't have the kids. Anyway, we are walking the aisles when a man approaches us.
He just started talking about how much WalMart sucks and how he one time saw some guy shoplifting, the conversation turned a bit to people and body language. The conversation lasted maybe two minutes and we went on our way thinking, huh? That was strange, but okay. So as we approach the check-out, we see him again....so we pass and tell him we hope he has a lovely evening. He stops us and introduces us to his wife and starts talking again, a little bit of politics, life, people, body language again, and this conversation lasted about five to eight minutes.
As he was speaking he said something in regards to marriage and connections to me that struck me, he put his arm on me and said something like, "You two look like a great couple, a lot of commonality and connections." I smiled even though I was feeling quite frustrated with the hubs and I'm sure this stranger could pick up on my uneasiness....as I'm not much of a talker, I'm a listener, but I've never been blessed with the gift of gab.
Anyway, he also said, "it's all about how you open yourself and body language will tell you a lot about someone." And I was standing there, I thought...it's true...and then I thought maybe I should open myself up a bit more. Before he left, he said..."here in this short time, I feel like I have known you guys for years."
It is not often when you come across someone who is genuine and just wants to share a conversation with you. And tonight was one of those serendipitous encounters because after speaking with him, I felt a little less frustrated. There is something inside you that recognizes truth when you hear it being spoken and I felt it.
I believe we were meant to run into this man, just to hear what he had to say this evening, so here's to chance encounters and random acts of kindness!!!! Because alas I have been participating in Kindness campaign and the effects are being felt in many different ways.

"Life: It is about the gift not the package it comes in." ~Dennis P. Costea, Jr.

Wouldn't life be simple

My sweet pea asked me to come into her room and I just started folding the laundry and had the beds to make along with everything else, so I told her to wait. If anyone knows my little girl, she is persistent, so she took no for an answer and continued to ask until I said, why do you want me to go in your room for...she replies, "for a talk."
A girl talk and considering she just turned five, I'm thinking what kind of talk will this be? So, I toddled into her room and she climbs up into her bed and asked me to sit. She starts asking about camping and when are we going to go now that the weather is nice, so we discuss it and I told her how we are thinking of going this weekend. She gets excited and then lays on the bed and exclaims, that is so freaking exciting....I can't wait!
We laugh and then I ask her to help me make her bed, which she does and then she starts talking about what her favorite things are...what she wants to be, how much she enjoys everyday....life. And as we are making the bed, I think is this going to be one of those moments I will recall when she is grown and I am reflecting back on life. I tell my children everyday how much I love them, how proud they make me and listening to her just gave me the warm fuzzies.
The more she sat and talked the more I started to think, how simple life would be if everyone could see the world through child's eyes. The innocence and just appreciation for most things we take for granted or what makes them laugh. The way their face lights up when they get to meet the Easter Bunny or Santa and how a kiss can make everything seem better because to them, it does.
So, thank you my sweet pea...for inviting me for a wonderful chit chat and reminding me just how special you are and these moments!

Random Acts of Kindness....Pass It On

I'm a wee late as I haven't been reading the blogs that I follow as often as I do, so last week and this week I've been playing catch up and following up on the various blogs I follow. One of my favorites had posted a "Random Acts of Kindness Campaign" on her blog http://domesticwitch.blogspot.com/2010/02/random-acts-of-kindness-campaign.html

So, since March is almost over, I will continue to follow the campaign and then I am going to continue her challenge into April. I will also have a giveaway, which will be the first time I've ever tried this, so it will be interesting to see how it all comes together and also how it spreads.

So, What is a Random Act of Kindness?

In it's simplest form, it is going out of your way to do something nice for someone else and did you know that there are studies that show performing acts of kindness is good for your health?

To see the full article, visit http://www.actsofkindness.org/benefits

It doesn't have to be a grand act and some examples include:

• give a compliment


• visiting a relative or friend you have seen for a while


• leaving change in the vending machine


• paying for the person behind you at the drive-through


• bringing flowers to someone


• posting inspirational signs around town


• buy a lottery ticket for a stranger


• leave a note of gratitude or a wish ticket (also from Domestic Witch's blog) in a library book


• pick up trash on the ground


• babysit for free


• hold the door for someone


• invite someone over for dinner


• help someone with their garden

So, there are some ideas to get you started, but again random acts of kindness don't have to be grand in scale because sometimes it is the littlest act that has the biggest effect on someone. For example, the family and I were visiting Omaha and we ate at a pizzeria, Gino's, and the waiter was great. He took our packages (we only had one) so it wouldn't be in our way and most importantly he was very attentive to us. We were so impressed with his service that we left him a $20 tip and our bill was only $18, when he asked if we made a mistake, we said no. And then he asked if it was a joke and again, we said no. We simply said he was a great waiter and it was the best service we've ever received. He couldn't get over it and ran to his manager and as we were leaving he just came over and said how much he really needed that and thank you, he kept saying it, over and over as we were walking out.

And as with most every family nowadays, things are tight and the hubs had second thoughts because of that fact, but I reminded him that every good we put out eventually comes around and after we left, the hubs said, "that was a great feeling." So you never know the kind of impact you will have if you spread the randomness, if may just be the pick-up someone is needing or the inspiration for the next person.

To enter my Random Acts of Kindness April giveaway....the giveaway will begin April 1st - to enter, simply post your random act of kindness in the comments, please have each act as a separate comment and leave a way for me to contact you, such as email. The person with the most acts of kindness will win the goodies, so the more your post the more chances you have to win. The deadline will be May 1st and the winner will be contacted and announced via my blog. I will also be posting my random acts of kindness via twitter and facebook page.

Some notes.....

• If you don't leave a way for me to contact you, then you can't win
• In the event of a tie, the winner will be chosen through a random number generator, like Random.org
• I hope you participate and let's see how much kindness we can generate and pass along

"Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light." - A. Schweitzer

Ice Skating, Rain, and Birthdays

Today we celebrated my sweetpea's birthday. We went ice skating downtown, it was their last weekend and it was lightly raining, but she said she wanted to skate regardless. I did not ice skate as I don't have the coordination and would more likely fall on my butt, so I took pictures and then waited inside with my little man after he was done.
She had a great time on the ice, we didn't stay that long and the staff at Brenton Skating Plaza was great. We then came back to the house and continued the celebration. Indeed, it was a good day filled with smiles, laughter, and cupcakes.
I look at my sweetpea and see this little girl emerging and it amazes me. I can't get over how fast the time went, it seems like yesterday when I first held her in my arms and gazed down at this little tiny face and all the emotions of becoming a new mother. Everyone would tell me to enjoy my babies because it goes by so quickly and you really don't realize it until you are five years down the road, seeing this little girl bursting with energy. Happy Birthday my little love!

"Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?" - Anne Frank

Shame on you Des Moines School Board, Shame on You

I realize that we are in a dwindling economy and that money is tight for every business, organization, and school...it is tight for EVERYONE. And what did the Des Moines School Board do? They are facing a $27.7 budget shortfall with 84.4% of districts operating budget is used to pay for salaries and benefits, seriously!!!! They are then cutting 300 positions, as well as cutting band and orchestra for elementary students; music, art and physical education time will be cut by more than half (in fact PE will now be 30 minutes per week).
To read the full article, click this link http://www.kcci.com/education/22753790/detail.html
In addition to the district cuts, my daughters school will be losing their half-time guidance counselor, leaving the school with NO guidance counselor and they will not be filling their Montessori consultant who is due to retire this year. I find this absolutely ridiculous, unacceptable, and deplorable!!! My daughter is in PreK and all of this bullshit just makes me want to home school her, where I know she will get the education (including music, art, and physical education) she DESERVES.
Why are teachers not standing their ground, why are they allowing this, why are parents allowing this? Citizens elect the school board officials and I'm sorry, they are not doing their jobs! I don't care what the economy is like - our children are the future leaders of this world and as we continue to allow our children to attend a broken school system we are in essence failing our children. We are short-changing them and will have more and more students not know who Picasso, Mozart, or even if they have a musical ability...how sad.

How can we change it? Schools (DOE) needs to get rid of the testing, categorizing, labeling, segregating, and institutionalizing our children. Teachers often fail to realize that sometimes it is the less formal examples of learning that are often the best examples of learning, focusing on the exercises that students and the governments tells them what is expected from their students.
We need to change the system - schools so often focus on what is failing that they rarely see what is working. And it needs to start with the teachers "teachers shouldn't expect people outside the classroom to improve their working conditions; all their problems were created by people outside the classroom. Teachers must take charge of their own professional lives."
The above quote is from The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith and I recommend anyone and everyone to read the book, most importantly anyone who is going to become involved with education. His book describes how schools and educational authorities (DOE) obstruct the learning abilities of children while continually blaming teachers for the problems that the government authorities have created. It focuses on the classic view of learning versus the official view. And the other thing I found fascinating is that most people in the field of education are not educated on the history of schools and where the official learning theory came from, which was based on a militaristic model and thus changes based on what is working at the government level. Instead of focusing on what students are actually learning, schools focus on what they are expected to learn or shall I say memorize.
The school system needs to be overhauled, teachers need to say no more cuts, parents need to say no more cuts...the students are saying it, but will anyone listen to them?

"Schools should be places where students and everyone for that matter--can find opportunities to learn everything that is worthwhile in the world outside (emphasis on the doing, not on the teaching). That is the whole point of schools, not to deprive students of the experience but to provide enriched opportunities." Frank Smith