Doing Small Things with Great Love

One of the biggest things I hope to convey to my children is the importance of giving. Offering time, talent, and treasure to serve others and honor God. However I will admit, when it comes to volunteering we have fallen short. Life gets so busy and although we have good intentions, we have yet to participate in an ongoing, high-impact act of service. We give monetary donations to our church and we pick up litter but I know we could do far more. Which is why I was so excited to interview Nicole Bouchard Boles, author of "How to be an Everyday Philanthropist: 330 Ways to Make a Difference in Your Home, Community, and World-At No Cost". I highly recommend this book! It is loaded with practical ideas and fantastic websites where you can help every cause imaginable. Here are just a few that I bookmarked...

Foster Friend: Orphaned teenagers often slip through the cracks. Most have lived in several foster homes over the course of their short lives and have likely missed out on birthdays and other holiday celebrations. The Orphan Foundation of America has set up a program to make sure these kids get gifts on their birthdays and cards throughout the year. The cost? Just $50 a year (we can do that)!

Be Someone's Eyes: Provide a free reading service for blind and low-vision people through Read This to Me. Use your voice to digitally record books through Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic.

I love this one but unfortunatley they don't have the program in our area.
Best Buddies fosters one-on-one relationships between developmentally diabled kids and their nondisabled peers.

Little Brothers or Sisters ( is like Big Brothers/Sisters) except this concept connects the elderly with the young.

If you can knit or crochet; make a helmet liner for troops, make chemo caps or check out the Blankets for Recovery Program . This program aims to provide small kindess to wounded soldiers by providing them with warm blankets and quilts as they recover in military hospitals.

Those are just a few of the 330 ideas, and that doesn't even scratch the surface. Volunteer Match is also a good resource because it connects you with the best options for what you and your family have a passion for. I highly recommend the book, and what a perfect time of year for it!:)

Love Love Love

My favorite band doing what they do best! I ran across an acoustic version of NeedtoBreathe's song "Stones Under Rushing Water" from the Outsiders album. I love them so much, I think I am officially a crazed fan. Lol. We announced a few weeks ago that they are coming to Alive Music Fest next year, I can't wait to see them live. Enjoy the talent of these amazing musicians.

Stuffed Silly

Is it possible to be full even 24 hours after eating?! That is how I feel but I loved every minute of it! Jim and I had a memorable, fantastic time at the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland this weekend.

We really debated...should we go to our first Opera and see Don Giovanni or go for the gut and do the food show? I am happy to report we didn't regret our decision for one sweet minute! This place was a glutton's dream. Lol. Hundreds of vendors with samples of food, discounts, unique products, local companies and imported exotic foods. Everything you could imagine just waiting for our taste buds and to top it off....chocolate galore! People like Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, and Guy Fieri were also on hand for special demonstrations. Here are a few pictures from our fun food day!

Oh boy...there goes my diet! Oh so Heavenly....


Can you see my "crazy eyes"?! Lol. You would look that way too if you were up close and personal with this slice of paradise! Oh my goodness, one of the best desserts I have ever had. Inside the hard chocolate shell was cheescake and brownie. I think I just found my chocolate lasagna replacement! It's from White Flour Cake Shoppe in Beachwood (where I will be visiting soon!):)



Mushroom truffles imported from Italy. Not as good as the chocolate truffles of course, but not bad!:)


Tasting world champion white sharpe cheddar cheese with a fig and wine from Greece. I feel so ritzy! Haha.


No caption necessary.


Holy cannoli! Look at the size of this stuffed cannoli from Rito's Italian Bakery (they did our marriage validation cake a few years ago)!


I hope the Fabulous Food Show comes back again next year. It was totally worth the ticket price and even the 2 weeks it will take me to burn the calories off! :)

The Thanks Tank

We had a fun project night tonight. Simple and with a message (and no loose glitter)...my kind of craft!:) Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away and things have been so busy that I know it will come and go and seem like a blur. I don't want that. I want to adequately prepare our hearts for the celebration and try to grasp just a fraction of the infinite blessings we've been given. In addition, we found out that Grammie and Poppa will be coming for the big day! Nothing is better than having a house full of family to feed and then filling the living room with napping bodies afterwards. Lol. So together we made "The Thanks Tank" (good job boys for creating the title)! Haha. The goal is to be thinking about our blessings over the next two weeks and write one down whenever we pass by the thanks tank. Thanksgiving Day we will break them out and read them, which should be interesting since Garrett already said "a cell phone". Nice. Here are some pictures of the finished product!



We're off to a good start. We may end up needing to jump to a bigger size...let's hope so!:)



I also ran across some great ideas on this Facebook page. I like the "step 3" suggestion where you pray for someone you are thankful for each day of your countdown. From family members, to church, neighbors, to health...she offers some great ideas!

Right now I am grateful for sleep. I better go take advantage of that blessing!:)

Tv Tidbit

Tonight we have a date with PBS. At 9pm (according to our local listings) they will air the documentary "The Way We Get By". It is a perfect Veteran's Day tribute and a beautiful story of those who actively honor our military.
Here is a description of the film: "
Beginning as a seemingly idiosyncratic story about troop greeters - a group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq, the film quickly turns into a moving, unsettling and compassionate story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality.

When its three subjects aren't at the airport, they wrestle with their own problems: failing health, depression, mounting debt. Seeking out the telling detail rather than offering sweeping generalizations, the film carefully builds stories of heartbreak and redemption, reminding us how our culture casts our elders, and too often our soldiers, aside. More important, regardless of your politics, "The Way We Get By" celebrates three unsung heroes who share their love with strangers who need and deserve it."


I normally try not to make TV recommendations because usually when I do it comes back to bite me! LOL. Still, even though I haven't seen this yet, I think it's safe to say that this is a good pick. God bless our Service men and women and THANK YOU your courage; to willingly volunteer to sacrifice yourself to ensure our freedom.

The Way We Get By - Trailer from The Way We Get By on Vimeo.

P.S. Click here for some great deals for veterans on Veteran's Day. We will be going to Applebee's...Jim gets a free meal. Thanks Applebee's!:)

Things are Looking UP!

Today is "UP" day! Thanks for the comment about the DVD:
"Check out Walmart - appears to be $6 cheaper!"
I swung by the store at 4:20 this morning; that is a nice perk of doing a morning show, no one is out at 4:00 if I need to hit the store.:) The Target ad included a "wilderness journal" as a bonus which Wal-Mart did not have. That one will be a bit more, but the basic DVD at Wal-Mart is $14.97.






On a totally different note, I just have to link up this video. The headline says: "Girl Gets Flu Shot and Now Can Only Walk Backwards". I thought it was a joke at first...what a bizarre headline. Then I started watching it and felt awful, what a sad story! I am sure the odds of this happening are one-in-a-million (or more) but I just have to post because it's so interesting. Click here for the video.

Pixar Pics

This is a good week for Pixar pics in our house. First, "Up" comes out on DVD tomorrow (Tuesday) and we are making a bee line to Target for the bonus bundle! We saw the movie twice at the dollar theater and it is one of my favorite's. Oh yeah...and the kids liked it too!:) I can't say enough about it. We laughed and cried...all in the first 15 minutes!:) It is such a fantastic film and once again proves that Pixar hits the mark. It's hard to choose their top film but for our family, it is probably Toy Story. Next June, Toy Story 3 will be released and I just ran across the trailer today. Check it out:



Hopefully Garrett won't outgrow his Woody costume by then, I have a feeling he'll want to go to the theater in character!:) LOL.