Well, maybe not a groundhog, but who needs one of those when you have a guinea pig. I'm sure the same principles apply. So this morning we sent Stuart out on a bit of an assignment. At first he wasn't sure if he could fit it in between his full schedule of eating and sleeping but when we advised him that he could eat while working he was fully up to the task.
First a little salad break.
Ok, now to the real work.
Hmm. I think Stuart saw his shadow. What do you think?
Can it really be February already? What a strange winter so far. It's has been cold but we just realized that we have only shovelled our driveway once this winter. Usually at this point, we have piles of snow surrounding our driveway. In fact, the grass is actually visible under patchy coverings of ice and snow and on a sunny day it appears quite green. I wonder what February and March have in store for us?
In January I started to focus on some new designs. Especially those that involve gem stones. I love the look of wrapped wire and especially against the sparkling facets of a gem stone. Here's a look at what I've been up to.
Tanzanite Blue Chalcedony with Oxidized Sterling Silver.
I have been meaning to sort through some clothes, pack them up and donate to a local charity for months now. Somehow and for whatever reason it just wasn't getting done. So today I put my thoughts into action. I sorted through all the clothes that no longer fit or we weren't wearing. I pulled out a few that were too worn out or damaged but for the most part all of these clothes were gently used. My girls are growing up and out of clothes before they even have a chance of wearing out. As I was folding the clothes into bags I was happy to be donating clothes of the current season. Warm long sleeve shirts, sweaters and even a warm ski jacket. Things that someone might really need right now. I hope some other girls can make use of them.
It was a couple of hours well spent. I loaded the 3 huge bags into the car (I could barely lift them actually) and delivered them right away. I left with a smile on my face. There was not a sigh of relief for me realizing that I had accomplished my goal for today but instead a bit of excitement as I wondered what my good deed might be tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.
In the last week I've been thinking of ways to encourage myself to write more blogs consistently. I came up with an idea of doing "Fourteen Days of February". Each day I would write something that I like about February building up to February 14th, Valentine's Day. I found coming up with the list was difficult. Most weren't really that positive. For instance, "I like February 1st because it means January is over". I found it rather appalling that I could not come up with 14 reasons why I liked February. I can't just wish winter away. I'm wasting all this time in my life wishing for a better tomorrow when I should be doing something today to make my day better.
So there I was struggling with what to do for my blog but coming up with a much bigger problem in my life. How can I be living this seemingly happy life but not be able to think of 14 positive things. Am I really that cynical and pessimistic? Maybe I was going at this all wrong. At this point, it's February 2nd and I had already missed the first entry that I could make. While I was sitting there at the table and drinking my morning coffee I looked down at my daughter's paperwork and notices that she had brought back from school. I noticed that they had a schedule for Fun in February in which they have special days and events plans. At the bottom I noticed a list of "Fun Stuff to do in February", the top one was 28 Acts of Random Kindness. All the sudden I realized that is what I need to do. Forget trying to think of good things but do good things.
So here, I am. Yes, I know I'm one day late, but I'm being kind to myself and not worrying about that fact. Hopefully over the month I can make that day up. I'm a bit daunted by the idea but yet excited, maybe even hopeful that I can do one small thing a day that makes the world a better place. So no, I don't think I'll be solving the financial crisis, or creating world peace but maybe within my own life and community I can spread some kindness and who knows maybe that kindness will spread and spread and spread....
Of course, I haven't done my random act yet for today. I'm not really planning them I'm hoping they just evolve daily. So you'll have to stay tuned to see what I did.
I'll leave you with this. It's a couple of years old now, but a friend of mine sent this to me, in her own random act of kindness.
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