10 for you and 2 for me

Our Lenten "sacrifice" is chugging right along. I'm excited each day to think of a way to show kindness to a stranger.

Yesterday we went to Target for a run and on the way home we were stopped at a red light. I noticed 2 men waiting at the bus stop. One was just pacing and the other was sitting on the bench listening to his ipod. I thought back to Rome when we had to take buses and the metro to get around and how long the wait can seem. Just then I spied a donut shop! Bling!! The lightbulb went off.

We turned into the parking lot of the donut shop and bought a dozen donuts. I used my pre-made RAK cards (which are in my purse at all times) and Dominic and I went up to the men and handed out the donuts. At first it was a bit intimidating, walking up to three (another man joined the wait) men. They were super nice and laughed when they read the card so that made me feel more at ease. The last guy even game Dominic a hug!!

Then we patrolled the area and gave out 3 more donuts to people waiting. One bus stop had a man and woman waiting. They were not together, they were not even sitting close to each other. After they got the donuts they began laughing with each other and talking. They both waved as we drove off. So nice to see!!

The last lady at the bus stop was all alone. She thanked me profusely and put the card in her pocket. She maintained eye contact and I could tell that she really appreciated the small act of kindness.

We had 6 donuts left and for the life of me we couldn't find ANYONE else waiting at a bus stop! We did, however, find a fire truck in an adjacent neighborhood with 4 firemen packing up. We quickly parked and ran to them with the last of the donuts and some cards. They immediately picked Dominic up into their truck and let him check out their gear!!

We had a wonderful time with this!

This morning we decided to RAK the mail carrier. We have yet to meet our carrier so we aren't sure if it's a man or a woman. We had a Hershey's bar left over from the girl scout RAK on Sunday so we taped a card to it and I included a hand-written thank you card and Dominic drew a picture. Cute!!

I'm really liking this idea!! Let's hope I can come up with something cool for tomorrow!

A lazy day for reflection

Today is a chilly 33* here. Little man is down with a low-grade fever and little lady is napping all bundled up in a cozy warm blanket. It's a lazy day all around. A perfect opportunity to reflect on the upcoming holiday season.

I realized that I've been pretty introverted the last couple of weeks. Not really sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that we had 30+ guests here for Thanksgiving and I was in full on hostess mode.

I really need to get back in the friendship saddle. Christmas is the perfect excuse to get back in the swing of things. Here's some things I have planned to help me re-focus:

**Attend any and all holiday parties that we are invited to.

**Make and deliver gifts for all of our friends and/or neighbors. Any ideas???

**Offer to help friends with wrapping gifts. Perhaps have a mom's night out where we have a wrapping party?

**Like last year I plan to have some of Dominic's closest friends over for a pre-Christmas party. Last year we exchanged favorite Christmas stories. This year I'm thinking we'll get the outdoors heater out, strike up the chimenea and roast marshmallows while we huddle together under blankets watching Elf on the garage door. (We have a projector that has yet to be used.)

That's all I've thought of so far. Any traditions that you guys do with friends that you'd like to share? Leave me a comment!

On another note, we made salt dough ornaments yesterday and painted them this morning. It was a super fun activity! We made ornaments for each of the kids, one for each of his cousins and one for his bestie, Andrew.

Here's the recipe for the salt dough:
1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup water
Mix all ingredients together until it forms a dough. Roll out on floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Bake in oven for 2 hours at 250*F.

One year later...

Well, as of April 6th I have had a blog for one full year!! Can't believe I have kept it up as I have. It definitely helps that this helps keep the out of town family included in our happenings.

This post is a mish-mash of sorts. I want to start with a report card of sorts for my yearly progress at making friends. So, in true SAHM fashion I created a report card for myself to fill out.

In thinking back over the past year and all the cool playdates, events, and friendships we've made, I tried to find a way to document the coolest. So I ranked the top 10 highlights of the year. Here they are:

10. Fall camp


9. BUNCO nights

8. Mardi Gras parade


7. Van Gogh painting


6. Arboretum picnics


5. Halloween costume parade


4. Spring camp


3. Summer camp


2. Second baby booms!!


1. Yo Gabba Birthday Party


Each of these highlights was a super special time spent with friends. I am thinking of making a mini-scrapbook of photos from these special times. It'll make a great book to read at bedtime, don't you think??

I am so lucky to have wonderful mom friends to experience such great moments with!!

And so it begins...

Lately I've been in a real friendship rut.

As a pretty recent stay at home mom I've found myself looking for activities to keep myself busy. Not that chasing a 19 month old around the house while trying to do laundry, dishes, etc isn't busy enough, mind you.

It's just that as Dominic gets older I want him to have a few buddies to play with and grow up with. The kind of buddies that will learn how to be boys together, get into mischief together and learn to depend upon one another. I envision sitting at his grade school graduation watching a slideshow of the graduates and seeing photos of him with some of his classmates when they were just wee little ones. Surely you know the kind of which I speak: the obligatory birthday party photo of all the boys sitting around the table watching as the birthday boy blows out the candles; the camping photo of the boys holding up their miniscule fish catch with beaming smiles of pride; the halloween photo of the boys all dressed up like their favorite cartoon characters.

I want my son to grow up with other boys that he can learn to love as brothers. I know that as his parent I have a great opportunity to hand pick these friends for him at such a young age. The problem is: I have a hard time making friends myself. So I have decided to start this blog to push me out of my comfort zone and give me the motivation to get out there and find some friends for me and hopefully my son.

If I pick up any readers at all throughout this self titled Odyssey I invite you to give me any suggestions or advise on how I can be a better friend to others. Lord knows, I'll need it!

So here's the big reveal: My goal for the remainder of this 2010 year is to make 2 friends a month, so that would be 18 friends between now and December 31st. Can I do it??? I sure hope so! Certainly in those 18 friends I can find one or two who stand out and will be considered close friends, right?