Aren’t these stockings adorable? Eva submitted them to our photo gallery (for the Q4 Challenge – and how are YOU doing on that?) and I asked permission to share this photo on my blog. You can get the pattern free from this site. (I love Julie’s website and am the proud owner of some of her wonderful knitted toys. If you have never heard of her, please do not ask to be put on her email list for updates in her shop, as that is just that many more people that I have to compete with when I want to get another one of her toys get on her email list so that you will know when she updates. Her toys are so fun and beautifully done. Each one is a treasure.)
I know I said this last week, too, but I have just so enjoyed reading about all of your RAKs. Truly, they are so inspiring. (If you missed them, you’ll find them in the comments here and here, although there have been others left in comments on other days of the week as well. We’ll continue having RAK Reporting Day every Monday in December.) Today is another RAK day, so leave your comments telling us the things that you have done in kindness to others since last Monday’s blog post. Before I post on Wednesday, I’ll draw another name for the winner of this week’s Loopy Loot gift package! (We have had patterns, books, and even skeins of Wollmeise from Claudia herself, donated to our RAK gift packages! Yay!) One thing that several people have commented on and I have often thought about, too – isn’t it a little sad that doing something kind for people is so surprising to so many? You show them a common (or uncommonly kind) courtesy, and they can’t believe it. Their response is, “Oh my goodness – why would you do that?” I guess that is just proof that there isn’t nearly enough of this RAK stuff going on around the world and we need to do more. It shouldn’t be so astonishing to people. So I’m glad we’re all working on it, and really glad to have all of these fun ideas every week.
Thanks for weighing in on Spring Fling sign-ups. What we have decided to do is open up signups next week (details in next Monday’s blog) but we won’t require your first payment until mid-January. That way, everyone is happy. 🙂 College Guy is coming home this week for Christmas Break (yay!) and we’ll work on getting the information page done so that you can check out the details of The Fling. We’ll also keep signups open all week next week, so that you don’t have to stress about being first in line. (Or we’ll keep it open longer than that if it hasn’t all filled up. We really have no idea what to expect. If we get more than our limit, we’ll pull names and keep a back-up list in case anyone cancels at the last minute.)
Is anyone done with their holiday knitting? I’m woefully behind.
Sheri obviouslyneedingaFlingRetreatrightnowtogetthisknittingdone
This week- I went through our bookcase- and culled a huge box of books of an encouraging type- and fun too- and we donated them to a local site- thats loads of encouragement gifted to who knows whom!
Will also be taking another box of books to give to a local shelter for battered women and children- put those kids books to use;) Along with the books- I’m taking some knitting supplies- therapeutic knitting- always good;)
Sheri:
I have my holiday knitting done, but now am on deadline again trying to get some baby knitting done and out to the mother-to-be before Christmas. I look forward to the day I can selfishly knit for myself.
I was riding the bus back from DC on Sunday and thinking about RAKs and what I could do this week. We stopped at a rest area for about 10 minutes and when the driver was pulling out of the parking lot I noticed the girl sitting in front of me wasn’t on the bus. I started yelled that someone was missing, which got him to turn around and get out to find this girl who would have been left behind at a rest area on the freeway. He found her and we left about 2 minutes later. She thanked me, but in all honesty I would have felt horrible if I hadn’t said anything and can’t believe that I was the only one to speak up. Imagine being left behind at a freeway rest area, how would you get home? That is one of my worst nightmares.
It has been cold here, and driving out of the bookstore parking lot the other day, several people were waiting to cross the drive to get to their cars. It was unbelievabley windy, so I stopped and let them cross in front of me. They looked so happy to not have to stand in the wind and wait for a car to drive by! The car behind me honked impatiently so I waved cherrily with my mittened hand. The driver waved back, with one finger. 🙁 I decided to let a few more cold walkers pass by since the light to get out of the parking lot was red anyway. 😉
My next stop was to drop off a bag of toys that my kids cleared out of their toyboxes to Salvation Army.
I’m behing on holiday knitting too! I dont know if this counts for a RAK or not but my Hubby loves baked items especially my bread and any sweets I decided last week to not only make him his favorite meal (Stroganoff) I also made him some Pecan Cinnamon Sticky Buns, we took these and the Stroganoff and shared it with his mom that evening.Hows this for an RAK, My 13 yr old son (he lives with his dad) when he is here ofton times will suprise us with breakfast (he cooks really good scrambled eggs) and coffee, and last weekend he downloaded a bunch of Star Trek Pics from the Internet for my Hubby so he could use em as a screen saver. I cant think of any other RAKs to report just now. Back to the holiday Knitting.
My RAK is actually an on-going RAK. The secretary down the hall comes in before the rest of us and always have the coffee done when I get to work. I keep a bag of Starbucks in my office and I will brew the two of us up a pot for the mid-afternoon pick-me-up. She is always so appreciative.
I had an RAK given to me. I had a run-in with a mailbox last week and my car is in the body shop. Our good friends offered the use of their daughter’s car so I could get around. I would feel so bad if anything bad happened while I was driving it. So, I told them that if I needed to borrow, it might be this weekend to do some Christmas shopping. They are such nice friends!
My Christmas knitting is going. However, I need to redo two hats. I had no idea that hats could be that complicated. One is woefully too large and one is too short. At least the short one can be fixed in a couple of hours. And finish the mate for a pair of hand-warmers and a moebius. Whew…I will be glad to get back to socks for me.
I’m so behind on my holiday knitting – if I get my son’s mittens done at this point I will be happy.
My RAK is for my church. Every year my church has an Angel tree. This year we chose a little boy and a little girl, and got them everything on their lists. We wrapped the presents up and dropped them off at church yesterday morning. I took the kids with me to get the presents, and help them pick everything out – I think it’s important to teach them at a young age that when you can do for another person, you should. I think my 6 yo is starting to get it. My 3yo just like picking out barbie clothes! 🙂
Sheri – your RAK suggestion has really inspired me to spread some cheer this holiday season. For this week:
– Ran into an older gentleman from my apt complex at the coffee shop, and paid for his order
– Gathered up the knitting magazines and yarn that I was planning to sell on ebay, and donated them to Project Linus instead
– Baked a batch of cookies to bring to the small local gas station, where they always pump your gas for you. In the age of credit and pay-at-the-pump, I bet no one ever tips the gas station attendants…
My husband thinks I’m a little crazy for that last one, but I guess I just enjoy the really “random” part of RAKs!
Does it count if I am still knitting on Christmas Eve??
My RAK was to pick up two shivering students this morning on my way into school.
My youngest son and I made little care packages for the homeless. We do this every year. We fill a quart size baggy with toothpaste, toothbrush, razor, gum, and gift cards to McDonalds or snack bars.
My students at school are also doing an angel tree which is quite wonderful of them since many of them are so needy themselves!
Have a very Happy Holiday with your family.
ps- the little stockings??? Totally going to be the giftcard holder- money holders for the few gifts of cash/cards I give:) thnx for posting the link
I’m also woefully behind on the Christmas knitting…..sigh.
RAK – I cleaned the snow off of a co-worker’s car last week, as she was worried during our meeting time that she didn’t have a scraper. She went outside to find her car clean and ready to go at the end of the meeting.
I also paid our friend’s restaurant bill yesterday, and invited him to join our table (ok, not so random) when he was sitting by himself.
Totally love the RAK’s – the contest doesn’t even matter at all, because I’m having more fun for the sheer joy of giving or surprising someone. And in the end, I’m the one that’s truly blessed!
Holiday Knitting? Almost – 1 1/2 objects left to knit and less than a week to do so. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
RAK: donated all winter coats to NY Cares coat drive for the homeless this morning
Is the spring fling here yet?
This week I did an RAK for the daughter of a colleague. She really can’t tolerate crowds, bright lights and loud music–but wanted to buy an item exclusive to Toys “R Us for her niece. So I went to Toys R Us, looked for the item, couldn’t find it, asked for help from the clerk on the floor who had never heard of the item, and finally went to the front desk to inquire. To cut a long story short, an hour and 20 minutes later I had the requested item in my hand! And the whole time I was thinking, “this isn’t even my errand, but I’ll get to tell the Loopies about it.”
Oh I am definitely behind on Christmas knitting, however the reason is that I decided at the last minute to make a mitten/scarf/hat set for the little girl in the family that my office has “adopted” for Christmas. I wasn’t planning on it and so it has kind of cut in on my planned christmas knitting.
My RAKs… well I twice decided to pay for the people behind me in the drive-thru only to discover that there was not actaully anyone behind me, so that’s too bad. The grocery store was really crowded yesterday and I let a young woman with a couple of little ones in front of me in line, she had a full grocery cart like me, however unlike me she also had two children who obviously wanted to get out of there 🙂
I helped a very nice, but agitated and embarassed, young man who had been sent to Target by his fiancee to get some, um, feminine items, for her. I bumped into him in that particular aisle and after watching him look totally clueless for a few minutes, asked him what it was she told him to get, plucked it off the shelf for him, and stuck it in his hands. He was most appreciative, and he got the heck out of that part of the store as fast as he possibly could. Poor guy! 🙂
I haven’t decided yet. Either I’m on track with my holiday knitting or have more to finish than is humanly possible. My opinion changes daily.
Last week I donated to every Salvation Army bell ringer I came across. The weather has been pretty nasty here so I’ve been making sure I let all the shoppers go in the parking lots. Whether they are going in or coming out. And I donated at my daughter’s school for their “fill the stockings” drive. Anyway, nothing major. Just trying to be more considerate.
Happy knitting 🙂
Being down in the dumps ’cause I was laid off right at the holidays (random act of non-kindness from Corporate America), doing little things helps cheer me up.
So, I did two random acts of restroom kindness:
1. I flushed toilet that someone hadn’t bothered to do, so the next patron would have a more pleasant experience than I did.
2. I put new toilet paper in a stall that had none, from a stall with three rolls. I know someone appreciated THAT.
I also removed a coffee pot that had been left on a burner when it was almost empty, and saved the nearby cubicles from having to smell burned coffee.
I bypassed a convenient parking spot at the grocery store because I saw that the person behind me was elderly–I parked farther out because I can walk easily, and they may not have been able to.
I was at walmart, had just finished putting all the groceries in the back of the truck and was taking the cart to the cart thingy when I saw this little old lady standing looking across the parking lot looking a little lost. I asked her if she needed some help. She said no she had just realized that she went down the wrong aisle and that since there where big medians between the aisles she was going to have to push her cart all the way back to the front of the parking lot to get going down the right aisle where she parked. I offered to help her get her cart across the median so she wouldn’t have to walk all the way around. She was so happy and perked right up. We managed across the median with no problems and she was off down the right aisle in no time and it only cost me a couple of extra minutes to make her day a little easier. Too bad that a little further down the road when I was trying to get on the highway no one showed me any courtesy and I was literally ran off the road while trying to merge. Ah well, the holidays.
I’m in Maine, and we had a bunch of snow last week (you may have heard?) My neighbors, a lovely couple in their 50’s, have two 2-wheel-drive vehicles. Our driveways share a road access, on a hill, and my husband and I did a neighborly amount of helping push/pull them up the driveway and once out of a ditch before the plows came around. That’s just common courtesy when you have 4-wheel drive, a winch, and two healthy young backs.
But Wednesday morning, when everything was back open, I noticed that one of their cars was stills snowed in. Since I know she goes to work after I come back from taking the kids to school, I shoveled her out. She was thrilled, of course. Good deed done, and I can skip my class at the gym!
Well I was the recipient of a very nice rak from someone in August. The rak helped me make my daughter very happy and picked up our spirits that month and in Sept. I could never say thank you enough. The people that rak’ed me may not think it was much but it really was to us!
Well we had a bit better finances in November so I purchased extra yarn and made pretty socks for 2 of my daughters friends who are always admiring her knitted items. Both girls live with their single moms and don’t get a lot of extra’s. My daughter was in on the rak and decided which pair would go to which girl and then just put them on their desks at school with a note to let each girl know they were for her. My Daughter and I had fun writing the little cryptic notes and she had a lot of fun sneaking them onto the girls desks at school without them seeing her.
I have 1 whole sock and 3 partials to knit yet for Christmas. I should also finish a prayer shawl. Not sure I will make it though.
Last night I cleaned out a bunch of my kids clothing. I set aside 4 bags for the local Goodwill and I brought 4 big bags to the little girls across the street. Their mom is trying to make it on her own, and rarely has extra money for nice clothes. I hope they found a few things to love in those bags. (I will admit to at least a partial ulterior motive, I REALLY wanted that stuff out of my house!)
I forgot to add one more RAK – last week my sister was feeling sad- she had to have her beloved doggies “put down”. So I sent her a GC from TLE. I told her that yarn always makes people feel better when they are sad. 🙂
It hadn’t occurred to me that this was out of the ordinary until now, but I left a few bags of loose green tea on my co-worker’s desk the other day. (Her job is hectic, and I keep a running supply of the stuff, so I figured she needed it.)
Mind, apparently she didn’t look too close at first and thought it might have been something… stronger. *eep*
Done with the holiday knitting? Bwahahahahaha!
(That’d be a [i]no[/i]…)
I love reading all the RAKs from folks! 🙂
I attended three kids birthday parties this weekend–and at the last, had several RAK opportunities.
I located napkins for and cleaned up a babyfood spill in the general area for the games.
I held the door for the worker at the sports area so she could wheel another party’s pizza and drinks in.
And finally, I had the opportunity to comfort the birthday girl after a tumble, give her some one-on-one attention, and send her happily off to play once again, all without adding stress to her parents (who were running two kids parties at once).
*g* It’s Books for Soldiers time again. And, like the person above me, I culled the bookshelf for the books I’m not reading and sent them off to my Dad. Dad scours the wish lists of soldiers over seas and pulls books off the massive donation shelf and matches them up. He then sends the books, along with a care package of goodies, to the soldiers in question.
I haven’t been buying as many books this year, so I only culled a hundred or so to send.
My brother-in-law was recently separated and has moved into his first bachelor’s place ever. I found out that he was without groceries and worried about paying rent, so he was eating over at his ex’s. I bought him a boxful of groceries. He was completely blown away!
RAK of the week was signing up for Socks for Soldiers and preparing to embark on knitting a pair of enormous black socks.
As far as Christmas knitting goes…after two hand-knit scarves went almost entirely unappreciated by friends, I try not to knit for the non-knitter or non-family. I did knit a Ravenclaw scarf for my friend two Christmases ago that she still talks about, so that was a good call. I’m knitting a Dark Mark illusion scarf for my brother and am finally finishing the first pattern. I’m pretty bad about knitting for deadlines but for some reason I always feel the need to knit things for him. Probably because I can knit all the cool stuff like the Arrrgyles and he appreciates it more than anyone else in the world. 🙂
When I took my grandson to nursery school this morning I noticed that the sign-up sheet for the holiday party was ready. Knowing that time is short for working Moms and remembering how stressed I was when I worked and my daughter was little I decided to sign up and do all of the baking for the party. It will be a pleasure to break out all of those yummy cookie and treat recipes! Also told the teacher I would dress up as Mrs. Santa for the party.
Well, my RAK this week is really woefully sad. I let several people turn in and out of parking lots, creating blocks on traffic-choked streets to allow them to do so. Otherwise, they’d be there until NEXT Christmas, don’t you know? Not like I’m really going to get through that red light any faster if I’m two car lengths farther up, though, so I’m not sure how kind that was.
I did take my mom Christmas shopping, and pulled all the stuff up from the basement for her, then took down what she was done with to minimize the clutter.
And I offered to make some kid-sized wool socks for a friend whose son has a brain tumor and needs them to keep his feet warm. I need his foot measurement, otherwise I would have just done it.
Otherwise, I will admit that I didn’t work too hard at it this week. I am a horrible person. 🙁
And done with holiday knitting??? 😛 Yea, right. Though there does still appear to be a reasonable amount left, so I might just be able to pull it off this year. 🙂 I take time out to happy dance every time I finish something, which perhaps slows me down, but hey, gotta find that extra joy somewhere, for the hard times, you know? 😀
Whew! I wove in the ends and washed my last pair of Christmas gift socks this very morning. They are for my DD when she comes home. I had mailed a package to her and her boyfriend in CA last week, since her boyfriend will be out of the country at Christmas. They allowed themselves to open the package and called me, both wearing the socks I made – happy & comfy footsies.
RAKs: I let people with fewer items ahead of me in line on a regular basis so I don’t count that. I give to Salvation Army Santa bellringers every Christmas too, and I did that last week. But one thing I do each year is fun & special for me. There is a TJ Maxx in the same strip mall as a drop-off box for Toys for Tots. I go to the TJ’s and buy a bunch of toys, walk down and plunk them directly in that box. There were some great toys this year…dump trucks with Legos, books, dolls with clothes, Play-Doh. I try to get a toy for each gender and age range. I
RAK report. I love shocking other shoppers by letting them “cut” in front of me, especially when it is a mom with a toddler or two. However, I’d really like to that the two men, unknown to me, who stopped and helped me when I had a bad black ice experience on Friday. I didn’t even have to dig in my purse for my cell phone; they offered theirs, and one held my dog while I call my husband.
I don’t even want to talk about holiday knitting… I’m woefully behind.
Holiday knitting? Alas, no. One of my RAKs this week (although the recipient doesn’t know it yet) was to make the pair of socks I’m test knitting of a size to give to a friend, instead of keeping them for myself (which meant making them three sizes bigger, too!). I think she’ll love them. Reading everyone else’s ideas over the past two weeks also reminded me to let people come in front of me in line as we were leaving a crowded parking lot after a concert yesterday. And I spent all day Saturday flying up to the northern part of the state to document the stories of some people up there who are going through some horrible things, so that they could use the documentation to argue their case to make it better (can’t be too specific here). I also let a fourth person into my Pay It Forward circle (have you seen that one going around — I am loving all the kindness-inspired things out there right now; maybe I should do another round in July…). Thanks for inspiring all of us!
I had a RAK turned around on me. I was shopping at a store that doesn’t have cart corrals, and I always try to return the cart to the store, as it is a pet peeve of mine when people leave their carts in the middle of the parking lot (even more so when there *is* a cart corral) but I digress…Anyway, there was a woman with a child and another woman who had left before me, walking her cart back as well and I offered to take hers as I took mine. Well, she graciously turned me down as her ride was meeting her at the front, and then offered to take *mine*. Well, shoot. Okay.
I did however get to hold a semi-heavy door open for a nice older lady with a cane – I was walking into the rest room and she was making her way out. As it was kind of heavy and sticky with the humidity of our recent snow, I held it open for her so she could concentrate on navigating the tile floor with her cane. She was very appreciative and wished me a merry Christmas.
I also chased after a lady who left here medical card on the counter at the doctor’s office ’cause I know what it is like to lose one of those 🙂
I have to say, I like this RAK thing – I try and do it year-round, but the day to day bustle of life sometimes bogs me down and this reminder has definitely renewed my wellspring, if you will.
I finished my Fetching mitts for my niece and just have a felted bag left to finish and my Christmas knitting will be done! (And then back to my socks!) For my RAK this past week I made a large batch of frosted sugar cookies and Calico bean dip and brought some over to my next door neighbors house with a bag of chips and to our Youth Pastor’s house (who has 4 little ones and his wife has very little time to bake these day!) And I knew the bean dip was a favorite of both households! It was fun to see their surprise when I showed up with the goodies! Trying to decide what fun things to do this week…..
I’m ready to start the count down to Sping Fling…….
RAk, this last weekend we got dumped on with snow, about a foot and half of hearvy wet snow!!! I decided since I had the snow blower our I would clear the side walks of my neighbors on either side of me. It was a great day. Christmas knitting? I skipped that this year and went right to birthday knitting. My daughter in-law has a birthday the 27th of December, so I’m working on a shrug for her. I love knitting and spinning when it’s snowing outside.
Thanks for the incouragment and getting me to think out side my own family
My RAK for the week was having a small birthday party for a women from my church who never really had one growing up. My kids (6 and 3) and I baked and decorated a cake and I knit her some socks. She seemed very toched and shocked that we would have thought to do that for her. She has become a very dear friend since I moved down south. It was nice to do something speical for her.
Christmas knitting is slightly behind but I will be busting my butt to get things done in time.
Last week was very cold in our area. While shopping Friday evening, I delivered hot cocoa to the SA bellringers. They were thrilled and so surprised!
As a family, we bought a gift for a 13-year-old girl, with the same name as my eldest child, living at a family homeless shelter.
We also provided new facecloths and kids’ games for another family homeless shelter.
I sent an email to the music director at our church, telling her how much I appreciate all her efforts and what a great program she is running.
I am continuing to make a concerted effort to allow other drivers to pull in front of me.
Most of the things I see here just seem to be normal things that normal, courteous, kind people would do anyway. I guess there aren’t as many of us nowadays. I do have plans to make cookies for the guards here at my building — like the gas station attendants, I don’t think many people give them appreciation.
My RAK wasn’t so very Random, but last week, a lady fell down when the train stopped with a jerk. It was inside the train, down a short flight of steps. Plenty of people were around to help her up, so I got the conductor down there, then stayed to make sure she could make it down the outside steps to her car. Not such a big deal.
Today my husband is taking an old artificial tree, a tree stand, and a tree skirt to our local charity. I hope someone can use them!
Holiday crafting – not doing so well. We’ll see!
I donated two handmade items (baby blanket and potholder set) to my childrens’ school for their winter raffle. I figured someone would win them that may not have had the money otherwise. Sadly my daughter won back the baby blanket after trying to win a barbie and putting it in the wrong drawing box.
I am also cleaning out kids clothes this week for the donation box they have at the school for the needy.
Christmas knitting, it makes me want to hide. I just can’t finish everything I wanted to and I’m going through a period where everything I start is just not right. Oh well, back to the needles.
I did a RAK this week that I don’t recommend to others. I’m sure it was foolish but I felt compelled nonetheless.
While driving home from the grocery store on Friday, I saw a well known local couple walking home in the bitter cold with their groceries. Sadly, the couple is well known because of their drug problems. I pulled over and drove them home. They were SO very thankful.
I promised my neighbor (the Chief of Police) that I will not do this again as he reprimanded me terribly. Still, I must admit, it felt good to be able to help them.
Christmas knitting is no where near done. I don’t understand how this sneaks up on me every year!
RAK: knitting hats for the Giving Tree at my daughter’s school. They didn’t have the giving tree last year and I missed this. They give the items to the kids who are in need in the school first and then to the community. My daughter says it always makes her smile to see someone wearing a hat I made.
Yeah, a quick 4 day retreat is just what we all need!
Though I didn’t think of it that way at the time, my RAK was to help a little boy who was trying to fill his cup with ice and having trouble getting the ice machine to work — he wasn’t quite tall enough to get the right leverage.
I’m very tickled because I found the perfect present for my nephew — an alphabet book done with hockey terms.
My Christmas knitting is way behind, but my family knows not to necessarily expect Christmas knitting in time for Christmas. (Besides, between the twelve days of Christmas and counting Eastern Orthodox Christmas as part of Christmastide, that gives me until about January 18….)
I have one RAK, done unto me, that I’d like to mention. I pulled up in front of the grocery store to drop off my mom and elderly aunt , nice and close to the door. I always get out and help them get out of the car. Most of the time people give us dirty looks and impatient attitude at having to wait, but instead, this time the Salvation Army bell ringer came over to open the door. He chatted happily with them and greeted me with a terrific smile. Golly, he really MADE my day. Getting old is so inconvenient! ( sarcasm alertt**) People need to look and see how they could make life easier for an older person.
Now, getting off my soapbox, I also did a small RAK. On my way to teach a knitting class, running late, I saw a car a couple of blocks from my house parked with its lights on. I pulled over and went to the door to tell them. The response from the young man was “Oh, S***”!! I think what he meant to say was “Gee, thanks!” Anyway ,he went out to shut them off and waved at me as I pulled away!!
My late father-in-law’s best friend, Tom, is a dear man of 80 years. My husband and I try to get him out to luch at least every other month. We try more often, but sometimes the schedules just don’t mesh. Last week we saw him and my husband asked about his Christmas plans. He said he wasn’t sure, as he had no money to buy his three daughters anything for Christmas. He had a VA pension that had inadvertently been paying him too much, so they have cut him off rather than asking him to pay any back. He voluntarily turned in his car to the bank, as he could no longer make the payments and got a very old used car so that he’d have something to drive. His statement about broke my heart, so this weekend I made three watches (when not knitting, I can often be found making beaded jewelry) that I will quietly give him tomorrow at lunch, so that he will have gifts for his three daughters. He has no idea that I have done this, and he can’t tell me not to, as the watches are already finished and in little silk bags ready to be gifted.
I live in an urban area with a significant homeless presence. I try to make it an ongoing RAK to look people in the eye and smile at them even if I don’t give them money when they ask for it. A couple of weeks ago someone asked for money and I smiled at him and said, “no, I’m sorry, not today”. There was a startled pause and he said, “thank you for acknowledging me”, and I thought how awful it must be to spend days being invisible.
I love the RAK on-going theme….I was buying a chai tea at the local coffee shop on Saturday when the woman behind me, who was having trouble getting her dog to behave, asked how much hot chocolate was. It was $2.25. “Oh well”, she said, and ordered a coffee because she didn’t have 25 cents. I turned to her and said, “hot chocolate sounds better than coffee, here’s 25 cents to get what you want. ” She just couldn’t believe I did that! She went on to tell me how coffee upsets her stomach when she is out walking her dog but it was so cold out that she needed something to warm her up. It’s so true that the littlest thing, like a quarter, gives back so much gratitude. I too am amazed at the astonished resonses to RAK’s. I was even telling a friend about your blog, and RAK’s and my experience with the 25 cents; we had a long conversation about how this should be an everyday thing all year ’round. I offered to give him a ride home so he wouldn’t have to walk in the cold and he was, again, astonished!!!!! He couldn’t believe I drove him home, right to his front door! But what I really like the most about doing RAK’s is that it has taken me out of my self and make me more aware of those around me. Thank you!
These two things occured on Saturday and Sunday. The first on was while shopping at a bead craft store, a small local place. I filled my little basket with various items, which hubby kindly paid for. I was pleasantly surprised by the final cost, and even said “wow, that is less than I thought.” When we got in the car, I was looking through things, and realized that the low cost was NOT due to sale items, but rather that she forgot to put a $50 purchase on the ticket! We called immediately and had her rectify the situation via credit card. She was very thankful.
The next was at a bar where my husband was trying his first open mike/jam session playing blue grass music on his guitar. (He had lots of fun!) He paid the check for us, and then mentioned the low cost when we were getting in the truck. When he told me the amount, I said that we needed to go back, as they obviously added wrong! So back in we went to add to give them some more cash. The waitress was so surprised that we would come back. We go there several times a month, and they have good prices, we have no need to cheat to save a bit of money!
Last week I had the opportunity to help several people locate their doctor’s offices while I was out delivering my work. Whenever I see someone looking puzzled when trying to find their doctor’s name on the board by the elevator, I always offer to assist, and when I when punching elevator buttons and someone isn’t sure where to go, I can usually point them in the right direction. I have also made it a point to let others out of the parking lot ahead of me when I can and have made it a goal to drop a little change in ever SA pot I pass this holiday season and thank those bell ringers! I think it is a very noble act to stand out in the heat or cold (depending on where you live) for hours at a time ringing that bell!