Week Two of our December Random Acts of Kindness contest! You all had such good ideas last week and I’m looking forward to reading all of the ways that you found to bless others this week. Leave your RAK comment on today’s blog, and I’ll use the Random Number Generator to identify the winner of the prize (which you can see pictured in this previous post) and will post it on Monday. That also means that if you haven’t had an opportunity to do a RAK this week yet, you have until I run the numbers and post on Monday to do one and comment on it. One of the things that I really love about RAKs is that often the people who are the recipients, then go on to do something nice for someone else – and so on, and so on, and so on. We really have no idea where that chain of events will end. It’s nice to know you might really be starting something!
Have you seen the newest issue of Knit 1? I wanted to give a big congratulations to some of our wonderful Indie Dyers who are featured on the “Indie Spirit”. There are 10 different dyers listed and it says their yarns are “dyed in small batches, these yarns have heart, soul, and a whole lotta color”. (And the people behind the yarns are pretty special, too!) So congratulations to: Georgia with Yarn Pirate, Claudia with Wollmeise, Marie with Brooklyn Handspun, Khris with Chewy Spaghetti, Jana with Hand Maiden, Jess with Yarntini, and Angela with Duets. (Rounding out the top ten list of indie dyers, you’ll also find Sundara with Sundara Yarn, Julia with Knitterly Things, and Tina with Blue Moon Fiber Arts. And yes, I’d love to have all three of those lines here at Loopy, and yes, I’ve asked before!) Further congratulations to Cookie A and Wendy for being picked as wonderful knitting bloggers (who have both designed and shared a sock pattern in this issue.) If you haven’t picked up this magazine yet, you need to. There are lots of great patterns in there!
As promised, here is the recipe for Meg’s amazing Peppermint Pudge. And the name? When one of her sons was little, he was eating a piece and then asked for “more pudge please”. It has been known as Peppermint Pudge ever since.
Meg’s Peppermint Pudge
4 1/2 cups sugar
24 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) salted butter
1 jar (7 1/2 oz) marshmallow cream
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups (10 oz. bag) Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (reserve 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top)
Butter or line a 9 x 13 pan. Place chocolate, butter, marshmallow cream and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a 3 qt. saucepan, combine sugar and evaporated milk and mix well. Place over low heat and stir until dissolved. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring mixure frequently, until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F. Remove pan from heat and pour hot mixture over contents in the mixing bowl. Beat on a low setting until all ingredients combine thoroughly. Increase speed slightly and mix until fudge is thick and holds shape. Stir in the Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan and let set.
Thanks for sharing the recipe (and sending us fudge!), Meg!
I’m off to the grocery store this afternoon. College Guy and College Girl are arriving home today for the holidays, and I’m sure they need some Peppermint Pudge. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Sheri lookingforwardtoreadingyourRAKcommentsagaintoday!
OH – do I get to make the first comment?? Cool!
Let’s see – my RAK actually took place over the course of a couple of weeks. A friend I know from the Internet isn’t doing so well $$, and loves to knit. Well, I’m in the process of turning over and weeding out the stash, so I put aside a copier paper boxful of yarns for her and sent it out (including a skein of cashmere that just seemed to be her colors). It took a couple of weeks because FedEx FORGOT to give her the postcard that the box was waiting and it got sent back to me. I paid again to have it shipped, this time to her office. That rather ruined the surprise factor because I didn’t have her work address! But she’ll get it in time for the holidays, and all that lovely yarn will finally be knit up and loved.
Of course, now my DH insists that I not fill up the gaping hole in the stash 🙂
My kids and I were cleaning out toys and books that they have outgrown but are still very useable. We donated them to a homeless shelter for families; men with children, women with children and intact families that have been displaced. We included some gently used clothing.
I was fortunate enough to get a rather large check for some computer consulting work. The check was used to purchase a nice new MacBook laptop to replace my 5 year old iBook. Rather than let the old laptop collect dust, it’s on it’s way to California to the 7 year old grandson of the issuer of said check who recently discovered GarageBand and has produced his first CD on his father’s Powerbook. Who knows. He may be our next musical heartthrob.
My RAK this week was sort of an extension of a not-so-random act. I volunteered (or more accurately, I was volunteered) to work the door for a memorial service at work this week. It was for someone I hadn’t really known well, but my fellow door-workers did. Once the service started, I insisted on staying by myself to direct stragglers to the auditorium, so they could go and watch.
Maybe you had to be there…My DB was coming over for dinner and he absolutely LOVES potatoes. I had stopped by the store and picked up some frozen hash browns just because I knew he’d like them. It wasn’t on my original menu.
He was so happy that I had gone out of my way to include potatoes with dinner! It only confirmed to me that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach! 🙂
I bought candy for the office (which I haven’t done since Halloween). I bought several bags of Hershey’s Kisses and they all were different flavors. Needless to say, everyone was happy with the chocolate surprise!
I’ll have to go and buy an issue of Knit 1 and make the fudge. What a perfect combo with a cup of coffee for a possibly rainy Sunday afternoon!
I work in an auto parts store and a couple of times during this last week, customers have come in and bought items and have not had quite enough money for the total bill. I have dug into my own pocket and supplemented what they did not have.
My DH started smoking briskets yesterday. There are four of them: two were destined for a Christmas party for his office (which we won’t be able to attend), one is for his parents and one was to be ours. A friend had a death in her family so we are giving up our brisket. The one for his parents will be divided up into two-portion vacuum-sealed bags so they can have some easy meals. Also, DH cooked some locally-made Czech sausage which will be going to his parents and to the party as we already have plenty of that in our freezer.
If you could taste it, you would know the sacrifice we are making!
Yesterday morning I was at the mall having my daily walk around when a man ahead of me collapsed and gashed his head open on the way down to the floor. I ran over to him, made sure he was conscious, sat next to him and talked to him while holding pressure to his head wound while someone else called for an ambulance. I was there this morning walking too, but I didn’t see him. Hope he’s OK. I’m saying prayers for him.
This afternoon I helped my neighbor carry his things up to our apartments. Apparently he was walking his big dog and slipped on ice- breaking his ankle! He really needs to get better with those crutches fast though 🙂 Poor guy!
On Sunday, I got together with other members of the community and packed up care packages to send to soldiers who are deployed overseas.
I let a cranky elderly lady with a large cart of groceries go in front of me in line at the grocery store. It took her forever to check out and she kept telling me that she knew I was sorry for letting her go ahead of my 2 items. I smiled sweetly and told her that it was the holidays and I was only too happy to have her not wait. She smiled and said that it was so nice that “young” people are doing good deeds. (I have grandchildren, but to her I looked young : )
This simple act made my day and I hope hers. She wasn’t cranky when she left the store.
I had two RAKs this week, but I didn’t really think of them as RAKs, they were just things that I should have done! Over the weekend, DH and I went through our closets and filled two large bags with hats, scarves, mittens, gloves, sweatshirts and winter coats that we no longer need. On Tuesday I took them to the Christian Caring Center, which works with the homeless in our county. They were ever so grateful for the donation because there is a great need this year. Later I stopped to pick up a gift and as I was walking to the store I wanted to go to, I saw an obviously new mom heading to the next store over with her stroller, baby and all sorts of fun baby paraphernalia. I walked over and opened the door for her and she looked at me, with gratitude in her eyes and said, “Thank you so much! it’s my first time out with the baby and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to handle it!” I told her I had 3 and always appreciated the help, so I was happy to do it.
This one’s been building. When i finished my shrug for the DiC KAL, I wore it to a friend’s house. Another friend was chily, and she wore it most of the day. It was so very cute on her. I emailed her with a link to the DiC at TLE and told her, “pick a color”.
It’s taken me a while to get started, then finish, but the shrug blocked last night. I have to weave in ends and it’s done.
On a whim, I’m knitting up and tossing a pair of Fetching out of the leftover yarn into the package. If there’s any leftover when *they* are done, I’m thinking of pairing it with some other leftovers and making her daughter mittens. If there’s enough.
Not sure if this counts as a RAK, but I heard through the grapevine that a certain someone was looking for a certain very hard to get yarn for their significant other for Christmas (I’m being very sneaky here in case that person reads this) and we all know how difficult “that” yarn is to get. I mean it disappears in 5 minutes or less when it’s in stock. So I contacted that someone and offered to sell one of my coveted skeins so that a Christmas wish could come true. I love happy endings 🙂
I picked an angel from the office building’s tree. I bought him a bunch of clothes (ignoring the limit imposed by the charity). I wish I could have given him some toys as well, but the charity prohibits that.
I picked up lunch for one of my coworkers and watched the table she was manning, so she could take a walk around and see what was available for sale.
Of course, there is a hat she wants and I think she needs, so I will be down in a little bit to see if it is still available…
Nice to see you guys today….
Peppermint Pudge, hunh? Could be another reason for that name! But oh, at the Holidays there are no calories are there?
This week, my daughter and I took cocoa and cookies to several of the Salvation Army bellringers. It was pretty cold here in Minnesota, and we were greeted with some pretty happy grins! I think doing this made us feel even better than they felt.
My RAK isn’t quite as random as it could be. I make a big batch of fudge every year around Christmas time, and give some wrapped up to friends and family. This year, I’m trying to spread it around a little more, and was happy to be able to give some to an older gentleman in my building who is always insistent on opening my garage door for me whenever he sees me coming. I also gave out samples to my knitting group, and will be distributing more chocolately goodness to my discussion group on Sunday. I love how a little bit of chocolate can make so many people happy.
I bought a few Starbucks gift cards this morning, and I plan to give them to some of the homeless people I see every day around the area this weekend — I know it isn’t much, but it will give them something warm to drink and something to eat; we’re supposed to get the first snow of the year here tonight and will have about a weeks worth of days where it doesn’t get above freezing (and here, no one is used to that kind of weather). So it’s a small thing, but easy enough for me, and it’ll be a little help for them against the unexpected chill here. The shelters can only do so much, these days, and the local one isn’t open during the day.
I also have some friends who are in the process of adopting their grandchildren — there’s two kids, one just turned 4, the other is 2 — and they got word on Wednesday that there was an opening for them to finalize the adoption on this coming Monday. Much sooner than expected (state adoption). Which is great, except that it’s almost $2500 they weren’t planning to spend quite yet, and as she put it to me Wed night, “there goes Christmas.” So I recruited a couple of friends, and we are going shopping on Sunday to buy some things for the kids, and for the parents, nothing extravagant, but a few small things. The fact that the kids are theirs legally is the biggest gift anyone could have given the whole family, of course, but we hate to see the kids miss out on Christmas too. Plus I’ve got a bath set for her already so she can take some down-time and just relax once the adoption is finalized.
I love reading everyone’s comments!
While waiting in line at our extremely crowded grocery store, I let an older gentleman go ahead of me. He must have really needed the RAK because he didn’t even acknowledge my presence or thank me. Doing an RAK for a grumpy person made me feel even better.
I also made a donation to our local food shelf. It breaks my heart to hear about so many people going hungry.
Peppermint Crunch Baking chips?? Where do I find those? I’ve never heard of them before.
Thank you so much for my Romney Ridge Calendar, Sheri, which arrived today! Now I can map out my next few months.
Be watching your mail next week!
I offered my umbrella to an older gentleman who lives in my building and was heading out into the rain as I was coming in. He was quite taken aback and wouldn’t accept it. Still, I tried!
My RAK was for the secretary at my husband’s office. She has been battling a strange form of breast cancer for a while now and has recently had to switch the radiation she’s been receiving. It’s caused her to lose her hair. My husband shared this with me over dinner one night this week. As soon as dishes were done, I dug in my stash and started knitting her a roll-brim hat to wear in some of my favorite shades (blues, greens and browns). I finished it this morning and I will send it with my husband on Monday to give to her. I love doing stuff like this! 🙂 I also am really uplifted by all of the other RAK’s people do…thank you all of you! 🙂
I was gifted with some coffee and a mug from one of my students. I don’t drink coffee, so I passed it along to another teacher (and her brother) that I know who loves coffee. Not that big of a deal, but she seemed to be happy about it. 🙂
Well not so random but this year instead of drawing a name out of a hat for our extended family gift exchange we adopted one of the 100 Neediest Families.
I baked cookies and then left them in the work kitchen for everyone to enjoy. Yet no one knew they were from me (and I swear I didn’t poison them either 😉 )
I picked up a meal for a Mom from my Mom’s club who just had a baby. I couldn’t get over to her house in time for dinner to drop it off, so I called a restaurant and ordered take out for her family. We couldn’t eat the dinner b/c we keep kosher, so now I had to find someone else to give the meal to randomly. The next day I gave the meal to someone I sort of know from my daughter’s preschool for her to bring to her office for lunch. Next time I will try to be more organized about meal giving, though in the end I fed lots of people I don’t really know in a holiday season that really could use some RAK and cheering up. Have a great weekend everyone!
My committment to do at least one RAK everday for the month of Dec. continued…
12/6 – Drove a friend’s daughter to her volleyball game & shoveled snow for my elderly neighbor.
12/7 – wrote a pick-me-up-you’ll-get-through-the-holidays card for a friend who lost her cousin/good friend to cancer several months ago.
12/8 – made a special trip up to school to drive a friend’s 3 kids home, so they wouldn’t have to walk in the icy rain.
12/9 – Donated various stocking stuffers to a local group that supports young single parents & their children.
12/11 – Babysat a neighbor’s children befoe school & drove them to school.
12/12 – gifted cookies to a friend in a bag labeled “Happy Firday!”
12/10 – Wed. was tough… we found out our 13 yr old cat had cancer (she died the next day)… so Wed. I stayed home from work and took care of my family, and most especially my cat during her last night. She was a great cat… we all miss her… but I know that she felt loved.
I started an after-school knitting club at the elementary school where I teach kindergarten. I started the club with a dozen 5th grade students who asked to be a part of it. My plan was to teach them and once they became “knitters,” add the 4th graders so my older students could be teachers. And then add on 3rd grade, etc. It has been working out really well! The kids looks forward to knitting and often stop by my room for help and more yarn. Yarn was the issue – I was able to get the PTA to donate $ for knitting needles. This week I sorted through my stash and was able to come up with a shopping bag full of yarn to keep them going for a while. The kids enjoy knitting and I enjoy passing on the love of a wonderful craft!
I bought coffee for the person behind me in line at Starbucks. It isn’t much but I hope they smiled.
My husband and I are very involved in our Boy Scout Troop, even though our youngest is 21 and has been out of the troop for over 3 years. A new family just joined the troop, after moving here from California. The mom is divorced and moved her own mother here to help take care of her boys while she works.Talking to the mom on Friday of last week, we realized that they have not really met too many people, even though they have lived here since August. So on Tuesday, we took them out to eat and gave them a list of things they should see, and places to go, as well as some referrals for dentists, orthodontists, and the like. I also gave the grandmother a list of things that she can do to help meet some people, as she really knows nobody here in Balatimore yet.
I cleaned out my stash of cross stitch patterns. They filled 2 paper grocery bags. I put a listing on Craig’s list and gave them to the first person who came to get them. Also, sent 3 kitty/doggy blankies that I knit to the local humane society. Love the season!
My RAK …I have a dear friend that is currently on bedrest with her 7th (6 on earth, one in heaven). This week would have been her deceased daughters 5th birthday (Gabi lived 4 days) and I know this is a hard week for her. This all on top of her cancer is back again. So, I sent an email out to a bunch of our church friends and got some meals set up for them. I have prepared and taken out a couple of freezer meals as well. I plan on doing a meal every week until things settle down for them.
My RAK?
I let someone else have the good parking spot, because I was alone and she had kids with her. I helped out a friend who forgot her wallet at home and was stuck at the bookstore without a means to buy her book, so I bought it for her (and lunch afterwards…) and lastly I hung out at the (stinky) gym for an hour so my daughter could help a friend learn a routine for their competition tomorrow.
Earlier this week, I gave an office-mate a jump start on her car. It was late, and it wouldn’t start. Boy, was she happy to see me!
HI!!! The recepie looks yummy!!!!! My RAK today is working with a difficult customer who no one in my office likes to deal with. I spent 4 hours with him, far beyond what is called for in my office, but he needed the one on one help and someone to devote time to him.
He was apprectiative in the end but it was nice to give him the attention that other co workers have a hard time giving him.
Enjoy having the whole family home!!!
Danielle
My youngest child has a “Holiday Shop” at school, where children can bring in money to buy their parents/friends/family different presents that they pick out. I sent in extra money this year, and told the PTA members to give the extra money to a child that didn’t bring money in for the Holiday shop. I guess I was pretty specific in that I didn’t want it to be a direct donation to them, but that it should bless another child, who may not have had the money to purchase gifts for his/her family. The kids are so excited to get gifts for their family, and are so proud to pick out something by themselves! 🙂 I think it also taught my daughter a good lesson too!
My RAK for this week was to organize snacks for a potentially really contentious meeting happening at work on Sunday. People were to gather at noon right after the 11:00 worship service, and I figured hungry people are likely to be more cranky. So I drafted a couple people to help me and we prepared appetizers, cookies and beverages for 200 or so people. Everyone was extremely grateful since the meeting ended up lasting for 2 1/2 hours, and I think the meeting went more smoothly because people had something to nibble on.
While I was picking up my 5-year old daughter, Ellie, from school the other day, her teacher stopped me to ask where I bought the crackers I had sent in for her snack that day. She told me she loved them and needed to find some. So the next day I packed Ellie’s teacher her very own snack bag with those crackers. She loved that 🙂
Last night I brought 5 bags of groceries to the temple for the 7th graders to pack up into holiday meals at the local food pantry. This will also lead to my next week’s RAK, but I will tell you about it next week after I do it.
I also helped a woman out to her car with her groceries and put them into her car for her. She is pregnant, on crutches and has 3 young children. I don’t know how she does it. I wanted to offer to follow her home and bring the stuff into her house, but that would have been very strange. lol
This feels weird giving my line-up for the week, but here goes:
*Donated to the Salvation Army Kettles multiple times through out the week
*Donated food and money to a family within our church in need this Christmas season
*My 10 yr old son is in a bowling league and there is a family that had their kids in bowling last year, but due to circumstances is not able to this year. There are 5 kids under the age of 10, 2 of those being 1 yr old twins. The husband has left and is in no way supporting them financially. There are some of us trying to help this family out. I went to Costco to get some food bulk items that they could use.
*This one happened a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share it anyway. Our local knitting/crocheting group meets at a local coffeeshop on Tuesday nights. While we were there a woman came in asking for gas money. She has just left the hospital from where her grandmother had just died from a stroke. She live about an hour away and did not have enough gas to get back home. We asked if we could pray for her first, so we stood up and held hands with her and each other while some in our group said prayers for her and her family. It was very moving and once prayers had been said we sent her along with the gas money she needed.
I love reading all of the RAK’s. Can’t wait to see what everyone does next week.
I gave a donation to the Marine Toys for Tots, gave money to help sponsor a family at my Husband’s work and also let two people go in front of me in line at the grocery store today 🙂
Happy Holidays everyone
Well, I have one RAK and one attempted RAK. I was waiting behind some people to use the ATM at the mall, and after they left I realized they had left their card in the machine. Instead of just going ahead and using the ATM and leaving the card at the service desk right by me, I ran it to them while they were in my sight, even though it meant I had to wait again once I got back to the ATM. Figured no one wants to discover their check card missing, especially around the holidays!
The attempted RAK was thwarted by the cashier. Some people had gone into the line wrong at Barnes and Noble (gone in the “Out” side) and hadn’t realized it. I tried to get them to go to the cashier who was free, but he said that since I was in line I was “first.” He was a nice man and commented on how it was nice for me to offer them to go ahead, but I was in line and they weren’t. Wouldn’t have bothered me any to wait a bit more considering they had been standing there for a few minutes already.
While going through my stash, I discovered two skeins of the same colorway. Now, as much as I obviously *liked* this colorway (to order it at two different times, after all); I don’t really need a second skein, so I shipped it off to a sock knitting friend of mine who will be quite delighted at the unexpected gift.
I went to the grocery store after work the other day (who wants to go to the store at that time – it’s so busy!) because my wonderful husband hadn’t rationed his beloved milk and ran out.
I’m friendly with a middle school teacher. I’ll be meeting her for coffee tomorrow and unbeknownst to her, I’ll be bringing her a pile of older childrens/young adult books because I know she’s trying to encourage her kids to read by having books easily accessible to them (with no possible library fines).
I found a stray dog in my driveway and managed to get him to lead me back to his house so I rang the doorbell and, sure enough, they didn’t know he’d gotten out! They were happy!
I’ve knit 3 more beanies for the troops stationed with my husband this week. And let me tell you that’s a ton of 2×2 rib. Bleh, but it’s for a grand cause so I’m happy to do it. (and he keeps adding people to my knit list)
Raks abound…
Monday nt I saw a mom at Target umm “catch” what her lil cutie.. spit up…I recognized that look of panic that said “What do I do with it NOW?” I opened up a roll or papertowel.. and helped her clean up… baby was fine and playing.. puke was cleaned up… and RAK mission accomplished. 🙂