It’s Random Acts of Kindness Reporting Day again! Your wonderful comments and emails have brought a lot of smiles to my face, as I read through every one of them. I know you’re bringing smiles to a lot of people by doing something nice and then sharing it so that others can get ideas and be inspired. Thank you again for participating in this fun December tradition at The Loopy Ewe. The randomly drawn winners from last week’s contest were Kathryn from TX and Robin from KY. Each won two skeins of The Loopy Ewe Solid Series in their choice of colors, a pattern of their choice, and a tub of our Soak Heel Creme.
Today’s recipe came about because of the ad for Salted Caramel Chocolate Peanut Bark that I saw in the Crate and Barrel magazine. I bought some (purely for testing purposes, you know) and then figured for that price, I could come up with my own recipe! So here you have it. It instantly became a family favorite in my household. Enjoy.
Salted Peanut Caramel Bark
2 lbs. chocolate melting bark (I use Ghirardelli chocolate, which is only available during the holidays. I get it at Sams in a 2.5 pound box and I used one box for this recipe. I also froze several boxes of it for baking later in the spring.)
2 cups of peanuts (I used dry roasted)
1 cup of caramel bits (found by the chocolate chips in the baking section at the grocery store)
Sea Salt
Melt the chocolate and stir in the peanuts. Let cool for a couple of minutes and then add in the caramel bits. Stir well and then spread out on waxed paper or a Silpat mat (love those). Sprinkle the top lightly with Sea Salt. Put in the refrigerator until the chocolate has set and the bark is easy to break into smaller pieces. YUM.
What did you find to do this past week, to bring a smile to someone’s face? We’ll do two more drawings – for today’s entries, and for next Friday’s entries. Keep watching for opportunities to do something for someone and report back so that you can participate with us.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and sweet family memories this weekend. It’s snowing here today (with 2-4″ expected) and both kids are home. A perfect Christmas Eve.
Sheri coffee+chocolatebarkforbreakfast.
Isthatwrong?
I’ve been doing little things when I can…not taking that closest parking space, smiling at EVERYONE in stores, just taking my time and sending out “calm” vibes when shopping. Even in the grocery store yesterday!
Over on Plurk there’s been a RAK/pay it forward-fest of gifting patterns to people. I used the idea to gift a pattern to a friend of mine having a hard time right now, and offering to acquire her the yarn as well.
(and I think coffee and chocolate bark makes for a well-balanced breakfast indeed)
We are having coffee and Christmas cookies for breakfast (and left over devilled eggs from my DH’s Christmas party-he makes the BEST!)
Merry Christmas to you and yours and every one at TLE
wrapped at the mall yesterday for donations for cancer research! Every year I say that I don’t want to do this, just for “what if it snows? and I have to drive”, or “what if my insomnia returns”, and I have to drive and wrap. This year I got a ride, recovering from a fall, and as always, it is fun. the customers are generous with their donations, and then there is the challenge of that hard to wrap, odd size/shape, too large for the width of the wrapping paper gift to wrap. One special surprise was a mother who asked if her child would watch, as she held him up to see how we wrapped. Her little boy was just fascinated, wanted to see packages being wrapped. and today, I get back to yarn.
This week…I gave someone my all-day bus pass…he asked for a little change for the bus and I was no longer going to need it for the day
I organized meals for a co-worker is unable to cook due to an auto immune condition.
Merry Christmas, Sheri, to you and your family and the Elves.
We baked cookies and delivered them to all of our neighbors as a bit of Christmas cheer.
My husband and I decided we didn’t “need” anything this year. Instead of getting ourselves presents, we donated the amount of money we would have spent on ourselves to the Toys for Tots and our local food bank.
Merry Christmas to everyone there!
Debbie
I gave my neighbor my Pi shawl. She’s just a little bitty thing, about 86 years old and can’t be more than 90 pounds, if that. She’s traveling to Oregon for Christmas, and I just decided spur of the moment that I’d give it to her. She was so thrilled – she’s never had a shawl, and especially not a hand knit one. Made my week!
This week, one of the companies I work for invited me to their employee Christmas party and included me as a recipient of an employee gift (a $100 bill). Another employee at that company has been diagnosed with cancer and is having a pretty hard time of it. I took my $100 and put it in the envelope with his $100. I was one of two at the company who did so–that I know of. Maybe others chipped in too.
Not sure if it counts as random if it’s for a family member, but it was unexpected and unplanned… My mother-in-law was very stressed about Christmas preparations, so I took her list of goodies to bake and made them for her. I could actually see her shoulders lift and her face clear!
Don’t know if this counts as a RAK, but I invited a “difficult” family member who is alone for the holidays for Christmas dinner. (Is my generosity cancelled out by my relief when the invitation was turned down??) Merry Christmas to all at TLE and their families!
It’s not much but I put out the recycling for my roommate. It wasn’t my week (we switch off), but I had the time and was going out to run an errand. Have a happy Christmas!
That’s what I call a “breakfast of champions” , IMPO!
i gave out 2 gift cards for Starbucks to Salvation Army bellringers. I have paid for the person behind me before at Starbucks, but I decided to kick it up a knotch and I paid for the 3 cars behind me. Then left my $10 change from paying in the tip jar.
A friend’s baby had a cold & couldn’t go into daycare, so I offered to to babysit the little darling so she could make it out to the gym. I think that worked out well for everyone!
I gave two gift cards to the bus drives that take me back and forth from my parking area at work to my job location. We couldn’t do it without then!
Sheri,
I hope you and the elves have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy 2011!
I treated my stressed out sister to a haircut at a local salon as a happy day present.
mmmm, evil candy! A few of my RAK’s were to knit a cabled dog sweater the other day as a suprise for a friend. They recently got a dog (like a greyhound but in miniature) and he always is cuddling as he is cold. So i had a random skein and loved knitting him one, fit perfect and his mom says he has been living in it. I also picked up all the goods to knit felted bowls and have been teaching their 15 year old daughter how to knit. She is wanting to progress past the one scarf. Later in the week i helped friends package and seal all their candy goods they have been baking. An assembly line made the task much faster , along with a bit of wine and conversation. Happy yule everybody!
A small thing, but my eldest really wanted some mittens, but didn’t want to ask me because it was only three days before Christmas. He will receive a pair under the tree. It’s a RAK because I’m having a tough time this year, and had to get up early to make time to knit them.
Tuesday we went to the post office to mail a last minute gift(crazy) two young kids were there sending a stuff animal to someone. They had no tape to tape the box and I knew the post office wouldn’t send it that way so I gave them my tape to tape the box. Made my day anyway and especailly theirs. Wish we had snow all we got was clouds and a lot of rain. Merry Christmas to the best yarn shop!
This is a very tiny RAK, but I noticed that there were a lot of Christmas ornaments on the side of the road the other morning during my walk, and I realized they had blown off a neighbor’s outside tree (they have a young boy). So I picked them all up and attached them securely to a series of pine branches across from their house.
That recipe sounds delish!
Have a wonderful holiday, Sheri!
Was in line at grocery store. The woman behind me is having a tough time financially. I saw she had only a few items in her cart. I went back to the store and shopped for her — a chicken to roast, potatoes, veggies, milk, eggs, butter and a package of cookie mix. I delivered them to her house and told her Merry Christmas. She had tears rolling down her cheeks and so did I but it felt so good!
That is my perfect breakfast, too! I’m going to try the caramel bark.
Happy Holiday’s to you, your family and all the Loopy Elves.
I knit some washable squares for the pet cages for shelter cats and left them anonymously with a note explaining what they were, how to wash, etc.
My daughter and I packed up all our spare/outgrown coats, mittens, hats and gloves and took them a local women’s homeless shelter. They were so happy to have them that they had tears in their eyes! I’m unemployed right now, and was going to take the coats to the resale shop, but realized there are people in worse shape than I am… I still have my home!
Merry Christmas, Sherry!
This week I gave away two set of Christmas glasses. I often set things on the curb (nice things) on non-trash pickup days, so that my neighbors have first choice before I take it to goodwill. I meet my neighbors this way as they generally come to the door to see if it’s really for free. In these hard times, it’s nice to see someone so happy to have scored something for free.
We had really great seats at the super crowded kid’s Christmas concert last week and took some great video. When I found out some parents couldn’t even see their own children standing at the front of the church, I put the video on CDs and gave them out this week to the parents. I am also planning to give the CD out to my son’s teacher who was home sick with strep and missed the concert.
No coffee and bark is not wrong but I’d have to have salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks with it. Merry Christmas again.
Today, I took over a bunch of suppers premade and frozen to my friend who just had a knee replacement and who cannot get out to shop. She lives alone and my husband, who does most of the cooking, thinks he is feeding and army when there are only the two of us.lol! We have lots of leftovers that he uses for soups and stews.
We sent chocolate covered strawberries to my son’s teacher’s this week as a “Happy Holiday’s” wish and a “Thank you for dealing with our crazy son” message. They were very touched and loved every bite!
I don’t know if this counts or not but I’m hoping that when a certain package arrives at Loopy Central it will put a smile on your face as well as all the Loopy Elves!
May you all have the happiest of holidays! Thanks again for all that you and the elves do throughout the year!
Can’t wait to try the recipe!
I know this wasn’t just me, but I randomly gifted some people patterns on Ravelry as part of a pay it forward “event” that was going on within Plurk. It all started as someone was not having a good day and someone sent her a pattern to cheer her up. She in turn sent a pattern to someone else and so on and so on and it kind of blew up. It was so fun to give and pay it forward.
This year we, as a family, received a nice chunk of change for a Christmas present. (My inlaws say it is their way of helping us avoid inheritance taxes.) There is a lady I know from my Sunday School class that has been out of work for the last 21 months. With this bit of windfall, I was able to pass the blessing along to her without her knowing about it. I sure loved hearing about how someone blessed her later and she still doesn’t know it was me. Thanks for helping me think outside the box in ways to give.
I learned a few hours ago that a friend died unexpectedly this morning. She was only 34, but had MS and other medical issues. One of her favorite things in the world was the movie Christmas Story. I picked up several copies of the movie, and took them to the Ronald McDonald house in her honor.
Merry Christmas Sheri and Elves! Thank you for a great year!
I read on the SKA Ravelry Board that a sock knitter’s husband lost his job recently that made them qualify for food stamps! I figured if she has to buy food with food stamps, there’s no way she can buy yarn! For Christmas, I sent her 4 skeins of sock yarn, and a little something for each of her kids.
Sheri & Loopy Elves: Merry Christmas!
I arranged for a snow tubing with my family. Then we went to a restaurant for breakfast for dinner.
Terri
My family and I went to Fantasy Lights, where they dress a local park up with festive holiday lights that move – you drive the car through it, enjoy some holiday music and have a nice evening. When we got to the booth to pay, we were told that the car ahead of us paid for our charge and that they had a ‘pay it forward’ going along that evening and asked us whether we would like to continue the pay it forward, so of course we did 🙂
On Thursday evening we were picking up our Brand New Car (a Chevy Volt, I’m so excited, but that’s not the story). My DH and DS had left because the last of the paperwork was taking forever. I was waiting around chatting with the sales people when I looked over to a family who was also waiting and noticed that the baby (maybe 18 months) looked funny. About the same time the mother started screaming and shaking the baby saying he wasn’t breathing. I turned to the sales man and told him to call 911. In the frantic minutes that passed, I tried my best to comfort the mother and reassure the father who was giving mouth-to-mouth. I don’t know about the outcome, but I hope my arm around the scared mother did something. I know I will think about that little guy and his family for a long time…
I baked cookies and cranberry pies to share with elderly people in my neighborhood.Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
We “adopt” a family every year for Christmas and cook them a meal and give gifts and such for them. But what I REALLY love about that is; I just found out that my 20 year old son organized his 3 roomates and adopted a family themselves! Warms my heart like nothing else could!
BTW, I adore the little old men elves you have! They remind me of my dad and his brothers! 🙂 where’d you find them?
It sounds like an excellent breakfast to me!
Oh, and my RAK – First, I bought a big pack of Instant Ramen Noodle cups and a case of bottled water at Costco and my daughters and I have been handing them out to anyone who is holding a sign asking for help. Second, I took a financially struggling friend to the grocery store and told her that I was going to buy her groceries for Christmas.
I lent someone my binoculars so he could see a bald eagle.
Not exactly random, but I had my cousin’s daughter and her husband for Christmas dinner today. I haven’t seen her since she was a little kid, but her Grandmother (my Mom’s sister) called me a few days ago to let me know that they had moved about 40 minutes from me and that they weren’t going to be able to go home for Christmas — and she gave me her number.
I sent a woman some yarn to finish her daughter’s Christmas sweater. She got it in time to finish it!
You had me at salted carmel. I just had my first a few weeks ago, and I’m glad I found this recipe on a day the grocery store is open. Fresh snow aside… The Knight needs to wake up and go get carmel chips!
To bring a smile? I bake and the Knight makes sausage balls from fresh, homemade sausage, and we take goodies everywhere we go, especially to work and the firehouse.
Both coffee and chocolate are made from beans and peanuts are a legume. What, I ask, is wrong with a vegetarian breakfast? I got a great Christmas present for myself this weekend, a new peacoat for my granddaughter, who needed a new coat sooo badly. She was very surprised and delighted. Really not in my budget, but certainly perfect for my heart. And I will remember her happiness all over again when I pay my card in January.
Merry Christmas to you, the elves and Loopy and their extended families.
When I got to work on Christmas I brought a surprise relish tray for the enployees to munch on. I figured maybe it would cheer everyone that had to work up just a little. They loved my husbands homemade pickles:)
After watching a clearly confused young guy try to figure out how to mail a single shirt (no idea if it was a gift…wasn’t wrapped), I told him that unless that shirt was way heavier than it looked, he could mail it in a Priority package for way cheaper than the medium Flat Rate box he’d picked up.
Also, I waited for the lady a few cars down from me to finish putting her groceries in her trunk and then offered to take her cart back to the cart return along with my own.