The Week In Review
Saturday we had our first real snow of the season. ( only lasted about a day) Although it was just over an inch, the meager snowfall made for some treacherous driving. It also provided an opportunity for the boys to make a little income by shoveling the walks and driveway. My youngest son decided to scrape the snow from the lawn as well!The Gift of Giving
I also have been giving the boys jobs to do at my work to earn extra spending money. I had the two older boys fill out time cards. I required that they sign out for lunch and for breaks. The youngest boy takes so many breaks that I just paid him a token amount for his "efforts".
On Sunday, I held a meeting with the boys to discuss a new idea I had. I thought the boys might enjoy buying gifts for each other with their earnings. We set a budget of $10 - 15 per brother.
The boys are enthusiastic about stealthily buying gifts for each other. Even my oldest and usually stingiest child. He called me a few days ago from home to see if he could come in and work for me for a few hours. He needed a few more dollars for extra gifts and wanted to know if it was o.k. to go over the agreed upon budget.
I had a Miracle on 34th Street moment!
Collecting Backwards
Times are tough for almost everyone I know. I have one friend who has been cleaning up her apartment and getting rid of things to make room for a home office. She had just given away an extra microwave when the one she kept, broke down. Talk about bad timing!
A few days later I was talking with another friend who was cleaning out a storage area and taking a load to charity. I asked if he happened to have an extra microwave. Turns out he did and it is in almost mint condition. (see photo above). Funny how things work! (even when they don't!)
Pocket Change
I am not a fan of panhandlers, people who set up tables outside of busy stores for fund-raisers and I don't appreciate bucket-wielding volunteers that stand in the middle of the road looking for motorists with spare-change.
However, I feel like the bell-ringers of the Salvation Army are a worthy charity. I am trying to make an effort to carry pocket-change so I can donate often. Yesterday while shopping with my middle-child, I gave my son a handful of change to drop in the kettle. Afterwards he told me that it made him feel good to be able to help.
A little change, no matter how small, can help make a difference!
and speaking of change:
The New State Quarters are Out!
I stopped at my bank tonight to make a deposit. Our favorite teller waited on me and told me the new Hawaii state quarters are in. This is the last quarter in the state series.
She knows my boys collect them and asked me if I needed some. I bought $1 worth and can't wait till the boys come home from swimming. They are going to be excited to be able to complete their collections!
And that concludes this week's message about change!
5 comments:
awww that post was all mushy and joy of giving and i was just bashing you over on my blog hehehe..
nice feel good post though :)
Sounds like your boys are getting into giving eachother Christmas gifts. I bet that will be fun! Happy Friday!
You're doing a good job with those boys :) Sweet. So glad you were able to help your friend out, too!
Your boys are such wonderful kids.
That's awesome that your kids are enthusiastic about buying gifts for each other. The extent of my kids' generosity toward each other might consist of them being kind to each other on Christmas.
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