A friendly reminder

Recently I was grocery shopping at Metro. Because I was there early in the morning, the only place to cash out your groceries was the self checkouts. Not a problem for me (I use them all the time) but problematic for the older gentleman trying to use the self checkout beside me. He was so baffled and confused, I could see he was getting so frustrated. There wasn't a cashier in sight and I could feel his embarrassment and frustration as he fumbled beside me.

So, I asked him if he wanted me to cash out his groceries!! The look of sheer happiness on his face made my entire day! I scanned and bagged all of his groceries, and then talked him through the payment process. He was paying cash and i'm thankful for that! Debit would have been much more difficult I'm sure. 

I'll remember his smile for a long time. it was a pretty great way to start my day :) 

A thought to end with for today..

Sharing some savings

Last Saturday my family and I went shopping at Walmart. While we were there, we decided to leave behind a bunch of coupons that we wouldn't be using. I actually had a peek into the carts of fellow shoppers, and if I had a coupon for something they had, I gave it to them. People were so happy and receptive! It was nice to make people smile :)

Of course it's a family affair! :) Silas was very excited to leave behind our card!

Coupons are usually pretty easy to come by. and it's not that hard to leave them behind for someone else to use. This is definitely going to stay as one of the kindness habits we continue on a regular basis. 

That's all for today :) 

Stickin' to it....

Soo I know, I know. I'm horrible at updating. life has been so busy with selling the house (it's sold by the way HOORAY) and looking for some place new, that I don't get a lot of time to post.

I won't lie. For a while, I was slacking. Personal life got in the way and I lost sight of my goal. But I got back on the wagon and here I am today :)

That being said, I have some cool things to talk about!!

So one night, I went out with my sisters for dinner to Philthy McNastys and to see a movie.
I had 2 free passes, and my other sister had a buy one get one free coupon. But, there was only 3 of us!! Well, my sister Tenessa came up with the idea of picking a person in line and letting them have the free ticket!! Turns out, there was only one fellow in line behind us, but he was really grateful! at first, he probably thought we were nutso, but that's beside the point ;)

Yay for good deeds at the Movies!

Give something out into the universe, get something back? Maybe! When we came out of the movies, this was stuck into the window of my car:

It's a $10 gift coupon to the restaurant where we went for dinner prior to the movies! We were all so shocked!

We wonder.. was it the guy who got the free movie ticket? was he trying to pay it forward by performing a good deed to some one else, coincidentally picking my car? Who knows. But it's pretty awesome non the less :)

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On a different day not too long ago, I took my little guy Silas to the grocery store. When we were leaving we were driving through the parking lot and we found this goose:

Poor thing had a broken leg and couldn't move very far. By the poop around it, it had been living off drinking from that puddle for a few days. As we sat in the car watching it, a few people almost hit it with their cars. It was obvious that he could not fly.

Silas was concerned, and so was I. So, I did the only thing that I could think of. I called Animal Control. I explained the situation and that we were really worried the goose would be hit by a car and killed. Animal Control came and took the pretty creature off to safety. I like to think that hopefully the leg was fixable!

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And for my last post, another morning I was at the grocery store again doing some shopping. I always like to have my coupons with me, cause I'm cheap. LOL! Anyway, a lot of the times my coupons expire because I don't need them or use them. So today my lightbulb came on! if I can't use them, it doesn't mean someone else won't! So, as I did my shopping, I strategically placed my coupons around the store where they would be seen. Some times it was even a great deal for the finder! I hope they enjoyed their found savings!

I also continued this and gave a gentleman at the drugstore a $5 off coupon for the Arius he was buying. it was already on sale so he was pretty thrilled. :)

That's all for today (and I think it's long enough ha ha), but I will post soon I promise!

A family affair

Well it's been a while since I last wrote, things have been crazy busy in my personal life. We are prepping our house for sale! Such an exciting time in the lives of my little family :)

BUT! Just because I've been busy doesn't mean the good deeds have stopped!! I will admit, it's been hard some days, I have been under a lot of pressure and stress and it's not always easy to remember to try and be nice!! It's a work in progress, but that's okay with me :)

Recently, I actually was the recipient of an RAK myself. A complete stranger paid the $2 for my son to participate in an egg hunt at the local park on my street. I had left my wallet at home and due to a communication mix up he was going to be excluded until this wonderful lady came along. That woman reminded me what it's all about! If the people I have been doing RAK's for feel half as good as I felt when she did that for Silas, then I'm thrilled. :)

After Easter I spent the night at my sisters house and the next day we took the kids for a walk. It was a super windy day and on the way my sister and her son picked up recyclables and put them back in peoples bins! I was so very proud watching :)

Today on my way to work I was feeling like I needed a pick me up. I wanted to do a good deed for someone cause it always makes me feel so good inside. And then the idea hit me! Coffee and a donut! In the visor of my car I had 2 tabs from Tim Horton's recent "Roll up the Rim" contest. One was for a free coffee and one was for a free donut. So, I put them into a plastic bag with one of my kindness cards. On the back of the card I wrote "Have a coffee and donut on me!" with a big smiley face. Then I picked a random car in the parking lot at work and slipped it under the windshield wiper. 

Trying not to get noticed was the hardest part!! 

then I snuck away quiet as a mouse. I hope they enjoyed their little treat!! :) 

That's all for now. I'll try to update more often!

thinking of others

Well it's been a little while since I updated, it's been crazy busy for me but that doesn't mean the good deeds have stopped!!

I have been doing my best to try and put myself in other peoples shoes.. Thinking of their feelings before my own. Treating them as I wish to be treated. I've been putting forth a really good effort to be a better driver.. You know, to those people who like to swerve over and cut ahead one car (usually i wouldn't let them in!) stuff like that. I've been doing a pretty good job too!! :)

Some other good deeds done have been...

last week we had a pretty windy day on the day we put out our trash bins. When I went outside to get mine I saw that my neighbours bin was in the middle of the street a few doors down. I went and got it and put it on his porch :)

One night on our family walk we found a pair of glasses on the sidewalk. They were in really good condition and didn't look like they had been there long. So Chris took them to the house in front of the spot where the glasses were found. A lady answered and said that the glasses weren't hers, but that she thought they belonged to the fellow next door. She said he worked evening shift and wasn't home, but offered to take them and return them to him the next day!

the glasses!

And finally (but not *finally*) my last good deed for this entry! (no one likes to read a novel)

I am a member of a site on Facebook called Recycling Kindness. it's a pretty cool page and basically you give things away and you can ask for stuff for free as well. no money is ever exchanged. it's just basically people helping people.

Anyway, I had purchased two wagjags months ago for a burger and fries from O'niels, one of my fave places ever. But after buying them I realized they were for a different place up the mountain not anywhere near to me. So, two days ago I gave them away to two strangers over the RK site!

I have to say that doing these things is really making me feel so much happier deep inside myself. I feel more fulfilled. I'm looking forward to each day. To see what new things will present themselves to me, and how I can help people feel good too. The change is happening! 

Date Night!!

Last night my inlaws took Silas for the night (thanks by the way!!:)  so Chris and I took that opportunity to have a date night. we had a great time :) Our original plan was to go somewhere we hadn't been in a long time for dinner during our date but things didn't work out that way and we ended up at Sushi Star. All in all I'm pretty pleased about that because the food was amazing and so was my date :)

During supper Chris and I had a long talk about this new quest I've insisted we take. I wanted to make sure he really got it and understood where I am coming from. Although he made a few jokes (he's a joker by nature) he very much understands and is standing by me. I'm excited that we are doing this together as a family, as a team. I think it will bring us all so much closer together and I'm really thankful for that :)

Anyway, to park at Sushi Star you need to buy a ticket in the meter at the back. Then if you take the end stub part in they will give you your money back. So, we did that but we still had the original stub which allowed us to park until 5:30am.  When we cashed out we asked the lady behind the counter for a piece of tape...

No point in the parking stub going to waste so we taped it to the machine with a card for the next person to find it!

This is probably one of my favourite things to do.. I just think it would be so awesome if when I got to the parking machine I didn't have to pay, LOL!

I'm also trying my best to be a more patient person. There have been a few times within these passed few days that I have really felt tested but I'm doing a pretty good job at staying cool. I'm reminding myself that I'm trying to be a better person, and that losing my cool won't get me anywhere. It hasn't worked every time but it works sometimes.. baby steps :)

That's all for today :)

The new card :)

My 2nd batch of cards came today and I'm pretty thrilled!! These I kind of prefer over the first ones I did, mainly because they encourage their recipient to pay it forward. I made a little poem on them and everything. lol!

They say "You have just experienced a random act of kindness!"
Now it's your turn to pass it on!

it doesn't have to cost you money
any kind deed will do
open a door, let someone in line
kind words work wonders too

~ together we can change the world, one good deed at a time ~

here's a pic of the card :)

thanks vista print! they turned out great :) 

So last night I went out for dinner with my sister. It was really nice to spend some time together. We hadn't seen each other in a while. At dinner I told her all about my quest to change through being kind. Not sure if she thinks I'm a little whackadoodle or what but she did give me a weird look or two at first lol. But by the end of the conversation I think she understood where I'm coming from and thinks it's kind of cool.  

At the end of dinner we thanked and tipped our waitress. before we left, we slipped a surprise on the table. Unfortunately the waitress saw it before we were gone and asked if we forgot our chocolates. we smiled and said no they are for you and tried to quickly get out of there! I like it better when the acts are more anonymous lol 

the chocolates! 

This morning I took Silas to Timmies for some donuts. On the way there we talked all about how it's important to be nice and always do good things. When we got there I encouraged him to ask for his donuts using pleases and thankyou's. When we left he gave the girl behind the counter a loonie all by himself and said "have a good day!" "love you too!" (the love part was pretty funny, i didn't tell him to say that lol!) I wanted to take Silas' picture for this post but he didn't cooperate. maybe another day ;) 

write soon! 

Another day :)

Well on Wednesday my good deeds actually found me. Or, maybe I just noticed them more because I'm more open to seeing them, who knows. But it was a good day anyway :)

I went into work in the morning for some training. While chatting up a girl at the switchboard one of my fave employees came over looking to see if there was a spare newspaper. She said she had a new patient who loves to read and would enjoy one. Unfortunately there was no spare paper. Well, there was only one thing to do.. buy him one of course! the giftshop sells them for $1.25 so I gave her the money to get him one. that felt pretty darn good :)

 Later that morning I went to the grocery store. While waiting in the self checkout lane I noticed that the person in front of me had forgotten to take their reciept. it was one of those little ones that say a good chunk of your debit numbers on it. I'm always paranoid about people finding mine and I didn't want that one to end up in the wrong hands so I took it and tore it to smitherines!! Not necessarily a huge RAK but I'd like to think if it was me, someone would do that for me too.

 when I was done shopping I put my cart back where it belonged but left the quarter inside. There has been a few times that I've forgotten a quarter and always tried to find a cart that had one left inside.. well now maybe I can help someone out.. I'd like to think that everyone who used that cart today left the quarter inside for the next person. I'm sure that's just wishful thinking but who cares. my blog my rules ;)

(don't worry, I took my flyer home)

And not all good deeds are going to cost money! This morning (thursday) at the dollar store, I let a lady go ahead of me in line. She only had 3 candles and I had a cart full of things (I have a bit of a dollar store obsession). She was very happy grateful and that made me feel pretty great! :)

Act 1!

Well, I'm very excited to say that yesterday I completed my first RAK in a while. I taped a card and some money to the parking meter at my work. Hoping whoever found that enjoyed their free parking, and that it also brightened their day. Maybe they walked away wanting to pay it forward, who knows!

I feel so great already.. Harold Kushner spoke the truth when he said "when you carry out acts of kindness you get a wonderful feeling inside. it is as though something inside your body responds and says, yes, this is how I ought to feel".

Where will my next act take me.. I'm not sure yet but I'll keep ya posted :)

How it began.

Welcome to the first post of my new blog!

Years ago before I was dating my husband I used to do things called Random Acts of Kindness. I would do them all the time.. pay for the person's order in the drive thru behind me, put money in parking meters, if I saw they were expired, etc. But as time went by and life got busy I slowly drifted from it.

Fast forward to this weekend. For the passed few weeks I had been feeling as though the world was bogging me down with negativity. Everywhere I turned around, someone had something bad to say. my news feed on facebook was 90% full of posts from people who were complaining about one thing or another. I just got so frustrated and I wanted to scream "enough!". But I didn't know what to do.

And then it hit me. Ghandi said "be the change you wish to see in the world." and truer words have never been spoken. I shouldn't complain that people are complaining. That makes me just as bad! If I want more positivity in my life, I need to bring it myself.

And so it began. I woke up Sunday morning and said to myself (and my facebook world) that I was going to change. I was going to become a positive force. Set an example for my son. Do good deeds, give out compliments, smile for no reason. I'm going to make an effort to be what I think the world is lacking. I want my son to grow up happy, seeing the glass half full. I don't want him looking for the bad side, but seeing that the world is full of wonderment and nice people.

I ordered up some cute cards (the first card is below, the 2nd hasn't arrived yet) and decided I was going to start a tradition. A tradition of kindness. We are going to do random acts of niceness, some big, some small and some inbetween. We are going to give compliments, try to be more patient, smile more often, help when we can.

I hope to continue this with Silas and Chris (and any other family and friends too!) for the rest of my life. I hope that when Silas grows up he will carry on the tradition with his family too.

Together we can change the world, one good deed at a time.

Thanks for joining us on our journey.  :)