RAOK Week 2

This week's Random Act of Kindness was #4:  Donate clothes/toys.

For the past couple of weeks, my mind has been basically eating itself from the crazies and I've been trying to just make everything in my 10X10 room disappear.  I have a lot of things sitting in boxes, waiting to be moved out ASAP, and the other 80% of my room is just hanging space for everything else.  It's a huge mess.  So I gathered up a bunch of clothes I almost never wear, some shoes, and a couple little stuffed animals and stuffed them into a bag to donate.

And I was off to Savers.

It felt good to get that little load out of the way of everything else.  Hopefully someone wants my old junk, but like they say, my trash is someone else's treasure.  Maybe someone really just needs that blue sweater...

More blogs to follow, I have a lot of ideas today!

Weight Watching

If you've ever tried to be on a diet, I'm sure it's no surprise to you when I say: Dieting. Sucks.

Lucky for me, I'm not on a real diet.  Nothing fancy at least.  One of my goals for this year was to eat better than I had last year, and so far, even though we are only ten days in, it hasn't been too bad.  However, today, I couldn't handle it anymore.  I had a bacon double cheeseburger and a hot fudge sundae AND pretzel m&ms.

I don't feel guilty for what I did, like some people on diets do, but now I know I have to work all of that back off =P  so that's my own fault.  I hate diets, I don't feel they're realistic, especially considering I'am always hungry and nothing short of a miniature Thanksgiving dinner can quell the hunger.  But I'm sure that's just me (not).

Either way, that's a small update on how one of the many goals is coming along. Be back Sunday for my RAOK for the week. (Speaking of which, I need to actually pick one off the list x_x)

RAOK Week 1

Okay, so this is just the start of the project, and I can honestly say that getting started was the hardest part.

I had been thinking about it since Thursday and going over my list of things to do and it was really hard for me to pick one and just commit to it and get it done.  That being said, I finally just grabbed what I needed and went with it.

I started off with #5 on the list: Leave an old book of yours with a note in it for someone to find.

 I grabbed an old book that I haven't read since I was in 5th or 6th grade, but for one reason or another held on to.

Wrote a short little note to go along with it...

And went down to the local library where there is a bench under a roof (in case the weather gets nasty) and left it on the bench.

After I kicked myself into getting the metaphorical ball rolling, it was really simple, and I'm kind of proud of myself for actually starting it on time (especially if you know how great I am at putting things off).

52 Random Acts of Kindess

These are the Acts of Kindness (in no particular order) that I mentioned in the previous post:

1. Leave change at a vending machine.
2. Send flowers to someone.
3. Pay for the person behind you in the drive thru.
4. Donate clothes/toys.
5. Leave an old book of yours with a note in it for someone to find.
6. Pay for someone eating alone in a restaurant.
7. Give a cashier a small gift/note.
8. Leave a cheerful note for someone to find.
9. Give someone homemade art.
10. Give a random gift to someone through their mailbox.
11. Leave chocolate for a coworker.
12. Give a note with ($5,$10,$20) in it to a stranger.
13. Give a lollipop to a child.
14. Leave the mailman a letter.
15. Push all the stray shopping carts into the designated area(s).
16. Give a lottery ticket to a stranger.
17. Surprise someone with a vacation.
18. Leave small gifts for coworkers when spring comes.
19. Leave an item placed where it could be used (i.e. umbrella near a door when it's raining)
20. Send an anonymous 'thinking of you' card.
21. Make a CD for someone.
22. Share a comic strip.
23. Leave a note of praise with the manager of a helpful employee.
24. Drop coins on the playground for kids to find.
25. Give someone a bottle of wine if you think they need it.
26. Donate to a charity jar in a restaurant or outside of a store.
27. Plant a tree.
28. Leave a nice note on someone's computer screen.
29. Babysit for free.
30. Give blood.
31. Leave a big tip.
32. Adopt an animal.
33. Leave coupons near their items in the store.
34. Donate to a food bank.
35. Send an edible arrangement.
36. Leave a cheerful note on someone's car.
37. Give someone random a balloon.
38. Send the principal of a school flowers.
39. Give a child a sheet of stickers.
40. Buy food for a homeless person.
41. Send a note to a former teacher.
42. Leave $5/$10 at a gas pump.
43. Leave a gift with a note for librarians.
44. Hide Easter eggs with prizes in them.
45. Hide dollars with notes in the toy section of the dollar store.
46. Leave a gift card in a book at the library.
47. Make someone dinner.
48. Make a treat for coworkers.
49. Leave a box of sidewalk chalk on the blacktop at a school.
50. Leave a positive message on a sticky note on the bathroom mirror in a public place.
51. Donate an animal or to a cause such as http://www.worldvision.org/.
52. Find a penpal.

This Is Just The Beginning

Alright, so as promised, I have come up with a list of goals (no, not resolutions, goals) and a whole project that I want to get started.  So, here are all of the ideas I have been thinking about for the last week.

Goals for 2013
- Keep better track of money (possibly save some..)
- Get organized
- Get in (better) shape
- Manage my time more wisely
- Eat as well as I can
- Go back to school
- Keep a jar of good things (this will be explained)
- Move out (also to be explained)
- Be positive
- Take a REAL vacation
- Keep my room clean
- Read more

Okay, so to explain the "Jar of Good Things" - I was one Tumblr, or Pinterest, or something... and I saw an idea to keep a Jar of Good Things that happen during the next year.  You start off with any container, really, but they said a mason jar.  When good things happen, no matter how big or small, write it down on a piece of paper and stuff it into the jar.  Next New Years Eve, open the jar and read all of the great things that have happened over the past year.

I decided to start doing this to help out one of the other goals - Stay Positive.  I know I'm usually the first one to complain about just about everything, so I want to start being more positive and keep myself from being such a pain in the ass all the time.  Argue all you want, I know my bad habits...  But, It's only been three days, so we will see how this goes. =)

To also be explained, moving out!  It's been the topic of many, many, many conversations over the past few years, but I think this is the year that I finally move out of my parents' house and into a place of my own (at least mostly my own).  I'm turning 22 this year and I have been dying to leave since before I turned 18, so I am hoping (and praying) that I can get out of here and into a new place and try to, essentially, 'start over'.  Although I will be living with and near people I know, it will only be a handful of people and I will be getting a whole new job with new people.  Really, that sounds both terrifying and fantastic at the same time right now.  Either way, I know it will be the best option for me, and I can't wait to get all of this started.

And now, for the project that I'm starting.  I had only heard of this last summer (2012) when a mother of one of the children in the preschool class I taught did it for the month of her birthday.  The Random Acts of Kindness project, I've found, is generally done during the month of someone's birthday and that person does one random act of kindness a day for the whole month. I, being lazy and knowing I couldn't keep up with it, decided that I would do the project, but with one act of kindness every week for the year.  I know, out of seven days in the week, one of them can be the host of the project tasks.  I feel like I'm going to shoot for Sundays, since it's already almost Friday and the first week of the new year is almost over, I had three options (Friday, Saturday, or Sunday).  I listed out the random acts I plan to do, but I feel like I will make a separate post for it so that I can edit it as I go along and not mess this one up.

Happy New Year!

No Sleep

This seemed completely logical at 4:30 in the morning.  Here is proof that I am starting to get my shit together (finally) this year.  Let's get this show on the road, man!

New Year

Okay, so now that I haven't posted anything at all in over a year, I have decided that I am going to start blogging way more often, probably on Sundays or possibly a random weekday thrown in at one point or another.  I want to make more use out of my blog instead of just using my account to snoop around at other people's blogs.  What do you think?

I got the idea to do a 365 challenge from a few different sources, but I'm not entirely sure I want to commit to anything that large just yet considering my year without a single post.  I feel like I want some sort of theme attached to this blog, but honestly, I don't think I could keep track of separating all of the different 'themes' into different blogs and keep up with posting in each one at least once a week..  That seems way more stressful than I could hope for.  So, this is probably going to end up in a big mishmosh mess of a page, but it will be my year broken down into (mostly)weekly segments.  I think I can handle 52 posts over an entire year, right?  Right.

I've also been doing more DIY, drawing, makeup, and clothing things, and also super-nerd events like zombie marches and comic conventions, so this year will be full of exciting new things for me, and hopefully you, too.  I have a new sewing machine, my camera, and HOPEFULLY will be working out more so I can stop being such a mush-face.

For now, that's it.  Hopefully someone will read this and possibly get motivated, too, and maybe leave me a comment so that when I just want to take a nap, I know I should actually do something instead =P  Happy New Year!