RACK or PAK it's All Good!

Many people do RACK (Random Acts of Christmas Kindness) right now. And that is such a kind and selfless thing to do. I love doing those things even at other times of the year. 

But today I want to talk to you about PAK which I am labeling as Purposeful Acts of Kindness. This weekend my sisters and I went back to my dad's house (2 1/2 hours away). Our main objective was to do Christmas shopping in our home town. But it is also a purposeful visit to our dad who has been alone in a 135 year old 6 bedroom farm house since August of 2013 when Mom died. 

Dad is 93 years young and does extremely well on his own. (He still drives well, and even snowmobiles in the U.P a couple times each winter) He can clean a bit, cook, grocery shop and takes good care of himself. 

But when we go (which is about once a month) we do a thorough cleaning and cook meals to freeze for him. When I say thorough I mean that his house is MUCH cleaner than mine! We clean floors, showers, toilets, the fridge, dishes, windows, change his sheets, you name it, it's clean! 

One thing that I was cleaning today was the door knobs and around the knobs. I also cleaned the light switches and the walls around the switches. Have you ever looked at yours? Have you ever looked at your parents? It's one of those areas, that might get over looked, but now that they are clean, I can see what a difference it makes.

So the reason for this post is to remind you that your parents have given a TON to you over the 18+ years you lived at home. Helping them out (no matter what their age is) would be a Purposeful Act of Kindness that I'm sure they would appreciate. Even if you don't live far from them and even if they are able to clean on their own. . . . what parent wouldn't appreciate a little extra help around the house. Many of our parents don't need anything for Christmas, but this idea would be a wonderful thought that they will remember. It might be helping with yardwork, eves cleaning, or any other job that they have to do themselves.

I want to show you one more thing we did for my dad. We decorated the house. . . the same way that mom would have done. . . the same way that she loved it. . . so Mom, I hope you're enjoying the way we made the house special for dad in your memory!

I'm going to challenge you to see how you can help your parents, grandparents, neighbors or anyone who you know could use some love and help.

A Little Hug Helps us Learn

Did you have fun shopping? I did! And I want to thank you for shopping at my store. Thanks to you I have had my best sales on a sale day EVER!!!! That was real nice of all of you.

So here's a quick and cheap idea to help you get through the month of December. I am going to use these with some kindergartners that I work with. But you certainly may adjust the idea and make it fit your needs.

All you need is some ©Kisses or ©Hugs of any flavor and some labels. You can use circles if you want but I couldn't find them while I was out shopping. So these little rectangles will do just fine!

My goal is to help these kinders learn to make words by blending the initial, middle and final sounds together. We meet with small groups during our RTI time so this makes a great small group activity. 

On each label put a letter. I chose to put the vowels on the green ©Hugs, and the consonants on the white and red ones. Then I found these cute little boxes that I just happened to have in my basement. . . but I know you can buy them at Michaels.

Inside these boxes have the separate colors of ©Hugs. 

 Then I pulled one of each color out and try to make a word.

 Then I put them back in and pulled out another set of letters.

I think you could use 4 candies and make bigger words or nonsense words. Put letters on the bottom to have the student just identify the name of the letter or the sound.You could put numbers on the bottom and some symbols and make addition or subtraction problems. With numbers on the bottom they could make 2 and 3 digit numbers and learn to say them correctly. 

I'm sure you can think of more ways to use these. Go for it. But please come back and tell me how you used them. I'd love to hear about it!

Of course they are going to want to eat some of these. So you can decide if you want to use these for a couple days then eat some, or use the extras to give as a treat when you're done. 

What Are People Buying?

Are you browsing, filling your cart, stalking, thinking, contemplating or shopping today? I have been doing all of the above! I love to see what others have made and love to support their hard work and creativity. 

So far this is what people are buying from me. . . 

 Maybe you'd like to see what they find interesting. .. so here's a sneak peak.

I hope you can find somethings you like. You have one more day to shop. Have fun!