Kind Drops

The past few weeks have been tough.  I could blame it on  the cold, wet, windy April days ~ but more likely my slump had more to do with feeling pushed to the limit than the weather.  So I pushed back.  With kindness.

Kind Over Matter is a site dedicated to inspirational stories, creativity, and of course kindness.  KOM is overflowing with positivity, a warm place to go with a cup of coffee and re-fuel.  One of my favorite features (and the one that got me hooked on the site) are the printable  kind drops.  

I've wanted to do my own Kind Drops for a while now.  My crappy week gave me the push I needed to go out and create my own positivity.  I dropped my kindness cards at the library, the dollar store, Tim Horton's, the park and the school bulletin board.     

I loved doing these random acts of kindness.  As I dropped my kind cards, I wondered to myself, who would find them?  Was it possible that these little cards would be enough to turn someones day around?  I hoped so.  It certainly made me feel better. 

How do you push back when life has got you down? 

How Things Stack Up

I have spent many hours playing blocks with my kids.  With care we would stack the blocks on on top of the other, as high as we could.   We built until either we ran out of blocks, we ran out of interest or the tower crashed to the floor.   So proud were the occasions that we successfully built our castles with every block in the bag. If the tower crashed, we would take the lessons we learned about structure, balance and strong foundations to rebuild a better, stronger palace.   

Life stacks up in much the same way as those colourful building blocks.  Seemingly small choices in your life can turn into something amazing.  My friend Jen started walking each night after dinner.  One step at a time, one choice at a time she not only lost weight but has become one of those crazy runners that will run in any weather (just kidding Jen, you know I love you.)  This weekend Jen will run the Around the Bay race, a 30km run.  One step at a time, one choice at a time. 

Alternatively, crappy choices can stack up and cause your castle to crash. 

I've found it's not the big decisions that cause your castle to crash.  The big, life altering choices are the ones that you think long and hard about the ones where sit down to make a pro and con list. 

No, it's the small decisions that can come up and bite you in the butt.  The small choices are the ones that make up life.  The choice to eat the donut or not, to go for the walk, to save up your pennies for a rainy day or blow a bit of extra cash on a new pair of shoes.  It's little, everyday decisions like these the when you reflect back on let you know how things, how life stacks up. 

Phew, that was long winded.

The whole point of me blogging about stacks is because Week 3 of Picture Inspiration had us looking for stacks.  Tracey encouraged us to not only look for stacks but to play photo stylists and create our own stacks.  After all the talk about building blocks, you would think that I chose to photograph a  block castle. 

Nope. 

Jello.  The boys and I made rainbow jello in honour of St. Patricks Day.  Rainbow layers!

Totally unrelated to building blocks, but enjoy none the less. 

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Gracie's Mum

Do you know the word recognition game?  I give you a word, you tell me the first word or thoughts that come to mind?  Well, up until last year if I was given Multiple Sclerosis, I would say, read-a-thon and McGruff the Dog. Up until last year, I hadn't given MS much thought, let alone what it would be like to live with MS.

That changed last year when my cousin/friend Angela was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  At the time of her diagnosis, I remember the family wanting so badly to help support  Angela, her husband Steve and their three year old daughter Grace.  Since they live in Nova Scotia, it was hard to lend any kind of real support.  Cards and a fruit basket were sent, phone calls with well wishes made, and one drunken night I chatted online with Steve all trying to convey how we wished we could do more. 

I did what I usually do.  Research.  To the computer I went, trying to figure out the why and how this could happen to a person as funny and smart as Angela.  So much of what I read was science based.  Most of it went over my head.  In very simplistic, unscientific terms (and I hope that I have this right),  I learned that Multiple Sclerosis means "many scars."  This scarring occurs when the body attacks its own central nervous system.  These attacks are called flare ups.  Flare ups can cause permanent damage to the nervous system (brain and spinal cord).  The symptoms vary depending on what part of the brain or spinal cord was damaged in the attack.

So that's the science of MS.  But even knowing the science, I felt bad that I couldn't fully understand what Steve and Angela's daily life might be like.  I suggested to Angela that she start a blog.  By the end of the day the first post of Gracie's Mum: A story of a mum with ms was up.  That was less than a month ago.  In the past month, I have learned so much  about her journey, her struggles, and triumphs with MS.

To honour and celebrate Angela and her family, myself and  a few of her Ontario relatives are participating in the MS walk.  Please click on the link and pledge what you can. 

What is Effin Right with the World

Warning - if you have an aversion to the f word, you may want to stop here. 

This morning I stumbled on this website that I couldn't help but want to share.  Mostly because I thought it was effin awesome.  Also, sometimes you need a slap in the face to remind you of how great the world can be. 



http://quintinmarcus.com/wtfworld/right/