Give a Book - Take a Book!

We are heading into week 2 of the new year and I have another Pay It Forward Project to share with you! 

I have to admit, and some of you may be really disappointed when you hear this, but, I am not an avid reader. I know! I know! I read to gain knowledge. I read to learn something new and to grow myself. I will read articles, newspapers, columns, research articles, devotional books, spiritual growth literature and I read the bible every morning to start my day, but, for me to actually take the time to sit down with a good book and read it for pleasure is like building a snowman in the summer. 

It simply doesn’t happen.

I use to read for pleasure all the time, but as I got older and more involved in other passions, reading for pleasure went by the way side and now, when I do try to sit down to read a book, I find myself day dreaming and thinking about the laundry that needs folded, the dishwasher that needs emptied, and all the other things I could be doing. 

So, I don’t pick up a book all that often, and this year, I have decided I would like to try to change that! After all, I am writing a book so what kind of hypocrite am I if I don’t read much!

This past month, my friend Katherine Hull, who owns Hull’s Produce Stand with her husband, John Hull, gave me a wonderful stack of books to read and I have to say, I was so excited when she gave them to me! All of the books she gave me had something to do with my passion of outreach and giving back to others and I felt so special that she had thought of me and took the time to pay it forward! 

So, as you may have guessed, that is what this week’s pay it forward project is all about!

Take a look at your stack of books at home and find the one that you have read a hundred times (or if you are me, just once) and slap a sticky note on the front that says “A free gift for you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did”. 

The next time you are in town, leave the book somewhere for someone else to find! What a sweet and lovely surprise for someone! 

I am ready to dive into these books from Katherine and I will certainly pay them forward once I am done! 

If you find a book around town this coming week, shoot me a comment and let me know and let’s pay it forward through words and books this week, one page and one book at a time.  

xoxo,

Brenda

New Year's Resolutions - Let's Get Organized!

New Year means New Year’s Resolutions and another year older for me! I am excited to ring in another birthday with you all as we start another year together as we welcome the year 2019! Can you believe I just said 2019? Who remembers 12/31/1999 when we were all holding our breath and freaking out, wondering what would happen to the banks and computers and worried the world would implode at the strike of midnight. But alas! Everything was just fine and we are now 19 years older and holding it all together.  Sort of.

It’s a new year which, for some, means New Year’s Resolutions. 

Do you have a New Year’s Resolution this year? 

For anyone wondering…. I do! I have a few actually. I am going to work on getting healthier (which is the polite way of saying I need to start exercising and I need to quit eating past 7pm). I have a few other goals this year like working on the book I am writing, I want to try my hand at a little painting (not boring painting like on walls but artistic painting on canvas and cards), and I would like to work on ideas to serve others and pay it forward in our community.

New Year’s Resolutions are sometimes hard to stick with. For a lot of us (yes, me included), New Year’s Resolutions start out strong January 1^st and then by January 17^th, everything goes to pot and we end up either forgetting them or wondering why we chose that specific resolution to begin with. 

I didn’t want that to happen to you, or me, so I thought of a pay it forward idea that is easy and practical and will keep us going strong all year long. Are you ready to go with me on this journey? 

Let’s do it.

This New Year’s Resolution will be an easy one for you to stick with this year. 

Each month, donate one item (or one bag of items) to charity. 

Now, if a light bulb just went off in your head, you are a winner! 

This pay it forward idea doesn’t just help others, but it helps you, too! 

We all love the feeling of getting rid of clutter and organizing ourselves, our lives and our closets, and this pay it forward project will help others throughout the year and it will help get you organized, too!

Now, here’s a little tip to help you keep this resolution on track. 

Don’t start with a big project! 

Don’t start by clearing out your basement that is fuller than your stomach after Thanksgiving dinner. Do not start out in your garage because the sight of mouse poop will make you quit right away. And whatever you do, don’t start in your linen closet. There are expired medicines and stuff hiding in there that will stop you dead in your tracks. 

Start easy. Something like your coat closet or dresser will be a good start. Tackle those small jobs first, fill up a bag, and donate it to charity this month and you will be well on your way to paying it forward and keeping your resolution. 

I am so glad you are joining me this year! 

I have some closets to organize and some items to donate to let’s stay strong and stay on track together! Happy paying it forward friends and Happy New Year!  

xoxo,

Brenda

Ringing in the New Year

 We are getting ready to say goodbye (and maybe for some of us it’s good riddance) to 2018 and we are ready to ring in the New Year and welcome the year 2019!!! Can you believe it?! Another year gone, and for some of us, we are wondering where the year went. When I was younger I swear time went so slow, but as an adult, I feel like the hours and days just fly right by.

I am a New Year’s baby so I get to start the new year out a year older, and if I am lucky, a little wiser from my experiences from the previous year.  At the start of every new year, I transfer birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates from my old calendar to my new one so that I don’t miss out or forget anything.

This year, I am doing something a bit different and it’s my birthday wish that you will join me. This year, I am adding to my calendar, once a month, to do something special for someone I love. Often times, when we lose someone, we wish we had spent more time with them or we wish we would have told them how much they meant to us. This year, let’s change that together.

This year, it’s going on my calendar for the first week of each month, and I am going to pick one person that I love and tell them how much they mean to me and do something special for them. This can be a parent, grandparent, best friend, or anyone that is special to you. Some ideas of things you can do for them is to write them a letter, pick fresh flowers for them, send them a box of chocolates (who doesn’t want that!) or even simply take the time to call them and catch up and let them know what they mean to you.

This idea is special to me because a few years ago I was able to tell someone how much they meant to me, and within days, they were gone. I had no idea that the visit with my good friend, Jennifer, was going to be my last. I remember that day like it was yesterday. The last words I said to her before I left her house were “I love you” and I am so glad I let her know how I felt. These days, you just never know. One day your loved one is here and the next day they could be gone.  

So, together, let’s start this year out right and fill up our calendar intentionally with acts of love every month. I know I won’t regret it. I hope you won’t, too.  

Happy New Year friends!

xoxo,

Brenda

Secret Santa....

Don’t you just love surprises? 

I don’t mean the kind where someone is hiding around the corner and jumps out to scare the crap out of you. I mean the kind of surprise that puts a huge smile on your face and that just makes your heart happy! I love happy little surprises. It could be a card in the mail from a friend, a surprise lunch with my mom, or something little like my husband surprising me with candy (I can be bought for a Twix candy bar).

I have a great story about a different type of happy surprise that impacted one of our delivery couriers last year. I ran an outreach program and for Christmas last year, we sponsored 4 classrooms of kids at a school in Ypsilanti that were in need. Some of the kids that attended this school are in transitional housing, living in shelters, or in foster care. Some of these kiddos are in need of clothing, help with school supplies and are in desperate need of shoes. Some wear snow boots in gym class because those are the only shoes they have.  Have you ever tried to play basketball wearing heavy snow boots? 

So, the program I was running collected 12,000 pop cans which enabled us to purchase 100 pairs of brand new sneakers for kids at this school and it was just in time for Christmas!

This project was near and dear to my heart, as it was a huge under taking and it was 8 months of planning and organizing and finally…. The shoes were here! The delivery courier was pulling up our driveway so Colin and I ran outside to help unload them and right away it was clear to us that our delivery man was not having a great day. 

When he opened up the doors to his truck, it was full. I am talking “I stuffed myself with so much food at Thanksgiving dinner that the buttons on my shirt are about to pop and the seam on my pants just ripped open” kind of full. There were boxes everywhere and his truck was busting at the seams.

Our driver started grumbling, “Why do people wait until Christmas to show their loved ones how much they care” and “Why do people do this!? They wait all year to spend all their money in one month, blah blah blah blah blah”. He clearly was not happy. We had 8 gigantic boxes that he had to try and maneuver off his truck and boxes were falling everywhere and you could just tell he had been working very hard, with long hours, long days, and he needed some encouragement. After all, these men and women work super hard, especially this time of year.

Seeing that he needed a little lift in spirits, I said, “You know…. You are helping to make a difference in the lives of 100-1^st grade kids. These boxes are full of shoes that we are giving to homeless kids and children that are in need and because of you, they will get them just in time for Christmas.” 

There was a long pause. 

He just stood there staring at me. 

And then it happened.

Tears filled his eyes and he came at me like a mama bear that had lost her cub and he threw his arms around me and hugged me so tight. 

We were standing there in my driveway just embracing. 

He said that his entire outlook about the packages he was delivering just changed. He said that this experience changed him because he doesn’t know what and who these packages are really for. It was a very moving moment for us all. 

I will never forget the happy surprise he got that day. It changed him and it changed me.

We all hold the power within ourselves to change someone’s day. We have the power within us to surprise someone and to be a Secret Santa, not just during the holiday season, but every day. Do something this week to give someone a happy surprise. It can be in the form of a compliment, a little gift, a jar full of flowers or a warm embrace. 

You never truly know the change it could make in someone else’s life. Your happy surprise could make all the difference in the world.  I hope, this week, there are many Secret Santa happy surprises in your life.

xoxo,

Brenda

Paying it Forward This Holiday Season

Santa is coming!!

Santa is coming!!

Over the next few weeks we will all be shopping for gifts under the tree, attending work Christmas parties and getting ready for round 2 of family visits!  

For some, this time of year can be especially hard. If you’ve lost a loved one during the holiday season, have bad memories from your childhood around Christmas or have struggled with loneliness, this time of year can be very difficult. Instead of excitedly counting down the days until Christmas, some people are counting down the days until it’s over.

For me, I am a Christmas fanatic. I absolutely love the holiday season! I love it so much that our yearly tradition for the past decade has been to put up and decorate our Christmas tree on Halloween. Yep. That’s right. I said Halloween (my husband clearly loves me!). I love the ambiance of the tree in the house, the twinkling lights, the ornaments that hold cherished memories of special places and times. I enjoy the hustle & bustle of the holiday season, the Christmas music, the shopping, and just the overall feel that the season brings.

Although I have a deep love for everything Christmas, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced heartache and tough times during this time of year. I have had deep loss during the holiday season. I have grieved the loss of one of my best friends from cancer during this time of year. I helped to bury one of my friend’s children after a tragic death, and I myself lost a baby just before Christmas a few years ago. The holidays can be very difficult for people that have experienced such great pain.

During the holiday season, although I’ve experienced deep loss and I’ve wrestled with grief, I choose to focus on the reason for the season….. I choose to focus on what the Christmas holiday is all about, which, to me, is the birth of Jesus. It’s really easy to focus on our circumstance and our situation and, when we do that, it can make life very overwhelming but when we take our eyes off our problems and focus on the one true person that can give us hope, it can make an unbearable holiday season one to remember.

What if, this Christmas season, you pay it forward to someone that needs some of that hope and encouragement in their life? What if, this Christmas, instead of anticipating the dread of a busy schedule or the stress of credit card debt, what if we took the time to encourage someone that is struggling and share the hope of Christmas with them. 

This pay it forward project doesn’t cost any money. It doesn’t involve scissors and paper or crafts and confetti. This pay it forward project is as easy as being a listening ear and encouraging someone that may be struggling. 

To me, the hope that lies in a manger at Christmas is the hope that gets me through tough times. To you, your hope may look different. This week, let’s share our hope with others and make this Christmas season a brighter, more cheerful one for someone in need. 

Happy paying it forward friends & Merry Christmas!

xoxo,

Brenda

Kindness & Coffee Matter!

Gobble! Gobble! Gobble! I know as you read that you could hear the sound of a turkey gobbling, couldn’t you?! I haven’t even eaten yet and my pants already feel tight so you know what that means….. only 2 pieces of pie for me and the diet officially begins after all the Thanksgiving leftovers are out of the fridge.

It’s Thanksgiving! A time where we see family that we haven’t seen in a while, a time to visit and catch up and talk about funny stories from the past and a time to over indulge in comfort foods and desserts! From my Aunt Michelle’s delicious 7 layer jello to grandma Pollick’s famous double crusted apple pie; we make time to gather and give thanks for all we have.

Of course, the Thanksgiving season is the perfect time to be grateful for what and who we have in our lives and it’s the perfect opportunity to give back to others through showing kindness. I mean, if we can’t pay it forward during the holiday season what kind of cotton headed ninny muggins are we (if you haven’t seen the movie ELF you won’t get that last line AND we can’t be friends).

This week I have an idea to scatter kindness in your community by paying it forward to someone! I have a super simple idea that is a great way to spread holiday cheer! I am sure in your town you have a great coffee shop or at least a Starbucks close by! I would like to encourage you to stop in and get a cup of coffee or hot cocoa and pay for the person behind you in line! It’s that simple. If you run through the Starbucks drive thru on your way to work, pay for the car behind you! Can you imagine walking in to buy a caramel apple cider and hearing the clerk tell you someone else paid for your drink already?! I don’t know about you but that would make my day!

The holidays can sometimes be stressful with trying to get everything checked off your list like finishing up the last minute home projects before you have a house full of company or trying to keep your schedule straight with all the kid’s holiday performances, plays and cookie exchanges. This pay it forward idea is a fun, cheap and easy way to do something good for others, to put a smile on someone’s face, and, let’s be honest, you were going to stop in to load up on that caffeine anyway to help you get your list done!

The ripple effect your kind gesture can make is actually truly astounding. I heard a story about a McDonald’s drive thru in Indiana where 167 customers paid it forward in one day. It all started with one customer paying for the car behind them and then each car after that paid it forward for the vehicle behind them, and so on. There was only one customer among the 167 cars that was about to break the streak and all of the McDonald’s employees pulled their money together so the streak didn’t stop.  It started with one. One person that decided to be kind and pay for the car behind them and it ended at 167. Talk about a ripple effect and what one kind gesture can do for the community; for the world! 

I’ll be that one this week. Will you join me? Let’s pay it forward together and make our world a better, more caffeinated place…. One cup of coffee at a time.

xoxo,
Brenda

Upside Down Pumpkin Pie

If you love Pumpkin Pie you are going to LOVE this delicious recipe!! It's perfect for the fall, for Thanksgiving and for the Christmas holiday! Plus, it is super easy to make which makes it a true winner in my book!

Check out the recipe below:

Recipe:

2 sticks of butter
1 large can pumpkin (29oz)
3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 cup chopped pecans

To prepare:

Melt the 2 sticks of butter and set it aside along with the box of cake mix.

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, eggs, evaporated milk, and sugar and mix together.

Next, add the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix everything together.

Now, pour the pumpkin mixture into a pan and pour the cake mix evenly over the top of the pumpkin, completely covering the pumpkin mixture.

Next, scatter the chopped pecans evenly over top of the cake mix (I only put pecans on half since we have a picky eater in our family. Can anyone relate? ;)

Now, drizzle the melted butter over the top of the cake mix/pecans (you may need to warm up the butter again if it hardened to get it to pour nicely).

DO NOT mix the butter and cake mix together. The butter should just sit on top of the cake mix.

Place your dish into a 350 degree oven and bake for 1 hour.

Tip: serve with cool whip on top

Tip: this is great served warm or cold

I hope you enjoy this upside down pumpkin pie as much as my family does!

Enjoy!
xoxo,
Brenda