May Charity of the Month - Make A Wish Foundation

www.wish.org

The Make A Wish Foundation is May's Charity of the Month.  Since 1980, this organization has given hope, strength, and joy to sick kids.  The Make A Wish Foundation all started with one seven year old's life long dream of being a police office, and one caring US Customs Officer who could not let that dream go. 

Christopher, age 7

Today the Make A Wish Foundation has a network of more than 25,000 volunteers dedicated to bringing a smile to the face of sick kids!  To date they have been able to grant the wishes of nearly 250,000 kids around the world.  All from that first wish, and the first person who simply wanted to help!

There are plenty of options available to help support this worthwhile cause - from donating items or airline miles to adopting a wish.


Each month I will donate $1 for the first 50 new followers to my blog to the current Charity of the Month.  You can follow in any way that you choose, simply pick an option.  If you already follow one way, feel free to add another:

Together we can make a difference in the life of an ill child and their loved ones.

P.S.  I'm guest posting at My Three Bittles today.  Its all about keeping more joy in your life!


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April Charity of the Month Wrap Up

Autism Speaks

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, April's charity was Autism Speaks.  

Their mission is to change the future of all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders.  Autism Speaks goal is to spread hope to all who are effected by autism spectrum disorders.   


I had the added pleasure this month to be supporting Stephanie @ Year-Round Giving with her Autism Awareness Campaign.  Please take a moment to check out her wrap up and review of the Autism Awareness Campaign.
 

With the Charity of the Month Program, each month I will donate $1 for the first 50 new followers to my blog to the current Charity of the Month.  You can follow in any way that you choose, just pick an option, or if you already follow one way, add another:

This month I gained over 100 new followers.  Add in the profits from my Honor Roll Ad sales and that translates to a $68 donation for Autism Speaks!  Thank you very much for your help and support.  If you have some extra time, please show your love and support to those Honor Roll Sponsors and give them a big pat on the back!

Don't forget to check in tomorrow for the May Charity of the Month. 


Please note, that the regularly scheduled Meditation Monday post will continue next week.  I will just say that this week, let's set our intentions to making the world a better place!

Looking to grow your blog? I have Sponsor Spots open this week - priced to fit any budget, including FREE! Hop over to my sponsor page for more details.


 

Banana Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Cookies and 52 Weeks!

Wow another week comes to a close!  They seem to be going faster each week.  Friday means it is time for another round of 52 Weeks.  

As I started to think about what I did this week for an act of kindness, I really did not have much.  I smiled at strangers, bought dinner for friends, and was generally kind; but no one big act to highlight.  Then I found myself with an extra hour yesterday.  I decided to bake up a batch of cookies for the hubs to take into work today.  The folks he works with all like sweets, and who doesn't like sweets at work on a Friday!

I decided to make some Banana-Oatmeal-Coconut-Chocolate Cookie Bars.  I am calling them B.O.C.C for short.  These cookies are a little slice of gooey goodness.  All the ingredients blend very well, and a small cookie goes a long way!  

Since today is all about kindness, I am happily sharing the recipe!  I hope you all enjoy.

 
Don't forget to head over to My Three Bittles to link up with Amber and her 52 Weeks Project.  It is a great chance to celebrate kindness in this world!

Looking to grow your blog? I have Sponsor Spots open this week - priced to fit any budget, including FREE! Hop over to my sponsor page for more details.



 

Craft Day and Sponsor Love All Rolled up into One!

Rather than showing you all a new craft project today, I wanted to take some time to introduce you to a wonderful crafty blogger:  Angel at Sew Crafty Angel.

I am so happy to have Angel as a sponsor this month.  She generously opted for the Honor Roll spot, which means that her purchase also generates an extra donation to the April Charity of the Month.  She is more than a Crafty Angel to me!

Angel is the kind of blogger who you know you would just love to sit down and have a cup of coffee with.  In fact on Thursdays, that is just what you can do with her Coffee Date Thursdays!

May 2nd is Sew Crafty Angel's four month blogarversary.  Angel has a great line up of new blog hops and features in store to celebrate.  Everything from Mommie Mondays to a Friday Recipe Swap.  There is sure to be something that you'll love.  Here is a sample of some of the great posts you'll find at Sew Crafty Angel:

Click on the pictures for more details!

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Oh What A HAPPY Day Link Party!

Welcome to the Oh What a HAPPY Day Link Party!

Time to celebrate what is giving us JOY and making us HAPPY this week.  It is so easy to get bogged down and lost in the negative.  Let's take a moment and celebrate the positive.

This week I am happy for the new Yoga Studio that opened in my neighborhood.  My favorite yoga class was canceled over a year ago at the gym I used to go to.  I have been looking for a replacement that was close to home and had enough class options to actually fit into my working mom schedule.  I went to my first class yesterday and I am back in love with my yoga practice.  JOY!

I am also happy for a couple of new sponsors hanging out on the old sidebar.  After you link up, click over and check them all out today.  You'll find some great new sites.  Here are the two newest ones:

I'd also like to thank all the lovely bloggers who joined up with us here for Oh HAPPY Day last week.  We had 52 in total!  Congrats go out to Ann @ Hand Painted Glasses by Brushes with a View for having the most views last week.


Now onto the party! 


If you are interested in being a co-host (and having your blog featured here next week), then just let me know!   

The rules are pretty simple: 

Have fun and HI to as many other party goers as possible.  =) 

If you would like to spread the word, please grab a button and put it on your blog.  

 



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Entry Way and Play Room Organization Tips

My family has a very serious shoe problem.  If you walked into my house house unannounced (i.e. I did not have time to scramble and hide all the evidence), you would think at least 10 people lived there.  Seriously, there are only 3 of us... and still this is what our front entry way typically looks like:

We are all equally guilty in this mess.  The hubs and I have apparently done an excellent job of passing this bad habit on to the little bear.  All I can say is thank goodness the dog does not wear shoes... I would not even want to think about shoes for her 4 feet!

Clearly the mat system here was not working for us... so off I went to find a new solution.  I started surfing for shoe racks at Target, but then did not really want to spend that much money.  Then I thought I would try Goodwill and see what I could re-purpose.  This was on Sunday morning, and the Goodwill by my house did not open for another 4 hours.  So I decided to try shopping at home and see what I could find!

When I got to my son's play area inspiration hit!  There was a bookcase in there that I had been trying to use for his book storage, but it was not working well.  He's only 3 and getting books on a shelf the right way just seems like too much... at least for my three year old.  Plus he could never find the book he wanted when he wanted it.  hmmmm, my wheels were turning!

I empty the books and toys, and moved the bookcase to the entry way.  It is just the right size for the space, and the shoes!  

That's the same # of shoes, just organized better.  I think it works pretty well, and the best part is that it still looks like this!  This system is working much better.


Of course now I just had a giant pile of books in our play room.  Another sweep of the house turned up a nice sofa table that was not being used in the basement.  I knew I could work with that.  So into the play room it went!

I like the open table better in here any ways.  Being able to shove the toy storage containers under the table saves a lot of space.  Aren't those canvas bins just the cutest?  I love them, and they hold tons of toys! Check them out here:3 Sprouts Storage Bin, Grey

 
My son's books are now all lined up on top of the table.  I used an empty storage container turned on it's side to act as book ends.  My little bear loves the new set up and has been pulling out his books more often! 

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty productive day of organizing.  I'm actually pretty happy that the Goodwill store was not open yet.  It forced me to get creative with items I already had!

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Meditation Monday

Welcome to a new week and a new opportunity for us to shine! 

Source

This week I am going to focus on the small changes that I can make in my life for the better.  A journey of change, after all, starts with one little step followed by another and another...  

What kinds of things do you like to do to keep yourself motivated when trying to implement new habits or changes?

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52 Weeks - Soggy Basement, Goodwill, Ribs and Cold Stone! OH MY!

It is time again to recap my random acts of kindness for the week.  Yesterday was the hubs birthday.  We woke up to a water logged yard and a wet basement.  He had planned on working on his Bronco all day, in stead he got to spend half the day trying to fix the leak in the wall.  Thankfully the water in the basement was manageable, also way less stressful of an event when you rent and do not own.  Our gypsy life style does have some perks.  The water in the basement also led to me cleaning out more stuff and taking another car full of goods to Goodwill.  Plus we loaded up some toys and dropped those off at little bear's day care.

The hubs birthday did not start as he had planned, but I made sure that it finished right.  The little bear decided that Daddy wanted an Angry Bird party, so we decorated the house for dinner.  Then I made the hub's favorite meal of ribs and more ribs.  Seriously I did not even bother with veggies for him because I knew he was not going to eat them.   There I was grilling out in the rain for the man I love.  Doesn't get any more kind than that!  haha  

We also had his favorite Ice Cream Cake.  I was going to make a cake for him, but with the basement mess and everything else that needed to be done yesterday I just ran out to Cold Stone in stead.  We tried their cupcakes and cookie ice cream sandwiches.  The cupcakes were OK, not great; but the cookie sandwiches were awesome!  Seriously good! 

All in all it was a pretty good day.

Don't forget to stop by My Three Bittles and see what everyone else is doing to spread kindness this week.  I'd love to hear how your acts of kindness are going, or if you've been blessed with a kindness recently!

Did you also know that in honor of Autism Awareness month, Charity Miles is sponsoring Autism Speaks?  Simply download the Charity Miles app and go for a walk or run!  Your miles will be added to their donation total.

Looking to grow your blog? I have Sponsor Spots open this week - priced to fit any budget, including FREE! Hop over to my sponsor page for more details.



 

Easy Peasy No Knots Fleece Blanket

My little bear has a serious love affair going on with all things related to super heroes.  His favorite is Spiderman, with Batman coming in a close second.  Since the Avengers sometimes work with Spidey, he thinks they are pretty cool too.  

One of his favorite movies is Captain America.  We have spent many evenings dancing to the USO song from the movie.  Two more things to add to that list of things I never realized moms had to do:  I know more about super heroes than I ever thought I would, and I have to sing and dance like a show girl for my little hero!
 

Any who, as part of his super hero obsession, little bear's bedroom looks like a Spiderman Comic book exploded in it.  We still have him in a toddler bed, which means finding super hero blankets the right size is just about impossible.   Thankfully, I am a crafty mom.    We stumbled upon some great Avengers fleece the other day at JoAnns.  I should say little bear used his spider sense to zero in on anything Spiderman related within 20 feet.  Seriously, the kid never misses anything.  The bolt of fabric was behind the cutting station, at the bottom of the "to be reshelved" pile.   He did need a back up blanket for his bed, so I decided to see what I could do with the fleece.  I did not want to do the normal knotted fleece blanket, because I knew he would be using it on his bed and all those knots and tassels drive me crazy!    

When little bear saw the finished blanket he loved it.  He literally danced his happy dance for 10 minutes, and then ran it right up to his bedroom.  He even insisted on making his bed the next morning!  Winner!  =) This blanket took me about an hour at most to put together.  It was fun and easy.  What is your favorite blanket to make these days?       





 

Check out the great campaign going on at Year-Round Giving this month.  For each new follower on Pinterest and Facebook, Year-Round Giving will donate $1 to Autism Speaks!  It has never been easier to support a great cause!