35 acts of kindness for my 35th birthday

In celebration of my 35th birthday, I decided to do 35 Acts of Kindness.  (Click HERE for more about that).
Last Saturday, we woke up bright and early, and (some of us) rar-ar-ar-ing to go.  We loaded up the car with lots of items we would be donating to various places and began our day-long adventure of doing acts of kindness for others.  Here's what we did:

1) Left Lemon loaf in our mailbox for the mailman
2) Wrote "Have a great day!" on the street.  Later, a friend told me she jogged by it and it made her smile.
3) Deliver lemon loaves to neighbors on our street.  We left them without knocking because it was pretty early, but our next door neighbors came by later to thank us and we had a good chat.


4) Took bags filled with 35 Hershey's Kisses to my favorite Sonic carhops.


5) Went through the Starbucks drive thru and bought coffee for the car behind us. (I wonder if they knew they were going to be lucky sitting behind a car with this written on the back window)


6) At Target, we bought some gift cards to give out later, but we gave one to the cashier right after we paid.

7) Also at Target I put a bag of diapers and wipes in the family restroom.


8) Next we went to the Dollar Store and attached a bunch of dollar bills to items around the store.  (The boys loved this!)


9) Mailed Nena (my grandmother) a homemade gift from the kids


10) Took flowers to someone we knew who could use some cheering up


11)  Broke into my mom's house while she was out of town and cleaned as much as we could.  Her house was pretty darn clean, but we found a few things to do.

12) Let someone go in front of us in line at the grocery store

13) Helped people unload groceries into their trunks, and returned carts to the store

14) Delivered Girl Scout and Homemade cookies to the fire station - Kyle was very happy he got to see the inside of an ambulance and talk to the firemen.


15) Donated toys and coloring books to Children's Hospital


16) Donated Pajamas for the Mamas at Children's Hospital (If you have ever taken a child to the ER and ended up getting admitted while wearing throw-up stained jeans and clothes, you would be very appreciative for these jammies...I know.)


17) Donated food to Food Pantry


18) Donated coats and clothes to Joseph's Coat

19) Taped dollar bills to vending machines
20) Donated a big box of Goldfish to the church nursery


21) Gave bottled water to a crew of construction workers

22) Left a big tip at lunch

23) Gave a blanket and baggie of toiletries to a homeless man.  I watched the man afterward and he just kept smiling at that bag of hotel soaps for the longest time.

24-28) Tucked $5 Target gift cards under wipers of cars parked at The Salvation Army
29) Donated about 10 books to the local library

30) Left a bottle of Laundry detergent at the Laundromat

31) Gave $50 Target gift card to someone doing laundry at the laundromat

32) Donated peanut butter and Dog Treats to Operation Kindness Animal Shelter


33) Donated a printer/scanner/fax machine and ink cartridges to Operation Kindness (Their website indicated they were in need of one)

34) Went to the nursing home and handed out cheerful flower pens


35) picked up trash around the neighborhood.

It took all day and we were completely exhausted and yet fulfilled at the same time.  We came home and watched a movie together as a family.  It was a great birthday!