Thursday, October 25, 2012

Food bank

Next day of charitable giving... right here!

I had seen a barrel in the LCBO with a sign asking for donations.

LCBO = wonderful glorious place (ah.hem over priced) that provides me with an amazing selection of wines from all over the world, baileys for my morning coffee, Crown Royal for family events, and even the cheapo girly wine that T loves. Basically the only place you can buy liquor and specialty beers in Ontario as we Canadians can't buy booze in grocery stores or corner stores. Just in case any of my American readers were confused.

I had heard a news story on the radio one day that my town had a huge shortage for non-perishable items going into the holidays. They gave the numbers of people who required help last winter and stated that the number had increased this year. 

I couldn't imagine going to bed hungry, going to work hungry, going anywhere hungry. If I'm hungry there isn't much on my mind other than where and when I can find food. This often backfires as I'll get caught up doing something and not realize I've missed a meal and then get so hungry I want to gnaw off my arm so I end up grabbing fast food because it satisfies the need immediately without me cooking or making a mess in the kitchen. I can't tell you how many times over the summer I ate two Mediterranean chicken snack wraps and drank a large diet coke (Yay! Dollar drink days!) from McDonald's  I also ate those in the car as it was easier to eat and drive back home than it was to try and eat once I got home with G all over the place. I'm a multi-tasking pheen. 

Ok, back to my donation - here it is:
I know there is not much variety - but there are different kinds of pasta, lots of different kinds of side dishes, and organic Heinz ketchup - only the best stuff on earth. I thought it was funny that I donated American groceries to the Canadian Food bank. Not really supporting the local economy - but I could get more for the  money in the states, and the amount of food is what mattered. 

I looked pretty funny carrying this box in and placing it beside a few random items in a barrel, but oh well. I did my part. I am perfectly happy looking funny carrying this in as I'm hoping the others walking in empty handed felt a bit guilty and decide to donate another time. 




*IF there are ANY McDonald's people reading this - bring back the mediterranean chicken snack wraps and keep dollar drink days on all year and no one gets hurt, umkay :) *

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Good Will

Hello Again!

As mentioned in the previous post I have been gathering clothing for good will. And here is what I came up with!

This is AFTER I took 3 bags already. Two of my clothing and one big WHOOPS of T's. During this process I discovered that my husband is hoarder of pants - khaki dress pants hemmed to his 29 inch pant length. Some relatively short man is going to be very well dressed. With the pants in that pile, plus what is in his closet, and a few that are still in storage I bet the man had close to 70 pairs of pants. Now tell me...WHO has the shopping problem?

I went on Good Will's website to find out where to take my items locally and found this great calculator telling you what an impact your donation will make. Here are my results:
           *I counted the dress pants as suits as there wasn't a dress pant option*

I tell you this feels great! Not only am I giving to people who need it, but I'm also creating more space in my house.

Next up will be the foodbank. I've started seeing donation boxes at the LCBO, stories on the news, and articles in the paper. I've got a lot of stuff here from my 'the baby is coming and I must buy everything in bulk' era and my '10 for $10 cross border must buy everything grocery steals!' era. Plus, I'm going to grab a few things that they have listed as needing.

These days of charitable giveaways feel amazing!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Mission Services


The weather has changed here recently. It is cooler, the skies are gray, and the leaves have turned amazing colors. It is beauitful to just go for a drive for the views (and I do this often so G will nap). It is also Thanksgiving weekend, and while I should be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to attend every family Thanksgiving dinner going, G has a contagious eye infection so we are stranded.

As much as I will miss the people, the conversations, and the food, I will hopefully get to spend some quality time with T and G and get more items sorted for my upcoming Good Will donation. Speaking of which in true J9 style when spring cleaning on minimal sleep in the early months after G was born I seem to have donated all of T's winter clothing! Oops!

I've gone through bins labeled 'too big' or 'too small' and couldn't find 'winter' - why? because it doesn't exist. I'm not sure how I did this? But I also lost a box of cheques and supposedly a set of T's work keys.

So now I seem to have piles of clothing that T doesn't fit into and none that he does! This could be one expensive fall/winter as he sure is one picky dresser.

So..back to Mission Services. My original plan was to put up for sale some kitchen items we were no longer using (toaster oven, platters, glasses, etc), but decided to donate them instead. I just haven't had the time to take pictures, upload, post, and then schedule pick up or delivery.

However, a friend mentioned needing a desk to replace one her son had ruined and I just so happened to have a spare in my basement so I sold it for $30. $30 bought 9.66 Thanksgiving meals for men this holiday :)

I hope those men enjoy their turkey while G & I eat KD & cheerios :)