Send a Free Valentine...

What do farmers give their wives on Valentine's Day?  Hogs and kisses! What are you going to put on your card?!  It doesn't cost anything but a couple of minutes of your time... just do it!

We have less than a week left to reach our goal of 5,000 valentines by February 14! Choose which valentine you want to send to a child in the hospital: Dear Friend, I just have to share a few of my favorite valentines we've received from people like you who want to wish kids in the hospital a happy Valentine's Day: Tons of Smiles and Hugs coming your way from Arizona!! XOXO Happy Valentine's Day to You! – Kristina B. What do farmers give their wives on Valentine's Day? Hogs and kisses! – Matthew and Laura G. Big Hearts, and Big smiles coming your way!!! Happy Valentine's Day from Aurora & Family ;o) – Aurora D. We've collected 1,400 valentines so far and have less than a week to reach our goal of 5,000 valentines by February 14. We're hoping to shower each of our patients with lots of valentines, so they know how much people care. Please send one of our kids a valentine today. Kids in the hospital this Valentine's Day won't be able to celebrate at school with their friends, but we can still give them a fun day to remember. Your valentine will help us make this Valentine's Day extra special. Send your valentine. Just a few words mean so much. Thank you for reaching out and showing kids in need that you care this Valentine's Day. Sincerely, Pam King Sams Executive Vice President, Development Children's National Medical Center

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Better late than never - I almost forgot... again!  

Nathan helped me pick a winner for the Challenge I put out there.  

We used his Squinkies Cars 2 Globie Dispenser to help us.  I wrote the names down, we put them in the little balls and he put in his coin in to pick a winner.

Of course we had to use his "gingerbread" house he made last night at St. Nick's Night to display the winner.

Lookie who won - Parsley!!!
So, you get to decide where you'd like your gift certificate of $25 from - online or store, just let me know!

And here's what she had to say about what she does...
 

Parsley said...

I missed this post at first but I'd love to share our tradition with you all. My family makes a habit of PIF. At Christmas we like playing 'secret Santa' and leaving gifts on STRANGER'S porches. This year we bought blankets to share with homeless or to leave on 'needy looking' doorsteps. This has blessed us BIG and my DD's friends liked the idea so much, they too are being 'secret Santas'.

Now onto the next winner for the Paying it Forward contest.
  
This is where I stitch something for the winner within the next year - BUT, if you win, you must be willing to have the same contest on your blog.

Nathan was ever so willing to help pick another winner!

And the winner is... Joysze!  I'll be getting in touch with you to get some ideas as to what you may like.  
If, for any reason, you decide you'd rather not take it on - no problem, just let me know.  But I'm excited about it!

PIF idea from my fab radio station

 This is on the blog of my local radio station 95.1 Shine FM.  I meant to post it earlier since the last day to post a card is on Friday, December 9th.  Who's in???


Have you seen the post on Facebook that's going around?

When filling out your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address: A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed National Military Medical Center 8901 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20889-5600. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful, special people, who have sacrificed so much would get. Please copy and post on your wall.

We want you to know that Walter Reed will NOT be accepting cards, and the post office will be filtering out all mail addressed to "A Recovering American Solider." Why? Walter Reed does not have the staff to inspect all the letters that will be pouring in.

BUT, there is still a way that you can participate!
The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes partner together to sponsor the "Holiday Mail For Heroes" program. The cool thing about this program is the cards go not only to service members in the hospital, but also to those serving in the US, overseas, plus veterans and their families.

Send cards to the address below:

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
You should know:

-- All cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 9th. Cards postmarked after this date will unfortunately be returned to the sender.

-- Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member,” and make sure to sign all cards.

-- Do not send letters, pictures, or any other type of an insert.

-- Each card does not need its own envelope, as cards will be removed from all envelopes before distribution.

-- Avoid cards with glitter because many will be delivered to military and veterans medical facilities, and the glitter could interfere with a patient’s recovery.


For more information about Holiday Mail for Heroes, follow this link. Here's to making this Christmas bright for our military and their families!

Jack & Erin

A Whirlwind Thanksgiving, A Challenge and PIF

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind of family, food and fun!  My younger brother Uwe, and kids arrived at my parents house Wednesday evening, and my older brother Peter, SIL and nephew came from Baton Rouge, LA, on Thursday afternoon.  Everyone had to make at least one "turkey feather" for Tom, but the younger ones did about four!

Dinner was fantastic, turkey with all the fixins!  I made fresh cranberry sauce for the first time and will continue forever more - delish!  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, and apfelkuchen for dessert, more yum.  I was able to make cranberry scones on Monday, but didn't get to the Welsh cakes.  Oh well, plenty of time before Christmas! 

On Friday afternoon, all 16 of us took the Santa Express on the Western Maryland Railroad.  It took us to Frostburg, my old stomping ground, and we got to walk around there for a bit - enough for Peter and Paul to find a bar for wings and beer!  All in all, a fantastic day, the weather couldn't have been better and all nine kids had a blast.

 On Saturday, my SIL, Cathy, and I went to Cumberland to shop and support local businesses.  We stopped by the bakery, but just to take pics.  We found a book store I didn't know was there and got some treasures!  Not only did I find The World of Cross Stitching, but the Woody "frame" was still with it.  Even better, there was a mermaid in there!  I also found a couple L*K and some fabric and floss.  I think I paid under $10, what a deal!  Cathy found about 25 Doctor Who books for my nephew, so we were both happy.

  
 Cathy found some yarn she wanted and made me this fun scarf - I love it!



On another note, I was so busy over the weekend that I didn't pick a name for the Challenge I put out there, so I'm going to extend it until Saturday evening.  It will be a $25 gift card to whatever stitchy/craft store you'd like!  I also have the Pass it Forward that needs to be given out.  Please comment on the post you're interested in.
Nathan picked a name from a tree at school for a four year old who wants clothes.  Well, we're going to find some fun ones today!  We are also picking a toy for a child his age and the gmen need to find toys for two children their age.  DH picked names at work for two children - their number one item is a bike, I think I need to look at what's on sale!  Can you imagine their faces if they get what they asked for?!

Paying it Forward, continued

I had a great morning today - I got a Pass it Forward, just for me!!!  I won a contest on DJ's blog and this it what she made for me!  I love dragons and this one is just adorable.  When I showed Nathan, he thought it was for him... not!  Then he said he wanted one and that I should copy it by taking a picture - sneaky boy!  Even the gmen were impressed.



 
  So now the "problem" is, where do I hang it?  I would love it in my bedroom, but then no one would see it.  The perfect room is in the dining room, near my dragon collection.  I'll need to reorganize a little, but I'll make it work!

Here's a close up of her, isn't she something?!
  
And DJ did the framing too... perks for working at a frame shop! 

Now comes the fun part - I get to choose the next person so I can PIF (Pass it forward).  I'll stitch something for the winner within the next year - BUT, if you win, you must be willing to have the same contest on your blog.



 So, please leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner on Saturday, November 19th.  And remember, you must be willing to stitch something for someone else in order to participate.

Don't forget about this one too, A Challenge for You.

 

This afternoon, I took Nathan to the grocery store to shop for our parish's monthly food drive.  We got one of those little basket you can pull along, but he wanted to push it instead.  He helped put everything in it, even tried to get a toy in there for himself!  He then scanned everything and helped bag it to take to school tomorrow.  Did he really understand what we were doing?  I don't know, but it will be a monthly event for us, so I hope it kicks in.