Number 9 – Brought A Cake to Our Hair Stylist

I’m still behind in posting about my 31 Things project.  Please be patient with me as I catch up.

I am really, really bad at articulating how I’d like my hair to look.  Hair isn’t really my thing.  I want mine to look nice, but I don’t want to fuss with it much.  My sister would tell you I don’t even brush my hair.  That’s not true, but I don’t spend as much time on it as she seems to think I should.  I also have really straight hair, so a bad (and I’ve had more than a few) cut seems to be really obvious.  It took me a long time to find a hair stylist I really like.

But I finally found Tabitha.  She’s really good at interpreting what I’m trying to say I want my hair to look like.  Anyone else would have probably just shaved my head when I was trying to explain what I wanted for my wedding hairstyle, but not Tabitha.  She turned my gibberish ideas into something that made me feel really pretty.  (She also cut Nick’s hair how I wanted it for our wedding!)   She hasn’t gone up on her (already really good) rates in years, and is just a very sweet person.  She also rescues animals. 

So we decided to take Tabitha a home-made pound cake at our last hair appointment just to wish her happy holidays and to let her know that we appreciate her.  

Number 8 – Bought Dog Food

You had to know there was another animal related post coming as part of my 31 Things project!

The no-kill shelter that we are fostering Duke through provides everything you need to foster a pet; food, crate (if needed), dishes, veterinary care, and medicine.  The idea is that fostering doesn’t become cost prohibitive for anyone.  If you have a home and the desire to share it with an animal in need, they want to make it possible.  You just have to pick up food and any other supplies at the shelter whenever you need them.

We elected not to take food the last time we were there, instead we bought a bag ourselves. A bag of dog food isn’t that much, but it was something we were able to do to help save the shelter a little money, so they can put that toward helping another animal. 

Number 7 – Took Pound Cake To A Friend

(Part of my 31 Things project.)

We’re friends with an older couple that we like very much.  He recently spent 19 days in the hospital out of town dealing with a serious health issue.  They made it back home in time for a very quiet Thanksgiving. 

We visited yesterday and brought them a home-made pound cake and a cheery Christmas card.  It wasn’t much, but it seemed to brighten their day a little bit. 

Number 6 – Giving Away My Shopping Cart (Or Buggy As We Call Them Here)

(Part of my 31 Things project.)

One of my favorite places to buy groceries is Aldi.  If you’re not familiar, they’re sort of a discount grocery store.  They have really great stuff, but the stores are very “no frills”.  You must bring or buy your own bags, they don’t take credit cards, and you put a quarter in to get your buggy (cart).  When you return the buggy you get your quarter back.  It’s all part of their cost saving strategy, and it seems to work.

It’s not unusual for people to trade buggies and quarters in the parking lot so someone doesn’t have to walk all way back to return their buggy and retrieve their quarter.  It’s also not unusual to see folks carrying a lot more than is reasonable through the store.  I’ve done this myself a time or two when I just couldn’t find a quarter in the unorganized depths of my purse.

Yesterday when I was returning my buggy there was a lady standing in front of the buggy rack digging in her purse.  She had a cane and really didn’t look like she was feeling well (you know how sometimes you can just read pain written on someone’s face?), so I gave her my buggy and told her to have a great day.  

Number 5 – Trying to Help Truffle Find a Home

If you’ve read more than a post or two of mine you’ve probably figured out that I’m something of an animal lover.  So you had to know that some of my 31 Things project would involve animal related things. 

One of the blogs I follow is Animal Shelter Volunteer Life.  It’s a great blog featuring the adoptable cats at a rescue called PAWS.  It’s a well written blog and alternates between featuring cats in need of homes, sharing PAWS success stories, and generally providing a little encouragement for the folks involved in animal rescue. 

One of the recent posts was about a cat named Truffle.  Truffle is 10 years old, and has been at the shelter since 2009.  That is way too long for a cat to be waiting for their furever home. The post asked readers to please share Truffle on various social media outlets in hopes of helping her find her furever home.  So that is what I’m doing.  You can read all about (and see great pictures of) Truffle here or here.  I’ve also shared her story on my Facebook page. 

I’m also asking for your help with this part of my project.  Please take a minute to share Truffle on whatever social media outlet(s) you prefer.  It doesn’t take much time, and you never know if you might be sharing her information with her perfect match.   Adding the right furry family member might just be someone’s biggest Christmas wish. 

Number 4 – Made Mashed Potatoes

I'm still running behind in posting about my 31 Things project, but here is number 4. 

Unfortunately Nick had to work on Thanksgiving.  The upside was that he was working days, so we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner later in the day with family. 

He and his co-workers make the best of the working the holidays by bringing in food and sort of having their own celebration with their work family.  I think it’s great that they do that. This year Nick was supposed to bring in mashed potatoes. 

We use the recipe from The New Southern Garden Cookbook by Sheri Castle, and they are fabulous.  Everyone always raves about them whenever we take them to an event.  This year, I made two batches for Nick to take, one for his shift, and one to leave for the night shift.

Number 3 – Contributed to the Local Food Bank

I have not abandoned my 31 Things Project!  I’m actually right on schedule with doing the things, it’s just posting about them that seems to be the challenge.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and the Christmas tree is up, looking happy and festive, as well as providing hours of entertainment for the cats.

Now, on to number 3:

I went out Tuesday night to finish up most of the shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, and the grocery store was asking for donations to the local food bank.  I made a small donation to them because everyone needs dinner.