The Weekly Smile – 7/20/22

Have you heard of Buy Nothing groups? I’ve been in one But Nothing group or another since 2017. Currently, I admin my local group.

If you haven’t heard about these groups, they are free, hyper local Facebook groups that try to keep as much as possible or of the landfills. They do this by having members gift their no longer needed items to those in the group that can use them.

These groups can save members a lot of cash. Personally, I haven’t bought a pair of shoes since I joined But Nothing give years ago. The same goes for purses and tote bags. And a lot of other things.

My regular readers know that I have grandchildren. I love to bring them a little surprise it treat when I visit. I don’t have a lot of money as my entire income consists of Social Security disabled benefits that barely cover my rent and utilities. Instead of buying items, I find things for them in my Buy Nothing group. The boys each have 3D pens and accessories that I was able to get for them not too long ago. And a lot of L’egos!

Maya is five. She gets a lot. She lives Minnie Mouse and so I find a lot of Minnie Mouse things for her, including clothes and shoes, books, and toys. This past week I was able to find her a Barbie house (40 inches tall), a Minute Missed dress, Minnie ears, a sparkly Minnie hair clip, and more! She was ecstatic and I was so glad to be able to treat her with items that were totally free to me!

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Family – Weekly Smile

Last Sunday I got to have all five of my grandchildren under the same roof at the same time and two of my three adult children, too.

This never happens. Well, at least not in a long time. The last time we were all together was for Christmas in 2013. Three of the grandchildren weren’t even born yet! So definitely not something that happens often.

It might happen again when the newest grandchild is born. She is due in December 26 so at some point the Seattle group will come down to Portland to meet her. It might not happen right away because we have to be extra careful to not expose her to anything, like COVID or flu. Everyone is vaccinated and “boostered” except Maya who won’t be old enough for the vaccine until February. But not everyone has their flu shot yet.

That was my weekly smile. What was yours? Stop by Trent’s blog to read more weekly smiles and leave a link to yours!Trent’s blog

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Dirty — #WeeklySmile

It has been a long week and I was having trouble finding a smile to share. Then yesterday, as I drive to pickup some items from my Buy Nothing group, it but me!

As I drove around, I came across lots of snow. It wasn’t the pretty white snow we see in pictures. It was the kind that has been sitting around and shoveled and pushed aside. The ugly, dirty snow.

That’s not what made me smile. It was a memory. My oldest grandchild, Anderson, is almost 11. When he was just shy of 4, we had a big snow storm. It was the first time he got to go out and play in it. He loved it. When it all melted, he was sad and asked to get it back. He didn’t write understand why we couldn’t deliver in that wish.

One day, after roads were cleared, I took him to the store with me. There was as mountain of dirty snow in the parking lot where they had pulled it up to clear parking spaces. He didn’t recognize it as snow. It was that dirty. When I told him it was snow that was all dirty, he got so excited and asked me, “Can we take it home and wash it so I can play in it?!”

That’s what made me smile when I saw mountains of dirty snow!

Visit Trent to read more weekly smiles and maybe you will want to share one.

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I’ve Got Nothing

Today I have nothing to write about.

I have a cup of coffee and a warm bed. I have writing to do but I don’t seem to be able to do any writing until the evening these days. I used to get up and put in the first couple of hours of the day to NaNoWriMo during November but this year it seems like I don’t have my writer’s cap on until the evening.

I have a meowing cat that wants attention. She has been fed and watered and her box has been cleaned but she is still meowing at me from down the hall so it must be attention that she wants. I’m not sure if I want to give it.

I have a cold and gray sky outside, not very inviting. No long walks today. No hikes. Not an outside day. And they say we’re in for about five days of rain…heavy rain. So I guess I need to get myself to the store before it starts on Saturday so I can stock up on any food or drink I might need when it begins to pour.

I have one big thing to look forward to. I’m taking Spencer to eat today. Just the two of us. We’re going when he’s fresh from sleep so he should be fine and we’re going to a café that has a kids’ play area and is usually not too busy. I think he’ll enjoy that and I’m not taking any electronics with me. It’s a Nana and Spencer outing. It may only last an hour but that’s okay. It will be just the two of us. Usually it’s Anderson with me but Spencer is getting to the age where I can take him out, just the two of us. He’s 2 1/2.

So although it seems like I have a lot of nothing, I actually have a gold mine in Spencer time and then when Anderson comes home from school he may come over. He likes to come over after school. So I have a gold mine in those two.  I’ll worry about the writing later.

What do you have? Do you have a lot of nothing too? Do you have a gold mine? What’s your gold mine?

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In the Moment

Yesterday, I got a call from my daughter asking if I wanted to go to the Columbia Sportswear Employee store. She gets employee discount privileges there as they are partners with the hotel she works for.  Everything in the store is at least 50% off.  So I went out with them.  I got what I wanted to get: weather proof shoes, a light jacket, and a “snow suit” (not for me but for someone I’ll be sharing about soon).  They were still shopping and the kids were getting antsy so I gave my daughter the money for my purchases and went out with the kids.  We walked around in the parking lot as there’s not a lot to do there (kind of an industrial area).  But the kids still loved it.  We looked at the trees in the lot, most of which have pretty colored leaves right now and we talked about why the leaves change colors.  They picked up pretty leaves and brought them home like they were treasures! We looked at the moon rising and talked about why it was only a half moon and not a circle.  We sang songs and practiced counting.

They were so happy just being outdoors and getting their pretty leaves.  I was happy too and it occurred to me that this is what it’s about: being in the moment with them; enjoying them; loving them.

I feel so lucky to have these little moments with them. I hope I have many more.

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