Countdown to Christmas Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, a representative from Hallmark contacted me and asked me if I would like to take part in a promotion of a couple of their new Christmas products. She thought maybe my grandchildren would enjoy them. 

Would I be interested? Of course! This was Hallmark after all. And I happen to love Hallmark. As much of a fan of Hallmark as I am, my husband is an even bigger fan. If the card doesn't say Hallmark on the back, he simply won't buy it. And ask him what his favorite network is. Without hesitation, he'll say Hallmark. If anyone wants to laugh at him for enjoying schmaltzy, romantic movies, go right ahead. They make him happy.

But that's not the reason for this post on Review It Wednesday. I'm here to review the Hallmark products I received.

I opened the box and pulled out a few of the promotional cards. Then I found some other goodies, like a box of 40 Christmas cards. I was able to give my 4-year-old granddaughter one of the Christmas Countdown cards, as well as the recordable "What I want for Christmas" card.

Anyway, Laura so enjoyed receiving the cards. And I'm certain Lincoln will love his Mickey Mouse themed Christmas Countdown card I will give him this weekend. 

Laura's card featured a whimsical little Santa instead of Mickey Mouse, and as you can see, she was delighted. The card has a dandy little countdown clock that you can set according to the hour and day when you receive the card. Then the kiddos can place the card beside their beds or some other handy place so they can watch the days tick away. Imagine how excited they'll be when the display shows the number 1!!

Laura also enjoyed recording her Christmas wish list to Santa. She told him she wanted a robot. That was news to us. Good thing Santa will know. 

She quickly learned how to open the card and push down on the record button with her thumb. She waited until the beep and narrated her very short list (she's not a greedy child!).

As you can see, she took this quite seriously! Since Lincoln's only 2, he won't be recording a list to Santa this year. 

Both the kids will be able to enjoy the countdown cards, and I think they'll enjoy the fact that it's not just a countdown to presents under the tree, but it's also a countdown to time spent with the family. After all, they love being at Grandma and Pap Pap's house. For grandkids who live farther away, these cards are a perfect visual, digital reminder of how many days until you'll be together again.

As with all Hallmark cards and products, you can count on quality.

And guess what? In addition to sending me this wonderful assortment of cards, Hallmark wants to send a different assortment to one of you! Simply enter the contest via the Rafflecopter below. 



This contest will run through the 19th and a winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 20th. The winner will have 72 hours to email me with their contact information so Hallmark will have the chance to get their prize in the mail in plenty of time for the holiday season. This contest is open to residents of the U.S. only.

Good luck! And as Mickey says at the end of the Christmas eve show: 

Thank you for spending Christmas Eve at the House of Mouse. Here's wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a safe trip ho-home!   





  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunshine, the ultimate source of energy

Image by George Hodan

Did you know we're having a solar eclipse today? But from what I hear, it will only be visible in parts of Australia and some spots in the ocean, so unless you're in that area, you can forget about seeing it.

Where I am, we're having a typical Pittsburgh day. Cloudy and grey with surprised of sunshine thrown in for variety. My laundry is outside hanging on the line, albeit quite damp still. I'll have to transfer it to my basement line by the end of the day.

While I love variety, I would still enjoy more sunshine if I had the choice. Not Tuscan-type sun, which I would find to be monotonous and stifling, but Pennsylvania sun, shining in through the windows leaving patches on the floor when the kitties would stretch out for a mid-afternoon nap. Yeah, that kind of sun.

For the areas where sunshine is the norm, I cannot fathom why more people and businesses are not using solar energy. In a time when more and more consumers are looking for ways to save on energy, solar power makes so much sense. 

Of course, there are the common objections and misconceptions. I've spoken to people who say, "It's too expensive." Well, of course, the initial investment is a bit steep. Having a solar electric panel installed is going to cost you more initially than continuing with your current energy supplier and paying your monthly bills. However, once you pay off the solar installation, you have to keep in mind that your energy is now FREE! The sun is happy to loan you its rays so that you can be your own power company and you'll eliminate that monthly bill. How awesome would that be? And you can't forget the tax credits you'll receive for going green in such a big way!

Others object to the appearance of solar panels. They say they're ugly. I beg to differ. For me, nothing looks more beautiful than the look of conservation. Conserving the earth's resources is exactly what we should all be doing, yet so few actually do. 

Solar energy is not a fad, as some have suggested. My uncle and aunt built a home in Lancaster County several decades ago and they installed solar panels. They also planted a woods around their home. Eventually, as the trees shaded their home, the solar panels were removed and they went with a more conventional way of powering their house. Things have come a long way since then!

I'm really not sure that solar energy is the way to go for a Western Pennsylvanian like me, but if I were living in a sunshine state, like California or Florida, this is definitely the route I'd go.

Are any of you living in or working in a solar-powered home or building? I would love to hear your feedback.

Letter to one serving overseas

Photo by Teodoro S Gruhl

 Dear Tom,

Another dismal gray day greets me like the outstretched hand of a hypocrite, smile and all. Late autumn greyness, like winter greyness, is different from the cloudy days in summer when the landscape is dominated by varying hues of green and dotted with splatterings of red and yellow, pink and purple. Just the promise of a summer rain is welcomed as vegetation reaches upward for its soothing nourishment. But now, colder temperatures and clouded skies signal an upcoming drenching followed by that familiar chill I dread. The greyness only seems to emphasize the barrenness of the season.

Surrounded by the gunfire in the desert, you're missing these autumn days when the midday darkness outside requires artificial lights burning inside. The days when it seems like dusk when dawn has barely parted. It will be dark in less than an hour, you think. And then you look at the clock and it's barely noon. Perhaps that is what I dislike most about the upcoming months. I will miss the sun.

Please forgive my complaints, as this has been an incredible fall, with lots of sunshine and warmer than normal temps. My verbiage simply reflects the dreariness of the day, echoed by my mood.


We miss you. Perhaps the approaching holidays add emphasis to the longing for your presence around our table. Of course, nothing is the same without you.

Can't wait to have you home.

Mutual respect

This week's quote is right off my personal Facebook page. I wrote this the day before the election.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_tags#United_States

I love my country and I bet you do, too. 

Even if we vote differently from each other, 

the fact is we both want 

what we believe is best for America. 

I respect you for that. 

And I hope the feeling's mutual.

Vinegar and a rotting seal

TGIVF!

A few days ago, a community member asked me about using vinegar in her dishwasher. Apparently, she'd been told that vinegar could eat away at the seal and should not be used.

I heard similar stories in the past, so I decided to look into it. Here's what I discovered. 

Yes, vinegar can rot the seals of a dishwasher and eat away at the rubber components of your washing machine. However, it depends on the material used for the seals/hoses. It is safe for natural rubber seals and any parts made from polypropelene, silicone, fluorocarbon, and virgin Teflon, as well as butyl synthetic rubber seals.

I read message board after message board about using vinegar in dishwashers and washing machines, and the vast majority of the posts extol the virtues of adding it to both with only good results. Occasionally, I found posts by repairmen who said you should never use vinegar because it will rot the seals and hoses. But in my experience, and the experience of many, many others, this is not the case. 

My advice? Use caution. Check your seals for any signs of erosion. The advantages of using vinegar over chemically-laced rinse aids or fabric softeners are obvious. But I don't want to be responsible for a large repair bill if your machine is one that can't handle the vinegar for some reason or another.
  
Let me add that when I started searching the Internet for an answer, it was difficult to find one bad thing about vinegar. Let's face it. We all love it. If we didn't, Vinegar Fridays wouldn't exist!

Keeping it green with vinegar,

Hana

An election result that has me fired up

Photo by Peter Griffin

I woke up yesterday with hopefulness in my heart. What happened in California? I wondered. Quickly, I turned on my computer, clicked on Facebook, and typed Prop 37 in the search bar. 

Then my heart fell. Hard.

Prop 37 was defeated. Seriously?? How is it that Californians could be so misled by the lies? Did they not see the huge amount of money being thrown around in an effort to keep them in the dark? Did they not see through the lies and deception? Seriously??

I am beyond perplexed at the stupidity displayed. Are we sheep? Apparently so. Sheep being led to the slaughter. 

All that was being asked was for labeling. Why is the right to know so frightening for the corporations that spent $45-$48 MILLION to keep you and me in the dark? The bottom line, folks, is we are not supposed to know what is in the food we are feeding our families. We're not supposed to know the poisons that are in the formula we are feeding our babies. We're not supposed to know. We're not supposed to know. Doesn't that infuriate you?? 

My anger is practically uncontainable at this point... and I'm not even a Californian! I didn't have the opportunity to cast my ballot against this obscenity. But my voice was heard... here on the blog and on Facebook. One person said they wished non-Californians would shut up about this. They just didn't realize that this vote affects each and every one of us. We need to stop the insanity being perpetuated by Monsanto and Dupont.

Well, it's time to put our money where our mouth is. Here is a partial list of corporations who spent an obscene amount of money spewing misinformation over the airwaves and through the mail to the people of California. I know that I will, at times, buy products from some of these companies. But when given a choice, I'll choose to spend my money elsewhere. We can't do it all, but each one of us can do something. We have to. Like my husband said, "We won't buy one more can of Campbell's soups." I'm all for that. They're lined with BPA anyway!

MONSANTO COMPANY - $8,112,069
E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO. - $5,400,000
PEPSICO, INC. - $2,145,400
GROCERY MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION - $2,002,000
BASF PLANT SCIENCE - $2,000,000
BAYER CROPSCIENCE - $2,000,000
DOW AGROSCIENCES LLC - $2,000,000
SYNGENTA CORPORATION - $2,000,000
KRAFT FOODS GLOBAL, INC. - $1,950,500
NESTLE USA, INC. - $1,461,600
COCA-COLA NORTH AMERICA - $1,455,500
GENERAL MILLS, INC. - $1,230,300
CONAGRA FOODS - $1,176,700
KELLOGG COMPANY - $790,700
SMITHFIELD FOODS, INC. - $683,900
DEL MONTE FOODS COMPANY - $674,100
CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY - $598,000

It's time to hold these companies, as well as the government, accountable. While Prop 37 was just about labeling, we need to do all we can to eradicate GMOs in this country. Unfortunately, we can't count on our president for that. 

According to an article in the August issue of Whiteout Press, "From the trenches of its battle against genetically modified food, Food & Water Watch points out one seldom discussed fact. While Monsanto has been pushing its GMO foods, seeds and pesticides for decades, it’s under the Obama administration that the multi-national corporation has seen its most success."

Just look at what's happened in the last 4 years:

2009 – Food and Drug Administration approved ATryn, an anti-clotting agent that is produced in the milk of transgenic goats. This was the first U.S. approval of a GE animal.

2009 – GE papaya strain developed by University of Florida approved by USDA.

2010 – USDA approves Syngenta’s “stacked” corn variety (MIR162) that contains multiple GE traits, including resistance to a variety of corn pests.

2010 – Pioneer’s GE soybean, modified to produce increased amounts of monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic) and decreased amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) approved by USDA.

2011 – Monsanto’s Roundup Ready alfalfa is approved by USDA, with no planting restrictions.

2011 – USDA allows planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets despite unresolved legal challenges to the department’s approval of the crop.

2011 – Syngenta’s corn variety, genetically engineered to produce an enzyme that facilitates ethanol production, approved by USDA.

2011- Monsanto announces its intention to bring its stacked Roundup ready and insect-resistant sweet corn to market in 2012.

2011- Syngenta’s insect-resistant Bt cotton is approved by USDA.

2011- Monsanto’s insect-resistant Bt soybean, the first of its kind, is approved by USDA.

2011- USDA approves Bayer CropScience’s stacked herbicide-tolerant and insect-resistant cotton.

For more information on the fight against genetically modified foods in America’s food supply, visit Food & Water Watch.

It's time to suit up our armor, folks. We need to fight harder than ever before. The future and health of our children and our children's children's children depend on it!

 

SUBSCRIBE

 

 

Sweet!

Photo by Petr Kratochvil

Today's review is a bit different, as it's a local-to-Pittsburgh review. But Pittsburghers, listen up! This is a review you'll want to read!

I was sitting at my desk on Tuesday and I had a craving for something sweet. I remembered how I'd been wanting to visit a little cafe that opened in June just a half mile from my house. So I grabbed a notebook (so I could work on a children's book I'm writing) and headed down there. Did I like the place? Let me tell you...

Like I said, I went in search of something sweet. Specifically cake. And cake I got! As it turns out, Sugar & Company's cupcakes are in the running for a "best of" award hosted by WPXI in Pittsburgh and they need to deliver a chocolate, vanilla and specialty cupcake to the station tomorrow. And I lucked out because they couldn't decide which specialty cupcake to send. They needed a taste tester. Enter moi!

Oh my goodness. That's all I have to say. These cupcakes were unbelievable! I tested 3 different kinds (and the scale is reflecting that today!) If you are in the area and like cake, you have to visit Sugar & Company on McKnight Road (across from North Hills Village beside Jiffy Lube). But even if you're not a cupcake fan, you will be a fan of this quaint little cafe, where the homemade desserts, sandwiches and salads are ridiculously hard to choose from... they're just that good! Adding to the goodness are the organic fair trade coffees being served. Coffees like Morrocan, Thai, Cafe Praline and more. Plus cappuccino and espresso. Skip Starbucks and check out this local independently owned coffee shop. 

Not only is the food and coffee amazing, but Raida Khalil, the lovely owner of the Sugar & Company, is environmentally-conscious as well. Your food is served on real plates with stainless steel flatware. Coffee is served in mugs or to-go cups. Raida even goes green with her pies, selling them without the foil pie pans. She washes and reuses everything she can.

Did I mention that I love this place?

A lifetime Pittsburgher, Raida is not a trained baker or chef. She simply loves sharing good food. And she is conscious of using the best ingredients and skipping the standard high fructose corn syrup and shortenings. Everything is freshly baked from scratch. 

Adding to the appeal of the cafe are the vases of fresh flowers on the tables, free WiFi and friendly staff. Unlike visiting chains like Panera where I'm just a number, I felt welcomed and valued at Sugar & Company. I left there feeling satisfied, and full, after 3 cups of coffee, 3 cupcakes (gasp!) and a Mozzarella in Carrozza Panini (mozzarella & fresh basil batter dipped and grilled) served with grapes. Yum.

Today, I'm a few pounds heavier, but I'm also thrilled to discover this gem in my neighborhood. Skip the chains, folks, and support your local businesses. In this case, a Pittsburgh coffee shop and bakery.

Sugar & Company is located at 4846 McKnight Rd. Pittsburgh, PA 15237.

Become a fan of Sugar and Company on Facebook and receive a free cookie when you stop in. Tell them Green Grandma sent you! They'll thank you and you'll thank me. Take my word for it!

Reviewing it for you,

Hana 

Give THANKS for Fluff! Giveaway Event

I'm happy to be part of the Give Thanks for Fluff Giveaway Event sponsored by Organic Eco Baby and hosted by Happy Mothering and Eco Crazy Mom at Green Moms Network. 

This Thanksgiving we are thankful to have our trusty cloth diapers, for without them our babies would have rashes and our landfills would be 50x as high! If you haven't had the chance to use cloth diapers yet then you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy they are to get the hang of. Find cloth diapers and other natural and organic baby items at Organic Eco Baby!

Did you check out yesterday's blog post? Several members of the Green Grandma community weighed in on why they cloth diaper. Click here to read what they had to say.

A few words from our sponsor:

“Hi everyone! Being a busy Mom, like most of you out there, I know how hard it is to find the time to research every product before you buy it. But researching is what I do! So, I want to pass the knowledge I have aquired on to each and every one of you. At Organic Eco Baby I personally handpick all of the products and brands based on safety and environmental impact. I strive to find products that are organic, eco-friendly, fair trade and made in the USA. I ask important question and I would NOT sell something I wouldn't give to my own children. I keep everything at a reasonable price and I do it all from home! Come shop at Organic Eco Baby with confidence and peace of mind. Please feel free to email me with any questions. I am here to help. You may also visit my blog and forum for useful information, recipes and tips on living green and non-toxic. Thank you for all the amazing bloggers for making this event happen and GOOD LUCK to everyone!” -Angela

For this wonderful event we will be giving away TWO prize packages of FuzziBunz Cloth Diapers. (RV over $200) I really, really want someone from the GG community to win one of these prizes!

Prize 1: (6) Elite One Size Diapers and (1) Travel Wet Bag (RV $131.65)

Prize 2: (6) X-Small Perfect Size Diapers and (1) Travel Wet Bag (RV $95.65)

 

Enter to win one of these great prizes with the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway is open to US residents only and you may enter until Nov. 20th 11:59pm EST. The winner will be chosen at random and contacted via email. Good Luck to everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I cloth diaper because... readers weigh in

Check out the stash at Happy Baby Company

In this season of giveaways, you'll want to check back here tomorrow for an amazing cloth diaper giveaway! Winning diapers is a good way to get started on cloth diapering for those of you who are a bit hesitant to go this route. Rather than telling you how I feel about cloth diapers, I thought it would be a good idea to share what other community members had to say about it. So I asked the community to email me and complete this sentence: I cloth diaper because...

Here are the responses I received:

Nicole Leary of Tummy 2 Bummy Diapers says she cloth diapers because ...I only want the best for my baby, planet, and wallet. That includes diapers that are free from chemicals, not filling up our landfills with disposable diapers that don't decompose, and saving tons of money on diapers I can use for all of my children. Oh, and did I forget to mention that fluff is really, really cute? ;)

To hear more from Nicole, please check out her blog!

Long-time community member and occasional guest blogger, Wanda Bolhous, from the Wanda Whoopie Cushion blog, answered: I cloth diaper with SuperUndies because Pull-Ups are way too expensive for a night-time bed-wetter!! We came late to the cloth diapering world, deciding to buy SuperUndies when our youngest had problems staying dry at night. We’ve had three pairs of SuperUndies for about three years now and have saved about $120 by using them! It was a $60 investment but so worth it! Now that I know about the bleach and crystals in diapers and Pull-Ups, I’m glad I was able to convert my husband to the idea on finances alone back before we knew enough to care about anything else. Cloth diapering is one way to make “green-living” a little cheaper! 

Romina, from Just Another Hat, weighed in: I cloth diaper because after about one and a half years of using disposables on our first son, I realized just how many diapers end up in landfills, which was disturbing. For the next one and a half years (he potty trained at 3 years old), I kept thinking that there has to be a better way to do this. And there was. I encountered modern cloth diapers through some of the blogs I followed. Although I was cloth diapered as a baby, I knew nothing about modern reusable cloth diapers. I was still on the fence until I saw a poster that said it takes 450 years in the ocean for a disposable diaper to degrade. Right then and there I decide to use cloth. A few weeks later, and after several hours of research, I broached the topic with my husband. He was definitely open to the idea (thank goodness). Today, we have a nice stash that I absolutely love. 

A fellow Pittsburgher, Judy owns Green Cheeks Diaper Service. Naturally, she's all about cloth diapering! 

"We started cloth diapering with our first son because it's natural. Better for him, better for the environment, more affordable. We didn't want the nasty chemicals in disposables anywhere near his tiny little butt, and plus cloth is so much cuter! As we went along and would be changing him in public, friends would say 'oh! what are those' and when we'd explain our prefolds and snappi and how it all works and why we were doing it, they'd often be interested, even supportive, but almost always finish with 'ew! I could never do that laundry' or something along those lines. It started as a joke, our saying we could wash diapers for them, but almost four years later we're two years into running Green Cheeks Diaper Service and making it possible for families in Pittsburgh to get all of those benefits of using cloth without having to wash the diapers themselves. We love what we're doing, and still love cloth diapering ourselves as we're on to round two with our seven month old even as we help other local families with their cloth diapering needs as well! :-)"

If you're in the Pittsburgh area and are looking for a diaper service, please give Judy a call at 412.818.7185. Cloth diapering without the mess!

Crafty Garden Mama, Becky Elmuccio, covers the 3-fold purpose of CDing: I cloth diaper because it reduces our costs and because I don't want to add to the landfill. They are gentler on our daughter too! I am happy to explain why we are doing what we do to other parents and talk to them about how easy they are to maintain.

These are just some of the reasons many of our moms here in the GG community choose cloth. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter and let them know you appreciated their answers on GG (link to their accounts on their websites/blogs. 

Then drop in tomorrow to enter the Thanks for the Fluff Giveaway Event sponsored by Organic Eco Baby and hosted by Green Moms Network.

And Pittsburghers, make sure you check out the cloth diaper rental service at Happy Baby Company... a fantastic way to find out if cloth diapering is for you!

Why do you choose cloth?  

Why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday

Of course, I love Christmas... for a variety of reasons, primarily the celebration of the birth of Christ. I love the candlelight service at our church where we all form a circle and sing Silent Night, our faces illuminated only by the small candles we hold before us. There's something unifying and magical about it. 

But, by far, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. As a child, my aunts and uncles and cousins gathered at the American Legion hall for a huge family celebration. I can't tell you how much I loved that. It is still one of my favorite childhood memories.

Now, as an adult with grown children and grandchildren, things are the not the same. The kids always have too many places to go, too many dinners to eat. Several times now, I've bent to accommodate their schedules and we've celebrated Thanksgiving the day before. That leaves Thursday open for a quiet, relaxing day for my husband and me. I don't mind, I suppose. Not too much, at least. 

Regardless of who I spend the day with, the reason I love Thanksgiving remains the same. It is a holiday that doesn't require shopping (other than for groceries). It is a day focused on giving thanks, not giving (or receiving) presents. And, regardless of the year's circumstances, there is always cause for gratitude. 

This year, rather than focusing on the big holiday coming up in December, why not step back and purposefully pay attention to the one on the 22nd of this month. Make this a month of Thanksgiving, a month of gratitude. 

I'll start off by letting you know how grateful I am for each of you. You make my role as Green Grandma a true joy, especially when you take the time to post a comment here or interact with me on Facebook or Twitter. I am thankful for you, my friends.

What are you thankful for?

NaBloPoMo... WHAT??

This is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month). While many of my writing buddies are tackling the much bigger NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I chose a less ambitious path, committing to blogging every day throughout the month of November. 

This put me in a bit of a dilemma, in that I usually take the weekends off, posting a quote on Saturday and nothing on Sunday. Well, this month will be a bit different. 

Not wanting to give up my Weekend Quote tradition, I decided that on Saturdays I'll still post a quote, except it will be one of my own. I'll either come up with something new, or I'll dig through my old posts, poems, or fiction and pull out a relevant sentence or two. Sound good? 

So here's my first Weekend Quote of NaBloPoMo:

God sometimes gives us passion for a season. 

When the season passes, 

so goes the enthusiasm for a task or a livelihood.

This is true for hobbies, for volunteer work, 

even for careers. 

But a loss of passion is never an excuse 

to walk away from a marriage. 

That kind of passion must be cultivated and cherished. 

It is a gift. 

-- HHC                

A Neem Skin Care by Organix South Giveaway!

Who's in the mood for a giveaway? I have a bunch of them coming up, but here's the first one. And it's all about non-toxic skin care.

If you've been reading the blog lately, or following my Facebook posts, you know I'm obsessed with what's going on with the products we're using... seemingly safe products that actually contain a whole bunch of toxicants that are poisoning our families. 

We unknowingly slather these toxins all over our arms and legs and faces in an effort to have softer skin or smoother lips or a nicely scented body. The problem is, that our skin is our body's largest organ and it just laps up these creams and perfumes, inviting toxic chemicals into our bodies. Not cool.

In an effort to educate and protect you, TheOliveParent is giving away a Neem Skin Care Pack by Organix South. The care pack contains Neem stick, Neem soap and Triple Neem ointment. 

Click here to read the review and learn more about Neem.


Then head back here and enter to win the Neem Skin Care Pack by Organix South!




a Rafflecopter giveaway


Limited to US residents, 18+ Ends 11/24/12 midnight EST. Entering into the giveaway indicates you understand it’s terms & conditions.

Disclaimer: This is giveaway is not affiliated with Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. I received no compensation for this post. Entries will be verified.


 

The power of honey over vinegar

TGIVF!

What a week! Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc across the east coast before moving inland to shed her fury further west. It was a frightening time for us here in Pittsburgh, yet somehow we were spared. My heart breaks for all those who were not so blessed. Thousands upon thousands were affected by this storm and its devastation. Some lost their homes. Some their businesses. And others, the worst situation possible... they lost their loved ones. While they're talking about damage in the billions of dollars range, for me, it is unfathomable to consider the cost of human life. If you happen to be one of the people affected in any way by this volatile storm, please know that my thoughts, my prayers and my love go out to you. I'd love to hear your story. If you'd to share it, please email me. 

Photo by Petr Kratochvil

There is an old saying -- You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And that's what I want to write about on this particular Vinegar Friday. It is the Friday before the election in the United States, and I thought it would be an appropriate time to write about kindness. Amidst all the political bickering, I sometimes wonder if kindness has gone the route of common sense and is rotting away in a grave somewhere.

But then I come across a photo on Facebook of a gate in front of a home in New Jersey. Dangling in front of the gate are power strips beside a sign that reads, "We have power. Please feel free to charge your phone." 

I was scrolling through the comments on this picture and saw this comment:

Jason Cook Where's the food and water?!

 

Jason, I don't know who you are, but would like to have a little chat with you (pardon me while I take Jason aside). "Where's the food and water?" Really? Really? Did you really ask that question? Hmm. Some people are always looking for more. 

 

Are food and water essential? Of course. Is charging a cell phone essential? That depends. I certainly could live without mine for a few days. But I have a landline to communicate with my family and let them know I'm okay. And I'm not waiting to hear news from a missing relative or friend. Maybe someone who accepted this random act of kindness was. 

 

Regardless, this gate belongs to someone who cares. Maybe they don't have clean drinking water at this point. But they do have electricity. And God bless them for sharing it. Are they asking for anything in return? Apparently not. They are just being kind.

 

It's something worth trying, Jason. Kindness. But I do see your point. People need food and clean water. Of course they do. And for many of them, they also need a place to sleep. They need shelter. Some lost everything, so... they need everything. So if the power strip gate people offered food and water, sure enough, someone would come along and ask, "Where's the clothing? Where's a warm bed?" Since they can't offer all of that, perhaps they should pull in their power strips and forget about it. 

 

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happens time and time again. People or organizations are criticized for doing "too little," so they pull in their power strips and forget about it. 

  

Inevitably, someone will remove the honey and replace it with vinegar. The sweet for the sour. Kindness for meanness. 

 

Before you open your mouth to criticize a political candidate or someone who votes for him/her, think about the honey/vinegar equation. Think about the kind folks in New Jersey offering their electricity to those without. And think about Jason. Do you want people to think of you as honey or vinegar? On this particular Vinegar Friday, I'm opting for honey. I hope you will to.

 

 

Monsanto and Dow want us to trust them. Do you?