Operation Christmas Child: Mission Complete

I set a goal almost a year ago that I would try to fill 24 Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this year. Mission Complete. I dropped the boxes off at church on Friday before we left town for homecoming.

I didn't do as great of a job buying items for my boxes throughout the year as I'd hoped. But that's where I am going to learn from my "mistakes" and do better next year. One thing that's not a mistake: 24 children will feel the love of Jesus and hear the gospel message because of those 24 boxes.

At least I did do a good job of setting aside the money for shipping ($7 per box) throughout the year. That will kill you if you don't accumulate it gradually. I just put a $20 bill in an envelope about once a month. And, because of experience in prior years, I decided to get a money order for my box total ($168) instead of depositing the money and writing a check. Why? Because, in years past, my check sat in one of the shoeboxes for a couple of weeks before it ever got deposited. I didn't want to forget I'd spent $168 and then later have it disappear from my account!

Twenty-four turned out to be a perfect number. A lot of the items that I bought in bulk were sold in quantities of 8 or 12...which meant I'd have the exact right number if I bought either two or three packs of whatever the item was.

I bought my boxes early in the year and a few other items as I came across them or as I knew they would be on sale (i.e. crayons for 25 cents a box at back-to-school time). I need to do a better job next year of hitting up the sales in the days and week following holidays: Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Back-to-School, Halloween (usually where I get some of my biggest scores), Thanksgiving (which means THIS year) and Christmas (also this year). Shoot...I might even get some deals after New Year's Eve and some of the other "minor" holidays.

I also might take a closer look at my Oriental Trading Company purchases before making them next year. I bought several bulk items from there, because they are super inexpensive. The only problem is, they're also very cheap (low-quality) and tiny.

To the best of my recollection, here's what went into my boxes this year (12 boy boxes and 12 girl boxes).

• Coloring books (Oriental Trading)
• 24-packs of crayons (Target - on sale for 25 cents a piece during back-to-school)
• Washcloths (Target)
• Plastic whistles (Target - party favors aisle)
• Novelty sunglasses (Target - party favors aisle)
• Mini pinball games (Oriental Trading)
• Plastic mugs (Oriental Trading)
• Mini Play-Doh (Target - bags of 20 on sale after Halloween)
• Mini paddleball games (Oriental Trading)
• Spinning tops (Oriental Trading)
• Matchbox cars (Dollar General or Big Lots - boys' boxes only)
• Suckers & gum (Target - on sale after Halloween)
• Hair bows and clips (Big Lots - girls' boxes only)
• Combs (Big Lots - girls' boxes only)
• Nail polish (Dollar General - girls' boxes only)
• Stuffed animals (We donated about a dozen from Rylan's basket of untouched stuffed animals, and I bought the other dozen at Dollar General)
• Bars of soap (Costco)
• Pencils (Dollar General)
• Toothbrushes (Donated by Jason's dentist)
• Toothpaste (Donated by Trey's dentist)
• Notepads (Big Lots)
• Mini spiral notebooks (Dollar General)
• Tennis balls (Target)
• Sidewalk chalk (Target, I think. I bought two big boxes and divided the chalk into Ziplock bags)
• Mini yo-yos (Oriental Trading)
• Mini beach balls (Oriental Trading)
• Finger skateboards (Big Lots - boys' boxes only)
• Kaleidoscopes (Dollar General)

That's all I can remember. I'm sure there were probably a couple more items I can't recall. But, I wanted to put that all down in writing to help me with my shopping for next year!

I think I'm going to set the same goal for myself for next year, but I will strive to do a better job of buying more earlier in the year instead of going on a buying frenzy the last few weeks before boxes came due. If I change it up at all, it might be to throw in a couple of boxes for the two age groups I didn't touch. All of my boxes were the 5-9 age group, which I'm assuming is probably the most popular. Maybe next year I'll pick up a couple of 2-4 year-old boxes or a box or two for the 10-14 age group.

Southern Belle

For once, I'm not talking about this in reference to one of my favorite songs. :)

Today, a friend e-mailed me this article from Garden & Gun magazine. In its entirety, it's eight screens worth of reading, but I'm only concerned about the first three.

My friend's note to me (and the others to which she sent this) included the following:

It discusses a new meaning of "southern" 

and I know for me, explains a lot about who I am.

We talk a lot about "culture" in reference to other countries and the way they do things. Until this afternoon, I'd never really considered the culture in which I was raised. Even though I know different parts of the good ole U-S-of-A have their different nuances and personalities, I never really put much thought into how much being from the South helps define who I am...in a good way.

Aside from "Southern hospitality," the only other aspect of the South that I've thought much about is the Southern twang (which I proudly do not have).

So bring on the meat-and-three, the true Southern hospitality, the self respect, the babies and the community. I'm proud to be a real Southern Belle!

Good Mommy Day

Evidently I've reverted back to my bad blogger days. Every time I've considered blogging, I remembered how much more interesting the other blogs I read seem than mine. This may or may not be a comeback.

I have what I consider "good mommy days" and "bad mommy days." Today, I am proud to say that I'm having a good mommy day. 

A good mommy day goes something like this:

• I don't feel it necessary to clean up the mess while R is awake.
• I feel like the time passes quickly and R is well-entertained.
• I miraculously come up with some sort of new activity from already existing toys.
• Nap time commences with ease. 
• I don't feel like my blood pressure rises much (even on account of the dog). 
• I feel like I'm actually teaching my child something, instead of just trying to keep him alive.

In contrast, a bad mommy day goes something like this:

• I simply try to keep my child alive and try my best not to do anything that might leave lasting physical or emotional scars.

Is it just me? Or do all you mothers have these too?

Elizabeth launches a blog: Take 3

Or is it my fourth attempt? Either way, I have attempted several times to become a blogger. I've always failed miserably. I'm not entirely sure of the reason. Maybe it's because I feel like my ramblings are a bit mundane and uninteresting. Maybe it's because I'm unwilling or uncomfortable to be completely unfiltered in such a public setting.

I'm launching this latest attempt in response to the passing of a friend. When a friend dies (as I've experienced entirely too many times in my short life), I find myself combing the internet for pieces of that person. In some strange way, it's like the internet paper trail keeps a person alive. In my search after her death last week, I stumbled back upon something I used to read, but had drifted away from. See, she was an avid blogger. Now that she is gone, I've found myself engulfed by the pages of her blog. She was so real. So candid. So full of life. I'm sad that she is gone...even sadder at how it happened. But, I've found that it's a nice comfort to relive bits of her life in her own words.

And, thus, I've been inspired (once again) to try.