Giving charitable gifts at Christmas

Over on Carla's blog on her sidebar there is information about giving World Vision gifts as Christmas presents.  I thought that was the neatest thing, as I do have a couple of friends I buy for that honestly they don't really need anything and I always feel unsure if they will use what I normally get.  However giving them a gift card and letting them choose what they want to "buy" for someone else in the world makes perfect sense to my mind.

Is this something you do at Christmas or birthday's?  Also do you know of other organizations that do this?

On Monday I pottered around the house, it was a gorgeous day and I was able to get the laundry dried outside and not light the fire until after lunch.  Mind you it cooled off a lot when the sun went down.  For the time of year we are having super weather.

Giving to others and money........

Got a letter in the mail this week from the church.  Why they had to mail it I do not know, as the vicar probably goes past our house a couple days a week..........OR he could have given me it this week when I attend church.  Anyhow there was a newsletter that was pretty long winded and didn't make too much sense to me.  A "fancy" envelope for the Thanksgiving service...........I am guessing they want you to give more during that service???  I give the same small amount every week, it's what I am comfortable giving, and I know it won't be as much as a lot of people, but it's better than nothing.

Also there was mention that they are collecting for the local women's and children's shelter.  So when I went grocery shopping on Friday I picked up a few boxes of pasta and some toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap and toothpaste) to put in the collection box.  I'll pick up some more things next week when I go shopping again.

Is it something you do, give to shelters etc?   I feel I should volunteer my time somewhere as well, but can't figure out where the best place to volunteer would be.  I have been asked to volunteer at the local museum, but as yet haven't commited to anything.

Next week we're going to meet with a financial planner to go over where we are at, and where we are going money wise.  We have always basically done our own financial planning, but decided we should maybe get a professionals point of view.  We're under no obligation to do anything, so thought why not take advantage of the service.

Money with a bit of a whine now..............our bank requires us to keep $3,000 in our chequing account, so that we don't pay service charges of $12.95 per month.  Isn't that a rip off?    If we only kept $2,000 in there we would only get 25 transactions a month free.  If we kept $1,000 in it, we would only get 10 transactions a month free.  I can't make $12.95 per month in interest anywhere else on that $3,000, so we have no choice but to keep that money in that account.  I need to research other banks with the view of moving our accounts to another bank.

What's stopping us moving everything at the moment, is the work involved, changing our direct debits etc.  Still it's annoying how much money these banks are making every year.

Busy day on Saturday as the kids are coming over and we are going to do some jobs around the house.

Odds and ends for Friday........

This month's quilt block is called Road to Tennessee  I managed to get the brown, cream and pink block completed on Thursday.  I hope to get the black, white and red one done before the weekend's out.

Another first this week, had a coyote wander through the property just before 8am on Wednesday morning, just as well I had Molly inside.........

My sister-in-law in Britain is doing a 5 km run for cancer.  If you would like to sponser her, here is the link to her page.

Something for the 40+ age group crowd:

SIGNS THAT YOU MIGHT BE EXPERIENCING MENOPAUSE


* You sell your home heating system at a yard sale. (Hot flashes)


* The person you sleep with complains about snow piling up on the bed. (Nightsweats)


* Your husband jokes that instead of buying a wood stove, he is using you to heat the family room this winter. Rather than just saying you are not amused, you shoot him. (Mood swings)


* You write post-it notes with your kid's names on them. (Memory loss)


* Your husband chirps, "Hi honey, I'm home." and you reply, "Well, if it isn't Ozzie f*cking Nelson". (Irritability)


* The phenobarbital dose that wiped out the Heaven's Gate Cult gives you four hours of decent rest. (Sleeplessness)

* You find Guacamole in your hair after a Mexican dinner. (Fatigue)


* You change your underwear after every sneeze. (Mild incontinence)


* You need Jaws Of Life to help you out of your car after returning home from an Italian restaurant. (Sudden weight gain)

* You take a sudden interest in "Wrestlemania". (Female hormone deficiency)

* You're on so much estrogen that you take your Brownie troop on a field trip to Chippendales. (Hormone therapy)

Did you remember to put your money in your Daily Savings Pot today?

Money Saving Tip:
If you have a paid subscription to a newspaper, give them a call to see if you're getting the best rate.  I did that with our newspaper and got a reduction on our rate.....

Odds and Ends.......

First a good thing. As we all are on the computers frequently, why not do something good.

Click on the purple button at The Animal Rescue Site and give food to an animal living in a shelter or sanctuary --at no cost to you. Here is the link to the site.

To help give free Mammograms, click on this link

To give 1.1 cups of food to the hungry click on this link

To help protect 11.4 square feet of rain forest click on this link

Daily Savings Club, how are you all doing? As it's the 21st of February, you should have $10.50 saved up, pretty good eh?

And finally, as you know I moderate my comments. Things have been quiet for a while, but I now have an anonymous person, who is leaving me delightful comments, but doesn't actually have the guts to have a link back to their site. So they seem to be ticked because I won't publish their comments. I am more than happy to publish their comments, if they would be honest enough to not to hide behind the words "ANONYMOUS." They did use the word Stepford Mum writes, now I am not sure if that's their name, or they could be referring to me...lol I wish I were that perfect.

I have the attitude that if you don't like what I write, then don't read it, no one is forcing you to read my blog. Also if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything. Alright I have had my say, NOW BACK TO MY CORNER!!!

Gifts for people who are hard to buy for..........

I am a member of Bzz and they have something called the Frog Pond, where you can view different websites.

I have seen a couple of neat sites, where I think they have some neat gifts for people who are hard to buy for. I wish I had seen these a month or two ago, as I think I would have got some of these things for some of the people.

The first site is Oxfam America I mean you can buy a dozen chicks for $40, here is Oxfam Canada , Oxfam Britain and Oxfam Australia For your own country, just google Oxfam and your country.

Another neat site is called Mokugift where you can plant a tree. You pick a continent, then pick a country, then pick how many trees, at a dollar a tree, its a cheap gift.

For those of you who can afford it there is One Laptop Per Child Foundation where you can give a child in a developing country a laptop for $199 USD.

Please let me know any other sites where you can buy a "gift" that will help out others..........