Texas Road Kill

Today is the day the rubber meets the road.  

It's the last day of the month and it is time for me to make good on my August Fancy Flours Cookie Cutter Challenge.

I hate it.

The whole thing is preposterous.

Normally there is at least a smidge of connection between the holiday we agree to celebrate and the cookie cutter you vote that I must use.  Not this month.

The only thing these two things have in common is that they are equally preposterous.  The holiday is National Preposterous Packaging Day and the cookie cutter is even worse...an armadillo.

Preposterous.  You got that right.

Nothing rhymes with armadillo, there is no occasion for which you would want to present someone with an armadillo, and there is no reason to celebrate an armadillo.  They are gross. 

Add to it preposterous packaging and you've got a deadly combination.  Literally.

Road kill.  That's all I got.  

Give me a preposterous combination and I give you a preposterous package.

Fancy Flours generously provides me with one extra cookie cutter to present to the reader comes up with the next best use for that month's cookie cutter and the winning slogan to go along with it.  But, since I have presented no best use of the cookie cutter, and since I am grossed out by the idea of eating an armadillo (even when made of butter and confectioner sugar), I will give mine away too.

Join me in the Community Forum labeled, Today's Post and tell me your preposterous idea about how to use the armadillo cookie cutter.  I will gladly ship them off to the two people who can bring this armadillo back to life.

And, since there was no shining involved in today's post, I will resort to our old salutation...

Signing off until tomorrow...

Line Leader

Here's another reason I know the Yellow Envelope Project is important and worthy of our time.

After work on Friday, Richard and I took the boys to dinner.  Almost immediately after getting to the table Jack, my three year old said, "I know, we can say our highs, lows, and ahas."

I don't talk much about Jack on my blog site, but there is something you need to know if you are going to get the point of my story.

Jack is a three-year old curmudgeon.

Ask him to put on his shoes and he exclaims, "No, I don't have to."

Ask him the best part of his day and he quickly replies, "Nothing."

Ask him who is friends are at school and he answers, "No one.  I don't like people."

Jack is, what his pediatrician diagnoses as, "disagreeable."

I say it's an acute case.  Stage four.

Nonetheless, on Friday night it was Jack's idea that we get our nightly dinner ritual underway. Thrilled he was participating willingly, I seized the moment.

"O.k., Jack what was your high for the day?"

Without skipping a beat, he proudly replied, "I was Line Leader."

Jack went on to explain, in the best way he knew how, what being Line Leader meant.  "It means you are a leader.  You are first in line on the way out to the play ground."

Not only did my curmudgeon-of-a-son remember, hours later, that he was Line Leader, but he shared - actually sought an opportunity to share - his accomplishment with us.

Even my three-year old son can connect with the feeling you get when you are singled out and made to feel special.  You feel proud; like you want to tell someone, and do it again and again and again, so that the good feeling never goes away.

All too many jobs and volunteer positions forget to appoint Line Leaders.  They assume employees and volunteers are going to show up day in and day out with the enthusiasm of a pre-schooler, but without the benefit of crayons, nap time, or the chance to be Line Leader.  Yet, inside each of us is a little Jack - tough on the exterior, but secretly wishing for a little recognition.

The beauty of the Yellow Envelope Project is that it is just as simple as appointing a Line Leader.  Take ten minutes, write a short note of gratitude to the winning recipient, and commit to mailing it before the next Saturday.  Click here to get the address of this week's winner and to see the long list of reasons she was selected as line leader.

Shining off until tomorrow...

Yellow Envelope Project: Arkansas

We are such a team.  I created a simple challenge. Karlie comes through with flying colors and finds a recipient in Arkansas, worthy of our Yellow Envelope Project.  And Peggy, through her generous donation, is sponsor this week's " yellow envelope flood."

That's the way it has to go when you take on a challenge as big and audacious as powering the planet with shine.  No one could do this work alone.  No one.  I don't care how good you think you are or how hardworking, persistent, clever, creative, or relentlessly passionate.  This job is designed for an army - a loyal and focused army.

We are making headway.  We have small stock pile of nominations waiting to be sifted through and every week we have more and more people joining us as we mail anonymous letters of gratitude to deserving people around the country.  Here's my commitment to you.  Continue showing up every week, willing to give ten minutes and $0.44, and I will continue showing up with the names of worthy people who are making a difference in their corners of the world.

Together this small but mighty group will spread our Rayvolution.  This week we celebrate the Award-winning Alda Rae from Arkansas.  Look at what her nominator had to say: 

"Alda Rae is an amazing woman who volunteers her time for others in so many ways, I can't even begin! She is at the hospital once a week to assist in the main office at an administrative level; she is at the food shelter downtown once a week to help with cooking and feeding the homeless in downtown Ft. Smith, AR. She has amazing knitting and quilting skills that she utilizes to help others: knitting quilts, socks and jackets for preemie babies in the hospital as well as knitting helmet liners for Army personnel which she sends over seas by batch load. She received a note back from one soldier thanking her for the helmet liner and complimenting her on how soft and comfortable it was - his preference above any other choice since it is very cold in Afganistan! Alda Rae also has taught 3 of her grandchildren to knit and pass the tradition along to them! She is an avid participant in book clubs at her church and in her neighborhood. Now Alda Rae was recently diagnosed with a liver dysfunction and at some point will have to have a liver transplant in order to survive. This, along with all the medication does not stop or hinder her from helping others in the least! Her heart is generous. Her spirit and positive nature is contagious. She is not only an amazing and helpful daughter, but she possesses that unexplainable Shine quotient!!! She is an excellent candidate for your Yellow Envelope Project."

Participating is easy.  Simply write Alda Rae a short, much-deserved note.  Thank her for ALL the volunteer work she squeezes into her week and for actively seeking new ways to share her talents with the world.  Seal your note in a yellow envelope (or white, decorated with yellow markers and stickers) and place the words, "Yellow Envelope Project" in place of your return address.  Mail it to the address listed below, before next Saturday when we meet again to recognize our next worthy recipient.

Alda Rae mailed countless knitted hats to troops oversees.  How about one yellow envelope for each knitted hat that she has made and mailed?  That seems like a more than fair exchange.

Shining off until Monday...