Welp. Guys... if Tuesday's anti-climactic video wasn't an indicator that I am running out of steam, then Day 19 will confirm it, fo sho. True confession: I did virtually nothing of significance yesterday. So, here's what I am going to do. I am going to, in list form, write down everything I did yesterday that cooouuuuld be stretched into an act of kindness. And really, these are so bad, that they only seem like kindnesses if you are an actual criminal. But, this is about the time of the month (not menstrually, just this time in October) that I start to get sick, a little run down, and I morph into a kindness sloth.
So, I now present to you... dun da dun daaaa....
15 Things That Weren't Exactly Kindnesses, but Also Were Not Crimes!
1. I accidentally hired a racist to powerwash my house. Upon discovering that he was a racist, I did not cut his face. This took a lot of self-restraint. And I believe that not maiming someone when they probably deserve it, is an act of mercy, and therefore, kind.
2. Tom's act of kindness counts as mine because, well, two become one, baby. So, Tom/I called the racist powerwasher to tell him that being a racist is not only bad for business, but also for world peace. (Seriously, nothing is more attractive than a man with a zero tolerance policy on racist powerwashers.)
3. I didn't harm any of the children who ate like farm animals right after I mopped my dining room floor.
4. I did Facebook Live (always humiliating) specifically as a kindness to all of our out of town family members who would otherwise miss out on seeing my daughter, Annalee, take SECOND PLACE for the first time in cross country. My mother (who I affectionately refer to as Hurricane Sandi), Aunt Onnie, Aunt Kristin, Grandma Neen, Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Carlie all live far away from us, so I consider it a kindness to let them be involved in this if they'd like to be. I acknowledge that this might be a Random Act of Motherly Pride, but... shut up and be impressed with my adorable, hard working daughter!
5. At the cross country meet, I offered to help the coach in any way he needed. I ended up collecting place cards after the boys' race. It was really hard because I had to put stickers on 3x5 cards and... ya know, hold things. So, yeah. #majorsacrifice
6. I bought Annalee a bag of Popcorners? (They are her favorite, and... whatever. I admitted I would be stretching it.)
7. I didn't spontaneously fall alseep in my car, even thought I wanted to. Instead, I picked all the kids up at all the schools, and I drove to the race, then home to feed them, and then to youth group and then to the school open house. I could have just slept through all those responsibilities, but I didn't. And I wanted to. But I didn't.
8. I wrote out little words of affirmation for the staff that I planned to hide around the school. But I didn't do it because there were a thousand people around and no way I could not have done it in a sneaky fashion at all. I would have been hiding notes in their desk right in front of them. It felt more tresspassy than I had envisioned. So, now... I have some really nice notes about how valuable school employees are to the community, in my coat pocket.
9. Tom and I had such a busy day that we didn't get to eat dinner until 9:00 at night. At that point we were both famished and being really dramatic about it all. (Mostly Tom.) So, I swung by the grocery store on the way home and picked up some of his favorites because his love language is Foods of Affirmation. This is the lesser known cousin of Words of Affirmation, and has more of a "stop talking and feed me something bread-based" type of a feel.
10. I restuffed our little floor ottoman pouf thingys. But these things are super comfy and we have loved them so much that we destroyed them. So, I figured out a new purpose for all that fabric that I have sitting around for my business (of repurposing old fabric, ironically.) I took old fabric, repurposed it into accessories and now that I am retired from that, I have a zillion scraps of fabric that are virtually useless. So, actaully I re-repurposed it by stuffing it into my ottomans. They are good as new. And now they don't look like little deflated sacks on my floor. (I realize this is not a kindness. I'm just really excited to have solved this problem for free. And technically, I recycled so, you're welcome, environment.)
pathetic little sack vs. saving the environment & our ability to recline comfortably
11. Who are we kidding? I don't have 15 things!
12. I am getting low self-esteem because you guys have been so creative this year with your kindnesses.
13. Ummm
14.
15.
Okay! Wasn't that fun? Moving on to Day 20! I woke up this morning to what Tom rationally referred to as a "household clothing crisis" and then I threw up from a migraine. Now I am sort of just lying in bed with a growing sense of panic about everything I have to do today, and tomorrow, and for the rest of my life, all while my head and stomach gang up on me to teach me a lesson. Like a schoolyard bully.
I am going to try to rest for a bit, and then get myself together to bring London's teacher lunch. I requested her lunch order yesterday, and she seemed very delighted to order a salad. I cannot possibly imagine that this is her DREAM lunch. So, I might peer pressure her into going with something a little more, say, bread-based. But, either way... I will force myself to get that woman some lunch.
I have seen a lot of people post things like "I haven't been good at posting..." or "I'm behind on my #AdamsActs..." so I really hope that this potpurri of fails has made you feel better about falling off the wagon. My friend Marci has morphed into some sort of fitness guru over the past year and she shared an inspirational thought the other day. It was something like "Every wagon you fall off just means you get better abs later in life if you find a new wagon." (That's a pretty loose interpetation.) But the gist is that my kindness abs were a little weak yesterday, but once I stop vomiting, I will get back on the horse. Or is it wagon? I don't even know what I am talking about anymore. I blame the "mindgrain" as London calls it. The bottom line is that Marci looks great and there's always tomorrow for the rest of us.