Act 16 - Bake it, make it, take it

Today’s act invites us to bake some cakes and give them out to people.  I love baking so any excuse to get my mixing bowl out was very welcome!  Jessica also loves to help mummy make cake and was very happy sitting at the table with her cake cases and some cake mix (most of which went straight into her mouth rather than into the cases!)  As we weren’t really able to get out and about today, I will be giving the cakes to hubby to take for the rest of the crew tomorrow doing the get-in for a show.

Act 15 - Stand up, stand out

Today’s act encourages us to be an ambassador for a cause or charity close to our heart.  One cause which is very close to my heart is raising awareness of congenital heart defects (CHDs).  My beautiful daughter Jessica was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and has undergone several open-heart surgeries since she was born.  In response to the no-makeup selfies that have been posted on Facebook, some of my heart mummy friends and myself have posted pictures of our heart children and donated to heart charities (my chosen charity being Little Hearts Matter) in order to help raise awareness.

Act 14: Shhhhh!

Today’s act is all about anonymous giving.  After taking the time to listen to someone on day 9, we are now encouraged to respond to a need which was mentioned then and meet it anonymously.  Which makes it quite hard to blog about!  That said, I couldn’t recall a need mentioned on day 9 that I could meet anonymously or otherwise.  After some thought and looking at some of the suggestions posted on social media sites, I did manage to give something anonymously, but I’m going to have to keep schtum about it – otherwise it may not stay that way!

Act 13 - Go local

Today’s act encourages us to support our local shops as these are wonderful community hubs.  I have two favourite stops in our village – the bakery and the pharmacy.  We had breakfast in the bakery this morning – it is a fantastic place to meet other people and has a community notice area with leaflets about local events.  The pharmacy is an essential stop in the village for my daughter’s regular heart medication – the staff in there know their regular customers well and are always very helpful with any queries, particularly when we have had difficulties obtaining certain medication in the past.

Act 12 - #nofilter

Today's act encourages us to be more like young children; to view others without a filter of preconceived ideas and judgements. I met some new people today and have to admit my first impression was 'these are not my sort of people' but then I remembered today's challenge and cast aside my first impressions, listening and trying to keep an open mind, taking inspiration from how my daughter just interacted with the other children and enjoyed their company. Needless to say I found myself enjoying their company much more than I had expected from my first impression of the group. 

Act 11 - One green thing

Today’s act encourages us to commit to doing one green thing.  I like to think I’m fairly eco-conscious – I try to recycle as much as I can; plan my meals for the week in advance which means I tend to only buy what I need and therefore reduce food waste and both Jessica and Sophie wear cloth nappies.  However, whilst Sophie is in cloth day and night, Jessica is usually in disposables at night.  I thought I’d try changing Jessica to cloth nappies at night and reduce my use of disposable nappies even further.  Hopefully we won’t get any leaks!

Act 10 - Talent show

Today's act encourages us to look again at our 'toolkits'; to share our talents and offer to teach one of them to others. I posted a list on Facebook this morning, offering to teach making basic icing figures, card stitching, iris folding or rag-rugging, skills that I thought I might be able to teach and manage to find a time slot in which I could do so. So far I haven't had any responses though and from looking on twitter today I suspect I'm not alone in this. Maybe someone will take me up on the offer another time.