Feeling proud of myself

Today has been a day of doing good deeds, and even better, for once my efforts have been appreciated!!!

I set off on the school run this morning, pottering along as Skye and I are prone to do, we came across two school boks and a letter on the path. Picked them up and they belonged to a child at Skyes school ( there are two schools close to each other so could have been either). So we took them with us and Skye very proudly gave them to her headmistress!!

Then went to help clear out the last school mobile class room. When the boys were at the school there was four or fice mobiles, but over the past years the school have managed to replace them with smart brickbuilt buildings. The mobile was full of various bits, including lots of toys. I was shocked to see they were all going to be skipped, so rescued all the best stuff, mainly toys, including two play kitchens and bought them home ( two trips second one in the car ;) ) then listed them all on Freecycle, lots of emails later and all the toys have been rehomed. One kitchen went to a local childminder who sometimes collects Skye from school for me, without charging me, one to a fellow heart family, play tables have gone to other families, and bags of toys are heading off to new loving homes tonight :)

I have that warm, happy feeling tonight, not only have I saved half a skip from landfill, I have managed to spread a little happiness at the same time :) Not to mention saving some poor parent from having to fork out to replace two lost school books lol!!

Firmly ignoring the increased chest pains all the running around is causing though hehehe, nothings going to ruin this for me :)

What does courtesy cost ??

Slight rant, but also an observation on the world today.

When I was small (as in young Daniel, not referring to my height!) I was always taught to say please and thank you. If we didn't say please we did not get whatever it was. Simple, easy to understand and no bother... or is it.

I am , as you know, a mod on freecycle.I am a huge fan of Freecycle and use it to clear out unwanted items and get items I need. But there is something that really, really gets my goat. It's when a small minority of people seem to think that you owe them a living, that they are doing YOU a favour by taking stuff. Actually no you are not. I offer on freecycle first, if nobody wants it , then the item goes to the charity shop. simple really.

But I get soooo pee'd at the replies I have had over the years, ' Give me your address and |I will come and get it', Or the straight to the point ' I want this'. Not forgetting ' Ring me on 071234 56789 to arrange for me to collect it' Err hang on, I am offering something, very often something decent, have never offered tat on there, and you expect ME to spend money for the honour of you taking said item!

tell you what, a simple, 'Please could I have this' wins a lot more points with me. better still a 'If this has not already gone please would you consider me for it, because ...., thank you' almost guarantees a positive response!!!

Finally don't bleddy well email me every ten minutes. Wait and be patient, just because you are stuck to the computer doesn't mean the rest of us are ! ( Well except Dan, he has a laptop glued to him at all times, even when in the loo!! )

Freecycle it !!!

Do you belong to Freecycle ? If not why not ? Its brilliant !! Ok for those of you who have not yet heard of/joined freecycle, its an online community, set up in the States , which has now spread worldwide . The idea behind it is to keep useable items out of landfill. For instance if you buy a new three piece suite, you have the problem of what to do with the old one, you could donate it to a local charity but not all of them will accept furniture and if yours is an older suite it might not have the right safety certificates, your only other choice is landfill . Well not anymore !! Freecycle it !!

Freecycle has a number of local sites in the UK as well as the US and other countries. You join your local group, you place a message on the list offering whatever it is you want rid of, then you sit back and wait for the replies ! If there is something you need then place a message asking for whatever it is, or browse the lists to see if anything you need/want is being offered. It really is that simple. The only rule being everything offered must be free to collector

Its a great way of clearing clutter, outgrown toys and kids clothes, you name it , it could find a home through freecycle !

Can you tell I am a moderator for my local group !!!