Good Deeds Year 2, Week 7

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year.

During my week I’ll also being updating you on My Kindness Challenge which I’m also doing. I read about a new challenge to make the world a better place to live in. “Speak Kind Words, Receive Kind Echoes” see the inspiration on  The Kindness blog . During my learning process I’m donating money to charity for my slip-ups to make me work harder to achieve results. I earn no money from any of my book reviews, so having little to spare should focus my mind.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

June 1st – Today the two local magazines that I write book reviews for uploaded their online versions, so I sent out my promotional post and tweeted and e-mailed the authors who had books featured. Any appreciation you feel for the book review features can be e-mailed to the editor alex@fleetlife.org.uk or alex@ehd.org.uk Here is a link to my post

June Issue of Fleet Life and Elvetham Heath Directory

June 2nd – I’m getting better at the kind comments if I don’t rush into a conversation, but stop and think about my reply first. Today was my morning helping out at school, the first Monday back after a week of school holidays. Finished reading Gypsy by Cynthia Harrison and sent off my review.

June 3rd – Stayed on at work today and did some extra filing that I hadn’t been asked to do, but which needed doing. Went straight on to read book 2 in the Travelling Girls series by Cynthia Harrison and finished reading Sweet Melissa in one evening.

June 4th – Sent off my review for Sweet Melissa and began reading A Gunman’s Destiny by Randy Mixter. Went to see my parents and sorted a couple of computer queries. Thought I did pretty well with my kindness challenge when Mum talked about all the latest village goings on.

June 5th – Sent off my review of A Gunman’s Destiny. Went into town and bought a shirt at a charity shop rather than brand new, for a fancy dress party we are going to in a couple of weeks time. Met friends and now I need to add a £1 to my charity Kindness pot, let my mouth run away with me again! But I am learning from it.

June 6th – Had my hair cut today and left tips for the lovely ladies. Oh Goodness!  A kindness challenge! Once we’d covered my weekend and holiday plans the conversation just waited to be filled with a good moan. I had to dodge several pot-holes in the conversation and tried to disappear into my book, but eavesdropping on other clients was interesting, most were failing in areas of kindness. Am reading Archer of the Lake by Kelly R Michaels.

My son has 6 cricket matches in the next 7 days so think of me will you;

CHEF – “quick get in the car, I forgot to turn the vegetable off before I rushed to pick you up from school, I was trying to get dinner cooked early” Rally drives out of the car-park on two wheels!

TAXI DRIVER – Late to match, abandons car in a great space, later realising the front windscreen faces oncoming hard cricket balls when hit for a 6.

WASHER-WOMAN – Tries hopelessly to get grass and mud stains out of cricket whites, sends son off in “nearly whites”

SUPPORTER – Sits dutifully on the side-lines for 2.5 hours, freezing as the sun goes down and the wind blows. Misses all of son’s best moments because I was either chatting to someone else or secretly reading a book behind large dark glasses and feigning interest in the game.

LISTENER – Dutifully nods and makes appropriate noises to the post-match blow-by-blow analysis which lasts all the way home and for the rest of the day or night with rest of the family joining in. Not expected to make any useful contribution as calling the Umpire the “Referee” and asking why they didn’t use the “off-side ruling” doesn’t go down well.

BEST MUM THERE IS  – Replying to all the e-mails from the team managers, providing cricket teas when asked, finding the obscure village cricket pitch on an old fashioned paper map when Google gets lost, making sure there’s a fresh drink in the bag for each match and taking out the stale bottle days later. Washing all those sets of whites in time for the next match and being there for when things didn’t go too well.

June 7th – Finished reading Archer in the Lake and sent off my review. Rain this morning meant cricket was cancelled, we had a game last evening at a picturesque village cricket green out in the English countryside with warm sun and a win for our team. The sun came out this afternoon and I went for a lovely walk this evening and picked up litter along my way.