Share my parking pass

The project:
Hand over parking pass for 30 minutes of paid (by me) parking to next driver.

Time:
SECONDS

Why bother?
In some towns, you pay the parking meter, and when you pull away, the time remaining passes on to the next motorist who pulls into the space. In downtown Portland, parking is paid at kiosks that spit out little slips of paper with expiration times on them. When the motorist pulls away, so does that paid ticket, thereby providing potentially dual payment to the city.

As we headed into our car, another motorist signaled he'd like the spot. It occured do me that my slip showed another 30 minutes of parking paid. I grabbed it from the dash, ran back to his car and handed it over. He gave me a BIG SMILE, and said, "You're AMAZING!"

Well, maybe not amazing, but it saved him 80 cents, and made us both feel good.

Worth it?
ABsolutely!

Provide diversion for fellow travellers

The project:
Donate dozens of magazines with which other train passengers could while away the hours.

Time:
Moments

Why bother?
The 24-hour ride is wonderful, but can grow kind of old if you don't have anything to do. Though I donated most of our magazines to the library earlier this week, I held back several to share here.

Worth it?
Yes - I saw countless fellow passengers pick up issues from the magazine shelf throughout the trip.

Provide TOUCH to the elderly

The project:
Lotion Grandma's back, and sit close, hold her hand, and wrap my arms around her shoulders.

Time:
We visited Grandma for a little over 3 hours today, providing close companionship throughout.

Why bother?
Humans are social creatures, and like the apes and elephants, thrive on touch (with few exceptions). I don't mean touch by strangers, interference with personal space per se. But a pat by a loved one, a back scratch, a squeeze by a friend or family member is nearly always a spirit-lifting occasion. It must be heart-breaking, then, to grow old alone with no one to provide that touch.

Grandma has been living on her own since Grandpa's death several years ago. They were a pretty affectionate couple, and I know she misses someone sharing her personal space. Grandma has also developed some pretty dry skin in the past decade. At 93, it's tough to reach some of those places, and for any of us, reaching mid-back is just about impossible. I've lotioned her back for her a couple of times this year. Today, I offered up the service again. OH, how thankful she was.

We got to talking about massage, and we ended up making appointments for next week. Hot tub, massage and lunch with a happenin', hoppin' 93-year-old Grandma - what a hoot! I can hardly wait to share the joy with her!

Worth it?
Yes! If you haven't spent time with your grandparents lately, PLEASE DO! They have so much to share, and usually love a visit, a hug, and maybe even a back rub.

Donate more books & magazines to library

The project:
It seems like we just did this, but our bookshelves are overcrowded so:
today we donated more kids' books, and some grown-up books, to our local libary, plus our regular donation of once-read magazines.

Time:
It actually took us more than an hour to do a shelf spring cleaning, the first in several years. The girls and I removed every item from the three-case collection, dusted it down, and reorganized the books and collections for a cleaner look and more accessible collection.

It takes me about 20 minutes to go through our magazine pile, sometimes much longer depending upon how many articles distract me from my chore.

The drop at the library 1 mile from our house only takes about a minute.

Why bother?
Lots of dust, overcrowded shelves, and our tiny library can always use donations - either to include in the collection or to sell at the monthly book sale to raise funds for other library resources (titles they'd prefer, magazines, supplies, etc.). Magazines are sold for a quarter with money raised going directly back to our local branch. Might as well donate our magazines rather then send them to the paper recycler.

Worth it?
Yes! Clean, organized shelves for us; goodies for the library.

Recycling - plastic bottles, aluminum cans

The project:
Deliver our recycling to the local center.

Time:
15 minutes

Why bother?
Well, besides the obvious (we get our California recycling deposit back, aka cash), our local landfill is nearly full. Yep, they're building another one so we can continue to toss our refuse. In fact, Santa Maria's new dump is located in beautiful, oak-studded rolling hills south of the city. Nope, not in city limits. They'll line it with 100-year plastic (ahem), then dump there, leaving future generations to figure out how to deal with the hazardous waste the city also plans on importing (income generation) from other communities.

I wish more people would recycle so our landfills wouldn't so quickly fill and our natural resources be depleted. I wish cities would plan further into the future. I wish this city in particular would serve its own citizens' needs before conniving for funding inappropriately spent. Then again, what do I know about city planning.

Marin County, as I understand it, has a model recycling program, from hog farm for certain greenwaste, to mulching and composting, to our more traditional glass/paper/metal recycling programs. Why doesn't Santa Maria look to that county, and other successful, more resource-friendly programs?

Worth it?
Yes, but I wish I could do more.

Tend Kids

The project:
Watch another mother's kids while she gets some work done.

Time:
3 hours

Why bother?
Our kids have a blast together. The mom works outdoors, so bringing them home with us gets them out of the cooling elements while also giving the mom two less important beings to keep her eye on while trying to get her stuff done.

Worth it?
Yes. And while we were at it, another little girl came over to play. A house FULL of kids. WONDERFUL!

More refreshments for soccer tournament

The project:
Provide half-time snacks and after-game beverages for three soccer games during youth tournament.

Time:
20 minutes and about $30 of grocery shopping. Seconds to hand out the goodies.

Why bother?
Though we provided refreshments at yesterday's game, no one offered to step up today. Rather than have the girls go without on a busy day of running and sweating and energy burning, we opted to provide for the team.

Worth it?
Certainly for the girls. Note to self: next tournament, organize parents to share the financial burden.