A Neighbour in Need

When I moved house a month ago I was worried about my neighbour whom both Jay and I had befriended. He was funny, he looked out for our house while we were out with his little camera on his door, he stood up to any youths that gave him trouble (and won- with handshakes to boot) he was nice to the children and said he couldn't hear Little A's early hour tantrums and head banging. If he could he never let on.

Sadly this neighbour has never been fit as a fiddle in all the time I've known him, but just before we moved he took a turn for the worse. When we moved he was quite upset and worried about his new neighbours. Before us there was a young couple who argued a lot and judging by the holes in the walls one or both of them were violent too. They must have been a nightmare to live next to sometimes! Before them were people selling drugs, so I could understand his concerns. Thankfully the people who are moving in are apparently very nice so I am pleased.

When we moved I knew my old neighbour would take in any post for us and he has done since we've been in our new home. I hadn't visited him for a while so thought I'd pop in to ask if he'd been bothered with our mail over the past couple of weeks. When he opened the door I could see he wasn't right. He looked shattered and unwell. I didn't even ask him about my mail, I looked at him 'Are you OK?' I asked. He then invited me in.

Nearly 2 hours I spent with my old neighbour today. He sees his daughters, one of them regularly so I'm not completely worried about him. I know his youngest daughter was visiting him tonight for example. In those 2 hours I let his dog out, I fed her, cleaned up some glass he had smashed in his sleep and we talked. We talked about all his wonderful ornaments: swords, skulls, history artifacts. We spoke about him completing his bucket list after he retired. We had a laugh, he told me how he's been on constant pain relief, had the ambulance out recently and is still not right. I tried to persuade him going away alone in October wasn't a good idea. So he called his doctor for a check up which went well today.

I didn't want to leave. It was just him and his dog, Daisy. I've been thinking about him all day but I know he's alright. I know he has people to call. Today I made sure he had one extra person to call: Me. To walk his dog. To feed her. To buy his shopping, clean his house or just spend some time with him.

I wasn't sure about knocking on his door this morning. I was worried about disturbing him, intruding. Turns out it was the best thing I could have done.

Heartfelt Acts March

This months Heartfelt Acts were:

1.  Thank your police or fire department
2.  Leave 5 random notes of love or affirmation in different public places.

First I set about doing the random notes. It was actually really hard to think of some words of encouragement or meaning but in the end I wrote a couple of those, 2 'love' notes to 2 members of my family and I wrote lots of little notes for my Husband.

1. I've been a sufferer of social anxiety for many years. It's now something that I can more often than not control. I saw an excellent therapist at my local doctors surgery but what really helped me was a book from my local library. It's not a book that gets checked out often, but I hope when it is checked out the reader will like their little note.

2. My husband and I went for a meal with Little A whilst Midge was in school. It occurred to me that while no one was around I could place a little sticky note somewhere but where? The menus caught my eye so I stuck the note on and placed another menu in front so it would be a surprise for the next person to come to our table.

3. I placed an 'I love you' note in Midge's lunchbox so she wouldn't miss me so much when I went away on my climbing trip for Comic Relief. I really missed them but then Husband sent me this photo to my phone and I felt so much better.

 4. I went to my parent's house on Sunday and went to see their cat who sleeps on my sisters bed. She's away at university at the moment so now and then I find I miss her and would love a face to face chat. I looked about her room and noticed a huge board she'd crafted to keep hold of her important notes and cards. I didn't have my notes on me so ripped a piece of envelope, wrote a 'love' note and placed it on her board. I hope she likes it.

5. My final note (or rather notes) are for my Husband. He's a bit of a joker, a bit of a lad and sometimes so lazy it drives me insane but he's supportive,loving and forgiving which far out weigh his more negative traits!

The next thing we did was to buy an Easter card for our local police station. Midge drew a lovely picture with 'Thank-you for keeping us safe!' written on. Although we've never needed them personally, we have called them to report crimes in our local community and when ever they have knocked on our door to ask if we've seen or heard anything about a situation they are always friendly. The other thing I really like about our local police is how often they wave and smile at the children as we walk about town.

Thank-you drawing for our police officers

Finally, the task I promised I would complete this month was to help a local charity. Midge and I went to our local store where we stocked up on food items for our local food bank. It feels good to help those with less than ourselves.

Midge really enjoyed this task and proudly posed for photos

Helping to unload the food into the Food Bank box

For April, the tasks are:
1.  Forgive Someone. 
2.  Send a care package (ex.  military, friend or family member in college, for any friend just because).

I'm going to take this task as forgiving someone that has hurt me before. Not just forgiving my daughter for spilling my milk on my coursework for example. Those little things are easy to forgive. I send packages out every month but for April I will think really hard. 
Linking up with Emmy Mom.

CupcakeMumma

Heartfelt Acts February

1.  Bring Flowers to someone 
2.  Tell your Child/spouse that you love them every single day for the month.  You can change it up daily to fit your family.

For this months Heartfelt Acts with Emmy Mom I was really excited to get to send some flowers to a friend who really needed it. She was moving 4 days before the flowers were due to arrive and I knew they could be the 'goodluck in your new home' flowers as well as 'I'm thinking of you lots and missing you loads' kind of flowers. They did what they were supposed to do which is the main thing!

Here are the beautiful tulips I sent my friend. I'm lucky she likes pink because that's pretty much all you're gonna get from me! She loved them and sent me a very happy text upon receiving them. I ordered these from Asda for a change and they are actually perfectly fine!

As February isn't quite at the end just yet (but near enough already!) I'm obviously still telling my family how much I love them every day. I made no grand gestures or anything, just looked my children and my Husband in the eyes and said those words. 'I love you.' So simple but they really made my children smile and made my husband give me a big cuddle which was lovely. It's not something I have to remember because I really do say 'I love you' almost 100 times a day (no joke!) my children are so squidgy and kissable it's hard not to!

It's an old photo but you get the idea!

I've been doing other little things which have made me feel good this month and I want to include them in this round up. I posted 2 gifts boxes out to people I know who are in need of a little tender, love and care. I've signed up to do the Mount Snowdon climb next week which will push me to my limits in terms of being alone with my anxiety (not to mention being high up a mountain!) This is all for Red Nose Day so please, if you haven't already, do consider sponsoring me and the wonderful team here. We've nearly smashed our £1,500 target!

Last months Heartfelt Acts were to clear up all those unwanted bits you no longer need and donate them. We have 3 large bags heading off on Monday which is great. Midge and I have £10 put aside to buy a load of food for our local food support team which will be our way of giving something to the community.

Here's next months prompt:


1.  Thank your police or fire department- take them a baked item. 
2.  Leave 5 random notes of love or affirmation in different public places.

CupcakeMumma