The Little Things Count

If you've ever wondered whether the small things you do in life matter then you should read this letter. My sister in law, Elaine makes toys for the Toy Society. She recently did a toy drop outside a Children's Hospital in Sydney. Someone found the toy and sent an email of thanks to Bianca who runs the Toy Society. She passed it onto Elaine.

From: Kerrieanne
Date: Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 4:21 PM
Subject: Thank you for the toy.
To: thetoysociety@gmail.com

Hello, my name is Kerrie. I am currently living at Ronald McDonald House Westmead whilst my 2 year old son has Chemotherapy to treat his Luekeamia. We live in Bellingen NSW and found out about Alex's cancer 3 days before Christmas. Since then there hasnt been alot to smile about. We take alot of walks as Alex also has a rare blood bacteria which means he can not play with the other immune suppressed children. He isnt allowed in communal areas including Starlight room, Playgrounds etc. His life is spent in issolation. Try telling a 2 yr old he cant play on the swings!! Its frustrating as we have a swing set and lots of activities at home but at the unit in issolation we have a courtyard with nothing in it. Im telling you all of this so you can really know how much finding your beautiful little hand made boy toy today on one of our walks really means. As it was on the Rememberance Statue i initially thought it was left as a token and when it said "Read Me" I thought it may have a story of significance. Alex thought he was lovely and smiled from ear to ear (something we dont see often these days). When i read he could keep him i litterally teared up with emotion. These are trying days and such a beautiful act of kindness should be recognised. Thank you so much from my family and especially Alex. You gave a little 2 year old boy going through the biggest fight of his life a reason to smile. He now has a friend to keep him company, he has called him 'Yellow'. I have as little reason as to know why?? but thats the name he's chosen. As i write this he is watching 'Bob the builder' with 'Yellow' perched beside him. So, Yes your beautiful toy has found a very good home with a very deserving boy and i am eternally gratefull. Such a wonderful thing to do.
May God Bless you and watch over you.
With sincere gratitude
Kerrieanne

Yes...the little things really DO matter. Good job, Elaine!

Hurray....he's been found!

I am excited to tell you that one of our handmade toys, (the little blue one)officially has a new home. It is being loved and cared for by Savannah. See the link to the Toy Society's blog to see the note from the person who found it!

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/2009/01/found-drop-99.html

Bees Please

It's not really a New Years Resolution because I usually break those in the first week of January. But I'd like to think of it more as a good intention. This year ( amongst other things) I am intending to be a lot more frugal and where possible make my own things rather than buy them.
Last year my husband and I made our own candles which turned out to be a whole lot of fun. We tried making our own bread ( which was a little less successful but we are persistant). We had chickens laying an abundance of fresh eggs for us and of course we made some homemade Toys for the Toy Society. Last year I got out the knitting needles and made a whole slew of scarves for Christmas gifts and for my children to weather the particularly nasty winter we are experiencing in the Pacific NW this year. There is our family blanket that I knitted and my hopes are to again plant a vegetable garden come the spring.



But something else that I would love to try is making my own honey! I doubt that I will ever actually get to do it due to our suburban location and the hazards of kids with bee allergies...(I can already hear my neighbors letting out sighs of relief)....but maybe one day.



While we were on vacation we stayed with my husbands brother who kept bees and the honey they produced was magnificent.



Apart from a few bee stings here and there...(which I admit could present a few problems)...the bees seem like the perfect pets. They produce mountains of honey and once you have their hive set up they do everything else themselves. You don't even have to feed them! (My dogs who are currently fast asleep lying on my feet will have to pick their game up this year if they don't want to be replaced by bees)

Christmas Toy Drop Update

Here is the posting of the Toy Drop on the Toy Societies blog

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/2009/01/christmas-drop-98.html

http://thetoysociety.blogspot.com/2009/01/christmas-drop-99.html

Drop # 98 & 99. I can't wait to see who the new owners are!

Toy Society Christmas Drop

This post is a little late.
The Toy Society held a worldwide Christmas Toy Drop on the weekend before Christmas. For those of you unfamiliar the Toy Society, it..."is a small project spreading the love throughout the streets. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home."
So this was a synchronized drop across the world in an effort to leave behind a little bit of anonymous Christmas spirit.
I made the toys here at home in Washington and they were packed away in my luggage and taken to Australia.



The toys accompanied my family and I to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland where with the help of my daughter and niece we found just the right place to leave them.
We left the first one in the cafe we frequented every morning for our coffee fix...Le Monde on Hastings Street, Noosa



And the last one we left tied to this hysterical looking tree at Noosa beach on the boardwalk. (I had to tie the twine...the girls thought the tree was "gross" and wouldn't touch it....sheesh!!!)


The toys were both gone when we came back a few hours later to check....I wonder where they ended up????