Friday Without Pictures?!?

This morning our kitchen stunk. After taking out the garbage I came to terms with the fact that it was the sink full of dishes we had made the decision to ignore last night. I quickly delegated the task of dressing Gwen to Jake and busted out a load of dishes in the meager ten minutes we had before we needed to leave the house to get us to our respective jobs and daycares. In this process, I forgot my beloved cell phone which contained all those precious crappy iphone photos that make up Insta-Friday.

Like one of Gwyneth eating a giant chunk of chicken off a fork as if it were a lollipop? Yep, that one.

Or that picture of me modeling in my bikini with my hair perfectly curled with my well decorated, sparkling clean home as a backdrop? Nope, not that one, cuz that shit doesn’t happen, especially not this week.

So instead, I’m going to spread the word about The Happy Project, from Jeanett over at Life Rearranged, who started this whole Insta-Friday craze to begin with. She does a much better job of explaining it, so I’ll use her words:

“Before the crazy that is the holiday season…before the shopping and the cooking and the twinkling lights and the go, go, go of the next couple of months…we’d like to take a moment to slow down and love on others. Spread some sunshine. Make someone’s day just a little bit happier.

Why?

Because nice is good. That’s why.

Here’s how it works:

Every day I’ll give you an assigned task. Kind of like a Random Act of Kindness Week…but not really random.

Each day, you’ll also get a free printable that will help you make your happiness spreading just that much cuter.

In addition to each task, you’ll be given the option to fulfill the task virtually. So let’s say that your Tuesday is crazy hectic and you have a million things going on that day already…there’s just no way you can squeeze that happy task into your day…no worries! A few clicks of a mouse and you can spread happy alongside us!

Or maybe you want to spread happy beyond your own in-real-life world?…Do both! Whatever you want! There are no rules!

This isn’t about wowing your neighbors with your Martha-esque skills. This isn’t about stressing yourself out to keep up with the tasks. This isn’t about trying to out-do the other Happy Dayers.

This is about putting in a little bit of extra effort…even when you’re SO tempted to opt out because you’re busy or tired or…and make someone smile.

Easy. Peasy.

And don’t feel bad if you start off great and then don’t finish off the week either. Again, this isn’t a race. No one’s keeping score. Anything is better than nothing, right?

Don’t forget to include your kids! The questions and conversations that will come of next week are my favorite part of the whole thing. [excerpt from Life Rearranged]

I’m totally going to make some effort, except giving a gift card to a homeless person stresses me out. There was one time when I had a container full of cupcakes that really had nowhere to go. I just made them to make them. Gwen and I made a pit stop at a park to play, where there was a camp of homeless men. I thought about giving them the cupcakes, but got all freaked out about if they’d even want them and that maybe they’d be upset that I assumed they needed cupcakes? I drove away, with my tray full of cupcakes and gave them to people in an office who have too many cupcakes and ate them because they were available. To this day, I feel stupid for not just giving them the fricken’ cupcakes.

But other than that, a handwritten note I can do. That gets me all weird-excited. Treating someone? I’m going to admit that I’m selfish with this. I always feel like we don’t have the ability to treat someone. If we’re going to spend any of that hard earned, precious money, I want it to be a treat that I get to enjoy. But then I look at how many times I’ve treated myself and think, hmmm, perhaps it is manageable? Of course it’s manageable!

And appreciating someone in service? Do you know anyone who’s in the service? Cuz I don’t. Anyone know of anyone we can all show some appreciation to? Email me at renosparksmom@gmail.com or leave a comment below!

Writing this all out makes me realize how ridiculous I can be and that sometimes it takes some effort (albeit mainly brain power and changing the way you think) it’s totally worth changing. So ditch that selfish baggage and spread some happy!

Wanna join me?