If you have been following the 26 Tuesdays series on MIP, you may feel, as I do, that it sure took a long time to honor the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. The sad thing to realize is that many more have lost their lives in service to their country, through disease, and through other acts of violence while we were working on our own acts of kindness in this series.

Each and every day there are many, many people who deserve to be honored and remembered by each of us doing an act of kindness for them. That saying, “Kill them with kindness,” is ringing in my ears today and perhaps that was what was behind Ann Curry’s campaign for 26 Acts of Kindness. If we truly want to turn our world around, each of us needs to be intentional about getting out of our self-absorbed “cocoons” and doing something kind for someone else. Do some resort to “acts of meanness” because the world has not taken enough notice of their suffering? Of course. That is the cost of us being self-absorbed about our own pain. But, each and every day people rise above that very real pain, choose to be victorious survivors and turn their real horror stories into stories of triumph. If we can use them as our role models and meet evil with good as often as we can, perhaps a better world will result. And even if it doesn’t, perhaps we caused a few people to stop and think and maybe change a behavior or two here and there.

The movie, Pay It Forward, depicts how 3 acts of kindness by 1 young boy resulted in a massive movement across the U.S. All he requested from the recipients of his acts was for them to do the same. He didn’t even request 26 acts as I have asked of you and me. So, my dear readers, I hope you will make acts of kindness your new habit and simply look for opportunities to do things for others as often as you can. Who knows? We may change a country if we do, and maybe given enough time, change a world.

I am not going to spend today’s post by telling you all about my acts (yes, plural) of kindness for this week, but suffice it to say, the final MIP count now stands at 103! Not bad, gang! You deserve a pat on the back! Thanks for participating in this little campaign and keep going!

Thursday’s Post: The Weirdest Diet in the World?

You might also like: 26 Tuesdays: Allison N. Wyatt; 26 Tuesdays: Benjamin Wheeler; 26 Tuesdays: Victoria Soto; and 26 Tuesdays: Mary Sherlach

Warning: You may want to get 2 beverages first.

The reality is that I started doing a lot of the following a long time ago. But perhaps the contemplative point is that we parents often don’t have time to realize just how much we change our previous lives when little ones enter our lives. Why don’t we have time? Just read below and you’ll probably figure it out. Here’s what I either am doing now that the kids are all out living their own lives or plan to do in the next few years:

1. Use up all the hot water for my shower.
2. Take fewer cold showers, thanks to # 1.
3. Quit doing a 1 am check of the living room for bodies playing Xbox Live after bedtime. And people wonder why I’m an insomniac.
4. Stop turning off all the lights in their end of the house.
5. Pet the dog.
6. Sip coffee on my back porch and do more of # 5.
7. Have a 2^nd cup of coffee on the back porch.
8. Actually water my plants.
9. Put photos in a photo album and actually use the hope chest for hope.
10. Talk to my husband about something other than what part of the house now needs to be repaired and which kid needs some “active parenting,” thanks to their latest “issues”.
11. Remind myself why I married the hubby…besides the fact that he makes a pretty good dad.
12. Spend all day in the Container store.
13. Actually go in an IKEA store. Hey, I live in a small town.
14. Go to Toys R Us and play with the toys instead of telling someone not to play with the toys.
15. While at Toys R Us, laugh wickedly at the moms telling their kids not to play with the toys.
16. Quit saving Limited, Too and Delia’s coupons.
17. Shop in stores filled with expensive, breakable items.
18. Actually venture into the china department at Macy’s.
19. Sit in a fast food restaurant, away from the Playland.
20. Go to matinees of non-animated movies on a weekday.
21. Make an exception to # 20 for movies with “minions” in them.
22. Have leisurely meals out with friends without worrying about having to pick up a kid from an extracurricular activity or put one to bed.
23. Quit instinctively putting my arm across the passenger seat when having to stop quickly in the car.
24. Put things in the back seat without worrying about which car seat it’s closest to.
25. Buy a sports car again (Yes, once upon a time MaryAnn owned something other than a mini-van and an SUV. Hard to believe, hunh?)…after the college moving years.
26. Have a Bachelor/Bachelorette watch party with my BFFs. Don’t hate.
27. Travel half as much as my hubby…buy a bigger suitcase.
28. Haunt Sam Moon to buy the bigger suitcase…on a weekday.
29. Stop closing down all the stores that stay “open late” during Christmas season because the hubby can only watch the kids for 1 long Saturday each December.
30. Stop listening for the “silence.” Revel in it, instead.
31. Stop lecturing and replace that with pointed, “open-ended” questions.
32. Read a book all in one sitting, like Hop on Pop.
33. Put treats in children’s hands instead of smacking them for reaching for the cookie jar right before dinner.
34. Yank out those infernal safety plugs in my outlets.
35. Take the safety latches off the cabinets with dangerous substances in them, like chocolate.
36. Organize the Tupperware cabinet and pots and pans cabinet and marvel at how it stays that way for a whole day.
37. Read the owner’s manual for my new cell phone.
38. Beam that my car interior no longer contains science experiments gone awry in the back seat, random cheerios, and the missing puzzle pieces.
39. Take the parental controls off the TV and home computer (They turned out to be a complete waste of time anyway with kids who were weaned on computers, etc.) Heck, throw the home computer out, since we all have smart phones, iPads, iPods, Xboxes, and laptops.
40. Use the wedding china and wash it by hand.
41. Buy necklaces that actually could be destroyed by chubby hands yanking a little too hard.
42. Wear dangly and hoop earrings again.
43. Leave the door open without expecting company in the bathroom at the most inappropriate times imaginable, like when I’m reading Hop on Pop.
44. Take showers without toddlers to save time on Sunday mornings.
45. Stop cutting up everyone else’s food while mine gets cold.
46. Stop evaluating furniture based on child-friendly features such as being indestructible during a nuclear bomb attack.
47. Use cloth diapers for dust rags instead of burping cloths.
48. Save money for retirement.
49. Pay off the mortgage.
50. Buy a dress when it’s at full retail price…in white.
51. Quit buying spray ‘n wash, bleach, sunscreen, aloe vera gel, Benadryl cream and bug repellant in 5 gallon drums.
52. Quit buying the 21 pack of lunch box sized chips.
53. Snuggle with my hubby on the couch in the living room and watch the Cosby show without having to move game controllers first.
54. Still laugh at # 53.
55. Make a real pizza.
56. Stop closing drawers…everywhere.
57. Marvel at the balance in the checkbook.
58. Marvel that the checkbook is actually balanced.
59. Marvel that you can now balance the checkbook online. This happened while I wasn’t sleeping at night, right?
60. Talk to my girlfriends on the phone without having to say, “Just a minute…” and then putting my hand over the receiver while I berate some errant child.
61. Quit giving the “look” to my children from across a crowded room. Instead, give the “smile” to my hubby across a crowded room.
62. Move the beer and the wine into the main refrigerator.
63. Make room for # 62 by getting rid of lunchables, juice boxes, juice, Gatorade, and the Pedialyte.
64. Get rid of the freezer and the side of beef and whole hog that used to inhabit it on a regular basis.
65. Start stocking up on the “noisy” toys to give my future grandchildren. Laugh wickedly when their parents realize  that these toys don’t come with an optional ear bud plug-in.
66. Add on to my Christmas village collection and put it on a really low table.
67. Use tweezers to actually tweeze something, as opposed to pulling out splinters.
68. Quit explaining what plethora means.
69. Marvel at how trash cans can stay empty for an entire week.
70. Marvel at how the bathroom sink can stay clean for longer than 5 minutes.
71. Marvel at the difference in color of the floor when it doesn’t have ketchup on it.
72. Marvel at how the former boys’ bedrooms no longer smell like a gym locker.
73. Marvel at how bathroom towels remain on the towel bar, neatly folded.
74. Stop banning permanent markers and sharp scissors from the house.
75. Give away the “Sex Talk” books.
76. Stop saying, “We only talk about that at home.”
77. Stop having a panic attack when I hear a school bus approach.
78. Actually leave the house without having to return to the house 5 times for the favorite blankie, teddy bear, cheerios snack container, extra diapers and stray church shoe.
79. Use the oven for something other than a frozen pizza or frozen cookie dough.
80. Let my hair grow longer than my chin and refuse to put it up in a ponytail.
81. Contemplate my navel.
82. Stop eating food that’s “cute” or smiling back at me with a fruity set of lips.
83. Stop evaluating restaurants based on whether they have a drive-thru lane, happy meals, a kids menu or a Rooty-Tooty Fresh ‘n Fruity option.
84. Go back to “school” shopping for me. I plan to buy books with $ 20 words in them, try on oodles of cute blazers, vests and blouses that actually require ironing, and get myself a really, really tiny purse.
85. Use the Irish linen tablecloth my dad gave my mother after returning from being stationed in Scotland without being concerned for its permanent demise.
86. Use my grandmother’s hand-tatted lace placemats more than once a year.
87. Listen to my music in my car.
88. Be thankful I no longer know all the words to the songs on Barney, whether I wanted to know them or not.
89. Take a trip without the children and not write a novel for the person responsible for caring or checking on our children/teens.
90. Arrive somewhere on time or maybe…wait…can it be…5 minutes early. Be still my heart.
91. Stop bribing the dentist’s receptionist to watch my kids while I’m in “the chair.” She now drives a Mercedes. Must have a wealthy spouse.
92. Stop paying babysitters Steve Jobs’ last annual salary for 1 hour of babysitting because your children are that “challenging.” I heard, last week, that those sitters now own JC Penney.
93. Start investing in Apple instead of paying them.
94. Observe my children, not to correct or praise their behavior, but to notice which up and coming companies are worthy of my e-trade money.
95. Sleep in without worrying about whether a kid got up for school on time.
96. Stop buzzing through the living room every 15 minutes when the boyfriend or girlfriend is over for the evening.
97. When I stub my toe, stop exclaiming “Sheee’s a really nice person” or “Dammmmmmmmmmms are places where beavers live.”
98. Stop looking around before I open my lingerie drawer.
99. Be a little wistful that one era of my life has passed and…
100. Admire the adults I now refer to as my offspring because they stopped being kids a long, long time ago, in spite of their flawed parenting. 

Last week we honored Avielle Richman, who had a loose tooth and loved horses. Since we had had a horse lover the week before, I didn’t want to repeat what I had done for Jessica Rekos, but I found it a little difficult to find an act of kindness that had to do with loose teeth! Somehow I think I might get arrested if I were to volunteer to help a kid yank out their loose tooth!

Fortunately, two media concerns helped me discover other ways to help others from my very own home. When I was in the hospital, I was given a magazine to read (because I was getting totally bored!) and it’s one I grew up with: Woman’s Day. My mother religiously read that magazine every month and I occasionally indulge in the same avocation. Believe it or not, this issue spoke about helpfromhome.org. Help from Home has a pile of ways people can help others without ever getting out of their P.J.’s. So, this week I clicked on some links that edged “click tallies” closer to a target goal. Once met, corporations will donate money to worthy causes, such as providing more trees in areas where they are sparse and feeding impoverished children in Peru.

I also grew up with 60 Minutes in my living room every Sunday evening and this week they discussed mercyships.org this past Sunday evening. Mercyships.org sends ships to African countries where people still believe that tumors are spiritual curses. They believe this so vehemently that people with tumors can be cast out of their homes and communities. People in these countries are also often blinded by cataracts. Thus, the nurses and doctors on a mercy ship provide much needed surgeries to remove tumors and cataracts and deliver basic medical care to those who need it most. They are a Christian concern, regularly praying before and after surgeries for their patients, but will help anyone in need (regardless of religious belief) for free. In fact the doctors and nurses there actually pay for the privilege of working on these ships–they raise their own support. The ships have their own fire departments, schools and other needed services. Because of this, romances often bloom and marriages and families ensue!  Some children are raised entirely on the ship to the point that they don’t even recognize mailboxes when they are on vacation in the U.S.! Many plan to live and work on these ships for the rest of their lives.

If you haven’t yet done your act of kindness this week, may I suggest you go to these web sites and see what you can do to help these organizations? And then, please take a moment to let me know how you helped! So, this brings our MIP act of kindness to 68!

This week we honor Lauren Rousseau, a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook. Here’s what CNN said about her:

Lauren Rousseau, 30

They often run the program on a shoe-string budget, relying heavily on the public for donations of horses, feed, and equipment. Volunteer students often act as the “guides” for the horses and riders. Thus, this week I decided my favorite equine therapy program deserved a small infusion of cash from our household. Hope it helps provide therapy for someone like my son very soon.

This puts our 26 Tuesdays Acts of Kindness Count at 66! This week we honor Avielle Richman. I have to confess that I’ve never heard of the name Avielle and it may have to find its way into a novel of mine some day, since I like how it just rolls off the tongue! It sounds French and since I adore all things “Francais,” it just appeals to me. Here’s what CNN said about the young lady with the pretty name:

Avielle Richman, 6

Jack Pinto was our 26 Tuesdays honoree last week and Jack was into all kinds of sports. Oddly enough, this last week at our house was a time to clean out our garages. Yes, plural. But, don’t get the misconception that we have 4 Audis at our house. We own 2 cars: my 3 year old car, the company car and a rust bucket that our teen drives. The last bay is occupied by a 20 year old Wave Runner and a 10 year old riding lawn mower. And thus, we need some actual space in those garages to house all of that. Since the last teen is about to enter college, we felt safe in eradicating our garage of a lot of old sports equipment from the active child-rearing years.

A good friend of ours gathers people’s junk and sells it semi-monthly. And trust me this old sports equipment is junk! So, he came to our rescue and hauled it all away for us and actually made a little money off of it. I’m not sure who actually did the act of kindness here–him or us! Perhaps it was mutually kind? As a result our MIP Acts of Kindness count stands at 57. Or maybe 58, if we count him hauling our stuff away for free??? Let’s leave it at 57.

So, what did you do in honor of Jack? I hope, one day, we can let the Connecticut folks know that we did a great deal of nice things to honor the folks lost by one terrible act.

Today’s honoree is Noah Pozner. Here is what CNN had to say about Noah:

“He had a huge heart and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit,” Noah’s aunt told CNN. “He was really the light of the room.” Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister. “He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn’t say no to him,” she said. His siblings don’t know yet the exact way in which Noah passed away, Haller said. “How do you tell them that’s how their brother died?” she asked. “It’s the unthinkable really.”

Tomorrow’s Post: A MaryAnn in a Martha World…

You might also like: 26 Tuesdays: Jack Pinto, 26 Tuesdays: Emilie Parker, 26 Tuesdays: Anne Marie Murphy, 26 Tuesdays: Grace McDonnell, 26 Tuesdays: James Mattioli

Last week’s 26 Tuesdays honoree was Emilie Parker. Emilie probably would have participated in 26 Acts of Kindness herself, had she not been one of the victims of this national tragedy. So, this week I concentrated on sending cards to various people who either deserved a little recognition for their great accomplishments or were going through something unusual in their lives that deserved some care and concern from me and my family.

The PH informed me, last week, that he has been doing an act of kindness each week and just has forgotten to let me know this. So, that dramatically raises our MIP Acts of Kindness count to 55! Woo-hoo! I would love to see this count get up to over 100 by the time we reach the last honoree.

This week we honor Jack Pinto. You may have already heard a little about Jack. Here is what CNN had to say about Jack to jog your memory:

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut — baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was New York Giants star receiver Victor Cruz. Cruz paid tribute to the team’s young fan by scribbling “Jack Pinto. My Hero” on one of his cleats and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other during the team’s game with the Atlanta Falcons over the weekend. On his glove, Cruz wrote, “Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!” Jack recently participated in his first wrestling match and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association. “In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years,” Jack’s family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

What did you do to honor Emilie? If you are a little behind in reporting your acts of kindness like the PH, that’s okay. Just submit the total below and I’d be happy to add yours to the total!

Tomorrow’s Post: You 3.0: Questions & Tips, Part II…

You might also like: 26 Tuesday: Emilie Parker, 26 Tuesday: Anne Marie Murphy, 26 Tuesday: Grace McDonnell, 26 Tuesday: James Mattioli, 26 Tuesday: Ana Marquez-Greene

Last Tuesday we honored Anne-Marie Murphy, one of the teachers at Sandy Hook, who unselfishly covered some of the children with her body to attempt to save their lives. How do you honor a hero? I certainly don’t consider myself a hero, so this was a tricky one for me. But, fortunately, a child and a teen came to my rescue. Ms. Murphy was described as artistic and hard-working and I can think of two young ladies in our church (among many others there) who are extremely artistic, talented and hard-working. One began working hard before she even entered school full-time, singing her way into my heart with her ginger locks and pretty blue eyes. She is now about to graduate high school and also plays a mean piano. While doing 9000 things at once well, she is also the piano and voice teacher for 6 young, aspiring young ladies who pretty much idolize her (They’ve picked an awesome role model!).

One of her young students is just audacious and equally as talented as her mentor when she was the same age. In fact her piano teacher would say she’s even more talented than she was at that age, which is really saying something. This past Sunday the PH and I decided to go and listen to this young lady’s first piano recital and hear her young teacher present her students in concert. Both were awe-inspiring, as well as her other 5 students. We hugged that audacious little lady afterwards and she beamed as we told her how much we loved her performance.

While it may have been a very small act of kindness, I think the point is that all of our youngest citizens need to be praised for all of their positive efforts, even if they are at the beginning stages of the learning curve. And I think Anne-Marie Murphy would have liked that we supported some young artists in this small way.

This puts our MIP Acts of Kindness at 35 to date.

Today we honor Miss Emilie Parker. Here is what CNN said about Emilie:

Emilie “was the type of person who could light up a room,” her father told reporters Saturday. His oldest daughter was “bright, creative and very loving,” and “always willing to try new things other than food,” Robbie Parker said. “Emilie Alice Parker was the sweetest little girl I’ve ever known,” her aunt, Jill Cottle Garrett, said. The family is devastated that “someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason,” Garrett said. “My daughter, Emilie, would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is,” her father said. Emilie’s “laughter was infectious,” he said. “This world is a better place because she has been in it.” Emilie was a mentor to her two younger sisters — ages 3 and 4 — and “they looked to her when they needed comfort,” her father said.

What did you do to honor Ms. Murphy? Please let me know if you participated by submitting a comment below. Thanks!

Tomorrow’s Post: You 3.0: MIP Exercise Plan

You might also like: 26 Tuesday: Anne-Marie Murphy, 26 Tuesday: Grace McDonnell, 26 Tuesday: James Mattioli, 26 Tuesday: Ana Marquez-Greene

Last week’s honoree was Grace McDonnell. Grace loved cupcakes and thus, today I delivered some surprise cupcakes to some friends of mine that I haven’t seen in a long time. This makes our Acts of Kindness MIP count 34.

This week we honor one of Sandy Hook’s teachers. Here’s what CNN said about her:

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

As a reminder, I only share what I’ve been doing as acts of kindness to a) keep myself accountable and b) to encourage my readers to think in creative ways about how they can do acts of kindness for others. Honestly, it’s awkward to write about what I’m doing–I feel like I’m calling attention to what I’m doing and that’s not what an act of kindness is all about, really. But, I hope my awkwardness about it does somehow inspire you to do these acts just because all of us could use some kindness from time to time. And maybe the act of kindness we do will be enough to stop another tragedy sometime in the future.

James Mattioli, last week’s honoree, loved to eat. So, this week I used a gift card I had for a local restaurant to pay for the next person’s order (the person behind me). I left before I could see the reaction on the person’s face, but the person taking my payment smiled, so that made my day!

So, that leaves our total at 33 for right now. What did you do to honor James?

This week’s honoree is Grace McDonnell. Here is what CNN had to say about Grace:

Grace McDonnell, 7

Note: It is sad that, as we celebrate the lives of those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary, there are many more lives lost because of the tragedies in Boston and West. As we do acts of kindness for these victims, let us also do good in memory of those lost through these more recent events. And most of all, let us reach out to those who may be feeling left out or victimized by our society so that future tragedies like these stop happening. We must encourage better thinking!

Last week’s 26 Tuesdays honoree was Ana Marquez-Greene. Ana had a great voice and her brother played piano and her dad was a jazz musician. Music is a big part of our family life as well. So, this week I decided to make a contribution to one of my favorite schools and their jazz education program.

So, that puts our count at 30 so far. What did you do for your act of kindness this week? I hope to take our tally and submit it to the 26 acts FB page when we have featured all 26 victims here, so be sure to let me know that you participated.

Today’s honoree is James Mattioli. Here is what CNN had to say about James:

James Mattioli, 6