Do One Nice Thing

I read about this web site in Glamour magazine recently. The point of "Do One Nice Thing" is that you can in a matter of minutes do something to help someone whether it be send an email to support the troops or send a card to a sick child.

I had lots of extra skymiles and learned that I could donate skymiles for the Fisher House which provides free or low cost lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centers. I donated a ticket in a matter of minutes from the Delta web site.

The nice thing about Do One Nice Thing is that they provide summaries and links and they make it easy for you to do something quickly. They also have a newsletter.

Do One Nice Thing
http://www.doonenicething.com

Fisher House
www.fisherhouse.org

Donate Delta Miles to charities
http://www.delta.com/skymiles/use_miles/donate_miles/skywish_charities/index.jsp

1009 W Ashley Folly Beach - Don’t Stay in this Beach House Rental

Fred Holland Realty advertised a beach house rental that is good for “large family gatherings” on the beachfront. It has 4 BR and 2 BA and if you count the mold infested mothball smelling downstairs room, it has 5 BR and 1 more bath but it’s not livable down there.

We complained when we arrived 1) that it wasn’t cleaned from the previous week’s visitors with food on the counters and floors among other nasty findings and 2) that the house itself was in need of a major upgrade. I have a 9 month old baby and we had to put a sheet on the floor as it was so dirty that your feet were black after walking around on the carpet. We covered the furniture as it was disgusting as were the curtains and mattresses.

So, Fred Holland Realty’s answer? You get what you pay for. $3,000 a week for a nasty, dirty beach house? I don't think so. Why don’t you take pride in all of your homes and insist they be clean? Why don’t you insist that the owner upgrade it to living conditions or take it off your list?

Tell the owner, Mr. Jerry Zucker, the second richest man in South Carolina to replace the dirty carpeting and floors and make it a respectable property. Well, that won’t happen. And more families will stay here. Which is why I’m warning you now. Do not stay here. It is not family friendly and the realty ruined the start of our family reunion and my dad’s 70th birthday.

More to come including their listing of the house vs. the actual listing that it should read.

1009 W AshleyFolly Beach, SC 29439
http://holland.vrmreservations.com/vrmgr/rental/PropertyDisplay.aspx?PropertyId=25&WebCode=all&ReturnPath=/vrmgr/search/SearchResults.aspx

Description: An excellent home for a large family vacation (NOT). The top floor is the main living area with a full kitchen, living room (needs new curtains, furniture, paint on the walls and carpet), and bedrooms (that need new mattresses and carpet). A totally seperate (spelling?) unit downstairs has two more bedrooms (OUTRIGHT LIE - it’s one bedroom and a family room with two twins and damp, mothball scent throughout, floors need replacing) and a full bath. Great ocean front home value (it’s a dump).

Also, there is a fly stuck inside one of the pictures with a water stain on it. Lovely.

Pets Allowed: NoBedrooms: 6Bathrooms: 3Half Bathrooms: 0Security Deposit: $0.00Beds: 3q, 1d, 4t

Home owner: Jerry Zucker (he also owns 903 W Ashley and they were complaining of bugs in the bed)
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/G399.html

Technorati Tags: folly-beach-house-rental, fred-holland-realty, folly-beach, 1009-west-ashley, charleston-beach-rental

Peanut free snack ideas for the classroom

My daughter's birthday is this Friday and I called her daycare and asked about bringing in a treat to celebrate. I was warned that there is a child with a peanut allergy, so no cake or cupcakes were allowed. I was shocked that bakery items even had trace amounts of peanuts but found through research it's because they are made in a place where other peanut items are also made. This little known fact opened my eyes as I launched an internet search for peanut-free snack ideas for my daughter's birthday celebration.

Here is a great article for all of us not familiar with peanut allergies and how many foods we don't even realize have trace amounts of nuts:

If Your Child DOESN'T Have Allergies: Read This!
http://www.yummymummysite.com/index.cfm?PID=16916&PIDList=16915,15873,16916

Here is a list of snack ideas from a school. I can't imagine what schools are going through now that allergies are at an all-time high.

Peanut free snack suggestions:
http://www.walledlake.k12.mi.us/llake/peanut_free_snack_suggestions.htm

I think I have decided on Kroger brand ice cream sandwiches. But I still need to check the label for that specific package as even different factories have different products being made there and could possibly have peanut items.

Wow. I am thankful that so far my kids don't have a peanut allergy.

So next time you look to buy vanilla ice cream for a party with kids with allergies present, think again. Nuts are found a lot in many ice cream flavors so even the nut free flavors could contain it. Check the label!

Also, Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies are good.

Cornhole, the new bean bag game leading a nation

We visited friends in Charleston who are from Ohio and discovered an awesome new bean bag toss game called cornhole. It is simply made of 2x4 foot pieces of wood with a hole cut out and they are slanted. You throw corn-filled bean bags into or onto the wood board. It is a great mix of horseshoes and tic tac toe bean bag toss from our youth.

Then we returned to Atlanta and I saw two cornhole games on the same day. One at Piedmont Park at the Park Tavern and one at the Braves game while a college group tailgated. Both times I shouted "cornhole!" My cousin from Chicago was with me and had never seen it. It's so cool!

So I just ordered my auburn cornhole bags and my husband will make the boards this weekend so we can start playing. Please check it out. It rocks.

Links:
How to build your own cornhole game platforms
http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/08/build_cornhole.php

Playcornhole.org
http://www.playcornhole.org/

The cornhole portal
http://www.cornholeportal.com/

Directions how to build your own
http://home.fuse.net/mikebrungs/cornhole.htm

Cornhole made from some notre dame alum
http://www.kevincooney.com/archives/000040.php