Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

If you have been around blogs and blogging for any length of time, you are probably familiar with Blogthings. In poking around some blogs the other day, I ran across the intriguing question, What’s Your Name’s Hidden Meaning? Because it is nearly impossible to find the name Claudia in any of those personalized trinkets or souvenirs you see at nearly any checkout counter, I decided to give it a try just to see what would happen.

Lo and behold, Claudia was in the database and here are a few of the results:

• You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. (actually, I’m a good listener)
• You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. (got me confused with someone else here)
• A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. (aren’t we all?)
• You are very adaptable (most of the time)
• You are light hearted and accepting. You don’t get worked up easily. (true, no extremes here)
• Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. (The joy of the Lord is my strength, that’s my “secret”.)
• You don’t really have a lot of worries. (see above)
• You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. (what’s the point of having ducks if they’re not in a row?)
• People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. (who? me?)

It also said I was tightly wound and a type-A personality, but those don’t fit me at all.

Here a few other things you should probably know: (more…)

This February we here at Weekend Kindness are going to focus on building relationships by giving you dating ideas, talking about times where our husband or wife showed love, showing love to our children and talking about passion while being pure.

I’m really excited about this new focus, and to keep the excitement going, we will be having a contest on our way to building up 101 Relationship Secrets!  That’s right, we’re looking for you to contribute relationship secrets in one of four areas all through this month. We’ll also be announcing prizes– one from each group!

We’ll ask the authors at WK to judge the submissions, but they will not have the names of those that submitted, just the entries. You can use the form below to place your entries or the link at the top of the blog.

Thanks again for coming by Weekend Kindness, and tell your friends about the contest– if you want to donate a book or item to the contest, drop us a note via the contact form and we will promote your item and your site!

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We all have them– habits that is.  We have things that we do that totally annoy our spouse and they’ve let us know it. Be it something that is as big as smoking or picking your nose to the small things like snapping your gum or chewing with your mouth open, this week we’re encouraging you to promise to change that habit! You know that you’ve been promising for quite a while– now surprise them by actually following through!

Promise to change a habit that your love has been wanting you to change.

So what are you waiting for– make the promise and keep it!

Before we got married, my wife gave me a smooth stone that she’d painted purple with green dots on it that said “I love you.”  The neat thing is that I still have it today and it’s message is still true!

Today’s mission is the same idea, though it doesn’t have to be the same message.

Make a paperweight from a smooth stone, paint it, and write a special love message on it.

• It’s enduring– it’s something that you’ll cherish for years to come. 
• It’s something that’s practical– we all need a paperweight from time to time.
• It’s message is timeless– it’s something that you want to symbolize permanence.

So now you just have to go find a stone and crack out your set of paint.  Be creative, and make it memorable.

Now that Christmas has passed, we have a vision of a new year upon us. I imagine in the next few days we’ll be seeing many “the best of 2007″ recaps! It’s always fun to see the highlight of the past year and I wanted to pass along my top 5 ways of showing kindness over the past few years. It stemmed from a few “new years resolutions” gone right!

5. Call your parents twice a week and siblings at least once. I had received a daily desk calendar with lots of great daily tips, this one stuck out to me, so I’ve carried it from office to office and had it sitting out so it’s a visual reminder that family is important!

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Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!

Here is an idea for a frugal Christmas gift – Hot Cocoa in a jar! I’ve received several over the years and each one is uniquely created and warms the heart. The directions are simple:

Ingredients:

6 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 (5 ounce) package non-instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup powdered chocolate drink mix
1/2 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine powdered milk, chocolate pudding mix, chocolate drink mix powder, creamer, confectioners’ sugar, and cocoa. Divide the mixture between two 1 quart jars. Seal, and decorate as desired. These can be stored in a dry area for up to 3 months.

Attach a tag with the following instructions: Hot Cocoa: Dissolve 1/3 cup cocoa mix in 1 cup boiling water (taken from allrecipes.com)

The great thing about this gift is it can be adapted to various holidays, birthday and other gift-giving opportunities without breaking the bank!

Personally, I think this task goes one step too far:

Prepare a surprise candle light gourmet low-calorie dinner for two.

I mean, come on.  It’s one thing to plan a surprise dinner.  That’s hard enough when you have a hard time finding a babysitter!  But then add to that a gourmet dinner for two– and LOW CALORIE!

In any case, this will definitely be easier for those of you that are of the female persuasion ladies– us guys may have to actually take you out to dinner because the two of you may not survive our cooking! 

And even if we are good cooks, that doesn’t mean that we can make sure it’s low-calorie.  I mean, mashed potatoes, toast, and PB & J only be made so many ways you know…