Holidays for the Homeless - The Plan is to Bless

A few months ago God put it on my heart to make some real changes to how I served, or rather didn't serve, the homeless in our city.

I shared our ideas here and was incredibly blessed by your willingness to take part. We decided to make small bags of food and toiletries that might be a blessing and a help to someone on the streets. Our family also had a strong desire to serve in some capacity on Christmas Day.

Dozens of people have told me they want to join us for our Christmas Day project, which is nothing short of amazing. I only say that because I know how hard it is to find time in busy holiday schedules to fit in time with family members, let alone go meet a bunch of strangers to serve the homeless, so it's just lump-in-my-throat awesome to me that anyone would join us.

People's willingness to sacrifice their time for others is seriously beautiful. God is so good.

This, folks, is The Plan.

On Christmas Day at 11 am, we will meet at Cesar Chavez Park* to distribute bags of helps, cookies, hot chocolate, and more. RAIN OR SHINE

Cesar Chavez Park is a "hot spot" in the city for our homeless population and will likely have many people in the park and surrounding area. The idea is to set up a simple table with hot chocolate and cookies to hand out, maybe a second one with blankets, bags, coats etc.

Our desire is to do two things, first meet a physical need for comfort and warmth to the best of our ability, and second (actually primarily), to bring blessing and humanity to people who are largely ignored and unloved on a day when they may feel especially so.

I cannot imagine that Christmas is an easy holiday to see pass by on the streets. It is one thing to have your physical needs met, but an entirely other thing to just be joyfully and fully loved. I think we can all come together and do that. I know we can.

Here are the ways YOU can help, should you feel led:

1. Join us! For five minutes, two hours, or a little while in between, you being there, willing to love and serve, will be the best gift we could give. Invite your friends, your family, your church, your scout troops, your book clubs, everyone!

2. Donate, as little or as much as you want. Bring your items to the park or email me (glitterandgrunge at gmail.com) to arrange pick up. No donation is too small!

• cookies (store bought or home baked - we are equal opportunity here)
• hot chocolate packets
• coats (mostly adult sizes, though children's sizes would be fine)
• small (pocket sized) comfort items - stuffed animals or soft toys that could bring comfort to someone on the street. You would be amazed at how child-like (in the best way) some homeless folks are. A small toy to help them remember what I hope to be a happy day for them, could be a huge blessing.
• Dog treats, leashes, collapsible water bowls
• blankets
• homeless care bags

 3. If you play guitar or any other musical instrument and would like to share your talents, no one will stop you.  Christmas carols, top 40, indie rock, songs you wrote in your room in high school, all welcome. Please! (Family friendly songs only, please!)

4. If you are willing to lend a table or two, or pop-up tent, it would certainly help!

5. PRAYER. Look, I have no idea how this is going to go. There may just be 40 of my friends and family at Cesar Chavez, singing, eating cookies with no one to serve, or we may find ourselves 10 people strong and overwhelmed by need we aren't prepared for. All I know is God is calling us to do something and we are trusting Him enough to do it. But I am most definitely terrified about how it will all turn out. Like sweaty palms, heartbeat in my eardrums terrified.

6. Spread the word. The end.

My information:
Claire Bone
email: glitterandgrunge @ gmail.com
Chronicles of Claire on Facebook
@Bone_Claire on Twitter

Find me. Message me. Tell me how you can help.

I ask a lot of the people who read this blog, I know that. I am so thankful to all of you. God has blessed me with some pretty fabulous people - friends, family, acquaintances, readers - you are all a gift. I hope I get to see you all over the course of this project!

Action and a Call For Help

Well, we have come up with a plan, of sorts, in response to last week's tension. We still aren't 100% sure what we would like to do on Christmas Day, but Aaron and I agreed that we needn't wait until then to act. We have decided to make bags to keep in the car and hand out when we see someone in need. I did not come up with this idea on my own, no we have Pinterest to thank. Of course.

Charlotte and I went to the store and got various toiletries and some granola bars to put into the bags. When the bigger kids got home we sat down and made 5 bags with the items we had. Soap, razor, washcloth, deoderant, Gold Bond powder, granola bar, toothbush/paste. It all went into the bags. The kids were rather put out that we couldn't make more bags and Tyler kept saying over and over "These bags need more food, Mom! This isn't enough food! We need to go to the store for food!"

We scoured the pantry for something to add in and found some hot chocolate packets. After I put the packets into the bags, Tyler followed me around the house saying we should take them out unless we planned on including cups and water bottles, too. "How else would they drink it, Mom?"

Lily was bothered by the absence of something healthy, so she grabbed apples from the fruit bowl as we were on our way out Saturday. She had a bundle in her arms so high I could only see her nose peeking over the pile. I could hear her grin as she chirped, "Put 'em in the bag, Momma!"

In two days we gave out all five bags. Every time she saw someone, Charlotte would get excited and bounce in her seat shouting, "MomMomMom! There's a guy, there's a guy!" Then she would try to unbuckle herself so that she could be the one to lean out the window and hand the person their bag.

The recipient was usually flabbergasted, sometimes confused and one guy laughed out loud as he looked through the items. Since we gave them at stoplights we usually zipped off as soon as the bag was placed into it's owners hands, so I can't really tell if the bags are truly helpful. I hope they are.

Now, I would like to ask my local friends and readers for help. I don't expect that you are going to feel like joining us on Christmas Day with whatever activity we choose to do, and that is ok.

I want to ask if you would pledge to give out a number of bags of food and toiletries between now and Christmas.

My hope is that we could give out 2,300 bags throughout Sacramento County (and anywhere else people choose) in the months leading up to Christmas.

That number is significant; it is the number of "chronically homeless" individuals there are estimated to be in Sacramento County. I have no idea how accurate that estimation is, but it is what I have to go on. It is something to work towards. 

As a family, we decided to try to give out 100 bags. They won't all necessarily look like the bags we gave out last time, becuase toiletries are quite expensive. We will likely try to give bags with a smaller mix of food and toiletries. The point isn't how big or small the bags is, but that we are doing something tangible and real that will hopefully bless people who feel unloved and ignored.

Will you join us? Will you keep bags in your car or in your backpack/briefcase/purse to hand out as you are going abut your day?

The sky is the limit of what you could do and who you could motivate to join you...it can be a family project or done with scout troops, school classes, church groups, book clubs, office mates, carpool buddies, the poker guys, soccer team, bible studies, playgroups, library friends, PTA....I could go on and on.

If you do decide to join me in this can you do one little favor? Can you comment below, via twitter or on facebook and let me know how many bags you want to give out and where you are from? One bag, 10 bags, 100 bags, it does not matter how many you would like to do, but it would be awesome if you did it.

Thanks, everyone!

I ♥ Sacramento {Old City Cemetery}

My dad was one of those Sunday driver kind of guys.We would hop into the car, go through the drive thru for a burger and take to the road. When living in Missouri we would drive through countryside, the city, and everything in between. In Hawaii we would drive around the island as best we could (you can't drive fully around the island) and back again. My dad always took the long way, everywhere.  

We moved quite a bit when I was young, and travelled a fair amount - by car, of course. When we moved from California to Missouri we drove across country. I believe it was one of my Dad's biggest regrets that we had to do the trip as a straight shot in two days. No meandering, no stopping at roadside oddities, no dragging out the adventure to ten times longer than it needed to be. I think it always bothered him that he had to bypass everything he loved about road trips and just get there.

I always wondered why he was so into the Sunday drive, but now I know exactly why. The practical reason is that a long Sunday drive in the 80s and 90s was cheap (gas didn't cost you your first born then). But the main reason he loved driving was that it was his ticket to unfamiliar places. On the Sunday drive he could daydream. I remember him driving to adjacent towns and cities, looking for nice neighborhoods and picking out houses and yards he and my mother loved. They would comment on the flower beds and paint colors, tree placement and what they would do it if was their house. He loved Victorian architecture  and talk to my mom about how cool it would be to fix up a giant Victorian for all of us to live in. She would nod and agree, but I'm pretty sure she thought he was nuts.

 
Sometimes we would get irritated about being stuck in the car for hours on end, with no destination in sight, but deep down we all liked the adventure, too. We would encounter little roadside stands, historical markers detailing who slept, ate, was born, died or pooped right here, open houses for houses we could never afford, the occasional family graveyard in more rural areas. All which must be explored before moving on.

Because of this, I now have an unnatural, knee-jerk reaction to pull over to read every historical marker I see, buy things from roadside stands and explore every graveyard I drive by. I married a far more practical man than my mother did (probably a good thing since there really isn't room for two of us in this relationship). The Sunday drive is an epic waste of time and money in his eyes and no thank you, let's not tour the wacky roadside whatever, because it will add two hours to the trip.

For years I have driven by the Old City Cemetery, and for years I have told myself Next time I am definitely stopping, although I never did seem to stop "next time". It reminded me of endless driving adventures with my family growing up, but I was always too busy to indulge my curiosity.  A few months ago we were driving by with nowhere to be so I demanded that my husband stop so we all could get out and wander a bit. He did, and while I don't think he really gets why I feel compelled to explore every strange place I see, he enjoys seeing me happy and can tell that his kids have inherited my sense of adventure.

Being in the Old City Cemetery with my kids, reading headstones, marvelling on how young the mothers and father were when they died, feeling a sense of empty loss at all the miniature graves marking babies and children, brought me right back to the Sunday drive days. One of my favourite stops in Missouri was an old Civil War era family graveyard that was tucked to the side of the road. I remember feeling thankful to be alive in this time and not a time when 50 was elderly and babies rarely made it out of their first year. I remember how my dad loved reading the headstones and exploring the graveyard and seeing us realise how lucky we were.

Old City Cemetery isn't sombre or depressing, it's a window into a world we aren't familiar with anymore. A world where families would tend to their loved ones even after death, where the graveyard was a park to quitely wander and remember your loved ones. The Old City Cemetery Committee runs tours and provides maps, information for which is on their website.

Old City Cemetery - Broadway and 10th Street
 Summer hours 7 am-7 pm; closed Wednesdays and Thursdays

I ♥ Sacramento {Doughbots}

 

Doughbot Doughnuts

2226 10th Street  Sacramento, CA 95818

(916) 444-5157

The first time I heard about Doughbot, it was someone telling me about their White Russian doughnut, The Dude. I had recently watched The Big Lebowski with my husband and naturally The Dude came up in conversation. It was only a matter of days before we visited to try one of these White Russian flavored delicacies.

top: Chocolate Ganache, S'Mores; middle: The Dude, Vanilla Pull-Apart; bottom: Lemon Lavendar Pull-Apart, Chocolate Ganache Pull-Apart

They were a hit with everyone, including the kids, which pretty much guaranteed that Doughbots would be on our breakfast-treat rotation. We have been there enough times to have favorites. Lily's is the Apple Bacon, Tyler's is The Dude, Aaron The Dude and Chili-Chocolate. I, probably not surprisingly, have a couple favorites, Lavendar-Lemon, Vegan Vanilla Bean, and as of today, S'Mores. And Chili-Chocolate. And, and...ok, I like em all.

If you live in mid-town and order at least a dozen they will deliver. That's right doughnuts by delivery. Thank God I don't live in midtown. Seriously, I dodged a bullet on this one. They are also offering a BOGO through the Downtown Grid. Information that would have been useful to me this morning. Information is power. Doughnut eating power.

That's right, getting S'mored right in front of you. That's service.

The money shot. Ok, maybe not.

Like mother, like daughter. Brings a tear to my eye.

Round two included more of the same for the family.
I was a good girl and stuck with my one S'more.

Quite possibly the kids' favorite part, drawing a robot for the line and then trading for a much cooler one (quite possibly) sketched by a local artist.

 

I ♥ Sacramento {Squeeze Inn}

Squeeze Inn, Sacramento

5301 Power Inn Road  Sacramento, California

(916) 386-8599

Monday Thru. Friday-  10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday - 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday Closed

According to Google maps I live 1.6 miles or 5 minutes away from the Squeeze Inn. Their old location was about 3 minutes from my house. And yet, until my sister's 13th Birthday Extravaganza last week, I had never been. This is probably a good thing, because for someone who hates to eat meat as much as I do I still have a soft spot in my stomach for a good hamburger. And bacon. Now that I have finally had a Squeeze With Cheese I can't wait to get another one, and that can't be good for my waistline.

We got there right at 12, which was clearly the lunch rush. Even so, we only had to wait a few minutes before the one and only booth was available. It gave us time to look around at all the crazy wall decor that every hole-in-the-wall place holds so dear. This one mostly boasted a lot of family photos (someone's in the military!) and pictures of customers around the world in their Squeeze Inn t-shirts.

There is also a well deserved wall of fame, note the bright blue "Access" paper. The old location was the scene of a lawsuit  (which was later dropped) for not being handicapped accessible, so surely they are most proud of their new accessible location, no?

 The menu dosen't stop at Squeezeburgers, which was a surprise to me, because there was not one single person sitting down to lunch that didn't have a SWC and a basket of fries. I noticed you could get a veggie burger with cheese, but I think a part of my soul would die if I ate a veggie burger at a place like Squeeze Inn. 

The Famous Squeeze With Cheese. Half was more than enough!

I am really happy that the burger didn't disapoint. It was delicious and cheesy and just greasy enough to be enjoyable, but not so greasy I felt dirty after eating it. The four of us shared a large basket of fries on the waitresses recommendation (I'm a sucker for the up-sell) but I should have follwed my gut and gotten the small. The real star of the show is the burger; we just weren't all that into the fries.

Upon coming home and telling my husband about our day he looked wounded and said "You went to Squeeze Inn? Without me?" I know. Very sad.

Our booth was actually the original entryway!

Thumbs up! Can you tell my sister is over it and just wants to eat lunch?

I wish I could say that I planned the whole "pinkies out" thing for the picture. But no. I am that fake-pretentious enough that I eat like this unwittingly on a regular basis. According to my mother I held my bottles pinkies out as a baby.

County Fair Re-cap

Usually when we go to the county fair it's just me taking the kids. This year it was especially nice going to the fair because we went on a day that Aaron could come with us.I don't mind going on my own, but it sure is nice to have him with us. That way when we see hilarious things like the poster below we can chuckle over it together.

Every year area high schools create murals that line the entrance and usually depict the theme of the fair, which this year was "Story and Magic" or something like that. There were quite a few literal interpretations (magical books) but our favorite was this one by the local all girl's high school. We chuckled over the fact that probably only an all girls school could come up with a poster that included unicorns, centaurs, mermaids and candy.

The main thoroughfare. As we walked by a martial arts club was passing and holding "real weapons" (according to Tyler). He was quite impressed.  

 It ain't the fair without the tractor races. Every year a certain miss always finds the pink one. A fight was avoided only because our other miss didn't fit on that model. Not sure we'll be able to dodge that bullet next year. *sigh*

All the kids got a chance to lasso a bull. Only Lily ended up landing it, but alas, no picture.  Instead gaze at our baby lassoing bulls in Snow White dress up shoes. Yup we let our kid for to the fair in dress up shoes.

Our brood in front of the Circus Imagination, which deserves (and will get) it's own post. It was definitely the highlight of the fair!

This clown looks reeeeeaaaly familiar...

Cake! And eggs! And canned treats!

And that, folks is the Sacramento County Fair in a very tiny nutshell.

I ♥ Sacramento {Sacramento County Fair}

 Yay! The County Fair is this weekend! For some reason I love the County Fair, but hate the State Fair. Probably because the County Fair still has cool competitions in baking, canning, table setting (Huh? Yeah.), baking and flower arranging. It's less crowded and less likely to have rowdy teenagers. It's cheaper and smaller and BETTER.

I love the County Fair. Where else can you get a cupcake and then just to your left find "Psychic Advice" from a "Consultant"?

...or stare into a frightening mass of bees behind glass and try fresh honey...

...and see horses up close and be afraid of them like the city kid you are...or watch the horse acrobats strut their stuff (heh) for prizes and ribbons?

 Where else can you pet mini horses, which you are far less afraid of...

...and get sickeningly sweet cotton candies from the Candy Factory....
...and feel sorry for rainbow hued sheep...

...and cuddle with baby goats?

At the County Fair.

May 26-30
Admission $5 13 and up
kids 12 and under free

I ♥ Sacramento {Block o' Sweets}

1801 L Street, Suite 70

What?  You've never heard of the Block o' Sweets and surely with a name like that, if it existed you'd know about it? Ok, so it's not exactly an official name but, trust me, it exists. Specifically, it's the block on L Street that houses TreyBCakes, Ginger Elizabeth Chocolate and Yogurtagogo among other great businesses the names of which I don't know, probably becuase they don't sell sweets. Yes, I have a one track mind at times. Sue me.

I'll take the whole tray!

Trey B Cakes probably wins the distinction of being my favorite place on the block mostly because it's open late. Not that I'm out late every often or anything, but it's nice knowing that a place with treats just as good (maybe even better) as Rick's is also open until the wee hours of the morning (or midnight. I have three kids. That is the wee hours for me.).

I regularly get the LuLu Cupcake, the grownup version of a Hostess Cupcake. Husband likes the  gelato, which I have yet to try. He's not very good at sharing sometimes. 

1801 L Street, Suite 60

Seeing as Chocolate is its own food group at our house Ginger Elizabeth's probably should be my favorite, but as an excellent artisan chocolatier it has excellent artisan prices, which is to say not at all excellent.

Now don't let that discourage you from going and trying the Coconut Curry (my personal favorite) or the tamer Lavendar, just know that this is a special occasion kind of place. The macaroons are delicious as well. They are the traditional french kind, which make me feel all fancy like Marie Antoinette, but with less tragedy.

1801 L Street, Suite 9

 And lastly, we have Yogurtagogo, which is our kids favorite. Making their own frozen yogurt with toppings will always win out in kid world. And frequently in husband world. Whenever it's open it's his poison of choice.

It's good, but there isn't enough chocolate there for me.

Please don't blog this, mom. You are embarrassing me.

I ♥ Sacramento {Midway Antique Mall}

 I have been wanting to check out the Midway Antique Mall for quite sometime. Ever since Megan forwarded the link to Erin's post on Bows and Sparrows about them I have been scheming to get myself over there. A couple times Megan has said, "Come on, let's GO!" and I have turned her down becuase we didn't have any extra cash to spend on all the fun things that I knew I would want, but wouldn't be able to get.

On Mother's Day I knew it was the perfect day to go over there with the family becuase it's A) the one day a year I get to do exactly what I want all day long. and B) as such I would get to pick out goodies and my husband would happily spoil me. Win win. 

"Hands behind your backs, kids." Well, one listened, anyway.

 After church and lunch on Sunday we went over there with kids in tow. I mention the kids because some of you veteran antique mall goers might be cringing over the thought of a seven, five and two year old anywhere near an antique mall. I was, even though the kid to adult ratio was 1:1, about as good as it gets. My kids were angels. Maybe the stars were aligned, maybe Midway is really fun for kids or maybe it was the well placed mom-guilt I gave them the night before ("All I want for Mother's Day, kids, is for you to listen, be nice to each other and not whine all day. You can do that for Mommy, right kids?"). Whatever it was, it worked.
 

my kids have awesome taste in games

groovy miss kitty (only $50)

crochet hangers ($3ea)

The thing that struck me most about Midway was the impeccable condition all their pieces were in. Everything has been beautifully restored and most items look brand new, with a very small percentage (usually upholstery) looking only slightly worn. Record players, radios, telephones, clocks, watches all have been painstakingly restored and while they carry hefty price-tags a good friend who works there has mentioned that some peices may even come with warranties.

1940s Deco Glam room. Not my taste, but fun to see.

 Another thing I noticed was how kind and helpful everyone was. No one seemed put out by the number of children we had with us (we were quite conspicuously the only ones there with kids) or with how loud they were, which while they were not whiny, they are still kids and were noisy. In fact I noticed a couple of the workers tailing us because they liked chatting with our 2 year old, who is by far our chattiest kid.

I came away with a few sets of vintage buttons (thanks Granny!) and a "MOM" coffee mug (thanks husband!) but not the perfect mid-century end table I was hoping for. It wasn't for lack of trying, they just didn't have what I needed. Bummer, cuz I can't use the Mother's Day shopping spree card again till next year. 

Midway Antique Mall

5130 MADISON AVENUE * SACRAMENTO, CA   95841

  PHONE (916) 779-6252   

Hours M-F 10 am - 6 pm

Ok, free treats and TV might have had a role in the good behavior.