Canada Moms Blog

Something Beautiful

My childrens' school is collecting money for Haiti - milk dimes, errant quarters, toonies and loonies and paper money shaken from piggy banks and caged in return for chores. It's a lovely thing that our kids are so concerned for other children so far away.

It's hard to know what is just-enough-and-not-too-much to tell my young'uns so that they'll grasp the situation and yet not be horrified into bad dreams. We've talked about how the people that were struck hardest by this disaster were the ones who really didn't have anything to begin with, how we, who have so much, can help these people that we'll never meet by sending a little money so they'll have things like fresh water. Or something to eat. Or maybe a pillow and a blanket.

My daughter's class is young and confused by how someone's house could just disappear. They've been drawing pictures to send to children in Haiti, full of rainbows and smiling faces and birds holding hands. So, she explained, they'll have something beautiful until this is all fixed. Until this all goes away.

Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer: A Silicon Valley Moms Group Book Club

September has brought a lot of back to school craziness to many moms, but we are also focusing on things outside of our own busy lives. This month, for Silicon Valley Moms Group bloggers' monthly book club, we are reading and discussing a book full of nice things to help the world become a better place. 

Join in as Silicon Valley Moms Group bloggers discuss book Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer.

• New Jersey Moms Blog's Lori leads us off with a chain of compassion
• Julie from Just Precious does many nice things
• Jennifer from Connect with your Teens is sharing the message of nice things with her family
• Amy from Le ShallowGal ponders whether telling people about her good deeds lessens them
•  Bonggamom from Finding Bonggamom notices that even kids can do one nice thing
• Heidi from Coast 2 Coast Mom passes it on when companies do one nice thing
• Jessica from It's My Life says you already do one nice thing
• Rebecca from Life With Boys tell herself to just be nice
• Chefdruck from Chefdruck Musings was feeling most sorry for herself when she saw him
• Amy from Occupation Mommy is helping her daughters do nice things for their sister
• Samantha from Temporarily Me Dot Com is made happy by giving her money away
• Kristie from Real Mommy Reviews asks "can you do one nice thing?"
• Melanie from Reviews from the Crib likes to keep her goals small and attainable
• Linsey from Me Too You substitutes one nice thing for another
• Rox from Rox and Roll inspires her children with The Box Project
  
• Stacy from Laptop TV Mom realizes that she needs to look beyond her four walls and not just when it's convenient for her
  

More posts will be put up throughout the day on our writer's personal sites, so be sure to check back to follow along.

New Jersey Moms Blog is hosting the book club discussion this month. Please go here to leave a comment and join in the discussion.

Read about the book Do One Nice Thing here.

Past Silicon Valley Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

If you are an author or a publisher and have a book that you would like to submit for consideration for a future Silicon Valley Moms Group book club, please contact us at info (at) svmoms dot com.

Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer: Join us for Silicon Valley Moms Group's next Book Club on Tuesday, September 29th

How do we, as parents, make the world a better place? A nicer place? Has it changed since we became parents? Can it really take doing one nice thing? Join us on Tuesday, September 29th as we discuss Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer for our next book club.

About the book: A few years ago, Debbie Tenzer was feeling overwhelmed by all the crises in the news. But rather than give in to despair, she thought, Maybe I can’t solve our big problems, but I know I can do something. She realized that helping doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive or time-consuming. You can help simply by doing one nice thing. So that’s what she vowed to do, one day a week. Not every day–she says she’s not that nice–but once a week was a promise she could keep.

So she started a website, DoOneNiceThing.com, and each week she posted an easy way to help people around town or across the globe. Good news traveled fast, and now Debbie is the leader of a worldwide kindness movement with fellow Nice-o-holics in ninety countries. They’ve sent . . .

• cans of food to food banks and schools
• notebooks to soldiers who will give them to Afghan children
• gifts to foster children whose birthdays are overlooked
• and much more

Do One Nice Thing has many new, easy ideas for small deeds that anyone can do (and includes explicit information on how exactly to execute the ideas, so you don’t have to go digging for information or resources). There’s even a chapter of nice things you can do in minutes without leaving your desk.

Join Debbie and her army of Nice-o-holics, and give the world some help–and some hope. Best of all, the more help you give, the more hopeful you’ll feel. And before you know it, you won’t be able to stop.

Read along with us: Buy your copy of the book today and get ready to discuss with us on Tuesday, September 29th. See you at book club!

Past Silicon Valley Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
  
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
  
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
  
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Read along with us: Buy your copy of the book today and get ready to discuss with us on Tuesday, September 29th. See you at book club!

Past Silicon Valley Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
  
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
  
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
  
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Deprived of Tim Hortons, parton arguing human rights violation

I like my Tim Hortons as much as the next guy (extra-large double double, please!) but man, it's getting more and more challenging to get that cup o' java in the morning. If it's not the packed drive-thru creeping along at a snail's pace, it's the sardine-can-like store front which has Tim Hortons patrons breathing down each others necks. Yet, I still wait; like many others I stand with about seven people way too close for comfort (PERSONAL. SPACE. PEOPLE. Gah!) patiently awaiting my morning coffee.

But, for some - the wait just got a little harder.

Yes, Chris Brown and Rihanna's Domestic Violence IS Our Concern

I am a gossip queen. I love it, I live for it, I write it.

I am also a nosy parker. I feel compelled to have all the information I can possibly get my hands on sometimes - otherwise, I just can't put my mind to rest. It wields wildly with speculation and obsessively beings to weave the story and until I find out the truth, I can't rest. 

Additionally, I am very much an advocate against domestic violence.

With this combination, I've been particularly drawn to the drama unfolding around Chris Brown and Rihanna and the domestic violence case surrounding them.

Yes, you can say I've been obsessively stalking the news stories and gossip columns for information about that.

I digress.