Sunday, August 19, 2007 ;
12:16 PM
11 Aug Sat
8am-11am
Church Clothing Sorting
The church here does this annually. It is kind of their benevolence and evangelism effort for the community.
Everyone brings their clothes, shoes, toys and other items to the church building and then we all sort them out according to type and size. The items must be new or in very good condition.
I saw so many things I would've liked myself, but unfortunately we Asians have a much smaller build, so many of the pretty dresses, the jackets and warm clothing do not fit me. Some shoes were brand new too, like ladies boots, heels and so on.
The kids were more fortunate though, there were many things that they could use. The church members told me to take my pick first, but I thought I better let the community and those more needy look through, then I'll take some after that.
So we sorted stuff into different boxes and left them in the basement of the church building.
18 Aug Sat
7am to 2pm
Clothing Giveaway
Although it was advertised as clothing giveaway, there were many other items. I brought our Graco stroller too, because someone gave it to us, and we had brought our "no-brand" stroller from Spore and I also bought a Graco double stroller recently cos kids usually both get tired when I bring them out the whole day. (In spore, esp at places like Jurong Point, double strollers are not practical, cos you can't move through the crowds, but over here, aisles and spaces are just so wide, double strollers are very common and hence, cheaper too.)
So I stationed myself at the kids' area because I quickly found out I wasn't much good at estimating adult sizes. When people stroll in, I'm supposed to recommend stuff for them, but I keep getting their sizes wrong. However, I did so well for getting the kids' sizes right. Haha, must be all that shopping for my and other kids' clothes all these years. There were a bunch of boys who came, and I managed to size them up, and recommended all the clothes they simply loved too. They were the soccer jersey kind. :-)
My stroller had a taker too. This lady had 3 kids, all very young, and pregnant again. She was so happy with the stroller cos it's still rather new. It's so nice to be able to help others and make others happy. Both ds1 and ds2 were hanging ard the area half the day and I hope they can somehow realise that too.
There was a young couple who came in. No kids. They were very brand-conscious or rather, know exactly what they want. The guy took all the shirts in his size that were wrapped in plastic (brand new), a Nike top, an Adidas pullover, amongst others. The lady also went for brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic... They were very happy too...
Another Hispanic family left a deep impression on me. They also had, like, 4 kids, all very young. The 2nd youngest was playing with ds2 while the parents looked for shoes and clothes. The whole family was very good-looking. They brought home a lot, and I could see they really needed those clothes. It must be difficult to clothe and feed so many kids (may have more to come too, you never know)!
So after the whole thing, I looked through the kids' pile, got some clothes for my baby niece (EDD late Nov), got some for my own kids, and was even able to get some for dh and myself. Now, I have another year's worth of clothes for all seasons, no need to worry about buying expensive parkas, rain gear and such for the kids already. Got all of them there.
Ok, now for random pics. Esp ds1's silliness.
We have 2 bats for playing this bouncy ball game. The bats have a web-like rubberised centre (see pics above). After watching Toy Story 2, ds1 wanted to be Buzz Lightyear. I can't remember what I was doing, probably in the kitchen. When I came out, I saw him like that already. It was kind of obscene-looking, but he was running all ard the hse outside and shouting, "To infinity and beyond" etc. Even riding his bike with the thing stuck in between his legs (below right)!
I didn't want to tell him it was obscene, so I just said that doesn't look nice and it seems uncomfortable. Why don't you find another way to act like Buzz?
So finally he put the thing on his waist. It spoilt the bat eventually, but arrrggh, he did "listen" to me. So I let it go.
Silly ds1! Another thing he did was to draw on ds2's hand while ds2 was napping. (below) I saw it only later on.
Below left: my driver's licence that came 10th of Aug.
Above right: my cradle roll class. taught them every wed for the summer semester.
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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