DIY: Projects

One of the best things we truly enjoy to do in this Life is to give a little bit of our time to others. Sometimes we give too much and it’s fine too. We do not wait until someone calls for help to assist them; we offer to help. For instance, it breaks our hearts to see an elderly weeding or cutting down a tree. We know they are more than able to complete the task ahead of them; it’s just that ‘Compassionate Human Side’ of us which kicks in and urges us to act; to get up and reach out. Fighting it only makes it worse and leave us empty.

Most of the times, these individuals are reluctant to accept the help. When it comes to this, we barter for something (in our case that something never gets taken away). When at the end, they realized we tricked them, well, we all have a good laugh. We are always available to lend a hand and our help is always free. We strongly believe that helping someone should be free (of course, to some extend).

Last month after helping a neighbor remove the remainder of his tree stump, he surprised us with samples of beautiful Christmas Card collections and a gorgeous 2013 Boys Town Treasured Moments Wall Calendar. You see, he had to leave them in our mailbox because we politely made him understand that our help is free and he wanted to do something nice for us in return. That was quite a nice surprise and we thanked him.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to help out another neighbor clear the weeds in his front yard and organized his tools in the garage. I just got tired of seeing him sneezing and struggling to do the work himself. I cared less that he had a full house; I was more concerned about his allergies. He offered to pay which was a huge no-no for me, especially given the nature of the task. I said I would take a few branches of a Pine tree he had lying around (to use as plant border, see an example here). He agreed and we sealed the deal.
An hour later with a blistered finger, the job was complete. He was grateful and I was happy I could help.
Prior to leaving, I spotted what turned out to be a Vintage Wood Crate in his garage. As I began to inquire about the little treasure, he started moving his tools from the crate into an empty box and handed the crate over to me. How cool was that? In my state of gratitude I managed to let out a sincere thank you. The thing is, I have always wanted to own a Vintage Wood Crate and — oh, I still couldn’t believe that I was getting one.

Here’s the slightly new and improved Vintage Wood Crate, serving now as storage for our Giveaways goodies. I cleaned it up, did a little sanding here and there and spray painted it. I used Brushed Metallic Satin Spray Paint Nickel for the crate and Brushed Metallic Satin Spray Paint Sparkling Canyon for the Tulip.

I was blessed to receive all these beautiful things because I gave of my time to assist someone else, freely.

Click here to learn about cleaning Wooden Antiques.

By JM Perez

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