Waterlogged

4/5/13

Today I did NOT want to get up and go canning-- ONLY because it was raining! But I pulled myself out of the bed and took Olsen along for our Friday morning route. 

He's looking for that black cat again! We haven't seen it for almost three weeks.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten that all of the gloves were in the garage drying from our birthday/crushing party the other night {HERE}. I searched the truck at my first stop and was thinking that I was going to have to go home to get a pair of gloves when I saw some leather gloves under the seat!!! HOOOOOOOORAY:) These leather gloves belong to Kates-- and I don't know how to wash them so we always just throw them back into the truck! Thank goodness we did-- I wouldn't have had any gloves for today's messy collection!

And I say that today was messy... but really it was just waterlogged. It had been raining for about 24 hours... and water collects at the bottom of the bins... so when we dig through for cans, our gloves get wet! And man oh man did my gloves {Kates' gloves actually} get wet! It was soooooo gross!

You know it's bad when the leather gloves are soaked so much that water starts to collect in the finger holes! EWWWWWWWWW! 

I guess I'm gonna have to find out how to wash leather gloves!! I can't give these back to her like this:)

***UPDATE: 4/5/13: I washed ALL of the gloves!! They are ready for use again... except for Kates' gloves! I still don't know how to clean leather!! 

Catching Up

4/4/13

So.... the other day I posted that we were a bit behind {HERE}! 

Well NOT ANY MORE!!!!!!! 

Most of these posts are about three weeks behind but at least I'm caught up with dates/photos/happenings! LOL!

I spent a good three hours (possibly more) writing all of these posts the other night. I hope that this will help us stay on track!! There's so much to share and not enough time for me to get it all done:)

Birthday x2 plus a Crushing party

4/1/13

HAPPPPPPPPPPPPPY birthday, Kates and Jared!!! How cool is that?? They are married and share the same birthday:)

We really wanted to celebrate them so we asked what they wanted to do for their birthday. Guess what their answer was?!!??

Crushing party with hot dogs and a bounce house/pony/ice cream/cake

WOW! That's a true Canning President and King--wanting to "can" on your birthday!!!

Tami and I picked up Kates for the Monday night route-- and Tami (who usually is a front seat snob- not really!!!) let Kates sit up front!!! LOL!

That was so sweet, Tami:)

Tonight's goal-- I wanted to make it all about Kates and Jared.... well for the canning route, mostly about Kates! So I took ALLLLLLLL kinds of photos of her:)

By this time... she was like, "Really Sav???" So I stopped taking photos of just her:)

Once we got home, Jason/Jacob and Jared joined in the fun. It was time to CRUSH!!! We haven't had a crushing party in FOREVER!!! But we decided that we are going to bring those back--esp. since it's lighter out and tons of fun:)

This was Jason/Tami/Jacob's first time crushing-- Jacob had to go home to get gloves so that he could pick up cans! I really need a set of kid's gloves in the truck!

It's hard to take pics while crushing-- everyone moves so fast!

Tami and Jason did a fab job with crushing... Jacob got a bit distracted:) I think he still had fun though!

Once Jacob joined back in the fun, he couldn't get this can off his shoe. He gave me the thumbs up and said that he had a "can shoe"! LOL! 

It really didn't take us long to crush! It really helps to have two extra people!!

Now... it was time to PARTY!!!!!!!! We had hot dogs, chips and dip, beans, grilled asparagus, and cupcakes. 

So did Jared and Kates have a good birthday??? Did we fulfill their birthday wishes??? Well, not really! The pony was double booked and Tami didn't get the bounce house.... and I forgot to pick up ice cream! LOL!

Happy birthday, Jared/Kates!!! We hope you enjoyed your special day!! We LOVE you guys!! Psalm 118:24

Click HERE for a funny birthday video-- Gotta love the dog dancing!! 

ANOTHER New Canning Crew Member

3/28/13

This week has been super busy for Trav and I-- between work and multiple practices and meetings for Easter services.... I just didn't have time to run the Thursday night route. 

That's ok!!! Tami and Jason stepped in and helped out, and they even passed out Easter flyers!! Gotta love the Canning Crew:)

And they brought a new furry/fuzzy friend with them-- Leroy (their pup)!!! This was his first time canning. 

Look at how much fun he was having with Jacob:)

Thanks, Horvath family!! You are the BESTEST!!!!!!! <3

Another Canning Crew Newbie x2

3/25/13

Tonight we had some special friends join in the Canning fun!!! 

Kates' niece, Olivia, and Sister-In-Law, Pam, helped us on our Monday night route. This was super nice because they were down for VACATION!!! They def. didn't have to come along and work... but they DID:)

And when we have new Canning Crew members join on the routes, I usually make them do all the work:) Tonight we even had extra work to do-- we were collecting cans and passing out our Easter flyers (our goal was to invite everyone on each route to our Good Friday and Easter services). 

How cute is Olivia??!! <3

Also, when new members join in the fun, we have to explain how to collect and bag the cans, how to keep your eyes out for cans, and some of the funny stories that we encountered in the past during our routes. 

Olivia and Pam rocked collecting and bagging the cans!

Look at the large gloves on Olivia's hands!!! LOL! I need to remember to keep some children sized gloves in the truck:)

I would also say that they had "eagle eyes" for cans while we drove around! Here's some pics of Pam spotting a can.. 

and then she was missing... 

that's because she found MORE in the woods! 

Good eye, Pam!!

I love this pic of Kates going to pass out our flyer-- you can see her walking up to the house and the flyers in the windshield reflection!!! 

It was a GREAT night!! I wish Pam and Olivia could join in the fun all the time!!

Are You Kidding Me????

3/22/13

Are you kidding me????? 

1. Because it's soooooooo cold out that I had to wear a jacket, neck wrap, and headband!! I live in FL!! It shouldn't be THIS cold out:)

2. And I'm alone again during my route! This week has been a sad week-- I miss my friends:) 

LOL!

Who Is That?

3/21/13

You might be asking yourself after looking at this picture, "Who is that?"

Well... it's the CANNING KING, Jared! He's still part of the Canning Crew!!! It's difficult for him to join in the routes or bike rides because of his work schedule. However, that doesn't stop him from finding cans!!! While meeting his wife, Kates, for lunch, he spotted a can near the restaurant!

But he didn't pick it up! I did:) I was meeting both of them for lunch-LOL!

I love that we can meet each other during lunch or for a walk. My favorite part is that no matter when we are together, the Canning Crew always finds cans:) LOOOOOOOOOVE it!

Giggling Alone...

3/18/13

HOOOOOORAY for Monday night routes... only this time I was by myself. 

I couldn't take any pictures because it was raining and cold out. I really wanted to get done with the route as quick as possible.

Now the weird part of this night was that I literally giggled the whole time! I cannot share some of the things that I was giggling about (because it's just funny between the Canning Crew), but I can tell you that almost EVERY stop had DOUBLE the amount of cans in their bins! This made me laugh because it was almost like they loaded up their bins just because I was by myself and collected in the rain. LOL! I know that's not true... but I couldn't believe all the cans I collected by myself.

So this raises the question: If one giggles alone... does that make them weird? 

I don't care if it does because I still had a good time... although it would have been better if Tami and Kates were with me:)

ECC Update

3/15/13 continued

Welcome to an UPDATED edition of the "Extended Canning Crew"!!! Read THIS post for more details. **NOTE:: We would love to see YOU as part of our ECC!!

A couple of posts ago {HERE}, we shared that Rick O. donated lots of random metals to Cans4Christ. 

Then in THIS post we shared that this totaled 211 pounds of recycled materials. 

So what does that equal for C4C???? Here's a break down per pound: 

• Stainless Steel: 44 cents 
• Aluminum old: 46 cents
• Extruded: 61 cents
• Copper: $2.62
• Yellow Brass: $1.79
• Lead (soft): 10 cents
• Batteries (car/truck/lawnmower): 14 cents 
• Dirty Extruded: 37 cents

Normally I don't share what we get as our total... but I just have to show you that random metals make a DIFFERENCE!! Our grand total for this donation from Rick was 211 pounds worth $126.17!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! 

THANKS again, Rick!!! And FAC church members-- start saving your old aluminum doors, gutters, batteries, copper pieces, etc!! We can take it all:)

If you would like to be a part of the "Extended Canning Crew", take some pictures of your family or yourself collecting cans, crushing cans, or dropping off cans at the C4C trailer and send them to {Cans4Christ at gmail dot com}. 

**Please include: names of all people in the picture, explain what you were doing and how much fun it was, as well as your email address.

Trip #2

3/15/13 continued

Yesterday {HERE} we shared that we took in 57 pounds of cans and 211 pounds of random metals... but we had more to take in! So Trav and I headed back to the church.

However, we hit a traffic jam on our way back.

No big deal though-- we didn't have to wait long:) 

We loaded up the remaining bags and headed back down to the recycling center. And this time we saw two things we've NEVER seen before! First we saw a semi with crushed cans-- we were in awe and started saying that it would be super cool if one of those stacks were all of the C4C cans!! Could you imagine?? Wouldn't that be fun to say we had collected that many cans!?!

I wonder how many pounds are in each stack?!

Then.... once we parked, we saw the guys crushing the cans! I always tell Trav that I want to talk to the owner and ask for a tour of this center-- that way I know how the cans are recycled. But I never do (too shy!). So it was super awesome to see the guys ripping the bags open and dumping the cans on the conveyor belt! 

Here's the second load on the scales:)

Total pounds of aluminum cans recycled today: 99

Total pounds recycled for C4C as of 3/15/13: 3,818 pounds!!!!! 

Trav enjoys helping the guys remove the bags, and this time he had to be careful not to hit one of the guys working on the conveyor belt! LOL! At least he didn't have to throw them so far:)

Overloaded- Recycling Trip #1

3/15/13

It's time--- that we go to the Recycling Center! Yesterday's post {HERE} showed why our truck is overloaded-- lots of random metal donations from our ECC Rick. We also included the bags from our Monday/Thursday/Friday routes and some random metals from our house [i.e. a door, pool stick, etc.]. Looks like we might have to make a couple of trips to the recycling center today!

There is a bit of room for a couple of bags so we decided to stop at the trailer to rebag and load up some more.

This is what was left after we stuffed our bed with as many bags as possible-- WHOA! That's a lot of cans!!! 

So we headed out for our first trip. We must have picked the right time to head to the center today because we unloaded as soon as we arrived.

We weighed our cans first.

Total pounds of aluminum cans recycled today: 57

Total pounds recycled for C4C as of 3/15/13: 3,719 pounds!!!!! 

Then we moved on to the random metals-- when we have lots of random metals, the guys have to test each piece (or a couple from each bucket), weigh, and then reset the scale. 

Total pounds of random metals recycled today: 211

Total pounds of "random metals" recycled for C4C as of 3/15/13: 478 pounds!!!!

We are definitely doing the "HAPPY Canning Crab" dance right now-- WOW! That's an awesome amount of recycled metals/cans!!! Keep it up, First Alliance Church!!! 

Be sure to come back to see what happened on our second trip!!!