Monday Night Newbies

1/21/13

We have MORE Canning Newbies joining in the fun for the Monday Night Route!! This week our Canning President Kates was busy and couldn't make the regular pick-up. 

It didn't take me long to find some helpers:) I was over at the Huffer house helping Justine (the youngest) sort through some music. I agreed to help organize as long as she would join me for canning. Lucky for me-- she agreed!! And so did her friend, Caitlyn!!! 

These two girls might be beginner canners... but they were FABULOUS! They did all the work:) 

Each week... without fail... the same spot has cans:) This week, I made the girls get them! 

I hope I am speaking for all of us when I say that we had a GREAT night!! It was fun sharing the C4C info and canning knowledge with these gals:) I hope they will join in the fun again next week (and maybe on a permanent basis! LOL!)!

Late Night Drop Off and Good Parking

1/18/13

Well, it's been a busy week and the cans and bags are filling up our truck again! To prevent bugs from visiting our house or driveway, we've come to the conclusion that we need to find a solution and storage place for our bags while waiting to go to the recycling center. 

This particular time, Trav and I decided to take the bags we had accumulated at our house to the C4C trailer at the church-- we figured that it would be empty enough to hold our bags and that there would be enough room for more from the congregation. 

Boy were we wrong! Trav and I dropped off our bags after attending the Celebrate Recovery service on Friday night.... we found that the trailer was stuffed again and that there wasn't much room for even single drop offs! Don't get me wrong--that's great news! It just caught us off guard:)

Afterwards, we needed to stop and get some food for Olsen. Trav parked the truck and walked around to get my door (he is such a gentleman!!!). As I got out, he pointed towards his rear tire-- he had parked right next to a can! LOL! LOVE it:) 

Sorry for the horrible pic-- it was late at night! 

Just another reminder that we can find cans EVERYWHERE! So keep your eyes out and keep collecting cans:) Thanks for joining in the fun with C4C!!! 

Extended Canning Crew

Welcome to another edition of the "Extended Canning Crew"!!! Read THIS post for more details. **NOTE:: We would love for you to send in ANY picture with cans or you canning! 

This week you might be wondering about the featured picture--- we want ANY picture of you, you and cans, you and your bag of cans, you dropping off your cans, or whatever you want to share with us!!! 

So today we are joined by Trav's co-worker, Sara! She is the sweetest! She's been saving her cans for us for a long time! Each time she brings them to Trav, I tell him to take a picture (for our ECC posts).... but I never get a pic. So I thought I would take a picture of the bag of cans this time:) 

THANKS so much, Sara!!! You ROCK! 

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.

True Catchphrase and NO Poison Ivy/Oak

Trav and I had some time for a quick bike/canning ride on 1/15, so we headed out... but first we took Olsen for a quick run! 

Trav and I went around our neighborhood again. It's amazing how quickly the roads are littered with cans after we collect! 

Since our last "amendment" and change to the C4C motto "We go to the ends of the Earth for cans!!" {HERE}, we haven't been near the woods. I will see cans deep in the woods and brush... but I don't tell Trav because I don't want him to get more poison ivy/oak. Well...today he wasn't listening! I told him that I saw a can in a lot, and he went to go get it.

And then he went further! 

I asked him what he was doing (NOTE: I didn't yell at him:)), and he responded that the C4C catchphrase {HERE} was true-- where there is one can...there were many! LOL! I just hope he doesn't get any poison ivy/oak from this collection!! 

Down the road at another stop, I was emptying a can and was scared due to a little frog that jumped out of the can! GROSS! 

Overall, we had a good ride! I love cleaning up our community...collecting cans for our church....and spending time with Trav:)

Miles: 4.33
Bags collected: 1 bag 

Without Fail...

... there are always cans alongside this road on our Monday Route! 

I snapped this pic of Kates as she jumped out to collect them. I wonder if we should put a bin near this wooded area...that way people would drop off their cans in the bin instead of on the road?? :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any other pics... I was too busy giggling:)

One Bag Left

So the last two posts {HERE and HERE} were about our HUGE recycling trip. We recycled a total of 213 pounds on 1/12. 

We were so excited when we went home... we wouldn't have any cans and bags in our driveway or in our truck bed....

Well that was until we saw this bag of cans as we unlocked our front door! 

LOL! We totally forgot to load this bag of cans:) It's been sitting there since Dec. 24th! 

Recycling Trip #2 and Winner

Check out THIS post for the first trip we took on 1/12. 

After we unloaded and had recycled all of the cans we had our house, we headed to the C4C trailer at the church. Kates and I had visited this trailer earlier this week {see THIS post}...so I knew it was going to be packed!!! 

Due to time and being rushed (we only had 60 minutes to unload the trailer, rebag the cans, and drive down to the center before they closed for the day), I didn't get any pictures of the trailer BEFORE. Here is what it looked like after we had emptied it-- LOOOOOVE when we get this many cans:)

The "spider web" is new to us, so we had to lay out the web to figure out how to untangle and reattach it to the back of the truck. When we unloaded the first time today, we bunched it up and threw it in the back of the truck. Not a good idea!! Note to self: don't do that again! 

GOOD NEWS: we made it back to the Recycling Center before they closed!! We had 15 minutes to spare:) 

I know this looks like 59-- but I promise you that's 99! 

Total pounds of aluminum cans recycled on Trip #2: 99

Total pounds recycled for C4C as of 1/12: 2,904 pounds!!!!! 

Total pounds of aluminum cans recycled today 1/12: 117 +99 = 213. So who won the Guessing Game? Here's the list of guesses again....

Poppie: 213
Kates: 200
Tami: 207
Me: 225 (but I wanted to say 190)
Trav: 170

Congrats Poppie-- this was the FIRST time someone had guessed the weight exactly!!! 

Now the C4C trailer is empty and ready for more donations and can collections:) Keep turning in your cans! And keep sending in your random metals too!!! 

Recycling Trip #1

On 1/12, Cans4Christ headed to the recycling center for the second time in 2013 {THIS was our first trip}!!

Holidays are SUPER hard for C4C-- we are busy and don't get around to taking the cans in (or visiting the C4C trailer at the church) for weeks! Needless to say, we had a HUGE load to recycle today. 

The worst part about piling up cans for 2 weeks had to be the cans that sat in "gunk" for that long-- oh my! The smell was HORRRRRIBLE! See THIS post for a description of what that "gunk" is or to check out what it looks like. GROSS! 

Uh....yes those are Christmas lights on our house! We took them down a bit late this year:)

Good thing we had our masks on:)

I can't even say THANK YOU enough to our Poppie for the "spider web" that he got us for Christmas {see THIS post}. Trav and I were so excited about using this web-- Trav was more excited than me because he was crazy driving (swerving left and right) just to see if the bags would stay in the back of the truck! LOL! **NOTE:: He only drove like a crazy man for a block-- and we made sure no one else was on the road! So technically he was being a "safe/crazy driver"! LOL! 

On our way to the Recycling Center, Trav and I thanked Poppie in a text and shared some of these pictures of us using the "spider web". He responded that his guess for the weight of the load would be 213 lbs total. I had to laugh because I didn't even think about asking the Canning Crew what they thought-- I was so excited about going that I had forgot! 

So I texted everyone (including Trav--this was the first time he received an "official" text about guessing the weight!): 

Poppie: 213
Kates: 200
Tami: 207
Me: 225 (but I wanted to say 190)
Trav: 170

The Recycling Center was super busy, but we unloaded quickly and found out that we had a great first load! 

I love this pic-- you can see the workers and Trav unloading the truck in the background:)

Total pounds of aluminum cans recycled today: 117

Total pounds recycled for C4C as of 1/12: 2,805 pounds!!!!! Come back on Monday to see how much our second load ended up being, as well as the Guessing Game winner!!! It will surprise you:)

Congrats everyone!! Cans4Christ is doing awesome!!! Keep collecting your cans and random metals:) 

We're BAAAAACK on the Bikes:)

That's right-- Cans4Christ is back on the bikes!! 

Trav and I took some time off during the holidays to just ride around on our bikes for exercise. We did go canning on our bikes (check out THIS post) but our main goal was to just ride around. Sometimes, Trav and I will scope out the area by riding around (for exercise) and then go back to this area if we saw lots of cans. ***NOTE:: This only works if you have a good memory of what roads you were on!! LOL! Several times Trav will ask me if I wrote down where we saw cans! Guess that means I need to order the "BikeTracker" app!! :)

On 1/11, Trav and I wanted to take a bike ride-- not really sure if canning was in the plans, but it turned out that that didn't matter! We rode for 5 miles before turning around and only saw a handful of cans! 

Trav and I were going at a medium speed back home when we both hit our brakes! We saw a Chick-fil-A coupon laying on the side of the sidewalk!! We both agreed that we didn't see that coupon the first time around-- making this coupon a bonus for our canning trip today;)

Back in 2012, C4C (well....Trav and I only) decided that we weren't going to go into the woods anymore because of poison ivy/oak [see THIS post].... so I thought that dangerous attempts to get cans were out of the pictures.... but I guess not! Dangerous attempts are not the same as crawling around in the woods!! Trav proves this by going down this slope to get four cans! ***NOTE:: This probably isn't really dangerous...but that slope is steep and slippery if your shoes are in good condition...and I really don't want Trav to fall into the water! What if there is an alligator???? OY! So in my book-- this is DANGEROUS:)

It's a good thing we enjoy riding our bikes because tonight we collected a total of 8 cans!!! LOL! 

LOL--Trav decided not to smile in this pic! 

Miles: 8.25
Bags collected: 8 cans

We're BAAAAAAACK!!!

That's right-- Cans4Christ is back for Monday Night Routes! We took a small break during the holidays. 

Although we were gone for 2 weeks, it was like riding a bike--we got right back into the routine and giggles:) We have one spot on the route where we always see cans along the road and in the woods...and we found LOTS of cans there tonight! 

Why is this photo fuzzy? Well, I didn't see more than three cans, and when I saw that Kates had picked them up, I snapped this photo. What I didn't see were the other cans she saw in the ditch! HOOOOORAY for multiple cans:)

We also have one road that gives us the giggles every week. This "one road" is considered a "connecting street"-- it gets us from one major pick-up to another. However, Kates and I have stopped at several houses down this "one road" asking if we could collect their cans weekly. Most of the owners have agreed to give us their cans. However, we never see any cans in their bins! LOL! Since tonight's pick-up was the first of the year, I told Kates that I have high hopes for this "one road"--- and LOOK what we found!!! 

A can in the middle of the street! Hey! That's better than nothing:)

Random Metal Pick-Up

Trav and I were approached a week ago {after leading THIS service at church} by Jim G. He asked us if we could stop by his house and pick up his aluminum pool cage for recycling. 

On 1/5, Canning President Kates and I headed to Jim's house without knowing what we were getting ourselves into. Once we found Jim's house (don't ask!!! I am horrible with directions and copying down information! LOL!), we realized that this pool cage was a bit bigger than what we could fit in the truck. 

Jim got out a hammer, Kates and I pulled the screen apart, and we figured out a way to make everything fit in the back of our truck. It didn't take long before everything was disassembled. ***Actually, it looks like I didn't do anything because I was taking pics! I promise I helped a bit with the deconstruction:)

Kates and I were unsure of what we should do next: we could either 1) keep everything in the back of the truck until later in the week or 2) head to the recycling center. We picked dropping off the goods at the recycling center:) 

NOTE:: This was the FIRST time I've been to the recycling center alone/without Trav and this was the FIRST time I backed up the truck for something like this {don't ask about this either!!! I hate driving the truck! I hate backing it up even more! LOL!). 

Kates and I were really shocked at the amount we recycled today--- I didn't even have time to text the Canning Crew for guesses! However, Trav sent us a message saying he thought we had 200 pounds of aluminum. LOL-- we let him win since he was the only player in this guessing game:)

Total pounds recycled today: 114

Total pounds of "random metals" recycled for C4C as of 1/5: 267 pounds!!!!

THANKS so much, Jim!!! Cans4Christ is doing awesome!!! Keep collecting your cans and random metals:) 

Kates and I decided to "check" the C4C trailer in the church parking lot since we haven't emptied it for two weeks. Good thing we did because this trailer is PACKED! Literally! Guess we will have to stop by the recycling center again this week:)

There were several bags sitting outside the trailer...we stuffed them inside the best we could! HOOOOORAY for so many bags and cans!!!

JWP, Compassion International, and FAC/Cans4Christ

Last month, Trav and I lead worship alone one week. There's a lot of planning that goes on for a service-- sermon topic, song theme, special song ideas, videos, dramas, lights, media requests, ushers, connection cards, communion, offering, welcome/prayer/meet and greet, and so so SOOOOO much more! 

I went to our regular meeting for worship planning and discussed with the group my plans and ideas. Pastor Bob was preaching this week, and he really liked my suggestions. One in particular that he encouraged was sharing more about Cans4Christ. 

The STORY: Trav and I sponsor a child through Compassion International. His name is JWP. He is 10 years old. We correspond back and forth letting him know what's going on with us and sharing pictures of our dog/etc. 

I told Pastor Bob that I wanted to inform the church that Cans4Christ is being prayed for by a 10 year old boy in India! Trav and I shared our story during this service {picture below}. I think our congregation enjoyed seeing his picture and hearing part of his most recent letter. 

I love love love JWP and how he prays for us! I also love how God is using Cans4Christ!!!! 

A Late Christmas Present for Cans4Christ

On 1/4 Trav and I headed north to Venice to take my bike in for repairs (I needed a new tube in the back wheel). Since it was on the way, we stopped by Poppie's house so we could visit and exchange Christmas presents. 

The STORY: A couple of weeks ago, Poppie texted both Trav and I asking us what we wanted for Christmas. We never know what to ask for so we told Poppie not to get us anything. He was very persistent- texting us back and forth really late at night! LOL! As a joke, Trav told me to text him back and say that we wanted a "spider web" for the truck so  nothing will fall out when we take cans in. We really didn't think Poppie would know what this "web" was so we sent the message and didn't think about it again.

Here's one of the bags that we got from Poppie. It says, "Now you can be safe with a load". 

Inside this bag was......

A CARGO NET!!!! Hoooooray! Poppie actually got Cans4Christ a "web" for hauling cans in!!! Now we def. can be safe when going to the recycling center--NO MORE bags or cans falling out of the truck and onto busy roads!! THANKS, Poppie:)

Inside my bag were 12 bungie cords!!! We needed a set of these for Cans4Christ too!!! Poppie really did a great job with gifts this year;) 

And here's a pic of Poppie opening up our gifts--we always give him gifts with a "chicken" theme:)

We headed to lunch and Lowe's afterwards. At Lowe's, Trav found 2 cans!!! We threw them in the back of the truck and went about our business.

While driving back home on I75 {going about 70}, we heard noises from the truck bed. Yup! Our cans flew out! We probably should have used our new cargo net:) LOL!