Getting Dirty for a Good Cause and Happy Birthday, Steve!

Friday, July 26th, 2013, will go down in Cannon history as the longest, dirtiest, busiest, most fun day all in one.  We started off the day with a HUGE breakfast to celebrate Steve's birthday.  Nicholas was in charge and made sure that the breakfast included every item that Daddy liked.  We had pancakes (made by Naomi), sausage and bacon (manned by Nicholas), orange juice (mixed by Jeremy) and plenty of presents.  The kids loved feeding Daddy and showering him with gifts.   It was the perfect start to the day.  

 Steve and his new wallet courtesy of Naomi

 Itunes and Google Play gift cards from Jeremy and Nicholas

 The latest in fire-starting technology from me.

Jeremy and I had spent the previous week knocking on doors in our neighborhood gathering orders for garbage can cleaning for his Eagle project fundraiser.  The response was overwhelming and wonderful.  By the end of the week we had 75 garbage cans and/or recycling bins that needed cleaning.  We really had our work cut out for us.  As luck would have it, the day of this huge adventure fell on Steve's birthday.  Usually our garbage and recycling guys come in the morning...but not on this day.  They waited until 3:00!!!  We didn't waste the morning though.  We spent the time getting Jeremy all set up for his new iPad for school.  He needed a new gmail and apple account.  Below is his handsome picture he put with both accounts.  For those of you who haven't seen him lately, he is taller than I am now.  

He is going into 9th grade!!!!

With the garbage guys coming so late our schedule was WAY off for the day.  We were supposed to be cleaning garbage cans by 10 and done by 3 so that we could have a huge Cafe Rio birthday dinner (which had taken me the two previous days to get ready for) and an ice cream cake for dessert.  So we were STARTING this project when I had thought we would be finishing.   We hauled garbage cans and washed garbage cans and returned garbage cans and collected payment until 8:30 that night.  We were exhausted, dirty and starving by the time we were all done.  But, it was worth it.  Jeremy is 1/3 of the way to his goal - thanks to everyone who has donated or wanted their cans cleaned.

 The first few cans...

 We are really getting into it.

 Cans....

 More cans...

 And more cans...

 Cans everywhere!!!!

We finished the last garbage can at 8:15 and had everything cleaned up by 8:30.  All of us took a quick shower and then had a great dinner and some birthday cake.  The food tasted extra good.  We were all in bed by 10:00 that night - sound asleep!!!

We now had 75 clean garbage cans and recycling bins in our neighborhood, but I had some very dirty and stinky laundry to do.  Some of the dirt was extra stubborn and I had to use Clorox to get it all out.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not very good with bleach and always end of bleaching something that should not have been bleached in the first place.  That happened!!!  I got bleach spots on one of my Shade shirts!  At first I was upset until I decided to turn this into a happy accident.  I bunched the shirt up like I would if I were going to tie dye it and dabbed bleach on it with an old towel.  Below is my New and Improved Shade shirt.  I think I like it.  The kids want to tie bleach a shirt now.  It might become the new trend!

I am such a trendsetter!

Seventy-five cans down - 200 to go!!!  If you want your garbage can cleaned and you live within driving distance, let me know and we will get you hooked up.  If you want to donate to a good cause, that would be greatly appreciated as well.  I am really proud of Jeremy.  He is tackling this project like a mad man and I can't wait to see the end result.  The patients at Hinds Feet Farm (a rehabilitation facility for people with traumatic brain injuries) will be enjoying their new patio/gathering area/fire pit in no time.