Kicking Around Ideas To Help The Neighborhood (Gift Baskets To Welcome New Residents)

For the past month or so, some of us have been kicking around the idea of a "gift basket" to welcome new residents to our neighborhood. So some of the discussion has involved what, exactly, would go in the baskets?

Who would...

...actually get the baskets, how would the baskets be funded, who would deliver the baskets...these are secondary discussions. THE REALLY FUN PART IS WHAT GOES IN THE BASKETS!

One idea centers on "green" house cleaning supplies, since people moving into a new house will be needing cleaning supplies, and North Minneapolis is trying to become "green" in large and small ways. Pictured above is an idea I had for the basket: eco friendly bath soap and hair care products. This stuff came from, um...Mystic Lake. I was out there with a friend of mine who was on a three day binge of drinking and gambling, leaving me to occupy myself watching television and reading, ho hum, not risking so much as a nickel.

Some people who read this blog think I'm a lot of fun. They're so wrong.

While there at the casino, I couldn't help but notice how many gambling-themed movies were on the television. Coincidence? Or conspiracy? Thank goodness for the splendid buffet at Mystic Lake, or those three days would have REALLY been a waste.

Fortunately, I managed to enrich myself with bathroom toiletries, including some of the stuff pictured above, which means I walked away a winner, unlike my friend. Now some of my Mystic Lake parting gifts are sort of like demos to show what I think should be inside the theoretical neighborhood gift basket.

But our Hawthorne Neighborhood Association Housing Director, Jeff Skrenes, was all, like, "What are we going to do, steal soap from Mystic Lake for the gift baskets?" And I was all, like, "It's not STEALING, they GIVE that stuff to GUESTS. If I grabbed a bunch off the maid cart, THAT would be stealing."

Anyway, the photo above shows the "demo items" on a restaurant table, after I gave them to real estate agent and rehab enthusiast Connie Nompelis. After Connie got home from a night of drinking with me and Jeff--with a designated driver, which she didn't even gripe about, just handed over the keys like a responsible citizen--Connie woke up, didn't remember a few things, and in her purse found...HOTEL ROOM TOILETRIES!!!!

Yeah, I think we've all had nights like that. Did I ever tell readers the story I call "The Night I Invaded Mexico By Accident?"

No, I have not. And we're not going there.

ADDENDUM: Megan Goodmundson was there with me, Jeff and Connie. I shouldn't neglect to mention Megan, who is full of great information about the Jordan Neighborhood but can you get anything out of her? Not until she puts more money into her prepaid legal plan, she says.