Record Your Grandma's Stories: StoryCorps' National Day of Listening is Nov. 27

Will you be spending Thanksgiving with friends who tell great stories, a relative who has wonderful tales from "back in the day," or just someone special whose life you'd like to celebrate? Why not record their story in honor of StoryCorps' National Day of Listening the day after Thanksgiving (November 27th).

StoryCorps provides a free, downloadable Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide, as well as an Education Toolkit to use in a classroom or library, and a Community Service Toolkit to use in, "veteran’s hospitals, senior centers, homeless shelters, and other community centers."

I also like their Great Question List. It is organized according to the type of person you'll be interviewing. For example, some of the questions they suggest you ask your grandparents are:

• Where did you grow up?
• What was your childhood like?
• Who were your favorite relatives?
• Do you remember any of the stories they used to tell you?
• How did you and grandma/grandpa meet?
• What was my mom/dad like growing up?
• Do you remember any songs that you used to sing to her/him? Can you sing them now?
• What were your parents like?
• What were your grandparents like?

We won't be spending Thanksgiving with family this year, but I could still record a family member's story with the Skype recording program for Macs I use for podcasting, ecamm Call Recorder for Skype. If you have a PC, I've heard great things about Pamela.

If you'll be face-to-face with the person whose story you'd like to capture, you could record it with a Flip video camcorder, a regular camcorder, a cassette recorder, or a digital audio recorder (Olympus has relatively affordable small ones). If you have a computer with a built-in microphone, you can probably record directly into an audio program like Garageband (Mac), or Audacity (Mac or PC).

Whose story would you like to capture? Whose life would you like to celebrate?

For inspiration, check out:

• The StoryCorps podcast, Listen
• The StoryCorps Facilitator blog
• The StoryCorps book, Listening is an Act of Love

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Have Fun Do Good Day: 29-Day Giving Challenge

Long time readers of Have Fun Do Good probably already know about the 29 Day Giving Challenge created by my friend, Cami Walker.

During the 29 Day Giving Challenge, you give away one thing each day for 29 days. It can be anything: time, money, something you already have, something you buy, a smile, a compliment, or a kind word.

What you might not know is that since I first wrote about the Challenge in April 2008, Cami has published a New York Times bestselling book, 29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life, and has appeared on the TODAY Show! Pretty cool, huh?

I've completed the Challenge four times, and found it to be a profound experience each time. I'm going to start my fifth cycle the day after Thanksgiving, "Black Friday," so that I will hopefully feel the spirit of giving (rather than buying) that the holiday season is supposed to be about. Interestingly, November 27-December 25th is 29 days!

Wanna give with me?

You can join the 29 Day Giving Challenge online community at www.29gifts.org, and download free 29 Gifts calendar and 29 Gifts Note Cards in their discussion forum.

I've pasted the video from Cami's interview on the TODAY Show below.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Full disclosure: I received a review copy of 29 Gifts, and I am mentioned on page 154 of the book (:

Have Fun Do Good Day: Stretch!

Do-gooders need to take care of themselves, as well as others, and that includes taking care of their bodies.

If I can make time to do yoga in the morning, I know it's going to be a good day. Sometimes I do it for 10 minutes, sometimes for 30 minutes, and sometimes I have the luxury of going to a 60-90 minute class. Either way, every little bit makes a difference.

If yoga sounds intimidating to you, just think of it as stretching with a lot of breathing (:

Above is a 4-minute video of the Six Movements of the Spine by Kimberly Wilson (who interviewed me recently) that you could probably do right now sitting at your desk, on the sofa, or even on the plane (if you have nice people in your row).

How do you find time to stretch and exercise?