Outgoing...

     I am doing an okay job of continuing to write, but I wanted to get some things in the mail so I didn't take pictures this time. The other day I mailed 5 Postcrossing cards-  4 to Russia and 1 to Germany. I also mailed a letter to Marianne in the Netherlands and a letter to adopted soldier #4.
    I have adopted 4 soldiers now through Adopt A US Soldier.  I send them mail weekly when I can, even if it's just a short hello- which it usually is since I don't always get replies so I'm unsure what to write. (That and penpal guilt.. lol) If any of my penpals want to write out a postcard to one of the soldiers, feel free to include it in your letter. I would just send it to whichever soldier is next. 

Incoming...

     Two goodies in my mailbox today:
BR-243221

This is 2 beaches of Brazil- Arpoador and Ipanema. Looks beautiful.  The stamps are of Jorge Amado, a Brazilian writer.

     The second envelope came from an address I didn't recognize so I was curious as to what was inside.

    I loved this pretty butterfly card. Inside was my first returned friendship book. If you don't know what a friendship book is, it's a little booklet where people write their addresses and if they're looking for new penpals, swappers, etc. and then pass it on to another penpal. When the book is full, they return it to the owner. This friendship book was made for me by someone in the Netherlands. It came back with 12 addresses. I'll send them all a postcard thanking them for writing in the booklet.

The 366 Project

Sent: 25
Received: 12 

Other...

    Contrary to the numbers above, I have not been inspired to write this week... at all. Timmy had a stomach bug on Saturday and throughout the long weekend. It passed to me yesterday and to Matt and David today. It has not been a fun week. (Though I do have to say how much I appreciate Matt this week. He has been working a lot so that I could rest and basically doing everything that needed to be done at home. He also had some not so pretty bathroom trips with David all through the night last night. So grateful.)   I hope to be feeling better this week since I have a concert tomorrow and have to bring kids to an audition on Saturday. This year has been a really bad year for illnesses. Is it the same in other states this year?
     I also saw that I have two more blog followers! I was very excited. Check out their blogs! Angie's and Marijke's    I love seeing what other people get in their mail too :)
    Ok, I'm off to try to write at least 1 letter tonight.

  

Strep...again

    So, on a negative note- I have strep throat for the second time in a month and a half- which means it either 1) never went away or 2) wasn't strep the first time. Being under the weather, I haven't written much but I hope to get a few letters out this week.

Outgoing:

Soldier mail and mail to Marianne... finally. I have had these ready to go, but I couldn't find my stamps. So, they're on their way now.

Incoming:

     My friend Chrissie totally made my day. I got home from work today and saw this sitting on my dining room table!

  I was super excited to see a package waiting for me because I totally wasn't expecting one!  I had a really bad weekend and then stayed home sick from work yesterday so this was a nice surprise. :) (Check out the little card covering my address. One of Timmy's friends gave it to him as a birthday card :) So cute!)
Stamps: I really like the football (cough cough... soccer) stamp.

 

When I opened the package there were lots of goodies!

Yeah! She remembered my birthday! (October 13) Although I never expect any of my pals so send me any gifts, I am always happy to accept them :)  Isn't her writing amazingly neat? The envelope on the left was a great letter, the right was a birthday card (Nice beach.. My friend Jan sent me a card that said "This year you have nothing to worry about on your birthday." You open it and it says: "The high priestess only sacrifices much younger women." Nice.)  The gift was a stationary pad. I love stationary of all kinds. Thanks, Chrissie!
     In addition to this, there were also these goodie envelopes, sticker bags and label bags:

     I haven't traded these before. If any of my penpals are reading this, let me know if you want any of these. I will add my stuff and then pass them on. Usually I put them in the next letter I respond to, but if there is somebody who likes to trade certain items, let me know and I will send them. Actually, it would be helpful to know what kinds of things you like- FB, label bags, sticker bags, x-slips, swap sheets, etc...

Other...

    In other news, I survived Timmy's 7th birthday party.  I now know why I chose not to have 14 children.. lol.. and why I didn't have 12 kids in 1 year.   Timmy loved Blue Man Group and was pretty amusing to watch during the show. He had a great day.

     I also heard from my food swap partner. My package will be from The Netherlands (stroopwafels? mmm..). The Postcrosser who is sending it has been through a rough time lately so I hope things get better soon. It will get here eventually.

Mail time...

Incoming...
     Well, I got NOTHING in the mail today- no bills, no samples, no junk and certainly no letters or postcards. However, I did get a few things over the past week that I really enjoyed. Here they are:

     I received my first letter from a new penpal, Jodie, who is from Australia. I'm really excited to get to know her. She sent a beautiful letter, a cute cupcake card that had a recipe on the back, 2 pictures and map of her area. It was really neat to go through the thick envelope and I'm looking forward to asking her about a few places on the map she sent.  Here's a picture. Isn't the cupcake card nice?  Looks like you could eat it right off the page :)

        I also got some postcrossing cards this week. 
TW-531352
Unfortunately Kristin resent a card for me from Postcrossing and I had just registered her 1st card. (Sorry Kristin :( )  This is the beautiful bamboo bridge over University Pond at Luku Chitou.

 
FI-1486076
The more I see (and taste!) of Finland, the more interest I have in it. I don't think I've ever actually met someone from Finland before. This is Suomi, Finland. It looks very peaceful. This city must have great things to offer because I have numerous postcards of Suomi and all are very different from each other. I like that.

     Speaking of tasting Finland- I tried the cheddar and broccoli soup. The taste was good. It was a little different from the American soups I've had. It is still creamy but maybe not as buttery tasting as the cheddar broccoli soups here. It was a little thinner and tasted more peppery. Overall, it was pretty good.

Outgoing:

     I forgot to post the mail I sent out a few days ago. I sent a few swaps out and a few letters. My pal Kathy from Australia sent me a swapper sheet (I don't know if it has a formal name) and an x-slip. The swapper sheet had numerous items on it that you could send to other swappers- such as stickers, friendship books, postcards, x-slips, surprises, etc. You then cover the names of the people you sent items to with your own address. So, hopefully I will get lots of interesting surprises from this sheet. It is my first time doing this kind of a swap. My packages went to South Africa and Norway.  I also sent a few letters. The items on top of the envelopes are the first friendship books I've ever made.
      A friendship book contains paper inside and is sent from penpal to penpal. Each new person adds their address and can state if they are looking for new pals, swappers, etc. When all of the paper is used, the completed book is then sent to the person who the book was made for. Again, a new thing for me.
     An x-slip is almost like a chain letter. You send something- in this case I had to send "an envelope of goodies"- to the first person on the list. You then take their name off of the slip, move everyone up a number and add your name and address to the bottom. You then pass it on to 10 people. 

     Today seemed to be a "send mail to Germany" day! Jenny, Christina, Melanie- heads up!

     And who could this be for? You?  Don't get too excited, you're going to laugh when you open it!

The 366 project:
Received: 20
Sent: 48
     I'm finally making some progress. I love sitting down and getting all the way through a letter. I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. School starts again in September. It's a lot easier for me to write during the summer. Feel free to flood my mailbox. If you don't want a new penpal but want to write a letter, feel free to just write to tell me about the details of your day, something about your city, blogs you like, what makes you unique, tell me about someone/something that inspires you... whatever you'd like. If you want me to write back, I will write you back.  E-mail me with your address if you'd like a letter from me first.