First mail of 2015!

Yeah! I finally received some incoming mail this year. My first card/letter is from Belinda in South Africa. I was excited to see South African mail in my box because it has been a while that people have sent to or received mail from me because of the postal strike.

Outgoing to Poland Hotel Room by Edward Hopper

The 366 Project:
Sent: 9
Received: 1

Timmy got a hamster for Christmas. He actually got 2. Santa Claus brought him 1 and she died the next day!?! Seriously. She was Loretta. We bought him one after that.  Meet Blizzard.

Incoming mail 11/12

Incoming!!!

    Finally, a great mail day. I have 2 things that are going out in the mail:
1. letter to my latest Chemo Angel
2. This card of the Rebecca Nurse Memorial, which is about 2 miles from my house. This card is headed to Australia

    When I got home from school, preparing to finish my 408 grades that were due today, I headed to my mailbox expecting a gift I had bought for one of my Chemo Buddies. Not there. (Yet- it came later today). Instead I found these 2 great cards. This one is from California:

    Then I got this one from Germany:

    Here is the best part about this card. Here is my address on the card:

Somehow this still got from Germany to me in 8 days! One of my friends at the post office once laughed at me when I mailed something to the Ukraine and it had come back in the mail to me even though there was no return address. He told me I'm the only one around here who gets "weird, exotic foreign mail" and explained that anything that fits in that category but is unexplained will most likely end up at my house. Then he added that I'm also probably on a "no fly" list somewhere because of all the weird things that  people mail to me.. lol.

     I got the package for my ChemoBuddy a little later. I got him this book, which I just read a few weeks ago. The author, Levi Stack, sent me a copy of the e-book (which may be free on Amazon right now), and then a copy of the next book in the series too. He seems like a really nice guy and I enjoyed the books. So, I figured I'd buy a copy of the 1st book and send it to my friend.

    Imagine my surprise when I walked into our hallway to see this waiting for me:

Ooh.. mysterious. Once I saw the return address I was super excited. Yes, I'm a nerd. It's from Stamps Teach. Check out their website.  (Sarah, I think this would be great for your classroom!)  I got this to use at home with my kids but I will definitely pass on the information to the teachers my kids have.  Look at all the interesting things inside!

Educational activities:

 Commemorative 1st day issues

 Magnifying sheet

 Postcards!

 Pamphlets

 Stamp albums

 Coloring books

 More resources

 More Envelopes

 More educator's guides

 Worksheets

 Letter, review cards, etc

 Bag of stamps with this hilarious note on it. Good to know if you're using in a classroom

 Stamps! They are so interesting. Just glancing through I saw some from: US, Canada, Chad, Trinidad and Tobago, Iraq, Uganda, Ireland, Netherlands, France, Poland, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, etc. There are many African countries that I have never seen stamps from. I can't wait to explore these more.

Catch-up postcard post and AJT#4

    Well, summer has officially come to an end for me. I went back to school last week. Though my schedule seems like it will be quite a bit more hectic, I was happy to see all of the students and jump right in with all of my lessons. (The students actually came with me too!) This week I see all of my choruses for the first time. It is always nice to talk to the students to see what is going on with their lives and to hear how they sound mixed with new students. It is also amusing to hear how different my middle school boys sound from one year to the next. I am very excited to watch and hear these young musicians grow over time.
     So, the art has slowed down too. I was working on the AJT3 (accordian book), but I'm still finishing. I'm also working on the vivid flower art journal page. (I might even just start an art journal.. lol)  For now, here's the grid from AJT4. Sorry if the 3 pictures are a little too much but I kept seeing different things as I angled the pad different ways. So, here's everything- with a lot of detail. I really like the sheep square and the 3rd one in on the left side, bottom row- which is a scrap of mine from gelli printing. The colors are more vivid in person. This was fun and therapeutic to do.

    This summer was a lonely summer for my mailbox. (Good thing I have Marianne who won't give up on me!)  Fortunately, it was great for postcards. Here are all the cards received since my last post.

From Russia- The postcard was sent in this cool Olympics envelope.  Does anyone know what the building in the 3rd picture down is? It is written in Russian on the back but... I don't speak Russian. 

 Wild Lithuanian strawberries.

From Ukraine

 From Germany

 Taiwan (the 2nd one depicts the story of Sleeping Beauty)

 The Netherlands

 Czech Republic

 South Africa:

   I think I'm officially caught up now. Oh, speaking of being caught up, if any penpals are reading this and I owe you a letter, please let me know. I have found a lot of older letters around the house but I lost track of which ones I have responded too. I'm not the best housekeeper. 

     I hope you are all blessed, happy and healthy.  Thanks for reading. :)

ICAD4

The prompt was puzzle. This was inspired by my penpal Belinda who always sends a variety of stamps on her letters. I decided to make a puzzle/collage out of a few stamps hanging around. The stamps are from South Africa, the Netherlands and the US.

ICAD2+ letters/Postcrossing cards

This is my second Index card a Day card. I'm not artistic so I was actually pretty pleased with my circus tent.  The prompt was "Circus tent" (I'm also really creative like that..lol) I doodled with pen and used glitter (my friend Diana would be super proud.)
ICAD2:

    I also received a letter from Belinda, one of my penpals from South Africa, and 2 Postcrossing cards. I will post the cards tomorrow. (They are from China and Lithuania) Have a great day!

Still here?

     Hello everybody. Thanks for still checking in. I know that it has been a while. I have had a long lull in my letter writing. These past few months have been full of some difficult times.  Personally, my family and I are fine but there have been major events that have impacted many of my friends and acquaintances. There was also a murder in my community that really hit everybody hard. Sometimes when events like these happen, you just wonder if what you say has as much importance as it should or if you are just being superficial. Combining the past few months with other items within the year, like the Sandy Hook Shooting and the Boston Marathon Bombing, I have been relatively quiet. I've been feeling a little more like myself lately so I figured I'd take a few minutes to make an entry on the blog.

     Last week I celebrated Thanksgiving with my husband's family. We went to my in-law's house in Boston. It was my family, 2 grandparents, a grand-aunt and grand-uncle, 2 aunts, 4 uncles, 7 cousins and my sister-in law's mother and brother in law. (Phew) This is actually small for our family. We had turkey, pork, ham and potato soup, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce,green beans, squash and some munchies. Our dessert table was just as abundant with ice cream, all kinds of pies, pastries and some delicious Oreo cookie dessert that I need to get the recipe for. We had a great time just relaxing with the family. My husband's aunt had died a few days earlier so it was sad to reflect on the loss of a dear family member, but a blessing to appreciate each other.
     I have been busy with work and with musical performances that are coming up. I had 1 performance that one of my groups sang in last week, 1 concert they still have to perform and 2 concerts that I will be performing in within the next 2 weeks. As a musician, this is not too overwhelming. I actually really look forward to these 2 concerts that are coming up. Playing this music really puts me in the Christmas mood. I also love seeing people in the community appreciating the music from the orchestra I play with. These specific concerts benefit 2 local food pantries so it is really cool to know that my talents are helping to serve some local people who are in need of some assistance. I will try to post some pictures of the concert venues, they are beautiful.
    I'm also excited to be starting Ann Voskamp's "The Greatest Gift" to read as an Advent devotional. So far, so good. 
     The kids are fine. We had a great parent teacher conference (our first) for our youngest son and still need to have one for our oldest. Both children are really excited for Christmas. They don't really care about getting gifts but they are excited to learn more about Jesus and spending time with us. I can't wait to put up our tree. Here are some pictures from just hanging out the other day. David is reading to his stuffed animal and Timmy is just reading- as always. (no complaints here)

     I'm trying to come up with some nice family traditions that we can start this year for Christmas or New Year. Do any of you have anything special you are doing, or have grown up with?  I have a few ideas but I'm not sure what I'd like to do yet. When I was little, we used to go to my Aunt Diane's house and make gingerbread houses from scratch. I used to love it but used to hate it falling apart on the way home. Since I had this tradition, I think I'd be hesitant to use the precooked, "ready to assemble" sets, but I'm not sure I have the patience to do it from scratch. I also have carpal tunnel syndrome so sometimes that makes things like decorating a little difficult.
     Ooh! I'm also participating in the Redditgifts Secret Santa 2013. We have over 100,000 people involved. I just got my match today and he is totally different than me. This is partially exciting and slightly unnerving. I look forward to find something that he'll like but I'm hoping I don't put a lot of time and effort in and then fine out that he thinks it's totally lame. I will be enlisting the help of some of my friends to bounce ideas off of. I can't wait to participate. I'm also excited to see what my Santa thinks to get me but, honestly, I'm sure I'll be happy with anything.

MAIL CALL!

     Today was actually a great day. I was a little stressed when I got home so these notes and cards made my day a whole lot brighter.
     The first piece of mail was super exciting. I got a letter back from my latest soldier. Many times, the soldiers that I write to so not write back. Although I have connected to a few of them over Facebook so I keep up to date, I don't always expect a response. I figure that if I was a soldier, especially one in a war zone, and I was on duty- would I spend my free time trying to catch up with my family, trying to let them know that I am okay or would I write to a random stranger? I expect that the family will come first. If they can write, awesome- it will definitely reaffirm that my letters are making a difference, but if they can't, I get it. This is my first letter from this soldier. Ironically, I just wrote him a letter so I will add my response to it and send it out tomorrow in a Christmas card.

     The second piece of mail I got is from my penpal, Belinda, in South Africa. I love her delightful, chatty letters and I love the little Christmas card she sent with the letter.

     The last 2 things were Postcrossing cards. The first one is from Lunenberg, Germany. The second card is from Mingna in Beijing. She bought this card in Inner Mongolia. It is very different from many of the cards I have received and I like it a lot. The little boy is running around au natural so I gave him some pants. (with my luck I would be reported for inappropriate content or something!) What is it with little boys liking to run around without clothes? At least it's a global thing and not just my weird children :)  The text on the card says Harmonious.

     Alright, I think that's it for tonight. I hope to write more in December. I'm trying to give myself time to pamper myself a bit and writing sometimes calms me down. My posts will definitely not be as long as this one every day. I hope you are well and that you see the blessings in your life right now.