July 22/23/24

     This week has brought a lot of errands as we prepare for our trip. My least favorite of these errands was bringing my two cats to the veterinarian. Did you know I have 2 cats? Penny is 15 and Emmie is nuts. She's one and a half.  She was the one sleeping in the lunch bag in one of my other blog posts. This is Penny. She was not amused. She's had a cyst like thing in her mouth for a while and they think it might be cancerous. We'll wait and see.

 

   I have also finally sat down to write a letter. My friend Marianne sent this awesome envelope (with a great letter) a few months ago. I wanted to share since it was beautiful. 

 

     I hope I don't ruin her surprise but her birthday is coming up so I tried to send something cute. I kind of love it. Sorry for the post it note, I had written her address before I took a picture. Who knew I could draw little kawaii things?

 

      I received this postcard from Germany in yesterday's mail. I've always loved castles. ("Schloss" is "castle" in German. Sebastian, the Postcrosser who sent the card, wrote in German and I could clearly understand his message. I'm glad I'm taking the time to try to learn more this summer.

Recent cards

I have gotten a few cute cards this week, most of them from the Penpalling& Letters Surprise Postcard Swap.
    I loved seeing this little polar bear in my mailbox. The humidity here is killing me. (Then I realized it was sent from Kat- in Brazil- so I probably shouldn't complain about it being hot and humid here!) The Sao Paulo card was inside the envelope. I love the envelope idea, I might try something similar to a penpal soon.

 From Filipa in Portugal. Vintage card. The car reminded me a bit of Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang.

 Homemade card from 15 year old Anya, in Russia. Very cute. THanks!

 This homemade one was from Estela in Spain. I loved the owls!

    In other quick news:

-Jenny, if you're reading, I'm worried your letter might be lost but I'm holding onto hope that it will arrive here soon

- One of my ChemoAngels graduated out of the program so I just got a new one yesterday. I'm now writing to 2 women- one in Tx and one in OH.

- I start school next week

- Had a speech eval for David today. He's going to need to start going for speech. He has some articulation problems, that I knew about, that should be fixed sooner rather than later. 

     Anything exciting going on for you or your family? 

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.

Received MMSA Swap

Mail Me Some Art Envelope Swap

Yeah!!! I got my Mail Me Some Art envelope swap today.  On one hand I was slightly embarrassed that my envelopes were painfully simple but you've got to start somewhere. On the other hand, I was so excited that I jumped in to the swap even though I was nervous because I got some beautiful envelopes. It's really interesting to see all the ideas people have and how creative everyone is.  Here they are:
Envelope 1 front:

Inside:

 Envelope #2.

Envelope #3:

Look what is inside!!!! Cookie recipes :) I can't wait to try them. 

Envelope #4- Front

Back:

Envelope #5- Front- Babar

Back

 I made these little postcards to send a quick thank you note to each sender. 

More Kindness

So I was kind of disappointed that nobody else had any more ideas for spreading kindness. When I write, I'm often wondering if anybody actually reads this since I don't have many comments. (Hi Ashley and Sarah, whom I know probably are :) )  I found another group tonight called the ARK Project. You may have seen them on the Today Show. Check them out. The reason I think Random Acts of Kindness are so important to me is that it is a way to show the love of Christ in the world. In the Bible, Jesus says the greatest two commandments are to "Love God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important 'Love your neighbor as yourself' " Matthew 22:37-39 I, unfortunately, am not the best at always acting loving in every situation. I can judge too quickly, lose patience or just not even realize I'm falling really short of where I should be. Random Acts of Kindness allow me to point to God when I'm asked about why I'm "nice" and to talk about his influence over my life. 

Personal Life

     I think everybody is finally over pneumonia and all the other ailments of the summer.. lol Timmy is playing in a baseball tournament over the next few weeks. David is playing too many games on the computer enjoying being silly around the house with me. The kid loves to dance! It's great to watch Matt cringe as he pities that David has picked up on my awesome moves. I'm learning some athletically challenging ones from him too. Ha ha!  I'm starting to try to get some new lessons put together for school.  Matt and I will be celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary on the 1st. 

    I hope that you are well! Have a great night!

Update

Hello again, friends! I noticed that I've had a few people check in from Serbia and Puerto Rico. These are new countries to my "audience" so greetings!  I'd love to hear from you.

Incoming...

Here is a Postcrossing tag from The Netherlands. It asks 20 questions about me.  The next envelope is from a new penpal, Ashley, in Wisconsin. (She is one of the people whose blog I mentioned)  I loved her cool envelope and her letter :)  This picture does it no justice at all- check it out on her blog! Look at the cool wax stamp on the back. I want one. My birthday is in October..lol.

RU-1107358

Thanks Olya. I believe the names of these characters are Gena and Chebyrashka.

Outgoing

    You ready? 
Vaarwel!

 Farvel!

 ごきげんよう  Woah! Hope that kanji is okay!!!

 

Good-bye! Ironically, I tried to mail this letter just like this. My mailwoman noticed my mistake and left it in my box. (I guess we're even now!)

 Bonjour!

 And... shoot, I'm not sure which other languages you speak so I'll just say goodbye to your letter too!

  I also mailed a get well soon card and an outgoing 20 questions tag for Postcrossing.
    I'm finishing up 2 letters so I can probably add them tomorrow.  People who do mailart or penpalling, how do you usually write the addresses on your addressed envelopes? I have been affixing them with paper decorations and taping them down with shipping tape, or writing it in a sharpie but I wonder if there is a better way. I would love to have a sticker or something that I can write on.  Suggestions?

The 366 Project:
Received: 29
Sent: 74

Well, I made my send 20% goal by the end of August. Can I make 25%? Not without new mail to respond to! We'll see.