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.

Lovely Letters Penpal Exchange

    I stumbles upon Local Adventurer one day a while back and saw that they hosted a little penpal exchange. Being a snail mail nerd, I of course liked the whole idea of being paired up with someone random. On the other hand, I feel horribly behind in life so I debated whether or not signing up was a good idea. I decided to give it a go to see who I would be matched up with. The expectations for the swap are very clear so it wasn't any pressure.
     I got matched up with a woman named Karm from Arizona. She writes a blog about her family and their adventures being a football family. She also takes wonderful pictures! (Check out her blog here)  The theme for the letter/package was "back to school."  She has 4 sons so I could've sent some school supplies but I ended up sending football related treats instead. I wondered if back to school for her was also a time where she and her family got excited to getting back to the football season. (Kind of like I do for baseball season,) I sent her a travel mug that would hold hot or cold drinks, some Land o'Lakes Mint Cocoa *yum* and a puzzle of Gilette Stadium. I was a little nervous about sending New England Patriots stuff after this past season but... I hoped her sons would like it.
     I received her letter and package last week and it included some great stuff. I'm really excited to get to know her better. Here's a picture of the items she sent.

There was:

- a letter from Karm

-2 cups of tea. I'm drinking the white pomegranate tea right now. It's pretty yummy and nice for a chilly MA evening.

-a postcard

-an Arizona pencil

- Creme Brulee hot chocolate. I've never tried anything like this before. When I busted into the package tonight that's what I was going for, but the tea called me. :) I'll save this for another day!

- Stickers. 1 sheet for my students and the other 2 will be reserved for my penpals!

- Brown craft labels

- Blackboard labels.   I have always wanted to try to get crafty with labels, but never have. Thanks for the opportunity. I'm searching out the perfect use for them.

       Thanks again, Karm! I look forward to writing you back!

More outgoing than incoming :)

     Came home from vacation to find 2 things in my box. I guess this is the result of not responding to my letters for ages. I'm still catching up- dear friends, I have not forgotten about you. 

Incoming...

 From 12 year old Postcrosser, Alexandra, from Minsk, Belarus. Thanks!

 From Julia in the Netherlands.  Very cute.

  
These were the stamps on the back of Julia's cards. Any of my Dutch friends want to tell me what these pictures are from? Is it a children's book illustrator? (Timmy and I were discussing this.. inquiring minds want to know!)

Outgoing..

     Lots of outgoing:

 Sent to a Postcrosser. Hyannis, MA is a wonderful place to visit in the summer (if you don't mind crowds).

 Sent to another Postcrosser- Motif #1 in Rockport.This is about 30 minutes north of where I live.

This is sent to an 11 year old Postcrosser from Russia. Boston Museum of Science. Good stuff!

 I've always liked this postcard and was just waiting for someone who likes old photographs. This shows a football game between cops and prisoners taken at Sing Sing (they think) between 1930 and 1935. Cool. If I remember correctly, this card is headed for Germany.

 This is sent to a unit on active duty that I connected with through AnySoldier.com.

 Sent to a Postcrosser in Canada that is somehow related to a library.

 I've rotated through a few soldiers on Adopt a US Soldier. Thomas, Lauren and Jason have come home. I have 1 returning home on Sunday. I have one woman I e-mail since mail is not easily delivered to her base. Then I have these 3 soldiers- 1 whom I've had for a while and 2 new ones who, ironically, are serving at the same base.


    I have more to send out tomorrow. I'm determined to catch up. 

The 366 Project:

Received: 43
Sent: 113
   

Other...

    1)  Here are my kids, just because I like them and think they're cute.. lol.

 The most smiley, sweetest kid.

     In his first official baseball tournament. They're playing kids a year older than them but having a great time.

     2) I've determined I'm not going to say "I'm going to put this on the blog tomorrow" or "If I have my act together, I will..." because then I feel horribly guilty. This also goes for penpalling. I need to give myself flexibility to write when I have something to say and most of my friends would totally understand that and be fine with it. Penpal guilt is pretty awful and it's worse if you're dealing with any other issues with it.
      3) Vacation was good. We played a lot in the water- at the beach, pools, waterparks, etc. We went to an amusement park. We had a lot of family time and a LOT of driving in the car. Although it doesn't sound really exciting, it was a nice trip. Timmy and Matt got stung by jellyfish. That wasn't fun. For those who are wondering: Yes, apparently if you pee on a jellyfish sting it will stop the pain. However, vinegar works better- which is what we used. They had some at the lifeguard station. Who knew? I also learned that if you rinse the area with fresh water first, the things that are making the sting will continue to fire and it will hurt worse. You learn something new every day. 
     Timmy also had a little adventure. He was swimming in the ocean about 10 feet offshore when he felt something in the sand under him. He reached down and picked this up! We had him go to the front desk to ask if anyone had said that they lost a watch. Nobody had. Since we had no way of knowing how long the watch had been there and who had lost it, the hotel manager thought "there must be SOME reason it came to you!"  So, when we checked out, we went down to see if the watch was claimed and now it is Timmy's.  Boy, is he excited! Maybe I'll have him write a letter to Casio.   I was impressed the watch was still working. They asked the people around them but it wasn't anybody's. I'm sure if you see Timmy, except at baseball, he will have the watch on and gladly tell you his story. :)

     I hope you're having a blessed day.
^"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."- 1 John 4:9-11
     3)  

 

Let's try this again, just slightly different- 2013

    Goodbye 2012 and hello 2013!  Happy New Year to all! My letter project in 2013 was a minor failure, mostly due to the fact that I have been really bad about responding in a timely manner. On a good note, I have discovered that I have an issue balancing work, family, responsibilities and personal life. This sounds negative at first but I have discovered:
1) I really value all of my friendships that have been developed through penpalling.
2) I get extremely guilty when I haven't written someone back within a week. (Then I feel bad and don't want to write to anyone, which just adds to the issue).
3) I send lots of mail- letters, postcards, swaps, etc.
4) Writing has become a major source of relaxation and enjoyment for me. Sitting and writing to connect with another person- whether it is someone who lives 5 minutes away or 5,000 miles away- feels similar to going out to lunch to catch up with a friend. I'm a pretty social person so I enjoy being around people but I've realized that I don't like shallow relationships. If I'm going to sit to write a letter or visit with a friend in person, I want to make sure that it is quality time and that I'm investing in that person. So, this is the only solace I have given myself in regards to why I haven't been caught up with my writing- that I want to actually give the person my time. (Any of you who have read my letters also know that I have an issue with not having any free time, no matter how hard I try to plan some.)  With this being said, if there are any people who have been secretly annoyed that I don't respond as quickly as I want to and you want to stop being my penpal, please e-mail me here and I will understand. I hope there aren't any but I figured I'd put myself out there just in case. I'm still struggling with how to fit everything in my day that needs to be done, as well as the things I want to get done.

So, here are my "blog resolutions."
1) I will try again for the "366" numbers of incoming and outgoing mail BUT I'm going to count letters, postcards and packages- both outgoing and incoming.
2) I will update the blog at least once per week. I haven't decided which day yet... probably closer to the end of the week since I have lots of due dates and meetings at the beginning of the week usually.
3) I will try to document all incoming and outgoing mail with pictures.

Thanks to everybody who reads this blog and to all of the great friends I've made this year. Here's to a really happy mailbox for all of us in 2013!

    

Chopsticks!

Incoming...

    So far this week has been a slow mail week but the mail that has come in has been really nice! I received a beautiful Postcrossing card on Monday.  This postcard is from Lithuania. It shows the Trakai Island Castle.  I love the colors in this card. Narina actually put a nice Trakai stamp on the card too. I love it. Thanks! Here's the card:
LT-223497

    Then, yesterday, I received a package from my friend, Akiko, in Japan. She sent me some beautiful chopsticks for each person in my family as well as a very interesting letter which I can't wait to respond to! (Love the information about naming!  I had a conversation about naming with a friend from Uganda yesterday. It's fascinating to me to hear about how children's names are chosen. )

 Outgoing:

    I'm still playing around with making envelopes. Here's an outgoing envelope that I'm sending to Susan in Alabama. I made a whole bunch of envelopes from a New England calendar.  So, any of my penpals who live outside of the States or in a different part of the country, those envelopes will show what my area looks like- or at least areas I can get to pretty easily.  Here's Susan's envelope. I'm probably going to start photographing the envelopes before I write the addresses since I haven't been able to figure out a "non-tacky" way to cover the address. 

The 366 letter project:
Received: 23
Sent: 59
      If you're dropping by my blog for the first time, I'm attempting to send and receive 366 letters this year- one for each day of this year. Yeah, I'm behind right now. SMALL GOALS: Get 20-25% of sent letters out by the end of August. 2) Get 10% of received letters in by the end of next week. So, if you're a stranger passing through, feel free to send me a letter about yourself! E-mail me and I'll give you the address. I love just hearing people's stories so you can just tell me about your everyday life if you're unsure what to write. 
     It will just be sad if I send out 366 letters and have 50 responses. Honestly though, even though it's a large goal I set for myself, I would rather have sincere letters of substance than to just have 366 papers come through the mail. I love to penpal because it enables me to travel the world without leaving home. (I would love to ACTUALLY travel too but being a teacher is not a hugely profitable adventure!) I love making new friends across the world and sharing knowledge and goodies with my children. So, I guess I have fully accepted the fact that I would much rather invest in people (and be invested in) than to just get lots of stuff in the mail. Sorry, rambling. 

 

Back to the blog!

   I stopped writing for a few weeks and I actually got a question about why I wasn't writing. Hooray! People are actually reading what I write. I'm fascinated that people all over the world are checking in. Feel free to say hello.  

Incoming:

This is a chocolate bar that I got from Finland. It was sent from a Postcrossing user in a chocolate round robin.   It was DELICIOUS. It tasted like a chocolate bar filled with Nutella. Friends from Finland- feel free to send me these bars :)


I also got the following treats from Finland in a tag. In a tag you "tag" someone, send them something and then someone tags you and sends you something. This was a request something from your country tag. I tagged verlustangst (mentioned before in the mystery envelope tag) in Malaysia and sent her some Bath & Body Works goodies!  Here's what I received from Finland:

More chocolate! Fazer- yummy! The 2 small items are licorice. They were black licorice filled with raspberry/blueberry yogurt and vanilla pear yogurt. I'm not a huge black licorice fan but these were pretty tasty. (Much softer and way less chewy than licorice here.)  Notice the Moomins on the package. I gave these to my kids and they really liked them!  I also really liked the stamps on this package. Check them out:

I found another envelope that I need to photograph too. Some of my Postcrossing friends and my penpals are extremely talented.

DE-1439497

This card is from an 11 year old boy in Germany. He plays the piano too! Emil, I looked up the music you sent me. All the kids here are really into "Call Me Maybe" too. I chaperoned a trip to New York City with our 7th graders and I must have heard the chorus of that song 10,000 times! Danke schön, Emil!

CN-642397

    This card is titled "Autumn Moon on Calm Lake."  The dark spot between the tree and the moon is a mail injury :)  This card is so beautiful.

NL-1290288

I really like this card too. It is from The Netherlands and shows what I usually think of as stereotypical Dutch images. Thanks Astrid!

FR-218675

I love this card as well. (I got all of these cards in 2 days. I was so excited)  This is the way my mailbox looks in my imagination! I would love to paint my mailbox like this... and my neighbors' boxes too but I think they would feel that I had gone a bit overboard with my mail obsession!

Outgoing
   I totally forgot to take a picture I took of a package I sent to a soldier I'm sponsoring through www.adoptaussoldier.org  I am excited to do a small part in helping to encourage people who are serving in our armed forces. I'm currently writing to 2 soldiers.  Sorry. I also apparently forgot to photograph the cards I was sending out. However, inspired by some of my MUCH more artistic friends, I did try to make an effort to do some decorated envelopes/mail art.
    This letter went to my friend Ada-Mari in Finland. She likes stamps so she'll either like my efforts or kick me for not just cutting the stamps out for her. It was my first attempt at something like this and when I added the address and my own stamp (after this pic) I thought it looked pretty cool. There are stamps from the USA, Japan, Canada, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Australia and Germany I think.

    I just edited a picture I had taken of my friend's, Susan, letter... and I ruined it. Next time.
    Here's a card I'm planning on mailing tomorrow:
US-1765178

It is titled "Hutcheston's Moral Senses."

     By the way, the person in Wales got the package safely and seemed to like everything! I am still waiting for my package.


The 366 project:
Received: 14
Sent: 40 

   I got a nice letter from Cara in PA and had a bit of a mishap with a letter from Jenny in Germany.  Jenny had sent me a great letter with a Germany bracelet in May. It never got here so she sent another letter, gummy candies and 2 baseball caps for the kids. Ironically, right after she sent the 2nd package, the first got here!

   The sign says Thank you Jenny (in German) but it wasn't dark enough.  Yet another fail today!
    
    Well, that's all for today folks. Thanks for reading!











 

 

     Welcome to my first attempt at blogging! This year I made a resolution to write and (hopefully) receive 366 letters; one for each day of the year. Well, frankly, I'm failing miserably so I wanted to start this blog to motivate me to keep going. I also have many friends and family who don't understand my obsession to snail mail yet they frequently ask me about it. I thought it would be nice to share my progress on my project, show off some of the postcards/letters/packages I receive, keep everyone updated with life in general and get to know some other random people across the world.  So here goes...

The 366 project:
It's the 171st day of the year so I should have 171 letters received and letters outgoing, right? Wrong. The good thing is that I'm a teacher and I have decided to take this summer "off" from classes and working full-time. I'm out of school now so I have plenty of time to try to catch up.  (I'm hoping blogging will also give me a few creative ideas as I work on lesson plans over the summer. I might be getting a Smart Board in my classroom this year.)  Sadly, my real numbers are:

Received: 12

Sent: 23
    I'm only counting letters in my project. I'm also trying to make sure that the letters I send out are letters of quality, not just something mailed across the world for the sake of adding a number to my tally.  I get my letters from many pen pals that I have both in the United States and abroad. I also sometimes receive letters through the Postcrossing forum. If you've never heard of Postcrossing; it is a site designed to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world. Basically, you send a postcard to someone (and if you're nice  you check their preferences) and then you receive one from another random user. It's a great surprise to see what people send, what they write and where they are from.  Check it out: www.postcrossing.com.
Here is what I sent and received today for mail.

Mail out:

  Some of these postcards are rather strange. I like the Peep one the best. These cards went to Russia (3), China, Finland, The Netherlands (2), Germany, and the United States (specifically Maryland and Missouri).  next time I add postcard images I will link it with the Postcrossing number in case any of my Postcrossing friends stop by!
    I also sent a package with a few small gifts to one of my penpals, Miera, in Malaysia.

Mail in:
     I am part of the Mystery Envelope Round Robin on the Postcrossing forums. For people who aren't usually snail mailers, a round robin is when participate in something that will come to you and then be sent on to other people. In this round robin, 10 items are put in an envelope and then the envelope is mailed to the second person. This person can then take out any items they would like to keep, put in items to replace the ones they've taken and then sends it out to the third person. This particular envelope is traveling between seven people. The last person who gets it will return it to the person who started the envelope.  This envelope was started by verlustangst in Malaysia (she always puts awesome stuff in her swaps!) and continued to The Netherlands. I will send it to Jamaica tomorrow.  Here's the loot!:

 8 postcards from the new Avengers movie...

 Scrapbooking materials for Christmas; a tartan wallet that I will soon be using; a notebook; a vitamin E face mask; Winnie the Pooh origami paper, and a variety of stickers. The butterfly stickers are 3D.

Lastly, there are 2 Moomin tote bags. What is a moomin you ask? Moomin are characters from a series of books and comic strips by Tove Jansson.They are apparently trolls but they look a little like hippos.  My friends from Finland are usually the people who send me Moomins. I once got a sheet of Moomin stickers and used them at school. It was pretty humorous to watch the middle schoolers trying to analyze what a Moomin was. It was a nice opportunity for me to talk to them about having penpals, art and Finland.
     I am keeping the blue Moomin bag (David loved it!), the butterfly stickers and the wallet. I am unsure what I'm going to replace them with.