The Modest Peacock

The Random Stuff That Happens on a Saturday...

2012-03-03T18:09:00.000-05:00

I took Cute Gremlins #2 and #4 to Marietta Square to attend a friend's baby shower. After we had said our goodbyes and were leaving, we walked out to find this happening in the square! Very cool. :)

February Gratitudes

2012-03-01T02:58:00.002-05:00

February has come and gone! It was a busy month, filled with good friends, letters in the mailbox, and so many blessings to be thankful for!!

2.29- Cutie Pie Emily making me smile every 5 minutes!
2.28- Dayquil
2.27- Voting
2.26- All the bills paid up
2.25- Inspiration for new projects and creative goodness!
2.24- Fish legs is tasty noms! :)
2.23- a whole day to myself to move furniture around, get organized and clean things up
2.22- Taking Gran out shopping
2.21- Fun time with kids, making green slime :)
2.20- Friend's surgery went well
2.19- Getting GRACED by 2 wonderful friends. You two are such blessings!!!
2.18- Good doctors for my Grandmama
2.17- Musical Numbers
2.16- Fantastic Bible Study time!
2.15- Half price chocolates/Valentine's candy
2.14- Friend who sent me Mr. Darcy in the mailbox and made my Valentine's Day not so horrible
2.13- More letters in my mailbox
2.12- Email about things relating to The Other Me that made my entire year!
2.11- Heat and warm blankets as the temps drop super fast outside.
2.10- Two people I love have a Birthday today!
2.9- A few questions answered
2.8- I found a few awesome treasures at the thrift store!
2.7- Letters in my mailbox
2.6- My brother-in-law, who has a birthday today
2.5- Someone who came to church
2.4- Strong headache medicine
2.3- The freedom to make a few long term plans
2.2- Pretty paper to write letters on
2.1- Meeting new friends through the Lettermo challenge

"And There Was Music..."

2012-02-27T10:21:00.000-05:00

Yep. Still on that "The Music Man" kick. ;)

Double feature this Monday for you: The Kristin Chenoweth/Matthew Broderick version (to match everything else I've been posting about it), and also a lovely (though very short) piano cover version I found whilst poking about on YouTube when I ought to have been putting away laundry.

Enjoy! :)

Come and Visit the Other Me!

2012-02-26T16:05:00.000-05:00

As some of you know, I have an Alter Ego that is picking up steam as a business venture. A lot of good developments are falling into place, so I want to shamelessly beg you to show some blog love and check out

from time to time. Especially in the next 6 months, there are going to be all kinds of posts relating to costumes being constructed, Douglasville's Hydrangea Festival in June, and other various and sundry lovely things. I'll be scheduling a photo shoot or two when the weather decides to cooperate, so you can see me in my natural habitat. (In clothing that went out of style at least 100 years ago!) :)

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 20

2012-02-25T23:43:00.001-05:00

ALREADY?! Flying by fast! :)

Here is the fantabulous mail I got this week:

Letters from Kendall C of Happy Little Mailboxes (Look
at the peacock feather goodness!), and Cathy in OH.

Fantastic letter and postcard from Vanessa in Germany.
Visit her blog, Vanessa's 52 Weeks of Mail. Middle letter
is from Donovan of the LWA. London postcard came from
fellow Month of Letters challenger Mary in the UK. I've been
working on a letter to her and it will go out on Monday!

And here is what I sent:

A long reply was sent to Hilda C. in MS. After not being able to get an
outer envelope for it for a week or more, I finally got Svenja's off to her
in Germany. Krista E. got all kinds of fun glitter alphabet stickers on hers.
The bird envies are to fellow Month of Letters writers: Val F. (Day 8),
Eleri H. (Day 9), Melissa T. (Day 10), Hannah D. (Day 11), Melanie W.
(Day 12), Laura O. (Day 13).

Hannah D. writes the blog A Lost Seamstress and loves to
sew/knit/embroider/all that stuff, like I do.
So I used a split stitch in red floss on a piece of off white felt
to embroider her name and address. It was fun to make and I hope it makes her smile! I also paired it with a scarlet tanager because red is her favorite color. :)

My dear friend Taylor in Jasper, GA is working hard on her senior year of
her undergrad. Over the last 6 months, I've been saving up little things
that I found that I knew she would love. I didn't see her at Christmas and
her birthday is in the spring, so I figured I would split the difference and
send this lot now. She got a box of salt water taffy, some otter paper dolls
and the first installment of a story I wrote about them.
I also got her a mini clip-on otter. (She's in love with otters and I happily
feed her addiction.) Notecards aren't complete without a dip pen and ink
to write on them with, and the pen isn't complete without a seal and sealing
wax, and some stamps to send them. :) Also included was a blank journal,
and an Avon airmail envelope pouch, like the one I gave away here a
few weeks ago.

Taylor's box, all packaged and ready to go.

Lettermo-ers Rose L. (Day 14) and Flora A. (Day 15) were mailed out to this week.

While out shopping with my mom on Friday, I found these beauties and could not pass them up:

Yay, peacocks! :)

My friend Cayla in TX often gets cards with Chickadees on them from me.
Loved finding these!

As it is Week 20 of the 52 Weeks of Mail challenge, I thought it would be fun to count up what I've sent and received so far. It looks like (if my records are right) I mailed out 105 items through the USPS, and received 72 in! WOW!!! That's more mail than I normally got in an entire year not too long ago! And we've only been going for 4 months! I LOVE sending mail. And I LOVE getting it! :) I don't know how much has been spent on postage the entire time of the 52 weeks project, because I didn't start recording that until January, in my new mail log. But so far this year I've spent $50.27. Considering that just ONE reenactment would cost us around $100-$200 to attend, and we attended 6-8 events per year, this is a MUCH less expensive hobby!!! And more lasting, as I'm forging relationships with other human beings and can re-read the letters over and over again whenever I like. Totally worth my $50 bucks so far! :)

What about you? Do you have any idea what kind of send/receive numbers you are sitting at currently? What about the postage? How much have you happily shelled out for stamps? Isn't it a completely worthy cause? :) :)

Shhh! :)

2012-02-20T01:16:00.000-05:00

SO much goodness is happening over here, and I can't wait to have the time to get all caught up and share my happy news! But I'm afraid that will have to wait just a little while longer! I'll give you a hint: Needle and Thread. :)

I'm in a Broadway Musical kind of mood again, not to mention still loving that Honda ad (Superbowl Sunday's post), and so I simply couldn't resist this scrumptious number from the 2003 remake of "The Music Man" with Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Broderick for today's Music Monday post.

ENJOY!

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 19

2012-02-19T23:16:00.004-05:00

A stellar mail week! I sent out and received some awesome stuff!

Valentine's Day fell within this week, and while in all other ways it was the worst one of my life bar none, it was made to suck a little less when I went to the mailbox and MR. DARCY WAS IN IT! No, seriously! Look!

School friend Carrie drew this for me!!! :)
Also arrived was a wonderful letter from Katie M. in PA.

The week brought other mailbox goodness:

A reply from Mary Robinette Kowal, who is responsible for the
Month of Letters Challenge. A reply from Olivia C, just down
the road in Hiram. Wonderful letter in a stitched envie from Suvoni.
Pretty, pretty letter from fellow MOL participant Rose L.

Mail from KY! Thanks, Laura! :) Fellow MOL participant.

Here is what I sent:

Letters to a Penpal in the UK, and Rin over at Papered Thoughts.

To a penpal in OH, MOL (official) Day 7.

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 18

2012-02-11T14:32:00.000-05:00

It has been buzzing at the mailbox! Here is what got sent out:

Valentine to TX, and MOL Day 5 to one of my favorite
radio DJs on The Joy FM's "Prevenings" show

Reply to a penpal in Iowa

Valentine for a high school friend

While I wish I could mail out every day for MOL, I
really can't. The idea, though, is to WRITE a letter
every day, which I do, and then make it to the mailbox
at least once, if not twice a week. I can do that, and I
think it still counts for the challenge. MOL Day 6 goes
out to a fellow MOL challenger in Australia.

And here is the fabulous mail that arrived:

All 3 are fellow MOL challengers: Flora A. in SC, Jim B. in the UK, and
Melanie W. in NY

Melanie is a fellow JASNA member and sent this decadent
Jane Austen card. Love, love, love! :) For more on JASNA,
check out the link in my "Stuff I'm Involved In" page above.

I am so fortunate! (And now rather behind in my replies. O_o) Off I go to create mail. Keep writing more letters!

Bueller..? Beuller...?

2012-02-08T10:14:00.002-05:00

I don't really care that it was a Superbowl commercial. We're not NFL fans in the least here, so we were only vaguely aware that there was a recreational competition of national interest happening on Sunday evening. (We played with the kids at the park and then had a nice supper and played dominoes at home.)

But here is my choice for today's Video Wednesday post (trying to get back to my blogging schedule, you know). It completely made my week. The only thing that could have made it better was to include Alan Ruck, but according to some interviews, he wasn't interested in seeing his days as Cameron Fry revived. I can respect that. Anyway. I still love this commercial. Enjoy.

Ferris Beuller, you're my hero! :

Dickens is still as popular as... well, the Dickens!

2012-02-07T19:15:00.000-05:00

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, arguably the greatest fiction author of the mid 19th century. Some of us were forced to read Dickens in school whether we liked it or not (most of my peers), but some of us not only read it willingly, SOME of us had voluntarily read it years before that and were re-reading them like letters from an old friend. (ME!!!) Some of us also found out today that the phrase "like the Dickens" is of Shakespearean origin and has nothing to do with Charles Dickens whatsoever. (Me again! Who knew?)

I read and loved A Christmas Carol at the age of 9, after loving the "Mickey's Christmas Carol" movie year after year until I learned to read fluently (hey, the exposure has to come from somewhere!). I moved on from there to Oliver Twist around 10 or 11, and by the time we were collectively studying A Tale of Two Cities in high school, I'd already finished Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations. (Yes, I was teased mercilessly by my peers for being a bookworm and an introvert. Such is the social structure and pecking order of the public school system.)

Dickens has a way with the details of the scene that I love. His minute descriptions draw me into England the way he saw it. Every house, every carriage, every article of clothing is depicted to me in words that leave my mind's eye in no doubt as to the existence of every item and every action involved with them and the movement of the plot. His characters are introduced in such a way as though you are sure you are in the room along side them all.

I have been a life long Dickens reader, although I did not read Little Dorrit, The Pickwick Papers, The Life of Our Lord, and A Child's History of England until I was in my 20s, the latter two appearing in my personal library in handsome hard back covers as a Christmas gift from my dad's mom. Little Dorrit is perhaps my favorite curl-up-by-a-winter-fire read, excepting maybe David Copperfield.

I will confess readily that Pickwick Papers was a HARD read, in that it had perhaps more to do with the differing social classes and customs and phrases of the day than any of his later works. I got through it, but it was an arduous process that took several weeks (ages, in relation to my natural reading speed) and I was forever marking my place and having to Google something I didn't understand (Sam Weller's cockney speech, among others). And although Pickwick Papers is praised for its accurate descriptions of the old coaching inns of England during that time*, not only have two full centuries passed and rendered such establishments a bit archaic, Georgia and its history bear so little resemblance to the England of Dickens' time, I have no reference point from which to understand the events of the plot which happen in the coaching inns, except what I learn about online and by asking my British friends who love and study the history of their own country.

On the whole, however, Dickens is beloved and cherished in our house, and many volumes of his work take their place on my bookshelf along side Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and various and sundry other favorite literary greats.

Also in my list of favorite things are several film versions of Dickens titles, produced by BBC and available either in their shop to order, or on Youtube if one doesn't mind the interruption of moving from one episode segment to the next. They employ the top of my list of favorite British screen stars: Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, Daniel Radcliffe, Matthew Macfadyen, Alun Armstrong, Andy Serkis, and James Fleet (to name only a few). Stellar writing combined with stellar acting performances = excellent entertainment for this grown up bookworm. :)

*taken from the first paragraph in the summary of Pickwick papers on Wikipedia article here.

Related links of interest:
Little Dorrit miniseries by BBC on Youtube, first part here.
Little Dorrit for purchase at BBC website here. Or on Amazon here.

David Copperfield miniseries by BBC on Youtube, first part here.
David Copperfield for purchase at BBC website here. Or on Amazon here.

(Interesting note, both of these star Alun Armstrong in vastly different roles!)

My favorite versions of A Christmas Carol:
George C. Scott classic, on Youtube, first part here. Buy at Amazon here.
A Muppet Christmas Carol, on Youtube first part here. Buy at Amazon here
Jim Carey's version is too new to be on Youtube, but watch the trailer here. Buy at Amazon here.

I'm sure there are more great movie links, but that will have to keep you happy for now! ;)

Mail!!! 52 WOM 15, 16 &17, plus Month of Letters News

2012-02-07T13:13:00.004-05:00

This post is shamefully past due, as are my library books that should have been returned on Monday. Hmm. Anyway...

The truth of the matter is that while letters have been faithfully going out and coming in, I haven't actually had much time to photo them. So here is the recent stack of outgoing that I photo'ed all ready and together (before some went out and some were delayed and some didn't get photo'ed at all).

From top: Insurance information form (I'm just grateful to have any,
so I won't complain!); clear envie with pink flowers going to Vanessa
in Germany; pretty calendar envie going to Snail Mail Fan in Canada;
glittery and beribboned pretty envie going to Svenja in Germany
(in a bigger envie, as I found out the PO sorters will snag on the ribbon. :(
Rather it get there safely than in ruins!);
SQUIRREL! to Laura in the UK. Read Laura's blog here.; small but
highly decorated blue envie to Su in Ireland. Wish you could
see more of it, but I don't show addresses unless the person lists theirs
on their website. See Su's beautiful blog here.; one of my beloved
peacock cards goes to Olivia who lives just about 30 minutes or so from me.
I found her blog link through the
Save the US Postal Service by Writing More Letters Facebook page.;
last but certainly not least, a cheeky little chickadee takes greetings
and news to one of my favorite pen pals and bloggers, Misty, The Pen Thief.

Here is what has come in over the last 3 weeks:

2 wonderful publications: The Victorian Trading Co. catalogue, and the USA
Philatelic catalogue from the USPS! :) Guess what some future posts will be on!
Also in my mailbox was a postcard about postcards from Kendall C. of Happy
Little Mailboxes; a wonderful, thick envie with pretty collage on it from a new
pen pal in MS; a reply letter from one I sent to France in October. She moves around
a lot for her job, so it takes a while for her to get mail and send a reply. But it was
worth the wait and I'll be writing her a long reply this week!; a pen pal in the UK
sent the cute puppy in the rain card; I got a lovely reply letter from pen pal Emily
in MI; pen pal Krista in CT sent me some Twinings tea (FAV!) and some tea stickers. :)

Remember my earlier post on the Month of Letters Challenge?
I had 2 calendars of backyard birds that I wanted to turn into envelopes. I decided to use these specifically for the challenge, because 12+12=24 and there are 24 days in the challenge! Perfect!
Here are all 24 made:

Here are my two favorites:

A Blue Jay and a Cedar Waxwing. Love those!

It was pouring down rain the first day of the challenge and I had a cold so bad the second day I couldn't move. So I had to make the first mailing a "one day that week" trip, but the point is to write a letter a day, which I did. So it still counts. :) Here are the first 3 days:

Sent to 2 people I found on the challenge
website and the red-headed guy in the middle
goes to Randi of My Happy Mailbox.

And Cute Gremlin #4's chubby little hands, holding Day 4's at the Post Office yesterday:

To none other than Donovan B., the founder of the LWA. :)

That's pretty much everything up to this point. I'm replying to letters as fast as I can, and I'm having so much fun! Right now I'm off to clean the house, after which I have plans to take Cute Gremlins to the park to play while I bring along my stationery and keep writing. :)

(PS- I took the library books back yesterday after the Post Office.) :)

January Gratitudes

2012-02-01T14:12:00.001-05:00

The first month of the new year is gone! Here is some of what I was blessed with and thankful for. :)

1.31- A day of not being rushed.

1.30-Superglue! Also, keeping calm in an emergency where blood was involved.
1.29- Long phone conversation time with my BFF who lives far away
1.28- The library
1.27- A comfy bed to sleep in
1.26-Lemon scented body wash. That stuff makes me feel soooo good the rest of the day!
1.25-Finding stuff from my childhood that makes me smile
1.24- Awesome pre-printed day planner sheet (see tomorrow's "Thought I'd Share" post)
1.23- Hope
1.22- Church
1.21- Free Saturday to do whatever I feel like doing. Really nice!
1.20- Meeting other costumers at work :)
1.19- AMAZING first day of new Beth Moore Bible study!!!
1.18- Hugs and kisses
1.17- A cute new haircut
1.16- Extra time to get some work finished
1.15- Hot tea to soothe my throat
1.14- Quiet time and then a dinner date
1.13- Epic swing dancing! :)
1.12- Family dinner time with awesome polynesian pork chops. Nomnomnom
1.11- Gremlin #3 is doing very well in school. Conference went great! :)
1.10- Using Christmas gift cards for new stationery supplies. :)
1.9- Friends who get you through a butt-kicking workout. And promise to do it again on Wednesday.
1.8- Rediscovering a stash of papers I can use for making my own envelopes
1.7- Fun day at work
1.6- Forgiveness
1.5- Prayer
1.4- A step forward
1.3- Love and Support!!!
1.2- AWESOME 2012 Avon Kick-Off meeting!!! Going to be a great year with Avon!
1.1- There is no better way to begin a new year than in church worshiping the Lord!!!

Caving To Peer Pressure (But in a good way!)

2012-01-30T21:51:00.000-05:00

I know I'm behind on posting pics from weeks 15 and 16 of the 52 Weeks of Mail project. Sorry about that, and I'll try to get those done by tomorrow afternoon.

But I wanted to share another (sort of offshoot/simultaneous) challenge that I'm participating in. Because, really, I was doing it anyway. This just gave it an official name. :P :)

I had already seen news of this challenge around the internet; the 52 Weeks of Mail facebook page mentioned it, as did Save the U.S. Postal Service by Writing More Letters, and, of course, more than a few fellow epistolary blog friends. At first, I didn't give it much thought because I'm already getting geared up to do the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April. The way my days seem to be flying by recently, that's like... the day after tomorrow!

I was finally won over to participate in the Month of Letters challenge by fellow blogger and letter writer Becky who sent me the sweetest email. I have to give Laura of Daily Dodo a huge shout out here, because she was the darling friend who gave my blog link to Becky in a comment. Thanks, Laura!!

If you want to participate by sending out a letter a day (minus Sundays and one postal holiday) in February, you can sign up HERE.

See you at the mailbox!!!

Thought I'd Share

2012-01-25T22:12:00.003-05:00

As promised in my Gratitudes list, I am sharing this fabulous free printable day planner sheet that I started using last August. It was created by Dani at Life's A Journal. Follow the link to save the file, or use this one and blow it up to paper size. Awesomeness. You are very welcome. :)

A Gem From My Childhood

2012-01-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

*Gasp!*
I can't believe I actually found this! I remember this short from FOREVER ago. (I was around 11? Maybe?) So, so funny!
Have a watch to find out the answer to that intriguing question: Why did the beetle cross the road? :)

Humbled

2012-01-24T13:27:00.000-05:00

This morning as I checked my blogger dashboard, I saw the most amazing thing.
My page views counter has topped 30,000! 30,000!!!

Some other fun numbers:
My 4 year blogiversary is coming up in April, but I didn't do much with the blog at all for the first 3 of those. The stats show a total of 234 posts (not including this one), with 189 of those belonging to 2011. '08, '09 and '10 combined only total 34 posts.

February of 2011 saw me reach the 1,000 mark, with a handful of followers and only 10 posts so far for the year. (I celebrated by publishing this post.) The turning point in my writing came when I found the A-Z Challenge. If you own a blog and have never done this challenge, PLEASE do it this year!!! It is so much fun!! I visited (and began following) a ton of other blogs that I would never have come across otherwise. My own followers count tripled in only a couple of weeks and I finally began to feel like I had found my voice. What I was writing and offering out to the world to read was in fact being read! In less than half a year, I suddenly found myself surrounded by new friends and writing this post to thank you, my sweet, sweet readers, for coming back for return visits another 9,000 times!

Now it's been 6 months again, and I am awed ~~beyond words~~ (well, obviously not, as I'm 4 paragraphs into a thank you post!), grateful and so, so blessed to be thanking you for achieving 10,000 page views not once, but 3 times! Wow. Wow, wow, wow! The blessings aren't limited to you popping by and saying "Hi!", either! Some of you write to me using for real pen and paper too, and I love getting your letters in the mailbox! I also love reading your blogs about all the awesome mail you get, and sometimes seeing the mail I have sent to you in your posts and getting to know it reached you safely and brought you joy! Blessings, blessings, blessings! :)

Thank you, thank you for 30,000 page views! You are amazing! :)

PS- Don't forget to vote in my poll on the right sidebar over there. ------->
I am interested to know what posts you are enjoying and want to see more of. Please take a look and cast your vote! Thanks! :)

He is!

2012-01-23T02:13:00.000-05:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the lyrics in this Tenth Avenue North song. I love all of their songs, but this one just lifts my heart so much!

"And He'll break open the skies to save those who cry out His Name- the One the wind and waves obey is strong enough to save you!"

No person, situation, heartache, life or circumstance is hopeless. Nothing is impossible with God. NOTHING. IS. IMPOSSIBLE. (Luke 1:37)

Turn it up loud! Shout it to the heavens! Be encouraged!

Adam's Birthday

2012-01-22T22:53:00.000-05:00

This post is about 2 of my favorite things: My friend Adam Jones, and the Letter Writer's Alliance.

Adam's birthday is in September. Coincidentally, I happened across the LWA and was in the process of joining it in August. While link-hopping on the LWA site*, I wandered over to 16 Sparrows, the shop belonging to the LWA founder, Donovan B. (Heads up, a few of the items have strong language on them. You were warned. I chose to overlook those, though, and shop anyway, mainly because the tag line was so intriguing: "Sarcasm folded in half"! Lol!)

For as long as I can remember, Adam has always had this persona about him that says "I'm more refined and educated than you, simply because I'm Adam Jones. But you're a great person too, so don't let it bother you." He's incredibly smart, his wit is razor sharp without ever being cruel in any way and I ALWAYS come away from a visit with him feeling like he has not only identified points of worth and value in both of us during the course of the conversation, but that I have also learned something new and valuable for having had his insight and point of view. I'm probably making a mess of explaining how I love to visit with him**, but that's the best I have right now. :)

Getting back to the story...
As I was shopping 16 Sparrows, I found the PERFECT birthday gift for Adam. We don't have a tradition of exchanging birthday gifts, but I could not resist. I added the item to my cart along with my LWA membership and eagerly awaited its arrival. As (not so great) luck would have it, it was actually a long while later- November, I think- before we were able to schedule time to meet and chat, but it was worth the wait. Excellent Greek food at the Douglasville Diner, excellent conversation and fun, and I captured Adam opening his gift:

I love so much that it came wrapped in brown paper, tied up with string. :)

Adam getting a good look at the Awesomeness that is...

Photo from 16 Sparrows. Click HERE to order your own set!!!

You can find Adam's blog here. He will probably give me flak again for saying this, as I did in a previous post about him, but I'm going to do it anyway: for those of you who may be new around here, Adam's blog often contains inappropriate language and content. But it contains much hilarity too, and he's been my friend these many years, so I follow and read it whether it aligns with my own views/upbringing/morals/what-have-you. Stop by and give him a "hi" if you want to. Don't if you don't. He's understanding and gracious that way.

Happy Birthday (and a quarter, by now), Adam!!! :)

*You can join the LWA without going to 16 Sparrows. Here is the LWA site and membership info.
**Adam and I discovered in high school that although we adore each other as friends, there was/is not and would NEVER be any sort of romantic attachment/emotions/complications. That fact = no potentially awkward moments when we get time to catch up! Which is awesome, because the conversation flows so much more freely. People often comment, "Oh, so you love him like a brother, then?" Actually, the answer to that is no, not really. We each of us have family issues we would never wish on anyone, let alone someone we are FRIENDS with, so that sort of "sibling I never had" feeling? Nope, we don't have that either. What we do have is "I met you years and years ago and took time to get to know you as a person, and my life is so much richer as a result; let's respect each other's differences and find common ground for conversation and enjoy each other's company over tea and good food." Yeah. That's us. :) :)

In Which I Overhaul The Way I Keep Track Of My Mail

2012-01-19T15:28:00.000-05:00

Being the start of a new year, I wanted to revamp the way I was keeping track of the lovely mail I've been getting and sending. Originally (that is, in October, at the start of the 52 Weeks of Mail project), I had printed a 2 columned sheet of paper that looks like this:

I discovered from using this method for about 10 weeks that I am a "batch sender", which is to say, I write around 8 or 10 letters over a period of a couple of days and then send them all out at once, rather than write one or two a day and stick them in the mailbox in the mornings, a few days in a row. Although my post office is just 5 minutes down the road, it is actually past the interstate, so it's not really technically "on the way" when I am out and about. So I have to fit it into my day to remember to get over there. While this list does show what I'm sending and what I'm getting, the sending list is much longer than the getting list, since things take a while to arrive. It was getting... messy and confusing, very quickly.

Then I read The Pen Thief's Post About Her Mail Log and I fell in love with her idea of making it more like a daily journal than a list. (Go check it out and come back, I'll wait!) She's right that a computer generated list conflicts with hand-written letters. It just does.

I decided to give it a go. I found this awesome peacock journal at Ross:

I don't really have a good sample page to photo yet, but so far it is working MUCH better than my other method. Like The Pen Thief, I'm keeping track of the postage I'm spending so I can see what my hobby is running per year. (I'll tell you this- so far it is waaay cheaper than Civil War Reenacting! The gasoline!!!)

I also organized my actual mail. I got an accordion file and put the senders in alphabetical order by last name. I copy all of my letters before they go in the envelope so that I have both sides of the conversation and don't end up repeating myself. All of the letters to and from one person are paper clipped together. Right now it looks like this:

It's getting pretty full (Thank you!!!), so I'll have to go through and bundle some of the earliest ones and archive them in a storage box pretty soon.

I also have gotten so into making my own envelopes and such, that I have gone through all of my old boxes of art supplies and pulled out anything that can be used for letter writing:

STICKERS!!!!

A lettering guide for envelope addressing
and a rainbow of pens for coloring and embellishing!

Remember that I worked my way through my college and early married years at Michael's, with a lovely employee discount! Remember also that even now, I work at Hobby Lobby, which also comes with a lovely employee discount and coupons as well! Over the course of the last 12 years, the MANY bits and bobs that are leftover from other projects are showing up as very useful for mail art! :) :) :)

Lots and lots and lots of papers for making envelopes! :)

This pad of beautiful pages was procured at a 40% off sale.
Half the pages have glitter! All are gorgeous, with or sans glitter.

This is my FAV out of the pack. I love old sailing ships! :)

I also got this guy around Christmastime, to keep watch over my shoulder as I write. He's not much good lighting by himself, but combined with other task lighting, he serves as a wonderful little muse. :)

What have you treated the Letter Writer in you to, lately? :)

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 14

2012-01-14T18:12:00.001-05:00

It's been a great mail week!

INCOMING:

Gorgeous piece from Katie Marlowe with some peacock themed
stationery and the sweetest note ever enclosed!

Pocci, the winner of my last giveaway, sent me a wonderful letter from Germany
(I love the peacock feather on the front!!!) and I got my first post from the state
of Iowa from new pen pal Sharon. :)

Check out this unbelievably gorgeous stationery and post card!!! :)

Sharon's card from Iowa is so cute! I wonder what's around that bend in the drive? :)

OUTGOING:

So thanks to wonderful people like Katie M., The Pen Thief, Cappuccino And Art Journal, and several others, I am now a complete DIY envelope maker! All of this weeks outgoings were made by yours truly using either a page from a gorgeous calendar I had up last year, or a piece of scrapbook paper. There would have been more going out, but I spent so much time making the envies that I haven't finished the letters that go in the second half of them. (Time management fail. :}) I ended up splitting the stack in half; these got done for week 14 and the rest will belong to week 15. And I'll stay caught up! LOL.

From top: To a new pen pal from Nebraska; To Mavis in China; To Katie M
in Pennsylvania; To Lucie-Jane in England; and my favorite: an over-the-toply
Harry Potter themed containing a letter written on parchment for Kendall C. of
Happy Little Mailboxes. :) I had way too much fun making all of these! :)

See you at the mailbox!!! :)

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 13

2012-01-13T18:08:00.000-05:00

Hi! I've missed you! Thank you all for your love and prayers. I've had a decent week this week; got a lot done and was even a bit creative. :) God is so good.

I only got one piece of mail this week, but it is just lovely. From a new pen pal in Connecticut came this Victorian card:

On the inside she enclosed a recipe card with her address clearly printed on one side, and her mini-bio of likes and interests on the other for quick reference. What a great idea!!! At the bottom where it says "Serves" to say how much the recipe makes, she wrote "Everyone. I'm a mom! :)" The whole thing completely made my day! :)

I had a couple of hours blocked to get a good sized pile of outgoing mail written for Week 13, but with the rainy nastiness that has been going on outside, Cute Gremlin #4 and I took that time to cuddle and sleep off a sinus migraine (me, not her. She was just grumpy and 3 and needing a nap!). So Week 13's outgoing is a bit modest, but you know what? It was still lovingly created and I still made the goal of having outgoing post! Quality over quantity, right? Here is what went out:

The round thing is a package for my Nashville, TN pen pal. Clearly, I do not
possess any skills whatsoever for wrapping objects that are not square. Also going
out were some of my first attempts at "for real" mail art: To fellow 52 week-er Ana in
Spain, and new Michigan pen pal Emily.
I was getting crazy with the glitter stickers, y'all! :)
Encouraging card to Candace of The Misadventures In Candyland (please stop by
and show her some love!). Last but not least, a reply letter to new Connecticut
pen pal Krista. Like Candace's, Krista's address was outlined in pen and then
shaded in with colored pens. You'll see more about that in my upcoming post
about the hoard of new letter writing/art supplies that I got recently! :)

Closer view of the two artsy pieces. I had been eyeing that music paper in
the scrapbooking aisle at work all month in December and finally caved and
bought a piece. I love it! The postage print of Ana's is so much fun too!
If you want a great tutorial on how to make your own envelopes like this,
go to Cappuccino and Art Journal's post here.

That's it for Week 13. I'll be posting Week 14's goodies on Sunday, Jan. 15th.
See you at the mailbox! :)

A Blogger In Need

2012-01-08T17:31:00.000-05:00

I'm sharing this from Laura at The Daily Dodo. It's important.

Please read this post from Candace at The Misadventures in Candyland and help if you can! If there is one thing I have learned about blogging and bloggers, it's that we are more than people who post stuff on the internet for other people to read; we are a community of people who care about each other! So follow the links, hear her story and show her some love.

Hug your family. Tell them you love them. Help people who need help, whether you know them or not. Remember when you are going through a hard time- or even when things are going well for you- that there are others going through valleys of their own and we can be encouraged in our challenges by encouraging someone else through theirs.

"I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor, and upholds the cause of the needy."
~ Psalm 140:11-13

"And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
~Philippians 4:19

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 12

2012-01-04T01:22:00.001-05:00

Confession: I'll have to tack on a week at the end of this project, because for the first time in 12 weeks, I missed one. In my defense, the Post Office was closed on Monday the 26th for Christmas holiday (and I was working that day anyway), I was working during their operating hours on Tues and Weds, and then my whole life kinda came crashing down around me for a little bit towards the end of the week. (Thursday was the day that sucked the most. For serious, y'all. Major suckage on Dec 29th.) And Saturday they were closed for New Year's Eve.

But it's not really likely that I'll actually "end" this project. Even amid all the personal mess I'm dealing with, and the pace of life in general, really, I still love snail mail so, so much and October 2012 will probably see me both wrapping up one 52 Weeks of Mail and starting a new one.

So, no outgoing for week 12. (wait til you see week 13's outgoing stack, though!) :)

Let's get to the good stuff- what sweet people have been filling my mailbox with in week 12!

Fellow 52 Weeks participant Mavis sent a lovely card from China
(top left tan envie); Ana in Spain sends me a beautiful note, Christmas
wishes and a sweet post charm(!) (brown envie); sadly, a letter I sent to
Svenja in Germany in October got returned undeliverable. :(
Top right is a wonderful Snoopy Christmas card from a friend in TX. :)

Fabulous pen pal charm from Ana in Spain! Thank you, Ana!
It's lovely! :)

I love international postage! Spain and China this week. So cool. :)

Related to my Postal Happiness, I got this lovely letter box for Christmas from my mum, and also 3 books of stamps! I should be set for... well, not a very long time, but for a few weeks at least! :)

So True

2012-01-02T01:22:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since a Music Monday post was published. Enjoy. :)

I hope 2012 is being good to you so far. :)

December Gratitudes

2012-01-01T23:17:00.001-05:00

Or: "Bye, 2011. Don't let the door hit you on the way out..." :)

I don't think it's fair to try to weigh out all of the things that happened in a year and then stamp it as either a "good" or "bad" year. The last month of 2011 saw me crying both tears of pain and tears of joy. I had some truly wonderful days, and some days that I wish were only a nightmare that I could wake up from and forget. I think, finally, that I'm learning to live One. Day. At. A. Time. This is not to say I don't set goals or make plans for the future. Of course I do. But isn't life less about trying to forget a "bad year" and remembering all of the "good times" no matter what year they happened in? And creating more good times to look back on? I had so much to be thankful for this last month of 2011. I'm looking forward to my blessings in 2012 as they unfold. God bless us. Every one. :)

12.31- Goodbye, 2011. I learned a lot and I'm ready for a fresh new start!!!
12.30- Day off from work=more productive clearing out at home! Also, Friend Christina takes me to the gym and I discover that I really like it
12.29- The truth has set me free. Grateful for family who love and support me. Lord God, hold me together and bring beauty from the ashes
12.28- Friend Christina helps me get some things sorted and cleaned out. Both of us make like Allie Brosh and CLEAN ALL THE THINGS
12.27- Sweet friends and customers made work today really nice
12.26- A morning shift at work so that I can spend time with the kids and their new toys. :)
12.25- CHRISTMAS! My Jesus was born to set me free!!!
12.24- Grateful for my family. Seeing the kids after family kept them all week while I worked and spending time with my Dad's side for Christmas
12.23- While Christmas shopping, found Cute Gremlin #4's birthday gift on sale. Felt good to be shopping savvy. :)
12.22- Bestie sent me goodies from River Street Sweets in Savannah!!!!!
12.21- Christmas shopping :)
12.20- Spring stuff has arrived at work! I got to display lovely garden accents and it brightened my day
12.19- God's grace to stay cheerful at work after hard weekend
12.18- Spending time after church eating pancakes and reading a wonderful letter from England
12.17- The prayers of friends and family as my world began to crash
12.16- Talented friends
12.15- discovering a link to a blog that compares the SEC teams to Muppets
12.14- another full day at work
12.13- Completely and utterly Graced by our church family
12.12- Tree is finally decorated
12.11- giant pot of clam chowder
12.10- same as yesterday
12.9- Full and busy day at work
12.8- Lovable, loud, ginger friend has a birthday today
12.7- Eldest Cute Gremlin is officially a teenager
12.6- The Christmas tree is up!
12.5- The fun involved in trying to outdo a friend with funny Star Wars youTube vids via Facebook
12.4- Seeing friends at a wedding gig
12.3- An old and dear friend called me on his birthday to catch up :)
12.2- My warm coat
12.1- Great day at work

2011- In Review

2011-12-31T14:48:00.005-05:00

In retrospect, I suppose 2011 has been better than 2010. In some ways, much better. In other ways, not much at all... Here are some major points that happened:

January- March:

My professional camera went missing and then was found.
My blog hit 1,000 page views! :)
Cute Gremlin #4 turned 3
We got snowed/iced in at the house for 4 days and everything got organized and sorted! (For a little while, anyway.) Plans for redecorating/renovating my room were begun.

April- June:

I participated in the A-Z Blog challenge, nearly tripling my followers list! :D
I spent time at the beach and with good friends
Cute Gremlin #3 turned 6
I turned 30

July-September:

I got to return to the beach :)
I made many more blog friends, and my page views topped 10,000! WOW!
I got to see "Wicked" at the Fox Theatre!
Cute Gremlin #2 turned 11
I began to set some strong goals and plans for my future, even in the midst of much uncertainty.

October- December:

My blog page views have now surpassed 25,000!!! Amazing!
I participated in NaBloWriMo
I began the 52 weeks of mail project, and pen pal-ing.
I got a job at Hobby Lobby- a direct answer to prayer!
Cute Gremlin #1 turned 13
The Cute Gremlins had a wonderful Christmas
[Update: what I originally wrote here has been removed for revision/prayer/privacy/etc] The Lord is my Rock and my Refuge. I am clinging to Him and He will never fail me.

As my current Facebook status reads:

Dear 2011,

It wasn't your fault. You tried to be a good year and gave me all your 365 days to live in. So, thanks.

Dear 2012,

BRING IT ON. I'm ready for you.

Love,

Jenny

I'm still writing letters and trying to get caught up on blogging. I'm sticking to plans that I've made:

Growing my income with Lucy Jane and Avon, etc.
the 2012 A-Z Blogging Challenge in April
saving up for my England trip in June of 2013 (more about that in another post soon!)
Spending time with my kids and creating a happy and healthy life for them. Plans for trips to the park and local attractions and events, church events and other fun things. We're going to be fine.
Most Importantly: reading my Bible every day and following the Lord wherever He leads me.

Happy, happy New Year, everyone! 2012 is going to be wonderful!

Love to you all,

Jenny

52 Weeks of Mail: Weeks 10 and 11

2011-12-26T18:12:00.005-05:00

Before I get into what came in and went out via USPS, I think I should share that I have a problem that is related to/rivals that of my stationery addiction (highlighted in this post, if you missed it.)

Remember I said I was super busy and still writing letters on top of it all? While I tried to get ready for Christmas? Well, maybe now it's over I can claim half of my bed back. Because this is what it has looked like for the past month:

The plan this week is to get my room back to being organized and useful!

Meanwhile, here's what arrived in week 10 of 52 Weeks of Mail!

A wonderful letter from Laura of The Daily Dodo, one from Lucie-Jane in England, a sweet card with a tea to try from my Nashville, TN penpal (that's the purple square one), a photo Christmas card from the Bestie, and (center) my first card from New Zealand!!! :D

Also got a card from the Pen Thief, a card/letter from a new pen pal in MI, and a post card from Snailmailfan of 100 Days of Snail Mail

Close up of my Christmas card from Misty, The Pen Thief. :)

And here is week 11's incoming:

Gorgeous Christmas Card from Lucie-Jane. She lives on the Isle of Wight.

Christmas Cards from a local friend (snowman) and a lovely new
Nebraska pen pal (Noel) !

Sue, the Knitting Assassin, sent me a package from the UK!
Know what was in it besides this lovely Emmanuel card??

KNITTED RUBY SLIPPERS!!! :D
Thank you, Sue! :)

It's not a whole lot, but here is what got sent out those 2 weeks:

The giveaway prize letter pouch got sent to Germany; Christmas cards and post cards
got sent to [other parts of ] GA (4), PA, TX (2), TN, OH, MA, New Zealand and Ireland.

I'm getting emails with pen pal requests too, so the lists in the upper left sidebar will be changing soon! :)

See you at the mailbox!

PS- If you've written to me and I haven't written back yet, it's coming! January in retail sees a huge drop in my hours, so I'll have some mornings free to put pen to paper! :)

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T02:36:00.001-05:00

It's Christmas Eve. I am alone, in my room, perched precariously on one side of my bed, typing out a quick post so that you all don't think I've forgotten you. The other side of my bed is filled with letter writing supplies, clean laundry that I haven't had time to put away yet, wrapping paper, my "to do" notebook, and other assorted ... stuff.

In the floor by my bed is a pile of gifts still to be wrapped. I also have to work from noon until 6 tonight. After I bake a batch of cookies as a gift for a family member I will see at 7:30 tonight, after work. (They don't read this blog, so it's ok to mention it.)

I'm down from 40+ hours/week to under 30 on next week's work schedule, so I'm hoping to grab a few hours to seriously sit down and get all of my blogging news caught up. Frank's had about a dozen adventures that need to be blogged still, and I've had more awesome mail, Music Mondays, book recommendations, and general life news to share that I just can't seem to get to unless I'm falling on my face tired and then the posts come out all disjointed and lame. And I can't give you lame posts, dear readers. That would be bad.

I hope you get what you want for Christmas. I hope you spend the day in company with people you love and who love you. Actually, I hope that's what you want for Christmas. All the other stuff is just extra. I love each and every one of you. Remember that Christ is why we celebrate the season! Love came down to us! Emmanuel - God with us!

Blessings, warm fuzzies, love and twinkle lights. Those are a few of my wishes for you, not just today and tomorrow, but for a long time to come.

See you soon.

Merry, Merry Christmas.

Love,
Jenny

52 Weeks of Mail: Weeks 7, 8 and 9

2011-12-13T09:45:00.002-05:00

I don't drink alcoholic beverages- or lattes, for that matter-
but I may consider ordering one of these soon, the way my life
has been going these last couple of months. LOL

Some MAJOR life things have been happening here, most of them too private and personal to divulge on a blog. Any blog. Not just mine. So. I'm a bit behind in many of my regular posts, but let's start getting caught up to speed with a 52 Weeks of Mail update!

Incoming:
Week 7:

Great Thanksgiving card from a friend in TX, and a letter from
Kate of Birdcage Cards in New York.

One of Katie Marlowe's cool Peter Pan envelopes! (and a good letter
inside!) and also received my new return address labels. :)

Week 8:

Awesome "Where's Waldo" postcard from Bev Sykes of The Penpal Project.
(You had to find the REAL Waldo from among the impostors!)
And a lovely wintery postcard from Suvoni in Ireland of . simply. .

Another one from Katie Marlowe, in reply to one of mine. What's fun
is that this is my favorite stationery from Studio 18 cards and I
bought out all that my Michael's store had and sent a bunch. Now, thanks
to awesome Katie, I have one to keep with a lovely letter on it! :)
I also got a penpal letter from a friend in TN, but I didn't get a photo.

Snailmailfan of 100 days of Snail Mail in Canada sent me this sweet
Christmas card and enclosed 2 plantable postcards embedded with seeds.
So cool! I haven't written her back yet, as she's been on holiday, but
I plan on writing her a looooong letter very soon!

Week 9:

I'm such a distracted ditz. I bought stamps at the Post Office
and then hurried out after ensuring my mailings were all set to go,
leaving the stamps on the counter. The next day in the mailbox
I got them and the sweet note saying I'd left them. I love my local
postal workers! Also in the mailbox was a card and a mini stocking
from my friend who signed me up for Avon. Thank you, Beth!

Later in the week was a card from some Civil War reenacting
friends and a letter from a penpal in Ohio.

The backs of the envelopes from Ohio penfriend Cathy are always awesome!

A couple of really good mail weeks!! :)

Outgoing:

Working 40 hours a week (PRAISE GOD!!!) at Hobby Lobby, plus seeing to the Cute Gremlins, plus getting ready for Christmas, plus that personal mess I mentioned earlier, plus working Avon orders, Lucy Jane orders and 2 wedding gigs, I seriously don't remember what I sent out on what days. I know I had it all together for a photo, though, so here is what went out during that 3 weeks:

They included a baby congrats for an expecting friend (more below), a wild Hoops and YoYo Christmas card with sound for the Bestie (who text messaged me that she was slightly afraid to open the envelope, based on the madness on the cover! lol), cards to a pen friend in OH and one here in GA, a letter out to England and 2 Christmas postcards; one to The Pen Thief and one to Bev at The Penpal Project.
That box with the penguin on it is a birthday care package to a friend of many years (more on that below as well).

Here is detail of the Baby Congrats card. The front says "What are we waiting for, Pooh?" "You'll see, Piglet. A dream is about to come true."

Front

Back

And here's what was in the Birthday Box:

Rosie's a penguin NUT. Being the indulgent friend of 15 years that
I am, I've contributed probably a good 80% to her penguin collection!
She's also into anything 80s retro, as that's more or less our growing up era.
So I got her some 80s glam sharpies to go with the penguin madness. :)

All the stuff fit in this penguin-y bag and then
this bag fit in the box. :)

So, in all, 7 pieces plus a package. Not my best, but it's been a busy season and I'm usually at work during Post Office hours. So far my only day off is Sunday, so that doesn't get things mailed either! :P

Week 10 was WAY AWESOME for mail. Show it off in a bit. :)

Letter Pouch Giveaway WINNER! :)

2011-12-12T23:14:00.001-05:00

Hi! I know I have a few weeks of blogging to catch up on, but I'm posting this first:

This was up for grabs:

The Cute Gremlins were all in bed, so I did the drawing myself- with the help of the trusty un-biased bird tin, of course:

Yes, that's my blue polkadot pj pants and pink bath robe.
Blogging from the comfort of my own bed. :)

AND THE WINNER IS:

Congratulations, Pocci of Vanessas 52 Weeks of Mail blog!
Email me your snail mail addy and I'll get this pouch (plus some goodies!) in the post to you!!! :)

Thanks, everyone, for entering. Remember, if you didn't win this one, there will be a few more given away in the future!

I'm off to draft some more posts, in order to get all caught up!
See you soon!

November Gratitudes

2011-12-04T04:03:00.000-05:00

While the first thing that tends to jump to people's minds at the word 'November' is likely Thanksgiving Day, I did my very best to not lose sight of my blessings from the first day of the month to the last. I am blessed beyond measure.

11.30- Leftover 'Fish Legs' from our date at Joe's Crab Shack
11.29- Jake's home improvement accident involving a work knife and his arm could have been so serious. I'm thankful he didn't die. No, really. It could have gone that way and God kept it from being so.
11.28- Tallied up the hours scheduled for this week and it merits a low, "how awesome is this!" whistle
11.27- Excellent message at church from Pastor Godwin
11.26- Same as yesterday
11.25- No fights breaking out in our store
11.24- Happy Eat-Yourself-Into-A-Stupor Day! :)
11.23- Quick closing at work so that we could come home and get ready for Thanksgiving.
11.22- Grocery shopping by myself for some quiet down time
11.21- Several friends are expecting! I love new babies!
11.20- Choir practice and cute pass-along clothes from friends
11.19- A soft bed to sleep in
11.18- Sturdy shoes
11.17- Great day at work, wonderful last Bible study class, a good car to run all over town doing errands in, and books waiting for me at the library. :)
11.16- I GOT THE JOB!!! :D
11.15- A good rainy, snuggly kind of day to get my room cleaned up and then write letters and catch up on other work
11.14- Quiet time writing letters at the new library
11.13- Church and bringing Christina with me! :)
11.12- All day of a gorgeous wedding and wonderful people to photograph!
11.11- Getting an elephant made and delivered and getting to have a chocolate peanut butter milkshake afterwards
11.10- Getting to tour the wedding venue early to compose some shot ideas
11.9- My pastor
11.8- Morning: spending time at the new library while Emily was in daycare. Writing letters, finding books for myself and letting the older 3 kids browse. Also thankful for my right to vote. Evening: spending time visiting with my friend Adam Jones.
11.7- Quality time spent with Emily at the new library and grocery shopping
11.6- My mother in law coming to church with us before she had to head back to south GA
11.5- Morning: The new library is open! Evening: Going to see Joe M. Turner's magic show
11.4- An evening at the opera. So beautiful.
11.3- A (once again) stellar Bible study session
11.2- Dayquil
11.1- My awesome Aunt

Hi!

2011-11-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Just popping in to say Hello!

God has blessed me so much with this new job! (Even if I did accidentally drop a cookie jar yesterday while we were condensing the Christmas aisles. It made a spectacular crash but no one was hurt, thankfully.) I'm working a LOT of hours, which means I'm hard pressed to get everything else done, but I'm getting there. The wedding photos from the other weekend are nearly done; Lucy Jane has some work to do this week too, early morning and late at night. Then there is the laundry and the housework, the kids homework time, baths and bed. I'm getting much help there from family and friends, though. God is so good.

If you've written me snail mail, or are waiting on me for a letter via 52 weeks of mail, I will be sitting down Tuesday morning to get those answered, so just hang in there!

After work tomorrow, we'll be going to get our Christmas tree!!! I LOVE this time of year. I will post photos as soon as it's all up and decorated. I'm headed right now to bring all the stuff out of storage. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I will post again as soon as I can!

Love y'all!

Thanksgiving Irony

2011-11-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

This time last year, I wrote this post about what I'm thankful for.

With the exception of having a Honda Odyssey instead of the Buick, and my job being different, this year's list is exactly the same as last year's, down to the box of cordial cherries! LOL

But I do have way more to be thankful for, even if it doesn't all get mentioned. Like, this year more than last year, I'm thankful for the penpal letters and cards that have shown up in my mailbox these past few months. I'm thankful for so many new blog friends. I'm thankful for my Gran's hip surgery to have gone so well. I'm just thankful. For so much.

I'm off to the kitchen now, to pop some gossamer spice cookies in the oven for tomorrow! We're going to Atlanta to be with Husband's family (his mom's side in the a.m., and his dad's side in the afternoon). And after I am full up with all of that food (glorious food), I'm going to sleep as long and hard as I can, because I will be working retail on Black Friday and Saturday! :) I've missed it, though, and I'm looking forward to helping people find what they need for Christmas gifts and projects. I LOVE my new job so much!

Happy Thanksgiving, my loves. I am thankful for you.
Until Sunday,
Jenny

Getting and Giving

2011-11-23T10:51:00.001-05:00

Yet again I find myself retro-posting blog entries! Another week has roared by and I'm way behind on ~~my Frank Friday, 52 Weeks of Mail, Music Monday, Video Wednesdays~~ flipping everything. Don't forget to check the Blog Archives list to see what might have gotten slipped in that you may have missed in the update feeds.

I am loving my new job and am getting lots of hours! I worked from 1 til closing last night. I get to do that again tonight and then have Thanksgiving off. Black Friday and Saturday will be hectic, but not horrible, as I'm set down for very reasonable hours. (By reasonable, I mean my full 8 hour shifts don't start at 4 a.m.) Sunday afternoon, I am planning on taking a couple of hours to get completely caught up here on The Modest Peacock. I have a lovely little journal that I write out a post schedule in (and then scribble all over, as things swap and change and get mixed around!). I also write out post ideas/memory joggers for later reference. So rest assured, dear reader, I have some good posts in store if you will just hang in there with me! :)

In the meantime, I'm hosting another giveaway!

You may have seen the Avon widget on my righthand sidebar. I've been an Avon Rep for 2 full years now, and I love it! I'm still getting started, really- it takes time to grow a business, especially when you can't devote full time to it because of kids and other responsibilities, etc- but so far I have loved getting to know people in my community. I buy as much Avon as I sell, but it all works out in the end. :) Well, Avon had these FABULOUS cosmetic bags to go with some skin care products a few campaigns back and I had to get a few to share! They are 9 and 1/2 inches long by about 6 and 1/2 inches tall with a zipper on top and a see-through back.

(Cards not included, but I will be throwing in some other mail goodies with it)

They are technically "cosmetic bags", but the possibilities are endless as to how you could use them! I'm using mine for a mini writing kit to take along with me to places- a couple of favorite pens, some postcards, some notecards, and some stamps and voila! Letter writing stuff that goes where I do! :)

I have 3 that I will give away- one now, and the other two sometime throughout next year. So if you don't win this one, you'll have another chance later! (If you just want to go ahead and purchase one (or several), you can email me privately and I will help you with that. They are $10.00 each, plus tax and shipping.)

The drawing for this one will take place on Saturday, Dec 10th. I'm giving an extra couple of days because of the Thanksgiving holiday and a lot of people not in town/online because they are spending time with family (which is exactly as it should be! :)).

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE! I LOVE YOU AND I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU! :)

Yours Ever,
Jenny

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 6

2011-11-19T14:06:00.001-05:00

This was a good week for outgoing. Incoming, not so much, but I have heard from several people saying they've sent things, so I'm sure the box will be full this week! :)

Incoming:
Just one, but it was good! My first post from Canada! Snailmailfan over at 100 Days of Snail Mail sent me this great "Where's Waldo?" postcard. It took me a good 5 minutes to find him and the 4 other things on the list, but I finally found them all. :)

Outgoing:
8 pieces! That's pretty good for this week, considering I did start my new job too! :)

A penpal intro to a girl in Japan, a thank you to Vicki over at 2 Bags Full for the lovely Vera Bradley purse I won in her giveaway, a penpal intro to a girl in Malaysia, a penpal letter plus goodies for a friend in Nashville, TN, part one of a long letter reply to my penpal friend in Ohio, a note to Pamela of Cappuccino and Art Journal (which, sadly, was not as artsy and creative as I would have liked. I have an idea for next one, though.), a reply letter to Katie of The Marlowe Bookshelf, and last but not least, a letter to Misty of Confessions of a Pen Thief, which I decorated last minute in a mystery theme. (For no apparent reason, other than making the little footprints like the ones that show up on Harry Potter's Marauder's Map was super fun and easy and cute!) :)

Partly Cloudy

2011-11-16T08:28:00.000-05:00

It was drizzly and overcast yesterday. So I thought this wonderful short fit just right for this week's Video Wednesday. Enjoy.

Abundant Blessings

2011-11-15T22:02:00.002-05:00

My Grandmother had hip surgery yesterday, and aside from the pain that any major surgery brings, she came through it very well. I am blessed to have in-laws keeping Gremlin #4 for a week while we adjust to Gran's schedule when she gets home. That means I can drop everything at a moment's notice and help, but mostly it means I can stay on top of the housework for everyone (there are 8 people living in the house, remember) without Gremlin #4 being underfoot/needing attention/turning my brain to oatmeal with her Barbie movies being played over and over and over. :)

Last night, Cute Gremlins #1 and #2 asked to go play at a friend's house. With Gremlin #4 gone, that left just Gremlin #3 and me to ourselves. So I took him to eat pizza at Stevi B's. The best part of the meal was when he wanted to "clink" our (plastic) cups of Coke together and have "cheers". That's just pure 6 year old silliness and I have missed enjoying that when my attention is divided amongst 3 more Cute Gremlins.

After supper, we stopped by the office supply store. While I was admiring some pens, he tried to sneak up on me from around the corner to the next aisle. Of course I could hear him- because he's a first grader, he's about as stealthy as a dinosaur crossing a gravel parking lot that's been covered in bubble wrap. So I turned around and he says the most awesome thing:

"Awww. I was trying to sneak on you. Did you hear my footprints?"

Yes, sweet baby. I heard your "footprints". LOL I am so blessed to have him.

I was also blessed today when we went to the new library (that would be trip #6 in the space of a week and a half, for those of you who are keeping track. ;)) and got these books.

I know I've blogged about my stationery addiction, but I think this is coming in a close second!

Anyway, while we were on our way to the library, I got a call back from a job I had put in for a month ago and I'm hired!!! PRAISE GOD!!! I report tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. to fill out paperwork and get acclimated to everything. I already know where everything is, since I'm there all the time anyway. :) So I'm VERY EXCITED! It's part time seasonal, so I will still make time when I am home to post for you, dear readers. I may have to make good use of the "schedule" feature in the post options!

And with that good news, I'm headed to bed! Big day tomorrow!
Love to all.

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 5

2011-11-12T23:41:00.004-05:00

As always, I'll start with what arrived!

On Monday, Nov 7th, I got a lovely long penpal letter from Laura over at the Daily Dodo. I love ALL of the letters I get, but I just can't help it- seeing an address from my beloved England is my absolute favorite! :) On Thursday, Nov 10th, I really had a good mail day: I won the Vera Bradley purse that sweet Vicki over at 2 Bags Full gave away on her facebook page! Thank you, Vicki!!!! I also got my newest issue of Tea Time magazine, a letter from one of my Ohio penpals, and a notecard from the peacock set that Misty of Confessions of a Pen Thief won, so that I got to keep one when all of my own set had been mailed out. (I sent her one to keep out of my set in with her goody box.) :)

Back of letter from Ohio

The week didn't end there! Today, after I'd gotten home from shooting a wedding for 7 beautiful hours (Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Raffety! I love y'all!) I got 6 wonderful pieces of mail! 3 catalogs/fliers to some of my favorite stores (Things Remembered, Family Christian Stores and Jo-Ann Fabrics), and 3 letters. One is another letter from the Ohio Penpal who wrote the one pictured above, one is a wonderful avian themed letter from fellow blogger Katie over at The Marlowe Bookshelf and one is a gorgeous mail art from none other than Pamela Gerard, whose blog, Cappuccino and Art Journal, I found on the 52 Weeks of Mail page.

But wait- what's that, also in the photo? It looks like an airmail envelope, doubling as a zippered pouch! Could there be a giveaway coming up soon?! ;)

LOVE the owl!

Gorgeous goodies from Pamela!

One sad thing did come in the mailbox: an introductory penpal letter that I'd sent a few months ago, that was unable to be delivered. :(

*sniffle* :(

Now on to outgoing!

On Monday, I sent out a bill and a letter to my Ohio penpal. (no, the bill did not go TO the Ohio penpal. Only the letter. lol)

And on Saturday:

Thanksgiving card to friend in TX, letter to Laura of Daily Dodo (link above), introductory letter to penpal in Japan, postcard to Bev Sykes of The Penpal Project and a postcard to Kate Kane of Birdcage Cards, whom I "met" on the 52 Weeks of Mail facebook page. A modest offering, but I had been getting ready to work a wedding, get hired at another job for Christmas, tend to 4 kids, etc. (I know, I know. No excuses! lol) If you sent me mail and haven't gotten a reply yet, just be patient- I always write back!

Still Alive

2011-11-08T12:52:00.001-05:00

I did not die.

I have been SUPER BUSY this last week and there hasn't been time to do the posts that I wanted to do the way that I wanted to do them. So here is a big ole "HI!!!" from over here, and I will do my best to start catching you up on all the latest goings on in a post (or 2) tomorrow.

Love to all,

Jenny

Mathematics

2011-11-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

Cute Gremlin #2 is learning about Roman Numerals in school. I was never very good at math when I was in school. I fought to pass Algebra II (hey look, a Roman Numeral!) in high school with a 76 or something, and I was proud of that C, because it was hard. You ask me to play a clarinet concerto, fine. Write a 10 page paper on any part of British Literature? Sure. Give a US History presentation with visuals and references? No problem. But Algebra, Geometry and beyond? Not so much.

So I'm very proud of my Cute Gremlin for having an aptitude for something that I never mastered. She's a math whiz. Her reading fluency and comprehension irk me sometimes, but this is when I am reminded that she is not me. (Heck, she doesn't even have my genes.) We help each other learn. She loves math, and I love that she does. :)

Here are two great songs about math. One is "New Math" by Tom Lehrer, and the other is a great song (that contains Roman Numerals!) called "18 Wheels on a Big Rig" by Haywood Banks that we heard on the Bob and Tom radio show a long time ago. Also, here is an Abbott and Costello clip about math that we love.

Enjoy!

Frank goes to the Fall Festival

2011-11-04T08:53:00.001-04:00

Mostly just pictures in this post, as they tell the story best. Enjoy.

Ephesus Baptist Church Fall Festival: Monday, Oct 31, 2011

Cute Gremlin #1 goes as some other teenager named "Bob", Cute Gremlin #2
is a vampiress of sorts, Cute Gremlin #3 is Batman's Sidekick, Robin,
and Cute Gremlin #4 is a mermaid. Frank got dressed a bit later.

Frank helps us pick a pumpkin

Frank goes as a mummy

Hanging out with Cute Gremlin #3 Boy Wonder as he eats his hotdog

Cute Gremlin #3 takes Frank on the cake walk. They didn't win this
time, but Cute Gremlin #2 did it as well, and won some brownies.

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 4

2011-11-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

First the incoming:
Look what's arrived in my mailbox!

On Tues, Nov 2, I got a letter from a penpal in Nashville TN (who, incidentally, could be my twin in interests and personality), and a letter from a penpal in OH.

Along with her super cute letter, my Nashville friend sent me 2 seasonal teas to try!

And the letter from my Ohio friend had wonderful characters drawn on it!

On Wednesday the 3rd, I got this wonderful postcard of the Little Black Sambo story from Bev Sykes over at The Penpal Project. The postcards came from a restaurant in Santa Barbara, CA as a set of 8 with one telling the story and the other 7 illustrating.

When I was little, I had this version of the book:

I loved the part about how the tigers chased each other faster and faster until they all melted into butter. I think it's a shame that the book was given such a negative stigma with/involving racial slandering. I thought it was wonderfully told and illustrated and, as I was a child, I never understood any of the controversy of it. I have that copy still, packed up in my storage somewhere from our last move.

And now here is the outgoing:

Today I sent out Misty at Confessions of a Pen Thief's giveaway winnings, a letter to my OH penpal, a letter to a penpal in MO, and a postcard to help a student project.

I copied this about the postcard project from Bev Sykes' blog (see link above with Sambo postcard):

"His school is collecting postcards from around the country and around the world for their diversity/international day in the early spring. It doesn’t matter if they get multiples from each state, they're just trying to rock the class's world with the amount that Hunter can bring in!
So, if you wouldn’t mind sending a postcard to him, that would be great, I know we have people EVERYWHERE! Before taking them in to the school Kelly plans to put them all out together and take a picture, she says she’ll be sure to share the picture when they’re done. There is no set deadline, but she's thinking if you can do it between now and the end of November that would be best.

Hunter Johnson
8443 Sand Point Drive West
Jacksonville, FL 32244

Feel free to share his address with any friends and family you may have in other parts of the world as well, the more the merrier!"

That was all for Week 4. Write more letters, and I will see you at the mailbox!

Sniffle, Hack, Ah-CHOO!

2011-11-02T22:56:00.000-04:00

Eldest Cute Gremlins do not believe me when I tell them that running around at night, in 40 degree weather, barefoot and with no coat on will make them ill. They insisted on doing this at the Fall Festival on Monday. As a result, all three of us now have dazzling examples of the common cold, each with our own variations. Gremlin #1 sported the sore throat variety, while Gremlin #2 is sobbing that she has an earache (this is a perpetual issue with Gremlin #2). As for myself, I picked up the Raging Sinus Infection accompanied by a splitting headache.

No sewing got done. No fairies got crafted. No photos were edited. No letters were written. No Avon books went out. No library books were returned or checked out. No real food was cooked. (I just threw 2 cans of ravioli in a pot, heated it and called it dinner.)

I used plenty of these:

And took some of this:

And now I'm going back to this:

Better blog tomorrow. Love you all. 'Night.

October Gratitudes

2011-11-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

ALREADY!?!?!

I know I say that every month, but Golly Molly, October didn't stick around for very long!!!
Here's just some of what I was grateful for:

10.31- Fall Festival and Taco Bell date with husband afterward
10.30- Baking cakes with husband after church
10.29- Going to the pumpkin farm with my family
10.28- Husband is home
10.27- My friends at the USPS Winston. Love going in to mail off my letters!
10.26- Chocolates from England!!! :D
10.25- Letters from Germany! And Tea with friends!
10.24- The technology that allows me to simultaneously cook dinner and chat with a deaf friend who lives 4 states away.
10.23- Evening church service
10.22- Unexpected photo ops!
10.21- Unexpected gifts of the world's best walnuts in the post!!! :D NOM!
10.20- Great Bible study (again!) and week 2 of 52WOM :)
10.19- Getting Cute Gremlins to bed early
10.18- Teatime
10.17- Getting to sleep in!
10.16- My Lifegroup
10.15- Wonderful "Celebrate Marriage" event at church
10.14- A break from the Cute Gremlins
10.13- Week 1 of "52 Weeks of Mail"
10.12- Hot tea
10.11- Random sweet and encouraging posts on my FB wall from friends to let me know they love and care about me. :)
10.10- Seeing the floor in my closet. If only for a short time...
10.9- Sleep, soup and tea
10.8- Beautiful day for running errands and being a tourist in my own town. :)
10.7- Grace from other people as we had a "Monday" kind of Friday
10.6- Bible study was awesome
10.5- Time at church
10.4- Job Interview!
10.3- Carpet spray and paper towels :P
10.2- Courageous Movie date... and Kleenex
10.1- New friends and blogging inspiration

Oooga Booga! :)

2011-10-31T17:21:00.001-04:00

It's Halloween! We don't celebrate Halloween, per se, but we do attend this MASSIVE Fall Festival that our church hosts every year. This is the 21st annual festival. I've just dropped off these 4 cakes for people to win at the cake walk:

Frank is going with us. If I'd had more time, I would have dressed him up as FRANKenstein, but I barely had enough time to get all the rest of this stuff done (and some of the sewing still isn't), so ... meh. Jenny Halloween pun fail. But there is always next year.

I'll post photos on Friday of Frank at the festival (hint for his costume: I used a roll of toilet paper) and some of his other Autumn-y Adventures.

Today is also the last day of NaBloWriMo!!! I did it! :)

In quick mail news, here is the mail from Friday:

A letter from my awesome Mother-in-law, and a Halloween card from a friend that says "If thinking of you made me any happier..." And the inside says "I'd Glow in the Dark!"

For today's Music Monday, here is my favorite rendition of the Harry Potter main theme. Drool. I want to play piano like that!!! Awesomeness!!! Enjoy your Spooktacular evening and stay safe!

Short Post After A Full Weekend

2011-10-30T22:49:00.000-04:00

Took the kids and Frank to a pumpkin patch and fall festival yesterday and basically had a fun Saturday at home. Today was church, then Gran made lunch, then Husband and I baked 4 cakes with home made icing for the cake walk at tomorrow's HUGE Fall Festival that our church is putting on at the local park. Some 3,000 people will come through between 6 and 9 p.m. I will decorate the cakes tomorrow after my chiropractor's appointment and take them to the church. I have a few errands that I have to run. I have photos to edit, letters to write, and stuff to sew. Then we will all dress up and go to the festival from 6 til 7:30, at which point I will bring the cute gremlins home and head back up there by me onesy to help out at the face painting booth from 7:45-8:45.

Yes, there will be pictures.

In snail mail news, I got a letter from my Mother-in-law and a cute Halloween card from a Facebook friend. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Also, husband's job is trying something new and letting them drive back and forth to the job this week, so that means a longer week for both of us (when he's coming home I make more of an effort to see that house is clean and good supper to eat, etc. etc.) but at least he will be sleeping in his own bed. It's a backhanded improvement, but whatever. Over how things have been, I'll take it.

I hate to have no pictures in a post, so I'll end with this:

Oh, so THIS is why they want to stop Saturday delivery...!

Giveaway Winner!

2011-10-29T22:10:00.001-04:00

Hi, Lovelies!!!

It's time to draw for the winner of these lovely notecards!

I enlisted the help of Cute Gremlin #1 to do the drawing:

Trusty drawing tin

Shake-a, shake-a, shake-a

"I'm not peeking!"

And the WINNER is... !

Yay! Congratulations, Misty of Confessions of a Pen Thief!!! I'll be mailing you this lovely set next Thursday, when I head to the Post Office with my 52 Weeks of Mail- Week 4 mailings! Congrats!

If you didn't win, don't worry! Another gorgeous giveaway item is coming soon!!!

On The Other Side

2011-10-28T20:41:00.000-04:00

This is pretty much all Frank has been doing the last few weeks...

I do apologize, but I don't have a Frank Friday post for you today. This week has been utterly mad; the weather has been rainy and gorgeous by turns, but there just hasn't been anything going on in the way of "Adventures" for Frank since the Classic Cars Show. I do have some things planned for him. On Monday there is an enormous Fall Festival at the park that our church puts on. This weekend we'll be baking cakes for the cakewalk, and Frank will be in the kitchen helping us with that. I'm scheduled to help at the face painting station at the event. Some 3,000 people come through this thing, so it should be loads of fun. The kids will take Frank around to the games and jumpy things for some photo ops.

Also coming up is the opening of the new library. Lucy Jane will be there for all the festivities, and Frank will be along to enjoy the day. That same weekend my friend Kristen is performing in an opera at KSU, and our longtime friend Joe M. Turner will be doing his annual Magic On Main show at the Dallas Theatre. So there is a lot happening very soon for Frank to be involved in.

So for today's NaBloWriMo post, I was thinking about all of the mail I've been sending (and getting from) around the world, and after a little search, I found this cool site that answers a question I've always wondered:
"If I went to the exact "other side of the world", where would that be?" According to this Antipode Map, the other side of the world from Douglasville, GA USA is... in the middle of the Indian ocean. Hmm. The closest land point would be somewhere around Perth, Australia. It's pretty neat; check it out! You just move the top map around until the pinpoint is where you are, and the bottom map adjusts to show you the other side of the world!

World photo courtesy of NASA

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 3

2011-10-27T11:56:00.000-04:00

I didn't get as many of my letters written as I'd wanted to, but that's ok. I have 49 more weeks in which to send out to Japan, Canada and everywhere else I've mentioned. :)

On Wednesday there were 3 bits of lovely mail in my mailbox:

1. From a penpal in MO, which oddly enough turned out to be another introductory letter, so she must not have gotten my reply a few weeks ago. I will be writing her today to see what happened. :)
2. This BEAUTIFUL card from fellow blogger and 52 Week-er, Kendall, over at Happy Little Mailboxes. The photo doesn't show it very well, but it is all sparkly with glitter too! I had seen these cards in one of her previous posts and could not believe my good fortune when I was the recipient of one!!! Thank you!!

3. Inside the box in the photo above was a bunch of these

from my friend Eddie in Leeds, UK. I LOVE these things and can't get them here, so he sends me a box periodically. I send him a box of Twizzlers in return when I can. :) Yay for sugary sweet swaps!

There wasn't any post for me on Thursday, but after Bible study I did mail out what I had ready:

It included a reply to my letter from Germany, one to Spain, a thank you card for the walnuts I received from the Poindexter Nut Co., a sticker decorated folded letter, a thank you to a local restaurant, and 3 postcards going to Ireland, OK, and OH. :) 9 pieces in total.

Don't forget, there is still time to enter my giveaway! I will be choosing a winner sometime tomorrow. And also remember that if you want to snail mail with me, you can email me at themodestpeacock@yahoo.com to swap addresses. See you at the mailbox!

Piano Dreaming Again

2011-10-26T22:54:00.001-04:00

I've mentioned in the past (this post, this post and this post especially, though there are more) about how much I adore music, and how badly I want to learn to play the piano. Whilst surfing around Youtube admiring other people's talent for tickling the ivories, I discovered my favorite score piece arranged and played by a super talented pianist in the UK.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for today's Video Wednesday I give you 3 Harry Potter pieces played by the incomparable Mr. Mark Fowler. You can check out his Facebook page here. Enjoy!

52 Weeks of Mail: Incoming!

2011-10-25T22:19:00.009-04:00

This week I got two amazing pieces of mail! One is from a fellow 52 Week-er on Facebook, from Germany!!! So cool! Danke, Svenja! I'm writing a reply!

The other is a reply letter from my good friend Taylor, in Jasper, GA. She's been a part of my blog hilarity before, in this post about the "for decorative purposes only" owl(s). She enclosed with her letter this owl, whose caption reads: "I am used for enjoyment and smiling purposes!". :) I'm hanging him up on my crafting room "inspiration wall" so I can see him every day and smile!

He will be clipped up with one of the super-cute, tiny clothes pins! :)

My 52 Weeks, Week 3 Outgoing is still being added to and will go out probably Thursday. It's convenient to swing by the post office right after Bible study. I'll be sure and take a pic before it goes out, don't worry. And just cause of all this fun mail, I picked this up at the library today:

...along with a book on piano/reading music, Broadway Musicals (every show, ever), a new edition of a great basic photography book that I love to refer back to as I learn my trade, and Michael J. Fox's second biography ("Always Looking Up". Read it; it's really good.).

ADD, much? Yep. But it makes for interesting letters! And I'm looking forward to another great week of sending and receiving mail! :)

Halloween Funnies

2011-10-24T15:14:00.002-04:00

When I was in college, the Final Fantasy video games were extremely popular. My then-boyfriend's roommate discovered this extra gem on one of his games. With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it was perfect for today's Music Monday. (I have something else for actual Halloween next week.)
Enjoy. :)

On A Missive Mission

2011-10-23T18:38:00.001-04:00

House Mouse Designs

I'm diligently scrawling away on letters at my writing desk for the upcoming 52 Weeks of Mail, Week 3 outgoing post. Japan will get a couple of letters this week, as will Finland and Malaysia. Canada will get a solid half dozen. And there are several snail mail related blogs I've recently connected with, whose authors will receive some mailbox happiness.

I check out Crane and Co.'s products periodically. They are, after all, the ones semi-responsible for getting me back into this hand-penned postal fun in the first place. I'm running up quite a wish list! Here is one that I definitely would LOVE to find wrapped up under the tree on Christmas morning!!! (Somebody tell Husband for me!)

The description says: "A little exotic and entirely luxurious, this hand engraved note features a shimmering peacock feather rendered in blues, golds, and green. A matching ecruwhite envelope is lined in copper."

Yes, please!!!

They are rather pricey for our modest means, at $29 for a box of 10. But, oh, aren't they lovely!

Well, it's back to the writing desk for me, my dears. Enjoy your evening!

Winter Reading

2011-10-22T21:16:00.007-04:00

My friend Chris over at Where the Pavement Ends recently posted about the books he's diving into as the weather gets colder. His new bride is seeking to read through "the classics" this winter, and Chris asked for help in compiling a list* for her. Here you go, my lovelies!

Here are 50 works of fiction (in no particular order)** that I think fall into the classics category that everyone should read. You'll notice that many of them are young adult and some even older children's level, but I think it's the enduring (and endearing) story that counts and we should all stay young at heart! :)

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. Emma - Jane Austen
3. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
4. Persuasion - Jane Austen
5. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
6. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
7. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens
8. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
9. Peter Pan - James M. Barrie
10. The Lord of the Rings (complete and unabridged) - J.R.R. Tolkien
11. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
13. Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare
14. Hamlet - Shakespeare
15. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
16. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
17. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
18. The Watership Down - Richard Adams
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
20. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl
21. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
22. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis (these could possibly count as 7 total, but I count them as one. Up to you.)
23. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
24. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
25. The Man in the Iron Mask - Alexandre Dumas
26. Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
27. Trumpet of the Swan - E.B. White
28. Stuart Little - E.B. White
29. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
30. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
31. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
32. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
33. Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling
34. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskells
35. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
36. Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw
37. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
38. White Fang - Jack London
39. The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
40. The Jungle Books (make sure to find an edition that includes Riki Tiki Tavi) - Rudyard Kipling
41. A Bear Called Paddington - Michael Bond
42. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
43. The Borrowers Series - Mary Norton
44. The Cricket in Times Square - George Selden
45. The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Wyss
46. Little House Series - Laura Ingalls Wilder
47. The Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
48. The Cat Who Series - Lillian Jackson Braun
49. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
50. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe

*If some of these titles are not on an official "Classics" list somewhere, then they ought to be.
** Yes, I have read all of these. Some are more favorites than others, but I've read each one through.

I hope that helps, Chris and Cort! This list looks so inviting, I think I will also make a few trips up to the library and check out some of my favorites to enjoy while curled up with a cup of hot tea!

What are some of your favorite classic books, and why?

Aw, Nuts! :)

2011-10-21T16:07:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was shopping in Kroger and had a craving for walnuts. I went over to the nut bins in the produce section, and found a 1 lb. bag of "California Grown Shelled Walnuts" at a reasonable price. When I got them home and munched a few, I found them to be the best walnuts I have ever tasted!

I quickly sat down and wrote a postcard to the address I found on the back of the bag- The Poindexter Nut Company- telling them how much I love the walnuts and that I would definitely continue to purchase those over any others. After I sent it, I pretty much forgot about it. I mean, I meant every word, but I didn't think I would get a reply. They are busy people, after all, and I respect that.

Today I was tending the finches and saw one of these out of the attic window, in our drive:

My Gran regularly gets deliveries of health products, vitamins and the like, and Mom often gets books and things shipped for school. I hadn't ordered anything online, so I wasn't expecting anything. I figured it was for one of them and went back to my day.

Jennifer and Charles came in off the bus at 3, and brought me a package! :D I love surprise mail!

I opened it to find this:

A very nice letter thanking me for my note, and 2 bags of walnuts!!! AWESOME!!! Poindexter Nut Co., YOU ROCK!!! :) Completely made my week!!!

After I write a thank you letter (which will count as part of the 52 weeks project! Bonus points!), I am so off to the kitchen to make some cookies with some of these marvelous walnuts! (If there are any left, since I can't stop nomming them straight out of the bag!)

Practically Perfect In Every Way

2011-10-20T22:52:00.000-04:00

I wear a lot of brown in the fall. I like brown, and it usually looks pretty good on me. But until tonight, I had no brown shoes to wear my brown stuff with! Well, I had (have) chunky sandal flippy floppy thingies that I love, but it's way too cold for those!!! I needed closed toe shoes!

Emily and I went to our errands this afternoon and I finally happened across the perfect pair of brown fall/winter shoes:

I love them muchly!

As I was looking at them in those floor mirrors at the shoe dept, I had one of these:

I thought these shoes would be great with a costume of:

Yes, I know hers are black, but still. I thought they looked very "Mary Poppinish". And who knows- maybe I'll find them in black the next time I'm at the mall. :)

And I could always dress Husband up as Chimney Sweep Bert to match. :)

52 Weeks of Mail: Week 2

2011-10-19T23:54:00.003-04:00

I've been having a MUCH better couple of days since my little "Pbbthhhhh" post last week. A huge part of that is all of YOU commenting and emailing and Facebooking me with prayer and encouragement and hugs. Thank you! I love you!

Cute Gremlin #2 had to be brought home from school early today, with a migraine headache. My poor love. She cried and slept, alternately. If it's not better in the morning, we'll take her to the Dr. The only reason we didn't go in today, is because she balked at it and essentially told me in a nice, pre-pubescent way to shove off and leave her alone and she'd be ok. Well... alright then... But yes, if she's still teary and hurting tomorrow at 6 a.m., then it's off to the clinic we go, whether she wants to or not. (Because I'm the Mommy, that's why.)

As she was needing me to be within earshot, however, and as I was fighting my own battle with the Sinus Goblins, and as it was FLIPPING COLD outside today (!!!), we did stay in from Wednesday night church. I took that time to catch up on some random things (laundry, clutter, grody bathroom, etc.), and I also got this weeks 52 Weeks of Mail batch all set to go out tomorrow directly after Bible study.

More than half of this batch goes to Australia!!!

The biggest envelope is a card for my pastor, in appreciation of all he and his family has done for not only me, but all of our immediate community. He is a man after God's own heart and I love to hear God's truth from him every week. The next one over is for my sister in law. Just because. Then the 6 after that with no postage [as yet] are the ones going to various places in Australia. The peacock one on the end is from my own set identical to the one I'm currently doing a GIVEAWAY with; it's going to the UK. The awesome "espressos" sticker has been treated like a postcard, with a letter on the back of it. It's for someone I've known these 20 years at least, and who has personal stories about the use of espresso beans vs boring ole coffee beans. [She'll never live that down... ;)]

Goodnight, my sweet friends. I hope the postman brings you nice things in your mailboxes this week!

Looking Ahead: When My Kids Are Grown...

2011-10-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

You know, I love my Cute Gremlins. I really, really, really do. But the fact is, they are not going to stay little forever. They are my true riches and home, and yes, I know that the important things are not "things" of this world. I get it. However. Sometimes I find myself letting my mind wander down the road a little ways. What will my life look like in 5 years? (Kids ages 8, 11, 16 and 18) 10 years? (Kids ages 13, 16, 21 and 23) 20 years?? (Cripes! Not kids anymore at 23, 26, 31 and 33!!! Maybe we won't strain our brains and eyeballs trying to see quite that far. But still...)

When my babies are grown and leave the nest, there are things that I want for me. Goals that I am working toward. Life still to be lived at it's fullest. Here are a few of my dreams:

My own house. This house. "The Amerson", by Benchmark Homes. I got to tour one in Powder Springs some years ago and I fell in love.

Cats. I miss my Ashleykins very much. When I'm in my own place (see above), I want two furry felines in my life. And I want one of them to be a seal-point Siamese with bright blue eyes.

As long as we're adding pets, I also want an Old English Sheepdog. This is in no small part thanks to reading Pamela and Edward's adventures together over at the From The House of Edward blog. He is gorgeous and furry and I want me one. :) Only, I want mine to have some grey in him like this dude. He looks more like "Max" from Disney's The Little Mermaid.

And what's a house without music? It needs one of these. And I will take lessons to be able to play it.

And lastly (for this list, anyway), I want both of these for my world travels. London, Paris, Hawaii, Seattle, Scotland, Bahamas.... each one is calling my name. :)

What about you? What dreams do you have that have to be put on hold for now, but that you fully intend on realizing at some point in the future, should the good Lord tarry?

Tea For Three

2011-10-17T23:00:00.004-04:00

I had my dear friend Michelle and her teenaged daughter over tonight for tea. We talked costumes and photos and all kinds of creative goodness. :) Here is the table I set for us:

On the rectangular tray: Fall snack cakes, sliced angel food cake
(to go with the strawberries and whipped cream), apple slices.
One the blue plate: Pumpkin bread.

Top: Turtle chocolate mini cupcakes with caramel filling
Bottom (counter-clockwise from left): Apricot pastries,
chocolate topped orange Pims, fig newtons, pumpkin scones.

Our tea was a variety of black teas from Twinings: English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey and Lady Grey. We're looking forward to having tea again next week! :)

Awesome Sunday

2011-10-16T22:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I know this post coming after my earlier "moodiest moody post ever" is going to make me look more than a little bi-polar/manic-depressive/insert-other-hyphenated-psychological-term-here. But I'm not, really. (Any of those things.) As I said in a comment, I'm generally cheerful, and I am a bubbly, hilarious and fun personality, even in the midst of life's not so rosy moments. Sometimes I just have to vent about being wounded. Then I get over myself and start afresh, finding the beautiful things more beautiful, the sweet things sweeter, etc., etc.

And the funny things... well, most of those were always funny. :) Like this little gem that has been making its way around my Facebook feed. (Make sure you watch to the end.) :)

More about the weekend later. Enjoy.

Letters with Style: A Peacock Giveaway!

2011-10-15T18:03:00.000-04:00

Remember how earlier I said I'm really getting into writing letters? That I'm participating in this:

And am also a member of this:

Well, I thought that if you want to be a part of those things too, or just send out some mail that isn't bills to show someone you care, that you might want to enter to win this:

A gorgeous set of 10 notecards and envelopes, up for grabs!

Comment on this post for your chance to win- the winner will be drawn (with the help of a Cute Gremlin, of course) in 2 weeks on October 29th. As always, if any of your blogging friends enter and mention your name as a referral, you automatically get another entry. Good luck!

PS- If you want to be Snail Mail Pen Pals with me, you can email me at themodestpeacock@yahoo.com to swap addresses.

Frank Visits Historic Downtown Douglasville

2011-10-14T16:44:00.001-04:00

Last week, our hometown hosted a Classic Cars show. Cute gremlins #2 and #3 took Frank along and showed him a fun time:

Frank chillin' out in the Visitor's Center, while I bought some
post cards to send out to some international pen friends.

Cute Gremlin #2 and Frank toss a penny in the fountain.

Cute Gremlin #2 was so gracious as to help Frank be in photos beside all the cool cars. Even if the sun was in her face. Such a sweet girl. Cute Gremlin #3 was in his Halloween costume (long story) and didn't want to be in any of the photos.

After we had seen all of the cars, we walked down to see my friend Michelle at the Irish Bred Pub. She was dressed in snazzy '50s finery to match the Classic Car show.

Frank recommends the spinach and artichoke dip. Tasty!

We ran a few errands after that and then headed home. All in all a good day! :)

Feeling Thin (but not the skinny, cute kind) and 52 Weeks of Mail, Week 1

2011-10-13T23:45:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry to have to report that I have been having the worst day ever, emotionally. I mean, there wasn't any bad that happened today; in fact, a lot of it was good or even pleasant. But I'm not functioning up to speed. I feel like Bilbo Baggins describes in The Fellowship Of The Ring- thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.

Haven't heard back about the jobs I applied for last week. Still fighting a change of season cold/sinus infection. Needing to get to the chiropractor and talk about the X-rays she took last week; back still hurts plenty and she says she can't get my muscles and spine to let go of the stress tension they are holding. (Really?) On my face at God's feet over my marriage. Behind on everything- Lucy Jane work, photo work, house work, laundry...

Then mom drops this bomb on me that she's gone and bought a new bed for Jennifer (that she neither needs, nor asked for) and now my Friday tomorrow- the last day that I have to work like a mad thing and turn my to do list around before Jake is back in town and I have to face all of those emotions, etc.- now I've been told to clean the girl's room out from top to bottom so that this new bed can be moved in. Where is the old bed to go? In the attic. Up here, with me. Like everything else in the house that isn't wanted or suits her purposes. It just gets shoved up here. When can I actually have a bedroom up here??? I'm already drowning in stuff that I don't know what to do with and so overwhelmed at having to deal with it all. I don't want to have to work around a bed frame too!!! But I'm told to not even BE here when it's all moved- that I'm to take Gran, Jennifer and Emily to the mall to get them "out of the way".

Mom's afraid Gran will not want the beds moved around and people moving big, heavy stuff up her stairways. I don't want it, either, but I can't tell mom that. I tried, and she's all "Why not? This is a great thing I'm doing for Jennifer, just go with it. What's your problem?"

Only not in a nice way like that.

I'm emotionally bankrupt right now, y'all. I seriously am.

Broken hearted and so low the last few nights that I saw the early morning hours come and go, and felt so defeated that I couldn't raise my head. These are the moments I am clinging to the Lord for all I am worth. I know the truths, but I'm still fighting the lies.

Whatever my personal issues are right now, I do try so hard to stay upbeat for my friends and for you, dear readers. You have shown me all kinds of support and love, and most of you I have never even met face to face. As I am walking through this valley in my life, just be patient with me and don't give up on me yet. I have a lot of good to offer. If you read back over some of my past posts, you'll notice that I'm usually pretty hilarious. :) I often share the humor that comes with being a mom of 4:

Charles: "Stop that, Emily. You're not the boss of me. Mama is."
Emily: "Yep, Mama. You're the boss. Come downstairs and play now."

One thing that has really helped me to cope with the stress and taking deep breaths to stay calm, is to write letters. Amazingly, I don't write anything about my personal life or the way everything in my world is crashing down around me. I write about how beautiful GA is in the fall and how much I love living here. I write about how I'm passionate over my photography, and music, and costumery and sewing. I write about how one day I hope to travel to other parts of the world and learn other languages and cultures.

The pen gliding over the paper smoothes my ruffled feathers and brings my blood pressure down out of the stratosphere. My heart still aches, but then it is for the dreams and goals I long to meet, rather than the crushing disappointment of my current circumstances. No, writing letters doesn't get the elephants sewn, or the dolls made, or my junk from college listed on Craigslist and Ebay. It doesn't sweep the floors and get the laundry folded. My bed is still vast and empty when I can't keep my eyes open any longer, and have no choice but to collapse into it. But as I crawl under the covers, it's with the "I've done something worthwhile today" feeling, and I go to sleep imagining how happy many different someones will be when they get a pretty, handwritten letter in the post, instead of bills and junk mail.

How glad I am for this project! It is bits of blue sky peeking out from behind grey rainclouds.
This is the lot that went out today, plus the Peacock Fairy package to Sarah. (I didn't get a picture of that.)

As I said, I have a list tomorrow that defies the laws of time and space. It ALL has to be done by 7 p.m. Sigh. Off to bed I go. A happier post tomorrow night that promises good things (read:Giveaway!!) for Saturday. Goodnight, my dears.

Pretty!!!

2011-10-12T22:39:00.000-04:00

I know it's supposed to be Poetry Wednesday/Video Wednesday, but I'm hard at work on like 47 Bazillion projects that are all due by 5 p.m. Friday (cause I'm a procrastinating glutton for punishment, that's why) and I don't have time to surf the internets if I'm going to get everything done, plus have a post for today to keep NaBloWriMo under control too. :)

Instead, I thought I would give you a sneak peek at the photo shoot I'm currently editing for my friend Kristen. We took over 1600 images in a matter of like, 6 hours and about a dozen clothing changes. She was an amazing model and I am pleased as punch with these.

This one just jumped out at me and shouted at me to stop doubting my abilities as a photographer and be happy with my hard work. Or something like that. Enjoy! :)

How Sweet!

2011-10-11T22:33:00.000-04:00

Laura at The Daily Dodo, a new bloggy friend through NaBloWriMo, was so kind as to give me this award! Thanks, Laura!

Here are my 7 random things (I'm copying the meme of Laura's, cause I stink at pulling them out of the air.)

1. My performance name is Muffin Cross (to get yours, just join the name of your first pet with your mother's maiden name)

2. Crisps or chocolate? Chocolate!!!

3. I had a teenage crush on: Jonathan Brandis ("Sidekicks", "Seaquest"(TV)) and Christian Bale ("Newsies"!!! and as Laurie in "Little Women")

4. I am very allergic to: penicillin.

5. I am fluent in: English and Preschooler. I am haltingly yet doggedly working at: ASL Sign and French. I know a little bit of Spanish (thanks, high school!) but not much.

6. My favourite colour is pink.

7. I don't have any birthmarks. But I do still have stretchmarks. (Baby #2 was a 9 lb porker!) Somehow I don't think that's nearly as interesting, though. Nor nearly as useful as Dumbledore claims his to be. (Harry Potter, book 1)

5 Sweet Bloggers I'm passing the award along to:

Francis @ By Surprise
Vicki @ 2 Bags Full
Dawn @ The Feathered Nest
Pamela @ The House of Edward
Su @ Cheekyness

Stop by their beautiful blogs and say hi!

WINNER!

2011-10-10T21:24:00.000-04:00

Is the suspense connected to this photo getting to you yet?? ;)

Well, she's going to a new home! Cute Gremlin #2 helped me do the drawing:

Through the magic of digital imagery, we captured the moment
where she shook it so hard the top came off. Whoops. :)

Picking the winner...

Congratulations, Sarah McCabe of The Aspiring Sub-creator!

Please email me with your address and I will send you your lovely peacock fairy!

If you didn't win this time, don't fret! I have another giveaway starting on Saturday (ish), so stay tuned!

Fairy Giveaway Last Chance!

2011-10-09T22:07:00.000-04:00

Today was supposed to be the drawing for this lovely fairy- but I have a sinus infection and lost consciousness to the world after church today. For like 6 hours. I woke up just in time to get the kids in bed. Now I'm checking messages and eating chicken noodle soup and sipping hot tea before I crash back in bed.

Tomorrow is a school holiday, so I'll hold the drawing then, with Cute Gremlins helping me pick the winner. Head on over to the Giveaway Post Here, if you haven't yet, and enter to win!

What's In Your Mailbox? Part 2: Pen-pals, LWA and World Post Day

2011-10-09T01:22:00.009-04:00

Welcome back!

Today is World Post Day! (Like, letter post. Post Office post. Not blog posts. Or mailbox posts. Or other kinds of posts.) I'll get to that, but before I do...

Yesterday I admitted my deep, dark secret of stationery addiction/hoarding. Today I hope to redeem myself a bit by telling you all about how I'm using those pretty papers.

A little backstory/history blurb about my past:
When I was 9, my parents made the decision to move us from Virginia to Georgia. All of our family (both sides) is down here, and Dad was finished with school at CBN University (now Regent University). He got his master's there in Broadcasting/Mass Communications. My mom's dad and her mom's mom had also both just passed away that year, and she wanted to be closer to Gran.

In Virginia, the grades go 1-4th for elementary, 5-7th for middle, and 8-12th for high school. My best friend, Kevin Thomas, and I were all excited about moving up to middle school. At the end of the school year, Kevin and I exchanged addresses and promised to stay in touch. I loved that boy so much. This was twenty years ago, remember. No internet, which means no email. No Facebook. (Not that a 9 year old today has any business being on FB anyway, but that's a rant for another time.) No cell phones. Even home phones were out except for rare occasions, since there were long distance charges that applied. Paper, pen and a stamp was the most economical and practical way for us to stay connected.

How I loved finding his letters in the mailbox! As a few years passed and we moved on into the world of hormones and teenage-hood, I got over my broken heart of him being not only so far away, but the fact that we would only ever be "just friends". (Ah, those sweet puppy-love crushes!) :) We wrote to each other a few times a year, but like everything else in life, it got harder to find time. Eventually it was only a Christmas card. Much later, after I married, I found a box with some of our childhood letters and wrote a few lines to him to tell him of all the things I'd been up to since we were last in touch. I sent it to his parents address in hopes that they still lived there. They do, but I was crushed to find out from his mom that a few years before that, just after college, he had been killed in an auto accident. I appreciate her taking the time to write to me and send me his obituary. His parents were always sweet and good to me.

The one thing that stayed with me through all of that, though, was my love of writing and receiving letters! As a high schooler, with a "long distance" (by a few hours) boyfriend (who is now husband), I lived for checking the mail. Jake's love letters smelled like his cologne and were full of "I miss you"s and plans for holidays when we would get to see each other again. I wrote to him every day and mailed off an envelope at least once a week. (Obsessed much? Yeah, I was! In my defense, there was news of other mutual friends who went to school with me, and descriptions of our band shows and practices in all of those letters. So it wasn't as mushy as you might think.)

As my friends and I parted ways to go to college, those letter writing skills came out in full force! There was a particular set of friends whom I wrote letters with. Letters went out from my post office (only 2 miles away, remember!) to OH, TN, NY, and FL all the time. Recently, all but one of those has moved back to GA, so I stopped writing for a while. Then I made some friends (long story) who live in Leeds, England. One swaps packages with me: English Cadbury Turkish Dairy Milk bars!!! I LOVE getting that box in the mail every few months!!! I send him Twizzlers candy in return. :)

Missing writing to my friends in other states, and wanting to 'meet' more people from around the world, I was getting kind of glum about the growing collection of stationery that wasn't being sent out. Then, I was offered a helping hand through a random Facebook post. As I mentioned yesterday, I LOVE Crane & Co. Stationers. I love them so much that I follow them on Facebook. Here's the link so you can 'like' them too! In late August, they offered to be pen pals with anyone who would send them a letter! So I did! It was so fun to get a reply a few weeks later. They had (have) several hundred letters pouring in per week and are still posting photos on their FB wall of "letter of the week" and stacks they've received that will be replied to over a weekend. If you want to write to them, the address is Crane & Co. Penpals, 44 West 28th St., 8th floor, NY, NY 10001.

In early September, there was a FB wall post from Crane thanking the Letter Writers Alliance's blog for helping to spread the word about their Pen Pal program. Wait, what? There's an alliance for letter writers?? I have to check this out! So I followed the link to the LWA and fell in love. A membership to this fine organization is a mere $3. Membership with a set of LWA stationery and a badge along with a membership card is only $12. (I answered the call to ~~feeding my addiction~~ getting more stationery, and got the $12 membership.) It's a lifetime membership, so you don't have to ever renew it. You get access to exclusive LWA stuff on the site, like member merchandise and pen-pal swaps.

Thinking about pen-pals prompted me to do a Google search about it. I found all kinds of sites, and some Facebook pages, where you can swap addys and then write to your heart's content! I was in letter writing paradise! Here is the main one that I used to get started: Maarten's Snail Mail Pen Pals Online. You can search by country (or state, if you want to write within the USA), browse the new and updated ones, or just find some at random. I've sent out to half a dozen places in the UK, 3 to France, to various places in the US, and as far as Australia and New Zealand. :) See how one random thing on Facebook can lead to all kinds of fun?? :)

Now I've read on the LWA's blog about today being World Post Day! In it, there is a link to a Facebook page for this project:

Am I participating? Well, of course! I already am, since I send out so many letters every week! :)
I'll have a button on my right sidebar that links to the Facebook page up tomorrow.

What about you? Where do you send letters to? I know this will help with my stationery collection. Cure it? Nah. Not even close. But now I'm involved in sending them out for others to enjoy as well. :)
And admitting you have a problem is the first step. :D

What's In Your Mailbox? Part 1:Stationery Addiction

2011-10-08T11:27:00.000-04:00

Confession: I am a stationery hoarder. I have been since I was old enough to write. (1st Grade, people. 1st Grade!) It started with Lisa Frank kits. Do you remember those?? I had stationery sets with
Roxi and Rollie:

And with this guy:

After that I couldn't help myself. I am a complete stationery addict. I'm always finding notecard sets, pretty papers with matching envelopes, and desk accessories that I can't live without. Michael's has notecards that change out every season in their $1.50 impulse racks near the registers. Ross has an entire section in their Housewares department of boxed stationery sets for $5 and under.

And then there is Crane & Co., a glorious stationers who have a store at Lenox mall, where I used to shop after class during my college days. Crane is where I got my feather quills and inks, seals and sealing wax. They no longer carry these old fashioned items, as they are specialty and not often in demand, but heavens, how I made use of it when they did! I still use them for fine papers, though, when I can.

Here is an amazing online supplier, Nostalgic Impressions, for all of those lovely writing tools of yesteryear.

My point is, there are a million and one sources for pretty papers, and all of the accoutrements that come with. (And PENS! I'm a pen addict too! I must have at least 500 pens to choose from. No lie.) Add to that, my post office is literally 2 miles away (5 minutes by car!) from where I live. This is an intoxicating combination. :) Very recently, I rearranged things in my room and finally got all of my writing things together at one desk. Are you ready for this? (Please don't judge me.)

It looks all innocent on the outside:

On top is my new Wicked mug which, instead of being used for tea like I had originally intended, has been on hand to catch the latest group of pens. This represents about 1/100th of the pens I own.

Inside the desk reveals the fact that I have stationery issues. Many, many issues.

Yep. All of the section on the right is packs of notecards.

The drawers reveals my box of seals and sealing waxes, and a couple bottles of ink. And more pens. And a special item of interest that will be explored in tomorrow's post!

It doesn't end there. The shelves behind the doors hold even more papers, and another 5% of my pens. (The rest are in other drawers and spaces in my room, and there is about 10% of the total collection residing in my purses.)

So now that you've seen the proof that I need a 12 step program, the question is, what am I doing with all of it? I'm so glad you asked! I am using it. Perhaps not as fast as I am accruing it, but it is serving its designed purpose. I'm writing letters! LOTS and LOTS of letters!

And with that, dear readers, I leave you until tomorrow's post, where I will explore where those letters are going, events tied into it, and more!

Happy Saturday!

Frank Goes to September Saturdays

2011-10-07T10:30:00.000-04:00

Back in September, Douglasville put on a festival called September Saturdays. Saturday the 17th was "Heroes Day" and Frank came along to see the cool stuff on display from the Police and Fire Departments. Paige from J93.3 was there too, and we finally got to meet her! :)

Frank and I get to meet Paige! :)

Jennifer and her BFF take Frank onto an Army tank.

The same on an Army truck

Jennifer and Frank with a D.C. Fire Truck

With one of our firemen.
We appreciate their service to the county!

After we got home, Frank helped us dig sweet potatoes out of the garden for suppertime!

Good Reads

2011-10-06T16:53:00.000-04:00

It's been a LONG day already. I was up at 6 a.m. with the kids, got them to school, finished a project, started another one, went to bible study for 3 hours, had lunch with my Grandmama and visited her til 3 p.m. and have been catching up on random stuff at home for the last hour and a half. Got to herd the cute gremlins to the car and go to the grocery store in a minute.

For today's Go Here Thursday/Book Review Thursday, I found this website where you can locate your local library and state library systems. And then you can go there and get this series:

The Binding of the Blade series, by L.B. Graham is a fantasy fiction series very much in the same ballpark as Lord of the Rings. There are dragons and other mythical creatures, talking Warrior Bears and epic good vs. evil battles. I'm on book 4, Father of Dragons, and so far, each book has left me wanting to get the next one as quickly as possible to see how everything turns out.

If you do go read this series, come back and tell me what you liked the most about it!

3 Days Left!

2011-10-05T16:14:00.002-04:00

"Faerie Guardians", 2006, By Howard David Johnson

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire!
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
~ William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

Have you entered your comment to win my sweet peacock fairy creation? I'll have a winner in just 3 days! Don't miss out! Comment on this post to enter!