Addresses

Happy First Day of the A-Z! :)

I'm going to start my Snail Mail themed challenge off with a few words about mailing addresses- how I have gotten them from pen pals, how I handle my own, etc.

Internet Databases
First, the LetterMo event in February was just spectacular!  I made so many new friends, reconnected with old ones, and generally had a ball.  By participating in LetterMo and logging into the forums as a member, I could find pages and pages of biographies with addresses of people to write to.  The rules are the same as any other social setting: only post your personal info if you are comfortable with people seeing it and using it to write to you.  Some participants didn't want to post their stuff for the world to see, so we had the option of sending them a friend request and private message first to introduce ourselves.

LetterMo introduced me to the use of a site called Postable.  It's completely secure and encrypted.  You send a link which takes whomever to a short form.  They fill in the info and TA DAA!  Now you can send out Christmas cards, graduation/wedding/birthday/your cat's baptism/Marvel comic book reading party/whatever invitations with ease!  I really love mine and it has been super useful.

Another online tool I have used to meet pen pals is a site called Maarten's Snail Mail Pen Pals Online.  I found it around 2 years ago.  Again, people can list their info if they want to, or they can ask that prospective pen pals email them personally for it first.  I have sent and received some of the most fantastic letters to people from this site.  You can search for pen pals by age, gender, country or state.  The site is updated every few weeks with new and current listings.

Street Address VS P.O. Box
I've been pondering whether I should change over to a Post Office Box for all of my letter writing, instead of my street address.  There is added security in a P.O. Box, as people can't just Google Map it and start knocking on your front door one day.  But to the rest of the world who hopefully aren't weirdo stalkers live really far away, I think a street address is like a little snapshot of you and your corner of the globe and is therefore more fun than a P.O. Box.  I don't know.  I DO know that I tend to over-think things way too often, and this is probably one of those times/things, but I just can't seem to make up my mind.  What's your opinion, fellow bloggers?  To P.O. Box, or not to P.O. Box??

Posting Photos (especially concerning other people's addresses)
One thing that has come up often in discussion among those of us who not only Snail Mail, but then Blog about said snail mailing, is that if you are going to post photos of your incoming and outgoing mail, even if you care nothing about hiding your own address for privacy, for Pete's sake, hide the other person's info!  Some of us cover over the addresses with a scrap of paper, others take the photo before adding the info, and still others use image editing software to cover the addresses.  I do the last one, like so:

Other Fun Address Stuff
Two of the longest street names in the world:
Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive, in the UK
Northeast Kentucky Industrial Parkway, in Kentucky, US

Arguably the longest town name in the world:
Llanfairpwllgwynllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, in Wales

Two "longest place names" of the world (as found here):
Tetaumatawhakatangihangakouauaotamateaurehaeaturipukapihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu, a hill in New Zealand

Krungthepmahanakornamornratanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokphopnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwesmahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit, the official (native) full name of Bangkok

Whether your address is an Avenue, Street, Boulevard, Road, Route, Drive or anything in between, I think it's simply amazing that a letter gets from one place in the world, to the intended recipient- very often on the other side of this planet we call home!  I'm not even sure what's the furthest away I have gotten a letter from.  Probably Australia.  But I've received some from China and Hungary too!  What's the furthest away you've ever gotten mail from, readers?

RISE AND SHINE, PEOPLE!

God Save the Queen, I have SO FREAKING MUCH to do this week, and it's going to be AWESOME!  More details after this little gem...

... I think that about the birds outside, too!!!

So, CGtY is officially 5, which means she's promoted herself in her make believe play to CEO and Supreme Ruler of DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand.  She's a gracious monarch, though.  She lets me be  in charge of the Mermaids, and CGtE is now the Head of the Department of Entertainment (a promotion from last year's Lead Servant and Scapegoat).  He and I can't help but agree that the pay is lousy (we are rewarded for our loyalty with more and bigger messes to clean up), but the creative license perks are pretty sweet (I can make the Mermaids stage a rebellion and flood DisneyPrincessBarbieFairyLand unless Her Majesty meets their demands.  Like, eating all of her dinner or getting her pajamas on, say.)  Her subjects (who, among the masses, include Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, 5 of those Ty animals with the freakishly big eyes, and about a dozen Littlest Pet Shop critters that hurt worse than Legos when I step on them in the dark) adore her and have good cause to place their (inanimate) faith in her ability to rule; there hasn't been a flood yet.  Unless you count the bathtub, which we don't- that's Her Majesty treating them all to a vacation at the beach.

Anyway, yeah, back to my metric ton of stuff to do this week:

Tomorrow is a full day of finishing the Spring Cleaning.  Every blessed thing in the house has been disturbed, dusted, wiped down, disinfected and rearranged.  I wish I had taken a photo of the area under the stairs before I redid it, to show the difference.  It looks amazing now!  I still have the dining room and downstairs bathroom to complete, as well as detail mopping the kitchen.  (Detail mopping- on my knees with a cloth and bucket, a la Cinderella.  Good time for prayer and worship, that!)
Aside from those couple of things, most of the stuff was done last week and just needs "touchups".  Well, except for my room, which always needs to be done- but no one is going to see it, as it's in a permanent state of reinvention so it doesn't really figure in.  And I'll have to repeatedly pick up the trail of toys that the CGs strew behind them as they go.  Cleaning a house with young kids in it is like trying to file and organize papers on a desk while a fan blows on them.  Or brushing your teeth while you are eating Oreos. Ok, no, ew.  The first thing.  The second one may be an effective analogy, but it's still a really gross mental image!

Tuesday evening, some friends of ours will be visiting from Leeds, UK.  I can't wait to see them!  It's going to be fantastic!  Later in the week I'm going to be meeting another friend I haven't seen in a long while for a late dinner, so I'm looking forward to that as well.  Nothing is better than good food and good friends gathering to visit! :)

Also this week, I've got to solidify my posts for the Annual A-Z!  I'm doing a "Snail Mail" theme (well, of course I am!  What else would it have been!) and I still have to come up with a few of the trickier ones.  You know.  Q, V, X, Y.  Surprisingly, U, W and Z were all easy ones.

Lucy Jane has been hibernating for too long and has to get busy on some stock pieces for the upcoming Hydrangea Fest!  Only 8 ish weeks to go!  Yikes!  More giraffes and hippos and sea turtles and stuff to make.  The CGs think it's done by magic.  Oh, they've seen the machine going, and they have seen the process from start to finish.  But usually the main work is done while they are at school or asleep, so one minute it's a pile of fabric and then >POOF!< there is a shelf full of cuddly plush animals (that, ironically and maddeningly, they are not allowed to touch and/or play with! LOL!)  I'm making them some of their own.  CGtE hasn't decided what he wants yet, but CGtY is painstakingly choosing the fabric for her custom unicorn.  Someone made a comment somewhere- the cobbler's children being barefoot... or something along those lines. Well, fine.  Now my CGs will own Lucy Jane made Funky Friends.  I can't wait to show Pauline (the pattern maker) when I get them done. :)
(Just so we are clear, it's not as if the CGs don't have a bunch of loved plushies already.  They do.  But somehow my love of sewing Funky Friends and my compulsory need to be a sometimes indulgent parent seem to have collided.)

And I'm working on my backlog of letters to answer.  I have it down to around 30 now.  This past week was awesome and brought letters in from as far away as Hungary, plus a stack from all around the US.  I am loving the new friendships I have made through LetterMo, and the continued correspondence from long-established pen friends.  It's a wonderful and important part of my daily life to send and receive letters!

Then Friday I'm hosting a 31 Gifts party!  I LOVE 31 stuff.  I have a demi purse in "peacock paisley" (now retired, sadly) that I use ALL the time, but I have my eye on that Cindy design, and that drool-inducing Organista bag... !

Ok... I've rambled on long enough!  Time to crash in the bed and tackle that list of awesomeness in the morning at 6 a.m.!  Goodnight, my dears!

Tea Themed Giveaway Winner!!!

As always, I'll cut straight to the good stuff!!!

I squealed out loud with glee when I drew your name, Laura!!!!!
THE WINNER IS THE LOVELY AND ONE OF A KIND LAURA B. OF "THE DAILY DODO" BLOG!!!

I wish so much that I could send an identical set of goodies to each and every one of you who entered.  You are all so sweet!  As my hand was in the drawing tin, swishing the pieces of paper around, I was hoping for each name in turn, because I love you all!

But I can't, as much as I want to.  If you didn't win, don't forget that there are giveaways on this blog pretty often, so keep trying!  I think the next one, I will come up with something that is 5 or 10 of a small gift.  That way, more people get to feel special and it creates variety in the drawings.  We'll see!

Congratulations, Laura!  Your package will be on it's way to you next week!

Now on Bloglovin...

I've decided to follow the crowds from Google Reader who are going to Bloglovin.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Here's hoping the transfer doesn't disrupt my posting too much since I'm so normally AD- Hey look, a squirrel!!!
(This is why I do not have a Twitter, Pinterest, or Tumblr.  Yet.)

Seafood Noms

Any seafood lovers out there?  Show of hands.  I see you over there, Florida! ;)
I wanted to share a recipe with you that I made up on the spot the other day.
This will make 8 - 10 servings.

Get 3 boxes of this:

Some of these (thawed).  They are the little ones; Mediterranean sea scallops, not bay scallops.
(I got the frozen bag and thawed and used about half- ish.  Maybe 2 cups worth?)

A package of this (chunk style):

And a box of this:

Prepare the pasta according to the directions.  While it's going, prepare the shrimp according to the directions.  When the shrimp is almost opaque, but not quite, add in the scallops and crab and cook another 5 or 6 minutes.  Drain the pasta, put it in a serving dish and mix in the seafood.  Be sure you get all of that lime sauce in!

This tastes good with cheddar biscuits, salad, and green beans as side dishes.
If you make it for yourself, let me know how you liked it! :)