Inside the Fishbowl

Good Mail--Valentine's Day and Beyond (and Before)

Am I officially the last one to post about Valentine's Day? Good, that's what I meant to do. Well, not really, but if it makes me feel better. . .

It was very enjoyable to read everyone's Valentine's Day posts. It looks like the Good Mail network didn't fail to send around the love this year. I hope to participate next year, or maybe I'll get my act together and do something fun for a holiday when you're all least expecting it!

I was grateful to be the recipient of some fun good mail around and for Valentine's Day. First, Jenny sent me these, the cutest thank you notes ever! Thanks Jenny, they were such an unexpected and delightful surprise. You are really thoughtful!

Next, our book club had the delightful surprise of a package of good mail waiting for us at Collette's house last time we met, from Melanie. We were all taken aback since none of us has ever met Melanie, though we have enjoyed getting to know her better through her blog. I'm not sure that even Jill would have thought to send a box of goodies to a group--though I'm not sure we have any other girls out there who meet regularly for something like a book club whose members all also belong to this wonderful blogging community. Do we? Anyway, Melanie sent us these totally cool magnets featuring Paris, in honor of our Paris trip, and some Cadbury chocolate bars. Sadly mine didn't last long enough to take a picture. It was very yummy, though. And, I have to say, Kaitlin was ecstatic to have some "magadets" to put on the fridge. You may be able to see that she had a lot of fun smudging up the surface of the fridge before she put the magnets on. She had to clean the front with a diaper wipe. Such a good little helper!

After that little spurt of good mail, I wasn't really expecting anything else. After all, I haven't sent out good mail since before Christmas! (Does the thought of taking two little kids to the post office freak anybody else out as much as it does me? I really need to try the home pickup service they offer now. So handy!) So, you can imagine my happiness when I received several things for Valentine's Day in the mail.I received cards or notes from Hannah, Michelle, Amy M and Kristi. Thanks ladies. Your creativity astounds me and you really made my day for several days in a row (they didn't all come on the same day).

hen, I was the lucky recipient of one of Jenn's fabulous packages. I always love good mail, but Jenn really goes all out! This was such a cute, fun package to receive. No wonder they were late! You did a lot of work on these. Oh, and I have to know, what is your secret for making soft Rice Krispie treats? Mine always come out hard as rocks! Please share.

Oh, I can't forget Jana's cutest delivery of cookies and scrapbook goodies in the little red mail box that I'm sure we're all really wanting to pick up a few of ourselves. Did that make sense? The cookies didn't last long enough to take pictures of, but the cute wrapping they were in is serving as a stand in. Jana, you need to share your chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's delicious! You always say you can't cook, but you can bake (unfortunate cake incident aside!) which is a talent unto itself!

Finally, I got a really cool package from Jill. It was full of things Japanese. I love Asian things. I love books that take place in Japan and China. I love Japanese paper. I love Asian decor, mainly furniture and art. I love Chinese food and Japanese candy. I would love to adopt a baby from China someday. So, Jill sent me a book of Japanese short stories by Junichiro Tanizaki called Seven Japanese Tales that I am very anxious to read. Also included were these Japanese art cards that I love. I really would love to frame some of them and hang them in my "studio". And, the best part, there are a ton, so expect to receive a sample of them soon--as soon as I figure out how to have the Post Office come pick up my good mail to-be-sent.

Thanks everyone who remembered me. I know I've been absent. I know I am in serious debt. But it's been really nice to be able to look forward to going to the mail box thinking there might be something other than the most current Pottery Barn catalog waiting for me. Oh, and Jeremy, when you read this, don't worry. I didn't forget to mention the things you gave me for Valentine's Day. That's tomorrow's post. No, really, I promise. I'll post tomorrow.

Good Mail Catch Up

It seems to be the week to catch up on posting about good mail. So to keep up with the trend, here is all of the good mail I've received in the last little while.

Jenn sent two packages to me in quick succession, which was delightful because it was so unexpected. First was the cute bag of Halloween goodies. Jenn always does cute fun stuff for the holidays!Kaitlin immediately thought everything in it should be hers. I had to hide it so she'd forget. So far she's only managed to get her hands on the pencils. The candy will be mine. (Yes, I haven't opened it. I was determined to take a picture before I ate the candy. Unusual restraint for me, I know.) Next came an envelope full of goodies from her trip to Seattle. She went to Paper Source and Impress, lucky girl! But I can can't be too envious, because with her characteristic generosity, she bought these cute round cards, envelopes, and the mini calendar. Yes, if you remember from Michelle's and Jill's posts, there were also some chocolates. Those didn't last long, though. They were too yummy to save! Thanks, Jenn! Can you go on vacation more often?

Next I received this really fun package from Jenny containing one of her beautiful altered clipboards. I love it and I was so excited to receive it! I didn't use it at this week's Compassionate Service Committee Meeting, but I am going to bring it to the next one. I'll be the envy of my other committee members. I can't wait to show it off. Jenny also sent in the same package a pair of the cutest pyjamas for Alexander. Kaitlin is in love with them becasue they have owls on them. Her grandma and grandpa Hanks have a family of owls living in some trees on their farm, which I suspect led to her love of owls. When I put them on Alex today so he could model them Kaitlin just went nuts. Jenny, thanks so much for thinking of me! You made my day.

Laurie also sent me a nice thank you note, a bar of Dove Dartk Chocolate and some stickers for Kaitlin. Again, I set the chocolate aside so that I could take a picture of it in it's full form. But since I took this picture two hours ago it's now half gone. I love Dove chocolate. It's so silky and smooth. Fortuantely for me, Kaitlin has a cold today and is in no mood to eat anything. That means I get this treat all to myself! Thanks, Laurie. That was one delicious package to receive!

I'm almost done here, but I had to show off the thank you notes I've received over the last few weeks.
Don't you just love getting thank you notes? I do. It makes me regret all of the the thankyou notes I didn't send because I was a thoughtless teenager and (yes, I admit it) a stupid newly married girl. OK, so I sent thank yous for most of my wedding gifts, but not all. I lost one of the lists of gifts, at least I suspect I did. How shameful! Oh, speaking of lost gift lists, I ran across one the other day from when Alex was born. I think some of you were on it and I'm pretty sure I didn't send thank you notes to the people on this list. I'll get right on it!

There are a few things missing that I, sadly, didn't get pictures of. Hannah sent Kaitlin a cute thank you note, but the moment shefound out it was hers she claimed it wholeheartedly. I'm pretty sure I set it aside. It's probably in the laundry basket full of stuff to put away in K's room. When I run across it I'll post a picture. Also, Jana sent us one of her insane "three days before she gave birth packages." It was so sweet and thoughtful to think of me and K when she was so pregnant. Thanks Jana, but I couldn 't keep K away from the princess magnets long enough to take pictures.

Last, and certainly least, I just had to show off the pile of catalogs I received in the mail last week. It's three inches tall. I guess it's just one more way to tell that Christmas is getting close. Does anyone else get a ton of catalogs in the mail? With every few exceptions I think it's really annoying, some company selling my name and address to another company because they think I may be interested in their products. No, thank you, I'm not! That's all I need is more temptation to spend money!

Good Mail at Last

I've sort of felt like I was on blogging hold the last several days. You know in the past I've been bad about posting the good mail I've received, which I feel is unfair, since I've gotten some really cool stuff and I like to give credit where credit is due. So, this time I made myself take a little forced blogging break until I got my camera back and my act together enough to post pictures of the good mail I received last week. So here I am. I was awakened from my nap by the drywall guys ringing the doorbell to bring in fans so the paint in the room we're finishing in our basement could dry quickly. Instead of trying to get back to sleep, I decided to make good use of my time, not by cleaning my house, but by finally taking pictures of my mail and posting them. Aren't you proud of my self control? I've been wanting to blog every day, but I managed to kepp my self imposed restriction in place. Now, if only I could have the same amount of self control when it comes to going to the gym!

In order of receipt, here is my good mail.
Jenn's package was the first. It contained these cute pink and browncards (which I'm putting in my church journal. It has a pocket that fits this size card perfectly and I find Relief Society a good time to write some quick thank you notes--often to the teacher of the lesson, or somebody else in my ward that I need to thank), a pad of paper that I've been eyeing at Target, but, surprisingly never bought, and these adorable labels. I can't wait to use everything! Oh, yeah, and there was some candy, but Kaitlin made sure that didn't last long--I had to eat it before she discovered it was inthe house! Jenn, where in the world did you find those little Charleston Chews? They were so cute! And I absolutely adore Charleston Chew! They remind me of going to the Liquor Store by our house to buy candy in the summertime.

Jill's package was next. I was seriously excited to receive this package. I was feeling seriously loved by the time I received my second package in the same week. Jill's package contained a really good mix CD. Jill has been known to praise her sister's mix CD making ability, but I know enough of you have received mix CDs from her to know that she's pretty good at it too. I wish I knew how to find cool music like Jill does. I would be very happy indeed! Also in Jill's package were some really cute chipboard letters and some very delicious looking ribbon. I'm so happy that I can open these things now and get to work playing with them! I'm feeling a burst of creativity!

Finally, to my continued delight and surprise on Saturday I received a package from Michelle! It contained the cooled new (at least I think they're new) chipboard letters from Making Memories. I'd never seen them before, but as you can see from the picture these are the things that happiness is made of. She also sent me some tiny note cards and a ribbon keychain--both so, so cute!

Thanks girls! It was a rough week for me with Jeremy being away backpacking and Kaitlin starting to have major issues with her naps. You made it so much better--I simply can't tell you how nice it was to know that somebody (or three somebodies) were thinking of me. And like I said, while Jeremy was away I was working on some good mail. It's my goal to have it in the mail by Friday, so watch out! Good mail is on the way for some of you.

One of these days. . .

I'm going to get my camera back from Jeremy and take some pictures of the really good mail I got from Jenn, Jill and Michelle last week! Until I do, thanks ladies! You made my week. And, I've been working like mad on some good mail projects to get out. Why does it seem to take so long?