Saturday Special: Outgoing Parcel Post

I sent out two Thank You Packages on February 7th.  I love to send people items they are not expecting.

A few weeks ago, I worked some connections and was able to score face-value tickets to the sold out Fleetwood Mac concert coming this April to Mohegan Sun.  I gave them to Boyfriend for he and his friend to go see the show {as an early Valentine gift}.  I felt like this was a really big thing in need of something more than a thank you note.  I decided I would send the two people who helped make that happen a box of chocolate goodness each.

I wanted to fill the 8x8 Parcel Post boxes with that shredded crinkle paper that goes in gift baskets but unfortunately the Target I went to seems to only carry that stuff seasonally.  There was none to be had.  So I opted for some colorful tissue paper instead.  I crumpled up one sheet at a time and packed the box.

Each woman got this package of chocolate covered Oreos.  I got all of the chocolates at this amazing sweet shop near me called Sweet Indulgence.  They make amazing cakes, cupcakes and chocolates of all kinds.  Their website is here.  This woman's little business has exploded with the cupcake craze.

They each got a pair of these beautiful chocolate covered pretzels.

And they each got a bag of dark chocolate and milk chocolate covered graham cracker quarters.  It was all I could do not to eat them.  I love these things.

I wrote each of them a thank you note on my "reserved for special occasions" pineapple notecards from Crane & Co.  This card set was a thoughtful gift from a friend and I love them.  Because I am obsessed with all things pineapple.  The card set can be found here.

The envelopes are lined.

I stamped the back with my custom pineapple stamp!

Although I ended up needing to add another 84 cents, I was thrilled to be able to use my $5 Wave stamp that I had purchased especially for this mailing.  I had to make a special trip to North Kingstown, where they were being held for me.

When I handed the boxes to the clerk, she immediately started punching up her postage machine while I was asking her "Do I need additional postage?"  She looked at me, looked at the boxes and informed me that there was no postage on them at all.  I pointed to the stamp and she called another clerk over to look at it while they discussed never having seen or heard of them before.  Then she stuck on a metered strip for 84 cents before I could tell her not to, so she pulled it off and laughed at me as I opened up my giant envelope of stamps and proceded to collage on the additional postage myself.

Then, off they went.  I hope they are pleasantly surprised!  Though the packages may be delayed due to Blizzard Nemo!

Hand Delivered Mail

Sometimes the best kind of mail is the kind that gets delivered by hand and never even touches the postal system.  Below is a hand-made package from the employees at the bank that Boyfriend manages.  They scrounged around and used all the stuff they could find at the bank and they did a great job.

This was a "Congratulations on your job offer" card, signed by all the employees and filled with bank swag and cool stickers.

Very crafty people working at that branch of TD Bank apparently!

Military Mailings, Part 2 Updated

The other mail project that kept me busy was my "Mail for _____ Paul" initiative.  My brother, as it happens, is actually a mail carrier.  I decided that I would get famous people to write to him because mail from your sister is lame and probably gets old real quick, because a mailman should get mail, and because I had a lot of time on my hands.  It totally worked.

I essentially had a form letter that I would modify specific to each recipient.  I included my letter and a photo of my brother at his deployment along with his APO address and a stamp so that it wouldn't cost them more than some time.  Each letter was hand written on my special Crane stationery.  I started with local notables.  

I wrote to the mayor of the city he lives in: success.  

I wrote to the mayor of the city I live in and got him to write to my parents.  

I wrote to Buddy Cianci: success.  

I wrote to his childhood hero, Cal Ripken Jr. ... and eventually I called him.  And called.  And while they did not respond until the end of his deployment, and not with something personalized, a lovely, lovely woman did send him a nice keepsake that was signed.  I sent that woman a thank you note.

I was thisclose to getting a letter from Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five.  So close that Ben Folds himself sent me a DM on Twitter.  I had apparently sent the letter to his old management company.  Even though I was able to get a second letter faxed to the right company, Ben never followed through, much to my disappointment.

I wrote to the one and only Seth MacFarlane, RISD graduate and creator of Family Guy, a cartoon based in a fictional RI town.  I state for the record that Seth MacFarlane is the man!  He sent a personalized sketch to my brother in Afghanistan.  My epic success, I felt like a rock star. I was so thrilled I sent Seth a thank you note with pictures of my brother coming home, which I hope he has pinned up somewhere because he's just that nice.

I wrote to the Farrelly Brothers, legendary RI movie makers, who eventually sent my brother each of their movies on DVD.  That box made it to Afghanistan after my brother got home, but they still responded.  That reminds me I need to ask him if he had them sent back here.

I wrote to Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs: No response.  Bummer.  I am a huge fan of his.

This has been on my mind in recent days because a different unit from my brothers base has been sent off this week for a 10 month deployment.  I miss sending those packages of food and I wonder if any of those 150 men and women will need mail.  Not everyone has a sister, or a family, or a special someone who will make sure to send a little bit of home as often as they can.  Some members of our military receive nothing the entire time they are deployed and I really can't think of anything more sad than that.

I am going to email my old contact at the base and ask if anyone who just left, who may be lacking in family or friend support, is in need of some mail.  It's a very small way to try to pay back a very big thing.


USPS FAQ on Military Mail

Guidelines and Restrictions

Military Mailings, Part 1

I'll preface this post by stating for the record that I am not an expert on sending mail to our Armed Services.

I am a sister.  This post is about my personal adventures in sending mail to Afghanistan.  Unfortunately, I did not take any photos, but I did send quite a bit of mail.

My brother was deployed from March to October of 2011.  I started with sending cards.  Just like with my Auntie Pat, I prepped a stack to mail in advance, the goal being one card a week.  I will state publicly and for the the record that the selection of Cards for Troops at Hallmark sucks out loud if you're not the girlfriend of a soldier.

The first box I mailed was an Easter box filled with grass and some of those molded paper eggs from Michael's that I had Hailey, Preston and Emily decorate with markers.  Lesson one in mailing boxes overseas: you need to complete a customs form.

At some point my brother specifically requested 60 stainless Dunkin Donuts mugs, which I promptly shipped out.

About halfway through his deployment I figured out that he would get a box in about a week.  Envelopes would take longer, but a box would get there in 5 or 6 days.

Thus began my adventures in mailing food to Afghanistan.  I think the first thing I did was send cupcakes with frosting.  I went to my local post office and asked for a poster tube.  I wrapped each cupcake individually in plastic wrap, padded the bottom of the tube, and literally loaded the cupcakes into the tube like ammo.  Then I topped it off with more packing peanuts and a container of my non-dairy buttercream.

Apparently it was a huge hit.  From then on, I mailed food once a week.  I would bake and mail the same day, waiting just until it was cool enough to handle and I was confident the heat wouldn't melt my packing materials.  I mailed quick breads, cupcakes, brownies, more cupcakes, more frosting, break and bake cookies... I essentially went down the baking aisle and the refrigerated dough section and picked anything that looked good.  I mailed six bottles of Del's Lemonade and only had one break.

My mail clerk, Tom, became a good friend.  He loved hearing about what I was mailing to my brother and supplied me with priority mail tubes because they were free.  Every Saturday I would pay Tom a visit.  I was really just helping get myself through the deployment as best I could, trying to feel a little less powerless in the situation.  I like to think that I helped my brother become the most popular guy on base :-)

The last thing I sent to him was a piñata and some wiffle bats.  Officially the largest thing I have ever mailed.  I walked by a display at WalMart and I thought "I could totally mail one of those."  So I stuffed that thing with as much candy as it would hold.  It weighed a ton.  And off it went and it got there just before he left.

To be continued...

USPS FAQ on Military Mail

Guidelines and Restrictions

Box of Joy

So I have this friend Sara Renee and we've never met and I know almost nothing about her.  I don't know how I found her on the internet, but I am sure it has something to do with Weimaraners.  I've been following her blog for some time, then I was following her on Facebook and then we were officially "friends" thanks to her request. 

Not more than a week after we officially became "friends" she and her weimaraner Sylvie had a very bad day.  On July 5th this popped up in my news feed:  

Sylvie survived a 15 foot fall on our hike today. She was screaming and couldn't stand when I got to her. I knew immediately that her front leg/foot or something was broken, and I thought her back or pelvis was too. Carried her to the car and drove to the office. Xrays showed that she has an "avulsion fracture of her proximal 5th metacarpal bone" and per surgeon, she can pry get away with a cast. She was given a steroid injection for swelling and can now stand on her own and move her back legs in a decent manner. She just urinated fine (which is a good thing!), and while she needed help standing, she did well considering. I'm pretty sure she's more than used up her 9 lives at this point. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Is this not one of the most pitiful things you've seen?

And I thought to myself "I MUST DO SOMETHING! I will mail her a care package!"  

Thus began my evening of creepy internet stalking.  I could have emailed any one of the many caring friends who were commenting on that post, but I thought that would come off too creepy (even for me). "Hi, you don't know me and I don't actually know Sara but could you tell me her home address so I could mail her a box of dog stuff?"

Fortunately for me, she had tagged her Vet further on in the post so I decided to send it to Sylvie's attention at the Vet Clinic.  I figured she'd be spending lots of time there and they would get it to her.  I asked a few people if that was creepy and I got mixed feedback, but I kept on with my plan.

On the 6th of July this was my only mission.  I am, after all, unemployed and a good procrastinator of all things home-related, so this was a great diversion.

I didn't have any boxes left, so I bit the bullet and got one of the flat rate boxes from the post office.  Then I went to my photo place to pick up a few photos of my dogs to send (all in an effort to appear less like a stalker).  Then I went to Job Lot for dog toys because although I have dozens of toys that my dogs never play with, I was concerned that any or all of her dogs would have a sensitivity to our regular laundry detergent.  So no sending used toys, didn't want to make anyone sick or sneezy.  I picked up three different honking birds, because that's what a gun dog should play with :-) {For my non-dog people, dog toys should be washed in the same free & clear stuff you would use for an infant, just to be safe, when you give them to dogs you don't know or to a shelter.}

Then I went to my nearest dog bakery and picked out some home made dog biscuits, a pack of squirrel cookies, bone cookies and three "woofie pies".

Because I have no problem spending money or feeling guilty, I made sure I got enough for my two as well.  So I split the two bags of cookies in half, making sure to leave Sara Renee the labels in case there were any allergy issues in her home, and I packed up the "woofie pie" as best I could with the toys and a get well card.  Then I wrote all over the box, thanking the staff at the clinic for making sure it got into the right hands and off to the post office for mailing.  They said it should arrive on Monday.

Outgoing!

The mail clerk was right, it did arrive on Monday.  And as my luck would have it, Sara Renee actually works at the clinic that Sylvie was treated at, which I did not know.  All day Monday I was excited, hoping that Sara and Sylvie would get the surprise on delivery day.

Then, Monday night I see this pop up in my news feed with a photo!:

Thank you, Stephanie for making Sylvie and my day so very special. Imagine my surprise when Sylvie got a box full of toys, squirrel cookies, photos, and a get well card delivered at work! As soon as I opened the box, she started ripping out the toys and honking and squeaking to her hearts content :) Thank you again and again- it means a lot!   

Sylvie and her goodies.  Sara Renee can be found here and here

And just like that, my week was made!  Seeing that photo is the nicest thank you I've ever gotten :-)

Box of Sunshine

Back in March of this year, March 12th specifically, I started what I had expected to be the first of a few hundred weeks at a new job.  Not a job in my field, per se, but a job in my industry.  A job I felt good about, working for and with women I thought would be excellent mentors for me, guiding my growth as a woman personally and professionally.  A job that was a long time coming.  I had a nice commute, my own office, a new wardrobe and fantasies of being able to lunch with the one and only Missive Maven.  It was a big deal.

Exactly 30 days later, on April 13th, I was let go from that position because the company had lost their biggest client and could no longer support an additional employee.  Last in, first out.  That's LIFO for my F&B Management buddies.

Exactly 6 days after that, on April 19th, I received the box below, poorly photographed with the FX Camera App on my cell phone.  I came home from some random errand, reeling from the loss, to discover a box on the stairs for me.  Until recently, I very rarely received mail, never mind a package.

The return name was "someone who thinks you're great".  It was labeled a "box of sunshine" and filled with yellow and love.  And it totally made my day.

There was a yellow Whitman's sampler, faux daffodils, Keebler cheesecake cookies in a yellow package, a yellow and white bath poof, a pin hand made by boyfriend's sister in law, a bag of Starburst jellybeans...

An awesome yellow and orange insulated travel / water cup (which I use all the time), and a singing Justin Beiber card.

It made a very bad week a little better, and it was a very good mail day.