Saturday Special: Blizzard Post Card Party

Saturday, February 9th, 2013, after spending the majority of the day shoveling out my house, I collapsed into bed and felt guilty.  I could do more laundry, I could clean my room, or I could work on some more mail.  I decided to get to the post cards I had been meaning to mail and put everything else off, since the mail didn't require me to be vertical.

This card went to my virtual friend Sara, of Box of Joy fame.  I bought all of the wolf post cards at the Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center during my visit to Auntie Pat in September.

This awesome card is going to my cousin Sam, who lives in Hawaii.  I got this at the Letter Writing Social I went to and I have been saving it specifically for her.  This is from HI: 30 Postcards from Chronicle Books.

This post card is going to Hailey and is one of two Grand Canyon cars that Boyfriend brought back from his trip to California.

Two of these went out, one for Hailey and one for Preston.  I bought this on my trip to Acadia National Park.  Saw those Porcupine Islands myself.

Sent Hailey and Preston each one of these as well.

This one went to Hailey.

Preston got the second Grand Canyon card.

This is another post card I scored at the Letter Writing Social.  I sent this to my Auntie Pat, who lives there.  I thought she would be amused.

This one went to Kathy.

This went to Preston.

Another card from the Social, I sent this to my Aunt Michelle.

I sent this to my friend Nick.

And below are some photos of the postage I used for the cards.

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 :-)

Incoming & Outgoing Last Week

Incoming from Sam, my cousin!

Sam is clever :-p and not originally from Hawaii.

Incoming from Ms. LR McArthur.  I love her handwriting.  This was a fold-and-mail.

On it's way to Anna.  My first time using the Target "washi" tape and I love it!  Also having fun using paint samples as address labels.

I picked up the entire series of these stamps on ebay several weeks ago.  Mostly I put them on postcards to the kids but I love them!

Outgoing to PostMuse, Auntie Pat and a postcard for Sara Renee

Olive & Lucas

For Caddi, Erin, Stephanie and a postcard for Preston

So with that completes my little mission to write to everyone whose blog I follow.  I hope I get some new pen friends out of this last batch!