Creative Friday--5th of July Edition

Our Creative Friday last week was actually on Friday, how about that?! I failed miserably in the photo department, which surprised me because it seemed like I was taking pictures.

Michelle and I often loan each other books (which is delightful) and I was very happy to pick up these two from her. I had just finished a book the night before and was Jones'n for something great. I ended up starting Tell The Wolves I'm Home on Friday night and finished it on Sunday night (4 stars). I brought her My Name is Mary Sutter (5 stars) and The Sugar Queen (4 stars). I've read 8 books since school got out!

I picked up sandwiches from Kneaders for our lunch, this is a close-up of my Ranch Roast Beef on Country White Bread. Michell had tuna on 12 grain bread.

The boys are ginormous and impossible to photograph in a pleasing manner..oh well, I guess that's just how they are.

We were super slow to get started since we spent a long time eating our lunch and talking, but eventually Michelle got out her sewing machine so she could work on the quilt she's making for Eva's room. We didn't see a whole of Eva (which is rare) because she spent some time in her room watching a dvd and then later was in the basement writing a script!

I only wrote two, long letterish type cards so it didn't feel like I got a lot done, but one of them was to be sent as a surprise to Landon for him to receive on day 4 of his 6-day, 50-miler this week with the scouts. It felt important, so taking my time to write it was meaningful.

Creative Friday--Out Produced Edition

Hey look, I'm actually posting about Creative Friday ON Friday!


It is a rare Creative Friday when Michelle is able to out produce me, because she has to contend with many interruptions from Eva (i.e., food and drink requests, TV show changes, nap time reading and so on) so imagine my surprise when Michelle ended up producing 6 good mail items to my 4 today!


It's not a competition, but it left me wondering what I did with all that time. Michelle asked me if I thought writing cards became easier the more I did it, and I answered "Definitely Yes!" It is such a habit with me now that the thoughts just flow and I end up with messy handwriting from moving too fast for my pen.


We took our self-portrait at the beginning again this week...we CAN be taught!


Michelle made the cutest loaf of bread ever using Hannah's recipe, so I got to have several slices of freshly-baked bread with butter. It was heavenly.


I ended up having a quesadilla for lunch and Michelle had a piece of bbq chicken pizza (I'm not keen on chicken so I didn't have any).

I always love photos of the Creative Friday table, it's like a weekly time capsule.

Eva was in great form today (maybe that's why Michelle got so much done) joined us off and on for Peanut-Butter M&M breaks, pretend haircuts and to look at pictures of herself on Michelle's camera.

**Did you send any cards this week?
Do you love bread and butter?
Do you like Peanut Butter M&Ms?
Do you find writing cards an easy task?**

Writing

You'd think that I'd have all kinds of free time now that the kids are in school for 6.5 hours a day, but that time goes so quickly that I'm left every day feeling like I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do. I also thought that these feelings would lessen as the school year went on, but it has already been a month and I still feel totally possessive of my time at home. I wish I could just go with the flow and stop feeling this way, because it makes every day feel a little bit like beat-the-clock, and that's just silly (and greedy).


Today I am assembling and mailing my Witch Switch gift, a baby shower gift, and several notes. It's kind of ridiculous how many notes I intend to write each day only to end the day thinking "I'll get to those tomorrow." I watched Miss Potter (wonderful) last night and was totally enamored with all the writing, pens, letters and correspondence (I loved the painting too). That sort of thing speaks to my soul. I also loved the English countryside and those big farm houses. I found myself wishing I could do a an adult-version of Study Abroad so that I could experience living some place like that for an extended period of time. I know if I ever get to take a trip there that's it's not going to be long enough for me.


But I digress, I'm writing about writing which is intertwined with good mail. For me it's part of my daily life because it's ALWAYS on my mind. I'm constantly thinking of things to send people and wanting to spend all my time working on things like that. When I mention it on my blog it's not to make anyone else feel guilty or to push them to do something they don't want to do, it's just a spewing of the thoughts that consume my mind. There must be a reason for this right? I've actually been wondering lately if it's part of my life's purpose.

I got my pink envelope chock full of fun stuff from the Pink Christmas sponsors. Now if only I had a good idea for what to give this year. Kristi is amazing for organizing all of this!


Allison sent me this thank you note and her favorite dish soap (which was pricey to mail) just for giving her a couple game ideas for a party she was going to be hosting. Thanks Allison!

Kelly sent me one of her darling cards from Stefanie to thank me for some good mail I recently sent her. Thanks Kelly!


Laurie M. wrote me an actual letter! It was an absolute treat to get her letter, hold it, read it and revel in its pinkness. Thanks Laurie, you and I were meant to be friends!


My sister Lori sent one of her cute birthday cards from Stefanie to Randy and I to thank us for her birthday gifts.

Claudia sent me a letter that was completely about the paper and ink she used for the letter! So funny. Thanks Missy.

Michelle A. sent me this elaborate card and some cute Halloween stickers. Thanks Michelle!


Andy sent me this thank you note for sending her these cards for her birthday. Thanks Andy!

This is classic good mail from Claudia. She sent a huge, vellum envelope with notes written on a notepad paper, quotes she'd printed, coupons, a photo of her boys, pages from magazines and a paper with my name printed in all different colors of ink. I love it.

This is a close-up of part of the good mail from Claudia. She wrote "Jill in the cozy" next to the image of this woman getting a massage.


Lucy braved the post office to send a mass mailing of her cd mix, a note and some chocolates. Thanks Lucy!

**Do you think about notes you want to send?
Do you love writing paraphernalia?
Have you seen Miss Potter?
Do you love English Countrysides?**

Correspondence--Creative Friday

It seems like such a treat to be posting about Creative Friday ON Creative Friday, and it seems like I was just writing about it because of my catch-up posts yesterday (because I was...duh). Woohoo.


I arrived at Michelle's house by 10:16am this morning (no dilly dallying this morning), and got down to business right away. I chomped on my Sonic pebble ice (documented here especially for Amanda H.) while cutting images I like out of my huge stack of magazines. Some of the images are for creative idea inspiration and some are for my Discovery Journal (which is a tad dusty and neglected these days).


When Jenn and I helped Michelle prep for her parents' arrival a couple weeks ago, Jenn brought us both a container of her marvelous caramel. Today Michelle and I dipped pretzels in it and considered it both our treat and our lunch for the day.


I ended up writing many thank you notes and a few Just Because notes today, and found it oh so satisfying. This isn't all of them because I had set a couple behind me and forgotten about them when I took the picture. Michelle has a picture of her mailbox today, because between the two of us we wrote and mailed 22 cards today!

My only displeasure in this came from the ugly stamps I had recently purchased. I usually buy them from the automated machine, which means I never am able to get any cute ones because the machine only carries the standard Bell stamp. So one day when I actually waited in line to mail a package (I needed Media Mail pricing) I bought some floral stamps. Apparently I needed to look a little closer because I ended up hating them. There were bats on them for Pete's Sake! I need to start buying them online so I can get some cool stamps, I take so much pleasure in mailing things that surely I should have good stamps to do so.


Michelle humored me by posing for this photo celebrating her thank-you note success. We decided that we enjoy feeling like Victorian women keeping up our correspondence, and that the scratching sound of the pen on the paper is most pleasing and quill-like. (Apparently we're good mail nerds!)


Miss Eva cooperated wonderfully again today and was her very charming self again. We had another self-portrait photo shoot while Michelle was downstairs getting supplies. Good times.

**Are you a good mail nerd too?
Do you love the thought of keeping up your correspondence?
Do you make homemade caramel like Jenn?
Do you care about your postage stamps?**