A Change to Mailbox Posts

Do you see Georgia peeking out from behind the boxes?  It’s hard.  You might have to look closely.  All of that minus the legos is mail from blog readers.

Two days before she came… the table had mail on it too.  I had purposely cleaned it all off and took pictures of everything so I could write a blog mail post and so there would be room on the table when they came for the grandkids to play.

We need a table for the kids to play at because Eli and Emmett get into everything and break it which understandably completely frustrates Gannon, Georgia, and Carver.  Also, the two of them are better but we’re not able to trust them about putting little pieces in their mouths.  So for safety and to alleviate frustration, I need a clean table for the kids to play on.

Sadly, I didn’t get a blog post written about that mail…or mail that had previously come in that I had already taken pictures of.  All of those pictures were lost when Eli dumped the computer over and ruined it.  Read about that HERE if you missed it.

So…I can’t write blog posts about any of that mail.  My apologies to those who sent things and anticipated me writing about the items they sent.

All of this, more than ever, has made me realize that I need to change the mail policy again.  Previously I had encouraged people to find someone on the donation page to send their goodies to.  You can find that page HERE.  I want to again encourage people to do that.

The new part I’m implementing is that I will no longer be writing mail posts.  If items come to me, I might mention them, but I might not.  I won’t be spreading everything out and going through each item, photographing, formatting pictures, and writing a blog post.  I might not mention anything about the things that were sent at all.  Or I might do something like this…

A blog reader sent some unicorn sweet corn holders.  She meant for Georgia to have them.  I gave them to Georgia and Kelli sent me a picture of her using them.  You can see the picture below.  I might randomly put something like this in a blog post about the grandkids.

I might also write in a What I’m Working blog post how excited I am because a blog reader sent me this perfect fabric match.  Do you remember the blog post I wrote about the best package a blog reader sent?  You can find it HERE.  I had shown this picture of a UFO that a blog reader sent.

I was a little sad as there wasn’t more red fabric so I couldn’t finish the quilt.  I had somewhat made a plan that I would take this apart and add other random reds to complete the project.

Fast forward to an amazing blog reader.  She had found the fabric, if I remember right, at an estate sale.  It had sat in her stash for a bit.  Then when I showed this project, she sent the fabric to me.  HOW SWEET!!  I’m thrilled.  Her package is one that I lost the pictures for-I had this one as I had sent it to Kelli telling her how excited I was.  I was able to find the photo in the messages we had sent.  I’ll likely write about this when I write about what I’m working on…but I won’t do a full mail post anymore.

I had been talking to Kalissa and told her about the change I was thinking about making so I no longer wrote mail posts.  She said, “Mom, I think you should have done it a long time ago.”  She’s right.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness of everyone.  I appreciate the generosity but…I want my dining room table back.

As is, when packages came, I would open them.  I’d then put packages on my dining room table until there were enough to write a mail post about.  In the meantime, the grandkids were here.  Packages would get shuffled together.  Cards and notes sent with packages would get lost.  I couldn’t keep track of everything and then once I sat down to write a blog post, I would be frustrated because I wasn’t sure what went with what.

I felt such pressure that I was putting the wrong note with the wrong goodies.  I was so worried I was writing Joanne instead of Joan.  Sometimes I couldn’t read the person’s signature so had no idea who it was from.  It was stressful.

Later I tried something different.  I’d take pictures of everything, deal with it and then try to keep the pictures until there were enough items to write a whole blog post.  Then I would lose the names and not know which card went with which set of pictures.

No matter what I tried, I could not find something that worked.

So…as a way to reclaim my dining room table so I don’t have to look at a stack of boxes and the grandkids have a place to play on the table, I’m not writing formal blog posts about my mail anymore.  If you want to send something, that’s perfectly fine.  I welcome it.  I will pass things on and find homes for items or keep a few items.  I’ll be able to keep up with this and still have a dining room table.  WHOOT!  WHOOT!!  I just won’t formally be writing a blog post about everything single item.

I know many of you send things to Ray and other finishers.  They are open to do whatever they want.  If they want to continue sending me mail posts, that’s perfectly fine.  I don’t mind including them on the blog.  I want to choose for myself and I want them to choose for themselves as well.

I’m so excited about this.  Boxes can come in.  I can open them and sort the contents and recycle the boxes and be done.  No pile of boxes for Georgie to peek through.  No stress of mixing up pictures and notes.

Many thanks to everyone who has sent things in the past…and to those who send things in the future.  Your generosity is so appreciated.  I love that you have sent goodies to help with the baby care kits for Lutheran World Relief.  I love that you have sent fabric to help me finish a project.  I love that you have sent goodies for postage auctions.  Everyone has been so kind to me.  Thank you so much and thank you for understanding why I can’t write mail posts anymore and why I need my dining room to not be home to a shipping and receiving department.