Tag: resolution

This month started with me writing to me while on my trip. That was a successful effort as I did that every day. Good job me. Then I returned (with letters waiting for me!) and caught up on my correspondence. There were five days when I didn’t write in the middle of the month. Near the end of the month I began sending photos I took of the youth who went on the trip to their parents. Not wanting to just plop photos in the mail with no pretext, I included a note. That took care of the end of July letters and this project extends into August. Overall a good, if not totally traditional letter writing month.

1 July. Me
2 July. Me
3 July. Me
4 July. Me
5 July. Me
6 July. Me
7 July. Me
8 July. Me
9 July. Me
10 July. Me
11 July. Postcard, Deborah, Sara
**Letters back, LEX Diane & Sara (3)
12 July. Deborah
13 July. Sara
14 July. Sara
15 July. No one
**postcard from Sara
16 July. postcard Matt
**postcard from Sara
17 July. Oregonian–yes to the comic Edison Lee.
18 July. No one.
19 July. No one.
20 July. Sara
21 July. No one.
22 July. No one.
23 July. LEX Gerry
24 July. LEX Jan
25 July. Ben Bridge Jewelers (excellent customer service)
26 July. YRUU Youth
27 July. YRUU Youth
28 July. YRUU Youth
29 July. YRUU Youth
30 July. YRUU Youth
31 July. YRUU Youth

Not much to report here. I didn’t write people because I was prepping for the trip (and trying to catch up blog posts) and when I left on the trip my letter per day was to myself. I bought special stationary with the plan to glue each letter in my scrapbook. This turned out to be an awesome idea.

21 June. Sara
22 June. No one.
23 June. No one.
24 June. No one.
25 June. No one.
26 June. Me.
27 June. Me.
28 June. Me.
29 June. Me.
30 June. Me.

Sara once again received the largess of letters this month, but what can I say? She writes me. I write back.

11 June. Thank you notes. 3 students and 4 student teachers.
12 June. Sara.
13 June. Sara.
**Letter back: Sara
14 June. Kelly, postcard.
**Letter back: Sara, Diane (LEX), Gerry (LEX)
15 June. Sara.
16 June. Sara.
17 June. Sara.
18 June. No one.
19 June. LEX Melody
20 June. No one.

Despite my hope to write more often in June than in May, I didn’t start off so well. Half of these first days were spent not writing letters. I think the combination end of the school year (work) and end of the school year (math class) got to me. I got a 92 on my math final, though and I am very proud of that.

Sara once again rocked the letters mailed category, but then I get letters all the time from her. We seem to write enough we don’t have to email which I think is very cool in this modern world.

My friend Deborah’s partner Val was recently diagnosed with cancer and I am going to try to send her a little note every week or so. Everyone likes mail, (at least I haven’t found someone who doesn’t) so perhaps something every once in awhile in her mailbox will be nice.

1 June. Sara
2 June. Sara
**Letter back: LEX re: “college”
**Letter back: LEX Jacqueline
3 June. LEX Jacqueline
4 June. No one.
5 June. Deborah
**Letter back: Sara
6 June. No one.
7 June. No one.
8 June. No one.
9 June. Deborah.
**Letter back Sara.
10 June. No one.

Before my resolution, whenever I had to write a letter for business purposes I was annoyed at the actual sitting down to type the business letter. Not to mention the hunt for the stamp and the envelope. Now it’s one of those things I look forward to, because I can whip them out in about 7 minutes and I have fulfilled my resolution for the day.

I wrote letters or postcards 21 days this month. While there were more days in which I wrote than days that I didn’t write, I hope to write more next month. Mid-month June the new LEX listings come out and I look forward to responding to some new listings as well as seeing if I get responses to my listings.

I received 12 things in the mail this month, which was wonderful. Sara hit on the idea of sending me the free postcards available at bars and restaurants and other places. She places labels over the advertising part on the back and writes a quick thought. They don’t have free postcards in Portland, but I think this is a clever way to use them. When I lived in Boston, I would always take them, but because of the advertising, could never send them to anyone.

1 May. Sara, postcard.
2 May. No one.
3 May. First Unitarian Church. Business.
4 May. Bank. Business.
5 May. Joan. Card.
**Letter back. Sara.
6 May. No one.
7 May. No one.
**Letter back. LEX “Will you be a good old person?”
**Letter back. LEX “Do you have to suffer to write?”
8 May. LEX Jacqueline.
9 May. No one.
10 May. LEX Jan.
11 May. LEX Diane.
12 May. Sara, postcard.
13 May. Vivian McIrney. Re error in article about shoes. I would link to it, but now it costs $$
14 May. Sara.
**Letter back. LEX Diane (I have two Diane pen pals)
15 May. No one.
16 May. No one.
17 May. Sara
18 May. No one.
19 May. No one.
20 May. Kelly. (Written from the Multnomah County Courthouse while on jury duty!)
21 May. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
22 May. Sara.
**postcard. Sara.
**letter back, LEX Diane.
23 May. LEX Gerry.
24 May. LEX Phyllis.
25 May. Sara.
26 May. No one.
27 May. LEX Diane.
**Letter back, Sara.
28 May. LEX Diane.
29 May. Aunt Pat, birthday card.
**Postcard, Sara.
**Postcard Sara.
30 May. Aunt Pat, birthday card. (I sent two, so one would get there on her birthday.)
31 May. No one.

Two things paid off this month. My LEX membership proved itself well worth the $15.00 joining fee. Without it, I would not have had eight letters in my mailbox. Also my friendship with Sara. Six items from her appeared in my mailbox including a very nice care package with some stationery, postcards and an eraser. An above-and-beyond level of support as far as I’m concerned. Thanks so much.

Also this month the resolution morped into “write a letter most days” as there were 8 days of 30 where I did not write for various reasons. I’m not really beating myself up about it too much as I had the resolution, the garden and the math class going on. And full time work.

Note that my SAPE letter came back as undeliverable. I’m okay with that as LEX has brought me great dividends, but in case any of you were pining for a pen friend from the former Soviet Union, you should know that SAPE didn’t work for me.

AND this month I finished off my first tablet of writing paper. It’s the 200 sheet lined- jobber that we always had around when I was growing up. I like the size, it is great to hold onto when writing on the train or bus, and the less-than-$3.00 price is right for me.

Without further ado:
1 April. Sara
2 April. Sara
**Care package arrives from Sara
3 April. Elizabeth Gilbert
**postcard from Sara
4 April. LEX “Please, sir. More lighthouses, more bridges.
**postcard from Sara
5 April. LEX “Arm chair traveler? Let’s trade p/c’s of our trips. -Bob.”
6 April. No one.
7 April. No one.
**letter back from Sara
**letter back from LEX Blogging (wrote on 3/13)
8 April. LEX “Ah, spring! When all thoughts and letters are fresh and new! As we throw off winter, let us LEX together in the warm sunshine!”
**letter back from Jenna
9 April. LEX “Will you make a good old person?”
**letter back from LEX “Topic letters”
10 April. LEX “Must one suffer before one can write?”
**letter back from LEX “ready to discuss serious subjects”
11 April. LEX Jan. Topic Letters.
11 April. Postcard to Trimet re: really cool bus driver.
**letter back from LEX “Favorite Food”
**letter back from LEX “Movies”
12 April. April, Sara, Shawn. (Winners in my comment contest.)
13 April. Jess, Kathy. (Winners in my comment contest.)
14 April. Sara
**letter back from Sara
15 April. LEX Diane. Movies.
16 April. Sara
**SAPE application returned.
**Also of note, finished first 200 sheet writing tablet.
17 April. Jordan. Birthday Card.
18 April. No one.
**letter back from Trimet.
19 April. No one.
20 April. Marilyn Sewell. Senior minister at my church re: sermon “Is Marriage Obsolete?”
21 April. No one. (my notes say “exhausted”)
**postcard Sara
**card from Kathy thanking me for the prize sent on 13 April
**letter back from LEX Jan
**letter back from LEX “Favorite cities, travels, rivers, campgrounds.”
22 April. Sara
23 April. Diane.
24 April. Sara.
**postcard Sara
25 April. No one.
26 April. No one.
27 April. Jenna.
28 April. Sara.
**letter back from LEX Diane.
29 April. No one.
30 April. Sara

I finished another group of LEX letters. I like to send them off in batches of five. Sara also did a good job of keeping my mailbox from being empty, sending me letters and postcards.

(I’m having trouble with formatting, so sorry I can’t do the bullet points this time.)

March 21. None. Exhausting last day of work before Spring Break. Ironically the most exhausting thing was dealing with the Postal Service, who had me on hold for an hour and made me call back two times to get the information I needed.
2 Letters back! Both from Sara.
March 22. LEX Letter. What’s your favorite food to fix for yourself when you’re home alone?
March 23. LEX Letter. Tired of kids and grandkids? Ready to discuss serious subjects? Paint drying. Grass growing.
March 24. LEX Letter. Prefer movies on the big screen? Enjoy the previews as much as the movie? What makes a good movie good?
Letter back! Sara.
March 25. LEX Letter. Favorite cities, travels, rivers, campgrounds?
March 26. No one.
March 27. Sara.
March 28. People who own my favorite undeveloped property in my neighborhood.
March 29. None. Dealing with end of spring break and the fiasco.
Postcard back! Sara.
March 30. Sara
March 31. Art & Sole. Business letter.

Do you want to respond to one of the LEX listings? You can, without becoming a member. Write a comment and I’ll tell you how. If you like to write, you should become a member, it’s easy and not expensive and fun.

Mid-month saw the arrival of my Letter Exchange magazine and provided relief from poor Sara who would probably get a letter every other day if I hadn’t found discovered this great source. She would like the letter getting, but then feel guilty when she didn’t respond promptly, which I’ve told her isn’t a huge deal as she certainly hasn’t resolved to write a letter a day, but you know how she is. When I wrote a letter to a LEX member, I’ve included what they wrote in their listing.

• March 11. Sara. Letter.
• March 12. Sara. Letter.
• Letter back! Nestor Ramos.
• March 13. LEX Letter. Do you blog? Where? What about?
• March 14. LEX Letter. Charm bracelets. Tell me the story behind your favorite charm. If you don’t have one pretend you do and tell me the fictional version of your favorite charm.
• March 15. LEX Letter. 1.5 miles from an empty mailbox.
• March 16. Jenna. Letter.
• March 17. LEX Letter. Let’s write topic letters. Simple start: five favorite T.V. shoes and why. Initially, no politics or religion. Your topic next.
• March 18. LEX Letter. College student living in Savannah, Ga. Send me your tips on surviving college life.
• March 19. None. Bad mood.
• March 20. LEX Letter. Thirtysomething writer looking for a penpal who can be supportive like the perfect bra in a world where gravity wins.

Nestor Ramos is my movie review boyfriend, as I think I’ve mentioned before. I enjoy him because he is very funny, as his letter back proved. An excerpt:

Thanks for writing! Always nice to hear from someone who enjoys my work. Actually, you’re the first. But I imagine the second will be pretty nice too. Mostly I just get mail from people who are upset because I’ve mocked some movie in which they were an extra. The time I said Cher was built from wax and car parts, some lady offered to spit on my grave.

I sent off a big packet of five letters to the letter exchange on March 19. It will be interesting to see if I get any letters back. It’s a little weird writing letters to people you don’t know. But I excel at blathering on both on and off topic, so it isn’t too bad. I really need to work on my handwriting. I hope people can read my blathering. Perhaps I should have had a year of resolving to write neatly before my year of letter writing.

Do you want to write to any of the LEX Letter people? Tell me by posting a comment and I’ll tell you how you can, even without being a member of LEX. Though you should be a member of LEX. It’s very fun.

I’m so excited! It’s a little magazine, with articles about writing and letters but I’m most excited about the listings. I won’t run out of correspondents for many weeks, and maybe even some will write me back. I wrote my first letter tonight to someone who wrote:

Do you blog? Where? What about?

Others that sound interesting to me:

• Charm bracelets. Tell me the story behind your favorite charm. If you don’t have one pretend you do and tell me the fictional version of your favorite charm.
• Define the good life.
• How does understanding your family history contribute to your sense of self?

I can’t wait for the summer issue to come out to see if anyone writes to my listings.

The handy thing for me about this resolution is that I often have the thought, “I should get (or make) [insert name here] a card.” They should get a card because something is sad or happy or interesting in their life and I bet they would like a card. Then I never get around to getting/making the card and the moment passes. With my handy resolution, the cards get gotten. Or made. They are mostly made.

I have a card making box with blank cards, (I just use the Avery kind you can print on your computer printer–though I never print them on my printer), crayons, markers, glue, construction paper, pastels and scissors. I actually enjoy making the cards, though the results are sometimes a bit uneven. That happened with Allegra’s card. I wanted to make a sun on the front of the card and so I cut out a big round orange circle. I then cut out many tiny orange sun rays and carefully arranged them and then glued them onto the card. I glued the orange circle on top, admired my work, went to write something on the inside and discovered I had glued everything to the envelope.

• March 1. Amanda. Card.
• March 2. Hafidha. Card.
• March 3. Deborah. Card.
• Email back! Teresa.
• March 4. Teresa. Letter
• Letter back! Leath.
• Letter back! Nicole.
• March 5. Allegra. Card.
• March 6. I think I wrote someone this day, but I didn’t make a note of who. I’m nothing without my notes.
  
• March 7. Forgot.
• March 8. Leath.
• Letter back! Sara.
• March 9. BroMAunts. Easter inquiry.
• March 10. Dana. Letter.
• Letter back! Sara.

Also, due to this resolution I’ve found an effective means of communication with my brother, mother, and aunts (BroMAunts). If I want to ask a question to all of them it takes four phone calls, minimum and usually more if I need to relay information back. I don’t like to talk on the phone anyway, much less making four phone calls. If I write the question–say “What are we doing for Easter? And does anyone want my extra Asparagus crowns?”–four times on postcard and send it off they talk amongst themselves and get back to me. It is much easier.

The other happy thing about these 10 days is that I got some good letters back. Honestly, there is nothing nicer than finding a letter in my mailbox. It’s better than chocolate.