What the Junk?!

I think I mentioned that when I went to the post office on Saturday, I had a yellow slip in there for pickup at the window. This could mean a package, an oversize envelope that wouldn't fit, or postage due. Guess what mine was? Postage was due. ~_~; A pen pal sent a postcard without enough postage. D'oh! It was a rather large one, so I think those actually cost the same as a letter. I had to pay .18¢. The nerve! lol

So, I drove all the way down there for to pay money to pick up a postcard. Oh well.  I am going to try to get myself down there at least once a week. I let way too much time go between visits. I also really need to catch up on pen pal letters. Soon. I hope!

So, it's my birthday. Another year down in this so-called life. I didn't do much. I had a delivery from Amazon Prime. I bought myself some rechargeable batteries to use in my Shortwave radio and they came today. Exciting, huh? :p

I was able to get 8 AA batteries. My little Eton takes four so I can use four and have another set charging or charged ready as a backup. They were less than $10 so that was a great deal. I tried several different 6-volt adapters and all caused static so batteries were the way to go. I didn't want to have to keep buying batteries all the time, so I went for some rechargeable ones.  I can't wait to try them and see how long they go. That last set of regular batteries that I put in my radio have lasted a lot longer than the first set. I was able to turn off the lighted display when it's not in use and that helped immensely!  I've been on this set for at least a week now. The others had only lasted a few days. I'm hoping to get at least a couple of weeks' charge out of the rechargeable ones when I start using those.

I had to run out to get my birthday drink from Starbucks! I also got gas while out because I got 20 cents extra off of gas today because of the reward card I use and it is my birthday. I already get 5¢ a gallon off with them, so today it was .25¢. I washed Goontz while out and went by the grocery store. I wanted a small cake for my birthday, but like last year, all they had left was chocolate. ~_~; I got cupcakes instead. Of course, I FORGOT that I bought cupcakes when I got to Starbucks and got a lime-frosted oat bar to go with my latte. :p Oops. 

I went by the post office while out. I haven't checked my box in a while. I also needed to mail off something. Hopefully, I'll get a QSL from that soon!  I had a yellow card in my box so now I have to go back during regular hours and stop by the desk. Not sure what that is. Nothing has shown up in informed delivery. Hmm.

So, busy day, I totally forgot that I do laundry today and just put that in to start washing a bit ago. I probably will not be putting that away today! lol. Right now, I'm just trying to cool down from all the running around. I want to pull out the Shortwave and see what's going on the bands. I meant to get to that earlier but it's been a day!

So, the last time I went to check my post office box, I had a letter in there for a local business. It had their physical address and my PO box number.  I scribbled through my PO box number, put 'sent to this address by mistake', and tossed it back into the outgoing mail.  Well, last night, I checked Informed delivery at the post office box, and guess what was back in my box? You guessed it. That is what I needed to do last night but didn't because I was tired. I figured going today would be better as the counter is open until 3 pm.

So, I run down there today, I opened my box to get it and it's not there! So, I went to the counter and told the lady what was going on. She told me that she actually moved it to the correct box. They have a box at this post office, it's 1234 and my box is 124 (not the real numbers, just an example) so that is how it happened. I don't know who put it back in my box, but I'm glad she saw that and fixed it. It was irritating that I had to make an unnecessary trip down there, but it wasn't her fault. I am just glad it's at the right place now and I won't have to worry about it!

Haha, I didn't know what to use for a title, so there you go! Sorry I didn't get to post in time yesterday. I was busy, busy! I washed my bed linen, washed my hair, put away laundry from the day before, did a bit of cleaning, and also went out to the post office to check my box.  I got a few new letters so now I have them all. I hope to sit down and write everyone this week.  I"m behind again, but I'm hoping with being able to create cute envelopes it will encourage me to write more often!

As for Camp, I'm plugging along. I am now at 32,202 words! :D I'm very happy.  I have ways to go, but I'm over the halfway mark and I'm pacing myself well, so that is great. My skaters have been to their first competition of the year and they won, they are due for several more AND they have the Olympics! The series is called Olympic  Dreams after all! This is book three The Olympic Games  It's going well.  I have my other story to get back to when it's done and a couple more in the works. One is a story I mentioned that I want to re-write and the other is one that I only did a bit of a start on years ago. I'd like to explore that one too. As for the current one, I edited the last day's work on that yesterday. I last wrote on it on March 31 as I put it aside for Camp. I think I'll be ready to go back into it fresh on May 1st. I needed to edit that last day and I figured why not go ahead?

So, there is a decent update. I'm plugging along on my writing and I hope to get my pen pal letters written and out this week!  OH! One other thing. My crazy dryer needed some repair yesterday. I wasn't able to fix what I needed as I didn't have the things I needed. I ran out this afternoon and got those and I am pretty sure I fixed it. Go me! :)

Yes, my days are a bit mixed up since my friend and I did our Friday trip on Thursday. Oh well, I did do my laundry today as I should have on a Saturday, so that is good. I even cleaned up a bit and washed the few dishes I had. I also FINALLY put away the ton of dishes I washed last Sunday. lol Oops!  Yeah, I kept putting it off, it's done now and I just hope to put away the few I washed today before next weekend. :p

I made more envelopes today. That is so much fun and they look great, too. I already addressed a stack of them and I hope to write my pen pals tomorrow or Monday and get a stack of mail out.  I need to run by the post office and check my box for any new letters. I know I have some, as I get Informed Delivery. I just need to run and get them. I had an unexpected errand today and should have gone by there then, but I didn't. What was the errand? I caught a tiny little mouse in my room today and I carried him to the park to release him. He was so cute!  Want to see him? I carried him down there in an old McDonald's cup. 

Look at that little cutie pie!  I hope he likes his new home and lives a good long life there. :)

I did a small photo shoot today. I had to go out to mail holiday cards to local people.  I checked my post office box while there and then went to Starbucks.  I also swung by Lowe's to pick up something.  After getting Starbucks, I went to the park and took a few pictures.  I also took a few at home. Here are a few I picked to share.

One of the outside with the charm and one open with the first insert showing.  The little plastic pockets are an Eric Condren insert I got on Amazon that fits perfectly!  It has three slots on the front, two larger ones on the back of that side (as shown) and the back of the insert is one big clear envelope. :)

I meant to post here yesterday. I didn't realized I hadn't until after midnight.  I didn't do a lot yesterday so there wasn't a lot to talk about. lol Today I've been busy, busy.  I washed my hair, my bed linen, dishes, and I put away a huge load of clothes I washed yesterday. I ran to the post off ice and got my mail. It was stuffed in there. Oops! I was very happy, though, to see pen pal letters! YAY  I was afraid after not writng anyone for so long, I would lose a bunch of them. I got a good stack of letters so I'm happy. I plan to try and write everyone back this week. I'm going to keep up with my letters. I actually plan to do that from now on.  

Other things I did today were ..... Hmm.... I swear it seems like I did more but now I can't think of anything! Silly me.  OH well, I'm very tired, I went to bed early last night but I still didn't sleep well so I'm going to try to sleep better tonight. The little thing I mentioned I ordered recently that I've been wanting a while is supposed to be here tomorrow. If it is, I'll do a nice post on that.  It's going to be so fun to open that package. ^_^  

Another thing that happened today that I just remembered. I weighed myself. @_@ I don't want to talk about it. UGH.  I need to do something about that, too! Hopefully soon! In any case, I hope to have a fun post tomorrow about the goodie I ordered myself. 

I went out to the post office today and checked my box. Good thing, that poor thing needed to be emptied! LOL!  I had a couple of things from penpals.  I WILL be sitting down this weekend and getting my mail caught up.  I need a few more stamps as I'll have more letters than stamps, but I'm going to get them caught up and sent off. I've bought a lot of cute envelopes lately and I want to use them for my pals. I also printed a sheet of labels from the pack I got at Goodwill yesterday. They worked perfectly! :)

I finally sat down and worked on that part of my latest story and boy did I improve it a LOT.  It's so much better.  I went to mail off the few holiday cards I prepared last night. I got in line at the post office behind a lady at the dropbox.  She opened her door, got out, put her arm in the box, looked in, put her arm in the box again and I just sat there like this. @_@?  She gets out and goes around and drops the mail in the back and finally gets back in her car and pulls off.  As soon as I got up to the box, I see the issue. It's so full that it isn't even going down the chute!  I just left and went to a free-standing box somewhere else and mailed my cards. I have never seen a box stuffed so damn full!  I wonder when they emptied it last?   I was able to get Starbucks while out and I actually went inside and got all of the Christmas cards they had! Well, everything but the multipacks.  I came home and looked and I was just a few short of having all the cards.  I ordered the ones I was missing on eBay so I'll have the complete set. Yay! I'm quite pleased.  The only bad thing is that I ran out of the little plastic card pages I put them in!  I need to go to Office Max and get another pack.  My collection is really growing.  I realized that I missed quite a bit this year because of Covid, but I hope to get those on eBay eventually!

It was nifty being in Starbucks. I hadn't been in the store since March or earlier!  They have all the seating marked off so there was nowhere to sit and stay.  I hadn't planned to anyway.  I will be happy when things get back to normal! I miss being about to go in there and just sit and enjoy some time out. I noticed as I was out today that the city has salted the streets.  We are under a winter weather advisory. I think it will probably just be rain and that will be it.  I would love to see some snow, but I know that isn't going to happen. :(

Guess who was about to forget to post today? Me!  Sorry about that.  I got some good writing done today.  I wrote 2,777 words on my story! Yay! That makes up for not writing anything yesterday.  I went to the post office as I planned. I picked up my mail, I got a book of stamps, and I paid for my post office box.  After that, I headed back home where I've been since then.  It is raining here again. ~_~; I hope it isn't too bad this time.  I am not ready for cold and rain. Boo on that! I got a few penpal letters.  Now I just need to sit down and write my letters. I hope to do that tomorrow or Sunday at the latest!  I so wish I could do it at Starbucks. I miss my favorite 'third place'. 

What am I babbling about?  Well, I ordered a laptop bag today for the MBP since my laptop bag was too small, yes, I could use the sleeve and I might use that too at times, but I wanted an actual bag. I ordered one on Amazon and I also ordered a clear snap-on case for the MBP.  It's blue and clear. This MBP is in such great shape so it will look so nice in that case.  I looked at a lot of cases.  The ones I really wanted were $20 and up. This one was $10 and it looked nice.  I hope I like it. I am not a fan of the 'frosted' look and that is the case that is on it now.  I could have gotten a pink one but my new laptop bag is pink.  That is too much pink! :p. The laptop bag came in black (too basic), blue (not a good shade) and grey (I think). I liked the pink the best.  It's pretty cool. It opens completely. If you pulled the zipper down, you can lay the bag out flat.  The laptop goes in the big sleeve side and there are two smaller pockets on the other side and it has an outside pocket.  I like it.  I hope I picked right by getting the pink.  I like pink in limited doses. :p

As for I'll be ready to go and I can't go.  I can pack up my laptop to go out, but that is really not an option now.  I miss going out and sitting in Starbucks on my laptop. I am getting the bag and case with the hope that a future time will be back to normal and I can go sit in Starbucks!  I shouldn't have bought them both this month, I'm low on money because my personal property taxes were due and my post office box was due.  I plan to go to the post office tomorrow and check my box, pay for my po box, and get any letters.  Then I hope to write all my letters.  Any that are at the post office and any at home.  I need to buy stamps too. I haven't had any in a while.  I want to get my letters caught up and sent out asap!

Here is the bag as shown on Amazon:

Well, letters, no lattes. Phooey!  I got all of my pen pal letters written today and mailed!  Whoo hoo! I'm so glad to have them done.  I got only one at the post office, so I'm now all caught up and have a new one.  It was a good thing to get them all done.  I went to the car wash while out and washed my car.  It needed a fresh wash.  I was going to do it here, but since I was already out, I went ahead and got it done.  I was tempted to go to Starbucks, but I was good and didn't go.  

When I was in the car wash, I took a picture of the pretty rainbow foam.  I always call it unicorn pee. :p. It's pretty, but this time it didn't go on very thick.  

Exciting, isn't it? :p

What did I do to celebrate?  I went to mail back my old phone.  I checked my box and had some letters.  I washed my car because it needed it and I was too lazy to do it at home! I left there and went to Starbucks.  I got my birthday drink.  I sipped on it and went to the park to sit by my favorite tree for a bit. I hung out in the park a bit and then went and got gas for my car.  I filled it up / topped it off and it was only $8 so that was nice.  I did take some pictures.  Two in the post office and one of the darkening sky when I was sitting in the park.

I thought it was going to rain, but it never did. The sky was pretty though!  My friend texted me from work and said he was bringing by a hoagie from a local place.  Steak and cheese. It was delicious!  It was a good birthday lunch.  What's for dinner?  My favorite, hash brown casserole! :D. Yum.  That is too delicious meals today.  The Starbucks was pretty darn good, too! :p

I had planned to go to the post office this evening and check my box and then swing by Starbucks as it's double star day.  I was able to go to the post office, but not Starbucks.  My friend texted that he was coming over after he ate to work on my air conditioner in my room.  I had enough time to go to the post office because I asked him.  I had enough time for Starbucks too, but I didn't know that at the time. I don't like to make people wait for me.  I missed out on my chance at double stars. :( Oh well, maybe next month!

The post office trip was a success. I received five letters. Four from regular pals and one from a new one.  It's always fun to get new penpals.  For once, I didn't have any mail in my box except pen pal letters!  I am glad I went.  I have informed delivery, but I didn't know about several of the letters.  I don't know if I just overlooked those days emails or what. 

I hope what my friend did to my air conditioner will help tonight.  Last night I had a really hard time sleeping.  It was right at 5 am the last time I looked at the clock.  I couldn't get cool or comfortable.  I'm hoping the air will be cooler tonight. 

I sat down tonight and got all of my letters written and mailed them out.  I checked my box while there and had no new letters. I'm actually completely caught up for once.  Yay!  My box wasn't empty, though.  I had my latest bank statement.  It was nice to not have a completely empty box.

I'm glad to have them all done and mailed.  I hope to keep them on track.  I got a bit behind the last few months, I hope to stay caught up.  We'll see how that goes.