....And We're Back!

My mom and I seem to be playing a game involving the USPS, I'm calling it, "This Ole' Box."

Mom received a package in what she considered a sturdy box. So sturdy that 'hey, this would work to mail off something to Seattle' (from LA). I got it, and before I'd even finished unpacking the box thought, 'hey, this would be perfect to mail off my nephew's birthday gift.' Back to LA before the priority stickers had a chance to get dusty. That is the game at it's most competitive. I mean, really, we'd have to take the "ole" out of the game title if the boxes took so little time to make the rounds.

Tonight, however, I have a more descriptive and fitting entry for the game.

I put the finishing touches on a box that was originally mailed from Hawai'i to LA filled with some light fragile things as I sent it priority (everything else was parcel post and nothing says deteriorated box like 6 weeks from Hawai'i to LA) back in 2004.

Of course mom kept the box and put it aside for later use. By me, again, from LA to Kings Beach, CA about mid 2005.

I take after my mom far too well, because not only was it around to move from Kings Beach to Seattle, WA, but was used for the move from the farthest reaches of North Seattle down to my current locale, just north of downtown.

Well, tomorrow night the box begins the return trip home, its 2 year circumnavigation of the Western United States to end in LA, well, that is, unless she's made a friend in Hawai'i, then, oh yes, the circle would be complete.

Whatever, all I know is that it's filled to the brim with xmas gifts and taped within an inch of its cardboard. What with the storm brewing outside, this might be a rough trek for our seasoned traveler. We wish him fair winds and calm seas....oh wait, sorry, lost myself there.

Right, I'm hefting that 12.5" X12.25" X9" box off to the post office in hopes that it won't cost more than a Jackson to get down to LA. Is it me or did they change the dimensions of what is considered a "small" vs "large" box on the USPS website? I know their boxes have shrunk a bit, which is why I had to dig deep to find a box that would fit my required dimensions.

NOTE TO SELF: Take a tape measure when you go shopping next year.

***
The contents of that box are what have kept me busy for the better part of the last three, maybe four, weeks. There is not one stitch of knitting in it. There are, however, hundreds of stitches of the other sort. I will post the picture soon, promise, but the thought of lugging the camera over here and fiddling with photoshop is just too much (nope, not my camera, still Andy's...but soon, oh so very soon) after all the wrapping and packing and box hunting and re-packing that transpired today.

It's very freeing, to be "done." I just wish I'd finished last week...I am a stress monkey and my doctor was worried.

NOTE TO SELF THE SECOND: DO NOT SCHEDULE YOUR YEARLY DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT ON THE LAST DAY OF CLOSING OUT THE MONTH DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE HOLIDAY MADNESS! Your blood pressure will be too high! You will be agitated! You will talk too much cuz you know your BP is too high! RELAX! DO NOT STAY UP MAKING STOCKINGS THE NIGHT BEFORE! Crafting is not supposed to make your life MORE complicated! It's what you do to chill out!

And as such, there is still some clean up before I can guilt-lessly go nighty-night, but I just had to share that feeling of aaaaaahhhhh as I put the last piece of tape on that box (which then had to be removed, along with a whole bunch of its mates as I forgot to pack a crucial gift in the box...aaaarrrrgh.....Never, ever easy...).

Oh, and as a PS/PSA of sorts: Babes, peeps, and countrymen? I am THIS close to ditching xmas cards all together this year. It's not cuz I don't love you, but I think my next free day will be December 23rd and I'm really tired of sending "New Year's Cards" with xmas trees on them...so instead of feeling defeated, I am liberating myself of that bit of guilt all together. Let's just pretend I'm in Mexico/out of country again, 'kay?