Saturday catching up

 I set myself three tasks for today:  prepare a birthday card for my daughter in law, write the annual Christmas letter to the only friend I still exchange letters with at Christmas, and figure out the shipping equation for my third sister's gift.

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?  But when one doesn't do things regularly, suddenly they become an exercise in learning all over again.  I started by sorting through the supply of cards, finding one that I wanted for my daughter in law, and one that I wanted for my friend.  Take the lot downstairs.  Pause for coffee.

Prisoner shows his skepticism of the day's plan.

Write check for birthday card (yes, how often do we write paper checks these days? But seriously, I am not a fan of gift cards).  Address the envelope and put on a stamp.  Start writing the Christmas letter, but get interrupted by package delivery.  The last of the Christmas gifts has arrived.

Locate a box that will hold the last sister's wrapped gift and packing paper to fill the gaps.  Seal it up.  Pause to start breakfast cooking.

Back to the Christmas letter.  Finish it up, inserting photos.  Try to print.  Fail.  Printer status "off line".  Several attempts of various sorts later, finally get the letter printed, two pages. You see about things you don't do often? Pause to eat the breakfast that cooked in the meanwhile.

Start researching how to address the box.  Things have changed in the dozen years plus since I was good at shipping care packages to an APO address, including the import/export papers.  Immediately reject the automated address label creation online that requires an account!  Measure and weigh the package.  Create an address label without postage and print it out, not having to go to nearly as much hassle as for the Christmas letter.  You see, we do re-learn!  Seal the address label onto the box.  

Go into paranoia about whether the card with the two page letter will mail on a single stamp.  Thank goodness for kitchen scales.  Insert letter in card, address the envelope and weigh it to make sure it's under an ounce (which I looked up).  It is!  Great sense of victory!

There is now a plan:  go to the post office inside the HyVee to ship the package.  They will tell me how much it costs, and print whatever else needs to be printed.

About now is when I discover that my keys are missing in action.  A search ensues.  Normal spot on the vanity?  Nope.  All the pockets on all the outerwear I wore yesterday?  Nope.  Bathroom counters?  Nope.  Note to self, Mt. St. Omigawd's foothills are growing, I really need to clear off those flat surfaces again!  I have not been good at maintaining them in an orderly fashion.  

Finally give up, breathe, and decide that they will turn up if I just stop stressing.  Get out the backup set of keys. Sure enough, as soon as I put on my coat and went out to the garage, backup keys in hand, and opened the car door?  There were my keys, on the edge of the doorframe.  Seems when I got home from Big Sister watch yesterday, and was juggling the gym bag I used as an overnight back along with the keys and the phone... they fell, I didn't notice, and they stayed out there overnight.

Is the saga over?  Almost... this keystones cops comedy has one more part.  I got to the grocery store with the post office retail space inside, got the package and the cards off in the mail, picked up a few items from the grocery, and went back to the car, only to have the receipt from the post office blow out of my hand and go skittering like dry leaves across the parking lot!  I opened the hatch and put the groceries in before chasing down the errant receipt (because it has the tracking number on it for the package that's winging its way to North Dakota).  I must have looked pretty funny chasing those receipts down!  One had landed in the middle of the road, the other in the drive-through pharmacy lane.

End of adventures.  Enough!

Life is good.  Keep sparking!