Old letters

businesses in Plymouth had their ice sculptures in front

We stopped for coffee in a place that was decorated in the early 70s

The view out my window yesterday morning. Around 1, the truck came through on the bike path so I got some running done. Today, I go inside. I want winter over but I want more time to get everything done

When was the last time you received a hand-written letter? Besides a short thank-you note? It's been a while for me though I do get lots of e-mails. But I used to get lots. This summer I weeded through a huge box of stuff I received before I was married. Since it was 'all my stuff', Steve really could not object.

Yesterday I tackled a huge undisturbed box that rested high on the top shelf of my closet. It was a struggle to get it down. Within it contained every piece of personal mail we received between our marriage and Naomi's birth. My goal: reduce it to one fourth volume. Steve was the one who had fed this box because much of it , I would have thrown away long ago not long after it was received like cheap X-mas cards from the mailman and newspaper carriers. I was making great progress until Steve noticed the discard pile. Apparently he can't believe how heartless I've become (and I am getting more and more so as the time runs out). His parents would send us or the kids cards almost every week. I figured that I would just keep about a tenth of these. I also threw away any X-mas card that didn't have a personal note on it. After about an hour of him holding up each piece asking how much space does this take up anyway and a reminder on how much room we will have, I decided to do this at a time when he wasn't around (my mistake was doing this in the evening when we do communicate).

Gone were the many requests from my mother for 'proofs of purchase'. She was a refunder. She would save labels from every food item for specific deals she read about in specific newsletters for refunders. She loved getting deals. So our presents consisted of t-shirts with Del Monte peaches on them and the ilk. She was quite obsessed with this and could never grasp the difference in our lifestyles. I was working full time and had two (later three!!!)kids and had very little time (and especially desire) to do this. She was proud of the savings she got. Sometimes as much as ten dollars a week with who knows how much effort it took to get that. Although I did not receive an hourly wage, one could quickly do the math and see this would not be cost effective for me. Yep I do use Groupons but that isn't so time consuming clicking on a button (I've stopped doing them for a while as using them before they expire has added stress-last week alone we had to visit the same restaurant twice, out of the way, because of this).

I did keep some letters from my mom though most of them beyond the refunding are a list of grievances about my father. I also kept anything that Shanna wrote. Apparently I insisted on hand written apologies for any transgression. These are precious. I did recover some cringe-worthy letters from me to Steve detailing my grievances at the time. Straight to the shredder with these. I didn't even know they still existed. And I did save heart warming letters from friends detailing situations long forgotten by me.

So one step forward; two steps backward. Steve did go out to buy more boxes but I want them to be filled. A window company comes today for an estimate.

For a break, I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. Though entertaining, it certainly did not live up to the hype.