Lots of Mail

Vacation........on the road for 11 days.  I wouldn't have really called this a vacation, it was more of a trip of obligations.  We logged over 3,000 miles ...... a lot of travel.  We began our trip with helping our oldest child get settled into her new place, almost 900 miles from home.  From there we went to a family wedding.  While in the midwest we then ventured to Michigan for our youngest to attend an elite softball camp at the University of Michigan.  I am in love with Ann Arbor...... the city... the people.... everything was impressive.  The camp was definitely enlightening for us, as our youngest will be on the search for a scholarship to play softball.  We definitely learned a lot, but I'll save that for another blog.  From Michigan, we made another brief stop to see our older daughter as we ventured across the midwest to Philadelphia to see my mother. Each stop along the way was an overnight, or two at most.......but we managed to squeeze in a visit with lots of family (children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, brothers, and mom).  Overall, it was a great adventure.......but we were definitely ready for our own beds by the time we returned, even though we arrived home after dark to no air conditioning.......it was a toasty 89 in our house upon arrival.  Fortunately, I am married to a mechanical genius......he was able to take a few pieces apart and fix them to get us up and running again.

Now on the to mail.......lots of mail.  If you have been following the tshirt project..... Tara is emailing lots of colleges this summer for information.....and t shirts.  We took a break the week before travel to cut down on the amount of mail we would return to.  She has received lots of informational packets and many tshirts.  Currently, the pile is well over 30 shirts and growing, I will update with an exact count next week.  I also send emails out when I really like a product that is on the market.... the end result is lots of coupons, many of them for free stuff.  This is also an ongoing experiment that I started this summer (I will blog about this next week as well).  If you have read my other posts, you know that I also review items for Amazon, which arrive in my mailbox daily.  A ton of items arrived while on vacation.  Needless to say, it was a little like Christmas morning the night we returned, while we sat and waited for the house to cool down, we enjoyed opening many packages, new items to review, and information from many colleges.   This college project has turned into more than the tshirt project that it began as......we have learned a lot about schools that had never been on our radar......but now they are.  The schools that send personal communication...... tend to really peak our interest.  It's amazing the impression that a handwritten note can leave.  Please let me know if you have tried any of projects I've talked about.  Would love to hear your feedback and opinions.