Could not sleep until I tracked these down!

Well it seems that while trying to keep track of my swap packages, sort them, count them, double check them... and take photos as they arrived - somehow last week I messed up and forgot to do something IMPORTANT!

A week ago I not only forgot to mark one of the packages as "Rec'd" on my spreadsheet but I also FORGOT to email her and notify her that they had arrived! :/ OOOoops!

Poor Eleanor S!

How did that happen? and how much longer until I would have noticed??? The reason I found out was b/c last week I emailed about 16 of the swappers who I hadn't heard from in a while a little "checking in on you" message - in which they all sent rapid replies and gave me updates :) Yeaaa - thank you for the updates swappers! Looks like we're still at 100% participation form all 40 of us! ;)

....and one of them included in this list was Eleanor - to which she replied...

Hi Bonnie, Your are not that old to have a memory problem (I might be!), but last Thursday I e-mailed you that my 4-patches were mailed. Said that on Tues they quoted me $2.07, but then on Thurs when I actually mailed them it turned out to be $2.44. At this point I'm concerned they have not gotten to you since they were supposed to go First Class. Been watching your blog for the past few days to see if they had arrived. Anyhow, they are in transit.... (10/10).

Stay cool in Texas. Love from New York, where it is not too cool today.Eleanor

Well after I read that reply I just knew I could not go to bed until I FOUND these! They should have been here by now right? I have been known to have a package sitting on the front porch before... not usually but sometimes. Checked, no.

I've also more frequently had a stray package left by my mail lady in the garage - usually on or near the bookshelf by the back door which is overloaded with STUFF & JUNK and can soooo EASILY get looked past if she lays a package anywhere near that. (why can't they just leave it on the door mat where I'll be sure and see it or step over it :P)

Nope not in the garage. Ok, well perhaps I've laid it down in the dining room floor area where I put mail when it comes and I don't have time RIGHT THEN to open and go through it.... Checked that area - nope. no unopened packages... came back to the computer to double check my spreadsheet again... what city/state is she from again - my memory does not exist without my spreadsheet aka brain... so take that info back with me to the dining room - open up my big ole bag that has in it all the swap packages that I've received so far... look at each envelope... and wouldn't ya know it... THE LAST one I take out of the bag is the ONE!

and it's been opened already - which means I've already "processed it" and gone thru it... and took photos of them... so why in the world did I not get it blogged about? and emailed sent to her back last week? I dunno. So sorry Eleanor S, please grace me with forgiveness and don't whack me 3 strikes with a wet noodle! :P

You can see that when it arrived I took photos - actually lots of extra photos to show ya my trick... which may or may not work for ya... If you plan to send along a check to cover return postage then you can package them this way like in the photos above and below... but if you need to have stamps applied at the PO then it will most likely not work since you'd have to have it out to stick the stamps to...

but for those who want to send the couple dollars cash or write a check, I find that folding the return envelope in half and putting into the baggie works great! Then on one side start putting them in there one at a time staggering them...

after you put about 5 sets in on the first side - FLIP the baggie over and repeat on the other side of your return envelope... :) perfect for sending in 10 sets. However if you are swapping more it works great to go back and make a 2nd row of them and this time you can leave them all right side up.. or sometimes I've seen them right side down on the 2nd row... (((these photos do not show a 2nd row like I just described b/c she only swapped 10 but maybe you get the idea)))

Either way, there's really no "wrong" way to do it - just lots of different ways that help make it easier for each of us... you can easily see the sets and double check count them to make sure they're all on the way South ;)

Ta Da! All packaged up and air squeezed out and zipped up!

Ready to put into your mailing envelope.

Again so sorry Eleanor S that I didn't notify you promptly but your package and post card were both Received Saturday 6/19/10

Love from Texas!