Jasmine - What a great deal you got on those pots! WooHoo! Also, thanks for the compliment on the seed packets. You have no idea the countless hours that went in to me folding paper until I found the perfect design! LOL! Here's how you do it: 1. Cut a piece of notebook paper in fourths. Each piece of ruled paper will become the seed packets. I normally just crease it it half both directions and tear along the creased line. 2. Use the short side of the paper as the top. (There are two short sides and two long sides, like any rectangle would have.) I also like to use the red line that goes down the page to the inside of the packet, so that would be facing you right now. Bring the top left corner and top right corner down and in to the top middle part of the paper where both points meet. Where they meet, is where you'll crease the top left and top right side of the paper. It should look like a point at the top that forms a triangular shape at the top of the paper, like the point on an arrow. 3. Bring the bottom of the paper up until it meets the bottom of the triangular shape and crease it there. 4. Bring the left side in to the center of the paper and crease it there. (The center is easily visible by the line that was made in the middle of the top triangle shape you already made. 5. Do the same thing to the right side bringing it also into the center and creasing it. 6. Bring the bottom up to where the the left side and right side straight lines end. 7. Fold the top flap down inside the bottom flap you just brought up to "seal" the envelope. It really is an amazingly simple mini seed packet that used lightweight, ordinary notebook paper. All I do is open up the right side (because I'm right-handed), pour the seeds in and fold it right back up. One thing I would highly recommend is writing on the ruled lines on the front of the packet BEFORE filling with seeds. It's that simple. I've seen a lot of origami packets that had to use the heavier, bulkier paper to stay firm and like a good packet, but this isn't one of them. I've also seen that if even one little line is not perfectly creased, the packets looks "off", but this isn't one of them, either. It's a very forgiving design that hardly shows a flaw even when my kids make them! I hope others will try to make them. If I can scan each image along the way, then I'll try to make another post with pictures. I blow these out while I'm watching TV without ever cutting or gluing paper. I can make over a hundred in no time at all. Just the first ones you make take a little longer as you get used to it, then you fly right through them! Blessings, Angela

Thank you for the advice and wording. I emailed your replies to DD and she feels much better now. She wanted to convey that she had written them in a timely fashion but was concerned that her MIL might somehow feel blamed. She combined the phrasing from your posts and will personally deliver them to the PO....now she's crossing her fingers that the PO doesn't let her down. She may even follow up with a phone call in 2 weeks. I knew her spirits had lifted when she said to be sure and extend her thank you to all who helped. Thank you - officially.

When my parents had a blow out, formal anniversary party (but not a wedding style one), I designed the invitations and a matching thank-you note. The printing was nicely done on nice paper, but really didn't cost a lot compared to basic stuff like food. Having a large stack of personalized notes makes things so easy. It was a nice touch, having it match the invitations, seating cards, etc. There were plenty extra, and my mother still prefers to use them 10 years later. Kids could do the same kind of thing. Design their own thank-you notes and make a stack of them, keep them in a lovely box with a pen, ready to write (we always had bought ones; something one always had at the ready, however). They could be digital or linoleum block print or any image that can be scanned and printed. They should all be the same though, so the kids don't get stuck on wanting to keep the best one and the pink one and the one with the dog on it, etc. I think if you put the same importance on the object and ritual of writing as you do on the meaning it becomes more tangible for kids. I'm perfectly happy to receive the "draw JC a picture" type of kid thank-yous done on notebook or copy paper, but I know it's kind of a drag for them to do them. Creating a note, and acquiring or making envelopes that fit, and finding or decorating a beautiful box for them, is rewarding in itself, and then getting to use them in the beginning is something to look forward to, rather than a boring chore. (One can hope (though perhaps futilely) that before it's a bore it becomes a habit.) For a large formal party or wedding (well more than 50 guests, i.e., beyond what most can remember), where you have reply cards (or the digital equivalent), it's so easy to use a card file box or spread sheet to keep track of the addresses, gift received, note sent, etc. Just a little organization does wonders. I said my piece above about gifts without tags with names, but it's really hostess gifts that lack them, usually, except that occasional one where the card fell out and you have to use process of elimination and call the mom to confirm. Given that you have a gift and a tag and know you're going to open and separate the two, being prepared with a smartphone or spiral notebook, writing the description of the gift on the card as well, and keeping the card in or tied to the gift, are all strategies that let you know who gave what. Having the giver write it out for you and address the thank-you notes is TACKY and LAZY and RUDE. I would make an exception for a developmentally or mentally challenged individual who had a particular deficit in focus and organization and really needed help (most don't). I'm sorry. I'm going on and on. I'm just a bit shocked and really ticked off at the chutzpah.

Time with family is certainly the best gift. Sounds like a super-wonderful, memorable day, Sue. Happy birthday, whenever it is. Thank you for sharing your day. Going off-topic a little, hope it's ok... I spent a week taking care of my 5-year old grandson in the afternoons. I had my coloring books, and he wanted to do a page, so we picked the easiest one for him (a ladybug). He worked so hard to stay in the lines and did a pretty good job. It was such a peaceful time coloring together, just chatting about anything, asking each other what color do you think this should be, and so on. It was a really lovely time. Since then I've noticed his coloring in general is much better, and he pays attention to his colors (no green skin) like he didn't do so much before. I'm sure the coloring will benefit Alyssa as well, to say nothing of the time spent with loving family.