I have a Palm Tungsten E. I love it dearly.
All pertinent birthdays are input into the calendar, and they are set to repeat every year in perpetuity.
I have a to-do item called “events”. When that item pops up on my to-do list, I scan the next month or so to figure out which birthdays/anniversaries are coming up, so that I can buy cards/gifts. After I’ve dispatched with those events, I set the to-do item to pop up again next month.
In spite of this air-tight system–this marvel of organizational prowess:
1. When it comes to your birthday, you will receive from reverendmother either of the following:
–a card, sent in time for your birthday
–a phone call ON your birthday
…but probably not both, unless a mental miracle occurs.
2. When I go to put the card in the envelope, I will discover that the envelope is glued shut due to the rainy conditions during the recent Target trip and the fact that I was juggling a toddler, my cell phone (toddler entertainment), a tupperware of Cheerios, and numerous parcels.
Consequently, I will have to pry the envelope open, then tape it shut with the card inside.
3. If I have to tape your envelope shut, I will not be able to find scotch tape. Thus, I will have to resort to tape of the masking, electrical, or if I’m feeling fancy, duct variety.
4. If I have seen fit to buy a gift, I will be unable to wrap it, because:
–all I have are gift bags, and they are either too large, too small, too frilly for a one-year-old boy, or too Christmasy for a July birthday.
And besides, there’s no tissue paper to arrange breezily inside said bags
–I don’t want to use a gift bag anyway because I am shipping this gift and it would be too bulky
–the only wrapping paper I have is a scrap of Christmas paper, but it is 4 inches x 36 inches in size
–did I mention the lack of scotch tape?
5. I then say a prayer of thanksgiving for the mail stop place around the corner and their complete line of shipping supplies. Ahh… decorative mailing envelopes. Wrapping paper for the lazy/ill-equipped, and a lifesaver for the working mother.
PastorG and little “baby” A, this is for you!
14 Responses to “reverendmother birthday rules”
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Asides
» I have been remiss in posting SBJ’s latest stats: 23 pounds and 27 inches at six months. Yes, I’ve got the big mama biceps.
» Aaaaaand little she-who-is lost another tooth this week!
» SBJ is four months old, 19 pounds 5 ounces, and 26 inches tall. GIGANTOR!
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My friends and I have an agreement not to remember each other’s birthdays, though occasionally someone has a random impulse and sends a guilty apology at some entirely irrelevant time of year.
The glorious mail stop store! Yay!
Uncle Matt Birthday rules: Send C’s birthday gifts with Madear as she makes a trip to the DC area in early April, after having the gifts sit in back of said uncle’s car for months on end. The two times I went to the Post Office, they were closed because of holiday reasons. If it’s any consolation, I purchased the gifts too big and too Summery for her to wear in late winter anyways.
Ah, that mail center near you… I remember last year in February when I made a trip to spend C’s birthday with her and being around V-day, I purchased $10 stuffed animals for my other 2 g-children and spent $40 bucks mailing them Next Day Air!!
Oh, the insanity of grandma guilt…
This year, no one I knew got a Valentine from me…how sad.
The only birthdays I remember are those with 0’s in them, and generally only after the 40th. I have a mountain of unsent cards in my drawer here at the office. I, of course, have no excuse. I have been known to send Christmas presents in March before.
My new excuse is that in my little forgotten neighborhood, the only mailing places are designed solely for the sending of money or large parcels to Poland or other Eastern European destinations. My nearest UPS Store, or anything like it, is about 3 miles away (read that as 20 to 30 unsychronized traffic lights away)….sometimes I have to remind myself I live in the 3rd largest city in the U.S., because my little corner of it tends to not be very cosmopolitan.
Is “inputted” a word?
It strikes me as one that is necessary in our modern era but doesn’t sound right for some reason.
Then again, if the Apostle Paul and the Bard can make up words, so can RM.
More appropriately, if Rich Hall can make millions off of new words, then RM can do the same.
Main Entry: 2input
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): in
I am a very diligent auntie for birthdays of those under 10. After that, you get a present a year, which may or may not show up at anything resembling your birthday. And wedding presents…..yikes.
I do think (pertaining to Keith’s comment) that it is a special gift to have friends and family with whom one is so close that things like birthdays and anniversaries (and thank you notes!) are irrelevant. To bastardize a very bad line from a movie, love means never having to remember a birthday.
Of course the very people who fit into that category for me are the people whose milestones I sincerely WANT to remember and acknowledge, regardless of expectation or reciprocation.
my favorite gifts to give and receive are shared events. earlier this year i planned a spa date w/ 2 of my sisters to celebrate their 50th and 60th birthdays. i gave them each a massage and facial. when one sister offered to give me a massage and facial to celebrate my birthday, i said “no, mom is giving it to me for my birthday.” (our mom had died 9 months earlier, but she’s still going to be giving me a birthday gift every year. i’m sure that would please her to know that she gave me a gift that brought me so much pleasure—and i didn’t write mom a thank you note for it either.)
one other birthday story. when i turned 50 i sent notes to ~60 wise women (and 2 wise men—my son and my husband) inviting each person to take me on a dutch treat adventure during the year. we celebrated together all year long—doing everything from birdwatching to cemetary walking—with lots of tasty dutch treat meals in between. it was a wonderful year of celebration. feel free to borrow/modify the idea for your own use if you’d like
Well…it seems I have also adopted your gift-giving philosophy, which is why C. got a call but not a present, yet! And it is also why Kittel’s still sits on my shelf ready to be mailed to you….hopefully you will get it by your next birthday
The problem is that my dear husband, seeing a present sitting out (for me to remember) will put it up in a cleaning frenzy and then I won’t be able to find it for months and months!
PS - Baby A. and PG knows how much auntie rm loves them!
Re: anne’s comments 11 and 12… This is the person with whom I am exploring the possibility of a writing circle. I think everyone can see why in these lovely comments.