Wednesday, March 5, 2008

WFMW: I'm A Freakin' Freak.

There are a few rather odd things about me. Just ask my husband. Or my sisters. I consider myself to be unique, but they would probably tell me to get over my bad self. That I'm just. plain. weird.

I can't select a book without reading page 13 first. I want to see if I like the way the author writes, if the story will draw me in and make sure the main character isn't annoying. When I buy the book (or check it out from the library) and start reading it, I get the biggest case of deja vu. Then I look down and see that it is the 13th page and all is well with my world again.

I never know if it's "alot" or "a lot". If it's "week end" or "weekend". Nor do I care enough to remember the answer when I'm told. I've got too many other things to keep track of. Like my kid who likes to trip me up. And often.

And speaking of him, I'm kind of a lazy mom. I base many parenting decisions on which choice requires the least amount of effort. For instance Summer Day Camp. Logan's going to the one that doesn't make me pack a lunch every day. I don't care if it costs more money. I get the summer off from that awful chore. And I'm taking it, thankyouverymuch.

I have been on a scary-crazy mission for years-Years-to create the perfect meatloaf. Because meatloaf=comfort. I have tried many recipes that I found in cookbooks, online or just made up in my head. I'm still not satisfied. It may taste good, but it's never good enough. So I will continue on my quest and make the Sassy Family be my taste-testers.

But the one thing I need help with today is remembering to send Birthday cards and thank you notes. On time. Or, at all.

The cult we grew up in forbade us from recognizing birthdays. Apparently it took glory away from Christ. We were also not allowed to celebrate Christmas. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think it was because it took glory away from Herbert W. Armstrong-evil apostle general extraordinaire.

Because I never received jack wrapped in pretty paper, I never had an opportunity to send a thank you card. And in order to avoid public retribution from the pulpit, I also never sent out a birthday card.

Now that I do celebrate these events I have some anxiety. Because when it comes to remembering birthdays and sending thank you notes, I suck donkey butt.

This wouldn't be so bad, except I have married into the most polite and gracious family ever. They mail their thank you notes directly after opening their presents. They call on birthdays AND send a card. They are awesome. I am not.

I have the best of intentions though.

I write the birthdays on our calendar and then promptly forget to look, remember, plan and execute.

I have a drawer full of cute little thank you cards that have been there forever.

After Christmas, Logan and I designed a personalized note thanking his aunts and uncles and grandparents for their fabulous gifts. We took pictures of him playing with the toys they bought him, and wearing the clothes they had purchased. He even wrote a short message on each one.

Only we forgot to send most of them. And by "we", I mean "I". They are still sitting on my desk to finish addressing, attach a stamp and walk down the driveway to our mailbox.


This is where ya'll come in. What are your tried and true methods to recognize the birthdays of your loved ones on time? How soon do you mail your thank you notes?


I really need your help before people stop buying us presents due to our rudeness. And by "our" I mean "my".

Now go help others solve their WFMW problems at Rocks In My Dryer. And thank you.


What's that? You want to comment? Just click on the itty-bitty words below that say "Gimme Some Sugar". Can you see them? Good. We can't wait to chat with you.

21 comments:

Sister Sassy said...

You are a freak but so am I! My friends don't understand why I constantly forget their birthdays (well some don't). I forgot one friends birthday and a month later she told me so I sent her a birthday card once a month for almost a year.

I also got xmas cards to send out...then I was going to send them for new years...now maybe I'll do xmas in july!

I have no advice for you.

Amy Beth @ Ministry So Fabulous! said...

Okay, here's what I do:

I keep a Word file of twelve pages (one for each month). I list people's birthday under the correct month and put them in numerical order. Then, at the start of the month, I sit down and do EVERYONE'S card/gift/etc. right then. If the birthday falls in the first half of the month, I mail that batch out righ then. If it falls in the 2nd half of the month, that entire batch gets mailed on the 15th of the month.

Soooo... no one gets a present on their actual birthday but it is just too hard to try to do that (at least with my current life schedule).

My two cents. :)

Jen said...

I put the b'day dates on my calendar. That helps. A little. I have the same problems you do. Ugh! And I don't have the cult excuse - I just hate. writing. cards.

Martha said...

Dudes?

I think I'm your long-lost cult sister.

I'm awful with birthdays. I do the SAME THING!!!

I know this isn't an excuse, but I could also care less about my own birthday. I think it's because we only made a minor fuss about our birthdays growing up...we had a little party with our friends and then dinner of our choice with only our immediate family.

It's the only way I can explain my birthday indifference!

xoxoxo

Anonymous said...

My husband is in charge of 6 Thank you cards from our wedding. It was in August. They are sitting on the desk. These cards are for him to write because they are to his parents and his groomsmen (who are his brothers), and he refused to write a thank you card to them for our rehearsal dinner. But when I remind him to do them, I'm nagging.

At this point, I am so deeply embarrassed, that I can't even write them myself without putting something extremely degrading to him in the excuse of why they are so late.

Right now, I remembered to have one stepkid send a thank you card to my brother's family for b-day gifts, but I forgot to have the other one do one this past weekend. I'll try to remember next weekend.

-Leah

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hey Sassy, I find this site handy for remembering birthdays. It sends you an email a few days before the event

http://www.birthdayreminders.com/

Sister Sassy said...

Hey Fish, its HB who is the freak but clearly I have the same freak problem lol!

And I used that site...do you know when it pops me up a birthday, I don't even look at it! Isn't that awful? Maybe someone can start a business where they get people's birthday lists and send out cards for them. SISTER SUNSHINE where are you!!

Momisodes said...

I'm terrible with Birthdays. I even forget my own sometimes :(

LOL, and I have that box of misc. thank you cards too ;) I guess I'm weird too!

Amy said...

I'm not saying I always remember to do this, but when I do, it helps.

Write out the month's birthday cards all at once. Sign, seal, and address them. Then, where the stamp goes, write the date it needs to be mailed. Make a habit of checking your pile every day or so, and pop on a stamp and mail it as close to the date as possible.

Also, go ahead and mail those Christmas thank-yous! :) People will get a kick out of them, better late than never, especially after all the effort you put into them.

I'm off to check out some more of your blog now! :)

Britni said...

In my home management binder, I have a section labeled cards. I not only have cards there, but I also have stamps, a pen, and envelopes. I pull the binder out and write, address, and seal cards while I'm watching my favorite show or movie. Once I'm done, I put the cards in an outgoing mail (also known as my key bowl) box and send them the next morning. If I split it into different steps rather than doing it all at once, it never gets done. That works for me!

Mrs. Gray's Class said...

Awhile back our family decided if the gift giver is present at the time of the gift getter's unwrapping and ooohing and aahhhing over said present a thank you card is not necessary.

If not, I pick up the phone and give a thank you call - these days most people don't answer their phones so I can leave a voice mail (I know its terrible, but . . . )

Ashlee said...

I used to be way more on the ball. But with so much going on it's hard to remember. I offer no great words of wisdom. I just write the bdays on the calendar and hope that I remember them. I've usually got most of the nieces and nephews bdays crammed in my head anyway...not the date, but the month. Christmas cards get done by Thanksgiving and sent out the first day of Christmas around here. I want to get them out of the way, so I get started the beginning of November getting the addresses ready. I know...OCD. I can't help it. We don't do thank you cards around here. We either call or tell them in person at the party. It's easier. You are way better than me for even thinking about sending thank you cards! :0)

Jenni said...

Two words: Google Calendar. I enter each birthday as annually recurring, and I set it to email me two weeks before the date. Gives me plenty of time to pick up a small gift or stick a card in the mail.

Good luck!

Kori said...

Just dropped by the blog because it cuaght my eye-and I hate meatloaf, so don't know if I can ever come here again. It is a deep seated hatred, not just a mild dislike. And don't tell me that I just haven't reied yours, I guarantee I won't like it either. I digress...in your words, I cuk donkey butt, and am lucky if I remember the month in which you were born. I don't do cards of any kind unless I am sleeping with you-this applies to both kids and a male. So good luck with that. BTW, love the blog! :)

Veggiemomof2 said...

I have a daily planner that sits at my elbow on my desk. I write on it birthdays so I remember to get cards out. The other day I saw a sign in front of school for a friend's 40th..she is so nice about writing "just thinking of you" cards, so I came home & sent her an ecard..it's better than nothing!

Some people go shopping at the 1st of the month & get all the cards they will need that month, address them, & put them in their calendar to be shipped out a few days before the birthday.

A Walking Contradiction said...

I am on Facebook, and it will tell you which of your friends have birthdays coming up. It's also a really good way to keep in touch. It started as a college social networking site, but now now anyone can join. That's what works for me, because I too forget to look at the calendar.
Other than that, send really cute belated birthday cards!

Mom2fur said...

You just go one being weird, okay? It makes the rest of us 'weirdos' feel better, LOL!
I'm also pretty s*cky about birthdays. But I read this great piece of advice and I'm doing it this year. First, write all the birthdays on a calendar. Yeah, I know...duh. But here's the ticket: the last week of each month, look at the next month's birthdays and get all the cards or gifts you're going to need! By the first of the month, you'll be ready!

Anonymous said...

Hey, once you figure out a system on how to send out cards let me know. I even made this my dumb new years resolution and I didn't do a one.

Anonymous said...

Damn Herbert W!

jen said...

I totally fail at this all the time, but I'm trying hard this year! Here is my plan:

I bought a TON of cards at the beginning of the year. Picked cards out for every person I could think of that I would want to send a card to and a few generic ones. Then I put the birthdays on my calendar on the day of their birthday and one week before that wrote "mail So-and-so's card." It's been working so far.

Whistlertanya said...

I wish I could blame this failing of mine on time spent in a cult dring my youth. N such luck. I just suck. But I write them and send them a hundred times over in my head - I even imagine a stamp

cut yurself some slack HB xoxoxox