From Janet to SKIp - Saucy Skip story

 Janet noticed that Skip's name starts with S-K-I .... which pretty much blew my mind. I can't imagine how I never noticed that. So Janet get's the Big Brain Award for July. I can't remember if I have ever written about the Big Brain Award. It's another Wilson Family Story - but ties in a bit to making special things out of paper and ink.

I just did a search and it looks like I never mentioned the Big Brain Award. I started it one year when the kids were, in theory, grown up - but - still doing stuff that harkened back to toddlers and kindergarteners. Over the years, MrWilson had figured out he could ease my load at Christmas time by just buying what he wanted, have me wrap it and he'd act surprised.

One year I wanted to surprise him with something unexpected. I reflected on the year and he had participated in 3 things that were above and beyond in the area of resolving problems. I only remember two of the big-brain level solutions. One was simply the concept of asking to extend a lease on a car for a month to resolve some vehicle shuffling when we had 5 drivers - not a big deal - unless you are me - and had no idea how easy and flexible car leasing is. 

The biggest Big-Brained problem solving of all was when Skip called me and said that he was on his way home because he had spilled a gallon of barbecue sauce in his car. His summer job was working for a restaurant and on the day he called he was shuttling supplies from the restaurant to an outdoor food festival. He pulled the car into the driveway walked in the house and plopped down at the computer..... I looked at the situation and, I too, wanted to just go in the house and find something else to do - but, I stood there staring at it -- about 3-inches of sauce on the floor in the back seat -- all I could think of was getting my ladle.

MrWilson glanced at it - and calmly walked into the garage and pulled out the wet-dry shop vac and took care of it in short order. I never would have thought of that in a million years. The aroma in the car was actually rather pleasant - for about a year.

This is too long - more tomorrow.

BONUS post - scroll down for today's envelope

Alert reader, Clover, sent a reminder that the rates are going up. This is from The Portland Stamp Company. I always print it out and keep it visible on my desk to help me remember what the rates are.

Thanks for the reminder Clover....

                .....today's envelope is right below.

 

To Skip from Grace - car talk

 This is a super fun idea from Grace. I know he will love it. It reminds me of a couple of Skip's car stories. We told him he could take our old Saab back to his college in Vermont after winter break of his freshman year if he had a B average - which he did. That car made it through all 4 years and then headed out to Tahoe where it spent a couple more years. He drove it to Iowa and took off for a nomadic phase of a year in Chile with side trips to Argentina and Easter Island. We had never bothered to transfer the title.

As a mom, I did not think the Saab was safe any more and didn't trust that he'd pay attention to the brake maintenance, etc when he returned to Tahoe. I convinced MrWilson to sell it while Skip was gone to force *us* into figuring out a better car. About 3 days after Skip returned from Chile my dad died and my mom did not drive so Skip inherited a marvelous vehicle - a true grandpa car - a Chevy Lumina. That car lasted for a really long time -- until that time he headed out with friends in the Tahoe area to ski the backcountry. That's where you just park on the side of the road and hike into the wilderness. As he returned to the car he thought, "That's strange, I thought I parked the car facing the other direction." As he got closer and saw the other side of the car he discovered that someone had hit the car hard enough to turn it 180-degrees. The car was totaled, but he got way more from the insurance than he would have if he had traded it in, so it was a win-win. 

In true Skip-the-minimalist fashion, he found a place to park the totaled car and used it for a storage unit for ski gear for a while - until he emigrated to Canada in 2020.

To Skip from Mia - July exchange sign-up

 

It was tidy (or symmetrical?) when my May envelopes came to the end on June 30th so that I could start July with the Skip series. Skip is my older son. He was hatched in July of 1984 and for his 40th birthday he booked a trip to Peru to do the kind of skiing where you have to climb the mountain in order to ski down. What kind of people do that? Part of me is thinking of devoting the month of July to my top 31 stories about the kind of people who do wildly difficult things. Maybe I will just run my top 10.

When I sent out the lists for the May exchange - right after I clicked [Send] on the first list - I remembered that Skip was turning 40 and I had never put his name on the list so I quickly swapped out his name on the remaining lists so that I would have a stack of birthday mail for him. I put down skiing and mountain biking as his main interests - and exchangers came up with some spectacular ideas. Mia's is very clever with the bicycle chain and wrench.

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Well, this is a first - a real time link - to Skip's instagram - and you can see what's happening in Peru - 

Link to Skip's instagram

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Today through July 4th is the window to sign-up. 

If you participated in the June exchange - just shoot me an email that says: SIGN ME UP - 

and you will get your list on July 5th. 

Let me know if it is your [Birthday] month or if you are willing to be on [2 Lists].

This streamlined sign-up is only for people who signed up in June - as I will not dig back through old lists to find your information.

If you are an occasional exchanger - or a new exchanger - or took June off - then send the following info in this format:

Jane Doe

123 Oak Street

Ames, IA 50010

janedoe@aol.com

[Birthday]  [2 Lists]

If you are new to the exchange - here is a LINK to additional details about the exchange