Special Holiday Postmarks

Would you like your little ones to receive a letter from Santa with an actual "North Pole" postmark?

If so, place the sealed, stamped and addressed letter inside a larger envelope that is addressed to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation Postmaster

5400 Mail Trail

Fairbanks, AK 99709

Be sure that both envelopes bear the appropriate postage so the addressee of the inner envelope receives the Santa mail with the "North Pole, Alaska" cancellation.

Special holiday postmark designs may also be had by routing your Christmas cards through these post offices:

Bethlehem, PA 18016

Carrollton, MO 64633

Christmas Valley, OR 97641

Holly, CO 81047

Holly, MI 48442

Hope, ID 83836

Hope, KS 67451

Hope, MN 56046

Nazareth, PA 18064

Noel, MO 64854

Saint Joseph, MI 49085

Saint Marys, WV 26170

Santa, Claus, IN 47579

Santa, ID 83866

Star, ID 83669

Star, MS 39167

Star, TX 76880

Starlight, PA 18461

Place your addressed cards in a larger envelope that has been addressed to the Postmaster of the office you wish to cancel your cards. At the bottom left corner mark it "Attention: Christmas Re-Mailing."

To have the your mail reaches the ultimate destinations before December 25th, plan so that the package/envelope reaches the cancelling post office by the 15th and be sure to use the proper postage - inside and out.

For a full list of U.S. Post Offices with holiday-based names, please click HERE. Not all on this list will have holiday design cancellations. However, the Post Offices actually listed above are to have a special design.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms - Story Call

I had this in an e-mail sent to myself to look at later (does anyone else do that?). I don't know where I ran across this submission call, but here it is to share with you:

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms

101 Stories Celebrating the Power of Choice for Stay at Home and Work from Home Moms

Raising children, managing homes, and maybe even keeping a hand in the working world can place incredible demands on mothers. These multi-tasking, high-performing women have become today’s power moms.

Moms – share your stories about being a mom and doing it all. Dads – share your feelings about your stay at home wife. And children of moms who stayed at home – tell us about your mom. Stories should be written in the first person and should not exceed 1200 words.

Any stories are welcomed, including those on the following topics:

• Celebrating the choice to be at home: Share your most treasured moments

• Making the choice to stay home or scale back work to raise kids

• Managing the new demands of raising healthy, accomplished and well-balanced children

• Meeting the challenges of running a household in an increasingly busy world

• Clever ways of multi-tasking: getting it all done every day

• Dad at work, Mom at home: Surviving the division of labor in your marriage
• Facing Baby Brain Drain: Making quality time for yourself

• Reclaiming the joys of work through charity and community service

• Creative ways to work from home

• Mompreneurs: Making your own family-friendly job

• Reinventing yourself when the kids are all in school

• The power of female friendship: How women rely on each other to get through the day

• The buck stops with you: Feeling the pressure of being everyone’s go-to person

• Life in the minivan: Making the most of the driving black hole

• Giving up the Guilt: When doing it all is impossible

If your story is chosen, you will be a published author and your bio will be printed in the book. You will also receive a check for $200 and ten free copies of the book, worth more than $100. Your story will be copyrighted in your name and you will retain your rights to resell the story to another publication after it is published by Chicken Soup.

DEADLINE IS SEPTEMBER 1, 2008. SUBMISSIONS GO HERE.

Submissions to our web site receive faster attention and are more likely to be published, but if you do not have Internet access, please submit your story by mail or by facsimile.
Chicken Soup for the Soul

P.O. Box 700

Cos Cob, CT 06807-0700

Fax 203-861-7194

If you have a piece published, please consider letting me know. Hey, I'd gladly even accept one of those free books.

So, get writing. Ask St. Francis de Sales and St. Lucy, the patron saints of writing/authors, to pray for you and get to it- no excuses!

Eucharistic Congress "Articles" on Zenit

Just in case you've missed the Eucharistic Congress coverage on EWTN, you might want to check out Zenit's site. They have some of the homilies and catechetical lessons. A search for the word "Quebec" is the quickest way to thin out the list of articles - the reason being that Congress is being held in Quebec. Some really good stuff out there!

"Amazing Grace" - How Good the Movie

I just got done watching the DVD "Amazing Grace," a historical drama about William Wilberforce's work to rid England of the slave trade. Called "Amazing Grace" because Wilberforce's anti-slavery journey began by being influenced by John Newton, the slave trader turned minister who wrote the song "Amazing Grace" in celebration of his salvation.

If you are looking for a good movie, this one fits the bill. If you have mature kids - young teens on up - you might want to share it with them too. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that rape is mentioned and restraints for that purpose were quickly shown, I would have liked my 12 year old son to see this movie. There is nothing gratuitous to the story and it definitely has heartwarming moments - yet it is decidedly not a chick flick. Just a good movie.

One of the reasons I'm hoping to show this movie to my son when he is a touch older is that it did very well portraying the tenacity needed to accomplish things sometimes. Knowing that slavery was a vile wrong, William Wilberforce spent years championing the abolition issue. It put me of a mind of the fact that we shouldn't lose hope when fighting to overturn Roe v. Wade. Hearts and minds can be changed - it just may take time.

Tomato FDA Consumer Advisory

The Food Drug and Alcohol Administration has issued an advisory about the consumption of roma tomatoes and raw red round tomatoes. Some of you may know romas as "plum" or "paste" tomatoes - they are the ones you'll find in Olive Garden salads.

Well, however you know your tomatoes, the FDA is saying that you should only eat roma and raw red round tomatoes produced in the following areas: Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Israel, Netherlands, and Puerto Rico. There have been 145 known cases of salmonella connected to roma and/or raw red round tomatoes since the middle of April. Additionally, because this situation, there have been at least 23 hospitalizations.

When they advise against the raw red round tomatoes, they are talking about the ones you might use on a sandwich - the larger ones. Not included in the advisory are cherry, grape, and tomatoes sold with attached vines. Of course, the ones in your own garden are fine to use even if you are in a ban state. Unless there is something you might or might not want to share with the class about your own personal hygiene.

If you'd like to read the FDA Consumer warning about this subject, please click on the picture of the roma tomatoes. Who knows - maybe there has been an update since I posted this. Just remember to come back to visit.

Gas Savings

In that our family ran back and forth to a neighboring state 3 times this weekend, cutting the cost of gasoline is on my mind this morning. These are some gas saving ideas that I came across:

Stick with 89 octane

Most cars have been designed to run on it. To use a higher grade will not increase performance if your car wasn't designed for it. Plus, the higher the number, the more pollutants. Imagine, cheaper is greener.

Think out your trips

Before you get going, take a moment to figure out if you combine trips. Just because you are used to picking up the dry cleaning on Wednesdays, why not grab it on Tuesday after the kids' gymnastics class if it is just down the street? Instead of driving 6 miles to the bread outlet, ask you husband to stop at on the way home. After all, it is only a half mile out of his way - and you'll save a gallon of gas every other time.

Give the brakes a break

Why rush to stop signs? Believe it or not, it is a gas waster. If you are approaching a stop, take you foot off the gas. If you anticipate stops by removing your foot from the gas, that coasting will save you money - on brake wear too.

Know where to go

http://www.mapquest.com/ - bookmark it and check it before you leave the house. Senseless driving translates into centsless driving. If you've lost your way once you've left home, stop to ask directions.

Get thee to a garage

Regular maintenance of your vehicle cannot be over estimated. A government site that has a break down on the gas savings of maintenance cites the savings of a properly tuned up car as $0.14 per gallon. That is just one element of maintaining your car! Proper tire pressure, clean oil of the correct grade, clean air filters and a bunch of other who-ja-ma-whats-its that your local mechanic knows about will save you at the pump.

Turn the car off

Okay, okay. That is a pretty obvious one. The reason I mention it is because it is so easy to forget when you pull in the driveway and want to hear the rest of a song, or when you are about to leave and release that you forgot something in the house. At those times we often mindlessly leave the engine running. The thing to remember though is that the miles per gallon while in idle is zero, zilch, nada.

Get the junk out of the trunk

The more weight in the car, the greater drag. And I'm not talking about your cousin Charlie who now goes by the name Charlene. Winter is over - take the chains, kitty litter, shovel and whatever else is in the back end out. While you're there, might as well remove the envelope of expired coupons. Won't make a difference in gas consumption, but you'll feel better about yourself.

Don' let the AC run up the GQ

When you use the car's air conditioning system the engine has to run harder - upping the gas quotient. It is a matter of expending energy. Before you turn the air conditioner on, consider putting down a window instead.

Avoid the speed trap

No, I'm not saying talking about police operations; rather, I'm saying not to get sucked into thinking that you have to go as fast as the posted speed limit. Thinking back to when the federal government legislated the 55 mph limit, I remember the fact that the most cost efficient speed to drive is 45mph at a steady rate. When the posted speed is 65mph, you do not have to drive that fast - in fact, that is the maximum to be driven in the area. Just be sure that you stay in the right hand lane if you are not going as fast as the limit and don't go slower than the minimum. Speed kills... gas mileage.

Consider car pooling and alternative forms of transportation

<-----The picture says it all.