If she had the proper words to say,

We can't find Vanilla Coke™ anywhere lately, and after several weeks of looking, I was frustrated!

So Philip is on security patrols tonight in our neighborhood, and he was stopping by the base shoppette for a snack. I had an idea, so I asked him to grab two things and bring them by on his route. He did.

And now I'm happily sipping a homemade Vanilla Coke... made with Coca-Cola® and A&W® Cream Soda™. Perfect!

About a million years ago, I received a ginormous surprise box from chelelev. (Okay, okay - it was around Christmastime... but really? Wasn't that about a million years ago, too?) In said surprise box, there were CRAZY amounts of assorted Coca-Cola® goodies: a decorative metal tray, several years of collectible tin playing cards, frisbees for the boys, a wooden crate, and more. There were also several antique issues of Workbasket, a discontinued crafting magazine that used to feature tatting patterns every so often, and a holiday card.

I still need to get some iron plate hangers for the tray, plus two more that I have of my own, so I can display them on the wall, but just last week, Philip helped me to finally get the wooden crate up and displayed. I put tons of tiny knicknacks in the crate, including eleven tiny Coca-Cola trucks that mix3d3m0ti0n5 mailed me over a year ago - I hadn't displayed them previously because I couldn't figure out a good way to do so... and then along came Chele's crate!

Here's a pic of the crate in place on my dining room wall:



And here's another, of both the crate, and the adjacent wall:



There is more Coke stuff in the room, but I didn't feel like photographing the other walls. I might, later, when I get those other trays up and displayed as well. (And, let's be honest, I might never get around to it. *wink*)

Related, I received another surprise box in the mail a couple weeks ago - this time from mostcurious. It did not fall into a postal black hole, as she might've feared, but it did land in my hands... and these are hands that are awful delayed in letting folks know I've received their box!

-- tangent: I just remembered, redwink, that I never let you know I did receive my books back and your sweet card. Thanks! --

Back to the box I'm currently discussing, though: it contained a SURPRISE knit hat from Catherine herself, made to match the Slytherin scarf she made me many months ago. And, I just (as in, two seconds ago), took a pic to prove the existence of both great items:


Slytherin scarf and hat

Also, she FILLED the rest of the box with Coca-Cola caps and box ends with codes on them. Over the past couple years, she would save them up and email me a bunch - sometimes 50 or more at a time - but this was unreal! I counted, and there were over 200+ codes! It is taking me FOREVER to enter them all (and Philip has been helping me, sitting on the office floor and calling out the numbers and letters while I type), but I'm so grateful!

-- another tangent: maryjo once mailed me a box with about 50+ codes too, as well as huge bags of candy for the boys. If I haven't already said thank you for that, then THANK YOU, too! --

So the point of this post is that I'm actually very grateful to all those mentioned, and I'm so sorry that I'm so remiss in thanking you!