greeting cards | Mary J. McCoy-Dressel ~ Contemporary Romance

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Tuesday Inspiration for the Muse: Why I Bought Myself a Greeting Card & Much More

Posted at 12:56 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on October 4, 2016

Mary J McCoy-Dressel Books

It’s time to revisit Tuesday Inspiration for the Muse. Where did I get the idea for today’s post? Every day while at my desk, I look at a greeting card I bought for myself. You read it correctly. LOL I did buy a greeting card for myself.

When I saw this card, I loved it. It also has my author brand color as the background. 🙂 Of course, the meaning can be taken a few different ways such as “life” itself. Since I’m an author, we all know how I took it. And I believe it, too.

I like what the greeting card says. Maybe it’ll inspire you today.

mary j mccoy dressel books, western romance,

Before I go further, I’d like to thank the person who wrote this card for American Greetings. I’m sorry I can’t give credit, but I don’t know who to credit.

Last week I removed it from the frame it sits in and snapped a picture of the card. I got the inside too, but I bought it for the outside. I wouldn’t say about myself what the inside says, but I’ll share the inside of the card. For those of you who have been around for a while, you might remember the post I had written about my greeting card collection.

mary j mccoy dressel, western romance

Now on to the “More” in the Headline of this post.

I used my iPad® to write this for last weeks Tuesday Inspiration post. My computer was in repair but it wasn’t broken. It wouldn’t accept a Windows® operating system Anniversary update, so it locked up. The tech took control remotely, but it needed more than he could do. The update didn’t install for him either. Five hours later, he told me to bring it in. The tech was very nice, and while the update was installing, he called a few times for updates on the progress. During the install, he didn’t have access to my computer.

I pulled out my old computer and felt lucky to have the old fella. My old one isn’t online because I don’t have virus protection on it any longer, so I couldn’t send the post to myself. On a happy note, I was able to type the end to Lassoing the Last Dance, and had written the ending out in longhand first while brooding over a number of things that had gone wrong last week. To avoid pulling my hair out, I began revising book two in the new series. Whew!

Thank God for My Passport® Ultra external hard drive, which made it easy to add my working files to my old computer, and then back to this computer. This is why Inspiration for the Muse didn’t get posted last week when I had written it.

Autumn Arrived! October is Here.

Last week it rained every single day. Highways were flooded. Cars were trapped underwater. Everyone got out safely. In my town, it’s a pretty autumn day today. Fall is my favorite season, but I didn’t expect to attend an outside wedding so soon.

In Love

My son and his fiancee are getting married this month! I was notified a couple weeks ago. True story. ❤ ❤ They got engaged on a snowy mountain peak in Colorado not long ago. Seems my boy is a romantic, too. 🙂 ❤

Well now, didn’t this turn out to be a scattered post.

Y’all have a fantastic rest of the week!

Note: Expect a cover reveal for Whispers of Forever: Mending Christmas soon. Newsletter subscribers have already seen it.

Snowy Engagement Credit: Pixabay

Posted in #AmWriting | 10 Comments | Tagged computer updates, greeting cards, inspiration, Mary J McCoy-Dressel, series romance, Tuesday Inspiration for the Muse, western romance

Greeting Card Overload Equals A Lifetime Of Memories

Posted at 12:02 pm by Mary J. McCoy-Dressel, on September 7, 2015

Earlier, I had posted a blog about writing love letters. It reminded me of the greeting cards I’ve saved throughout the years. If I had love letters, trust me, they’d be saved.

As I began cleaning out ‘stuff’ to move, I came across a box with greeting cards I’ve saved over the years. I compiled them all into a box, and wrote a note on the outside to my sons who will one day have to go through that box. (*Maybe) The cards represent the many people who have loved, or cared for me, for one reason or another.

They go back as far as my early adult years—starting with wedding congratulations, high school graduation cards, and college graduation cards. (I graduated as an adult with children.)

Also included are “welcome new baby cards,” homemade/purchased birthday cards, and wedding anniversary cards. Oh, of course I have a multitude of ❤ Valentine’s Day ❤ cards. I have many from my best friend—who is still my best friend. I have funny, sad, and photo cards. Of course, you can’t live a life without sympathy cards involved, too.

This isn’t to say I’ve saved every single card I’ve ever received.

One in particular stands out. A handmade card that came straight from someone I knew in prison. The card is absolutely gorgeous, and was created by an artist who made cards for inmates—an inmate himself.

My goal has always been to make a large collage out of those cards that show me as a wife—an ex-wife once and a widow another time. Therefore, I have step-mom cards from my second marriage. Cards that show me as a mom, aunt, niece, sister, friend, teacher. Many are from people who have passed away.

I told my youngest son if I made them into a collage, he could show it at my funeral instead of making a photo board. Of course, if they do make a photo board, I’d instruct them to add all my book covers. 🙂 That’s a big part of my life so I believe it would be necessary. Do you agree?

Everyone can look at my sexy cowboys and maybe not be sad because I died. I might be off to cowboy Heaven for all I know.

This collage is a visual in my head. It might be on a big poster board, or maybe something sturdier. I’d cut out the reason for the card, be it mom, wife, etc. Then, I’d cut out who the card was from and add it beside the title of the card. I’ve loved creating photo collages for a long time, so this would be easy and fun. After the collage was finished, it could be laminated so it’d last. Depending on how it was made, it could even go into a frame. I know there are sites online where you can do Scrapbooking. Maybe I could also do a collage online instead. It isn’t like I have time to scan all those cards, though.

Why bother? The collage would be more important to me than anyone else, so after I was gone, they could trash it along with the funeral flowers if they chose.

My youngest son and his girlfriend recently helped me get my storage tubs and smaller items moved before my movers came for the heavy load. I showed my boy’s girlfriend the box of cards. Her reaction surprised me…

Her grandmother had recently passed away and she told me that she and her family had to go through every card, letter, and pieces of old, saved mail, etc., and trash it all. “No one will want to go through that stuff,” she said. In reality, she’s right because as I said, the cards are more important to me. *Hmm, on some cold winter day, I’ll create the collage for myself. No harm in letting it hang on the wall for a time. If I get sick of looking at it, the Dumpster is right down at the end of my parking lot.

What do you do with Greeting Cards?

Do you save all of your greeting cards?
Are you choosier about the ones you do save?
Do you save them at all?
For a long time?
A short time?

Is it just me?

My son says I’m weird. Does this make me “weird”?

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Thanks for stopping by today. 🙂

Moving Van Photo: http://morguefile.com/, Greeting Card #1 Photo credit: © Retro Clipart | Dreamstime.com, Greeting Card #2 Photo credit: © Vladimir Ovchinnikov | Dreamstime.com