Getting Clever in the Least Dangerous Way Possible

                 I don't know if I've ever mentioned this before, but there's a good chance that the lid for your biggest sauce pan most likely fits your smallest frying pan.  I mention this because I was remembering this nugget while fretting about needing to eat the chicken breasts out of the freezer soon.  This week's frozen stuff fit in through sheer determination, and as we are getting a new fridge in the next few weeks, we should probably have less stuff in there.  If I put a chicken breast into the frying pan on low heat with the lid on, it defrosts and cooks without drying out.  Then I throw in some sauce and cheese and pretend that I am making good nutritional decisions. 

                I'm discovering that most of my life hacks result from curiosity and a love of hitting buttons.  For example, did you know you can get stamps from most Wells Fargo ATMs?  I learned this from wondering what was on the "more" menu.  I was wondering what could possibly be on that menu, as the front menu already had "deposit," "withdrawal," "balance inquiry," and "transfer."  If you select it, the ATM will charge your account for the sheet of stamps and will spit it out in the same spot as your cash.  They're the boring flag stamps, but they will make a letter go to the address you put on the envelope, so that's worth something. 

                I've been passing this tip on to all my friends who don't feel comfortable going into the post office or the customer service desk at the grocery store (they offer them there, too.) right now.  You can also order them on usps.com, and the selection is pretty fantastic--the older designs will usually run out last on the website.  When I bought holiday stamps to put away for next year, preventing the runout that happened this year, I could select from lots of themes, including Renaissance art, Christmas carols, and modern festive art.  I just keep all of them in the decades-old gallon zippy bag that lives in my desk drawer with every bit of postage I have.  If I have them scattered around my house, I can continue to live in a never-ending lie that I surely have a few more stamps around here somewhere (This is almost never actually true.), and that I am just not looking hard enough (I totally am.).

                My other favorite mail-related life hack has been majorly handy this year, too.  When I was working regularly at Renaissance Fabrics, I noticed that the flat rate padded envelopes shipped for about a dollar more than the flat rate envelope (exploring the drop down menu on PayPal...).  On a whim, I tried them out, and I have become obsessed.  You almost always have to order them from the postal service--most counters don't have any, but they are totally worth it.  I can fit up to eight yards of silk taffeta or two yards of light weight wool in a flat rate padded, and it has a chance of landing in the receiver's mailbox, rather than their porch--much more secure.  Wins all around. 

                I have a theory that there is some kind of tear in the time/space continuum somewhere in these things.  That's the only way I can explain how much stuff I can jam into them.  It's magical.  If I'm sending a lot of loose pieces, I throw them all in a plastic bag first, just so the recipient can be sure to get it all out on the first try, but otherwise, the envelope contains everything nicely, and it is pretty close to waterproof.  If I follow my sister's example and get one of those food sealers that suck all the air out of the bag, I could probably send small quilts and stuffed animals in padded flat rates, too.  I should look into that.

                I should probably eat down the freezer before I start looking into that, though.  There's no room left for anything more, and I should probably use the food sealer for sealing food once in a while.