What a magnificent present. All of us at Once and Again are just knocked out by your effort. We want to thank you so much for this inspiring wreath. Today, we are hanging it in our conference room for all to see during our cast read through. This is the same room in which we hold our production meetings, so the crew will see it as well. I am sure as word spreads thoughout the company, everyone will stop by to see the wreath.

We hope that all of you enjoy tonight's premiere episode.

Well, the first episode just ended, so I thought this would be a good time to post...

I want to take this moment to thank all involved in the great "Once and Again" wreath. I am on the crew of Once and Again, and I will tell you it was the talk of the set today. Mention of it was even attached to tomorrow's callsheet.

You will be happy to know, it is hanging on the wall of our Warehouse (Stage 7) at Once and Again productions. I read your letters that came with the wreath and I am very happy to hear how much all of you enjoy the show. I was so impressed that I had to go upstairs to our office and log-on here to see what you all were saying. Anyway, once again (no pun) thanks for the wreath and be assured the production (Cast and Crew) really appreciated it.

I just wanted to thank everyone for helping with this wreath. You all have been so sweet and supportive. I have enjoyed receiving and sending email from and to you -- it was fun receiving all of the "little brown boxes" in the mail. (I kept wondering what my personal postal worker was thinking!)

There were so many items sent that it was a challenge to get all of them on the wreath. My hubby was truly impressed with the wreath tonight when he came home. His quote was, "I don't know how you did it, but it is beautiful!" (Quite a nice thing from a guy who was rolling his eyes at me just a few short days ago!) I was not able to make room for all of the cold medicine or all of the laminated items. I honestly did the best I could and hope none of you will be offended that some of the items just did not work.

There were a couple of mishaps along the way -- just thought I would share a few. Well, Karen tried sending some plastic wine glasses. The first shipment was smashed -- thanks to the bottle of scotch! The second shipment arrived cracked. I thought I could still make them work, but I could not. I am sorry, Karen.

Karen also sent a small mug that she had taped a Krispy Kreme donut logo to. Well, once I decided how the mug should be put on the wreath, I knew I would have to move the logo to make it work. My heart sunk when I ripped the logo. (Again, sorry Karen.) Well, that meant that we had to take a road trip to the closest Krispy Kreme about 30 minutes away. My youngest son, the martyr (!), went with me and we did buy a dozen donuts to get the box. Imagine my surprise when a friend of mine was working there and she gave us her discount. I was thrilled to get the dozen donuts for $2.25 AND she gave me an empty box for a nice clean logo! LOL (Karen, it worked beautifully and the mug looks great on the wreath!)

Sue, sent a cricket that had been green and she was coloring it black. Well, I tried to completely cover it with black and it looked just awful So, on another trip to the local Ben Franklin, I did find a black cricket and he looks great. (I suspect that the original cricket was a grasshopper in disguise! LOL)

Well, we did find the wreath at our local Gardenrigde store. It is 36" wide and is beautiful. The ribbon for the bow was bought at Michaels on a half-price sale. It is red (see through) with gold trim and gold glitter. I made the bow is two pieces and wired it together. I think it turned out really well. (I know it will be smashed when it arrives in CA.)

At our local Ben Franklin store, I bought some paint-on glitter. My son and I jazzed up some of the pieces. Again, I hope you appreciate our efforts and are not offended that we messed with your creations. We added glitter to: the cat in the hat, the chef hat, the sea bass, the basketball, the soccer ball, the Chinese food box (It looks really cool, because we have the cricket crawling out of the box! LOL), the Christmas trees, the Knight in shining armor, the red heart that says Rick and Lily, and the grocery bag.

I am attaching the letter that I am enclosing with the wreath. If you have any addition or deletions, please let me know tonight! Sorry about the short notice, but that is what life is like here right now!

I am sorry that some of you have not been able to see the wreath pictures yet. Catherine will be posting them on her web site in a couple of days, so, then . . .

Thanks for your warm thoughts sent during the box-making episode! FYI, the marriage is just fine! Since I am the Detail Goddess, I wanted to share the following facts with you:

	The box was 38" x 38" x 12" and made from two big sheets of cardboard and 
several smaller boxes
· It took hubby 2 hours to create this box.
· It had a small box glued to the center for the hole of the wreath.  It had 
braces in all four corners and the wreath was wired to these braces.
· There were several air pillows on top of the wreath.
    · The address "label" was an 8.5 x 11 sheet of fluorescent paper
    · There were 4 "This side up please" labels (1/2 sheets of paper) and 4 
"No top             
    freight please" labels.
    · The box was made with 16 glue stick and yards and yards of tape!

The items on the wreath were all just incredible:
    · some were handmade, others bought, others laminated pictures
    · some people sent one item
    · many people send several items
    · a few sent numerous items (Trish raided the neighborhood children's toy 
boxes and handcrafted the crutches and the Gingerbread items, Song solicited 
a feather from her pet cockatiel and she created many of the items including 
a plaid shirt for Rick, Karen took a picture of her favorite wine bottle and 
twice sent wine glasses that broke in shipping, Sisko had his wife stitch the 
Home Sweet Home sampler, Jeff parted with his Frosted Flakes box [I still 
wonder if he has ever used that line!], Ashley freehand painted the balls, 
Catherine cross-stitched the door and the Santa, Paula found a great store 
that was going out of business and found so many of the cute little items, 
Linda found the exercise bicycle magnet!, Sue obtained a clean Chinese food 
box and painted a cricket, Judy donated the Barbie dolls clothes [does 
Kristen miss them yet?], Ellen was a master with the laminating machine and 
she even found a little computer that said: you've got mail!, Dor found a 
silk orchid, Carol made a generous donation to the purchase of the wreath, 
Lyn found the little book "Woman to Woman", Marco was the first one to send 
something and it was a turkey -- really, it was the turkey, my friend Renee 
borrowed a few toys from her daughter's collection, and I was the privileged 
one who had the pleasure of seeing and touching each and every item!)

Of course, I did not mention every item. They were all incredible and I thank you!

Some of you were worried about the money.  Really, everything is just fine!
    · most people remembered the $1.00, some forgot
    · some people sent more than $1.00
    · two people sent $10.00
    · one sweet Canadian sent all of the American coins from her piggy bank