August 19, 2025 – With all eyes on the world stage and the weighty issues unfolding there, we thought it time for a little levity here …

Whenever you’re asked, “How are you?” do you pause to honor your emotions before answering, or do you go on auto-response and say, “Fine.” Fyi, the new card message above is word-for-word what I find myself saying often these days. 😆

As I’ve tried to share without whining in past Cardie Newsletters, I’ve had a series of relatively minor health issues this year. With the pain and frustration now largely — and thankfully! — behind me, whenever I hear, “How are you doing?” from a doctor, friend, or whomever, I’ve found myself speaking the udder truth: “I’ve been better … but I’ve been worse!”

Last week I was entering my third hour of waiting for a blood test at Quest when an email arrived from Contributing Cardie Jessica Swaim. This word whiz already has eight Cardthartic cards to her name, and a month from now — in the fall release — you’ll see we’re publishing another of her messages as well as a lovely photo she’s taken. She’s a quite-clever dynamo, that one!

Coincidentally, while I was waiting to be tested, Jessica had been reviewing test results on the proposed fall designs. While the feedback can be a let-down to read at times, we know all our cards benefit from the input lovingly given by discerning and comfortably candid Cardies.

Jessica’s email opened with, “I admit, sometimes constructive criticism lands hard with me because I work so damn hard on every word and want my work to please an audience. But having had several books published now, that experience has taught me to shake it off (mostly … given time :)”

Because my name had yet to be called in that waiting room packed with people who had arrived before me, I wrote Jessica back that, “I think I find any and all feedback so fascinating because it tends to reveal as much about the reviewer as the work.

“Ha!” I laughed, “I doubt I’ll ever live down the time, in my first few days away at college — fresh off the farm! — I watched as a very sophisticated dormmate from New York’s Upper East Side hung this print on her wall.

“When she turned and asked if I was a fan, I pronounced, ‘Well, that artist could sure use more practice drawing hands.’

“Sooooo many years ago, and still I can see the stunned expression on my new friend’s face as she struggled to find the words to break it to the rube in her room, ‘Um, that artist was Picasso.’” 😳😆

Jessica wrote right back, “Omigosh, what a great story! Can you tell it in an upcoming Cardie Newsletter? As self-deprecating as you are,” she continued, “my mother was too, and nobody laughed louder than she did at her own expense. Here’s a story she told — it’s a ‘sound’ joke, so I’ll do my best. Use your imagination!

“After Mom graduated from business college with stellar dictation skills, she went to work for an attorney who had a very pronounced overbite. We’re talking the old cartoon character Bucky Beaver type overbite, which garbled the man’s enunciation. Brand new on the job, Mom took dictation of a letter in which he referred to a ‘four-inch contract.’ Gee, that’s sure a brief contract, thought Mom, and when the time came for her to read the letter back, ‘Bucky’ set her straight. He said, ‘The Aforementioned Contract.’”

Jessica had me giggling so much that I no longer minded the wait (as much). I responded, “Hahaha, great story, Jessica, and of course, it brings to mind so many others over the years! And since I’m still waiting, I’ll tell you how, a decade or so ago, Cardthartic’s sales manager at the time called me to ask what I thought of her sharing with our Canadian distributor some industry gossip she’d heard concerning them. Having always hated gossip of any kind, any time, with reluctance, I said, ‘Well, if you think it’s important that they be told, go ahead, but be very clear that the info you’re sharing is unconfirmed, so they should take it with a grain of salt.’

“I can only assume I was using Bucky-speak on that call because, when I read the resulting email on which I’d been copied, I saw that the sales manager had advised, ‘Jodee says you should take this with a grain assault.’ 😆🤣😂

“Having always loved malapropisms,” I went on to Jessica, “I’ve often imagined a card with a cartoon drawing of a woman waging an offensive using ears of corn! Ok, one more that my friend Susan Lyon (see her Cardie Profile) tells on herself and we’ve laughed about for, gosh, 40 years. She was interviewing for her first job out of college at the Chicago PR firm where we met. When asked why she thought she was the best candidate for the writing position, she sat up a little straighter, looked her would-be boss in the eyes, and said, ‘Why, because I am an exceptional communicator, both orally and verbally!’ 🤓

“Which reminds me of my own first job interview. The woman I so wanted to hire me started giggling as she read a letter of reference written by the publisher of my college newspaper. When I asked what she found funny in what I’d thought was a pretty sober and straightforward LOR, she said, ‘Oh, I’m just wondering if she meant to write that you were really adept rather than stating here that you’re really inept.’

“Jessica,” I concluded, as I’d by then decided to give up my Quest quest for the day, “per your suggestion that we do a Cardie Newsletter on this topic — between your mom, Susan, and inviting Cardies to share their own favorite malapropisms and misspokes — this would be a very fun CNews indeed!” 🤔🙏🏼😎

So whatchagot, Cardies?! Tell us, please and thanks!

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative