I'm still alive and writing letters!

I've been sick for several days and am behind on my letter writing but catching up. Even with feeling cruddy, I've managed to send out at least one piece of mail every postal day, some days more. I just haven't been online much at all but since I'm starting to feel better I'll be back to reading y'alls blogs and posting more. Bear with me, please. 

I hope your mailbox is full of loveliness today!

Outgoing for the second day of LetterMo

Friday night a friend of mine came over and brought stationery, note cards, stickers and such. We went out for Chinese food then came back here and spent the evening making envelopes and writing letters. We had a great time, made a lot of mess, and stayed up until close to 4 AM! I think we did more talking and laughing than actual work but that's okay.

I can't tell you the last time I stayed up that late and having someone to talk to and bounce ideas off of was great. I really wish I could find others interested in this stuff but so far no luck. Well, I posted an ad on CL recently looking for other fans of letter writing and got one response from a woman in a town an hour and a half from me. We're too far apart to meet often but have agreed to write one another and perhaps meet for coffee in the near future. It's a start and hopefully will lead to something similar to Jan's Write To Delight writing club. I would love to have a group like that in my area so I'm trying to think of ways to find others. Maybe it will work out. Who knows?

I was so very tired Saturday after staying up late that I forgot to take a picture of my outgoing mail but I sent out two letters and two postcards that day. 

I have a very long work shift tomorrow so I doubt that I'll write any letters or postcards. I have some things ready to send out, though, and will try to remember to get a picture of those.

I hope your Sunday is lovely!

On the first day of LetterMo....

I sent out to my friends,
One postcard and a letter that was
A reply!

Okay, so it's sung to a tune we all know and love (?!) but I sent two items, not one so sing it as though it's the second day of LetterMo. ;-)

Quiet days, no mail, and a visit by The Flying V

I haven't been to the post office since Friday and hope to get there tomorrow but might not. Unfortunately, I have vertigo and while it can leave me alone for weeks or months, when it decides to make an appearance it usually stops me in my tracks.

For those of you who only know Vertigo as a movie, consider yourself blessed! Some people think the condition means a person is just a bit dizzy but it's so much more than that. For most of us, it's a very strong sensation of spinning. Some people feel like their body is spinning and others feel like their surroundings are spinning. Remember those 'fun houses' in carnivals where the walls and floors moved, there were dizzying patterns all around, and getting through the rotating tunnels was almost impossible? I never liked those as a kid. I didn't find them to be "fun" at all but rather confusing, nauseating, and anxiety-inducing. My vertigo feels physically, mentally, and emotionally like I'm in one of those fun houses. It's so "fun" that right after it first appeared in 2009, I gave it a nickname: The Flying V.

If The Flying V is severe, I can't properly do my job at work, drive, cook, and can barely move around my apartment. I've been known to run into walls and even fall when it's very bad. Luckily for me, it's generally not that bad but even at its best it's miserable. I've tried medications, vestibular therapy, and a few other treatments with little to no success. By the way, mine seems to be at least partially related to hypertension but I've been on blood pressure medication since it first showed up and my hypertension is well controlled so I'm not sure why the vertigo shows up now and then.

Anyway, I've been struggling with it off and on for a few weeks and the last few days I've spent more time than I desired on the couch, trying not to move and staving off panic attacks caused by the feeling of helplessness. I did manage to get a few letters written over the weekend and plan to drop those in the outgoing box tomorrow. If I feel up to it, I'll check my post office box, also.

I hope The Flying V won't interfere with my participation in the Month of Letters challenge, but I have Plan B in the works just in case.

So there you have it - the reason why I've been a bit quiet. I'll get back to scanning things from the tin box and posting about incoming and outgoing mail and hopefully that will be tomorrow. If not, bear with me, please.

I promise I haven't forgotten any of you!

Fabulous mail Friday and an advance apology

I just got home from my errands and of course, one of the stops was at the post office. It takes strength to not go there every day but it's a bit out of my way so I aim for two or three times a week and try to go while I'm already out and about. Some weeks I succeed and others I fail. This week I've succeeded. Go me! Anyway, I only had three pieces of outgoing mail and two were to South Korea and Vietnam. I forgot to ask the clerk how long it will take those to arrive but hopefully they won't take too long.

Incoming mail for today is fabulous, y'all! Each piece is so wonderful that I'm going to show them individually. I should probably do that all the time but....

From Alice in Peculiar, MO (what a great town name!) I received a wonderfully informative letter and a big brown envelope with two hand stitched kitchen towels! How cute they are! And the envelopes have some very cool stamps on them, a few of which I'd not seen before.

From Beth in Oregon, I got a very neat looking note card (it just screams "Spring!") with a lovely letter written inside. She did pretty doodles on the envelope and I love it, especially the band on the left side of the envelope and the colors in my name. 

TMC, from Return to Rural, is gearing up for LetterMo and working on garland and such so she sent me a decorated postcard. T, I love this card, especially the color combination with that silver! Oh la la!

Limner, of Oh, Write Me!, sent a blank postcard of a kitteh and she colored said feline's eyes green like Sammy's. Swoon! She also included a very sweet little note. I absolutely love this postcard, in part because of the "Curb Your Dog" sign! And the "db" on the envelope made my heart pound a bit faster. I just love everything about this.

And last but definitely not least, I received a beautiful handmade card from a very dear personal friend of mine. She doesn't have much experience with letter writing but is joining in LetterMo this year. I recently sent her a little card and note and this is what I received in return. Wow, that's pretty wonderful for someone who "doesn't write letters and isn't creative"! Those are her words, not mine. You can't tell by the picture but the word "Love" on the front is cut out. 

Each of you has made today one absolutely marvelous mail day. Thank you so much!

Now for the apology. I've said before I'm not artistic and not creative and I mean that. I've spent hours looking at your blogs and photos and those of so many people who seem to have talent for this stuff. Some of what I see out there just makes me weak in the knees, it's so creative or beautiful or eye catching. I'm getting ideas here and there and have been practicing on plain paper. Today I graduated to real envelopes and postcard sized pieces of paper and some of you will soon be my guinea pigs. So, I apologize in advance for ugly envies and cards, paint that runs, edges that may be torn, and glitter that doesn't survive USPS. Please know my heart is in the right place. :)

Now I'm off to find ways to display some of these marvelous creations I've received!

Incoming and outgoing for January 22

Not a great picture since it was taken with my phone but here's my incoming and stamps for today. Oh, and my work apron. ;-)

On the way to work I went by the post office to check my box. Yeehaw, three letters greeted me!

I was so excited to see a sassy looking envelope from Jan over at Of Bibles, books and letters, one of those way cool (what can I say, I'm easily impressed) transparent envelopes from Limner of Oh, Write Me!, and a letter from a new to me writer, Amber. Amber didn't say how she found me so I'm not sure if it was via this blog, the LetterMo site, or some other place. Regardless, I'm thrilled she contacted me.

I forgot (again!) to get pictures of today's outgoing but that pretty blue envelope with the smash tape went out today, along with the postcards I adopted from PostMuse. Those were the postcards I found buried on the table last night!

While I was at the post office I decided to see what stamps they had. I ended up with two sheets of the new .33 apple stamps (I'm the eternal optimist), a sheet of Emancipation Proclamation, another sheet of Earthscapes (I <3 those so hard), a sheet of Year of the Snake, and another sheet of Lady Bird Johnson. I'm good to go for LetterMo and then some. They didn't have the others I wanted so I'll either wait until they do or order them online.

Since I got to work almost an hour early (don't hate, I have a serious issue with being late and I like to get a drink, relax, and see how things are before I start my shift) I read the letters right there at a table. One of my young co-workers was very interested, particularly in Limner's neat little bundle. She ooohd and aaahd over the letters and finally, hands on hips, said "Where do you find these people?" so I told her. She looked quite surprised. I guess she's easily impressed, too. ;)

And a bit of good news! This afternoon one of my customers told me a place where she thinks I can get postcards. She isn't sure about the variety but said they had a decent stock of them a few days ago. I know where I'm going Friday morning!

I work a short shift tomorrow and am then off for two days so I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon composing replies to today's incoming and a couple of others that need my attention. With all that time off I should have plenty of time to play with card stock, smash tape, and markers.

I hope your Wednesday is lovely and full of mail happiness!

Card stock + smash sheets + smash tape = LOVE

I just used some card stock in a pretty and bright color to make an envelope then decorated it with a sheet from one of the smash pads and some smash tape.

Can I just say...I think I'm in love! The smash sheet stuck well to the card stock with some simple glue and the smash tape seems to stick well on it's own. Wow, now I see what the fuss is all about!  Okay, so I'm not the most creative envelope arteest but be patient with me...I'm working on it. ;)

Ramblings for January 17th...wait, it's almost February?

It's hard to believe that February will be here in a short time! Where have the days, weeks, months, and years gone? It seems that just yesterday I was crazy busy at work because it was the holiday season. Of 2007!  I've worked for my current employer a bit over five years and some days it doesn't feel as though it's been that long. Other days it seems as though it's been much longer but I suppose that's true with most jobs. It's just hard to believe we're almost into the second month of 2013.

I'm off work today and have a few errands to run. One is to the post office. Squeeee, one of my favorite places to go! I have several outgoing letters but a couple of them seem a tad heavy to me so I want to ensure they have adequate postage. I think I need a postage scale. Do you have one? If so, what kind? The last one I had was a commercial model and that's overkill for my current situation but I'd like to find one that's fairly durable and accurate.

Moving on...while poking around on Pinterest last night these ready to fold letters caught my eye. Aren't they sweet?

I also found this very neat postal tattoo. I have no tattoos but appreciate the postal charm of this one.

I can't find a single postcard in my town. Nay, not one. I ordered a few from Missive Maven's Etsy shop but definitely need more.  I'm going to hit the thrift shops and watch for garage sales that might have miscellaneous stationery, envelopes, postcards, and ephemera. By the way, did you know there's a society for ephemera fans? I didn't know that but have spent some time this morning going over their site. There's a lot of neat stuff there and looking at all the goodies strengthens my already intense desire for paper tid bits. I think I need to limit my time on that site!

Happy Friday, errr, Thursday, and may your mailbox be full of wonder!

And here, have a picture of my cat, Sammy. Isn't he a love?

Please Mr. Postman, Night Mail, and outgoing for January 10th

This morning I looked through my stack of mail from yesterday and "Please Read the Letter" by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss started going through my head. I like that song because those two seem an unlikely duo but make magic together. From there I started thinking of other songs about things postal and spent a little time Googling and watching videos/reading lyrics.

There are actually more than I realized and some have nothing to do with letters or mail. Go figure. ;)

Here are a few I thought of or found:

Strawberry Letter 23, by The Brothers Johnson

Box Full of Letters, by Wilco

The Letter, by The Box Tops. Have you heard Joe Cocker sing this song? His rendition is quite different than that of the Box Tops and my favorite.

Please Mr. Postman, by The Marvelettes

The Daily Mail, by Radiohead

and one of my favorite newer tunes, The Night Mail, by New Jackson.

Do you have a favorite song about letters or mail?

I finished my morning relaxation time by watching the documentary "Night Mail", produced in 1936 by the GPO Film Unit. This short film is about the mail train from London to Scotland and satisfied my need for a mail fix, a train fix, and a British fix. I was particularly fascinated by how the mail bags were "grabbed" by a netting assembly without the train stopping or slowing. The efficiency of the men loading and unloading the train and sorting letters was also remarkable.

I sent 6 letters out today and have more to send tomorrow. Thank you to all of you have written me! Each letter, notecard, and postcard brings a genuine smile to my face and we can't have enough of those. I hope my replies bring smiles, also. 

Outgoing for January 7th

Teaching a child to use sealing wax

I was just about to seal the last of tomorrow's outgoing mail when there was a knock on the door. It was the daughter of one of my neighbors. Angela is 7 and comes by now and then to "play" with Sammy. He isn't wild about kids so there really isn't much playing. It's more like she chases him and tries to pet him and he runs and finally tolerates her for a couple of minutes.

When she saw the wax stick and lighter in my hand, Angela asked what I was doing. I told her and showed her the dried seals I did earlier this evening and a couple of broken seals on mail I'd received and she begged to try it. I had her practice a few times on scrap paper then let her seal the last envelope. Well, she didn't quite seal it as her aim was a tad off and she had a drip or two but hey, for her first attempt it's great! 

She had fun doing it and asked me if she can use my sealing wax on letters to her grandparents. Of course I said yes and she left quite excited. I heard her yelling as she went into her apartment in the next building, "Hey Mom, guess what I got to do!"

I hope her mother isn't upset and doesn't consider it dangerous because with proper supervision a child can learn to use sealing wax and create a very handsome seal. I learned when I was a little older than Angela and a good wax seal is a thing of beauty. Maybe I should go talk to her mother about it, though. :-)