First Post

I think of myself as a natural blogger, and yet I have never really done it.  That seemingly makes no sense unless you know me well enough to have memorized "Mom story #127" which goes something (or rather exactly) like this:  "By the time I was in 8th grade I had 88 pen pals from all over the United States and the world.  I used to get anywhere from 3 to 10 letters every day and I would answer them that night usually.  I knew my mailman by his first name and he would ring the doorbell before dropping the letters in the box.  (Yes, he was a mailman back then and the box was actually attached to our house right outside the front door.  This was 1974-ish.)  Anyway, I would run full out to the front door, dropping whatever I was doing, to greet Carl and count my letters which were always on top of the rest of the mail.  I'm sure Carl enjoyed it too as the envelopes were usually decorated with stickers and little comments, and some were even hand-painted.   Carl even helped me get a summer job when I was in college.  It turned out he moonlighted in a store like a K-Mart, but that's a different story, #249."

Vintage Circus Rubber Stamps

Back then I was addicted to stationery, stickers and collecting stamps.  I haven't changed much.  I love to do art and craft projects and had my own cabinet full of supplies (yet another story, #83, of pre-Christmas peeking - sorry Mom and Dad - it was all Keith's doing!!!). One of my favorite things in my art cabinet (which I still have) was an old cigar box full of circus themed rubber stamps.  There was a ringmaster, clowns, a strong man, trapeze artist, a dog, plumed horses and a girl in an outfit to match, an elephant and a large round drum for the elephant to stand on, even a large cage on wheels which you could stamp over the lion etc.  The hours I spent stamping those images over and over... such happy memories.  Back then I could never have believed the number of stamps available to me today.  I am still that little girl thrilled with that old cigar box and black ink pad!  Oh no, don't get me started about my ink colors!!!