So another year has come and gone in just a few hours now it will be 2014 instead of 2013, and let me tell you it is going to take some practice to write 2014 instead of 2013 but isn’t that always the way that it goes. So here is the round up this year for how my mail went. This year I separated all of my sends into four categories, Letters, Postcards, ATC’s and packages. So here is how it all shook out.

 

Total sent: 509 pieces of mail, down from last year but my goal for the year was 500 so I did make that at least.

Letters: 225

Postcards: 81

ATC’s: 142

Packages: 61

Overall I can not complain it has been a pretty good year for mail and I am happy with how I have documented everything as well. I plan on continuing with that on 2014.

 

Happy New year everyone.

One of these days I am going to sit down and fully clean my scanner so that I can get much better images, alas today is not that day and well the rest of this week is not looking very good either. Hello Holidays. In the meantime however I am playing catch up on sharing the different bits of ATC and other swap art that have gone out in my mail box in the last few months. So always in the interest of sharing mail art here, a gallery of what I have been uploading to Flickr today.

 

It is no secret that I am a Whovian so the Friday mail related post is going to be dedicated to some Doctor Who stamps. I am lucky enough to have some of the collection that the Royal Mail put out. A friend of mine sent me the collection of 9, 10 and 11 which I love.

Now it is not a big secret and most Geeks are celebrating the fact that the USPS is releasing Harry Potter stamps. So my geek brain asks, If we can have Potter stamps why can’t we have Doctor Who stamps too?! I would love nothing more then to spread the Who to all of my pen pals! Of course I could apply the stamps to envelopes (if I was not saving them myself thanks) for decorative purposes but I would like to see some useable ones. I am sure that won’t happen, Potter has had a bigger over all presence in the US but a girl can dream can’t she? I know I am not the only one who thinks this either..or maybe I am.

 

My oh my where has the year gone! It is already December and I am having that deer in the headlights feeling of the end of the year holidays and the start of a new year coming up soon. It has been a year with ups and downs and all around for me your friendly web mistress here at Birth of a Notion, but I do not regret the year at all and I am looking forward to the fresh start that 2014 is going to bring.

I have long had a love hate relationship with the big up coming holiday of Christmas. All of the stress that everyone gets involved in is something  I try to distance myself from. I end up seeming like a scrooge sometimes but I really do not mean too honestly. I always make it special for the kids of the two legged and four legged variety, but I also teach them more of the truth about the season. With that comment here comes the disclaimer.

I am Pagan. I have no issue with Christianity as I was raised Catholic, but I am Pagan. I do not celebrate the season in the standard way that many do.

With that disclaimer said I do not go around shouting from the roof tops about how Jesus was not born in December that the holiday was taken and made as it is because it was a Pagan holiday. However I do not hide the fact either. I never have and I never will.  It also amuses me to no end how many people who never seem to care the rest of the year about their faith make sure to be all about it during this time of year. Bitter? Maybe a little bit but it annoys me. This meme that is going around however makes me laugh and I totally agree.

So there you have it. Now with that said we decorate, sing some carols (generally avoiding the Christ are savior is born types. sorry if that offends) and in general try to keep the feeling of good cheer going around. I try to do that every year of course but yes I do make some special effort in December. I also tend to say Happy Holidays when I offer that greeting/goodbye to people this time of year. *insert that disclaimer here again* and I do not say it because I am all anti Merry Christmas, I do not get offended if someone says either one to me and I do sometimes say Merry Christmas. The simple fact for me is there are more than one holiday that goes on this time of year. So I say Happy Holidays to include everyone in it, hey guess what not everyone celebrates Christmas folks! But they may celebrate something else.

Sadly going into December I am also behind on my correspondence. I hate being behind on that because I love my letter writing. I did get two letters done already today which is a plus I think alas there is 9 left in my pile to work on and all but 3 of them are from November. So if you are reading this and I owe you a letter. I am so sorry promise I am catching up!

Now all of that said..time to make some edible Yule decorations 🙂 you see I am trying not to be a scrooge honestly! Of course it is only Dec 3rd we will see how I feel near the end of the month with all the movies and music being played.

 

I felt I should probably update everyone on what happened with the USPS the love is fading post. Well after some more phone calls getting the same information I had been given before and no call backs. The package finally turned up in Evansville took 6 hours to get across town to my local PO. Instead of letting them bring it to me the next day I went to pick up the package directly.

Thankfully it was not beat up or any of those types of things I had expected and so All is well that ends well I got the Kindle and its fine. No one knows why it took so long to get from Louisville to us but what can ya do? Even the postal worker who gave me the package was confused.

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Another one of my wonderful pen pals send some great mail art. I really do love going to the mail box every day you never know what fun goodies you are going to find within it. I am still kind of bummed out about Saturday delivery going away, but at least we have sometime before it takes over so I can mourn.

Anyone this cute letter came and as you can see there is a very kinda of cool Paris feel to the envelope and a bright berry card. Makes me think of spring!

Well we know it has been talked about for years. But the announcement this morning was that it is official the post office will stop delivering Saturday mail of letters and such in August. They will still deliver packages however. So my mail friends what do you think of that?

I myself do not like it for a couple of reasons. 1 reason costs seem to be going up but mail is slower and slower. With the other close downs that they have had I have noticed my mail is 2 or so days slower than it used to be, so Saturday mail was nice and at least I did not worry *to* much. The second reason I do not like this is that you should either have Saturday mail or not. I can not see how it is going to save a whole lot by still delivering packages as you will still have workers out on the roads,ect. If you can drop off a package (yes I know they cost more to ship therefore more money) why cant you drop off the letters too?

So my mail friends what do you think?

I do my writing in various places. I use various things to write on my two favorites being the back of a scrapbook and of course my old writing desk. It is no secret that the kitties are usually sniffing around my mail and such. The thing is I do not usually manage to get pictures of them. Well I made a goal to get some more kitties and mail related pictures done this year.

So above you have my little man the baby of the family Pasha. As you can see he is clearly in love with my Lamy and the letter he is laying on. He thought of course that he was being a big help. He really wasn’t but he sure is cute.

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Here is another one I got from Swap Bot. It was for a senders choice ATC and you can see the cute puppy dog stamped ATC there next to the envelope. I have to say while I liked the ATC and I did. The envelope really made me smile. The purple colors of course are a given with my love of the color. I also was drawn to the little portrait of the Lady and her cat. My first thought was hey that’s me! She even has brown hair and everything.

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I got this lovely little Morning Glory ATC for the Morning Glory Flower ATC swap over on Swap bot. I love the drawing itself, but I fell in love with the little card it came in. Is that not just a cute little bear? I have to say that one is going right into my favorite scrap book!