This week at
first of all I'm going to shout, "Happy New Year!" and then say.....it's Brenda's turn to choose the challenge and she's saying "Out With the Old (NBUS)!" which means she wants to see that Never Before Used Stuff! So, break out those Christmas gifts, that stuff you got from Boxing Day sales or just that stuff you bought awhile back but haven't even taken out of the package (Guilllllllllty!).
This is what I did.....
Sentiment is a from a Neat & Tangled set I won back in September of 2018 and never even cracked open and the digi I got from Make It Crafty's going out of business sale. *sigh* Let's talk a minute about the raft of digi shops that have been closing in the past bit....Make It Crafty, Tiddly Inks (but moving images to Etsy at least), Whimsie Doodles, Digistamp Boutique (and others I am probably forgetting about or aren't aware of).....sometimes when I go to post credit links to past freebies I've gotten I can't find the shop/site....it makes me sad. I really love digis. I feel like more and more, people are wanting physical stamps. And, I'll admit, I've bought more physical stamps in the past couple years than I did in my first five years of cardmaking. It's mostly just because I see something I really like and want but it's only available as a stamp/stamp set, not a digi. Otherwise I would definitely buy the digi instead, especially since.....
....segue.....
First of all, my friends, let me tell you about one of my predominate traits....I'm miserly. Not in the Scrooge type of I've-got-all-this-money-I'm-never-gonna-spend-it-give-me-more-more-more-money but more in the I-would-really-like-to-buy-this-thing-for-me-but-it's-definitely-a-big-want-and-not-a-need-so-maybe-I-shouldn't-because-I-might-need-that-money-for-something-else-oh-look-there's-an-extra-course-fee-for-Middlest's-CELP-program-so-I'm-glad-I-didn't type of way. But, back in November I couldn't resist the Black Friday sale at Stamplorations and convinced myself it would be okay if I made a small purchase. I even went back and forth a bit with arguing with myself but in the end decided it really wasn't that much money, I should just go for it. So I did.
.....segue......
'Bout the middle of December I came home from work, and like I always do, looked at the flag on our mailbox to see if we had mail. (We're in the county so we get mail delivery at the end of our lane.) The flag was down. That generally means two things, either we didn't get mail that day (unusual but certainly not unheard of) or someone had already collected the mail. My husband wasn't home, so I knew he didn't get it, and the kids don't pick it up, so I thought, "huh, no mail". I told myself I should check, but there has been maybe two times in 19 years of delivery that our mail carrier hasn't put the flag up when we actually had mail, plus it was snowing and blowing and I have to get out of the van to get to the mailbox (when travelling from that direction), so in the laneway I drove. I did actually ask Middlest if he picked up the mail, he said he hadn't, so I vowed to check it when I took Youngest to basketball that night.
.....the next morning......
As I took Youngest into town to collect her teammates for the school volleyball tournament I was driving them to (as it was near to where I work), I said, "Ha, the snowplow sure did a number on the mailboxes this morning," as I noticed there were a few empty posts on the way. (Occasionally, heavy snow coming off the plow wing can knock mailboxes off their posts.) I didn't really think about our mailbox as I turned the opposite way out the lane so I didn't notice if it had suffered the same fate. In fact, I hadn't thought at all about our mailbox since last night when I made a mental note to check for mail when I was going to take Youngest to the basketball practice she didn't go to because she got tied up at work. I didn't think about our mailbox at all as I collected the other girls and drove them to the tournament. I didn't think about our mailbox all day at work. I also didn't think about the mailbox at all as I picked up the girls from the tournament and drove them all home. And, I didn't think of our mailbox at all until I got home.
....when I got home.....
I noticed there was a business card from an OPP officer on our counter. Turns out hubby had quite a conversation with said officer. About our mailbox. Which was STOLEN. It was found in the next town's high school parking lot along with a few others. Empty, of course. I decided to operate on the assumption that there was no mail in it because....well, it's not like I would ever know if there was or not, and the flag was down after all. It was better for my conscience to believe that they only got a mailbox from us, one I never liked because it had a useless slot for sticking individual letters in that was no good for anything except getting snow inside on windy days. So ha, don't care that you stole and mangled our mailbox, delinquents, we could use a new one anyway.
.....a few days later.....
Oldest asked me if I knew when the phone case he ordered would be delivered. I tracked it....and saw that it was already delivered.....on Stolen Mailbox Day. OF COURSE. When I told him that, he asked what I thought happened to it. I replied, "It's probably on some Thief's phone." And that's when I frantically started thinking about any and all parcels I was waiting on, and started systematically going through my emails to track packages. There were two that tracking stopped when they left their countries of origin, something Youngest had ordered off Etsy from Ukraine, and my package from Stamplorations which had been checked in at Los Angeles (and presumably put on a plane) on December 4th.
....and now.....
Yep, after almost a month I'm ready to officially call it.....my stamps are probably on some Thief's craft desk. (Don't say that, yes they are. I don't want to think of them discarded in a ditch somewhere.) I just think about the perfect storm of events that had to happen to make that happen to something I had to convince myself to buy. And, I also think about how it was maybe the fact that the hoodlums found TWO parcels in our mailbox that made them decide to steal a bunch of them. *sigh*
....epilogue.....
So digis. With their instant download capabilities. And no physicality, so no snatchability. Yet another reason for me to love digis. Oh, and luckily, Youngest's custom made item from Ukraine was delivered safely. And, apparently the aforementioned yutes, not only tried for a bit to rip off (literally) our owner of a security/alarm company neighbour's steel mailbox that's welded to its post and were caught on his camera, they travelled up the road to the grain elevator and proceeded to do doughnuts in that yard so they were also caught on camera there too. So, I'm guessing at least the driver (or vehicle owner) was identified. Not that I'm expecting to know anything from it. Heck, I don't even know if I'd want them actually charged with anything.....well, at least not anything overly serious. I'd be happy with a kinda scared-straight scenario.
And maybe an "I'm Sorry" card featuring at least one Stamplorations stamp placed contritely in my new, no-stupid-slot, mailbox.
EDITED TO ADD: Okay, so.....it turns out that if you spend a lot of time writing a blog post whining about how somebody stole your stamps....
well....they'll turn up in your mailbox, unstolen, like, a day later..... So,
never mind, I guess...... (I am very happy to see them though!)
Why don't you give our challenge a go this week and head on over to
Little Red Wagon and link up. And, while you're there, be sure to check out the fabulous projects the other Girlfriends have created.
Also for:
Double Trouble: something, anything, everything
Incy Wincy: happiness
Colour Crazy: anything goes
QKR Stampede: anything goes
Southern Girls: anything goes
Crafty Creations: anything goes
Simon Says: something new
Allsorts: anything goes
As You Like It: favourite die - It's boring, I know, but my favourite die is my stitched square die. I use it on almost every card I make!
