"There is no excuse for using boring stamps." -me

You can never be quite sure whether it drives them crazy or whether they really don't mind when, at the post office, I ask to see all the stamps in their drawer before choosing the ones I want.   I know the people still in line behind me never are thrilled.

I have to wonder if the quote above is one of those momisms that will live with the boys the rest of their lives.  They hear it often enough.  They are the official stamp-putter-onners of this household and have already shown their partiality towards the recent Star Wars and super hero stamps.   Also, they've shown their preference for the northern lights stamps over the knitted ones.  :(

All I know, is that interesting stamps make for slightly more interesting bill paying.  If only they'd come out with super villain stamps so we can have fun choosing which one fits best on which bill. 

Anybody else see that the designs on the Holiday Knits stamps were knit upside down?  I would imagine it could sometimes have the potential to dramatically affect the final look of a colorwork design .

Comments

[Dawn]

Huh, you're right. That was some talented knitting to design and knit it all upside down. I bought to sheets of them yesterday.

[lla]

I agree with you about the importance of seeing all your stamp choices when at the PO! We're also fans of many of the stamps that the small men are enjoying, too...

Many, many years back - there were stamps with the most gorgeous illustrations of insects. I bought up a huge stockpile of them. Why? Because on each sheet, you got one "dung beetle" (I kid you not!) I *loved* saving those up for the bills I was annoyed with each month....

it was 1999! yikes -
http://www.usps.com/images/stamps/99/insect_spider.htm

[melody]

So funny- I thought that we were the only ones who deliberated so much about our stamp choices... however, in our case, dh is a mailman and he always tips us off to the new stamps in the drawer, so that I only occasionally have to hold up the line to check them out. We were very excited about the aurora stamps this year because dd#2's name is Aurora, but Yoda might still win out for the Christmas cards.

[Sarah R]

I wonder if the designs are upside down because they are for top-down Christmas stockings? Just a thought. (Wait. Does that make sense?)

I love those Northern Light stamps.

And am I the only weirdo who likes to color coordinate her envelope color, stamp and address label? Yeah, I thought so.

But I was so thrilled when I could write a card, seal up the orange envelope and use my orange gerbera stamp and my orange flowered address label....

And I try to always use the boring Liberty Bell or eagle stamps for bills. Though I love the dung beetle idea!

[Saartje]

Lovely stamps! They are indeed upside down, except for the eyes and the mouth part of the bears, though. That would be impossible to achieve in real knitting!

I lived in Norway for a year, more than 15 years ago. I used to write *a lot* of letters home back then, in the Age without Internet. I always asked for the smallest stamps they had, like 1 and 2 øre. That way, I could put lots of stamps on the envelope, and make mosaic designs with them.

[Brandy]

Weird. Now that you point it out, I do see it. I love those stamps--I've got two sheets of them! Northern lights? Never knew about those. How neat!

[Elizabeth]

I don't know if the US postal service does this, but here in Canada you can order personalised stamps by providing your own pictures/photos. I'm having some made up for my mom this year.

[Peg]

I, too, like new stamps. My DH buys them for the 7 letters I mail out to family/friends each week and I always like new ones. I love the 'knitted' stamps.
You will be surprised at what things your boys will remember. When you and they get older, don't be surprised at what they remember. When they tell a story, you and C will look at each other and say, "Were we there?" We forget that they look at things with much younger eyes than we do. My 46 and 43 year old 'children' remember things much differently than my DH and I do! That always makes life more interesting.
I love the shawl you knit - the colour is beautiful!

[Janewilk]

I always go online to usps.com and look at all their designs! They get them to you quick. The lines at our post office are always MILES long, and they never have all the stamp choices in the stamp vending machine. I love the Northern Lights stamps, too! So beautiful.

[Mia]

My local post office has all of the different stamps in a sleeve so you can look at them. And if you don't ask to see them, they will ask you if you want to look at them and decide.

A villain stamp sounds great. I can see it getting a lot of use at tax time.

[TheAmpuT]

Mmmmm see, but in my household, we put the stamps on upside down. Grandma said it was for goodluck. So that would make the knitting rightside-up upside-down *smile*

[amy sharp]

I just found yr photos on flickr and yr blog- Lovley lovely lovely!!!!

[Lynn]

I had to get some of those stamps too. My mother always got the special stamps. I guess I got it from her...

[Rebecca]

I always do that in the post office too, but we have a small post office and they are used to that. These ones, of course, I just asked for directly, because I saw them on the Christmas stamps sign. (Although as one of the clerks at my post office says, "They are HOLIDAY stamps, not CHRISTMAS stamps." As far as she is concerned, only the Nativity ones are Christmas stamps.)

[Krissy]

I got the Holiday Knits stamps, also. I had mentioned to the old guy behind the counter I didn't want to make a trip to the USPS just for my Xmas card stamps. He gave me the Bernardino Luini's Madonna of the Carnation "for the Christians" and the Holiday Knits "for the Heathens." hehe He tried to sell me some of the Hanukkah stamps for my Jewish neighbors.