Additional Ounce

I've been thinking about this post for several days.  But like yesterday's post...it required some time and thought because it comes with a few several side stories.  

So bear with me...or at least humor me as I layer up the stories....which all lead to these fabulous school bus stamps. 

Part One
Yellow School Bus Stories:

I grew up on a farm in the country....so spent all of my school years riding a yellow school bus.  

We lived at the bottom of a big hill...and one of us would watch out the bathroom window and call out when the bus was at the top of the hill. It gave us just enough time to get our coats, bags, and lunches and scramble out to the end of the driveway in time to catch the bus.  

Our boys...Nate and Sam used to ride a yellow school bus when we lived in the suburbs of Cumberland, Maine....and they didn't love it.  When we moved into Portland when Nate was in 8th grade and Sam was in 5th....we lived close enough where they could walk to school. One of the best lines ever was when Sam said "being able to walk to school is better than Christmas."

One of the times I was helping my sister Angie during her declining years I bonded with a yellow school bus.  Angie lived in rural Missouri with long country roads lined with cornfields. Our two weeks together were busy and focused so I would take early morning walks while she was still asleep. 

And every week day I met this school bus coming down the hill....and I always paused and watched it come and go until I couldn't see it anymore.  It was comforting.

Part Two

Stamp Stories:

I thoroughly enjoyed my Ounce of Joy giveaway project and putting together envelopes for my Art Hearts and Fusing Fun sales. Sending bits of this and that would require only one stamp was a fun way to approach it. I weighed every envelope....and made sure it didn't go over the ounce. 

My friend Dotty ordered an ounce of fused fabric and I had a little trouble keeping her particular envelope an ounce or under so I just added an extra stamp...and then threw in more fabric.  At the very same time she was mailing me her payment in an oversized card that needed extra postage....so we chuckled as we compared extra stamp stories.  

Part Three (A bit of a digression...but then again...maybe not.)
Fusing Follow-up:

Dotty just recently posted this project on her blog where she used a tiny piece fused fabric (from the extra stamp envelope) for this plant pot.  

It seems just perfect and had me smiling from ear to ear. I love how she dabbled the paint on top of the fabric making is all so cohesive.

https://dottyseiter.com/2024/03/22/in-the-middles/

And here....Dotty used a tiny fused tree as a moment in this fabulous multi layered piece.

https://dottyseiter.com/2024/03/14/nicholas-wilton-free-workshop-post-6/

Part Four

Pulling it all together:

OK....back to the yellow school bus stamps.  

Both Margie and I needed stamps...so I put an order in online at the USPS store and they arrived on Wednesday. But I got two envelopes of stamps from the post office on the very same day....the ones I ordered and the school bus stamps in another envelope.  I was confused...but thrilled.  I didn't see the bus stamps in my forever stamp search...but I LOVED them.  I thought it was a mistake...or maybe a gift from the post office...but I set them aside to investigate later.

Dotty texted me a while later and asked me if I got an unexpected package.  I said no...not even thinking of the stamps that had come earlier.  I was baffled....but on closer look I realized that the bus stamps were a gift from her....and they were ADDITIONAL OUNCE stamps.  

Who knew there was such a thing as an "additional ounce" stamp!  I didn't.  For just 24 cents more, you can mail up to 2 ounces in one envelope as long as it fits the other size specifications. Wow!  Of course you have to have a regular Forever Stamp on the envelope too.

SO....in the spirit of paying it forward....at some point I'm going to offer another give-a-way that I'm going to call An Additional Ounce of Joy!  I'm not quite sure when or what it's going to be....right now I'm just exhausted from telling this whole story.  But I'll figure something out sometime this spring and let you know.  And whatever I do....I can add envelope liners again....and insert heavier things and not worry about keeping it an ounce or under because Dotty has the additional ounce covered!  How fun is that!  

Stay tuned....but be patient.  And congratulations if you made it to the end! 🚌