its comming

its getting cold. I have to wear my big poofy jacket and gloves in the morning. it may snow anyday now! there was been frost on the ground a few mornings. today it was sunny but still very cold. I took this pic of the mountains while trying to drive.

no more letterboxing for me, at least not outdoors. I'm doing postals now. cool way to keep warm but still box. I do plan to do some LBing when we go to visit the in laws in Oregon.

lost purse, missing body??

A few days ago hubs and I went geocaching. (we finally got out new GPS and I have no clue how the damn thing works.) we found a womans purse stuffed under a bush!!! it was brown/ tan and it may totally be an imitation but it had this C pattern on it, like a coach purse. hubs reached for it thinking that was were the geocach was hidden. he tells me there is stuff in it. a wallet, an Ipod loose stuff in the purse. he puts it back and walks away. I tell him he has his finger prints all over it and crap if something bad went down here he's gonna be in trouble. (yes Ive seen too many Law and Order shows) so I put on my big ass mittens on and go over to look. Meanwhile I had him call the police. call APD!!!! boy I hope I never really need to get ahold of a cop cuz we never did get through. I found an ID. a blonde woman in her 20's, blue eyes. named (I believe but Im so bad with names. ) Rosalind Marie Thompson. a rent-a-cop (I mean a walmart security) drives by and hubs calls him over. we explain that we found the purse while geocaching. as he asks if we found an ID I hand it over to him. he said he would take it over to walmart. and that was it. I hope we did the right thing and they figure something out. It just seemed too suspicious to me. the purse was ransacked (although there is women that keep their purses like that all the time.) but there is no way someone dropped it. it was well hidden, we only found it cuz we were digging around. there was loose credit cards, paper maybe receipts, a lighter, a new tampon in a ziplock baggie. and that Ipod, an older Nano 8GB black. the wallet was still there although we didnt open it to see if there was still any cash. it was all too weird for me. now I have that same feeling I had when that woman did a hit and run infront of mom and me. man what is going on here!!!!! If I dissapear, come looking for me its gotta have something to do with that bag. LOL hubs thinks someone stole it and stashed it to go get it later. oh there was also some kind of pretty perfume bottle laying by the bag but I didnt reach into the bushed for it. I was too freaked out at this point. I google searched for this ladys name and found nothing but I may be misspelling the name. interesting enough day huh?

quick blog

just a quick blog that yes there is a a stuffed Rhino sitting on my rock by a LB I planted. I added a little note on the LB clues that the Rhino should stay there since we do not know who it belongs to. the LB is still there. the stuffie is big and it looks like its been loved, one of the eyes is missing.

meeting Lbers is fun!

Oh what fun! I got to meet some letterboxers today!! I met Nana C and the seedlings AKA The Seeker. Got lots of new exchanges in my logbook and learned some new things. It was just fun to meet others who like this hobby as much as I do. The buddies also got new exchanges in their log books. they were busy when we took the pic. Everyone thought Mugsy was really cute!! Austin thought Tweeter was cool. Yep, a grand old time for everyone.

Shout Out to Nana C and the Seedlings!!

I also got a little tutorial on Geocaching. my husband and I have decide to try our hand at geocaching. Hubs ordered our first GPS online today. We got a Garmin Etrax Vista HCX.

pretty good deal on it too. my geocaching trail name is Brown Eyes in Alaska (guess there is already a Brown Eyes out in the geocaching world.) my husband is dlb. I cant wait to recieve it and go find out first cach!!

Got a new postal in the mail today. the Mystery PLB by Happy Gemini. I cant figure it out so I may have to pass on the price. oh well. neat stamps.

I got this pic from deniserows. Shout Out to deniserows in Kodiak Ak!!

its my rock (I named it Little Brother) from the XYIENCE XENERGY LB I planted. I'm going out tomorrow to check it out and find out whats with the Rhino on the box. I didnt leave it there and according to people that have logged their finds of my box its been there for over a month. go fig.

What a wonderful day!! I also got to spend some time with my hubs , he was off of work today.

Box On!! (a cajear)

Leave Me A Message

I just added a cool little shoutbox widget to my LB blog. Its on the left side of the page. you dont have to be a blogger user to leave a message like when you comment to my blog entries. put in you name and if you want your website too. after typing your message hit "shoutout". you can also add smilies by using the more button next to the shout out button. cant wait to read your comments.
Brown Eyes

DNF infact WAY OFF

so I went LBing with my family. My 2 yr old K, my mom (who has gone LBing with me before and seems to like it.) my dad, my older sister and her 2 kids ages 1 and 4. WOW was that a bad idea. to begin with I wasnt quite sure where I was going. we walked a little while but decide to stop since we really hadnt started to cles right. we were suppose to take a dirt road and we never saw one so I think we were in the wrong place. oh well. we did find a great trail that gave me an aweome idea for a LB that I will probably plant next summer. (maybe I'll make a series.) we all got out for a walk and laughed and took some pics. good times.

ooh the horror the horror!!! I saw this while on our way out. yes it is what it looks like the snow is comming. NO!!!!!!!

another great find

I went Letterboxing with my nephew The Champion and my daughter K on Saturday, the buddys (Tweeter and Mugsy McGee came with us). We found the box without any trouble and I'm so glad there is finally a LB in the Weschester Lagoon area. I wanted to plant one there and still might later. it was sunny but windy, not bad if walking and wearing a sweater but to stamp in I had to take my gloves off and and stamping into to 4 logs books takes a while. (my book, champions, and the 2 buddys) My hands were cold!!!

before we left the buddys posted for a pic. K was in the pic too but decide to run away at the last minute. The champion ran after her before she dove into the freezing water. she saw it and screamed AGUA!!!!!

*this is a picture of a fence at the place we found the LB today. I took a pic because I thought it kinda looked weird. What are those kids doing?? and why is there a pole coming out of the boys head!! LOL

new letterboxes in anchorage and more carving

well first of all I'm so excited that there are 2 new letterboxes listed on the AQ site. both say that they have not been found yet but I'm guessing they have been just havent been logged. there is 3 LB in Anchorage I need to find but they're a good little drive out. these 2 new one are close in town. one I"m almost positive we will find tomorrow. the other I need to do a bit more research before heading out. It'll probably be rainy tomorrow but we're going anyway. Time too bundle up!!! Both my new buddy's have been claimed and will go out as soon as I get their stamps and log books done. I bought some pink stuff today and carved my "My favorite holiday: Feliz Navidad" PLBR stamp. not quite happy with it yet. the carving is ok but I am having a hard time inking it with crayolas. I think I may have to buy some good markers. I'll mess with it some more tomorrow. I have the log book done, cuz I bought it, at Joann's. I have a few ideas for some rings I want to start and a few stamps I want to carve. oh so much to do!!!!

new buddies

YAY!!! I have new buddies!!!

they arent quite ready to travel yet but will be soon. working on their stamps and log books. (I also have 2 postals I have to carve.) tomorrow I will go out and buy some pink stuff. at my sisters house I'll print some pics to transfer and carve.

visit their blogs to learn more about them, links are on the left side of page.

dough boy 9/11/07

Got another email from DB. for pictures go to http://www.doughboysadventures.blogspot.com

Dear Mom,
So far since I've been here we haven't gone outside to letterbox. It has been raining for the last four days. Today looks like it might clear up a little bit. Things are going good and there are plenty of buddies here for me to hang out with. Yesterday while it was raining we(the buddies and I) played Hide and Seek in the PLB pile from 2 days worth of HG's mail. We were having a great time until Peanut Girl decided that she wanted to hide in the PLB pile too. HG made me an extra logbook for the big stamps we stamp. So if they are small enough to go in my log then they do and if not they go in the extra book. That HG is sooooo systematic about stamping I think she might have a little OCD. (Don't tell her I said that) I'm sending a few pics attached to my letter. I miss you guys and I can't wait to share my adventures.
Love Always,
Dough Boy
http://www.doughboysadventures.blogspot.com

so close yet so far

well I'm a bit ticked. Saturday night ( wait would that be Saturnight? LOL) hubs tell me we are driving to Wasilla for a BBQ his co- worker is having. WHAT?! I dont want to frove out there but then I think ooh Letterboxing. I probably wont be driving out there alone anytime soon so this would be perfect to get those boxes out there. There is one in Wasilla and 1 or 2 in Palmer and 2 or 4 more between there and Anchorage. so we quckly grabs some stuff and head out the door. I'm hopeing to use their comuter becasue I dont have any of the clues for the boxes out there. we spend the night so I dont have to drive back so late. We forget to ask about using the computer and the next morning we leave early. we argue about going LB, I want to hubs doesnt. I'm ticked I dont have the clues. we decide on going for the ones in Thunderbird falls and Eklutna lake. BUT then change our minds when we decide we are too broke to pay the $5 parking fee at each park PLUS is cold and rainy and K is getting over a cold. so yes I'm ticked becasue I was so close to them but didnt get any :( There is a NEW LB in Anchorage. I'm excited to get that one when I figure out where I'm suppose to go. I must LB until there is snow on the ground then I'm hybernaiting. We are thinking that next year we'll try Geocashing too. There is a geocash sooo close to hubs work. I read in the comment a person said they found it without a GPS just using the map. I know exactly where to look so if its nice out tomorrow we may go check it out while we wait for hubs to get off work. grrrr, this rain needs to stop already.

Dough boy arrives in MA.

Dear Mom,

I arrived yesterday in Gardner, MA. Guess what? They have a baby they call Peanut Girl. (yeah right, she's NOT a peanut.) HG has some other buddies visiting as well. I exchanged with Teasel the Hedgehog, Froggie, and Smoke the cat. Later, HG said we're going to stamp some postals after the baby falls asleep. HG took some pics. Miss you guys lots!

-Dough Boy

my new log book

I'm so proud of me! I finally bought a decent log book. I know some people make their own and some people buy really nice expensive ones but being a SAHM with no real income its hard for me to spend $10 on a journal. When I started I got a cheap less than a dollar note pad from Walmart. It did the job. When I got my first boxing buddy in the mail and saw his log book was sooo nice waaaay nicer than mine I decide it was time to get with it. BUT again $$$. I went to different stores, Walmart, Blaines Arts, Michaels, Jo-anns. all too expensive or not what I wanted. Didnt think to check Fred Meyers. Then a few days ago, I found it but totally chance. In Fre Meyers in the scrapbook supplies!! $2.99. Ahhhh that better. Its black, hardcover, spiral, same size as my old one. I also found some cheap sturdy sketch pads that would be great for a buddy. (maybe I'm think about making another buddy?) Today I started cutting out my old stamp images and glueing them into my new book. They look great! hope they hold well. Cant wait to put in my first stamp into my new book. I'm a happy letterboxer :)

Labor day Letterboxing

well I finally got that compass I've been meaning to buy, not that it did much good. There is 2 LBs in Anchorage that you need a compass to find but we couldnt get the clues well enought to find the tree we needed to stand by to take the compass reading. The other I was unclear as to what the hider wanted me to do. I will email them and ask questions before giving up.

Mugsy McGee tried to help read the compass.

When we got to the park K was sleeping and showing no signs of planning to wake up so how do you letterbox in the woods with a sleeping 30lb toddler? You get your nephew to push her around in an umbrella stroller! yep, an umbrella stroller. We actually use this stroller almost everytime we LB. we can push it through some tough terrain and sometimes end up carrying it. That way she has a place to sit and be still while we stamp in. sometimes she walks and we still take the stroller incase she gets tired and again to strap her down so we can stamp in with out her running off.

Here are the Buddies taking a rest on K's lap.

We didnt find the LB we were looking for at this park but I remembered one I knew was close by. It was the vert first letterbox I ever found with my hubs and my K. yes it was a sentimental moment. I decided the buddies and the champion should atleast get the stamp in to something today so it wasnt a totally waste of time.

Revisiting the box that started it all.

This is my favorite picture! K and the Buddies stamping in. Awwwww....

I took a few pictures of just some random things I thought were kinda interesting. Mushrooms and leaning trees. There were some really cool spider webs but I couldnt get a good pic. Here are some:

The End of a Beautiful Labor Day Letterboxing Trip.

its in the mail

well to start off, I HATE the post office!! dont matter what time I get there, there is always a long line. If its just me isnt not that big a deal but with a wiggly impatient almost 2 year old K, it just dont work. I hate that some poeple get in line to mail out a BUNCH of packages and it takes them like half an hour but mine take all of 1 min. YET I have to stand in line for 30 mintues! GRRRR. once I get my new debit card I'm going to start using the Automated postal center thing.
productive day though. I mailed out Dough Boy, on his way to see Happy Gemini. I mailed out my 40 postcards for the postcard exchange and put in the postage to get it back. mailed 1 USA Alaksa post card and also mailed 5 AK postcards to places outside of the US. all for less than $11. not bad.
I need to join another postal ring. *wait! just did! a Christmas one* I also need to plant atleast 1 more letterbox. I need more pink stuff. I need to CARVE!!!! I'm going to make Halloween cards to send to family and friends. I may even do some Christmas cards too.

baby moose in Anchorage streets

while driving to pick up my hubs today we saw a baby moose run accross the road. I took a quick pic as we drove off.

" well officer, I didnt see the car because I was trying to get a good shot of the moose. "

knock on the door

Here are the pics of Mugsy McGee visiting us from Seattle WA.

knock knock knock. hello? Who's there?

It's Mugsy McGee!!

Tweeter meets Mugsy

Mugsy McGee arrives in Alaska

We got a new boxing buddy!! Mugsy McGee. Mugsy brought us an adorable little keychain. We havent had a chance to take him out letterboxing but we've done exchanges and will be going out this or next weekend. Later I will post a pic of Mugsy and Tweeter. They're getting along great!

Tweeter's 1st LB in Alaska

what a great day. we sent out the Travelling Mama postal. I hate the post office! I remember why every time I end up standing in line for over half an hour for something that takes 3 mins to do.
Since we were next to the library we dicided to get the 2 letterboxes in there. Tweeter helped K with the puzzles in the kids play area. Then we showed him a cool HUGE map of Alaska. We may letterbox some more tomorrow after The Champion get out of school. I have to buy a compass. Maybe grandma will go with us next time. Hope this rain stops. All I ask is please dont snow before I get the rest of the anchorage boxes.

Tweeter Arrives in Alaska

What a great day! This morning K and I were going to do laundry when I almost tripped on a box on my front door. huh? I pick it up and realize IT'S TWEETER!!!

It was cold and rainy all day so no letterboxing today. Tomorrow we are planning on going to a few letterboxes and we're going to plant one. We did some exchanges and got to know each other better. K really liked Tweeter and I have to hide him from her.

I also got the Travelling Mama postal. Tweeter stamped in to that one and got a stamp from TM. tomorrow morning I'm mailing out TM to Kodiak Ak.

Got some new stamp pads today. 4 for $6 Dew Drop Brilliance: Pearlescent Ivy, Moonlight White, Pearlescent Olive, and Coffee Bean.

I just needed a plain brown stamp pad. The colors are beautiful and sparkley. they're suppose to dry fast but I still feel that I have to blow on them. I'm not totally satisfied. I think I need a plain dye ink pad. I need a little crayon box to carrie them in now. I also think I need a red pad since I have a great green. ooh also need a great black and orange. Christmas and Halloween!!

I NEED a stamp pad, a good one!

so hubs wanted to watch the game and have some down time to himself so K and I went out shopping. I had been wanting to go to Micheals for a while now. I decide I was gonna check it out then go to Joann's for a stamp pad since I had a 40% off coupon. BUT Micheals lets you use competitors coupons so yay didnt have to drive to the other side of town.

It took me for ever to find a pad I liked that wasnt so damn expensive. at the last minute I changed it for another. ANNA GRIFFIN Pigment Ink Pad in Chocolate.

well to say the least it SUCKED! its too inky and sticky and all it did was make a mess!! its smudged the stamp image and stained my beautiful hand carved stamp! I'm ticked! so then I think I can reink my old cheap walmart stamp pad. Nope! just ruined it even more. the new pad is sooo sticky it ripped off the walmart pad out of the pastic base. now I have to get a new tomorrow. gonna check out Blaines since its the the only place that carries any stamp carving supplies. Michaels did have some white Speedy cut but I havent heard any good things about it and it cost more that the pink stuff from Blaines.

I also think its time I get a real log book. I'm thinking I'm gonna buy a sketch book the size that is about $8 is big enough with out being too huge to carry around. I'm gonna cut out my pages and stick them into my new log book.

Hope that tomorrow morning we get Tweeter in the mail. I have to buy some bubble wrap envelopes for the post card ring, the Veggie Tales ring and to send out DB.

Dough Boy has his own blog!

Since DB has been bugging me about this I decided to set up his own blog. He is so independent. He is all ready to go out to Happy Gemini towards the end of the month.

http://doughboysadventures.blogspot.com

Pink stuff

sooooo I'm pretty new to letterboxing and very new to stamp carving. I have carved 8 stamps. all desent enough to be considered stamps. I havent really messed on up so bad it could not be saved. I turned a pair of eyes into pretty cool mountains with northern lights. I started with these great SUPER cheap white erasers I found at joanns. 2 erasers for $.25!!! no joke! at that price they would be great if not to carve at least as erasers. I bought $1 worth. so I had 8 erasers to work with. 1 became my sig stamp. 3 became boxes I planted. 1 the champion made into his sig stamp. 1/2 of one I send to a friend carved with her initials. 1/2 became DB's stamp. 1 became my personal traveler and 1 I'm not quite happy with yet. I have carved 2 stamps using the pink stuff. once I decide I could spend the money on it. I carved a veggie tales character for the VT PLB ring going out in sept. it was my first real stamp. It lookd great! and it wasnt hard. so proud of myself. today I carved an awesome bear for the postcard exchange ring. (alaska= bears) I have decide I love the pink stuff! and as long as I make it last the price ain't that bad. its so much easier to carve. the white erasers are too soft and small. I think I cant do great things when using the pink stuff.

nice trail

we went to find another box on Saturday. we were suppose to meet with some friends but both bailed at the last minute. It happens, we still had fun. K, the Champion, my moms, my 4 yr old neice DB and I set out on and awesome walk. we learn alot too. so fun!

The end of a busy Letterboxing day.

well this is what happens when you let a 2 year old play with a stamp. I bought K a little cheapy Hello Kitty stamp at Claires. It was $.50 and has 3 different colors and stamps. she uses it to stamp in when we letterbox.

We found 2 more boxes today. the clues were great! they were pictures! I saved them on my computer and then uploaded them to my Ipod. It was a little tricky beacuse the pic were taken in the fall and right now everything is green. DB got his first 2 stamps today. He was a little sad when he realized his little log book was to small for the huge stamps. I told him it was ok and to stamp the main part of the stamp. He had fun and cant wait to get all the boxes here in Anchorage. He already mentioned that he wants to travel the world.

Here are some pics of Devil's Club. OUCH!

Berry Picking

DB (who my daughter has renamed Boi Boi since she cant say dough boy) K and I were invited to go pick berries with some friends. the walk up was tough, uphill the whole way. my 23 month old K walked most of it on her own and DB rode in her pouch.

Once we got to the berries DB wanted out to explore and collect berries. He found some good blueberries and is planning to make us blueberry pancakes tomorrow morning!

No letterboxing today but we got some friends interested in it and we are all going out on Friday.

K really seems to like Boi Boi. She ran around with him until she fell over and DB got a little dirty but he just got up and dusted himself off. He enjoys playing with K too. tomorrow we are going over to have DB's grandpa help us with his red backpack. We may even go LBing on wednesday before we meet with everyone on Friday. OH we also noticed a new letterbox here in Alaska. It's over in the Potters Marsh area. we may have to call in the Letterboxing Mommas for this one. I dont like driving out there, especially not alone.

busy looking up new clues

Dough boy and I have been busy looking up new clues and learning more about letterboxing. I snapped this while DB was reading new messages on atlasquest. I also got the fabric to make his new backpack! he asked to carry his own things , just like my toddler they have to be independent! His stamp is ready to go we just need to put his log book together. it will have to be small enough to fit in his red backpack. yep he picked the color.

Dough Boy's info:

DB is a happy little critter. He likes baking and is ofcourse quite ticklish. He has the best giggle ever! My daughter K found him at a garage sale one day and we just had to take him home. one day he heard me talking to my hubs about letterboxing and he said he wanted to come along. He has only found 2 letterboxes with us but didnt have his stamp with him. we came home that day and he promptly started his stamp. He cant wait to go out again! He is a true adventurer!

8/3/07

Today my nephew could not go LBing with us so my mom went with my daughter and me. we found the park and had some trouble figuring out what the clue was saying. I was also trying to translate into spanish the clues for mom to understand them. she was very helpful and sometimes saw things I didnt. I think she enjoyed it, she seemed excited the first box we found. we went out for 4 boxes and got 2 of them. we gave up when the trail seemed to close up and we could not walk anymore with my 2 yr old. we also had a stroller we were trying to push uphill. we had fun. today we took out our new Boxing Buddy~ DoughBoy. Here he is with his first ever find! Sadly he forgot his stamps and log book so he couldnt stamp in. it made him sad :(

things that happen while letterboxing

well the very first time we went out my daughter fell asleep in the backpack while my hubby carried her. we forgot the bugspray and boy were the mosquitos hungry!!! we rushed the whole thing and started arguing because my hubby was being eaten alive. bugs didnt bother me much.

the 2nd time my niece was with me and we had a hard time controlling the baby without a stroller or backpack. we found 1 out of 3 letterboxes.

went to 2 indoor letterboxes with hubby and baby. so fun and great stamps!

went out with my daughter, my sister and her 4 yr old. the location was pretty public. we didnt find it. later I found out the boxes own believes the box is missing.

after that I started going with my nephew The Champion. he enoys Lbing very much and just carved his own stamp. we have been WAY to close to moose twice already within a few days. the expirence left me very paranoid.

7/2/07

well it all started when I saw an ad in the familyfun mag. for letterboxing. it sounded fun and both my hubby and I were interested in it. it started as something the 3 of us could do. after a few boxes my hubby lost interest so it was just me and my daughter. we use to be The Browns, also Bumblebee Browns but since now its just me really, my daughter's only 2yrs old, I changed my trail name to Brown Eyes. so I have been a letterboxer for 1 whole month!!!! I've found 7 boxes and 2 Hitchhikers. attepted atleast 3 more boxes I didnt find. and I've planted 3 of my own boxes.

letterboxes I have planted

so far I have planted 3 letterboxes.

1. MP3
2. Love Letterbox
3. The Two of Us