The Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin'

The UPS truck delivered three different things to our house yesterday, two of them quite exciting. The boring thing was a cover for Jared's new barbeque. The first exciting thing was Jared's new computer.

It's the first time in his life he's purchased an acutal "new" computer, and he got a really cool one. I'm excited to get everything switched over so I can do my blogging and stuff really fast (we're going to get cable internet!) and look at all my pictures on that groovy flat-screen monitor. Seems funny to me that my computer monitor is the same size as my television set. And the aquarium screensaver is awesome!


There's a story behind the second thing that came in the mail. I love those sign boards everyone has in their house these days. I've been looking at them in every store I go in for months. Usually the saying is nice, but not something that really expresses me. And the colors almost never match my decor. I realized I'd better make one myself. I found a website where you not only can order custom vinyl letters but they had an interactive sign designer that was so much fun to play with: www.stickerz.com. I'm going to make another more "serious" sign to hang in my living room, but this is the sort of tongue-in-cheek sign I created for my dining room:

My dad saw a sign that said that in a restaurant years ago. He thought it was so funny, and when we used to misbehave at the dinner table when we were kids he would say, "Act respectable. This is a high-class place" in this very Dad sort of voice. On one hand it was funny, on the other hand it gave us kids a subtle understanding that our home was a place where we strived to have a bit of dignity, which is one of the gifts my parents gave me that I'm grateful for. Jared thought it was pretty funny when he first heard my dad say that, and I think it was actually him that first suggested we hang a sign on our wall with those words. But I don't think he was that serious, and I think he's surprised that I actually did it. But I want my kids to have "we act respectable at home" sunk deep into their psyche (one of those old-fashoined virtures I'm fond of) and this sign will do just that.

The vinyl letters are so cool-- after you use the interactive sign designer to set them up just right they mail them to you pre-spaced on this double-stick paper-- all you do is peel off one side, stick the paper to the board (bought at Home Depot and painted blue with craft paint) and smooth it with the enclosed smoother tool, then peel off the other side and voila! There are your letters. It was easy and it looks great. I'm glad I didn't try to hand-letter.

Next I think I'll do a sign for Eleanor's room that says "Where Flowers Bloom, So Does Hope-- Eleanor Roosevelt". In pink.