Although I haven’t accomplished much around the house this past month, I did manage to decorate and hang our newest mailbox — that’s number four in five years. . . and not just because I just couldn’t make up my mind on what type of mail receiving receptacle would look best by the curb.

Box number one came with the house. It was old, ugly and rusty, but I’m beginning to see why it was left on its perch in such a sorry condition. We quickly replaced this sad little mess with a brand new post and cute oil-rubbed bronze box, complete with a shiny gold flag. I cut vinyl numbers similar to the ones pictured above and we were set. . . until winter.

After an untimely ice-induced collision with our neighbor’s truck, we replaced number two with another just like it. But before I could dress up box number three with letters and such, our rather broody mailman knocked that one clean into our neighbor’s driveway without so much as an acknowledgement or apology. Seriously?

After that incident, I refused to buy a new mailbox until I thought it was safe to spend another 30 bucks on something in which to stick the mail, so for almost two years our mail has been tossed into a severely dinted box bearing little decoration other than a hand-written last name in white grease pencil. (Surprising, how well that little pencil held up in the weather, but certainly not a permanent solution.)

Insert little anecdote here:  a friend just dropped by at the end of that last paragraph and she actually commented that I finally put numbers on my mailbox. See, they were long due. Plus, those big numbers are seriously hard to miss.

So anyway, here is mailbox number four (and hopefully final) in all its big-numbered grandeur. The box is actually oversized (because apparently our mailman is also far-sighted and can’t read the “Do Not Bend” labels on certain large envelopes) and so are the numbers. I also added the “No.” for a whimsical touch and used a heart instead of a period after the “o.” I think it’s pretty cute, not that my magazines, bills and occasional card care, but it certainly makes it easier to find our house. Now let’s just hope it makes it through the winter, the school bus, the trash pickup and mail delivery.