Shirley and Heidi Love the humor and creativity of that package.
Annie Thanks again for the great package that you sent. Annie sent me a bubble envie just crammed with goodies.Popcorn... already gobbled up
2 pair of pink puffy cuddle socks. Love these as I never wear shoes inside and the socks feel terrific. Cute color too,
A pink jar of body butter. Terrific for hard working hands feet and knees. I'll remember you when I get softened up after a hard day in the garden
A nice jar candle. Saving this for summer too. Oh, I'm so anxious and excited.
Annie, you are a fantastic swapper.
Yesterday I did something I have not done in 70 years. Wanted to share a good laugh with all of my GW buddies. Enjoy

Evening and Happy Sunday!
Beth, that is so great! But how in the world did you get up on that elephant - a ladder? I've seen elephants and camels at Renfests, never had the nerve to try riding one of them tho. Way to go, Beth! Thanks for sharing!

Sounds like a great package Annie sent!

Well, the swap is moving along nicely, here's an update:
Vina sends to Stoney/Melinda

Stoney/Melinda sends to Heidi - Sent/Rec'd

Heidi sends to Shirley - Sent/Rec'd

Shirley sends to Sharon

Sharon sends to Annie

Annie sends to Beth - Sent/Rec'd

Beth sends to Jayeanne

Jayeanne sends to Alana

Alana sends to Sheri

Sheri sends to Vina - Sent

Sharon, I've got your Sleep Day package all ready to go tomorrow. Will post DC# after work.
Hope everyone had a great day, it was sunny here all day, but very, very cold. Supposed to get a little warmer during the week - fine with me!
Shirley!

Evening!

So sorry I haven't posted sooner. Last few days have been crazy! We had the yuckiest snow storm at the end of last week. Kiddos had 2 snow days!! The weekend was a total blur...but a mist all the crazy...Sheri's Happy Dog Day package arrived!!

Sheri THANK YOU SO MUCH! The kids ate the chocolate right away, lol. It was like a shark attack :D

I absolutely loved, LOVED the card! Your so talented making it yourself!!

Sheri also sent some yummy, dried chicken jerky dog treats. Needless to say Taylor was a big hit yesterday. And made many new friends.

Also in my doggy bag :) was a new Daylily!!! New Toy...how appropriate! And Robinson Red Chrysanthemum seeds...

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I loved everything!

Melinda, Your Fishy Holiday is heading your way in the morning. I have to tell you I had the hardest time finding a fishing holiday card...guess Hallmark doesn't make one, lol. So, the kiddos and I made one. Hope you and Stoney like it.

I'll post the dc when it mails.

Beth!! That is AWESOME!!! Love the elephant!

Have a great night!
vina

Alana....letting you know I was able to mail your package today....I think you should have this on Wed or Thurs. I have tracking info if we need it.

3 DAYS TILL SPRING!!!

Jayeanne

Elephant=very cool Beth!
Thanks, Jayeanne!

Sheri, I finally got it together and scheduled a code red for pick up tomorrow. I have the DC if there is a hitch along the way.

Is it only Monday???

Hey, Everyone, hope ya all had a great Monday!

Vina, that did sound like a Happy Dog Day package! Great interpretation of your day!

Thanks for posting, Alana and Jayeanne, and Sharon, I sent your Sleepy Day package out today. I have the DC# if needed.

Here is another update:
Vina sends to Stoney/Melinda

Stoney/Melinda sends to Heidi - Sent/Rec'd

Heidi sends to Shirley - Sent/Rec'd

Shirley sends to Sharon - Sent

Sharon sends to Annie

Annie sends to Beth - Sent/Rec'd

Beth sends to Jayeanne

Jayeanne sends to Alana - Sent

Alana sends to Sheri - Sent

Sheri sends to Vina - Sent/Rec'd

Happy Tuesday,
Shirley!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all.
Wow, what great packages this month. I love the Green Grass goodies and Beth on the elephant!
I think I mentioned that I was going to meet my new granddaughter over the weekend. Here is adorable Miranda. She is such a good baby - slept most of the time I was there.
I have some sprouts in my winter sowing jugs, but much more to sow. It has been raining and cold the past 2 days so I'm not planting more until we get a warmer day with some sun.
I hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day!
Jeanne

This post was edited by sandlapper_rose on Tue, Mar 18, 14 at 13:35

I'm excited for my package, Alana! I love your creativity.

Beth, you wild woman you! It's never even occurred to me to ride an elephant. I'm NO good on a horse and an elephant is like 5 times bigger.

Vina, I'm glad you like it all. I'll send even more chocolate next time. ;) Stay warm. Hopefully this is the last big winter storm.

Very pretty grand baby, Jeanne! So healthy and perfect.

This post was edited by Panhandle_Seed_Swap on Mon, Mar 17, 14 at 21:28

This was the photo I used on Vina's "Happy Dog Day" card. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jeanne, what a darling baby girl! Thanks for sharing!

Sheri, love the picture, that is exactly what a cat would say!

And DUH - Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Shirley!

Morning!

That card was so perfect! We used to have a cat that looked just like that, lol! Not the best rider to vet! Would wail the whole time, not cry, wail. It was horrible!!

Melinda and Stoney, your bubblie is on the way :D DC# is 9114 9012 3080 1090 5189 25 Expected Delivery is Friday. Hope you likey.

Welcome to the world baby Miranda! I love that name!! She's so cute! I remember when mine were that little...aaawwwww...memories.

A couple of weeks ago was the 100th day of school. Each child needed to do a 100 project. 100 of anything. Billy and I made a coral reef. 10 sets of 10 ocean animals . He was so proud! Just brought it home to hang in his room. :)

It only cost us $2.50 to make! We made everything ourselves. Only bought the poster board. Totally Fotess worthy, lol. We upcycled all the fish, plants, and coral :)

Have a super Tuesday!
vina

Love Billys poster.
Baby Miranda is a perfect Doll
Jayeanne, I should be mailing in another day or two.
Sheri, great photo for happy dogs. I enjoyed the elephant ride but truly I'd prefer a horse anyday. Much faster and of course, easier to get on and off.
Shirley , this has been such fun and sparked so much creativity. Thanks again
bb

What a great picture, Vina! Billy might have taken Best of Show last month if he'd have been entered! That's definitely Fotess-Worthy. He must have gotten a little of that creativity from you.
What fun--Baby Miranda! I've got 2 baby showers this weekend. Both having boys. I bought one lady all the baby stuff and then added the dill pickles, chocolate and chips for any late stage cravings!
We are having Disney-like snowflakes the size of quarters. Super wet so the ground can soak it up. We thought we'd have snow for 10 minutes and it's been snowing all day. We'll take all the moisture we can get!
Heidi

Wow, that is a great poster, Billy, and I agree, you would have won Best in Show! Good Job!

Beautiful day here today. I'm down to one outer layer! Come on, Spring!

No updates, so I'll be back at ya all tomorrow,
Have a great Wednesday,
Shirley!

Happy First Day of Spring!
FINALLY!
Have a great day, Everyone!
Shirley!

HAPPY SPRING! Good news, my FOTESS friends... I am one of the winners in the Botanical Interests "Waiting for Spring" contest! It was really tough competing against cute kids and cats, but we did it!!!

Alana, Annie, Melinda H., Shirley C., Sharon, Mellen, Shirley S., Margo and Christine... thank you so much for taking the time to actually vote for MY PHOTO So exciting! :)

It was very kind and thoughtful of you. I'll be emailing all of you, today, at some point. Thanks again!

Here is a link that might be useful: Contest Winners!

This post was edited by Panhandle_Seed_Swap on Thu, Mar 20, 14 at 16:13

Sheri, so happy to hear you won! Congratulations.
Also, wanted to comment on how great Billy's poster is.
Happy First Day of Spring to everyone! I checked on my winter sowing jugs yesterday and nearly everything has sprouted. Some are badly in need of transplating already. Of course, I still have more winter sowing to do --- so I need to get moving on all of it. I was out of potting soil, but my husband bought more for me.

I hope Shirley won't mind me jumping in here in the middle of March, but I am hostess for April and with the idea I have I want to mail on April 1st so I am going to start the heading for sign ups later today. There will be multiple mailings (only one per person though) so we'll see if we can get it completed by the end of April. I hope so!

I am excited about my idea. I hope you will be, too.
Time to get ready for my Master Gardener meeting so I'll be back later.

Jeanne

This post was edited by sandlapper_rose on Thu, Mar 20, 14 at 10:14

Thank you, Alana, for my fantastic Red Everywhere Day package! (see photo)

Alana has me starting the day with red in the shower and then heading to the garden for more red... Garden Wonder red dahlia, Majestic Red calla lily, Brightness red cosmos seeds and Redman Super Cactus Zinnia!!! The package was full of pretty red petals, too. ;) Thank you, I love it all.

The bath puff was actually on my list to buy! I love shower gels. They make my skin so soft. Just wonderful, Alana... thank you!

Sheri

Congrats Sheri, you deserved to win.

And Wow, what a nice package Alana sent you!

I really love and got a big laugh out of my Sleep Day Package Shirley sent me:
1. Bedtime chamomile tea
and when I run out of the tea I can grow more with my new

2.Chamomile seeds.

3.A DO NOT DISTURB sign to hang on my door like hotels have ... this one has Sheep on it!! :o)

4.A Decoration for my Sleep Day .... sheep on a blue ribbon to hang and count. LOL

5. A CD made just for me ... all with 'sleep' songs. Although some are iffy For instance ... Help me make it through the night by Williie Nelson. Ha!

Shirley, THANK YOU! I got a big kick out of your package!

sharon

More great swap packages received! I love it when you post pictures.
I've created a heading for April. I called it an activity instead of a swap, but I hope you like the idea and will sign up.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Jeanne

Lots of great packages sent!
Love the pic that your Billy made! Great job!
And great job Sheri! Great for us also! LOL !
Baby Miranda is a beauty! I so miss babies around!
Hope everyone has a great evening! Going to go check out Jeanne's activity! Got a lot going on, so not sure if will do any this next month, we'll see.

Evening, All!
Congrats, Sheri, got your email, will be in touch soon.
And what a great Red Holiday - good job, Alana!

Sharon, glad you liked the celebration, hope the CD plays for you, for some reason, it wouldn't play on my CD player, but it did play on my computer and the CD player at work. Strange. And ya know, I had to include Willie!

FOTESSERs, you should check out Jeanne's April swap, sounds like a lot of fun!

Well, we have six more days until we can all celebrate our own special Holidays. Here's an update on what everybody will be celebrating:

Vina sends to Stoney/Melinda - Sent

Stoney/Melinda sends to Heidi - Sent/Rec'd

Heidi sends to Shirley - Sent/Rec'd

Shirley sends to Sharon - Sent/Rec'd

Sharon sends to Annie

Annie sends to Beth - Sent/Rec'd

Beth sends to Jayeanne

Jayeanne sends to Alana - Sent

Alana sends to Sheri - Sent/Rec'd

Sheri sends to Vina - Sent/Rec'd

Please let me know if I missed anyone.
And have a great Friday!
Shirley!

Alana... just checked your tracking and it says it was delivered today hope everything arrived in perfect condition for you =) Cant wait for your reaction...Im on the edge of my seat...LOL! Hope you enjoy your 'holiday'

Jayeanne

My 'poop' package was perfect! I had company shortly after I got home and did not have a chance to open it right away..
Jayeanne, you outdid yourself! I'm not going to list the items now, I'd rather share a photo, so I am going to wait until tomorrow to post the contents. One of them really needs to be seen to be appreciated, lol.
Thank you Jayeanne. I love it! Back tomorrow with the particulars.

LOL!!! Ok no problem at all, just happy you got it ok =)

Jayeanne

Congratulations Sheri, great job!! Glad you won.

Great packages are being received. I always love the creativity of our members. So much fun.

Noticed my daffodils are beginning to break ground. I haven't seen any evidence of crocus so hope they survived this brutal winter.

Margo

LOL!!! Great packages!!

Sheri, so happy for you!!! Congratulations!! Just read your email....I will email you soon!

Margo, how are you feeling?

Melinda, thinking of Stoney............

Enjoy the March Madness, if you are in to that. I love it. And Happy Spring!!

Have a great Friday!

Annie

Yeah, Stoney and I rec'd his fishing holiday package today! I took a pic, will try later and see if I can get them on the computer. Wouldn't upload them the other day!
Got these:
Wonderful fish card! Very nice!
glass fish, very cool
shark's tooth necklace
keychain with bass on it
bag of skeleton shad bait
bag of gummy sharks
3 packs of seeds for me! Salvia, tomato, and columbine!
Thank you so much! Loved it all and so did Stoney Matthew! He still isn't back in school. Went one day, only half a day and was completely wiped out. Still working on a diagnosis, but still not sure what is wrong with him.
Thanks again! Hope everyone has a great day!
Melinda

Happy Happy Strawberry Parfait Day! LOL OMG..osh Beth!! WOW! I am in heaven! yum yum yum.... thank you ever so much for all the delicious strawberry goodies! What a wonderful package arrived today....including.....

beautiful card that included a gift card to McDonalds for a delicious strawberry yogurt parfait! (guess where Im going tonight! LOL)
a recipe for a strawberry parfait including all the ingredients! yum! (working on making this just as soon as I get off here! lol) included the strawberry jello and even the cool whip topping!
a strawberry chapstick (my favorite! how did you know I needed this? lol)
Trident layers with real fruit flavor 'wild strawberry and tangy citrus' another one of my favs!!
All fruit spreadable strawberry jam! YUM....already had to get into this, ha ha ha this will be perfect to add to the strawberry parfait later!
and a package of strawberry allstar (10 roots) to get planting my own strawberries! I was just looking at these the other day! thinking I would like to try growing my own this year! You must have read my mind! LOL
Everything was wrapped up so perfectly in beautiful tissue paper, hated to rip open but curiosity got the best of me, LOL

thank you ever so much Beth! I absolutely just love everything you sent .....what a wonderful strawberry parfait day!!

(((Hugs!)))
Jayeanne.....enjoying the package!

Here are the things Vina sent to Stoney Matthew and I. Check out her cool card! Only thing not in the pic are the shark gummies, of couse they are getting eaten!
Thanks again, Melinda and Stoney!

Annie, I am feeling so much better. I am off the meds and having no problems as of yet. I am staying away from spicy foods, nuts, wheat bread etc until I see the specialist next month and find out if it is a cronic issue or one time thing. Thanks for asking.

Great packages being received. So bummed I had to pull out.

Have a great weekend everyone, Margo

What great packages!! I hope Stoney feels better soon Melinda-I'll bet he loved the shark gummies.

I did a horrible job of staging the photo of my loot from Jayeanne. I was in a hurry, but here goes.
She sent some easter, eggs (of course) two with chocolate candy and one with three packs of chicken worthy seeds, including blue fescue for the girls to nibble. She also sent a gorgeous package of colorful hens and chicks plants. I have not had one of these plants in years and I have a clay strawberry jar of which it will become the star. I really like it! The "country chic" lotion was such a cute idea, and smells nice too. She also added hand sanitizer. Wonder why, lolol. There is also a "got poop" sticker. Not sure if this is purely an adhesive sticker or some kind of iron on. Help me out with this Jayeanne. If it is a sticker it is going on the back of the pickup which hauls a lot of poop. If it is an iron on, it is going on a t-shirt. Either way, it was a perfect touch.
Jayeanne you really nailed this holiday!
The best part of all is in picture number two. My lips are always dry, so this is perfect! It does have an unusual taste, though....

Phyllis approves of the lip balm, too.

Congrats, Jayeanne! I know we were all wondering what you were going to do with that Holiday! Good Job!

Alana, I'll bet it does taste funny! Where in the world did she find that?

And Beth, how many kinds of "strawberries did you fit in there? Great Package!

Stoney, we're so glad you were able to take part in this month's swap! It was fun having you, and looks like you got a great package from Vina. I hope you can get out there and use some of the stuff on March 26th, Stoney's Fishing Day! And it's always nice when your grandmother can join us too!

Vina, the card was Excellent!

Well, this swap is quickly coming to a close! Here's an update!

Vina sends to Stoney/Melinda - Sent/Rec'd

Stoney/Melinda sends to Heidi - Sent/Rec'd

Heidi sends to Shirley - Sent/Rec'd

Shirley sends to Sharon - Sent/Rec'd

Sharon sends to Annie

Annie sends to Beth - Sent/Rec'd

Beth sends to Jayeanne - Sent/Rec'd

Jayeanne sends to Alana - Sent/Rec'd

Alana sends to Sheri - Sent/Rec'd

Sheri sends to Vina - Sent/Rec'd

Sharon, did I miss you?

Have a great weekend, Everybody, I've got yard work planned! YAY!!!!
Shirley!

This post was edited by sjc48 on Fri, Mar 21, 14 at 22:01

LOL!! Alana! well I must say I loved your photos especially Phyllis! I have to admit, when you posted your holiday I thought to myself, oh gosh if I get her what do i send for that holiday! LOL! You had me stumped, for a good while, LOL. I searched the good ol' search engine for days! even had my girls helping out...So happy you enjoyed everything...ok the 'got poop' sign is a sticker! so when you peel off the back it should appear black and the letters should be white (that will be perfect for your truck!! LOL)...my favorite was the lip balm...'grampa says if you got dry lips, put chicken poop on em' so you wont lick em' LOL!! (but the lip balm contains no poop, ha ha ha) my girls got the biggest kick outta that we were anxiously awaiting your response! I showed them your photos and they just loved it! We had a lot of fun putting your holiday together to make it a memorable one. ha ha ha

Shirley...that lip junk we found on the internet, never even knew there was such a thing! LOL

Just love all the creative and amazing packages .... this was an awesome swap, thank you Shirley!

Beth... took the girls for a girls night out while DH and little guy went to the first ball practice for the season... we had to stop by and enjoy the strawberry parfaits at Mc Donalds before coming home! They were delicious! Thank you so much Ill post the pics of the ones we made over the weekend... everything turned out perfect! Many thanks!

Spring is officially here ladies but we are expecting more snow in the morning and another round of a winter storm again next week....*sigh* Just cant wait for it to be nice outside again.... enjoy your weekend!

Jayeanne

Phyllis is beautiful. What's her personality like?

Really fun packages! Thank you for a great swap, Shirley.

Shirley, I sent Annies package out earlier this week. I'll have to see if I can find the receipt to see which day. But hopefully she will get it soon.
sharon

Thanks for letting me know, Sharon!
I'll be back later, busy transplanting the Begonias, again!
And would you believe they are starting to bloom? Yes!
And it's at least another month until I can put them outside,
I really hope they survive!!
Shirley!

I have been gone for a few days. My neighbor has my mail so will pick it up in the morning. There may just be mail from Sharon....

Happy Evening!

Annie

I finally got around to opening mail last night.....and, Yes, their was a very lovely RED bubbler from Sharon.

Annie Just Wants To Have Fun Day did arrive in style!

Here we go......
Sharon's cover note states the following.......

Annie Just Wants To Have Fun!

Fun is....
*A Joke
*Laughter
*Being The Princess Of the Party
*Being Creative

*THE JOKE: Why did the ant fall off the toilet seat? The answer: Because He was pissed off! (I love it)
*LAUGHTER: Laughter with friends following the joke!
*PRINCESS:Having a party with friends and being the Princess of the party and WAVING YOUR WAND! Chuckle....Chuckle....I certainly could not wave my hand without the GLOW WAND that Sharon sent me...LOL!
*CREATIVITY:
1.Putting together a new kind of vase....Sharon sent me a folding vase with 3 packets of hydrating colored designer beads. So cool....you fill it with water, add the beads and put in cut flowers. And it is all reuseable. How clever!!!!!
2.Stickers to have fun with....and they are all word stickers....ie friends, love etc...these are great!
3.Making a card to invite a special friend out for ice cream....and eating ice cream! Sharon included the card materials for my invite and the instructions on how to do it. And she shows a picture of what the ice cream cone on the card should look like. Since my ice cream is Pralines and Cream, she even included praline colored buttons for the praline part. Sharon found this on PINTAREST.....

Sharon, you sent me a wonderful ANNIE holiday....and so very creative!

Thank you so much!!

Annie

It's such fun to read these posts. We got snow this weekend and my daffodils froze. Snowed off and on for 2 days and was COLD. They had 6" of green so I doubt they can survive that.
My plants in the house are getting quite big. It's too soon to be thinking of outside. I got started a little early I guess. I couldn't help it. I had the fever. Nothin sprouting in the winter sowing yet. Too cold.
It's so fun to play party with all of you! Raise your cup of tea! (chink)
Heidi

Hi All!
Heidi, we just had snow flurries about 15 minutes ago! I almost cried. But it didn't last and now the sun is shining. My mini daffs are up, but not by much, so hopefully the cold and flurries won't hurt them. I don't have any WS sprouts yet, either. Drat!

Annie, it sounds like you will indeed have fun on your special Holiday (which, by the way, is the day after tomorrow!), and I'm still laughing over the joke!

Good Job, Sharon!

Well, Ladies, everyone has received everything they need to celebrate their very own Holiday on the 26th.

There is only one thing left to do for this swap: If you have time on the 26th, would you please email your "send to" person, and the person who sent to you, and wish them a very Happy Holiday!?

Many Thanks to all who participated, Jeanne and I both really appreciate the time you all take out of your busy lives to take part in these swaps - you are such a great group!

See ya all over on the new April FOTESS swap,
Shirley!

Good Morning!
Don't forget to wish your sender and sendee a Very Happy Holiday today. Either here or by email!
Happy Holidays All!
Shirley!

Jayenne, Glad you liked the package and that was a great picture you posted Hope to trade with you again someday.
Annie, I feel like you are "an old Friend". we have traded so many times and they have all been great. Love the goodies you sent, especially the super smooth body butter. I'll be thinking of you often this summer.
And, Shirley!!!!! What a great gal. . So creative and thoughtful. You are a friend to be treasured.
Love all my GW friends. Through the years you have added so much to my gardens and my life..... can't thank you enough.

Wishing Beth and Alana a very happy holiday today and all the other members as well.... Enjoy your holidays ladies!

Thanks again Shirley for such a fun swap!

Jayeanne

Beth, Happy "Ready, Set.....Day"...................GO Day is just around the corner. Have fun traveling to MO with your honey.....be safe!

Sharon, I am still laughing at your joke!! Laughter is good!
And my GLOW WAND, well I waved it and waved it and waved it at my husband this morning (in the dark) and reminded him that it is "Annie Just Wants To Have Fun Day"....let us see what happens...LOL! Afterall, you must wave the wand properly... It is all in the wrist! A very happy SLEEP Day to you!

To each of my fellow FOTESSERS, enjoy your own very special holiday!

Shirley, once again, you have hosted a unique and special swap for us. Thank You!

Annie

Happy Red Everywhere Day, Sheri! I hope you saw red all day long, lol.
And thank you Jayeanne, for making Chicken Manure Appreciation Day special this year!

Even though I was unable to participate this month, I enjoyed reading all the posts and seeing all the wonderful packages that were sent. So much creativity.

I hope everyone enjoyed their special holidays. Shirley, another wonderful swap idea that looks like it was definitely successful.

Margo

Happy (belated) Holiday, everyone! Thank you for a great swap, Shirley.

I'm so glad everyone enjoyed the swap! Thank you all, once again, for playing this month!
This swap is officially over!
Have a great day,
Shirley!