The word today is MacIntosh .
It's Monday, blech.
Alana

A year old!? Here I thought your group was 10 years old, 20 years old, founded just days after the internet was born. I guess that's because you're all so smart and knowledgable.
Dianne-I'm the same way. We have a "present box". When I find good deals I buy some and keep them in there. Then when the girls get invited to a birthday party we look in the present box! Of course it also has on-sale goodies like mittens, water guns (on sale now, end of summer), all those trinket things I love to give. I'm so glad you've 'adopted' a kindergartener. So many kids just need someone to love them. I see it in after school programs all the time. They just bloom when they get some attention, love and one-on-one. Here's a quote for the day (not mine)
We make fingerprints on the heart which make the footprints of history.

Hey all you FOTESSERS!

So sorry I've missed a whole week on the thread. Last I posted the kids had gotten sick. Sure enough, a couple days later I got it too. Unfortunately, I REALLY got sick. Couldn't keep anything down, was in bed for 2 days. Starting to feel better. Got my voice back yesterday! Yea! :)

On Saturday I opened the nicest box from Katie! It was such a welcomed bit of happiness after the week I'd had.

In my Apple box was:
~Apple Cider mix (I had this Saturday, instead of tea. It was delicious!)
~Amazing garden gloves. Makes me want to go out and use them .
~Seed Envies and Garden Stakes
~Southern Catalpa Seeds. Katie says this is a tree. Can't wait to look it up.
~2 CD's that she burned for me herself. One of Louisiana music. I have listened to the whole thing and it is FABULOUS! The second is from a band called Blind Pilot. Haven't listened to this one yet, but looking forward to it.
~Apple Cider Hand Soap. This must be to use AFTER I've been out in the garden, lol.

THANK YOU KATIE! You have no idea how much you brightened my day with this box.

I checked my emails and Katie emailed me that she is going on vaca for 2 weeks. I'm waiting to see if she'd like me to still send or wait for her to come back. I'm sending some perishable things. :) I feel just awful that I'm a week behind!!
Katie, so sorry!!! I'll make it up to you. I promise!

Hope everyone else is feeling okay!
Talk to you later!
vina

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one that picks up neat stuff on sale or for future purposes :)

Heidi the little girl we kinda adopted is a sad story...I'm really close friends with an older (I won't say elderly as she doesn't seem elderly in spirit to me) home daycare owner....the lady is like a 2nd mom to me and my hubby and has helped me take care of my kids when we both had to work....we share quite a bit and are like real family...since i'm not working now i help her in her daycare as needed...she's had a couple open heart surgeries and has bad healthy issues and just lost her husband about a year and half ago....he's the only man she's ever been with and they were married for i think she said 45 years or so...now she deals a bit with depression over that and won't give up her daycare as it gives her something to do and she enjoys the kids company for the most part....about a year or so before her hubby got sick and passed they had a little girl dropped off at their daycare and the momma never came back....the grandma who was raising the girl's older sister said she wouldn't take another child...eventually my 2nd mom went and adopted the little girl...because of her age and her health she has a will made out that if anything happens to her then our family or another close family to her that is kinda the same as our family will take the little girl...so the girl actually has 3 families now :))) which i think is totally awesome...it's a sad story with a happy ending ...didn't mean to get so personal but thought i'd share the way i came into having my "adopted kindergardener"....she is now 5 years old and we have had her for almost 3 years i think ....legally for about a year or so i think :)

Vina, I am glad you are feeling better; kids too. I was hoping they were not seriously ill. I forgot that moms get sick too.

Dianne, that is a sweet story. That is a lucky little girl. It sounds like she is much better off than if her birth mother had kept her.

I'm having lunch and remembered that the photo I took this weekend of Margo's pretty and oh so durable spoon plant labels has not been posted yet. They are too cool!

Diane, I have thought for so many years that there are those that have no right to have children and those that have no right to have animals. Rather sad, but look at the world we live in! But then I smile, when I know there are people like you (and your family), the other family and the daycare owner. The young girl will have the best life, far better than the life she would have had with "that woman".

FOTESS...one year old. Happy Birthday. Thanks always to Jeanne and Shirley for putting this fine group together!!

Happy Monday!

Annie

sheepnose is today's apple word.
Enjoy the day,
Alana

Good Morning!
Annie, I've often felt the same way about some mothers; it really makes ya wonder sometimes.

And you don't want to get me started on some people and their pets.

Dianne, I've always thought that adoptive parents were a special kind of people; a kind of first line of defense. I'm glad your daughter has you and the others.

Alana, those spoons are the best. We need to get Margo to post, again, on how she does them! Margo? Please!?

Is that a white pumpkin/squash in the picture?

And, I have 9 bingo words!

Vina, hope you and the kids are both feeling better!

Heidi, your PPD is going out today!

Well, I'm off to the Post Office and Staples! And then it's back to clearing the gardens. And, yes, I'm still ignoring the "entanglement." That wretched passiflora has fruit on it! AGGGGHHHH!!

Shirley!

Hi FOTESSers,

Wow, love those spoons turned into plant labels!

Vina, so glad you are feeling better. No worries about being late, I don't mind & completely understand! And so glad my box brightened your day! I just sent you an email. Yes, please wait til I get back from vaca to send the box :)

Been madly trying to get ready to go out of town. The living room looked like a tornado blew through and scattered camping gear all across it. Nearly packed up, and leaving before dawn tomorrow for 3 days of driving. On the weekends, we will be in towns for weddings & reunions. Hoping to essentially drop off the face of the Earth, in the middle of nowhere, Oregon during the middle of the weeks. It's as good as digging in the dirt, in my book!

Will be back home on October 15th. I'm hoping the dates that Shirley chooses may allow me to participate in the October FOTESS swap. I would be bummed to miss out on the first anniversary swap!

Katie

Glad you and the family are getting better, Vina.

Have a wonderful time on your trip, Katie.

Margo, the spoons are great! I agree, if it's not a secret, tell us the technique for making them. I guess you need to buy some type of kit for the letting.

Dianne, your story about how you have helped your friend and the little girl touched my heart. Wonderful!

Alana, I lost my Bingo list so I have no idea how I'm doing. I'll try to search through sent mail and find it again. LOL

Great "apple adventure", Shirley. I'm so happy this group is able to celebrate its one year anniversary! Wow, just that simple idea to concentrate on read, seeds, and recycle as much as we could and to try to keep expenses and shipping costs down. Sometimes we get a little beyond that, but that's great, too. I'll watch for the October Swap. Later I'll tell about my month of October, but I will be traveling some and it's going to be quite an adventure.

So glad some had luck with the cuttings from our swap. Several of mine rooted and survived. I'll have to recheck my potting area and post which ones they were.

Well, that about wraps it up. I hope I said something to each of the recent posters... if not, hello to everyone else!

Jeanne

I won't be around all day tomorrow, so thought I'd wish FOTESS member Melissa/hazelnutbunny, a Happy Birthday, a little bit early!
Hope your day is great, Melissa!

And in honor of John Chapman's Birthday, here's another Apple picture!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday, Melissa. I hope you have a wonderful year!
Jeanne

I love the apples!
HBD Bunny!

Today I am at home in honor of John Chapman's birthday. Okay, not really-but I am at home.

Vina and Katie seem to have things worked out to both of their satisfactions so we will call the exchange part of this swap closed. One or both of them can come back and post when Katie get's her box. Enjoy your time traveling, Katie.

This weekend I will be posting the MNF Halloween Swap and I hope a lot of you will join. Those of you who have participated in a Halloween Swap I have hosted in the past know that it is my favorite time of year, next to spring of course.
Jeanne I will find your bingo words and email them to you later today.
The only unfinished business is Appleseed Bingo and for John's birthday I've drawn two words:
Graft and Pioneer
Alana

Happy Birthday to John Chapman!

Alana, I found my list of words ... now to go back and see if I have more to check off on the list.

Jeanne

I need 5 more bingo words...I'm bettin there are a few closer to bingo than me lol

Happy Birthday Melissa :)

Hope you enjoy your trip Katie :)

and last but not least hope everyone is having a good week so far...it's hump day hehe

The flower bed in the park I adopted is looking good this fall!

The City Parks & Rec Director asked me if I'd take on a couple more flower beds. I'm so excited. They have great ornamental grasses and are overoveroverovergrown. It will be such fun and automatic sprinklers will water them next summer! Yahoo!
Heidi

Heidi, that's beautiful! What all is in there?

I went out to work today, for the first time in 2 1/2 years! Got a call from my old office yesterday, offering me a temp job for about 6 weeks, and of course I said yes!
Chased around all afternoon trying to find something that looked good enough to wear! Found my loafers in the OTHER closet, after about an hour's search, but I'm pretty sure my good brown belt is gone for good.

It seemed so weird to be walking to work this morning! I was a little nervous, but not much has changed. The phones still ring incessantly and people with deeds still swarm the front counter! Really glad to have the job, for however long it lasts!

Should probably try to get to bed before midnight! Talk to ya all tomorrow night!
Shirley!

I love your adopted bed, Heidi. Next year will be even more fun, I bet, as you expand.
Congrats Shirley!
No one close in Bingo? I need to look and see for myself but I have not been keeping up.
Today's word is "shoeless".
Please tell me if I repeat a word. Today I drew a word I knew I had already called once. I must have stuck it back in the baggie instead of throwing it away. Duh.
Alana

The plants in this bed:
Garden mums, Amaranthus (not sure which variety-never seen any grow this tall-they came up volunteer), orange marigolds, 4 o'clocks, Autumn Beauty Sunflowers (past their prime in the background), Joe Pye, Balsams (Touch-Me-Not), dianthus. With automatic sprinklers they just take off and grow!
On one end it's shady and I planted groundcovers. They are looking good and spreading. There are some pretty rudbeckia, blue fescue grass (barf), common milkweed, shasta daisies and some others that were already there. I don't take things out much--just weeds.
Heidi

Nice apple pics, Shirley. And that's great news about the office calling you for some temp work.

Heidi, that's a beautiful bed! LOL at your sentiments towards fescue! We are driving across Nebraska today, and passed thru your town just a little while ago. If we weren't trying to cover 945 miles today, it would have been fun to stop and say hi. My 3 1/2 yr old nephew has been doing very well on the drive to "the far, far place." we've all been acting like big goofs to pass the time. Yesterday I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes and was a little worried about driving safely b/c I was laughing so! Haha.

Dianne, your story about the little adoptee warmed my heart. Thank you!

I still need 4 words to call Bingo, Alana.

Katie

Happy Birthday BUNNY!!!!

Katie, happy travels! Road trips are the best! I have done many across the country...if you have the time, what a way to see the country!! Have fun and be safe!!

Shirley...back to work!! Enjoy!!

RE: BINGO...need 4 words!!

Annie

Such great fall colors in the flower bed!

Shirley, congratulations on the temp job.

Katie, that's great that your trip is going well.

I only need 3 more words for Bingo. We'll see what shows up next.

Jeanne

Today's word is minimalist .

I'm not having any luck with the bingo words. Drat!

Hey, I get the weekend off - been a while since that happened!

Cool and sunny here today, it's supposed to warm up some next week, which is a good thing!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Shirley!

I hope you have a great weekend Shirley.
Two words to celebrate the weekend:
winesap and orchard .
Check your bingo words ladies. Surely someone has won and does not know it.

Alana

Alana, I need three more words. It sounds like you are hinting that someone might be missing the fact that they have won. Could you post a list of the words you have chosen? Maybe that will help.

Margo

RE: BINGO...I need two words!

Annie

I need 3 bingo words too! Hope they aren't the same words, Margo!

Shirley!

Margo,
I wasn't hinting, lol. I have not had time to check the lists. The reason I said that was that there are only 5 words left in my little bingo baggie.
Here is what I have called so far:
Roxbury Russett
Arkansas Black
Red Delicious
Herbalist
cider
Jonathan
Appleseed
European
Conservationist
Northern Spy
Vegetarian
Cathead
Legend
Dog Fennel
Nursery
Wolf River
Tin Pan
MacIntosh
Sheepnose
Graft
Pioneer
Shoeless
Minimalist
Winesap
Orchard

I'm missing 2 words for Bingo! Maybe we all picked the same word. It will be like the $22 million dollar lottery where 100,000 people picked the winning number and they all get $4! ha This is a competitive group--that makes it fun!
Shirley--the penstemon you sent made it and it's planted, watered and looking happy. What great roots. Gives me hope to look forward to spring.
Heidi

Thanks, Alana!
Was "seeds" called?

Just went for groceries (yech!), now I get to do laundry!
Forgot how busy "weekends off" can be!
Shirley!

I need 2 more words before I get BINGO.
Jeanne

You are right Shirley. Seeds was called and I missed putting it on the list.
Roxbury Russett
Arkansas Black
Red Delicious
Herbalist
cider
Jonathan
Appleseed
European
Conservationist
Northern Spy
Vegetarian
Cathead
Legend
Dog Fennel
Nursery
Wolf River
Tin Pan
MacIntosh
Sheepnose
Graft
Pioneer
Shoeless
Minimalist
Winesap
Orchard
Seeds

It isn't me. I checked the list and I still need three words.

smitties

The word is Baldwin .

All Righty! Two more words!

AND!!
Happy, Happy Birthday, Alana!
Hope you have a great day!

Shirley!

Oh my gosh, It looks like I have all 15 words checked off.
I chose words 1 through 10 and 19 thrpugh23
I can list the words, but if you checked them by the #"s on the list that seems to fit OK.
I am surprised and excited as in general, I am one of those people who "never wins anything". Most of the time I don't even bother to play.
Bethb

Happy Birthday, Alana!
Have a wonderful day.

...and congratulations, Beth! Wow, that apple BINGO went on and on.

Everyone have a great day.
Jeanne

Congratulations Beth!! I will mail your prize out on Monday.

Thanks to everyone for playing. This was a wonderful group. Everyone participated and everyone took care of (is taking care of) their partner as promised. I could not have asked for a better hostessing experience.
Again, my sincere thanks to everyone who played.
I am looking forward to seeing what Shirley and Jeanne have in store for October.
Alana

Wow, that was a great Bingo game, and congrats Beth!!!

I'm off into the great blue yonder today. See y'all next month.

Alana, happy happy birthday! Thanks for hosting a fantastic appley swap!

Katie

BINGO Beth....Congratulations!

Alana, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!! Enjoy your special day! Thanks again for hosting....lots of fun!!

Annie

Congrats on the Bingo win, Beth!

Many, many thanks to Alana for hosting this month's swap! Very interesting and lots of fun! Thanks!

If you would like to host a FOTESS swap in 2013, contact Jeanne or I.

I'll be posting the October FOTESS tomorrow evening; are ya ready to party?!!

Have a great week!
Shirley!

Congratz Beth, Happy Birthday Alana, and have a wonderful trip Katie!!...I've loved this swap and enjoyed getting to know this group...you peeps rock :)

Alana, hope you had a very nice Birthday
Thanks for hostessing this fun swap
and, thanks to all the well wishers on thw Bingo game
bb

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I had a lovely day.
Alana

Alana, sorry I missed your birthday and glad you had a lovely day. We were gone all day yesterday visiting my son down in Cincinnati, Ohio. It turned out to be a costly visit. I broke my speed limit rule and since traffic was passing me, I decided to try going a little faster. Well, that didn't work as I ended up with a speeding ticket. I didn't drive anymore the rest of the day.

Congratulations Beth. Margo

Shirley you are a peach! I received the beautiful handmade apple cards today and I appreciate them so much!
Thanks chick!
Alana

Hey all!
I mailed out Katie's package on the 15th Monday. Her DC# is 0312 0090 0000 8208 3040.

Katie, hope you likey. And so sorry for being so late.

Happy Halloween everyone!!
vina

Oooo, Vina, I love the spooky bat!
No worries about being late! It's all good. Being sick really knocks me out, too. Plus, then, I *was* out of town for a looong time.

Katie

I received a wonderful appley box from Vina yesterday!

She sent:
a wooden Red Apple wall hanging
an apple basket that will hang on a wall - perfect for holding a potted plant
Candy Apple Red iris (my first named iris ever!)
Red Fires of Fiji daylilies (my first named daylily ever!)
And these seeds:
double & single columbine (been thinking all summer long about planting some of these)
red russian kale (looking forward to growing this in the spring - will be a new veg for me!)
red rubin basil (husband will love to add this to his herb garden!)
Heuchera pewter veil (been reading about heuchera lately, to put in a shady, moist bed - this is perfect)
thunder & lightening knautia (what a striking plant & flower!)
splish splash larkspur (make excellent cut flowers)
lamb's ear (these leaves are so soft)
new dimension rose salvia (pollinators should love this one)
marsh hibiscus (a lovely native, been wanting some of these, too!)
pink downy phlox (been wanting this lovely native phlox! It's a gem)
red-pink & mixed poppies (who doesn't like poppies?)

Vina, you were so very generous & thoughtful in your selections. Thanks so much for your fantastic box o' goodies!

Katie