Becki, that price of 2 bucks for the moulded chocolates sounds good to me too. By the searching that we've done we know that she isn't going to find it anywhere else and if you are willing to do the work then you should definitely compensate yourself for it. Try to find out what kind of packaging she wants before you give her a price. If she wants cute little boxes then I would charge the cost of the box plus some padding to pay for the assembly time you have on it too. Fishy is right on about the deposit. Don't buy anything until the check clears.

Carol, that was so thoughtful of you to send the King Arthur's Bakers Companion to Becki! You have an amazing Christmas Spirit. What a wonderful Santa you are!

Thanks ladies! I will email her tomorrow then. She already said not to worry about wrapping them - she has plans for doing that herself. I just have to get them there in one piece!

Yes, Carol is an amazing Santa!!!

ok the weather got bad down here, grant couldn't go to work, so he stayed home, been having flickers, so the lights are gonna go out again, they were out from 2a-12p he said. it got down to 56 in the house!! freezing to me!! but its all ice out there!! our town is like the last i swear to get the roads done. but it was nice to have him home and sleep in. and he always working so much. it was nice to spend time with him and not just seeing him sleep, LOL :')) if ya look outside it looks like winter wonderland. the neighbor accross the street, his tree limb fell, its huge, and its blocking his driveway, but atleast he has another way out. thanks for all the worrying, we been praying for all safty for everyone. its just nasty out there. mom and them got stuck in oklahoma for a bit. then she's all onery and text's me and tells me she's in tennesee and its 78 degree's. ahhhh. she's so mean!! LOL :')) she's a dangerous one!! driving thru fires, floods, ice, boy i'd be hiding in that sleeper!! LOL
hubby watches the news for all the updates and all, i'm kinda like, ahhh, i'd rather not know, i know its here because i can feel it in my shoulder!! LOL
ahhh tracy!! i feel your uhhhh... something or another!! i totally love them mocha's and things!! but i love them sugar free, i know it don't make a difference really, but otherwise i'm all over the place!! LOL i just pray we all have electricity thru the night!!

Becki, I am glad you received your gift and like it, your posts showed me you are a special person,making me want to
find a gift you would like, you still have a small box coming. you are a pleasure to be santa to. thankyou. hugs carol

Oh, I am so glad to hear that our girls are alright!! :O) Yay! :O)
The first wave of that ice storm missed us by literally 30 miles!! Just 3 towns over, they were iced in..while we had freezing rain. IF we were just a few more degrees cooler....!!
My brother is in the middle of the ice in OK. He's a cop for Tulsa, and he's been helping out when he can, where he can. Seems like OK & KS have gotten it pretty hard for the past few years in a row, UGH!

We're expecting some bad stuff tomorrow. It's been raining nonstop for 2 days now, but temps hovering in the low 50's..but they are supposed to drop to the low 30's tonight, and stay that way through the weekend. So everything that's on the ground now, plus the 90% chance of precip we have tomorrow....yuck! It won't be pretty, that's for sure!! (well, it'll BE pretty, but I sure don't think it's pretty when I have to drive in it! UGH!)

Anyway...I am happy to hear that everyone is safe & dry!! Please stay that way, girls!! No slipping on the ice & bumping your noggins or anything like that, OK?!?

HUGS to everyone!!!

Becki,
I had to look the book up (I've never heard of it, and love to bake too). Nice baking book! Carol's so sweet!

Diene,
Your right, it's blowing bubbles not bubblebath. Thanks for letting me know. I would of added it to bathwater, and can only imagine all the bubbles it would of made!

The icestorm hit my area twice. We are in for more tonight, snow too! Everything was a sheet of ice this morning! My poor dogs carefully walked to the back yard. I couldn't pick up Toby even if I wanted too, he's heavy!

Here's a pic of him resting after his ice skating lesson!

Deb

Bunny, It sounds like we are getting the same weather. We have had rain for 2 solid days. Temps will drop tomorrow and from then on. We will be in the low 20's from Friday on. I really do not want that ice to hit us. We will surely be out of electricity again. I can't stand it when that happens for long periods of time. Now, I can handle the driving, that never bothered me, what drives me nuts is the guy that always whizzes by in the next lane at 50 mph and ends up in the ditch a mile down the road.

Becki, that is great news that Dave got the generator. I hope you are keeping warm. Stay safe by that old woodburning stove. Great news that you don't have to wrap all of the swords individually! Are you going to mail them to her or is she going to pick them up?

Michele, I am so happy that Grant had to stay in. I know how much you worry after him! And thanks for your worries on my... parts! LOL! I learned my lesson last year and won't be hitting Starbucks anymore! Now I just have to stay out of the chocolates that I made.

Debby, be careful on that ice! No slipping and breaking anything! I can just picture the poor pups slipping and sliding on their nails! Poor dears! I remember back in the 70's blizzard when we had our Border Collie. Poor thing hated going out in the deep snow.

ok i apologize in advance for the big pics, but here's winter wonderland this early morning!! so beautiful, and thick!! so i had to show ya'll how thick the snow/ice is, it rained all day, then snowed, then rained yesterday then i think sometime it snowed cuz it had snow on the grownd again, i n=know, duh!!! LOL its early!! LOL and the kids are sleeping!! it was a late night waiting for the electricity to go out and of course it never did. LOL (thank GOD) but here goes!
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i hope this works right, i can NEVER remember the one's i'm supposed to use, maybe i should use those sticky things so i can remember, but then talla would get them, ahhhh. LOL
i had to get windows one care to get rid of all these "viruses" i supposedly had, and firefox well, so far, none,
hubby said with avg he never had any, but my pc was really acting up bad!! and sooooo slow, even slower then me!! and baby that's slow!! LOL have a great day !! stay warm and drink lots of warm tea!! or coffee or hot chocolate or......:'))

Medo, those pictures are amazing! I am in awe! Be careful out there when it starts to thaw. Those tree branches will break lose that are frozen in place for right now and come crashing down. I am so happy that you didn't lose power! Yay! OneCare is what I got for my pc too. It has been working much better since I installed it and did my day long clean up on files and everything. I got rid of a lot of unnecessary files and also those annoying programs that were set to initiate on StartUP! SO much nicer now, it is like having a new pc again!

Becki, I almost forgot. I did hear back from the sword mould lady and she is unable to make a new master for the smaller swords. She said it is a huge expense.

Thanks for letting me know that Tracy! I will just plan on making my own if she is willing to pay what I am asking her!

Michele - that is pretty much what our yard looks like too! I can only have so many things plugged in right now, so I can't download my pics right now - but I'll post them when I can!

Hope everyone is doing well! Crazy weather!!

Becki

i am so glad you are alright becki, heck i worry about all these people and their bad weather, i guess within the next couple of days or something like that, we'll get 30 linemen working in ks?? i think thats what grant said he heard them talking about. yep down the "road" from us some people car and barn caught on fire cuz the line snapped and hit it, and one of the homeschooler people house caught on fire, total loss. its so sad this time of year!! with all the fires. our neighbor, when i was pregnant with talla, his house caught on fire- wood burning stove. and fire department put it out, and then it caught back on fire in the middle of the night, i was pissed cuz i figured they were out there fireing off fire crackers all night, here it was his house had recaught, well finally i looked out the window to see who was doing it, and it was all BRIGHT out, and i looked at howards house, all in flames again, to say the least lisa was all pissed at grant cuz they never saved howards house, (he's on the volunteer fire dept, when he has the time) can u believe it was all that amo!!! LOL i'd hate to hear our house if it wen t up in flames, and i'm not asking for that!!
on ANOTHER note; my cerinthe purpea?? is growing!!! i'm soooo happy!! the other ones never grew, but i got some seeds from big red, and these puppies are just coming up!! my diningjungle (LOL) is filling up!! big time!! LOL
well dbbya, at least your puppy is happy!! LOL
grant told me to stay in the house, he was afraid i'd slip on the front ice/porch, i didn't, i got locked out, but all the banging on the door and tabor in the livingroom sleeping, he woke up!! thank goodness!! i really did not want to walk across the street to lester and suni's and ask for my house key "YET AGAIN" LOL LOL lots of warm thoughts!! and choclaty drinks!! :')) i think i'm gonna get a cappucino in a bit!! LOL and warm up some more after our betoven lesson he's amazing!! :'))

Just stopped by to say:
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so far so good, we still have electricity!! how about you becki?? i sure do hope so!! is the weather still ok in your area over there tracy?? how about everyone else?? i can't wait till this is outta here!! but they say at least its not as bad as the last storm!!
ok, i accidently blocked the bottom part of schoolexpress from being seen, from firefox, does anyone know how to get it back on? i know i can go back and get it w/o firefox, but i'd rather not. tooo much of a chance of viruses for me!! been there done that!! LOL please help!! i'm pc and all that illiterate!! LOL :'))

Wish I could help with that, Michele! But I don't know anything about it!

No, we don't have our power yet. I'll be honest, it's getting a bit depressing. They update the electric company hotline every 5 hours or so, and the news just keeps changing to be worse. This morning they said they expected everyone to be online by 10 tonight, then midnight, then tomorrow morning, now they are saying they expect many people to be on tonight, our area was hit especially hard and it will be longer. How much longer they don't say. As long as it's light outside it's not so bad, but as it gets dark and you have to light the candles and the lanterns, it's a bit frustrating! I'm on my last bottle of oil for the kerosene lanterns, so if this lasts much longer, hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere that still has some. But, I still have my computer, and my freezers and fridge are still working, plus we have heat, so I can't complain too much. My mom and stepdad lost their power last night, and they don't have a generator. They are on a small rural electric system, so I they don't have the same manpower, but they also don't have nearly as many customers as ours, so anyway, hopefully theirs will come on very soon!

What does everyone think of this - I overheard my hubby discussing this with someone on the phone this morning, and it made a lot of sense to me. He said used to be all this freezing rain would have been snow. This is our second major power outage this year, and we've had ice storms only for the past two years or so that we really remember. It really hasn't been that common of an occorance as it is now, so it seems. He blamed it on global warming, and I have to wonder if he's right. My understanding is that the reason you get freezing rain is that the atmosphere above us is warm enough for rain, but when the precipitation falls into the air down here, it freezes. It's kind of scary to me how we are changing the earth!

Okay, so on to better things! I am just constantly going through my seeds. I can not wait to plant some of these and see them grow!

Talk to you all later!

Love,
Becki

Hi there Mariann! You are so right, Christmas IS nothing without FRIENDS!

Michele, I honestly don't know for sure but I would think that when you visit the site you should be able to allow pop-ups through firefox for that particular thread. That is what I did with my spyware program for my bank account. Visit the school site and then open the link for pop up blocking and see what options they have. It should be able to walk you through it. The rain finally stopped here. The water levels are pretty high on the river near us. We are much higher than it so will not have problems from flooding. I don't know what is going to be coming next in the precipitation department. I heard last night that we should be getting hit with the same system that you guys did, we will have to see what the temps are going to be.

Becki, I am praying for you that the power is up and running tonight. I am in total agreement about Global Warming. This is definitely unusual weather all year so far. For 3 years straight we had mild winters. Two years in a row we had 78 degree days in February. For those of you that don't know where I am it is northern Ohio. We are close enough to Canada that the high 70's in the middle of winter should be out of the question. Last winter was a drastic change from the previous 3 years. We had a very hard, early winter. It started with heavy snow from November all the way to March. Then April hit with NO rain. None. I can't ever remember an April with no showers, May was the same only a few showers. Last summer was dry and windy. Normally it would have been hot and humid with Thunderstorms at least 2 times a week. This is definite change.

Hello all! Warm thoughts to all of you without power. Soooo glad not to live where it snows/sleets/ices anymore!!!Sorry I've not been on in awhile,seem to be coming down with a cold AGAIN!!!Plus was just informed that GRANNY(the one who was down in Oct.)is coming down when the bro-in-law & his new girlfriend visit Dec 28-Jan 4.We see her more now than when we lived in same state!Hope this visit goes as smooth as the last one.
Diene,glad you enjoyed the box o' goodies. I found the oranment/windchime back when we were going the "sounds of summer swap(or as I tend to think about it as 'the world's LONGEST swap' didn't think it was ever going to end! Thanks to Tracy it did!)It was then Fishy had said Dec. swap had to include an ornament.Saw them & had to grab them!Bought two & kept one for myself. :)
Gotta run nose is drip drip,dripping
Later....April/dirt

April, I am giggling. I think that is the longest swap in the history of swapping! LOL! Felt like we were stuck in traffic. Sorry you are feeling sniffly again. I really hope that granny is in good spirits for the next visit! Feel better fast.

We have 2 boys down with the stomach flu. They got sick in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I didn't get to bed until 5am, then up again at 8. Poor Pat was getting sick every 20 minutes for a good 13 hours and then it finally subsided. We are doing crackers and gingerale, upgraded to scrambled eggs and toast for dinner tonight. I just hope that none of the other kids get it. I could have screamed this afternoon. I took Danny's temp and set the thermometer on the counter for me to clean off in a minute, turned my back and Emma grabbed it and stuck it in her mouth! AGH! So, if anyone gets sick next it most likely will be the little monkey princess! Boy is she going to be sorry she did that.

ahhh man am i glad my kids are not in school!! and tabor wants to go to his grandma's, she's sick AGAIN!! it seems every winter she's sick with the same thing all winter, i told him and i hate to tell her, not till she's better, i'm not feeling 100% and i don't want him or any other of us sick. and especially with whatever she has!! even though i'd have the docs put them on a zpac, i know my docs don't have that. so i won't even consider it. i hope that don't sound mean.
ok enough health babbling. geez becki!!!!!!!!! i'd be freezing cold by now. what kinda heat back up ya got? we have nothing! just blankets! so i'm so glad ours don't go out that long! i'm so glad you have that generator!!! heck, i'd give ya my candles if i could!! LOL hope ya aint scared of the dark!! of course if ya was tabor or talla i'd say chick chick chickennnnn then when the lights went out i'd be frozen in one spot!!! LOL we'd be huddled together till grant got home. and somehow we'd manage to get to a candle or something. LOL usually tabor ends up getting it. LOL my little HERO!!! :')) have ya'll ever heard the ding fries are done? the family man thing? its so funny, ok i never watch the thing but dudly gets picked on and they use that song to do it, don't know the deal, but on youtube they have one with the orchestra, i love that one!! LOL and the one with the two different versions. LOL
i'm with you becki, i can't wait til all the plants start coming up!! LOL warm wishes to ya girl!! i so pray they get on soon!! (electricity) lots of hugs

Oh, BRRRRR!!! Michele, your pictures have me shivering here!! And I'm always shivering, anyway..so now I'm that much worse!! LOL Not funny!! So glad to hear that ya'll are alright, though. Tracy's right...do watch out for all those limbs when the thaw hits, I'd hate to hear that you'd gone and got bonked on the noggin! You're silly enough as it is!! :O) lol (j/k!, we love you that way, you know that!) :O)

BECKI!! I hope you thaw out sometime soon! I hate to think you're up there freezing your behonkis off, and probably bored to tears with no electricity! Yikes! Sending nice, warm hot chocolate thoughts your way!! :O)

We are getting the freezing rain & sleet tonight, and everything is supposed to freeze over pretty bad. We'll see! It was getting that way when I came to work. Yucky.
On Friday, we're supposed to get snow. The latest reports are a minimum of 6"...but probably more, if the cold front swings more east/south. Oh, Yay! (not!) The kids are looking forward to it, Daddy made them a sled last year from some scrap metal...so they can't WAIT to use it. And of course...neither can DADDY!! LOL He's the biggest kid of all, loves the winter stuff. Loves to drive in it, too. Weirdo. :O)

Me...I don't mind driving in it, too much...but ...I don't like the folks that think having 4WD stamped on the side of their vehicle is an automatic safety feature. Um, it only works as well as the driver, people. OK?? LOL And not on ICE!!!

Oh, I hope everyone in the April & Tracy household get to feeling better soon!! Yuck, what a BAD time to be getting sick!! (well, ANY time is a bad time, I suppose!!) LOL

Melissa and all - we are not freezing here. With the generator, Dave has a little electrical experience, and somehow ran an extension cord down to the furnace, stripped and connected some wires and voila! there was our furnace working! Furnace, freezers, computer - that's a lot better than a lot of people around here! My parents' did get turned back on tonight, so that is good - I was a little concerned about them. No heat is never good! We actually even have our Christmas tree lights turned on right now! Trying not to push it, but it makes things a little more cheerful!

You stay safe in that crud now, Melissa! That stuff is scary! You must be a very good driver to not be concerned about driving in that icy mess!

I sure hope everyone feels better soon, Tracy! Poor kiddos! I hope Emma didn't catch any germs! Ick! Vomiting is awful!!! I feel for you, girl!!

Yippee! At 4:45 this morning, our power came back on! We've been getting everything back to normal again, and now I am going to relax just a few minutes before I have to get the kids up. I have got SO MUCH to do today! All the laundry that's built up since Monday night, making truffles to send out for orders, and hmm, working on getting ready for that big day that's only, umm, like 12 days away!!! Holy cow! That's scary!!!

Becki, you made my heart jump! 12 days away. Holy Moly! Yeppers, lots to do!!! I have to get off me tuckus and do some heavy duty shopping and cooking. Seems I am hosting Christmas at my house now! So much for a relaxing holiday! Oh well. YAY! Your power is back on! That is great. Good luck on the laundry and the truffling. How many do you need to make?

Need to do shopping and wrapping like crazy here! Plus I have several boxes that need to get shipped, truffles I need to get made, and shipped, cookies I need to get made and shipped, yadda, yadda, yadda! And just baking for us!!! Taking some deep breaths. Just making one double batch of truffles today, probably 10 or so loads of laundry, and hopefully the last of my online shopping for Christmas (want to make sure it gets here on time!) Plus all the other daily stuff, you know! Way too much to do, but that's okay, because now I CAN do it!! I'm happy! Off to work again!

Hugs,
Becki

Just wanted to drop in and say that Fishy's box is going out today with a conf. # of 0103 8555 7492 2210 7027. Hope it reaches you safely!!!

Becki

ok becki, i'm soooooo glad your stuff is back on!! iwas sooo waoriied about it!! sorry for the typing!!LOL
nows the time them other kids can help with the laundry, sorting, folding and such, and they can whine all they want, and just to have fun with it you can whine at them, i know i'm such a spoiled brat child!!! LOL i do that at tabor!! LOL then i tell him that's what he sounds like. hee hee talla learned to separate out the laundry. that's her job now. and they all put their own clothes away. except i do grants. and that would give ya lots more time to do your stuff you need to do and not get overloaded!! :')) not being all pushy here. LOL

{{gwi:1319465}}can you see the steam on this?
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this tree is soooo heavy its hanging over, its just a tiny thing.
{{gwi:1319469}} i was hoping you could see the prettyness behind this.
{{gwi:1319470}} all that work for nothing, the limbs still on the line. but atleast its not busted!! so we have power!! LOL i'm happy about that!! if i didn't do all that work, that line'd be busted for sure!! :'>>
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tell me they don't love each other with ALL their fighting!! LOL :'>> so here's just some pics of my one tree out back!! LOL and it needs to come down!!! any more and it woulda been bad!! i seen the one limb was on our bathroom, if the limb busted, that'd been bad!! geez this was a bad one!! how are ya holdin up bunny??

Here are my pics from the ice storm after it made it's way here. I wish they looked as pretty in the picture as they do in real life. When the sun is on them, the trees look positively crystal. It's absolutely stunning, but so destructive at the same time!

Lost our power again here for just a minute earlier - you should have heard me scream when that happened! Now, unfortunately Dave doesn't have any power at the shop! So, his working is REALLY slow! Fortunately the generator we bought is also a welder, so he can weld with it - but it's not easy to do in the dark! Poor guy is having a terrible time!

i totally admire your hubby!! welding in the dark!! oh my!! i agree with you!! it is sooo beautifull!! i was trying to capture that, but i couldn't!! i love your pics though!! i hope you were not in the middle of your cooking.
oh yeah, that fire, was right up the street, literally!! like next door literally to bil house, and i guess the fire department was so callous as to say hey did ya bring any hot dogs? they just let it burn, prob. to far gone!!

My package went out today for Tracy! USPS #0307 0020 0003 4320 4862.

Deb

I forgot to say, Michele - that is a TOTALLY adorable picture of your kids!! Wow! I love it!

Our ice is melting today. On the trees and such at least - not really on the ground too much yet. It is amazing to see that ice crash down! And you can hear these big chunks of it come off the roof! But dangerous! I noticed the dog stayed in his house pretty much all day, and I made sure Lily stayed in too. Now that it's getting dark and cooler, I don't think as much is falling, so she's outside with the other kids.

Do you ever have those days where you just feel so exhausted and can't get motivated to do much? I just keep wanting to sit and go to sleep! But, I haven't. Just want to! Got most of the laundry done, still need to dip and drizzle the truffles, but the rest of them are done, and I'm making supper, so it's all good. I'm just exhausted for some reason! I'll get over it!

I hope you all are have a great day and getting lots done!

Hugs,
Becki

Michele and Becki, those pictures are breathtaking!

Michele, did you notice the rainbow in the steam coming off of the logs? It is amazing!!! I love the kids all curled up like kittens. If only they were like that all the time.

Becki, your yard looks like Jack frost took a big breath and everything froze solid. It all looks like it would be completely quiet. You better take a bit of a break Miss Becki. If you feel like that then there is a reason. Get some rest. You put in a full day.

I'm off until Sunday!
Have a great weekend everyone & stay warm & safe!! :O)
Hugs to everyone!

Good Evening gals! Just wanted to let Veeja know that her package went out today! DC # 03070020000171433533. Now I'm off to bed. Becki and Medo, love the winter ice pictures. Beautiful! And adorable kids, Medo!

thanks everyone!!
becki! you just went thru like a few days of emotional stuff, so your body's exhausted!! let it rest. geez.
grant just went to tractor supply and bought us a genorator!!! for 3 something 3500 wtts we're supposed to get another 6" of snow between tonight and tomarrow morning. i just hope all the ice is gone!! we were out walking and some of that stuff was falling. how smart are we?? but at least it wasn't under like big trees and stuff. LOL

Michele, that is great that you got a generator. We really need to pick one up. We are supposed to get 6-12" on Saturday. It's coming in from Indiana. Ed is going to do his first ever season of Snow Plowing. He is driving for another contractor buddy of his. Keeping my fingers crossed that it goes ok and he doesn't run this guys truck into a manhole cover.

Too bad bears can't read, eh?

Congratulations, Michele! I am so happy that you got a generator! Having one now for us at least means that we will never as long as we have it be totally out of electricity. It is a very relieved feeling for me!

I love that picture, Tracy! I hope all goes well for Ed moving snow. That is a job Dave always has loved doing! He had hoped to do it this year, but we never were able to get a plow, so that will have to wait until some other time.

Carol - another SMALL box???? I got it today, but I wouldn't call it small!! She sent an adorable needlework cat (did you make this?), a wonderful bath set (includes a bath pouf, salt and fizz ball in each of 3 different scents!), a candle set with two candles and a candle holder, a very cute snowman figurene (I love it!), a bag of Hershey's kisses filled with hot cocoa creme (they sound so yummy but I am going to save them until I'm feeling better), 3 flavors of hot cocoa mix (I love my morning cup of cocoa - I always make it secretly and tell the kids it my "coffee"!), a chai tea mix (can't wait to tryit!) and a little angel pin. Girl, you SO outdid yourself!!! You have made me feel like a very blessed person! Such nice gifts! It certainly feel like Christmastime!! Thank you so very much!!!

I think I felt so tired yesterday because I'm coming down with something. My tummy feels very odd, and though I can eat, after I do, it makes some really horrendous sounding noises! And the gland in the left side of my neck is swollen and my throat is sore. I would love to take a little nap, but every time I lie down, Lily thinks I'm ready to play! She's not very good at leaving me alone - maybe when the kids get home from school.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Oh - Dave's power came back on at the shop last night, so that is something to be very thankful for!! :)

he'll do good!! have faith in your ol guy!! LOL now if it was mine, i'd have faith that he would!! LOL just kidding, at least that's what i'd tell him, the kids' lesson today----dance like crazy!! and help me find the cup and saucer seeds, i have like 4 i think left. i want to try and get some of them torena? seeds. of bigred. i know her seeds are good!! they always germinate!! LOL ok, here's the wierd thing, if they float, they're no good, right, all the 24 seeds floated, well, we decided for an experiment to "plant" them anyhow, well befor i could cover them up, (i forgot about them) they got all fuzzy, but not moldy, around where they were gonna sprout, and now i have some germination, (i think) going on, of castor beans. i read that they get fuzzy in another site. 24 castor bean plants!! what am i gonna do whith these babies if they do grow!!!???? LOL i'm watching the dirt like a hawk!! let me tell ya!! LOL :')) this is one of those experiments gone awry (sp) LOL tabors remark? laughing at me!!! LOL
by the way!! i love the bear thing!!

Becki, that is a wonderful box! WOW Carol.

Becki you take care of yourself and if ya can, go see the dr before whatever it is you are coming down with gets too much worse!

Michelle, I am soo happy you have a generator now!

ok who gets into the mind body and spirit thing??
well, i don't get into all the tarrot reading and all that.. but i do like the essential oils, musics, rocks, and smells, and i believe on some level they all inter relate. well, anywho...... i got this one thing with the music, and its so soothing, i think i might play it while we study, it'd be nice if they had some birds in the background more pronounced and stuff. LOL Heya pixie!! haven't seen ya in a while, ya'llrite? hope so!! hubby is gonna fix some of his AWESOME chicken and noodles tonight!! i'm only so very lucky!! LOL :'))

Oh, that sounds so yummy, Michele! I am going the easy way out tonight and doing sloppy joes and french fries. I know hubby wasn't thrilled with that, but I don't feel well and I don't want to be cooking right now, so he's going to have to tough it out! Plus last night he told me he was going to be putting 5 days worth of work into one day (today) so I didn't assume he would be joining us for supper.

Veeja To Becki -rec.
Fishy to Pixie
Tracy to Kal -rec.
Becki to Fishy
Dirt to Diene -rec.
Diene to Debbya -rec.
Kal to Veeja
Pixie to Shadymeadow
Shady to Dirty -rec
Debby to Tracy

Did I miss any?
Pix, yours is boxed up for mrfishy to take to the post tomorrow AM, mail came by at 10AM today (why is he never early with checks?).

Hey girls! I laughed when I saw the bear picture, just felt I had to share it! LOL!

Michele, I am making chicken noodle soup here tonight too. I guess you hubby and I are on the same wave length. With all of these achie tummies around here I thought we should play it safe with the comfort food. How is the weather today? I saw that the big snow storm is almost to Topeka. We are already under a snow advisory for tomorrow night and Sunday. That is unusual for them to call it so early.

Becki, I see you are in for it too. I hope you get a break and get to go to bed early tonight. Ed has similar tummy troubles. His started yesterday with feeling tired and loopy and graduated to a churning stomach. No other symptoms yet. Those were some fun goodies that you received from Carol. Wow! Merry Christmas!

Fishy, I think Karen's box is still travelling to her.

becki, the knitted cat is a toilet paper roll cover, made by an elderly lady in the area, she passed shortly after making it. I thought they were cute and bought a few to keep for gifts. it is a pleasure to give to such a sweet apreciative person. some people don't even post that they received. Miss Mellen pointed me to your post about the cook book. thankyou
hugs carol
h

yep, hubby got about 4 miles west of here and he said its snowing like crazy!!! so beware!! ok, i'm thinking, i have absolutely NO idea how to use this thing, but i know if the lights go out, i'll be able to get it up and going!! (in less than a heartbeat!! LOL wanna hear the funny thing?? umm....unlike becki's dave, i have no electrical exp. so i can't run that part!! LOL and i got rid of all the other heaters cuz of the mice chewing threw the dang lines!!! so we'll have lights!!! LOL oh and the heater blanket till tomarrow!! LOL

ok, here's my bright idea, don't laugh, but, kpl or westar spends many man hours when all these power outages go out, so why don't they just get the clipper people out in oct-nov and have them trim them tree's then, so we don't have this darned problem. it seems like that would help, ALOT. they always talk about preventative. nows a time to do it (well earlier).
i sure hope your family gets better tracy!! i hate them churning tummy's!! mine is like that alot, kinda feels like morning sickness, although i know its not possible!! LOL :'))
the kiddo's are watching the grench that stole christmas. LOL

Careful what you wish for Michele. First Energy here in Ohio has been doing preventative maintenance for the last 2 years. They have been butchering every tree within 20 feet of a powerline. You would be shocked at how many they have just completely removed that were a potential hazard in maybe another 60 years! Little tiny trees.

It has been a problem that has been on the news a lot. There should definitely be some trimming going on but this is overkill.

They came on my property last year and were going to cut down all our pines that line the North side of our driveway from 25 feet back from the pole all the way to the house. I told them sorry you can't do it. Ed's trailer to the mini excavator was blocking the area in front of the pines. They said they would come back when it was moved. I let them know that I wasn't going to be moving it ever if they were coming back for my giant pines! NOPE.

Ted isn't too happy with me right now. He wanted to go to a party at a friends house tomorrow night. They live about 45 minutes south of us. I told him sorry but no, this storm is going to hit and you aren't going to be allowed to drive in it. No one should be on the roads, not even experienced drivers. I'd rather have him mad than in a ditch on the side of the road.

i agree!! grant is in eskridge and he said its like a blizzard there!! wind blowing and big flakes i think, i couldnt really here him, i heard it like a fricken blizzard here, whats it like there?? i looked outside, nothing here! but your right tracy! and always trust the gut instinct!!
i think maybe 5ft maybe ok. but i don't know how much they grow. any more is way overkill!! i do think after a while they do stop growing in oct don't they?? that's why i say then. but it's gotta be better than this. 20ft is rediculus!! geez!!
he has to get up early in the morning to work in topeka, so we'll see how the roads are! i pray they are good for him (and everyone else). wabunsee does not take good care of our roads, so you come from topeka , clear roads to wabunsee co, to slick roads, so if your not paying attention, your in the ditch!! big time!! and that wemon (sp) is why i do not drive!! he does all of that!! i only do the stuff in town!! that's it!!

Right now the weather is just cloudy. We are supposed to be getting it starting this afternoon I think. We have a similar problem here with the roads in winter. The county roads get plowed through our township only and the township/city roads take forever to get any attention. So our road gets plowed a dozen times in one night but all the side streets are left snow filled.

Yep, the trees have been hacked mercilessly. I should take some pictures the next time I go into Westpark. They came along my friend's street and chopped off the top half of all of the curbside trees. They were beautiful Cherry trees that line the entire street. Now they all have ridiculous flat tops and are completely misshapen.

Fishy, my box has been sent to Veeja (Thursday) I tried checking the dc # this morn. but it didn't give me any info.

Tracy, I received your box today. I loved it!! Tracy sent me a Snowman ornament, he is adorable and also bell. I could hear him jingling before I opened the box. :)
She also sent me a really neat snowman candle. My daughter asked me if I was going to light it, I told her No! Never, it would ruin it! I also received some homemade Vanilla Extract that I've been reading about from the gals on these swaps, can't wait to try it! A packet of Strawberry Fields Sweet Pea, a snowman tin of Peanut Butter Kisses surprise cookies (yum!) and Coconut Apricot Chews, these are sooo good. I love coconut, and I'm the only one in the family who does, so they're allllll mine!! lol. A box of chocolates, did you make these also Tracy? They are really good! And a snowman tin with a beautiful gold bow with Gingerbread cookies, one for each family member. These cookies are gingerbread men/women, with our names on them, they are BIG, and they taste soooo good!! My kids thought it was so neat, that someone (Tracy & her children) would take the time to make something so nice for them. (I've never made these before) Also included was a very nice Christmas card with so many kind words. I thank you Tracy for such a wonderful box. What a great way to start my day!! I loved it all!

Karen,

I am so happy that you liked your box! Thank you! You and I are birds of a feather with the Coconut Apricot Chews, I am the only one here who enjoys them! LOL! I was worried about sending those as coconut is so hit or miss! Yes, I did make the chocolates. They are nearly gone here between the hubby and I! The kids and I are so glad your family liked the Gingerbread men and women. We had so much fun making them. It was fun putting this box together for you, you are such a kind person that it was a pleasure for me! I do have to ask one thing, how did the gingerbread cookies travel? Did they break?