First of all Micke I'm so sorry to hear you are leaving the group...You will be missed and I hope you can join us again real soon.

Susan-So sorry to hear about your cat Bill.

Theresa-Sorry to hear you lost your dog.

This must be lose a pet month. DH accidently ran over DD's Doberman and I have never seen him so upset in my life. DD and her family live next door to us so Jade stayed at our house as much as she did at home. She religiously met us each and every time we came home and escorted us all the way to the door. DH did not see her and she came off a bank and ran right under his wheels. We all are so sad but time will heal our broken hearts.

Susie-Glad you are rid of those kidney stones...Is your trip to Florida still on hold?

Laura-Yes we are so lucky to live in the USA...It really makes us appreciate this Country when we visit other Countries.

Remy-How cool to see our logo on a cover of anything!!! Glad your Grandmother is doing better.

Dizzy-Thank you so much for my butterfly pot sitter...I found the perfect spot for it. I have most of the seeds already planted. Thanks for those also. You are definetely going to be a hard act to follow. You have done a terrific job on the fun this month.

The weather here has been great. My flower beds are getting cleaned up earlier than I thought they would.

Shirley

Hi All,
I saw crocus today!!!!! I went to the curb to get the garbage cans this morning and I spotted some yellow in an area where the glacier had retreated from! Then I took the dogs for a walk this afternoon and saw a robin! I unfortunately saw the Grackles and Red-Wing Blackbirds too.

Laura,
Sounds like you had quite the trip! When I was a manager at Friendly's, I had a waitress that was going to school for nursing take a trip like yours to Haiti. She took lots of interesting pics. I think it is great that trips like yours are organized.
I went to a shower on Sat. and wore the necklace you made. I had to show it off to my sis-in-law: )
You'll have to ask Maryanne about the Fat Chow! lol.

Congrats Mellen! I would of never gotten periwinkle.

Susan,
Lol! I will pray for you : )

Klickitat,
I'm sure you take a ridiculous amount of steps at work too.
I'm glad you made decisions to keep you happy and sane : ) I hope everything went well with your hubby. Here, I'm in charge of the money. If Gary was, we would have no electricity, gas, etc.! He doesn't even know how to write a check. That's what I get for marrying a man who lived with his parents, lol.

Michelle,
I almost missed it above! I'm sorry you are leaving the group. Maybe you'll come join us again later on: )

Talk to you all later,
Remy

Maryanne,

#9 Lavender

Michelle,
I too missed the post that your leaving the group. I'm really sorry to hear that. You'll be missed.

Deb

micke... I'm so sad to hear you're leaving the group. :( Enjoy your houseplant book. It was wonderful getting to know you while you were around. Best of luck to you - please come back if you ever have the chance.

dang deb, you are so on the ball! you don't know how long i worked on that one and now that you say it how easy it is. go figure!

gung hay fat choy remy! it's hanging in my dining room. you don't know how many times i have to explain it.

oh shirley, i'm so sorry about jade, how terrible. i won't even begin to share a story of an almost similar situation. hope your hubs feels better soon. how's your mom?

Howdy all, hope everyone is on the mend and still having a good time.
Beans, we sure missed you around here - I know you were so appreciated there.

Micki, we will miss you! Please take care of yourself.

Shirley, glad you like the butterfly - when I saw those, I grabbed all they had left - thought those were just so neat and perfect for March. Oh poor DH, that's just awful about Jade.
And thank you all for letting me play hostess this month - I'm having a ball! Let's see... what's in the prize box????
We have a Country Gardens Gardener's Almanac 2007 - travel size 70 pc first aid kit - Conveniently Homemade Desserts cookbook - WINNER's choice!!!!
Might not all be plants this time....

1. lrweolfiwd
2. onemean
3. rtutucpbe
4. sblia
5. laebdudi
6. enmsptneo
7. eusdm
8. rsiltia
9. rsulrkpa
10. suurtimant
11. tbyeulfrt
12. mcoarnh

Let's play!!! And if you have already won, you can win a prize for one of the March birthday girls, like Deb did!!!

Speaking of which...THANK you Deb & Susann for the cute little Hummer wind chime! I have a perfect home for it.
My brain isn't functioning this morning...will have to hold off on the new contest.

gm ladies
vet appt today :)) for jd nails & beek :) wings .
jules glad the box arrived safly .
yes looks as if my trip to flower will maybe have to wait till next winter .

dads psa level is high so have to set up ct scan for him .
always something in life :( but that is life we can only take a day at a time as it gets here .
well ladies my guess are .
have a great day
hugs susie

1 wild flower
2 anemone
3-buttercup
4-basil
5-buddleja
6- penstemon
7-sedum
8- liatris
9 -larkspur
10- nasturtium
11- flutterby
12-monarch

Susie, which book would you like and to go to whom?

Dizzy~ Many thanks for the mini hummingbird feeder! DD can't wait to use it :o) I appreciate the seeds and lollipops too! Thanks again!

Jenell

Short post here

Elizabeth - this is what I have gotten for daysssssss on the usps website about your package

Label/Receipt Number: 0306 2400 0000 0341 0111
Status: Enroute

Your item was processed and left our SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152 facility on March 9, 2007. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

I am SO SORRY that it STILL isn't there. It has been "enroute" for 8 days. Good thing there isn't anything alive in the box.

Hugs to all you ladies -
Tina

Tina, a good reason to use priority mail. help ladies, how do you make hardboiled eggs easy to peel? dh says all he got was a yolk, help. susan sorry to hear about bill good job Laura, Susie glad those rocks are out and in the garden where they belong, dh is on weird hrs, so can't get ride to po box should go out friday when he is off, dizzy do you have your lovely hat? hugs to all carol

Hi everyone:) sorry to have to leave the group after so short a stay:(
Susan and dizzy, your packages are all ready to go, but will be unable to get to the post office until next Monday.
As soon as I drop them off I will post confirmation numbers.

Carol- Soak them in cold water immediately after cooking (only until they can be handled, not til they are cold through).
Peel. Don't wait til they are cold.
Shell should mostly slide right off.

Michelle :(

I will be getting your box out ASAP...Just haven't done it is all.

No Carol, I don't have an OBF hat.
Ditto on what Tina m&m said about the eggs, also helps to use a spoon to go around & loosen the edges along with cool running water. My DH likes them in his lunch, so I peel, salt & pepper them & put 2 to a "snack" size ziploc.

I just love the mini hummer feeders and little hummer windchimes - wish I'd found more! Glad you gals are liking them as well!

dizzy send the gift to anyone who has not won a gift & who is playing this month :)) hehe just couldn't pass the try :) .

carol Put salt in the water when boiling the eggs for your eggs are fresh & the salt will soften the shell & will slide right off.

luna _have missed you where you been girl ?/?? :)

I hope everyone is in for the spring fever swap ;)) .
well time to set super on so have a great evening everyone .
susie

carol, sounds like your eggs weren't fresh. always start with cold water, boil just until they are set, rinse in cold water, set aside for a bit until you can handle them and they should peel well. i usually put a little white vinegar in the water as well. but when the eggs are not fresh, they won't peel properly no matter what you do.

Hi All,
I worked all day then went to the hairdresser. I missed all the warm weather today!

Maryanne,
LOL! You got it hanging in your dining room! It is a good conversation starter : )
It was nice to be with my mother-in-law for a bit. I left notes and flowers when she was in the hospital, so she knew I was visiting. The drugs they were giving her were pretty strong. She went to the gynecologist today because even though she is somewhat better, she still had something wrong.
About the lilacs...Find a good nursery somewhere near you figure out which ones you like, but buy after they bloom. It is best to buy larger pots, because they take a long time to grow and bloom if you start out small. I know this from experience! After they are done blooming, the nurseries always reduce them drastically. Since it is a shrub where bigger is better it makes money sense to wait for the sale.

Shirley,
I'm so sorry to hear about the doberman. I can't imagine how upset your husband is.
You are lucky to be able to do some cleaning up in the garden. The snow/ice was so thick and now that it is melting away, it is very wet, too wet to really touch anything yet.

Congrats Susie!

Carol,
I concur on what TinaMM said about the eggs. I've never tried Susie's method.

Susann,
I like them with horseradish. That is the old Polish/German way. At Easter time the horseradish is colored with beet juice so it is a pretty deep pink/magenta color just for eating with eggs.

Does everyone color eggs for Easter? Is it really popular to do like it is around here?

Talk to you all later,
Remy

Remy, never tried them with horseradish.

Susie, how about .... MICKI ?? We'll send the Gardener's Almanac so she won't forget us - like she'd be able to!! Micki, heads up, you've got a package on the way!

Color eggs???!! Nah, around here, we just use the ones from colored chicken!

ROFLMBO!!!!!!!!

On a more serious note - THANK YOU SUSIE!!!!!! WOW! I got a great hostess box from Susie and it has packets of seeds in the cutest little green shamrock candy dish, some fantastic gardening gloves, raisinets, recipe for hummingbird & oriole nectars, a cute turtle plant stake, some smelly good stuff that keeps critters out of the garden, and the sweetest "friends" photo frame! Susie, this is almost a swap box! Thank you, thank you!! Lovely surprises!!!

Awwwwww... dizzy... no package from me yet? :( I should have sent it UPS. I'm always concerned when boxes go with the P.O.

Ladies... I hope you all have a good evening. I'm of to an early bedtime. Worn out from a hard day of work.

Susann,
Lol! Where the heck did you find those chickens? Were you suppose to be working while searching for them? : )

Maryanne,
We posted at the same time, jinx!

I'm traveling to Rochester tomorrow to go the big garden show like the one in Philadelphia. It is not as big, but it is really nice. I'm going to try and take some pics with the new camera. Hopefully it works!

Talk to you all later,
Remy

Good Evening all,

I just got up, boy I must have been tired because I've slept for over 7 hours. I didn't even wake up to go to the bathroom. I usually wake up a couple of times to go. Isn't that so annoying? I have two more 12 hr shift, then I'm off till Monday night, work a 10 hour shift, and then off til Friday. Whoooooooooooohoooooooo!

We had to replace a drain line in the kitchen, and now the thingy in the toilet needs to be replace, but that won't take long to fix, just need to buy the part,nor will it be expensive.

Beth and Dizzy your boxes will go out either tomorrow or Friday morning. I really enjoyed shopping, and I was amazed the neat stuff I found on sale. Being in swaps gives you a good excuse to buy the same thing for your self.

Micke sorry you are leaving the group but please to stay in touch.

Susie, OUCH, I'm glad you got rid of those nasty kidney stones, those hurt so bad! I do hope you and your dad is doing better.

Shirley Susan, and Theresa-I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your pets. I hope your hearts are feeling a little better, I know it takes time.

I owe I owe, so it is off to work I go.
LIFE IS GOOD,
Annie

Elizabeth, your package is going out in the morning. Sure hope you like it all. ;)
Del Conf # 0103 8555 7499 1704 0066

Theresa-
Just got a tracking number from UPS for your prize:
1Z6724000346817869

The "how to boil eggs" comments have had me laughing. I am no good at all at that but had always read to boil "older eggs" and not the ones fresh from the store. We color eggs for Easter and I think I will try both fresh and old this year and see which one peels better. LOL
(I knew about the horseradish and eggs for Easter. My father was of Polish descent so we did that!)
Looks like we may be getting some much needed rain over the next few days. I have been watering some areas with a sprinkler and it seems too early in the year to need to do that.

Kim, sent your box off yesterday, conf #03062400000070026260. Hope you like it!

Sue G.

It's time to PLAY again!!!

Who can tell me what ALL of these plants have in common? And their common name?
1 Dalechampia dioscoreifolia
2 Hedychium coccineum
3 Psoralea glabra
4 Ageratum corymbosum
5 Amblyolepis setigera
6 Bauhinia purpurea
7 Clerodendrum ugandense
8 Calochortus venustus
9 Clitoria ternatea
10 Mascagnia macroptera
11 Schizanthus porrigens
12 Scabiosa columbaria

The VFW here does a huge Easter egg hunt in the local park every year - over 1,500 eggs - they boil, color & hide. Turns out one of the local laundries boils the eggs for them in their laundry vats! LOL!

Hi All,
I went to the garden show today. There were a lot of great plants, but you should of seen the delphiniums! I went to take a photo and found out the camera batteries were dying so I didn't get any pics: ( They were so gorgeous!
I went to a good seminar. Rita Randolph who runs a nursery down in Tennessee show photos of great gardens and nurseries like Plants Delight and Terra Nova from around the country, lots of cool plants some not available to the public yet. Quite a few of the pics were from out your way Shirley. Maryanne, she showed pics from a lady out your way who design vegetable gardens/potagers and maintains them for people!
I picked up a few things. Crossman Seeds had a booth. Besides new seeds that they had at very cheap prices and actually having a good amount of seeds, they were selling unused seed packets from 1940 for only 20 cents, so I bought a few of those. I also picked up the double flowered campanula 'Elizabeth Oliver'. I hope I don't kill it, lol!

Susann,
That's one way to get a lot of eggs boiled!
I know what the plants all have in common, but I don't know all the common names!

Talk to you all later,
Remy

Label/Receipt Number: 0306 2400 0000 0341 0111
Detailed Results:

Enroute, March 09, 2007, 8:14 am, SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152
Enroute, March 07, 2007, 12:18 am, DES MOINES, IA 50395
Acceptance, March 05, 2007, 2:49 pm, ELDORA, IA 50627
Elizabeth - Just wondering if you have gotten the box yet and it was just never scanned? I can't believe this. Well, at least we know it is completely MIA. I think I will call my post master in the morning and see if we can track this post office downa and call to see whats up.

Tina

Good Afternoon everyone,

I will have to look up all the plants above to see what they all have in common, but too tired to do it right now.

My packages are flying to Beth and Dizzy. I sent out Dizzy's at the post office because I already had some postage on it; that number is 0306 1070 0001 0546 7149,

Beth yours was mailed at the UPS store 2-3 day ground.The tracking number is 12938W720361748565.I can start tracking it after 8:30 p.m. at the UPS.com site. I'm curious to see how many stops it will go through before reaching you.

I don't color eggs anymore, but I really did enjoy it when DS was little. I've got a picture of him in his winter coat hunting for eggs in the snow one year.

Going to get a few more hours sleep before going to work.
LIFE IS GOOD,
Annie

still arround ladies :))
Have been paining a bedroom , livingroom & bath.
for my nieces who is going to rent an old place
out in the country , its a fixer upper place but has a good roof on it :))) & only $300. a mo plus utilities .
putting on the final touches tomorrow & it will be done
then she & the 3 kids can move in next week when they get up here from kentucky .

well time for me to get off here have a great evening to everyone .
susie

Susie... I will be sure to email you soon about my choice of lilies! It seems like all I do is work, work, work. Bleh.

Ladies... have a good evening. More posts later tomorrow when time is free. :)

Help, I got 3 eggs from under a chicken boiled them per mickeys directions, can't peel them help my eggs are still sticking. I got my first shipment of lillys from the coop yesterday and potted them up today. warm out, daffs up. spring has sprung in seattle. hugs to all. susie send some stones for my garden please.

LOL! Carol, you're gonna bust a gut laughing at this, but when I got my gall bladder out, I had them save the stones for me!!!! DH said I am a sick woman, but I just told him I didn't think I'd ever get $16,000 worth of any other "rocks" at one shot. LOL! I've still got them in a bottle - and no, you can't have them.

Remy, that sounds like it was a great show!

JULES!!!!!!! You ROCK!!! I got such a wonderful box of goodies today from Klickitat!! That butterfly is GORGEOUS!! Gals, it's about a foot wide and covered in "jewels" - it's not a wall hanging, it's wall jewelry!! Also in this great box - tulips kolpakowkiana & bekori lilac, tinka and chionodoxa pink giant bulbs!! A cute fuzzy-headed bobble pen, rose cream chocolates, European milk choc bar, extra duty grip gloves, a flower pressing kit & book, set of 3 small watering cans filled with citronella candles, 2 oh so cute fabric butterfly magnets, and an "anti-bug" mug with lid - which is working great at keeping the cats out of my tea! LOL! Strange critters want to drink my ice tea! Jules, this is an AWESOME swap box! WOW!!!!!!! Girl, you went overboard, but I sure love it all! Thank you!

Diz/Susann, thank you so much for the neat hummingbird windchime. I just love it! What a surprise to find the wonderful seeds and lollipops. Many, many thanks. You have been an awesome hostess. That was a fun puzzle. I like to do those. Everyone have a great week-end. DH and I are going to Minneapolis to meet up with DS and his GF and stay in a motel for the week-end. WooHoo!!! Mary Ellen PS I have always heard that OLDER eggs peel best.

Here you go Carol -
Try the site below for help from the EGG-perts! LOL!

Susann,
Thank you so much for the neat hummingbird feeder, plus the seeds and candy! I really appreciate it! I really enjoyed the games. It added a lot of fun to the month.

Deb & mellen, glad you got your prizes okay - tried to find some seeds I thought you'd like. ;)

Come on now - someone look up those names & win a prize!

dizzy... so glad you enjoyed your box. :) That large butterfly was too pretty to pass up, but the antennae seem to be fragile. Did they make it intact? Just to point out that the pen is a chocolate bon bon bobblehead and the chocolates are *rose* flavored. Thought that was pretty unique. Let me know how they taste (if you dare try them). Heh.

Gosh, all this talk about Easter eggs... I haven't done that in decades! Even for church as an adult I don't see the point of making them. It'll be nice to have kids one day to do this sort of fun stuff with.

I'm off to volunteer at a local shelter's dog spa. This ought to be fun! As long as I don't bring any home, hubby should be ok with me going there. Heh.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

good morning everyone. dizz, thos colored chickens are too cute. strange, but...

remy, the show sounds wonderful. i by-passed the philadelphia show this year, it's getting too big and too vendorized and not enough for the home gardener anymore. i like the smaller venues. sad about the batteries, but i know that feeling. i love delph's - i don't grow enough of them, need to add more.

we are having sleet/snow/hail today. for the last two days, you didn't need a jacket and short sleeves were had by most! i did a little clean up and got some areas ready for plants that i have and now today - just nuts!

we do a easter egg hunt at church, but use those plastic guys filled with jelly beans. (every year the same sour sap protests the jelly beans because they can become lodged in a kid's throat - every year no one has a problem and every year sh'e shot down). we must stuff a few thousand eggs. we have a little party and always a clown or a magician. it's so much fun for the kids. never fails too, the weather is always iffy. only once in the last 10 years we had to do it inside.

dizz, i looked up a few of them, but not sure what you are looking for. tough contests!

off to do some baking. my mom's birthday celebration this weekend.

be well
maryanne

TinaHBD-
I called the Springfield MA post office on Wednesday, they said that the package did in fact leave their facility on the 9th like it says on the page. Unfortunately, no, it still hasn't gotten here. I asked the person why they thought it might be taking so long, and they said it would take a long time to get to me because you sent it 'bulk rate'.
I'll let you know if and when it gets here.
-Elizabeth

Clue for the contest - if you look up the common names, you will quickly see what they all have in common.....

dizz... i know the answer, but i haven't answered because i want to give someone a chance who hasn't received a prize yet this month :)

If you know the answer to one of the contests, you can win & always have me send the prize to someone else...... There's a couple who haven't gotten a prize yet and there's always our Birthday Girls this month! It'd be nice to wrap this one up before we get into thread 3.
Common names & the one thing they all have in common....
Got to get back to work, so I'll check in later.

hey, there's still room in here for more...
Thank you for the B-day card, Dizzy!

Bulk rate? I sent it parcel post. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.......
What a pain in the arse.

I would like to know where it is at right now. Just floating??? I've never had this happen before. Either it gets there, or it goes MIA. I sent 2 more boxes out that day and it took them 3 days to arrive and they were also sent parcel.

And just think, they are talking about raising the postage again.................

Tina

I didn't hear about the postal rate going up again. If they keep raising the rates, eventually it will be cheaper to just drive the package over, LOL!

Deb

I got my prize yesterday Dizzy - and thanks so much for the extras!