Carol,

I received your email....Thanks!

In order for me to be an OBF member I need to do a trade with a current OBF member. So who would like to do a trade with me? I am much more into group swaps/exchanges than individual trades (I don't think I have ever done an individual trade) but lets see if we can work something out. I am out of this OBF MMMM exchange but I might as well think ahead...LOL!!!

Thanks,

Annie

Annie, I'd love to do a trade with you. Just email me! We'll have you ready to join next month's swap in no time! :O)

Melissa

Good Morning,lovely ladies. This weekend will be a busy one for most of us & just want to wish each of you a blessed one. Memories may be happy or not so happy & I am sure we all will have some of each. Please enjoy them all. Our past has made us who we are today & I think we are a wonderful bunch of women here! Some of us might not be Mother's but I am sure if you aren't, you have mentored or nurtured, or been like a Mother to someone. We still haven't shared about our mother's so please do so here when you have the time. This is for each of you! Blessings, Margaret

I hope we have all interested in joining us & names will be out soon. I will then post the rules! If I miss anyone, please let me know. I know these baskets will be wonderful!

Melissa,

Thanks much....responded to your email this morning!!

Annie

Annie/Canyonwind, I just sent you an e-mail. Let me know whether or not you received it.
Thanks,
Mellen/Mary Ellen

My Mom has been the most important person in my life. I love her with all my heart. She has always been there for me in all of lifes ups and downs. I enjoy her company so much, she is also my friend. So to all you wonderful Moms out there (including mine) God bless you and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Cindy : )

Seek Codes

MySpace Graphics

Hi All,
I've got to go to work, but just wanted to stop by and wish all the moms a wonderful day!
Remy

Morning All! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
In-laws are departing, so I'll be on more often from here on out.
later.....April/dirt

I need to ask for ya'lls prayers for my family.
My uncle (my mom's brother) passed away last night. It's really hard on us, we were all so close to him. He was the life of our family.
If you'd just keep us in your thoughts and prayers today, I would really appreciate it. My grandma is having an especially tough time- this is her oldest child- so she's lost her baby.
I can only imagine what she's feeling right now, as hard as it is on me & my kids.....and especially being Mother's day.

Hugs to all,
Melissa

Happy Mothers Day..........

Melissa, my thought and prayers..........

Mary Ellen (Mellen), I received your email and responded. Thanks!

Annie

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I lost my mom 29 years ago. I was 24. She was 6 years old when she lost her mom. Melissa, you and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers. Hugs, Treasa

Happy Mother's Day to you lovely ladies.

Melissa-I am so sorry for your loss. Please know I will be praying for you & all family members for comfort & strength in the coming days. Please know we care.

I really didn't look too seriously at the calendar when I set the date for revealing your member to send to when I started this, not realizing that date was Mother's Day. I will get them to you as soon as I can get you each emailed with the rules & start a new forum with information. Blessings, Margaret

Happy Mothers Day to All:

I am blessed to have the sweetest Mom and also my bestfriend. She is 72 this year but thinks she is 32. She is some much fun to be around and I love her so much!

Melissa, So sorry to hear about your Uncle. Will be praying for you.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Amy

Good Morning,Ladies,
I had a most informative long post done & it is now somewhere in outer space, I guess. Anyway, here are the names I have as being in this RR & if I have missed anyone please let me know right away. Also, I am emailing your person to send to so if you don't get that email, let me know also. I know you are going to enjoy who you have & will have a delightful time getting things for your basket to send!

Cindy/alwaysagarden
Amy/amybabyboy3
Shirley/brittneysgran
Deb/debbya
Amy/dieg01991
April/dirt_under_my_nails
Maryanne/earthlydelights
Melinda/ilovefarac
Melissa/hazelnutbunny
Dottie/Luckyladyd
Mary Ellen/mellen
Remy/Remy
Treasa/uptreasa
Carol/veeja11

Please continue posting here until I make sure everyone has received their emails to send to & also keep telling us about yourselves. The game will begin soon, too.

Another important matter: please remember Bunny & her family with the passing of her uncle & April as her husband is to be operated on tomorrow if that hasn't changed.
Have a great day! Blessings, Margaret

Melissa-will keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers!
Same for you and your husband also, April.
Hope everyone had a great day! Was a bittersweet one for me as my mother has been gone 3 years! But my children all came on Saturday and we had a nice visit and bar-b-que!
Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Melinda

Melissa,
I'm so sorry to hear about your Uncle! You and Your Family are in my thoughts & Prayers!
I'm a little behind on the thread, and will be back later to catch up.

Hugs,
Deb

Mary Ellen...Mellen,

I sent you another email today...attached to my previous email...attached to your original email...LOL!

Let me know what you would like to do!

Annie

Ann, I sent you a reply this evening. I hope you got it. Been lots going on here since last Wednesday such as hubby having emergency surgery to have a stent placed in his heart. He had been having terrible pain between his shoulder blades for 3 weeks. He went to the Dr. 2 weeks ago, and they decided it was probably reflux which he had had in the past as his symptoms were the same. In the meantime, the Dr. scheduled him for a stress test the following week. Well, during the test, they found that he had 99-100% blockage in on the main arteries into his heart. So he was immediately taken to the hospital-next door-and had the stent surgery. This all happened in a matter of hours. By the time I got there-it's a 45 minute drive-the procedure was done. So I was at the hospital from Wednesday til he could come home on Friday. THEN on Saturday was our-my friend and I-annual perennial plant sale. What a whirlwind!!! I don't think I have been on the computer since early last week.

Melissa, condolences on the loss of your uncle. Not easy.

April, take good care of your husband. They are so precious!

Later,
Mary Ellen

Hi Ladies,
Sounds like some of you are having some difficult and sad times right now.

Melissa,
You and your family are in my prayers, especially your Grandma.

April,
May all go well with your husband. You are both in my prayers.

Mary Ellen,
Thank God your doctor found that heart blockage in your husband and was able to do emergency surgery! I hope he is recovering quickly and in good health. I am praying for you both as well.

Melinda,
I'm so glad your kids were all there for you on Mothers Day. I'm sure they all let you know how much they love you.

Margaret,
Got your email and sent one back to you.

Cindy

Mary Ellen...received your email and responded. Thanks!

Cindy (alwaysagarden)...received your email and responded. Thanks!

Annie

Thank you, everyone. We appreciate the thoughts & prayers.
Like I said- my grandma has been having an especially hard time. We finally got her to eat a little something last night. She hadn't eaten or slept since Saturday night. She received a condolence card yesterday morning, and she broke down for hours....my aunt had to give her some valium to calm her down.
If ya'll would contintue to pray for her, I would be thankful. I'm very worried about her.

MaryEllen~ Thank GOODNESS your husband is doing well. That is certainly scary- and thankfully they caught it in time. Praying for a fast & full recovery for him.

Hugs,
Melissa

Good morning, Ladies, I hope it is as nice where you are as it is here, getting a lot of planting & transplanting done. Isn't Spring wonderful?

Mellen-I am so thankful everything went ok with your DH. Our group needs lots of prayer & support right now so please remember the ones who are suffering with losses, operations & really other problems in life.

I have received 1/2 of wants for their baskets (boxes) & waiting for the other 1/2 to post our game. Some interesting things wanted so far!!! I can't wait to see the rest of them & then--Let the fun begin!

Remember-this is a mystery so don't reveal who you are sending to in any way!!

Now for more information about each other-
How long have you been a member of GW & how did you
choose your forum name? When did you discover the Round Robin part of GW after joining? Also, how much trading have you done & any a Big disappointment.

Looking forward to these answers, too.

Blessings, Margaret

Melissa,
I was sorry to hear about your uncle. I hope your grandmother begins to be able to cope with the loss.

Mary Ellen,
What a scare with your husband. I hope he recovers really well and how lucky they found the problem!

Treasa,
I know what you mean about not having your mom on Mother's Day. My mom passed away in 1987. Both of my children live too far away and do not get to come home for that day. Some of us have to stay cozy with our memories.
BTW, I did receive the mail with the stamps for postage. So weird about one of the seed packets being empty. That would have surposed me, too!)

Margaret,
What a fantastic hostess you are being - you might get drafted to do this every month (...only kidding about the second part!!!)

To everyone else - have a good week. It is lovely out today so I'd better get outside to enjoy it.

Jeanne

Hi All,
I've been very busy here as usual. I can't wait for my vacation!(beginning of June)

Mellen,
Wow! You've been through a lot on the past week. Well thank goodness you hubby is ok.

Melissa,
So sorry about your uncle. It is sad to hear how bad your grandma is taking it. I remember when I was little and my uncle died. My grandma cried for days. But you know with that much pain, you got to cry it all out.

Margaret,
I know you asked for this before Mother's Day, but better late than never : )
My mother and I didn't get along very well. You are all very lucky to have had good moms, mine had problems.
Here's the poem I wrote to my mother for her last mother's day before she died of cancer. Well the best I can remember. It from when I was 19. I'm not going to go searching for it right now.

If I could say
What I want to say.
I don't know
What I want to say...

Things happen
I don't know why.
Sometimes we fall down
And we want to cry.
So what do I say?

Things happen
I wish I knew why.
Sometimes we get hurt
And don't want to die.
So what do I say?...

I love you.

Have a goodnight everyone,
Remy

Thank you, dear ladies, for the wishes. It is amazing what a different guy he is! He is back to work again with no restrictions. Amazing what can be done anymore. We are very thankful to the Guy above.

Melissa, I think of you and your family at different times during the day and say a little prayer for comfort. I can hardly imagine losing a son no matter what his age may be.

We have had rain on and off today and yesterday.

I am very excited about sending to the person I got from Margaret!!!

ME

Good afternoon, Ladies. Life got in the way this morning for my message! Today is such an important day for us celebrating that I can't wait to get all of us involved:

First-It is "Frog Jumping Day" & there is a prize for the 1st lady here that finds one, jumps with it to a lively tune & posts their picture doing so (April, are you reading this?)The 1st one to post this will get a prize!

Second-It is "Tulip Day". Post your favorite picture of your's from your yard & all you ladiesa are to vote on their favorite. The winner will get a prize!

And now for the big one--"National "Dance Like a Chicken Day". Another prize for the 1st one to post a picture of yourself performing this. Ready-Set-Go!

Still no answers to our other questions posted about joining GW & all. These will help us get to know each other better so start posting, Ladies!

Can't wait to see all the inputs on these great days we are celebrating today! Blessings, Margaret

Hi, friends. Happen to have today off, so I'm doing a little catching up around the house. Doing some gardening chores. It's very cool and damp here. My tomato plants are looking pretty nice. I'm going to have some at the local farmer's market on the 26th, and something down there every Tuesday throughout the summer.

The biggest disappointment I remember was probably when I was paired for a year with a very generous, kind lady from down south. This was in 2004, I think. Shame on me, but I don't recall her name, I think it was a secret pal sort of thing. Yes, it was. I know I got one, maybe two boxes. Then something tragic happened to her, a car accident. I never heard if she survived. All I know is it was not good for her. I will always remember how she packed the box full of goodies. I hope everything was OK for her after that. The things I have from her still remind me of her generous nature.

I've been a GW member since 2003. The system wouldn't let me have treasa-said it was already taken-so I had to use uptreasa. I'm from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I found the round robins soon after having a look. I've done a lot of trading, with the years 2005 and 2006 probably my busiest.

I'm praying for everyone. Love you.

Now, if only I could find a frog. Margaret, where did you get all these ideas?? LOL

Treasa

Mellen,
I'm so sorry to hear about your husband, but am so glad they caught it in time! What a blessing! He's back to work already.. with no restrictions, how amazing!

I went to the Dentist last night and had a cavity filled, yuck! I go all the time, and have been so lucky- no cavities with in the last 10 years! But, it finally hit me- I had a small line on one of my back teeth from brushing too hard! The dentist pumped so much meds in my mouth, I swear I had a hard time swallowing! My throat felt numb! Brush lightly everyone, LOL!

Hugs,
Deb

Okay, Margaret - here goes... I have been a member since 2003. I think I started out reading the rose forum messages. It was awhile before I tired swaps. I think I started with plant swaps - maybe seeds. It took awhile before I swapped and longer to get involved in the round robins. I think the first one I may have done was the Garden Circle Exchange Ring. In fact, I hosted that group the second year that I belonged to it. The first group I joined that is still going today is Our Bloomin' Friends.
My forum name relates to the roses that I was interested in - I try to grow very sturdy ones that don't need lots of babying. So, that is the rose part. "Sandlapper" can be used as a term for things relating to my state - SC. We have various business that use the term in their name. I don't think anyone quite knows what it derives from.
In all the years I have traded, I have only been disappointed about 3 times. I won't say which groups. In one case someone else sent something to me to make up for not receiving from the person who was supposed to send. The others, I just chalked up to "experience." So many people have been so tremendously generous and I remember how amazed I was that you could dig up plants, wash the dirt off the roots, wrap them up, mail them, and then replant them and they would make it through all of that!

I guess I trade every few months. Sometimes I do more than one swap in a month and sometimes two months in a row. Some of it relates to the time I have to work in the garden and the weather conditions we are experiencing. I love to get seeds late in the year because that is when I get ready for winter sowing. Spring and fall are good for receiving plants. Typically, at least here, summer is good for nothing except staying in the air-conditioning! (We have gotten more rain than usual this spring so I can hope it continues!)
I hope a few more share with this one.
No pictures of me impersonating a chicken or a frog. Sorry.
Jeanne

How long have you been a member of GW? My member page says "First registered on January 17, 2008" but I didn't become very active until last summer. I was like Jeanne, I started by reading the forums. As for swaps, I started with seed swaps several months later. I was very nervous to try plants, I thought I would do it all wrong and people would hate me. lol!

How did you choose your forum name? Diego was the name of my most favorite cat, (the most awesome cat ever!) and he was born in 1991. Dieg01991 is what I used for my yahoo email address and when I chose it, I had to use a zero instead of an o because diego1991 was already taken. So when I registered for GW, I used the same name.

When did you discover the Round Robin part of GW after joining? About the middle of last summer. I was looking at the plant exchange and someone had posted a trade for houseplants. One of the Round Robiners replied that there was a Houseplant Round Robin swap going on and to check it out. So I joined the swap and have been hooked ever since!

Also, how much trading have you done & any a Big disappointment. I'm not sure how much trading I've done, may be about 30-40 trades or so. I have been pretty lucky so far (knock on wood) and haven't had any major disappointments. I really like trading for plants the most and trade only with the OBF group (no other group) through the winter to keep active and for seeds. I am so excited for this summer and would be most happy to receive boxes with plants only (save the gifts and seeds for the winter when you can't trade plants -is my motto).

Wow Treasa, that is so sad about your trade partner. I was in a swap last fall where someone who was very active in previous swaps and side swaps just disappeared one day without sending her partner a box, which really shocked me. I always wondered what happened to her. It made me think that if something happened to me, nobody would know. My husband wouldn't know to come here and post something. :-( Scary to think about (and kinda morbid, sorry!!!)!

Margaret, this was a fun idea, it's cool to read about others in the group.

Hope you're all having a great night!
Amy A-z

Shoot, thinking about it now....I really hope that nobody felt disappointed by the package that I've sent them in the past (and I don't mean just this group).

Margaret,
You won't catch me dancing or jumping, lol!
I forgot yesterday to post to your questions. It is fun reading everyone's answers.
I've been coming here since late 1996!! There weren't many forums back then. In 2001 we all had to re-register so the oldest registration date you'll find is 2001. My name is my name of course. Back when I was first coming here, most everyone used their regular name. Then it of course was getting bigger and people had to use other names. I thought of using another name, but then I thought most people don't think it is my name anyway!
I started reading the RR forums after a few operations. I couldn't do much but be on the computer so I had time to peruse forums I normally don't frequent. Anyway, I happened on the break up of the old group, don't remember the name anymore. There was a contest to name the new group. I wrote to Carol with a name suggestion. She wrote back thanking me and asked if I wanted to join, and I did : )
I've done a lot of trading. I've never gotten a box of junk, luckily I've received healthy plants. I almost got burned once.(Maryanne I believe could write a horror novel of trades gone bad, lol) A trader got a wonderful box from me. In fact another trader got pretty much the same box, and she actually sent me a card and seeds later in the year because she loved the box so much. Anyway, few months after not getting any plants, the trader started posting on the Plant Exchange. I wrote to one of their posts saying I was hoping to hear back from them about our trader. They posted they would get right back to me, but they didn't. So I emailed everyone who posted to his posting. Luckily everyone of them were people who I traded with previously. They all backed out or asked for their end first. So he sent me my box!

Amy A-Z,
It is weird when people up and disappear when they've been very active. I'm not sure my husband would post either! Sometimes people do pass away. It was very sad when Melinda's mom died. Or Katie88, she was so nice. I went looking for my R&R the other day and seeing Katie's message is very bittersweet.

April,
I hope all went well with your husband.
Remy
Remy

Hi Margaret,
My first trades were done in 1999 and 2000. I lived in Southern Calif. then and could pretty much grow anything since the climate and soil was so wonderful. I agree with Remy, things were alot simpler on the GW then.
I now live in Northern Calif. and rejoined GW in Sept. 2008 and have done several seed trades. The only trading I did on the Round Robin site was in the Fall/Winter with large seed swaps. I was too intimidated to join a group because I thought I would mess up my end! Then at the end of Jan. I thought I'd give OBF a shot and was so glad I did. My first swap here was in March. I'm signed up for this swap and can't wait to see what Margaret has planned for us!
I decided on the name alwaysagarden because I don't ever want to be without one! They bring so much therapy and joy to me. Being a creative person I love how the ideas for gardens are endless. : )
I had a difficult situation with one seed trade, so I posted about it and after 11 weeks finally got my seeds. I also had one swap go bad, but in the end some other gardeners felt bad for me and sent things to me to make up for it. They are really neat gals.
I've done great seed trades with many generous gardeners here and I'm getting a little excited to maybe even try sending a few plants. This will be a first for me.
Umm... won't see me hopping like a frog or dancing like a chicken either. As for the tulips, there time here in my zone has passed. Plus not sure how to post pictures, hmmm.

Take care ladies,
Cindy : )

Great ideas, Margaret. Wish I was on a computer that could download pics. Our "main" computer has been on the fritz for a few months. Since I have a cheap laptop that works, we haven't gotten the other one fixed, yet. Not sure this would be able to load the pic CD. If I could, I would do the chicken thing.

I joined in May of '03. I started out by trading seeds. TONS of trades back then. I then went to the plant forum and traded plants a few times, but I didn't really have enough variety in my garden that anyone was interested in. I don't remember when I ventured over to the RR site, but I have been here for a long time. I was in Jeanne's year-long group. That was sooo fun! I do seem to remember a lady who was in a car accident. I do think that she got along okay finally after that if my memory serves me correctly. But it was a very long haul for her. I remember Melinda's mother and doing some trades with her a couple of times. VERY nice lady. I started out on the RR site by joining the true round robins, but after awhile I dropped out of those since the boxes usually contained very common seeds by the time they got to me. At one time I was in 3 groups but have now cut it to just this one. The one place I feel comfortable and accepted. I don't recall any trades gone bad. Our former group and this group have seen quite a few people come and go. Some are missed and others are not. :P Did I really say that? Maryanne--u know who? Anywayyyy, that's all from here.
ME

Margaret~ The frog jumping & chicken dancing sounds like so much fun - and a good break from everything- we decided to combine the 2. We couldn't go outside to get a real frog, it's raining. BUT we found a stuffed one, and did the chicken dance with him. Does THAT count? :O)

Forgive the pj's, please....it's been a long few days. (oh, and Adora wanted to dance with her snowman).

Let me see....I've been a member of GW for 2 years tomorrow, actually. I got my name from having so many kids (bunny) and hubby's favorite candy (he likes the chocolate covered hazelnut things).
Started out just trading seeds, but then another member told me how much she liked the RR swaps....and asked me to join in with her. The first swap I joined in was an MNF swap...then Carol (veeja) hosted an OBF swap for new members, so I joined that.
Been going ever since!

Hi Margaret and everybody,

Bunny, love the picture of you and the adorable kids! It's so cool that you find the time to do swaps and homeschool AND do the frog dance and chicken hop, or whatever!

Everyone, I had the most fun experience yesterday! I found out that our water was shut nearly off - because of a water main break in our neighborhood - and there was barely water coming out of the shower in the a.m. Then, later in the day, after having planted some new hostas, I was standing, patiently holding my watering wand over the plant, watching a slow trickle of water fall onto the plant. As I stood, motionless, talking on my cell phone, a hummingbird came and flew through the water mist several times!! He wasn't even phased when I screamed "Oh my God, Oh my God" to the person on the phone! He just flitted around me, enjoying the water, and then darted off into the trees nearby. He was green, with speckles and a yellowish neck and head. I haven't had one come that close to me and stay so long before. He must have been 12" away for almost a minute. Sometimes gardening just has the most unexpected rewards!

Glad to hear everyone's families are healing. So sorry for the hardships some of you have had to endure recently.

I've been on Gardenweb since '05. Started asking questions and lurking on some of the threads until I got up the nerve to join in. The first time I ever sent live plants to anyone was on this RR a couple of months ago. I hope I didn't disappoint my partner. It does amaze me that I can dig up a poor unsuspecting plant, or piece of one, and ship it off to a far away state and expect it to be okay with that! I am learning as I go. The gals who have sent to me have taught me about packing and wrapping, etc. It is so lovely to be part of such a generous and knowledgeable group.

My GW name is the same as my name on other sites for about the last 10 years. It was just something I thought appropriate, as I feel very lucky most of the time. For reasons I don't understand, I am blessed with a great family, good health, a job I enjoy, good friends, and enough of everything I need. I would have taken just Luckylady, but that was taken, so I became Luckyladyd.

I have had one disappointment in plants buying/trading. I bought a lot of lilies from someone on eBay. When they didn't come up, she promised me a refund if they didn't come up the NEXT Spring. Like a fool, I waited. They still didn't come up. When I emailed her, she was not to be found. (Waited until the time expired for me to leave her bad feedback.) I'm an idiot; she's a cheat. Ah, well. No bad trades on GW, though.

I've traded for a couple years on GW, just sporadically, and purchased from eBay and lots of catalog companies. I found the RR just accidentally and thought it sounded like fun. Never did a RR before. When I first joined, I expected to just send a plant to someone and that someone would send me a plant. Boy was I wrong! You guys are a whole community and the trades include a lot more than plants! It is really a fun group; I had a really fun time shopping for my (secret) partner for this month's swap today!

Well, I think that answers all the questions for you, Margaret. I think DH is waiting for me to join him watching TV. He just got back from a bus. trip, and although I really hate The Office, I will go and endure the last few minutes.
Cheers,
Dottie

Howdy All!!!
Things are a bit hectic here.Hubby is a bit sore but healing!

I've been on GW about 2 years. I,like Bunny, joined in the OBF Swap for Newbies hosted by Carol. Found this site when googling for free seeds! Sent out many SASBES !! Got brave & joined in a few round robins & have been hooked ever since.
It's fairly simple to guess how I came up with my name. I seem to always lose my gloves or don't take the time to put them on. You know how it when you run out to check the mail & spot a weed (or 10!) growing in the flowerbed. You reach down to pull it ,end up weeding the whole thing! Then move a few stones around, divide a clump of plants........it just keeps going.Dirt is always under my nails by the time I'm done!LOL!!

I've been pretty lucky with most of my trades. Only one or two burns. Nothing to keep me from trading,I just check their Rate & Review before sending if it's an unknown.

I can't find any dancing chickens or leaping frogs to add my head to.

I'm off to help in my son's class. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
later...April

Dottie~ I am learning that the "chicken dance" moments are the best moments in life. If I ever get too busy to share those times with my kids & family, then I've got to re-prioritize. God gave me 6 kiddos, and by golly, I'm going to enjoy them. :O) I'll only have them for a little bit, and during that time, I want to make sure they KNOW they're special.

April~ Glad to hear that your hubby is doing well! Keep us updated on him, Ok? A hip replacement is something I've put off doing for years, but really need. Maybe hearing that the surgery isn't as bad as I think will be a good thing, you think? :O) Did he have the total replacement, or just re-surfacing? I forgot which one!

Off to go transplant some Veronica. Wow, does that stuff SPREAD LIKE THE DICKENS!! LOL I wish I knew that LAST year, when I planted one tiny little sprig! Now it's taking over my sedum & creeping phlox! Gotta go save that poor phlox! :O)

Have a good one, gals!!
Melissa

Hi, Ladies-

Yea, Melissa-You are the winner.So cute of you & the girls. Prizes coming soon.

I have wanted to post all day but again, life got in the way. We have had thunderstorms all day & the rain guage is up to 5 inches or more by now. A little town about 20 miles from here got 10 inches so far.

I wanted to post earlier today for our special days we are celebrating this month-

Today is "HUG YOUR CAT DAY" & CHOCOLATE CHIP DAY" so get to hugging those wonderful cats & get a hand full or bag of the chocolate chips & celebrate life. Bunny is really showing us how to do that!

I am waiting for 2 more ladies to send their wants for their baskets before posting the game. Hope you all enjoy it! Blessings, Margaret

Good Morning, Ladies

We have an important day to be very thankful for today & every day!

"NATIONAL ARMED FORCES DAY" Our freedoms are not free, as we all know. One of my favorite saying is "If you love your freedom, thank a veteran & those serving now".

Blessings, Margaret

So very true, Margaret! They give so much....and receive so little thanks.
I am very proud to have several veterans in my family.

Well hello everyone!
I too have had many family members that served for our country! I have a niece that I raised that is a colonel in the Marines right now! She has spent a couple tours in Iraq and several other places. Many hrs. of worry there, but thank God for our many veterans!
Mellen and April-so glad your husbands are doing ok!
My thoughts and prayers are with the many people here who need them!
Melissa, I loved the pic! So cute! I know what you mean about little ones growing up so fast! I had all 3 boys here last night and I just go with the flow! No work, just play! I know someday they will have many memories of old grandma taking them fishing, going for walks, coloring, crawling around and just having fun! Hope to get ahold of you soon about the plants! Just hate to see you mail them after you already mailed a box! I will get that way soon!
Well, most everyone here knows me, but a few don't I suppose. I joined in 2003. I started doing alot of gardening in 2000 after my husband passed away in 1999. It was something for me to do and keep me occupied. My mother was a member of GW and loved it so I did have her do some trades for me and we shared things for a couple of years! She taught me to wintersow and how to do seed trades, etc.So I was very familiar with some of it when I joined. She finally convinced me to join and I've been here ever since. I did seed trades for a year or so then did a couple plant trades and then some round robins. Don't see much of that anymore! Things have definitely changed since I started here. I see many familiar faces, but so many new ones! I too often wonder what has happened to some of the people that were here all the time and then just disappeared! It became quite the thing for many years as my mother and I shared and wintersowed together, planned our gardens together and just in general loved the same things and had so many wonderful memories doing them! I have a yard full of plants from wonderful GW members and also full of many of the plants my mother and I wintersowed together that last year! I know she is up in Heaven looking down and seeing how beautiful they became! Well, enough of that! LOl! No more tears right now!
Anway, I tried several names and couldn't find the right one or one that wasn't taken, so I just chose the things I love! I love flowers and rocks and children so that's how I chose ilovefarac!
Margaret, I haven't been in a swap that you have done before, but I congratulate you on being great at it!!
And everyone who posts! I just love reading all of them!
Waiting patiently on more games!
Have a beautiful weekend everyone! Melinda

Hi All,
I went to the Lilac Festival in Rochester. It was like heaven, hundreds of lilacs in bloom!! It was wonderful, I wish you all could of been there. I took lots of pics so I hope I got some good ones.
I also went to the Botanical Gardens plant sale early this morning. They have some nice stuff, but I hate crazed people shopping. I went to the Lilac Festival with my tall Norwegian friend. I should of picked her up early for the sale to scare people, lol. I only picked up a few plants, but I did get a really cool looking variegated aralia.

Melissa,
Love the pic! Congrats on the win. Chicken Dance moments are the best : )

April,
I love your name. I too have glove problems.

Dottie,
That is so cool about the hummingbird! I wish that would happen to me.
I like The Office, though I like My Name is Earl more.

Margaret,
I had no idea there were so many special days in the month!
Remy

Hi Everyone! I had the most wonderful day today. I went to my first plant swap with the georgia gw members. It was so much fun and traded and received a lot of beautiful plants. I got to meet in person some really nice gw people it was super! We ate lunch afterwards and everyone brought food. One wonderful lady opened her home up to all of us. My mom watched our boys and my husband and I really enjoyed the day!

I first joined gw in 2004. I have always loved to garden. My Dad raised hundreds of orchids when I was a kid and when I was 8 he outgrew his small greenhouse and gave it to me thats when my hobby started. Of course as a teen I was only interested in friends and for years I didn't garden. In the 1990's I think is when I got interested again. I love gardening . It gives me such a peaceful feeling walking around the yard with the beautiful plants and birds around.

So glad everyone is starting to feel better. Take care, Amy

sorry Mothers day killed me and I missed a lot. Bunny so sorry for your loss. Mellen happy hubby is ok tell him I am a member of the zipper club too. does anyone know what happened to #1 angel or muddy mom ? Bunny glad you and dirt joined us in my swap, we got a couple of keepers, some losers too, but they are gone. I don't know when I joined gw but seems like I've been here forever. would anyone who trusts me with their phone number, please e-mail it to me, I won't use it unless you dissapear, I just can't stand the thought of losing any one of you and not knowing why. I love you all. hugs carol

good morning everyone. i had trouble when i went to post in here earlier this week. not sure if i was too long-winded, or if it was my computer. (i'll believe the latter).

hope everyone is well. enjoying your weather, no matter what it is. we've had a lot of muggy weather and a lot of rain. air feels good now but that doesn't mean it will last throughout the day.

i came to GW when i was researching greenhouses. i would read that forum for months. as a matter of fact, i didn't realize for a long time there were other forums, as i had googled greenhouses and that's what came up and where i would come every couple of days to read. i probably did that for about 4 or 5 months. then one day i wanted to ask a question and realized you had to "join". from there, i started looking around and found the exchange pages. those i probably read for about 2 or 3 months to get to know the etiquette and the players and then one day i just jumped in - it was at the end of the year, so no plants, but it was a good evperience.

i then tried a few other swaps, some good, some bad and some in between. the first year long i joined was the garden exchange ring run by yaya - it was a fantastic swap and the woman that was my partner - daisy_me - i never see on the boards anymore. she spoiled me like mad. i got the greatest boxes month after month after month.

i miss people like mudmom, pochella, debbie sw ok, cassie, jeanette and (RIP) marge. i wonder where jody and sadie and some "others" went. geeze, i remember when i came to this particular forum i was under the impression a particular member "owned" it. at least i laugh at that now.

down the line the seed robins changed and it started to be boxes with crafts (some excellent boxes) or just stuff/junk (interesting to say the least).

i did join in some other groups, but either they fizzled or i just outgrew them. i love OBF and have been with it from it's inception. we started in a whole other group - i don't even think it really got to take off (mary ellen????, remember) and then there was a falling out or some nonsense with one of our dearest members, so we all flew the coup and sue and carol put this one together. as for individual swaps, i don't have the best of luck so i just stick with this group.

happy sunday everyone!
maryanne

am i missing something? an entire day and not one post?

Hi, Maryanne. Ya, everybody must be in the garden. Hope all is well. I was working today, but will check in here tomorrow afternoon. Cold this morning, but it's finally looking like spring. Take care. Treasa

Hi everyone,
Ok, let's try this again. I had a message all typed up and right before I hit submit, my browser crashed and I lost the message. My other computer is acting up and I'm afraid it's about to crash on me. So, now I'm on another machine. (we are both in the software field so we have lots of computers around here).

So, what I said before is that the weather was absolutely perfect here today. We ended up renting a sod cutter and went to town on the sod in the backyard. Then I posted an ad on Craig's list and someone came and got all the sod. It was so easy that I had to hold myself back from taking out more sod (all of it!!) ;-) lol. Anyway, I decided to move the veggie garden over and we got the new area all prepped and ready to go today. I hope to have the veggies all planted this week. I now also have a new area for annuals/tropicals. And I hope to put a large pond and waterfall in where the old veggie garden used to be. Busy summer!!! My husband is awesome!!

I'm pooped now and I'm going to get ready for bed. Hope you all had a great weekend too!!

Amy A-z

Good Morning-Lovely Ladies-I am starting a new post today so hope all check in & enjoy!

Blessings, Margaret