Here it is, the list of SWAP PARTNERS:

dirt-under-my-nails sends to debbya
debbya sends to hermitonthehill
hermitonthehill sends to gardenandcats
gardenandcats sends to joygarden
joygarden sends to Ann
Ann sends to sandlapper rose
Sandlapper rose sends to Lil green thumb
Lil-green-thumb sends to Laurelin
Laurelin sends to dirt-under-my-nails

I'll send out the addresses I have to the people who need them. GW mail has NOT NOT NOT been reliable lately, so if you tried to send me your address via GW, I didn't get it. Please email me directly. I REALLY need the addresses by tomorrow, in fairness to the other paticipants, so everyone can have all the information they need in a timely fashion. If you have to drop out, please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you all for "playing" in my first swap!

Laurel

Laurel & lil green thumb -
I'm thinking I should send after July 15th because Kim will be gone the week of the 10th. Is that right? No problem, I just didn't want anyone to think I had forgotten to send to her.
Just let me know.
Sandlapper

That's fine, sandlapper - as long as you're both okay with it, I don't mind. I just don't want anyone left hanging. Thanks for being so prompt in asking and letting us know.

Laurel

Hermitonthehill and sandlapper_rose would you please send me your emails again? I accidentally erased all my back emails about a week ago (AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!) and I want to connect you with your partners.

Gardensandcats, please send me your information - thanks!

Laurel

Sandlapper - that is fine by me! and since we are in the same state - you can mail first class too if that is cheaper than priority- it will get here the next day - or within 2 at the most.

Have a Happy and Safe Fourth everyone!
~Kim

Happy 4th of July everyone! Here's my red, white, and blue for the day:

Laurel

AH, PHOOEY! Let me try those pictures again:

{{gwi:361849}}

Laurel

Gardenandcats,

I'm sorry I haven't heard from you this past week. I was really hoping you could participate in my first swap, but I have no way to reach you except this forum (since you don't have a GW email contact address). I've asked for your address several times, but I haven't heard back from you. I hope you're okay, and not going through personal trouble at home.

Unfortunately, in fairness to the other people participating in this swap, since they need to get their boxes together in a timely fashion and send them out, I'm going to have to drop you from this exchange and reassign a pair of partners. I hope you understand, and I hope to meet you again in another swap.

Sincerely, Laurel

Hermitonthehill,

Could you please email me? I need you to send to a different partner (joy-garden), since gardenandcats cannot participate this month. I hope this isn't an inconvenience for you!

Thank you for being understanding.

Laurel

Yes Laurel - resending via email as soon as I post this. I'd been checking my email and hadn't heard from you, so just figured you were busy like me. I hadn't had the chance to check the forum until today. If you'd like to swap me around with someone for a later send-date, just let me know. That would work for me as well. There is something in particular I am trying to pin down for my partner/something specifically from this area. Just let me know! I'll send via regular email instead of GW's since that tends to mess up!

Hermit

Hi All! Hope everyone had a great 4th.Debbya your box is on its way. USPS Delivery Confirmation# 0306 0320 0004 5119 8839. It went out this morning so you should get it Sat. Later.....

Does everyone have what they need address-wise for the swap? Please let me know if you need anything. I've got some really nasty flu-bug going around my household, and an ugly crisis is going on with one of my sisters, so I'm a little distracted and I might not be back on here later today. I'll check in here tomorrow, definitely.

Dirt-under-my-nails, I'm planning on mailing your box out on Monday. There's something special I want to make to put in it, so I hope you don't mind a couple more days before it's on its way.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Laurel

I never mind waiting for a few days for goodies!!!Hope everyone has a great day.Bought a cool looking Malva 'Zebrina' @ the market this morning . After the baby goes down for nap I will (hopefully ) get it in the ground!Later....

Hi, dirt-under-my-nails! You'll love the malva 'Zebrina.' I've had it for years. It's not perennial for me, but it reseeds easily, so it hasn't left my yard since the first planting.

Your box is on its way! Hooray, I got it out at last. The DC# is 03043490000310781975. I hope it gets there extra quickly.

Laurel

I received my box from joy-garden. This is what she sent. She recycles her mag. and she sent me some seed bags she had made. 6 purple glads bulbs, 6 yellow glad bulbs some crocosmia bulbs, orange and red , white rain lily seeds,4 house plants, a fern,elephant ears, callily,portuluca,Thank you very much . Ann

My box from April arrived yesterday (which I didn't find until today)! The wonderful mail person left it by the back door, which we hardly ever use! He didn't even ring the doorbell! It was storming really bad.. hail, lightning, so I'm sure ringing my doorbell was the last thing on His mind!

April sent some Georgia literature, cotton bouquet body wash/scrubbies, gardenia candle, cornbread mix, peach & pecan muffins-yum (with the recipe), red daylily, white coneflower, blue stokes aster. I'm sorry to say that the plants didn't travel very well with the heat. They turned brown, mushy. It's been overly hot here for days, 105* with heat warnings. Also included in the box was a wooden flag, and a nice basket! Thanks April, I really enjoyed your festive package!

I can't wait for cooler temperatures, and Fall to arrive! ;)

Deb

Hi All! I just got my box.Inside there was :
"Mateus" daylily
Dwarf purple iris
Lovely postcards(love the carousel horse!)
Beautiful handpainted picture frame
Cute bear with stars(my 6 year old is trying to claim it!)
Spiedie Sauce & recipe sheet(can't wait for it to quit raining to try it out on some chicken!)
Bamboo skewers
Vanilla Biscotti with sprinkles (yum-o)
Chocolate Chip Biscotti(double yum!)
Plus the recipes for the biscotti & how to make other flavors(I'm already looking at the double chocolate variation!)
Thank you so much Laurel for the great box! Here's a photo of the GOODS!
{{gwi:1277944}}

You're very welcome, April - I'm SO glad you enjoyed the goodies. I'm not Italian, but biscotti are something I make for friends and family. (The double chocolate is my husband's favorite, too! I really like the almond.) I'm glad the plants arrived in good shape - this awful heat has made it hard to send plants and have them arrive okay. I do the crafts for relaxation. My daughter is 5, and when I was making bears for a swap over the winter, I had to make one for her, too. Then one for each of my nieces, and then one for my son (he's 8, but he wanted one too). It kind of snowballed on me, lol.

Laurel

Ann, the package from you arrived today. Thank you so much! I have never been to Iowa, so it was fun to have a little visit from that state. Ann sent some things that really do remind you of Iowa - popcorn mix (although I didn't realize Jolly Time was in Iowa...should have suspected that), barbecue sauce, gourmet burger seasoning, salsa made in Iowa, and a decorator plate that says Iowa and has the state bird and state flower, some post cards and a pamphlet about a railroad trip that Ann just took, seed packets including one for white pumpkins and mini-Indian corn. There was also Coconut Breeze Fragrance Spray which sounds very refreshing and a framed saying about left-handed people being the only ones in their "right mind." My mother-in-law is left-handed, so I will have to pass that along to her. She will enjoy it.
Anyway, thanks so much. You really did a wonderful job working with the theme of this swap!

Many thanks to Laurel for hosting such a great swap. Looking forward to the next one. Have a wonderful day all!

Good morning, Ladies!

So far we're about halfway through the swap:

dirt-under-my-nails sent to Debbya
Joygarden sent to Ann
Laurelin sent to dirt-under-my-nails
snyder (Ann) sent to sandlapper-rose

I know that I'll receive from lil-green-thumb later this month, after her trip.

PLEASE send your packages out to your partners as soon as you can. Some of us have already communicated that their package will be sent a little later in the month, due to travel/family plans. If you've run into a delay, just post a note to your partner here so they know they haven't been forgotten. If for any reason you cannot send to your partner at all, PLEASE let me know as soon as you can, so I can make sure they receive a package and aren't left out.

THANK YOU for participating in my first swap!

Laurel

Hi,
I didn't forget about my Pal's package (Hermit), I'll work on putting the package together tomorrow. Over the weekend we went to the Nascar races. Wow, is that loud! I had earplugs in the entire time, but the noise level still went through the plugs! It was a long, fun day!

I'll post the DC# after returning home from the post office. I would of worked on the package today, but have to write out bills, balance a couple of checking accounts, lots of fun, LOL!

Deb

Kim - I mailed your package today so it should be there in a few days. (Hope not too long so the plants survive...) The delivery confirmation number is:
0307 0020 0005 3640 6325
Hope you like it!

I'm here! I didn't fall off the face of the earth! First things first though...

Joy_Garden, the Delivery Confirmation # for your parcel is 0307 0020 0004 0413 3285 and it was sent via USPS Priority Mail.

I am ashamed of the delay, I truly am, and even the haste in which I was getting "it all together" - because I didn't get it ALL, there's other things I wanted to send that will be in a follow-up/addendum mailing to Joy_Garden.

I do have good reason for the delay though. We're enduring a cancer-scare with my mother right now. At this point it's just the "scare" part, NOTHING is confirmed. She had some symptoms that she didn't tell me about until like the 8th or so, that began on the 7th and by the 11th she had done some reading and almost all info pointed to cancer. She went to the doctor who has referred her of course to the first in a series of specialists and she's had some initial "tests" done. In my gut I don't think/feel it is cancer, but you know how doctors are - in their attempt to prepare you for the worst possible scenario they scare the hell out of you and never even mention the totally benign possible causes of symptoms. All of the jumping through hoops though with the medical establishment, playing phone tag with different offices, etc. has had ALL of us here more than a tad pre-occupied and suffice to say, I didn't get the package mailed out until TODAY - a week later than I had planned. :( And to top it off, I still need to write Joy_Garden privately about some of the contents - I just didn't have time to hand-write on all of the "items" in my time-crunch today plus my hand was cramping something fierce.

Joy_Garden - when you receive it (gosh I hope they don't crush it, there's some breakables in there), open it from the end/side that is to the right if you are reading the address area "up". That "end" has a yellow envelope in it with my scrawled bits of information about stuff. Also, be careful - there are four things in there that are "fragile"/breakable - two of them are wrapped plainly/not marked so you might mistake them just for wadded padding. Open carefully or over a padded/soft surface incase something accidentally drops. It dawns on me now that I didn't insure the parcel... dang it! I knew I was "missing" something more than other things I wanted to include! Fingers crossed with PM and DC that it will arrive in Texas safely!

Hermitonthehill, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother's cancer scare. I sincerely hope that the tests come back negative for cancer, and that it's something benign and easily treatable. Sometimes doctors err on the side of caution, and scare people badly in the process. That's happened to us several times, on several issues. (And, it's easy to scare ourselves with too much information and self-diagnosis - a pitfall of the internet, especially for "information gatherers" like myself.) Thank you for letting us know about your family's concerns.

Laurel

Hi, gardencats I haven't receive your box, Laurelin how much more time before I give them neg feedback?

Wow! That's beautiful Laurel. How long will it take for mine to look like that? Do they bloom the year you plant them or will it be next summer?
Hope everyone is having a great day!

No negatives yet...please. Your Pal still has a little more time to send the package.

The Garden Decorating Round Robin swap has been going on for a couple of years now, with no problems or missed boxes so far. We welcome all (newbies, oldies) with no references or committments. Each month has a different host/theme. For the months that no host is available, I'll host. We usually ask for all boxes to be sent out the week of the 15th. This gives the Hostess 2 weeks to close the swap, and we start preparing for the new month. We usually have next month's swap thread up around the 20th.

Please send in all boxes this week! Your Pal's have been patiently waiting! Also, please post on this thread with the USPS or UPS confirmation package number.

Thanks,
Deb

It's been raining all day! The skies turned totally dark green earlier. The rain let up a little.. I can't complain, we needed it so badly! I'm sure I'll be able to work in the yard tomorrow (and get the plants I need to finish the box).

Deb

Good morning everyone! We finally got a little much-needed rain too. Not as much as my garden would like, but a little is better than nothing.

We're having a new roof put on this week. The workmen have been careful with my garden (and very patient, considering my gardening has made their job much harder on our weird terraced lot). They've broken a few bloom stalks, but no wholesale destruction. LOL, I'm trying hard not to inspect the garden several times a day while they're working. We NEED this roof, and the plants will grow back.

Hi dirt-under-my-nails! Your 'Mateus' should look like that next year. When I dug up your fan, it was getting ready to make multiple new fans, so you should get flowers next year. It might take two years for them to look like my picture - sometimes you know newly planted daylilies look less than their best their first bloom season. I hope you like it when it blooms! To be honest, I didn't like it the first year it bloomed for me (it was a rather dull and muddy dark rose), but THIS year it's just great. So, give it a little time. TLC, water, and some nice compost will help it to settle in and give its best next year.

Joy-garden, you've got mail - don't worry, you haven't been forgotten!

Laurel

Jaeda's box went out today, USPS# 0307 0020 0003 2228 0405.

Deb

Kim, I checked using my delivery confirmation number and it shows your package was delivered on Tuesday. I try not to worry about things, but if it is sitting on a porch you do not use often or something like that in this heat, I figured I'd better post here again and see if you got the box okay.
Hope you have a great time when you were out of town.

Sandlapper

Sure hope everything is okay with lil_green_thumb. She is not the type to not respond. Oh, dear... now worried about her as well as the plants!
Hopefully she is just busy or worse case, has computer problems. Maybe she extended her vacation? Laurelin, have you heard from her?

No, I haven't heard from her either. I hope she's okay! I'll post if/when I hear from her.

Laurel

Deb - and duly received on the 20th! I want to write more, but I just don't have the time right this moment but I knew I needed to at least confirm actual physical/in my hands receipt - since I'm already several days behind. As a teaser though: upon opening and revealing, I want to cry - all good though!!! Will explain later.

Joy_Garden - I am still putting an "addendum" mailing together for you and I also owe you an email on some of the things included in the box that I already sent - but again, lack of time right this moment. I did check usps.com though and it cites the parcel delivered on the 18th/last Wednesday - you did get it, yes?

On my mother... they did a biopsy with another ultrasound - this ultrasound showed more or it was simply that this doctor was better at reading the imaging than the previous tech, this doctor did let her see it all while it was going on, which relieved her of some of the "unknown"... we're waiting as non-apprehensively as possible on the biopsy results - they said they should be in today or tomorrow, so every time the phone rings, we jump - her expecting it to be the doctor... me expecting it to be her with news on the biopsy. Best case scenario she will still "have" to have a certain procedure done that I personally would tell them to pack sand on if I were her age and opt for something else that would actually be less traumatic all things considered... because the aforementioned procedure would not only be traumatic, but even if the biopsy shows everything to be okay and no surgery per se needed, the other "have to" procedure would likely have to be repeated again in years to come... they just make me sooooo MAD... I've just been absolutely useless since all of this came to light.... good thing I'm focusing on cacti and succulents this year!

ROSE : ty so much for a wonderful box. DH has me a list of what all was in it but i will have to see what he did with it. it arrived safely though!

laurel ; will try to get your box out although maybe next week depends on how much time dh has from time he gets off work before post office closes sat morning

Sorry i have been MIA. I thought the knee situation was fixed. it was for a bit. Now its both knees. I cant hardly walk. i spend most of the time sitting with them straight out supported by a pillow. and to top it off my stupid self tried to remove some brush 2 weeks ago from at edge of our woods. There went the back too. Dr did blood work today. I get results in coulple days. he thinks i have an infection in my joints or the rheumatoid arthritis is majorly flaring up.
Ive even missed some good stuff on the Co-Op!

So sorry to hear you are ailing, lil_green-thumb. Hope you will feel much better soon. Thanks for posting that my package arrived and get well soon!

lil-green-thumb, I'm so sorry to hear about your health problems. Don't worry about getting the box out in a particular time frame - take care of yourself first.

Laurel

ROSE. SINCE YOU LIVE IN SC YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THIS. NOT SURE. BUT ANYWAYS
LADIES - MY BOX WILL BE A LITTLE LATER THAN EXPECTED GOING OUT THIS MONTH. MY UNCLE WAS KILLED ON HIS JOB SUDDENLY AND VIOLENTLY YESTERDAY MORNING. AS OF 10 AM THIS MORNING HIS BODY STILL HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED BY THE CORONER. HE AND MY MOM WERE CLOSE GROWING UP AND IT IS HARD ON HER. WILL POST BACK IN A FEW DAYS. SHOULD HAVE EVERYTHING OUT BY MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK.
HE LEFT BEHIND A 19 YR OLD SON AND A WIFE. ALONG WITH 4 SISTERS. PLEASE KEEP THE FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS.

link to the news article

Here is a link that might be useful: ACCIDENT

Oh my goodness, lil_green-thumb. I had not heard of that accident. I am so sorry. My sympathy to all of your family.

Lil-green-thumb, I am so sorry for your family's loss. What a tragic way to lose a loved one. Please, take as much time as you need with your box - it's not important right now. Family comes first. I'll remember to pray for you and your family.

Laurel

Laurel.... box went out today.... dropped it off on the way to my aunts. Myself I am only hobbling right now. Standing for the funeral and all that stuff has put me back down but i keep going. i am going to have to sit on my butt for 3 or 4 days to recuperate. I hope to do that this weekend!
your box has only a couple of plants. Hubby said storm came thru yesterday and its too muddy to dig and try to wash all the red mud off roots. Hope you do enjoy what I sent.
DC# 0306 1070 0001 9492 9641

Laurel sorry
the # is 0306 1070 0001 9492 9634

Thanks, lil-green-thumb! I'll look forward to the box. I'm sure I'll enjoy what you sent. I'll post here when it arrives. Take it easy, and give your poor knees a rest.

Laurel

Good evening, lil-green-thumb! The box arrived today, and the contents are delightful. Here's a list of the goodies:

Pink lemonade mix in a cute bag with its own little wire whisk
Pomegranate-Mango bath fizzy (that smells great!)
A flower decorated note pad
A Charleston, S.C. magnet
A rose-scented Yankee Candle tart
Seeds for Confederate Jasmine
A coleus cutting
A daylily fan
Gladiolus bulbs ("Green Star" - I like green flowers, and I'll look forward to seeing these bloom)
A bag of country biscuit mix (My kids LOVE biscuits)
A jar of Paula Deen BBQ sauce (YUM! We love BBQ)
A jar of Carolina Peach preserves - MMMmmmmm!

Thank you SO much for the lovely gift box, and thank you for helping to make my first swap as a hostess a success.

Laurel

:( I haven't heard from Joy_Garden... I got confirmation on the delivery confirmation via USPS but haven't seen her post here or anything. I'm hesitant to send the "addendum" mailing, not knowing if she's even at home to receive it or if it will arrive and be awhile and things turn to mush or roast in the mailing. Not sure what to do?

Hi Hermit,

I checked my back emails, and Joy_Garden says she did receive the package (0n 7/20) - for some reason I thought she had already posted here about what she received. I'll drop her a note and ask her to post here too.

Laurel