Just wanted to check in with you guys.

Been working on the beans. However, I have someone sending me in a bunch of beans to put in to the swap that I am getting this week. I thought it would be good to wait for these before starting to send your envelopes out if that is ok with you all.

You may remember Gary from last year who shared A LOT of his beans which enabled me to send you all a nice selection back. He agreed to send more this year, so I think it would be to everyone's advantage for me to wait for his beans.

However, I am still working on everyone's envies, so it is not like this is holding up the process at all, I just thought I would let you know where I was and how I am doing and that GAry has been nice enough to join the swap again this year. I will be getting the beans this week.

If you do not want me to wait for any of these beans to be added to your envie, just let me know and I will send your envies out this week.

Talk to you all sooN! Christy

No problem, I can wait! Take your time! Andy

Thanks so much for all your hard work, Christy. I, too, am more than happy to wait. Thank you, Gary, for helping make more selections available! That is too cool!

Blessings,
Angela

I don't mind the wait...Can't plant any beans for another 6 months anyways LOL!!

Donna :)

No problem waiting here either.

Randy

HI Guys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, I just got the other beans. So once the holiday passes, I will get down and dirty with the envelopes this coming week and hopefully get some ready for the mail!

Thanks again! Talk to you soon! Christy

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

HI everyone!

Just checking in with you all. Still recovering from Thanksgiving! LOL! ( too much work this year)

I am working on the beans of course. Plan on really hitting them hard on the weekend to start sending out.

Usually I send them back out in the ordered I received. If I stray from that specific order, would that bother anyone?
Sometimes I would wait till all were done and send them all at once, but I thought I rather just send out as I finish them.
Anyway, I will be in touch and let you know what is going out.
Thanks! Christy

HI guys!

Ok, these are done and will be out in the mail

DONE
gmom2-6boys
ruthz
George P. ( sorry, forgot your GW name)
and
Mike from KY ( I am done with your envie, there is just a bean on your list that I know I have in my collection somewhere and I am trying to find it to throw in your envie!)

The next box I am working on is Dempa.

I will post during the week to let you know who elses I get done!
Christy

Thanks Christy! I appreciate all of your hard work on putting this swap together - I look forward receiving my envie!!!

Mike

Yes, thanks, Christy! I know it's a lot of work and then trying to go above and beyond like you are is so sweet. Again, I'm happy to wait on mine. Get everyone else's done first and then get to me. I won't be planting them until spring anyways!

Blessings,
Angela

Thanks guys!

Here is what is DONE. New names added will be mailed out today or tomorrow at the latest

gmom2-6boys
ruthz
George P. ( sorry, forgot your GW name)
Mike from KY
Dempa
PhantomWhite
Randar8
Shanta

I will see if I can get any others done by the end of the week!
Thanks! Christy

Just as a reminder,

PLEASE POST when you receive your envies/boxes! Let me know if they got there ok, if you like what you got or not, etc.

Just as a note for next year, you may want to send a little extra postage with your envies. Only because I usually send back a few more than you send in and the envelope gets heavier than when sent in. No problem,I should of mentioned it before. I covered all the extra postage I needed to, but just thought I would you let you know for next year.

And some of you sent in more than enough postage! Thanks!

I will try to get the next batch done this weekend. Thanks! Christy

I received my bean seeds today. Thanks to a great hostess. Thanks to all who shared their great variety of seeds. I wish it was warm and I could start next year's garden. We had snow yesterday.

Don

Christy,

Thanks so much for hosting this trade. I will be trying all kinds of new beans this coming spring. Everybody was so generous with the seeds. Thank You all so much. I got much more than I ever expected.

Thanks Again!
Merry Christmas!!
Happy holidays!!

I've been trying to dig out of all the snow. On the covered side porch away from the wind there was 13 inches. There must be 24 inches in the drive.

I'm having a WHITE CHRISTMAS.

gmom

I received my beans today. What a great selection! This is like an early Christmas. Thank you Christy for hosting a most successful swap. I am more than happy with my selections. Thanks to all that participated and thanks again to Christy for hosting.

Randy

I received my beans yesterday. Wow - what a great selection of varieties!!! I am really impressed with the selection that I got back!!! This was a lot of fun. I also want to thank everybody for the great selection that they sent in and for Christy hosting it and taking her time to put together all of the great packages for us!!!

Thanks again,
Mike

I received my beans yesterday. I'm really happy with the selection of varieties and extras. Also a big thank you to everyone for the great selection that they sent in and to Christy for doing such a great job.

I am happy that all of you are happy with what you recieved! I hope it was worth the wait and time.

As for the rest of you, I did not forget about you! I have just been socked with Christmas coming and everyone including my dog have been home sick. LOL! So I have been on mom patrol and making sure son and dog are getting their medicines!

I will try to work on some more soon, I promise! Christy

I don't need any seeds as I only grow the Insuk's Wang Kong Runner Bean. I would be happy to send you some IWK's, if anyone is interested.
JIM

Oh, awesome, Jim! Thank you! I think she's wrapping up this swap, though. If you want to send some in next year, I'm sure they'd be very much welcomed! That is very thoughtful of you to offer them. :-)

Blessings,
Angela

Anybody who has not recieved their envelopes yet, and would like some of Jim's Insuk Wang Kong beans, let me know and I will include them in your envelope for you. I should still have some left to share.

I know there are a few of you that I talked to through email that we are waiting until I recieve your beans from my other source.

As for the rest of you, I am going to try and get some done tonight. I have just been so busy cooking and with Christmas. I could use the break and work on beans! LOL!

So except for the couple of you that agreed to wait until I get certain wish list beans for you, I will be working on all the others tonight!
Christy

Merry Christmas everybody!

Merry Christmas, happyday, and everyone!

Christy, if you don't mind, could you add me to the list of people to hold on to our envies because we'd like some of Jim's Insuk Wang Kong beans? Those sound cool!

Blessings,
Angela

Angelady
I sent you a PM. I have plenty of this years IWK if you want some. Also checkout my Adapazari Squash on the Heirloom forum.
Jim

Thanks, Jim! I appreciate you! I'm emailing you back now.

Christy, it looks like Jim is sending these to me already, so don't worry about hanging on to my envy unless you just need the time. You should be enjoying Christmas!

Blessings,
Angela

Hi Guys!

I hope you all had a nice Christmas. Sorry I was away for a while. The day after my last post, I had to have emergency oral surgery and it did not do so well. So I have been on meds this last week. I missed eating some good food on Christmas.
And now, I just had a Blizzard here, and I got 30" inches of snow! Suddenly, I am having flashbacks to last year and the tomato swap! So weird how these freak storms are become more and more.
So, at this point, I still cannot open my door! LOL! I have a 5 foot snow drift infront of it!
So it has been a very interesting week! Do not ask me why, but everytime I host a swap, the weirdest things happen!
So sorry for the wait. Oh, and it was Christmas too so it has been busy.
I will try to work on the last of your guys. Sorry, I know I got the majority of your envies out already, and there are the few of you guys left that have been hanging and waiting. I will try to get stuff done soon!
Christy

Oh, Christy! I'm so sorry! Ummm... I like you as a host and all, but maybe you shouldn't host again for awhile, you poor thing! Or, maybe in warmer weather or something. LOL! I hope you recover from the surgery soon. As for the blizzard, I totally understand. We had one come through that started last night. Boy, the snow STILL has not stopped coming down! I'm not used to living where it snows yet since we just moved here. I'm so totally going to have to get snow tires, snow chains, lamps that don't need electricity, and stock up on firewood a lot better. Wow! This is nuts!

Blessings,
Angela

Christy, it's not just you and the swaps, the weather is weird everywhere. We got snow like every other day for most of December, after a long hot Indian summer that lasted till the end of November. Then what happened for new years? Fog rolled in and it warmed up to 45, everything melted. That was yesterday. Wisconsin does not usually get Chinooks, we are too far inland. And what is it like today? 10 degrees and high winds with a -8 windchill.

So I hope you got someone to clear the snow for you, and get your door open! And I hope you recover from your surgery. Take Vitamin C, you don't want to get a cold on top of everything. Can you eat homemade cranberry sauce? I tried making it for the first time a few weeks ago, best thing I ever ate that was not chocolate, and it has antioxidants too! I bought 7 more bags and made two big batches last night, one with apples and one with frozen strawberries from the garden. It's nothing like the canned jelly stuff.

Get better and don't forget my envie!

YEs, I am going to try and get these all finished this week. Yes, I did get dug out! LOL! IT was just so weird. Almost 3 feet of snow! That topped last years storms ( I got 4 blizzards last year! Usually, we get one every 7-10 years or so, not 4 in one year!)

The PO is still messed up. I had 2 Christmas presents that were suppose to get here by Christmas Eve, one I just got Friday,and I am still waiting for the other. The PO was not closed the whole week though, but the drivers were allowed to skip houses that they could not get mail into the boxes. Well, my mailbox was dug out, and they still did not leave my mail in the box until Friday. So with all the holidays and Christmas, I did not get mail for a week! LOL!

Atleast the day or so it has warmed up, but now there is a huge amount of water all over the place. My next door nieghbor had her driveway snow blown out by some guy at 11pm the other night and the guy blew all of her snow into my driveway. SO I had about a 5 foot snow wall in my driveway. Nice.

I love homemade cranberry sauce. And it is so easy to make. I have noticed if you cut the 1 cup of water down to 3/4 cup, it makes for a better consistancy. I also like it with orange zest in it. Was thinking of trying it with orange juice instead of water next time.

Well, things will be back to normal now. I ran out of seed baggies during this stretch of time, but I managed to get more yesterday at Walmart. I cannot believe all of the seed baggies I went through so far with the swap! But I will be finishing them for sure. I want to get them off my mind, I feel so bad not having them all out before Christmas.

Well, I will be in touch soon with what envies are going out soon! Christy

Hey all! I am working on beans as we speak.

Julliana from Canada, you are DONE.

Angelady, yours is done, I just have to get to the PO to send yours out since it is in that container and I do not know if my weight will be correct, so I need the PO to do it. Unless you wanted me to transfer them to a Priority Mailing box instead? It is about the same amount of money that you sent, plus you get it faster. Let me know, and I will put them in one of those boxes. If not, I will try to get to the PO tomorrow ( if the new snow storm that starts tonight is not that bad. Only suppose to be 1-3 inches, not 3 Feet like last time! LOL!)

Andy, I did not forget about you! I was still waiting for this other bean to come to me, I got the other ones though that we talked about. I may just send your envie out and send that other one I am waiting for to you when I get it so I do not hold you up anymore.

Donna and Becky, working on yours currently.

Did I forget to mention anybody? Christy

Christy, whatever you decide will be fine. I'm looking forward to seeing the new beans! :D

We've got snow coming too, not as much as before. Have you heard that the polar ice caps are melting? It's got to go somewhere, looks like it's coming to stay with us!

I am hoping you can get the Beans into the mail before we get this next storm.Three snows in a week....sheesh...This is going to be a long Winter.

Hey Donna!

Yeah, how sad is it that you still do not have your beans? I just got yours finished here along with Becky. I just have to get to the PO, and of course, I am snowed in again. We just got a storm last night. Did you get the worse of it? I know upper New England was suppose to get 1-2 feet.
I still have not been able to get out of the one part of my driveway since the last storm since there is so much snow. I guess that car is not getting out until the spring! LOL!

Angelady? Did you get my emails? I am waiting to hear from you. I wanted to send out your beans in a box so the postage would not be more expensive than what you sent since I am sending you back a heavier package than you sent me. But I did not know if that plastic tupperware was important to you or not, so I did not want to do so until you let me know. Please let me know so I can get these out to you. If I do the box, it will be a fixed rate and also would get to you by Priority Mail.

So I should be able to get to the PO tomorrow I hope and finish this swap for good! I cannot believe how complicated it was to get these beans out.

thanks for you loyalty and patience! I hope it was worth it for you all. And hopefully next year will be a lot easier :)
Christy

Is mine ready too?

Yes Happyday! Yours is ready too! :) I worked hard on yours. there are some that I hope to get to you at some point or another that never made it to me, I just cannot hold your envie at all anymore. But please stay in touch with me in the future to get the ones I will get eventually.. Meanwhile, I hope you like the ones I went through to give you!I feel so bad you had to wait so long. Again, usually I am not so behind. I know it takes me extra time to forfill my swaps, but this one was longer than ever to do. Please let me know of any beans or seeds you are looking for in the future!
Christy

Christy, I am so sorry I didn't respond right away. I started working outside the home full-time over a week ago. I've worked 8-12 hours a day every single day with no days off so far. I haven't been receiving email from you for some strange reason. Even from the beginning of the swap, we've had trouble. As for the flip-top box I mailed in, no biggie, just mail in the priority mail box if it's less. Keep the box as a little "hostess gift". :-) If I need to send additional postage, I'll happily pop it in the mail to you. It's no big deal at all! I sure don't want you to have to make up any differences.

Blessings,
Angela

Yay! Christy, it will be Christmas in January! Can't wait to see what is in there. Thank you for taking the time to do this swap for all of us!

I'll let you know when the envie gets here, and will keep your email for the future, and you keep mine and let me know if there is a variety you are looking for someday, I might have it.

Blessings indeed, we are past the solstice and spring is coming. :)

Angelady, actually it is not the point of me having to pay extra postage. I did it for others already in the swap. However, it is more of the point that I hate to see the PO get extra money for nothing. You see, because it would actually cost more to send your package back the was you sent it Pacel Post. When I can send it at a faster Priority speed for less than the slow speed! Does that make sence? Actually, it will save you $1 I think sending it the quicker way, so I will put change in your box. But I did not want to do so until I heard from you incase you wanted that plastic back.
So no, you do not need to send more money, if anything, there may be a dollar back to you.

Some went in the mail today, the others will go tomorrow. IS there mail Monday for MLK day? I do not think so.
Christy

No mail today. :(

Happyday ( Andy), I had added another bean to your envelope, I did get yours in the mail for Saturday, so hopefully it will get to you soon. The last box pick up was 3pm it said, so it should of got out before the rest of the weekend and holiday. If you do not recieve it within 3 days, please let me know. And remember, I am still waiting for another bean or two to send you at a later date.

And again as I type, it is snowing! LOL! So insane! But this time it is suppose to switch to freezing rain, which may even be worse for travelling than just plain snow. So we will see if the little guy has school tomorrow.

Thanks again for the longer than usual wait you all did for me. Please let me know when you receive your beans and if they were good or not.

Thanks again! Christy

We had the snow overnight, and then the freezing rain this morning....now it is plain rain adding a slippery pond glaze over the now trampled and icy snow....way fun trying to take the dogs out even they are slipping and sliding LOL!!

Can't wait to get my beans,I KNOW they will be good!!

P.S. I hear we are supposed to get more snow Friday...

Still eagerly awaiting!

We're gonna be getting some bitter cold weather this weekend. I think they said 3 was going to be the high for Saturday. It's a good time to plan out the garden!

Ack...really...3... I like cold (occasionally) but that is wayyyy too cold for me.Especially with having to take the new dog out in the back yard every 2 hours (til we are sure she is really house trained and get a fence she cant jump LOL)
Nope 3 degrees IS good bean soup making weather though!!

WoooHooo!! I got my seeds!! They are fantastic!! I love them , there are so many from my wish list and so many special, special seeds that I am soooo happy about! Thank you again for hosting this swap.

SunnyK
Donna
I am going to shoot you an e-mail once I get some grocery shopping done and get the new pup to calm down long enough for me to write more than a few lines LOL!

It was -3 over here, that was before the windchill!

Hoping my beans come on Monday! :)

Andy, your beans are still NOT there? They should be.

I put them in the PO mailbox last Saturday. Even if they did not pick it up until after the weekend and the holiday (Tuesday), I would think that you still should of had them by now.

Although the mail has been messed up here on the East Coast because of all the snow storms. Maybe that is it. I had emailed Sandhill because I never got their catalog yet this year and usually I have an order in to them by now.

I did finally get the magazine 2 days ago, but they wrote me back saying that they sent it out all the way on the 7th of January, and that they had other people from the East inquiring about where their magazine was too.

So, I hope that is it. Donna, hers was sent out the same day as yours Andy, and she got her seeds, however she is right on the East Coast like me so that could be why.

Angelady, did you get yours? yours should of been to you also since it was in a priority mailer box.

Well Andy, I would not worry yet. Just please let me know asap when you get them so I do not start to worry! I would think Monday they would have to be there after all of this time?

Shucks, I was hoping to see you post that you received them. Also Andy, incase I forgot to write it in your envie, I have some greasy beans coming to me at some point. When they get here, I will be sure to send you some. I was able to find one to put in your envelope though.
Christy

Yay, they got here! Christy thank you! You did a great job! So many different varieties! I'm going to be so busy next year growing them out! :D

Yes please if you get another greasy bean, could you send it to me and I can mail you the postage or paypal it to you if you have paypal. Or if you are looking for a particular bean let me know and if I have it I can send it back to you.

Thanks also to everyone who sent all their beans in. This was fun!

Beans, beans, there good for the heart....

Ahhhh, I received my beans today! Thank you so much for all the great seeds!

Becky

I checked my mail today and found the awesome selection of seeds. Yea! I'm so excited. You did a great job, Christy! Some of these are super good selections, and I can't wait to start them.

Blessings,
Angela