Thanks for that, stage_rat. I e-mailed directly to her so hopefully she has the information now.
Kathy, sorry about all the problems that have come your way. What you sent and how you sent them will be fine - you, too, Vic. Both of you take a deep breath and relax! They are only seeds. Seeds are are friends and we all love whatever ones come our way. (Well, maybe a few don't want a lot to come their way and I will be cautious about what and how many I send to people who want to be more of a "giver" than a "receiver.")
Happy Halloween. It's time for some candy or candy apples or a party or something... so put a smile on your face! I want you to do that. Okay?

Jeanne

Happy Halloween!! AHH HAHAHAHAHA!!!(wicked witches laugh)

Jeanne, *taking a DEEEEEEP breath!* Thanks for the sympathy! :) It's been nuts around here, but hopefully they will calm down soon. I really stress out when things aren't organized, whether it's my seeds or life in general. My OCD demands order! LOL! Things will work themselves out, it's just that everything went haywire all at once! Extra hours at work is great, unless you've got other commitments for what should have been your free time, ya know?

Alright, no stress today.. well, aside from my blood pressure going up because I *know* I'm going to be in the Halloween section all day cleaning up the mess! Just what does one do with a part of a costume? It astounds me! But, tonight I will transform from lowly WalMart employee to a seductive dark sorceress! And then the fun begins once the spell is cast! :P

Everyone have fun tonight and be safe! I'm gonna take pictures of my crew to share. Would love to see pictures from everyone else!

Kathy

I am SOOOOOOO behind on this. I'm sending my first thing in the AM priority mail.

Tons of apologies!!!
-Andrea

Happy Halloween everyone! Micyrey, that's a very cute graphic. I bet tonight is getting very scary for Jeanne, as she starts opening more envelopes and realizes just what she's gotten herself into!

Seed envelopes arrived from playintheyard and etravia. Found the postage that you enclosed. Thanks so much for joining in on the fun.
stage_rat you are so funny saying things are getting scary here. Not yet!!!
It has started to really get cold at night here. Guess that first frost will come along soon.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Jeanne

Haven't had first frost yet, Jeanne? We've had a couple of freezes here already, and nighttime temps are in the frost range most of the time here now - boy, I'm looking forward to being a South Carolinian! :)

We are looking forward to having you in South Carolina, too, Kim!!!

Vic,
Wanted to let you know that your envelope with seeds and postage stamps arrived yesterday. We were late bringing in the mail. Great assortment of seeds and thanks for joining in.

Jeanne

Jeanne, did I put enough postage on them and inside for return? I just want to make sure : )

Vic,
You sent enough for postage. Please don't worry about it.

I need to pass along to the whole group that because of health problems, grovespirit contacted me and said she will not be participating. I may reassign some of the seed packets that are indicated as being for her. Also, with all the questions that I had about what could and could not be sent to and from Canada, laura_in_hamilton will not be participating. Just wanted to let you know. We still have lots of people and we have LOTS of seeds!!! LOL

Have a good week.
Jeanne

hello
please re-didstribute my seeds for grovesprit and laura to other players, keep them, trade them or send them to a seed giveaway.
this happened with the wish list swap last year, I had I think 3 that didn't end up sending so I just devided the seeds sent for them to the other players.
I can't wait to see what comes my way.
michelle

Jeanne, I emailed you regarding redistribution. :]

Grovespirit, get well soon sister! @-->----

I should have thought to mention this when I posted earlier. If you sent something that you are in short supply of or that is a special type of trade for grovespirit or laura_from_hamilton and want it returned to you, just let me know. That is not a problem. I will make myself a note to put it in your return envelope. Otherwise, I will simply redistribute according to what people listed as themes.

And I am so sorry not to have thought to post a "get well" here to grovespirit. I sent her an e-mail message doing that privately, but say a prayer or two that she feels better soon.

Jeanne

I know this is quite a bit late, but I somehow did not end up bringing my laptop to the hospital after all (boy, was I upset!), and I had very minimal time to put together seeds. I am home now, and Hannah is doing better. (Thank you all for the well wishes, thoughts, and prayers.) We have been through hell and back with all these hospital visits over the last 12 months or so.

I probably should have backed out, but I'm mailing tomorrow what I have ready along with a couple things I have time to throw together tonight. I appreciate all your understanding. Your continued prayers are much appreciated.

Blessings,
Angela

That is absolutely fine, Angela. So glad to hear that your daughter is doing better - that is what is important. Your timing will be just fine. I haven't even started sorting yet. I want to have a "game plan" in mind before I start so I don't get myself all confused. LOL
Three envelopes arrived today and I haven't opening them yet to match real names to GardenWeb names so I will post who they are from next time I am here. Just wanted those who sent recently to know that these arrived.
Gotta run...
Jeanne

The seeds that arrived today are from rbrady, roflol, and state rat. I think I noticed postage in each of the envelopes and thank for the information sheets. Those will help me a lot when I start to divide seeds. There is not a package yet that has come in without being organized. You all need to give yourselves a pat on the back!

Jeanne

Ok Jeanne, are they all sorted and on the way back to us yet???
LOL, just kidding! You can do what you want with the seeds I had set aside for them (I think there was only one pack)

Grovespirit, sorry you are under the weather, hope you feel better soon!!

Angela, give Hannah a big hug! It has got to be hell watching your child go through that! I hope she does good!

Vic

Okay, it's finally done, even though I stayed up a little late to finish it up. If I had more time I could of thrown several more veggies/herbs/fruit in, but I'm spent as it's nearly two in the morning. I did end up with 44 packs in there, though, if you count the extras. It was greatly therapeutic for me, so I enjoyed putting it together and hope everyone likes anything they end up getting from me. :-)

Vic - I'm so sorry, but that pack of 7 mammoth russian sunflower seeds that had your name on them disappeared. I thought I was putting them in safe place, but poof!.... those along with some packets of thyme I was hiding... ugggh... I hid them so good that I can't even find them! So, I gave you the five seeds that I had reserved for myself to plant in the spring since I'm sure I'll run across the others at some point and about 10 of the cutting gold ones as well. I sure didn't have many of either, but I gave you what I could.

I'm so glad that I joined this swap. You guys/gals have been very understanding, and I'm having fun with the swap. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Blessings,
Angela

Use the seeds I sent for them wherever they apply.
Happy election day!!!
Alana

Angela, Glad to hear that Hannah is better. I can't imagine what you have been going through. There's nothing worse as a mom than having a sick child. I hope the seeds were a positive distraction. Praying for you and Hannah, Nikki

Just on here quickly to let you know that I received seeds from cottageflowers, andreab, and jaleeisa. One package came today and the others yesterday. It was been busy here - voting meant 2 1/2 hours in line and my husband went earlier than I did and it took him over 4 hours. Then today I had my eye exam and got my eyes dilated so that cancelled out most of what I had planned to do today.
Hope everyone is doing fine.
Jeanne

Glad to know it got there alright, Jeanne! Did I include enough postage?

Kathy

Hi Girls,
I'm posting this for Wendy/Sassybutterfly, she has been at the hospital with her son for quite a few days, I'm not sure the extent of things, or how long he has been in, but she wanted me to let you know that she has not and can not send the seeds until she gets home with him. If you can still take them she will send them then. I don't think she knows when he will be going home yet. You can email her or me.
Please say a prayer for him, he's been through a lot.

Angela, please don't worry about the seeds, your daughter is much more important! And you didn't have to send me yours, that was very sweet of you.

Vic

Vic,
Thanks for letting me know. I will try to e-mail Wendy and you can also pass this along if you have contact with her. If she can mail out her seeds by the end of the day Monday (the 10th) that will be fine. Otherwise, I think I will need to start to divide up the seeds and everyone can let me know if they want seeds that are designated for Wendy returned to you. If I don't hear from you to do that, I will simply divide them up according to people's themes. I wish I could wait longer, but my November schedule has gotten very busy and I wasn't expecting it to be this busy so I really need to start sorting next week.
Wendy, I hope you can join in but even more I hope your son is doing better. We all know that is so much more important. When you get a chance, let us know how he is doing and he will definitely be on my prayer list - and you as well.
Jeanne

I am also praying for Wendy's son. I am sorry to hear that they are going through this. I am praying for a speedy trip home.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and kind words for my Hannah. She has been through so much. And, yes, Nikki, seed trading and gardening really is a great distraction/relaxation for me. I was hesitant to say anything and take this off-topic too badly as well as I wasn't sure how Hannah is doing with the adjustments to her prosthesis, but my girl is able to run (at least some right now because she's playing tennis). Before we left, her leg was doing very badly inside the prosthesis, bleeding and everything. It was insane (long story I won't go into with all we were doing to try to help her this time and over the last 12 months), but now being back in school and today she had her second tennis practice and her leg is doing fantasticly now! Just to let you all know, my baby who is now 10 is running for the first time completely pain-free and is in her first sport ever in her life. I can't even tell you what that feels like, but boy, am I elated (and exhausted).

I really don't want any responses as that will take this more off-topic, but wanted you all that are praying for her to know what was going on. We really appreciate the thoughts and prayers. I didn't want to get my hopes up that the new adjustments to the prosthesis finally worked, but it sure looks like they did! WooooooooooHooooooooooooo!!!!

Blessings,
Angela

Angela,
Thank you for sharing that wonderful outcome that your daughter had. I know you are brimming over with happiness!

Guess what, ladies, I am going to start sorting seeds into various envelopes today. In fact, it is so pretty out that I am going to work outside for awhile. The sun is shining, the leaves on the trees are such pretty colors, and the temperature couldn't be better. I just won't want to come in again. LOL

Jeanne

Angela,
Just wanted to let you know that your envelope with the seeds arrived safely.
I did a little more sorting today. So far it is going smoothly, but this first phase is where I am dividing them according to the designated names that are on the baggies or stuck on the seed packets. LOL Not much involved other than I am making up the folders to divide them as I go. Once that is done, I will recheck the folders to make sure there are not many, many duplicates in someone's folder and then I will work on the undesignated seeds according to the theme garden list and then there will be a final run through to deal with seeds that were listed as "do not send" and equal out the numbers a bit according to how many were sent to begin with and make sure that you are not getting something in return that was something you sent. At least I have a plan! I am not sure I am far enough along with it to see how it will all play out.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Jeanne

Oh, Jeanne, I don't envy you at all! I am so confused as to how I would attack it if I were doing it. I'd be lost after the ones with the names on them! I'm sure we'll all be overjoyed even if we ended up getting one of our packs back by mistake, know what I mean? It's fun, and it will definitely be a big surprise "present" of sorts.

Thanks for letting me know you got my package okay as well. I wish I were there with you to help you some.

Vic, I found the sunflowers and thyme that I had stashed! I found it not too long after I mailed the seeds to Jeanne. Isn't that hilarious? I tell you, every time I think that I'll put something in a "safe" place, I tend to lose it, but usually for longer than just a couple days. LOL

Blessings,
Angela

Angela,
You know I do the same thing with seeds - putting them somewhere special and then can't find them again! LOL
Jeanne

Angela, I do the same thing! Everytime I try to clean off my desk and "organize" everything I'm totally lost until it's all in a nice big mess again!
I'm so happy for your daughter! I bet she is just in heaven! I hope everything continues to go good for her!

Jeanne, just want to wish you luck! I know I would have a huge mess on my hands with this kinda swap! LOL

Vicky

hello
oh jeanne, I just love the sorting part, guess I'm kinda into self punnishment LOL

I used to put my seeds here there and everywere, untill my DH was straightinging up and tossed out a whole envie of seeds I had just gotted from Henry Fields. I looked everywere till I finaly gave up and decided they were gone.
I found a wooden trunk at a yard sale and put file folders in it and now all seeds go in there and everyone knows not to touch it.

keep up the hard work jeanne we all appriciat it(sp ck)

michelle

Are there any other seed packets on there way to me? I know that Sassybutterfly's are on the way.
I posted on this thread and the earlier thread all that were received. I will try to e-mail the other three ladies to see if they decided to drop out.
Those of you in the colder climates - yes, we did have a very hot, dry summer but we have not had a killing frost yet - just some close to freezing temperatures at night. I picked some tomatoes and peppers and a cucumber two days ago. The flowers are blooming pretty nicely, too. I suspect a killing frost will show up by the end of next week... we'll see.
Michelle, you sound so nicely organized for sorting seeds. I have paper bags from the grocery store and some are marked logged (for the envelopes I logged in) and some have simple pocket folders that I made from newspaper with the GardenWeb name on each and placed in alphabetical order. I am still in the process of printing out information about seeds that are wanted from your exchange lists and the questionnaires. Then those will get attached to the "folders" along with your questionnaire when I separate the seed packets that are not labeled for anyone in particular. I think I am still on track to get this completed this month.
Everyone very much exceeded my expectations for keeping this orderly and easy to work with! (Not that my expectations were low, I just had no idea how organized this could be!)
Jeanne

I probably should have posted the GardenWeb names of those who for one reason or another are apparently not doing this swap. I am checking with two of them to see if maybe their seeds are on the way or got lost between their house and mine.
As I said before, if you want the sends that you labeled for any of them returned to you, just let me know. Otherwise, I will distribute them within our group if they fit in with some of the themes.
Non-participants:
bri-fly
wind_red
laura_in_hamilton
grovespirit.
I think that's it, so we had most people send in their seeds. At some point I will have to give a rough estimate of how many seed packets are here - there are a lot!
Jeanne

Jeanne, I'm glad it's going in an easier, more organized fashion that you thought it might. I just want to thank Maggie again for her help in that. I can't tell you what a blessing that list was when I had so little time to throw things together. If I would have had an extra day there, I am sure I could have done twice what I did because of that list. As a new gardener, it would have been really hard to figure out all the themes, what might fit and what wouldn't without that easy list.

And, thank YOU again too, Jeanne, as it really is a lot of work even if we all tried our best to label and organize things good for ya. Are you having fun at all or is it just plain crazy? The bags seem like an awesome way to keep things from being too messy! Good idea!

I think I forgot to put a return address label in mine, too, so I'm so sorry about that. Also, the zinnia mix I sent has some Benary's Giants in it. I can't believe I forgot to mark it, but I realized so after it was gone. I was in a real hurry trying to get that out, so you didn't have to wait on me any more. I figure whoever ends up with it would probably want to know, so I'm posting it here. If they get it from the swap, they can at least label it themselves now that it includes them so that they know.

Blessings,
Angela

hello
jeanne - if you have too many leftovers of my seeds please send them back. I sent an envie of 100 seeds to candy cows swap that got lost in the mail and I sent 120 packs to the 100 for 100 swap that due to illness(very serious illness) has been stalled indefinently. so after loosing over 200 packs of seeds my fresh swap stash is very depleted. sorry, if this causes you any trouble than don't worry about it, it is not like I'm seed poor. :) I just like doing swaps.

you sound very organized, I use manilla envies, but it is the same idea as the paper bags, I'm accualy very ditzy so if I don't keep everything labled, writen down and seperated it would be a hugh mess and I would have no clue what I was doing.

OOO the sun is starting to come up and the sky is turning the most brilliant pink and purple.

well it sounds like the boys are getting up so I'll be off to get them ready for school.

have a great day everyone
michelle

hi Jeanne,

I'm glad your enjoying this, I would be totally overwhelmed lol. It must be fun opening all those envies! Just wanted to say thank you again. This is my first swap & i very excited!!

Annette

Hi Jeanne! How's it going? I can't imagine trying to sort that many seeds! Wow! You are amazing to even undertake this! I know there's no way I could, I'd go nuts trying to figure it all out! Thank you again for doing this! I'm really looking forward to seeds that will fit my themes!

Kathy

Things are going okay. I have about 8-10 brown paper grocery bags that I am using for the seeds, lists, padded envelopes, etc. and that is what I am working from right now. I did get all of the undesigned seeds dumped out on the bar one evening and divided them up into categories: herbs, vegetables, trees/shrubs, zinnias, marigolds, blue flowers, white flowers, etc. so I am hoping that will be some help where I get back to dividing them according to people. I will have to count how many packets are here before all is said and done. I think we will be surprised!

Totally off topic, but my older daughter moved to CA recently. Yesterday she found out that she and her husband lost the house they were renting in the fire in Santa Barbara. They had evacuated Thursday evening. Because it was a furnished rental house, they had very few of their personal belongings in it (and they had 45 min. to pack things in their cars and get out) so financially they are much luckily than many. The two of them and their dogs are all fine and they have a place to go, but you know how we mothers are - I am so stressed that this happened to them. I have heard that wildfires just pop up like this in Southern CA and knowing that it is something that happens over again has not helped to calm me down much. Anyway, it really had me in a state were I did very little of anything yesterday. I am still trying to cope with the concept that this happened and could happen again. As I told my daughter, no matter the age of your children you just want to put your arms around them and make everything all better when bad things happen even when there is no way to do that.

Here in SC, we just finished with two days of steady rain and thunderstorms. The reports were that we got about 5 in. of rain. We needed the rain, but you do wish it wouldn't come all at once when it shows up.

Have a good weekend.
Jeanne

Jeanne, I am sorry your daughter (and you, vicariously) had to go through that! It must have seemed surreal to be in the middle of something that dramatic. I am glad their losses were minimal and they were unharmed.
We have had rain for the last 3 days and storms this morning. I can feel the weather changing from hour to hour. So far we had not had much cold weather and the Salvia's in the garden were looking great, but that is changing this weekend. There is even the prospect of the S word! In the last decade we have had little if any snow in my neck of the woods and to have some in the forecast already is startling!
Have a good weekend, Alana

Jeanne, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter and her husband going through that but am glad to hear they got out and are ok! That is really scary to watch on tv. My husband's family are all in southern California so we worry about them all the time too. Melissa

Jeanne, That is just horrible, I'm so happy they are safe, and yes, I can imagine how hard it is for you when something happens and she is so far away!

We are in Wyoming today, the guys are splitting wood for Jamie's sister for winter, I feel like crap, sinus infection, so I figured I would just relax and check and see what was going on at GW : )

Vic

Jeanne, I'm so sorry you and your family had to go through that. And I know that something of that nature is as bad from a distance as it is being right in it when it's your child. I will keep you all in my prayers. *HUGS*

Kathy

Oh heavens, Jeanne! What a "welcome to the neighborhood" that was. I am glad that they didn't lose too much, but still, how devastating.

I doubt this makes you feel too much better, but my whole family on DH's side all live out there in southern California in various places. We've had scares over the years and close calls, but they never lost anything to any of all the numerous fires. Even though the fires are common, those victimized by them are not as numerous... I mean it's not like everyone is out a home now and again out there or anything like that. I would figure that being devastated by a fire like this wouldn't happen all the time to same family. I think it's something that might happen once in your lifetime, if even that... I don't know if that helps ya, but it's just my 2 cents...

Also, not sure if this helps you, but I remind myself that worry is the opposite of trust or faith... that wakes me up sometimes.... I guess that depends on your faith, though, or lack there of. ;-)

As for the seed sorting, once again, you are very organized about this and doing a terrific job! Don't worry if you need to slow down a bit (or pause things) when life happens. We all do understand. I hope you and your daughter are feeling better soon... I am sure it was traumatic.

Blessings,
Angela

Jeanne, I am SO sorry to hear that your daughter is out there in all that mess. So thankful that they were able to get out with most of their belongings. Prayers are with ya! I hope the sorting is still going well. I can't wait! Nik

Jeanne, how are you doing? How are your daughter and her family? You guys have been in my thoughts and on my heart today and I wanted to check in on you :)

Still in my prayers :)

Kathy

Jeanne, we're continuing to pray for your family out there. I am so sorry... I just wanted you to know that I wasn't trying to downplay how horrible the situation out there is. I feel just terrible. I wish this hadn't happened to your baby girl and therefore to you as well. I hope they can pick the pieces up soon and rebuild without any further complications.

Blessings,
Angela

Thanks for the prayers and good wishes. I am feeling much better about things. It was just such a shock to have that happen. Both my daughter and my son-in-law went out of town right after the fire so I guess this week coming up will be the difficult week trying to get resettled. It was his birthday yesterday so he spent this week with his parents. My daughter had a commitment through her work so she was busy with that - she spent the week on a boat.
Seeds... oh, yes, seeds are still in process... still hope to get them out by Dec. 1. I am approaching the halfway point in filling folders with the "general stash."
I should be able to work on them some more today.
Jeanne

Jeanne, glad you're feeling better and everything's going as well as can be expected given the circumstances. :) We'll keep you in prayers :)

I'm SO excited! In a couple weeks we'll start seeing seeds!!!

Thanks again for hosting this, Jeanne, and doing all the work involved! Wow... I can only imagine seeing that many seeds in one place! Was it amazing or completely overwhelming at first? I'm imagining a little of both!

Kathy

Yahoo - seeds in the next couple of weeks!
Jeanne, how is the sorting going? I know it's a lot of work and during a busy time of year. I did some sorting of my own seeds lately. I have more than I thought. I'm collecting containers for wintersowing and needed a better count. I was quite surprised and excited. For my first year, I'm doing pretty good!
Anyway, happy sorting Jeanne! I wish I were close by so I could help. Nik

Move up to Part 4 when you sign on. I am upating things there.
Jeanne