The Bingo word for today is ICE.

No snow on the ground but the wind is awful. Wind advisories in the area. They say snow overnight and we are taking our son back to college tomorrow which will be a three and a half hour drive south. The temp high for tomorrow will be 21 and the rest of the week not much better.

Was just tracing back to the Bingo words that I missed this week as my list was not handy when I was doing posts. I was able to cross off two more but not doing very well. I have half my words crossed off.

Have a good Sunday. Margo

I live about 20 minutes West of Kalamazoo. I live close enough to Lake Michigan that we end up with lake effect snow. Today we've already gotten 2 - 3 inches, and they are predicting 8 - 12 inches to arrive by Tuesday afternoon. It's the first big snow we've had so far.

Mandy

Today's Bingo work is ICEBERG.

I hope everyone has a good day. A rather special day with the Inauguration and MLK Day combined - I need to find some TV time to watch some of the coverage.

Jeanne

Southern AL snow will be going out to Katie this week...I sent Katie an email explaining the situation but wanted to post here so noone would get confused and think I disappeared and forgot...hope all had a good weekend and are having a good holiday today...kids out of school, hubby out of work for the day...so we're working on the house and tryin to clean a bit and get ready for spring...i so can't wait...been wanting to plant stuff and the weather is so wishy washy not sure what to do lol

Yay, snow!

I've been meaning to post this picture since I took it, but I've been a slacker (actually, I've been busy & then out of town). We got 2" of snow last Thursday!! YAY!! Jeanne, your FOTESS swap must have conjured this up for me. :)

Thank you, Heidi, for red and gold glittered raised snowflakes with homemade full color seed packets. Thanks for sending some delightful seeds that I will be sure to winter sow (except for the tropical Datura).
sweet pea Wedding Blush
brown-eyed Susan Cherry Brandy
Datura Innocence
Monarda Marshall's Delight
Shasta daisy

You said this was part 1, but you don't need to send a part 2. Did you make the green envelope? It's too pretty to throw away, so I'll use it to sort some seed packets for planting. Heidi, you have lovely handwriting!

No precipitation for over 2 weeks. Can you believe I actually had to water a mixed planter on the porch? The pansies were drooping and since the pansies off the porch were fine it was not the cold. I couldn't see any whiteflies, so just watered it. If it isn't perky tomorrow I'll take it inside to spray off in the shower.

Our daily highs are 33 and lows are 25 with dense fog. A storm is coming & they say rain, but I vote for snow!

Today I celebrated my day off by shopping at a thrift store's 50% off sale. On Thursday I was there & saw things I wanted, but passed on them until the sale. They had sold some, but I still found 2 rabbit bottle waterers (for the camp's petting zoo bunnies) & some neutral tones of new aquarium gravel for dressing up succulent pots (for hubby) and improving drainage during our 9 months of cold rain.

Corrine

Cute snow picture! I did some house cleaning yesterday. There sure is more to get done. I finally moved the boxes with the Christmas decorations into the attic.

Here's our Bingo word for today: HOLLY

I hope someone gets Bingo before the end of the week. I know those who are playing are ready for a win!

Jeanne

I finally went through the BINGO words that have been called, and I have 8 words so far. This is the list of what I *think* has been called. Hope I didnâÂÂt miss one.

WINTER SOWING
CHRISTMAS ROSE
ICE PLANT
FULL MOON
SNOWDROPS
PINE
SNOW
WINTERBERRY
SNOW PUFF
SNOWBIRD
DOUBLE ICICLE
ARCTIC BEAUTY
GREEN ICE
FIRE 'N ICE
SNOWMOBILE
SKIING
ICE
ICEBERG
HOLLY

I've been playing bingo and have 8 words, so no bingo for me this week.

Still frosty 23 degrees and foggy here. The frosted trees look especially lovely this morning. I don't yet hear or see the birds out from their overnight perches. Our weather is hard to predict with the mountains and the Puget Sound so close. Supposedly warmer weather is coming, but we'll still have overnight freezing. We have a 4-H meeting tonight, so I hope it's not icy.

Happy Tuesday!

Mandy, sending you an email.

Katie, I show the same BINGO words have been chosen. Good luck to all!

It has finally warmed up around here....80's today...absoloutley beautiful outside. December and the first 2 weeks of January were rather chilly. When night time lows dip in to the 20's that is chilly for us. Another cold front is moving in later in the week but no snowflakes will be falling around here. We get snow every 3 years but it never lasts long. I always welcome raindrops!

I need to get outside and water my wintersown jugs!

Wonderful "Snowflake" packages.....

Annie

Mandy, I sent you an email via GW as you do not have an email address listed. Let me know if you do not receive. Send me you email address.

Annie

Thank you Katie, I found a Bingo word I missed so now I only need five more. You have helped me twice today.

I tried to post a pic of my family at the wedding this past June but it said it was too big. Will try something else later.

Received a nice bubbly today from Suzanne. It contained a pretty pair of snowflake earrings which I will wear to work tomorrow. Also included were the following seeds.

snowdrift marigold
snow puff cosmos
sensation white cosmos
thyme
baby's breath
stallion white cucumber
white spine cucumber
lemon chiffon sunflower
Cheyenne spirit echinacea
amber wheels gaillardia

Love my snowflake package and thanks Suzanne.

Thank you Corrine! I loved your package! It's so pretty and so much fun. No snow here...darn!

More great packages being received! I'll update our list tomorrow. I was feeling a bit under the weather today, but I looked over the Bingo words that were listed as "chosen" and the list is right. It looks like it might take all month to get a winner, but we'll get there!
See eveyone tomorrow.
Jeanne

Our Bingo word for today is: BOOTS

It's cold here. 36 degrees outside right now.

Let me get caught up on our list of who has sent and who has received.

Jeanne has sent to Kelli.
Kelli has sent to Jeanne.
Margo has sent to Suzanne and it was received.
Suzanne has sent to Margo and it was received.
Katie has sent to Dianne.
Dianne has sent to Katie.
Melinda has sent to Michelle and it was received.
Michelle has sent to Melinda and it was received.
Heidi has sent to Corrine and it was received.
Corrine has sent to Heidi and it was received.
Annie has sent to Mandy and it was received.
Mandy has sent to Annie and it was received.

I think that catches us up on the list. I'll bet some swaps will be received today. The holiday on Monday will have slowed down the mail a bit.

Jeanne

Four more for me!!!!!!!!

Jeanne, package arrived. Thank you so much. I received so great SNOW stuff,
Chocolate snowman
Snowman Kleenex sleeve
Fun Winter Wonderland word search
Beautiful winter scene card and recipe
'Ice Ballet' Asclepias seeds
So much fun...

I hope you receive yours in the next day or so.
Kelli

So glad your swap arrived, Kelli. I must admit that when I set up this swap I thought the stores would have lots of winter themed items in them... and those winter things must have flown off the shelves the day after Christmas because the stores all had their Valentine's things out by January. A disappointment, but I think we are all receiving great packages nonetheless.

Today's Bingo word is: BLACK ICE

Jeanne

And now I need 3!!!!

No worry Jeanne as far as my package goes, I loved it. From the sounds of it, everyone enjoyed there packages.

Margo

Heidi sent me a 2nd package with 2 colorful kitchen towels, 2 homemade plant markers, and vinyl window clings with snowflakes and polar bears. Now, I can see snowflakes every day if I want.

Thank you Heidi for sharing your creativity. Are the plant markers waterproof for outdoors or for indoor pots only?

Corrine

The plant markers are made out of sculpey clay and baked so they are supposed to be weatherproof. I forgot to stick them in the package because they were in the kitchen! But I had fun putting together a few more snow things. I needed something for padding and I couldn't find any more snowflake towels and they just put out the flower ones so I scooped them up!
You know, pictures in magazines are so cute and I wanted to make these so bad! They make playdough look so easy. I remember why I gave up playdough! My brain is TRYING to tell my fingers what I want, but the message doesn't compute. lol I had fun, though, and I hope you enjoy them. I could imagine them peeking out from a plant at camp.

We went from an extremely beautiful day yesterday - sunny and warm enough not to need any kind of coat or sweater - to 29 degrees this morning. Brrr! We had lots of wind last night, but that has died down now - I guess it finished blowing in the cold air that was coming this way.

The Bingo word for today is: WHITE WEDDING

Have a great day. I did a little winter sowing yesterday, but none of that for me today - I am going to stay indoors other than at horse feeding time. There's plenty I need to do indoors.

Jeanne

Your swap package hasn't arrived yet, Kelli. I thought for sure it would show up today because it finally stayed cold enough for snow. A bit farther north got sleet and freezing rain.

Anyway, a "Heads Up" - beginning tomorrow I will start drawing two Bingo words a day so we can wrap this game up. If there is a tie and two (or more) people get Bingo on the same day, I'll draw for a winner. It shouldn't take much longer with two words a day.

You've probably noticed, the February Swap has been posted and it's a great one. Stop by to check it out!

Jeanne

If you read the post above, you'll see I am picking two Bingo words a day so we can finish up the game. Today's words are:

SNOWY MOUNTAIN
PEPPERMINT STICK

I'll wait until the end of the day to declare the winner in case two people have Bingo. If you have Bingo, let's hear from you!

Jeanne

Hi Everyone!
Jeanne, what a great SNOW swap! Lots of nice packages sent and received!

We FINALLY got some appreciable snowfall here in SE Michigan; and I'm recovering from a cold and/or a sinus infection, so I still haven't been able to get a decent snow pic-go figger! Maybe tomorrow, if the temps rise!

Had a great weekend with my granddaughters, we wintersowed 15 containers! Rue, Rudbeckia and some others. Our little two year old was so happy to be included! She imitated every move Tabs and I made, really cute!

Well, like Jeanne said, Heidi has posted the Feb. FOTESS swap and I'm headed over there to join in! Hope to see ya all over there!
Shirley!

Watching for BINGO...three words to go!

The rain has been falling...so lovely. My Winter vegetables are so happy!!!!

Happy weekend to all!

Annie

I only need two more so maybe Jeanne will post them both tomorrow and I can put an end to the suspense. LOL

Not as cold today but still cold. They are calling for wintry crud overnight tomorrow which includes the ICE word before a warm up turns it to rain. Hubby goes to work at 3:30 am and has a half an hour drive to work so concerned about that. I told him he needs to leave a little earlier to be safe. Tuesday and Wednesday, we will be in the 50's. It is crazy Ohio weather.

Will check for my winning words tomorrow. Margo

We are getting that same crazy weather, Margo, just up and down several times a week.

Someone should have Bingo today. After I post these two words there are only 4 more folded up pieces of paper in my bowl.

SNOWBALL
SNOW LADY

I'll be waiting to hear Bingo later in the day. I should look at the Bingo lists that you sent. Wouldn't it be something if everyone has Bingo today? Oh, well, in the event of a tie, I will draw a name for the prize.

Stay warm and stay well everyone!
Jeanne

Sorry about duplicate postings. It looked like the message was not going through.

This post was edited by sandlapper_rose on Sun, Jan 27, 13 at 9:14

Here it was again... love the new edit feature!

This post was edited by sandlapper_rose on Sun, Jan 27, 13 at 9:15

No BINGO for me...one word to go. I am anticipating Margo to call BINGO any minute now!!!

Annie

No Bingo for me yet but only need one more. I saw a city truck out spreading the magic liquid on the roads in preparation for the ice that is due. This is one time I am truly hoping they have called wrong because I hate ice.

Is anyone going to call "BINGO" today? Margo

I don't have BINGO yet... one more word is missing on my list too. Everyone is getting close! :)

Mandy

I forgot to mention the white lifesavers that were the filling in the box with minty aroma. Too many to count. Thanks, Heidi!

It's a lot warmer than last week, so I was outside in the garden Fri. & Sat. afternoon. Picked up milk jugs from Starbucks and asked if I could get more out of the dumpster, so prepped 29 jugs for the 4-H workshop next weekend with help from my son while we watched TV.

While outside I poked around a bit more where it wasn't frozen. Did some trimming of mushy leaves & snipped them up to drop in place as mulch. Used a scissor on Japanese iris leaves, but probably should have had a sharper one. Thinking if I didn't have pruners I wouldn't work too hard! Moved some pots around for winter display including the primrose to the front porch now even though they're not in bloom. Hopefully, they'll enjoy the break from the cold rain & put on a show by Easter since it's early this year.

Some body is going to win & probably not me since I still have 3 words left. It is fun just to play.

Corrine

No BINGO yet....only 2 more. Hopefully tomorrow.

Jeanne, I hope it gets to you. I even sent priority feeling bad that it was running late.

Bingo words --- someone has to have Bingo today! If there are multiple winners, I will draw a name because at this point, I think more than one will yell Bingo.

Today's words are:
FROST
POLAR STAR

Kelli, I have been watching for your package in case the mail carrier left it in an odd place. I'll let you know as soon as it gets here. So sorry it is taking so long - I know that's hard on the sender. Sometimes mail just seems to take forever but then it shows up.

Have a good day.
Jeanne

I've checked and rechecked to make sure I did not miss the last word I need to win but it has not been called. It's not in today's two either. :(

If someone is a winner today, congrats to them. Margo

Sorry I haven't been very active or talkative on here lately...yesterday I got out in the yard and actually had time to get things done with some of my plants...it felt so good to get my hands in the dirt and the weather was perfect!!!...hubby wanted for me to wait til he brings a tiller home that he's borrowing from a friend but i insisted i do it the hard way and use a hoe and shovel for the big parts and a mini hand shovel and my hands for the rest lol...I have most of my front and side yard planted with my flowers and bushes where i want them now and potted up a few plants to take to the spring plant swaps if they make it or i don't decide to put them in the back yard...now i need to weedeat and mulch the front and it will be ready to go- minus some seeds i'm gonna sow when it's closer to time to get them in the ground straight out...

when income taxes come in we're planning on building a front porch...that's where Katie's snowflakes come in lol...she sent me some oakleaf hydrangea seeds and I'm planning on putting a bush at the corner of the porch or maybe put a bush on each side of the steps or walkway...the more i think about it i may make a hedgerow with them...Katie also sent me some Burt's Bees cuticle cream...love it!!! ...it's one of those things i always think bout picking up but never spend the money on for myself...I recieved Katie's snowflakes the middle of last week and am so sorry I just now got around to posting it...

*HUGS* Katie...thank you so much :)

Hope all you ladies had a wonderful weekend...I hate to rush time away but I can't wait til spring lol...i'm getting spring fever already

Heh, I still don't have bingo, even after today's words. I still need to more words (no doubt the last 2 words to be called). Somebody MUST have it today. Otherwise, we'll all be yelling bingo tomorrow. Could it be that we are ALL waiting on the same word?!

I've been busy winter sowing. I got many things sown these last couple of weeks, but there are still more seeds to go. All natives :) I need to compile a list, but some of my favorites are some seeds of the Franklinia. DH and I also erected my new "temp" greenhouse. I think of it more as a cold frame because its not heated; but it will give me a real jump start on germinating seeds this year that don't need sny kind of stratification.

Last year I tried a new seed starter medium: an organic ready-to-use mix made of coconut coir with some perlite. I liked it so much that this year I bought compressed bricks of coconut coir to mix up my own seed starter. The coconut coir is renewable (a byproduct of the coconut industry), more easily wettable than peat, and also seems to have some anti-fungal properties.

Dianne, glad to hear you enjoyed your snowflake package. Isn't the Burt's Bees cuticle cream wonderful?! I can't live without it. And you should have enough of those dust-like hydrangea seeds to fill the neighborhood! I planted some seeds of it yesterday, too, and stuck it in the greenhouse. Not only are the flowers beautiful, but its seedheads and bark are lovely in the winter, too!

BINGO....FROST put me over the top. Who else has BINGO...not Margo, not Katie...possibly Mandy, possibly Kelli??????? Maybe it is a three way tie...LOL!

Woke up this morning to WHITE outside....My husband runs up stairs, "Annie, Annie it snowed"...I ventured outside, "HHHMMM, no dear, it is hail". But it is everywhere. I am quite sure he went to work and told anyone who would listen that we had a major snowstorm overnight...he loves to exagerrate!!! I better go check my winter sown sprouted tomatoes. Hopefully they are OK! Tomatoes and 34 degrees..I don't know! I cover them or put them in the shed if I think it will be that cold but I did not last night.

Happy Monday!

Annie

And now it is Tuesday morning and this thread is full....Thanks Jeanne for hosting a fun January full of SNOWFLAKES. The FOTESSERS are clever ladies! Great group!!

This post was edited by canyonwind on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 11:22

Congrats Annie,

I didn't have BINGO...not the words I needed.

Happy Monday

Kelli

Congratulations Annie! Do hope your wintersown tomatoes are still ok!
I thoroughly enjoyed this swap! Thanks Jeanne for hosting and allowing me to participate. A great bunch of ladies!
Melinda

Congrats Annie! No BINGO for me - they were the wrong words for my card. I had a fun time this month - thank you!

Mandy

Thankful to hear someone call Bingo! Annie, I will give another person a chance to call Bingo until the end of the day in case they have not been able to get online at this point, but if I don't hear from anyone you are the winner. I had no idea we could be down to just 2 more words to be drawn at this point and so many people still needed those two words - or at least one of them! Wow, this was a long Bingo game.

Kelli, I'm so happy to report your package showed up in today's mail! It makes you wonder what they do with Priority Mail though; doesn't it? There's no indication it went somewhere else or had a problem of any kind. It's a wonderful package. I smiled when I saw the Sno-Caps. I wanted to get those to put in your package because they seemed perfect for the swap theme and I went to 3 stores and couldn't find them. Anyway, I love Sno-Caps! Kelli also send a pretty note, a journal which is great for recording garden events, and a pair of red gloves. You know I may try putting on hand cream and wearing them in the evening. My hands get so dry in the winter. Kelli also sent 4 packs of seeds Nicotiana Woodland, Echinacea Pow Wow (white), Rose Mallow (white), and Winter Thyme. What great names and I will enjoy all of them. Thanks so much for everything.

I will check later to see if this completes our January swap. With the new horse arriving this month, I feel like I have not been on top of things as much as I like so sorry about that but I'm so glad that you enjoyed the swap. I enjoyed this theme, too.

We took my new horse, Piper, to the vet for shots, etc. today and she would not get back on the trailer. I guess she liked it there. (Ha! Ha!) Anyway, I think we were there over 2 hours trying to get her to load back on the trailer. My husband finally had to detach the truck and drive home to get some grain to lure her back on. (Whew, it would have been getting dark in about an hour and the vet's office was trying to close down. Piper has a mind of her own on some things and we are working to get her less "opinionated". As my friend explains a 5 year old horse is kind of like a teenage child. Someone should have sent her to her room or make her stand in a corner to get her to behave long before this! LOL

Okay, I rambled long enough. Talk with everyone later - and if I am too worn out from my vet experience, I'll be back tomorrow morning.

Jeanne

Silly me - I finally realized I could look at what the last two words are and check the Bingo lists and Annie is our winner! Congratulations, Annie! It was a long and hard battle.

...and if it read all the posts correctly, I think all of the swaps have been sent and received! Thanks for making this such a great month. FOTESS has some wonderful members and I have lots of fun sharing seeds, books, ideas, and life experiences with everyone here.

Enjoying some Sno-Caps as I type... so off to enjoy more snow,
Jeanne

Congratulations Annie!!!!! That was an exciting Bingo.

Thank you Jeanne for the great swap. I know I had a lot of fun.

Margo

Congrats to Annie!! You can sure pick them!

I got my package from Dianne this evening! She sent some cute snowflake stickers, snowman gift tags, some amazing smelling homemade bath salts (and the recipe! whoohoo!), a snow scene tin, and seeds of white portulaca and baby's breath. Thank you so much!! And I loved your letter! Writing letters seems to be a lost art these days, and I do miss it.

Jeanne, I had a friend in college that qualified for barrel racing in the Dixie Nationals. When she was up early the first morning of the show to load up and head south, her horse refused to go in the trailer, causing her to miss the first day and was disqualified! She spent the next few weeks with her horse trailer parked in an arena with her horse, and would only feed her mare her grain inside the horse trailer!

Thanks ladies, for another great FOTESS swap. Thanks Dianne, for being a great partner and all your gifts. And especially thanks to Jeanne for being a great host!

Annie, congradulations on winning BINGO! It was fun and gave me something to look forward to. Only missed it by one word Northern Lights. Think most f us were getting close. Thanks Jeanne for the swap and game, it was fun!

Suzanne

Congrates Annie on Bingo AND your winter sown tomatoes!

Corrine