i hope you got my send-to list kym? i sent it a good few days ago ok onto my pictures (because someone said how to do it LOL dont think they have watermarks? please excuse if they do they ARE older pictures as well) thats my angel i easily have TONS more pictures of her from me messing around with the flash and such i love taking pictures of her but shees just soo camera shy! --if anyone knows what breed she is im ears all i know is to me shees like perfect soo kind soo loving the first cat to llike me and really aware of her claws was taken according to its statistics (the website these are all on is an art site) in 04 i know this was before "taming" her at the time i think i took a step closer and she bolted so its OLD--anywho thats buffy who my mom thinks may be a coon and theres harley that was the first picture i took with that camera it was literally "har can you come? can you sit?" and took the pic he is OFTEN on my wing watching out and just being a good pup i think hees a border collie mix and overall i think great pup --oh lol aand GOOFY! ok that ones not a photo of my "pets" (lets face it you dont "own" them you care for them and if they dont respect you then youre theere servant as well--ill stoop my possible rant there as well) but its one of my many art projects it was hand drawn (1/4th of it) then scanned cleaned up colors inverted with the pattern put together on illustrater and border added on illustrater then saved as pdf and resaved as a jpg on shop (ok it SOUNDS a lot worse then it was) but i had fun and its been too long sence ive drawn too too too long this waas done in fall 07 i think its prolly been that long sence ive really drawn also in fox on 7 i right-click "copy image location" to get the url it works on xp and vista i think it also works on mac os (may require a control click on the thing in question an image here) yes i am geeky oh! lol aas for orniments i dont know yet i have hemp paper some atleast basic skills could prolly make something from them alone (thinking a square knot variation of a bead thing i made at the camper was the only 3d option ive done bead things and tho most were like gekos or so fairly common to find) hmm if i can find some wire thats soft enough i could prolly hammer out some design and all from there --hint the JOKE with me in high school was which art classes i HADNT been in so i think i understand the basics of some few things --ohh! ohh! i need to get our blowtorches over here! i could make real glass orniments (we have stuff for glass beadmaking which i rarely get to use) what does everyone concider "basic" matereals? (oh plus i have ALLL my 2d supplies and i think i could dig out some paper machet paste/powder/stuffs some add water and let dry sort of thing) thinnk ill start basics try to go from there? know theres an oragami star that i could make for the top i think it uses 4 like "strips" of paper and i did have the pattern to make it memorised at one time

I got 2 new cards! Keiki (Robin) sent 3 varieties: - Red Sugar Apple (OMG - I have NEVER heard of these. I looked them up and am BEYOND excited to start them. They look SO COOL!!! I am so, so so grateful for these!!!) - Clitoria ternatea - blue pea vine (These have been on my want list for some time, and now I finally have them!!! The flowers are really bizarre. I can't wait!!) - Salvia coccinea - pink (have never tried this variety of salvia before!!!) Thank you SO MUCH keiki! These are REALLY cool - it's almost like you knew EXACTLY what I'd love!! Thanks so much for the thoughtfulness. I am so happy to hear that the peppers are producing well already! It made me smile when I read that. Apparently they are perennials in your state, so that's pretty awesome! :) Neohippie sent a card with an adorable bat on the front! How did you know I loved bats so much?? I can see him smiling at me out of the corner of my eye while I type out this thank you :) She sent 4 varieties of seeds: - Ornamental Eggplant 'Pumpkin on a Stick' (I have ALWAYS wanted to try this variety! These are hard to find in stores. I can't wait to see what they look like in person!) - Eggplant 'Black Beauty' (For some reason, the black beauty seeds that I bought came out looking like oriental eggplants, so I am happy that I have some fresh seeds to try again!) - Collards 'Vates' (YES! I do not have this variety - super excited!) - Tomato 'Hawkins Plum' (Don't have this variety either - sounds delicious!!!) Thank you for being so awesome! I will start all of the seeds this spring and will continue to save seeds from them forever! :) Thank you both so much for sending these wonderful seeds :) I love them all!

Welp, I must tell you. I did make them. Lots of them. And they are probably one of the best tasting cookies I've ever had and guess what? Hubs agrees; he loves them. The first batch looked very similar to Monique's picture above; same size same amount of filling etc., so what did I do? I decided to make them bigger and with more filling. And so proceeded to make up several cookie sheets with the bigger versions and had both ovens going and baked them all at the same time. BIG MISTAKE. I couldnt lift the cookie without it falling apart. Couldn't get them off the cookie sheet. The ones that I did get off the sheet in one piece, I cooled and then gently placed into a tupperware container. Then all the cookies stuck together and you can't get them apart in one piece, you get chunks of cookie. I saw hubs with a tiny spatula last night eating the cookies out of the container. hahahaha! Here is what's left of the smaller ones that I should have just left alone and not tried to make them bigger: And here is what the bigger ones look like, I see hubs left the little spatula in there! haha! These little cookies are wonderful and to me, they taste like a really good coffee cake. So, I did not take these to the cookie exchange; I made regular plain old butter cookies with the cookie press. Made some of the dough green, some red and left some uncolored. Put sprinkles on some of them and left others plain. My cookies won 3rd place after all that! (Only out of 11 entries) Such a plain little cookie with such big butter flavor; everyone really loved them. Sherry, I know I'll be making the Santa's Helpers again; maybe for xmas eve! We loved them. Thanks for the recipe.

For 2017: Santa Claus has begun his rounds ...track him as he travels around the world via NORAD! You can even call NORAD and they’ll answer any questions you have about Santa’s route…not a recording, but a real person! We did it several years ago and my then young son loved it! Here’s the URL: http://www.noradsanta.org Not home Christmas Eve? Use the Santa Tracker App! You can track him on your cell phone or tablet! Check the Google Playstore or the Apple App Store. To keep the kids busy, they even have fun activities! . NOTE: Google Maps also has a Santa Tracker: https://santatracker.google.com/village.html