Hi gals. Trish, I'm sorry I didn't see your posts until today, I thought this thread was gone... I am so happy it is spring myself! Daffs are finally open. I like the pic of you smelling your first spring bloom. Jess sent me a lovely package from bath & body works with my favorite fragrance --sweet pea--. It is so nice, has body spray, bubble bath, gel, hand lotion, etc. it's in a pretty green ceramic planter too! Jess == you are very thoughtful and this was very sweet of you to do. Thanks a bunch. Trish - thanks for the iris. Glad it's warming up for you. It did start to warm up here, then yesterday the rain turned to snow for a while ??? it's arpril isn't it? Hugs Maureen

I installed a program on my computer to do this...but, you can do it if you have Word, by figuring out which direction to put the paper into your printer so that when the card is folded, it is correct...you can insert all kinds of pictures and clip art from Word...the card making program is easier to use though for making cards and you can insert your own pictures. A program like this doesn't cost much...mine ins American Greeting Creatacard

Is there a problem with sources of equipment and supplies being too local for there to be any widely useful catalogues to recommend? Or are catalogues irrelevant, and is equipment being bought off the shelf and off the floor? Just wondering why we're getting no new recommendations posted over at Homesteading...?? J.

"I always thought you were not supposed to put where a person is registered on an invitation. And especially not ask for gifts. But oh well." The entire point of a baby or wedding shower is to "shower" the guest of honor with presents, so putting the registry information in with the invitation is typically considered appropriate. It's events that are NOT specifically oriented toward the gifts, such as the wedding itself or a graduation party, where open reference to gifts is inappropriate. Did anyone else think a shower invitation from the cousin's daughter-in-law, whom the OP has met maybe three times, is casting the "gimme" net just a tad far out? Maybe if OP and cousin were very close friends, sure, but good grief! My standard shower gift is onesies. Lots and lots of plain white onesies, because my baby brother (now changing his own kids' diapers, how time flies!) could easily go through a dozen in a day. Budget is pretty much always around $25 unless it's a really close friend, because that's what MY budget can afford. If you shop right you can get a lot of onesies for $25! (I think my record is 10 6-packs that had been put on clearance for $2.50 a bag, down from $10, because the packages were ripped up. So I took them out of the packages, folded them nicely into a pretty box, and went merrily off to the shower - where I got in a viciously polite whispered argument with the host because I refused to play the "baby food tasting" game *retch*). Kiddo often outgrows them well before they wear out anyway. No one I know has done the "clothesline" although I do think it would be pretty cool to do a clothesline specifically to donate to the local women's shelter, and put that right on the invitation; I do find it very ironic that my lower-middle-class family ("you might be a redneck if...") thinks wishing wells are tacky. Diapers can be tricky, unless a specific type is noted on the registry, because of that whole cloth-vs-disposable thing. There are some verrrrry strong feelings on that subject! I do appreciate registries, both for weddings and baby showers, if I'm not very close to the recipient because it tells me what the recipients are interested in - I don't necessarily need to purchase something off the list, but if I see 20 Winnie the Pooh items on a baby shower list, that tells me that Mum is diggin' Pooh and might appreciate some mint-condition vintage Pooh books to read to her child or decorate a shelf in the nursery. It also does indicate to me what's NOT really welcome. For instance, if I see on the registry that everything the parents chose is either khaki, sage, and/or cream (such as at the last shower I attended), it's a pretty good bet that the parents are unlikely to be overly enthusiastic over primary colors or the old pink/blue routine.