I think I got something from Rebecca - that I didn't see on her list so I am not sure, but it was with the HUGE strawberries she brought me (Grace says thank you, she loved them!). Anywho - it is a cactus looking thing of some type - very long and kinda soft prickles on it. Inside or outside plant - what does it need? I am planting out a strawberry jar with the little sedums from Heather - and I would like to put this on the top - if it will go there. And Heather - we had an accident this morning. A storm blew up rather quickly and knocked my planting table over...in the middle of planting my little sedum treasures from you. I lost my little cactus (small green button looking one with long prickles on it). Can you save me one for the fall swap...I was kinda getting attached to it, it was the smallest plant I brought home from the swap. Also - I got a birch from someone...in a blue? minivan with several children - hubby appeared to be packing up everything. Anyway - I don't know what kind of birch it is... Anyone have a clue? I will be starting my blog soon and filling it with pictures. If some of you can chime in with names on the ones that had no names, or the tape as faded and I can't see them...please, by all means, enlighten me. Pretty green things in my beds are wonderful - but I like having a name for them in my garden journal so I know where to look for them next spring. :D Happy planting to all of you! I have already started turning new ground on new beds since the swap - you have inspired my gardening creativity again. Tiffany PS - Connie I adopted one of your little plants that was orphaned when you left - a very cool little forsythia with varigated leaves - how quickly does it grow? I am worried about planting it in the beds now and think it may need to stay in the nursery bed this year. Help?

I think the first real item I made was a yellow plaid roll-up sleeve blouse in Home Ec. I had no clue that matching plaids would be that involved. Since I was in high school in the 60's I remember making a 2 piece lined wool suit like Jackie Kennedy and of course had the matching pill box hat. Next I made a dress out of a pretty green dotted swiss. We didn't have room to cut out our garments in the Home Ec. cottage so we were taken into the cafeteria to use those tables. When I started making my dress I realized that I had not only lost the back pattern piece to my skirt but also the fabric. My Mother and I went back to the store to buy more but they were out of that color. I ended up replacing the back of my skirt with white organdy and applied a white bow in the back of the waist. What had started out as a rather plain dress became a nice church dress which I wore for quite a while. The dress that gave me such fits turned out to be a favorite of mine. Now I really LOVE to sew and also enjoy "thinking outside the box". Some things are made special because of the work involved. It makes you appretiate the results.

The first one is a doorbell. The second one could be a speaker or an old light fixture? What kind of wires are going to it?

No Whole Foods here....yet. One is being built in Grand Rapids, and will be open this summer. When Elery still lived in Jackson, we would sometimes drive to Ann Arbor and stop at Whole Foods. I liked to try new things from their deli and then we'd go home and try to recreate it, with varying degrees of success. I don't remember anything that was outstanding that I couldn't get somewhere else, the prices were usually quite a lot higher than other local stores with similar items, causing us to shrug at "Whole Paycheck", and then go somewhere else. I did check out their meat counter, as they had burger mix ins that sometimes sounded like something I would like and copy. If I had a gift certificate I'd probably use it on seafood, as good seafood is expensive and hard to find here. Enjoy your beer! Annie