Thanks for posting that the round robin arrived, Ruth. Have fun selecting your goodies!

Jeanne, I did not make it to the Biltmore. The group on the trip arrived in 2 halves so the first half did the biltmore before we arrived and the second half didn't want to go... even though I did. We ended up at an Art Gallery in downtown asheville, the picture I posted is from the rooftop. It was interesting and incohesive... I had a ton of questions as to why it was called a museum when it clearly wasn't one... but I digress...

I have a ton of paperwork to fill out... I've decided to substitute teach...

Glad the package has reached TX! Anxiously awaiting... although we are preparing for a snowpocalypse so it may be a while before it reaches me. No worries we have all month.

Ruth, my little one is fine, and she has to sign on for online class for an hour a day so that keeps her busy and she looks forward to it. I just hope we don't pass it to each other and it doesn't stay in the house for too long... even though that seems inevitable.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I think everyone in the DFW area is a little paranoid of a repeat of last February.

Our forecast, freezing rain, sleet, snow amounts Wednesday eve thru the day Thursday:

For D-FW, freezing rain will transition to sleet/snow mix. This means any sleet/snow will fall on top ice.

Higher ice totals will have the highest potential for power outages.

We should get above freezing sometime Friday.

So, just in case of a power outage, I just cooked a 3 lb. meatloaf and I have 3 lbs. of chicken cooking in the roaster. We have plenty of other food for salads, sandwiches, snacks and breakfast. I think I will fill a few gallon jugs with water.

I finally got all my seed orders and got my lavender larkspur seeds planted yesterday. I planted in 4 different places so I'm hoping I get at least one plant for future seeds. I covered my rosemary but everything else will either survive or not.

Susan, only 1 bloom so far but it's beautiful.

Edited to ask Urooj about your cat. I hope he's back home now. We had one gone for 10 days once and then showed back up one day. Hope your family is doing well also and ready for the next few days of whatever weather we get.

Ruth and Jeannie your amaryllis are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing the pics. I hope everyone will be safe and not too badly affected by this round of storms. We are going to get 8 to 12 inches of snow on top of up to 1/4 to 1/2 of ice by tomorrow and then another 5 inches on Friday. It will start as a mix of rain and sleet, and then turn to snow and will fall at up to one inch per hour. They are not able to pretreat roads due to the rain so they are asking everyone to stay off the roads. I hope our power doesn’t go out. We are charging phones and preparing wood for the fireplace just in case. I went to the grocery store earlier today and the whole community was there prepping. Lots of empty shelves already but I got the provisions we need and should be ok. Just an hour and a half away there are over 7000 people without power and the freezing rain just started a few hours ago just north of here. Please stay safe everyone.

I will be writing something to submit here with the bingo words before the deadline.

Ruth, I forgot to update! She was running around in front of the house on day 8. She is a scaredy cat so she was hiding in cars and we had trouble getting her in but she's home and happy. Unfortunately I had already made an appt for her to be surrendered to the humane society so we are going to be giving her up. She is just too anxious for our household.

It's freezing here and schools are closed for the next 2 days. Hoping the weekend goes well as we've got a party coming up which I'm hoping doesn't need to be postponed.

Ruth I'm glad you've got your seeds going. It's a good project to work on since we have some time off because of the storm, however it's just too cold to do anything today! Maybe work on my orchids...

Happy Thursday! Stay warm everyone! It's snowing here but it's not the fun snow. It's the icy and dangerous kind.

Well I have written a short story with as many bingo words as I could. I hope you like it. I call it "Perfection"

Tara’s phone rang just before 5 a.m., waking her from a deep sleep. She saw on the caller ID it was her agent, Chloe. She answered, wondering if there had been a change in plans for the Cover Girl Summer Romance photo shoot scheduled for later that day. “Tara, I’m calling to let you know the shoot has been moved up to 7 a.m. Sorry about the short notice, but as soon as I know, you know, and I just found out myself. See you on the set.”

Tara phoned her driver, Jaime, and he promised to be waiting downstairs within the hour. She was grateful for his loyalty through the years. As she gazed at the magnificent views from her New York penthouse apartmentment, she felt grateful and blessed to be surrounded by such luxury. These were Happy Days, and modeling had always been her Passion.

She had to hurry if she was going to be ready on time. Being a supermodel wasn’t easy, and it meant being prepared at a moment’s notice for anything. She was almost ready as she gathered a few of her new lipstick shades, Spellbound Pink, Red Heart, and Strawberry Candy. These would come in handy on the set. Just then Chloe called again to inform her that the time frame had moved up even earlier and Tara would need to be there on the Double. Diamond earrings in tow, she added them to her handbag along with the lipstick.

Before she had a chance to inform him, Jaime called to say he had arrived. “Perfect timing,” she said, as she hurried towards the elevator. On the way to the studio Tara thought about the set that would include all things Bridal: Silk gowns, a Bridal Bouquet, a Bridal Veil, and if she were lucky, donning the perfect combination of magical attire, maybe she would find a suitable groom nearby.

She reminisced about her first Romance so many years ago with Sven Von Holzen. They were both so young, and they had been smitten with one another from the moment their eyes met. Sven had come to stay with his uncle, the owner of the building where Tara resided at the time in New York City. Sven performed maintenance for his uncle for a time before he left to join a logger apprenticeship program upstate.

They grew close during that year and she recalled the fun times they shared. They attended the Kentucky Derby where he had bet on Mystic Dreamer and she put a wager on Charming Lady. Neither of them won, as Bright Sparks took the lead, winning by a nose. Theirs had been a Sweet Summer Love, but only for a season. She remembered their First Kiss and how she always felt so safe and warm in his embrace. She wondered where he was now and how his life had turned out.

Arriving on set, she quickly changed into the first bridal gown, adding the pink shade of lipstick for just the right touch of innocence. The staging crew worked diligently to show her in her best light throughout the shoot while she imagined what her own wedding day may have been like if she hadn’t turned down her only offer so long ago. When the shoot was over, in the distance she heard someone calling, “Cupcake, cupcake, wait up…it’s me.” Nobody had called her that in years, and the only person who had was Sven! She turned around to find him there looking as handsome as ever. He softly asked, “Will you Marry Me?” and promised to follow his heart this time if she said yes.

Sven had his own production company now and lived in Manhattan. He had just moved back last year and things were going very well for him. Tara couldn’t believe it! What were her chances of seeing him again, and at that moment? She accepted his proposal and after a long engagement, they were married. She really had it all now, a great career and the love of her life. This must be what it feels like to have Eternal Bliss, she thought. Now her life was Perfection!

Fantastic story, Susan. Thanks for taking the time to write one for us.

Susan how creative. It was a great story, reminded me of a lifetime movie. Loved it!

Thank you Jeanne and Urooj. I had fun writing it. I hope everyone is staying safe. The storm has been slow moving here. It rained and then turned to freezing rain and snow is expected overnight. We have good amount already and 4 to 7 inches are expected by noon Friday.

I am so glad to be able to work from home and hoping we don’t have any power outages.

I am so happy for you Urooj and your substitute teacher adventures you will be embarking on. I know you will positively impact many young minds.

Here is a picture of the snow in my front garden bed. My shrubs are getting buried.

Congratulations, Susan! You are the winner for the "poetry or prose" contest. Entries had to be posted by the end of the day Friday and then we were going to vote, but you were the only entry and in my opinion, would have won regardless. Great use of the romance Bingo words.

It will likely be another week or so before I mail out the prizes for the Jan. - Feb. games. It's just a matter of me not making frequent trips to the post office or much of anywhere else. The positive COVID numbers are decreasing, but I've been careful for so long that I still try to avoid going to places were people gather as much as possible.

Yes this next outcome I'm reporting did involve standing in lines with groups of people but I went to get my NC driver's license last week and this week I went to get my car registered and dealt with all the paperwork that involved. You had to get your NC driver's license first and I think it took maybe 10 weeks before there was an appointment available. I know some may have moved frequently and might be used to changing over to a new state, but wow - I had not changed all of that type of paperwork over since 1972 with my move from NY to SC. At least I passed the test and had all the papers I needed to do both change overs. A bit of stress with all that!

I hope no one in the group is without power, heat, water, etc. Those storms just keep coming. I finally gathered 5 clear milk jugs so maybe some wintersowing will happen here before the end of the weekend. Normally I continue to wintersow into March so I'll try to get a few more jugs planted. I hadn't been buying milk in gallons and didn't move the milk jugs from SC to NC so there won't be a lot of wintersowing this year. I always think that at least this method protects the seeds so they don't get eaten by the birds.

Happy Saturday!

So happy I checked in and read Susan's story...it was awesome. You should write books Susan.

So cold here can't wait until Spring days are here.

Everyone keep warm!

Welcome to NC Jeanne...I forgot all the things that you have to do changing to another state.

When Eddie and I got married in 1969 we moved to Atlanta, Ga. and then moved back to NC in 1982. Been here since then.

Thanks so much for your kind words Jeanne and Shirley. I love to write and my granddaughter told me I should write novels too.

I had attended a writers workshop put on before Covid and it was more informational than anything else. They said that romance novels are becoming a thing is the past and being replaced by Dracula and other types of more modern fiction. I have done research though and romance novels still are a popular category. I have been tossing a couple of ideas around and have a couple of different outlines. I think I will pursue it. Who knows? It could prove lucrative.

I do accounting work and January and February are rough months for me. We work 50 to 60 hours a week. January is always known for payroll issues and February is a mix of everything. I used to prepare taxes too but that isn’t really worth it unless you do a larger volume and it isn’t what I love to do.

I remember even in high school we took assessments and I always scored very highly in English Composition but also in Math. I pursued math but should have chosen journalism or communications. Something along those lines. Well, I am never bored and they five me writing exposure at work but mostly technical articles and procedural manual revisions. Now that can be boring. I enjoyed being able to put the story together and use some creativity for a change.

Congratulations on getting all of your paperwork done to transfer your vehicle registration and driver license to North Carolina Jeanne. I love both North and South Carolina and especially when we have these winter storms I long to be anywhere warmer than Ohio.

It would be so nice to have an earlier spring. We don’t really see spring until early April usually and even then we can still get snow and frost through the first half of May.

We were fortunate not to have any major power outages. We did lose power for a very short time but luckily it was restored right away. Otherwise we didn’t get as much snow as we could have. I’d say we have 8 to 10 inches on top of the snow we had from the last winter storm that hadn’t melted yet.

Stay safe and warm everyone. I hope everyone has a good Sunday.

Susan, loved your story and congratulations. Yes, I agree you should write a book.

Ice is almost gone here and we didn't have any issues. Supposed to get to high sixties and seventies later this week. Sorry for those that lost power. Have you ever tried that thing with the clay pots and candles. We keep some on hand but have never had to use them. I also have several vintage oil burning lamps to use if needed.

The RR box is on it's way to next person.

This is my stash I kept.

2 sheets of puzzles

1 card

snowflakes

8 pkg. seeds

I used to have salmon 4'oclocks before I ever heard of anyone else having them. They were from my neighbor. She said they were her grandmother in Oklahoma's favorite flower. Now they seem to have mixed with my pink ones. I thought I would try these for comparison.

Poppies, sunflowers, cilantro and cosmos are all difficult for me. But what the heck, I'll try again. When my poppies do good, the snails are terrible on them. Maybe the sunflower issue in no full sun in my yard. But we had another tree taken down in 2021.

Congrats Susan! You should pursue writing a book in your free time. The story was great and a winner regardless.

We are safe here in TX. The power didn't go out and the snow melted within a day or two. School was cancelled but our dinner party didn't get cancelled and we had a great time that evening, as did everyone who attended.

Glad to see the package is on its way to the next person. Can't wait til it's my turn. The goodies look great.

My sister is going to visit this weekend so I'm getting the guest bedroom ready!

The package has arrived.

Yippppppy. So exciting!!! Can't wait to sift through the seeds gifts!

Quick question jeanne... do I replace the number of items I take? So if I take 7, I add 7, correct?

That's correct, Urooj.

I took this picture a few days ago and just now getting to post it. My first flowering bulb of 2022 and it's my favorite kind - daffodil!

Beautiful Jeanne. I can’t wait for spring and to see mine in bloom. They are all buried beneath about 18 inches of snow right now. It is melting slowly though so I am hopeful to see the grass again soon, if only for a little while.

Thank all of you ladies for your kind remarks about my writing. I am going to take your advise and seriously work on writing my first novel.

Wow Susan. What is your theme or plot? Do you have anything in the works already?

I was waiting to go through the box this weekend with my sister and brotherinlaw who loves to garden, but guess what...

She tells me she's been under the weather and things taste funny, she's been unusually tired... etc... so she took a test. I said omg you're pregnant! She said no, I have covid. Needless to say this bug has taken over our lives and has taken me for a spin. Long story longer her trip has been rescheduled, I will pull out some seeds for myself and the package will be on its way asap!

I chose my first substitute position tomorrow and I'm excited. I went with librarian! Have tons of soccer games and dinner parties this weekend. Busy busy.

Thanks for saying you will send the robin on its way, Urooj. So sorry your sister is sick. I hope she feels better soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Urooj prayers for your Sister.

Happy Valentine's Day ladies

Thanks for the well wishes guys. She's doing fine but still stuck at home... they were able to reschedule their flight so she will be visiting in 2 weeks.

Good news! The package is out and on its wayyyyyyy!!! I received an email with shipping and tracking info too! That's something new to me. The post office is on top of things these days! Just heading home from costco! People were buying flowers and gifts. It was nice to see everyone happy!

Good morning.

Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. We went out to dinner a little before five to beat the crowd and having to wait. I was surprised. It was a little busy before we left around six, but no crowd.

Jeanne, I can't believe you have daffodil's blooming already. And that looks like one of my favorites, Ice Follies. I haven't seen any buds on mine yet except the Ziva Paperwhites blooming inside. In fact, I don't think mine are even up yet. My in ground paperwhites usually bloom around Christmas, but didn't this year.

Urooj, sorry about your sister, but good that they rescheduled.

And congratulations on your substitute teaching position. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Hope you found some goodies that you wanted to keep in the package.

Here in Texas, Valentine's day is the date for cutting back roses and most things that need cutting back yearly. I was too busy running errands yesterday so maybe I will get some of it done today. Nice weather here both days. Maybe a little rain tomorrow.

Jeanne I received the swap box Tuesday and mailed it to you yesterday. Found some seed baggies, seed labels and seeds. Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for posting, Shirley. I'll let the group know when it arrives.

I received a beautiful Love Mug yesterday. I was thinking it must be the prize you were sending my way Jeanne, for the story I wrote with the bingo words. Thank you very much. It is so beautiful and I will cherish it always. It is Bone China, wonderful quality. So unexpected, and what a wonderful thoughtful prize!

Susan, it's not from me, but lovely nonetheless. I'm behind on getting my prizes out compared to when the games finished up, but it is still February with the swap being Jan. - Feb. so I will get there. Soon 4 of my 5 grandchildren have their birthdays within 4 days of each other so I've been focusing on that the past few days.

Have a good weekend.

What a great little mix up! Glad the package is on the move again. The month is almost wrapped up, I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.

Some sad news today, we are taking one of our kitties to the spca because she is not happy in our home. She tears up the carpet and pees on the furniture. She has some type of trauma that we just can figure out. I have tried the vet, the meds, the sprays and even bought thousands of dollars of new furniture but unfortunately it's just not working out for us. Headed to the spca in a little bit... then 3 kiddos have eye Dr's appts.

On a lighter note, my husband this to me today....

Have a great weekend everyone. Hope you guys get some planting done.

Forgot to update on my substitute teaching position... the kids loved me!

One day I was in High School Band, another day I was in Preschool. Both were equally fun but the preschoolers wanted more attention while the high schoolers clearly needed more attention. Next week I signed up for high school English. Wish me luck.

Well, the plot thickens...it seems I have a secret admirer. This is the stuff good romance novels are born from. I lead the most boring life too, so I am at a loss. I will let you know if I figure it out. My husband said he didn't send it and he is curious too. He is stepping up his game and taking me to dinner tonight though, which he hasn't done for awhile.

Sorry about your kitty Urooj. I know how hard that can be. We rescued a dog once and it didn't work out and it broke my heart but we took him to a place that shelters and rehomes animals and we even got pictures with him and his new owner and we felt better after that.

The round robin box has arrived back at my house. Wow, so many goodies and the seeds looked like they increased with every stop. I think OBF is having a seed swap later this year so I'll be sure to sign up and include some of these to share. Fortunately I went to buy potting soil today so I'll try to plant a few winter sowing jugs tomorrow. Total puzzle what will grow here and where I should put things. I'l try to take a picture of what was in the package when it came to me and post it. The mail got here extra late today and the box got left on the porch, so I found it when I was turning the porch light on as I do that every night since there are few streetlights and I know more lights equals great safety; however, I do feel very safe in this neighborhood.

Great to hear the box has reached its final destination. I agree jeanne, it got bigger and heavier as it made its way to the end.

Susan, I cried a lot yesterday but kept saying to myself she will find a home where she is happy. They said they will call me in a few days to see if I have changed my mind, they have to do that legally.

Susan, you're getting great ideas for you next novel :) presents from a secret admirer, dinner with hubby... can't wait to hear what comes next.

Off to take my little one to a soccer game. It's cold in 8a today... will be wearing my winter gear.

Here's the picture of what was in the box when it came back to me. Wow! Thank you to everyone for being so generous. I had collected very few seeds for the past 2 years so mine that I had on hand were getting quite old, but in addition to having some extras for myself now I will be able to sign up for more swaps since I have recent seeds to share. My younger daughter and the granddaughters like to garden as well as two of my grandsons so I will share some with them. If I can tell which seeds came from you, when I swap I will try not to send your own seeds back to you! I'm having fun looking at all the different types of seeds that were included. Nice items included for cards, small gifts, embellishments, recipes, etc. I hope those who participated had fun. I'll try to get the prizes sent out by the end of this week.

I'm going to try to start some winter sowing jugs so off to do that while there is still daylight.

Yay, glad the box made it back to you Jeanne, and filled with lots of goodies!

I can’t believe how quickly February is going. I will be the hostess for our March activity. We will be Marching Into Spring with a simple exchange and interactive activities.

Thank you so much for hosting Jeanne. I enjoyed participating and it gave me something to look forward to for spring.

Urooj! I am glad your teaching job is going well. Of course the students love you! What’s not to love? I wish you all the luck as you continue on this journey.

Thanks Susan. Yesterday was a fun day with the preschoolers. No school today! We have a snow day in zone 8a! Ice and freezing Temps. I hope the kids get to stay home tomorrow too, I do have an assignment with the high schoolers!

Glad the swap wrapped up early. With the weather being up and down it's heard to tell what tomorrow brings. I still need to start my seedlings and get a little happy every time it gets too cold because it buys me some time.

My friend from Chicago is sending me some rose of sharon seeds from her bush that had a mix of blue, purple and pink. It may take a while but I may just throw them in the back yard and see what happens. Here's hoping!

Happy Thursday everyone. Hang in there!

The girls made this bouquet for a neighborhood chalk contest. We didn't win but they had a great time making it and the neighbors loved it.

Urooj, the flower is beautiful.

There were a couple Rose of Sharon here when we moved in nearly 5 years ago. They spread like wild flower. We have trasplanted several seedlings around the property. Hopefully, your seeds will produce for you.

Just letting you know I have not mailed prizes yet. So sorry to be so slow. I've had things to deal with this week with both my house in SC and here. Most days there are just not enough hours for me to get caught up ... but eventually!

Jeanne don't worry about it, we all love receiving mysterious surprises in the mail so when it gets here it gets here. And in actuality the swap box had so many goodies there really no need.

Speaking of mysterious surprises, Susan any updates on the mug?

Margo, did they need to over winter? Our one plant came up by accident, we don't even know what we did but we did get the seeds from fotess. I had my landscaper cut it really short so I can manage it from the beginning. It came up close to the walk way so I need it to stay slim and trim.

Have a great weekend everyone. We are hosting a dinner party tonight so I've got to get cleaning.

Jeanne, thank you for hosting a fun swap.

Urooj, the girls did an awesome job on the flowers.

I have double purple and Red Heart ROS. Let me know if you need more seeds. Of course, it will be fall before I have more. I normally don't save seeds from Rose of Sharon or crape myrtle.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. Our ice is gone, but still cold outside. With our icy weather and my allergy issues, I'm just hanging out inside.

Jeanne. Thanks so much for hosting especially with your busy schedule. I enjoyed participating. No worries about prizes here either.

I did find out about the mug. It came from my coworker. I volunteered to work extra hours for two weeks on a special project that was usually done by our team lead but she was out with Covid and the other person that assisted had retired. So we took the lead to get it done and she sent me the mug out of gratitude for my help. She is the nicest person. I am fortunate to be part of a great team. It’s like working with family where I work and it was such a sweet and unanticipated gesture. She said she had wanted to send me flowers but with the prices and added delivery it would have been too costly. So she opted for the mug with flowers instead. She knows I am an avid gardener and it was a perfect and thoughtful gift.

I will be posting the March FOTESS activity soon.

Ruth, Susan and Urooj, I'll be sending the prizes from this swap tomorrow. Sorry to have been so delayed in getting them mailed.

Thanks for the cute prizes. So creative.

Thank you for the wonderful sachets. I love the scent. What a nice surprise Jeanne.