Whew!  What a Valentine’s Weekend it was.  Chucklebutt and I headed to Jerome for a decadent time of good food, good lodging, good shopping and good hiking — I finally got to play in some snow this season! We got back late Sunday night and Monday it was back to the same old crazy routine.  We’re both sorta stressed at the moment because we have mucho projects coming down on our heads.  In fact, today I played hookie so I could catch up on theatre “stuff.”  My kids have their first performance a month from today and we have yet to start blocking the script.  Yipes!!  I spent a good portion of the day writing and threw an occasional nap in here and there (never waste time when you could be taking a good nap — I learned that from my Daddy.)  Oh yeah!  And I broke my lap top last week.  Yeah, it was my fault.  That’s what happens when you continue to drop it.  Chuck and I headed to Best Buy on Monday to look at Net Books, but I’ve decided that I don’t like them.  The screens are too small.  I do a lot of word processing and stuff with pics (ie: blog and theatre) and want to be able to see what I’m doing.

So with all that said, I owe a huge apology to my dear swap partner Hayley.  We were supposed to post our pics on Sunday, but it was a bit like Armageddon at our house.  So, without much further ado, I present all the glorious, fun stuff that Hayley bequeathed to me.  😀

The first thing that I noticed about the box was it was heavy as all get out.  I couldn’t imagine what weighed so much.

Whose tail is that peeking out from my card?

EEEEP!  Is that a mermaid or doth my eyes deceive me?

It IS a mermaid!  I adore mermaids and I have no idea how Hayley knew this.

I love what she did with the box.  Hayley is a high school English teacher and I thought it was very fitting that she used words and pages from books to decorate my box.  Truly unique and it looks pretty time consuming!  I love the quotation and the netting behind it.

Ooooooh!  Check out those goodies!

Hayley filled the box full of great treasures. Vintage lace (my favorite), ephemera, boxes, buttons and various other whatnots.

This box rocks!  Clearly, Hayley and I are part of that special sisterhood that gets giddy about an old twine box.  ;D

She used various playing cards to accessorize the packaging — they were all from the suit of hearts.  Brilliant!

Isn’t this a great bridge tally card?  I love her bonnet.

This neat little wooden box was full of red beads.  I wonder who Stella was and what she needed from Riggs Optical Company.  Incidentally, one of the characters I’ve been working with all day is named Stella.  I just realized that now.  Weird eh?

This pitcher is perfect.  I am such a junky for a pretty creamer.  Thank you Hayley!  I can’t wait to put some cream or fresh cut flowers in it!

Hayley was also kind enough to fix my sweet tooth for the next two months.  Chuck has loved eating the sweet tarts and I have loved …

Happiness is black licorice!!  Luckily Chuck doesn’t like this so I don’t have to share.  I have to remember, however, that it turns my poop green.  TMI?  Perhaps.  But many times I thought I was dying from so crazy gastrointestinal disease.  Funny in retrospect, scary at the moment.

These guys are so precious I’m thinking about shellacking them.  Who could eat such a cute face?  Speaking of kitties, Hayley was generous enough to think of our girls — Scout and Daisy.  She packed some kitty treats and a monster has been created.  We’ve never given the girls kitty treats, but they have learned very quickly the sound of morsels rolling around in the can.  Scout is down right pushy when it comes to her “Pounce.”   I’ll have to take some video and post it later.

This little treasure I do believe is my favorite.  About a year ago, I discovered a whole slew of these bunny figurines in a Goodwill.  I have them in my china cabinet and they make me smile.  How in the world did Hayley know I like these?  I wonder if she has spies?  😀

Finally, I love these two little love birds.  They are simple but too sweet.  Thank you so much Hayley for all the fun stuff.  You were an awesome swap partner and I hope to  catch up with you on the web.  To see what I gave Hayley, check out her blog: Nesting Notions.