Dark days in New Zealand

Well, Ruth Ellen & I are coming to the end of a wonderful vacation in New Zealand, but we are sharing in the shock & sadness here as Christchurch suffered a devastating earthquake yesterday. All of our family here is safe & sound, but it's heartbreaking to watch helplessly as these folks desperately search for loved ones. I know there have been many of y'all have gotten in touch with the shop & Abby asking about us, & we thank you for your care. Please spare a moment for a prayer & thought for those folks who aren't as lucky as we are.

Greetings from New Zealand!

That's right, gang, it's hot here!  Can I EVEN tell you how happy that makes me???  Yes, it's warm, sunny, beautiful!  We have had a fantastic time so far.  We had birthday tea on Saturday, then big family tea (dinner) on Sunday.  On Monday we headed to Lake Taupo & it was glorious!  One of the gals that used to work with Carm at Habitat has moved there & bought a small hotel, so we stayed there - right on the shore of the BEAUTIFUL lakefront. It was stunning.  If you're ever here, you need to stay at Cascades.   Then we headed off to Wellington - love being in a city!!!  Again, on the water & gorgeous!  Mostly what we have done, though, is what we like to lovingly call "recreational eating".  Breakfast, then morning smoko (break), then lunch, afternoon smoko, then happy hour, then tea (dinner).  Yep, we're doing lots of weight-loss stuff here - NOT!  I have done zero stitching - too busy planning our next feeding. 
Molly has kept me updated on what's new & I was checking the new Hoffman stuff just like y'all! 
Well, my time is about up, so I should post this before I get cut off!
Talk again soon!
Beth 

Greetings from SUMMER!

Aaaahhhhh!  Ruthie & I arrived Friday AM in lovely, warm New Zealand!  Considering we spent about 24 hours flying, it went quite well - really like Southwest and really LOVE AirNewZealand (flew on a brand new plane!!).  We got in &, voila, it's summer!  Can't tell ya how happy I am about that!  So I send greetings in the season on shorts & T-shirts (enjoy that 60 degrees - it's in the 80's here - no YakTraks necessary!).  I saw Molly's blog & the new goodies from Cricket - love the new beach design! 
Hope everyone is enjoying their Super Bowl goodies - only a few days until Spring Training starts!  Woohoo!

Cheers ~
Beth

SUPER Day!

What a day! We had such a blast seeing so many friends today! Thanks for being there with us, thanks for hanging in there with us when we had technical difficulties (only happens when it's busy!),and most of all thanks for just being who you are! Whether we get to see you every week, or only "see" you over the Internet, we really do love seeing all y'all! Just a couple shout outs - Danielle & Danielle, loved seeing the newest picture of Colin, Melba thanks for bringing Amiga in - she is cuter than cute & you can already tell how much she loves you, and Page you're just the best - you always make us smile (especially on TV!).
I've got to sign off & go to sleep, so I can get up bright & early tomorrow & get to the shop & fill orders (& order MORE STUFF!). Oh, that reminds me, we got a message that we CAN still get the heirloom tomatoes pincushions & the needle leaves needle books (a secret stash was found - YAY!), so if anyone wants to add those to their order, just let us know!
I'm gonna get Molly to show me how to add pictures to this tomorrow (Maggie, thanks for the word about the camera thing, got it but haven't been able to get from iPad to here yet.)

Congratulations Green Bay! Molly will be a happy camper tomorrow! Now it's time for BASEBALL!

Super Bowl Sunday fast approaches

We have been CRAZED at the shop this week! I'd like to say i'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, but instead I'm gonna go with "crazy". of course, the big event is our annual Super Bowl sale at The Strawberry Sampler on Sunday from noon to 4; 2 basketball games & baseball throwing clinic; dinner with Carol (yay!); and OH YEAH pack for my trip! Yikes. Oh well, it's a long flight - I can catch up on my sleep after enjoying a few glasses of superb New Zealand wine, a lovely dinner (no pretzels or peanuts), a movie or two and my good friend ambien! Carm has continued to reinforce the fact that we need NO HEAVY CLOTHES. Which is great, except now I gotta go down to the pool house(no easy feat,as the snow is still piled up against the gate), and try to find a bathing suit that A. Fits (hahahahahahahahah) and B. Isn't frozen solid..aah well, I suspect I'll survive.
I'm finally getting close enough to get excited! New Zealand is beautiful, the people are fantastic, particularly our family!
We'll arrive just in time for Carm's birthday bash (perhaps a red velvet cake would be in order!). Then we'll head south from Hamilton towards the Capitol of Wellington. And we'll be driving....on the left. Every time I drive over there, I continually hear that Beyonce song in my head,"to the left, to the left". This should provide for some interesting discussions between Mom (Carm's way older - 18yrs -sister) and Carm and probably me! Ah, well, we'll just stop for some wedges and some hokey pokey ice cream and it's all good

Still trying to figure out how to transfer pics onto my iPad but soon, I promise.

Well, I am off to spend some quality time with my best girl, Casee, who I will miss terribly.

Hope to see y'all at the Super Bowl Sale on Sunday!!!

The next adventure!

Well, it's finally happened - I've been tempted by the blog bug! I blame Molly, of course! She makes it look so fun & EASY...and yet, it's not! However, as I've decided not to drag my computer to New Zealand, I can blog on my iPad while Molly keeps you up to date on what's new at the shop. Just when you thought you'd get 2 weeks without my yip-yap...but no! So, we'll see.
Now, on to the real reason I'm not taking my computer (aside from the fact that I'm going on vacation). It weighs too much! Remember the good old days, when you could check 5 bags if you wanted to, and anyone could stroll down to the gate to meet you, and you got AN ENTIRE CAN of soda? Yeah, well if you do, I've got bad news: you're old! So, with only 1 checked bag allowed, it was computer or shoes...what would you pick? My new "toy" (my iPad), has already become an addiction, although I have yet to discover the fascination of "Angry Birds" (ask a kid...or my sister...it's the "in" new computer game). However, during my 24 hours of plane rides, I'm sure anything will start to look good!
Wondering what's the story behind the name of this blog? No? Sorry, I'll tell ya anyway! My initials are BED (thanks, Mom - hers are RED!), and the linens part, obviously, comes from stitching - thus, BEDlinens!
Well, it's time to check the weather again, and I hate to push my luck here, so I'll sign off with a promise of pictures & goodies to come!