EBX Round-Up

 Alright.  For all you lurkers, who have waffled for years whether to join the Easter basket exchange, or for those that meant to but didn't, or even for those who did, here's a look at all the fun, love, and happiness it brought.

Easter morning, 2012.  Twenty-three women, mostly strangers to each other, sliced, ripped and tore into Easter care packages made just for them.  Customized to interests, tastes, allergies, location, and lifestyle, each basket brought giggles, smiles, and, in some cases, squeals to its recipient.  Which was exactly what it was supposed to do.  Here are just a few pictures of the happy faces and decadent fillings this year's Easter basket exchange brought, interspersed with quotes some of the women emailed me.

Michelle in Virginia

It was a fabulous basket.

Thank you for letting me participate in your Easter basket exchange, it made the day really special.  Heidi sent a perfectly lovely basket from Michigan, full of things that corresponded to my answers to your questionnaire. and including some wonderful chocolate, much in the shape of bunnies almost too cute to bite.  (Almost.)  
She must be an artist, it was like Ireland:  a hundred shades of green!

Cathy in Arizona

Kari, you have an amazing friend! This box is so perfect-- she shops so well for teachers-- cute hand sanitizer and pens, paper-- and have me tantalizing chocolate loves and a book to boot!

And I do believe that these Cake Bites are from the "Sweet Tooth Fairy Shop," which I happened to discover my last year at BYU and I know that these bites were featured on the Rachel Ray show.

Wow! What a perfect package to come home to! Sending her a thank-you is going to be superlative.

Celeste in Virginia

Tona in Massachusetts

All my favorite jellybeans and a wasabi ginger sesame dark choc bar (!!). Please note that my new nail polish is the EXACT shade of the blouse I wore on Sunday!! Cool gourmet salt and bath goodies, too. And car fresheners, yay!

Brooklyn in Utah

Thanks again!  I will definitely be doing this again next year!

Felicia in Virginia

Thanks for asking me to be apart of the Easter basket exchange!  I had a great time picking out things to send and was so excited to get my box in the mail.

Heidi in Michigan

Thanks again for organizing the EBX! I love participating every year.

Cherry in New York

I have to tell you I am glad I joined EBX this year, you assigned me to a very caring and charitable stranger! I love the basket she prepared and the letter she wrote.  I was so touched!

Jenny in South Carolina

Colleen in Virginia

This was so much fun!

Mia in Tennessee

I do love surprises and I loved this one. 

Katy in Maryland

Barbara in Georgia

The basket was AWESOME. I loved it. And I loved all the little notes and the nice card. You were so thoughtful in thinking about my life and what I need (or want!) right now.

Melanie in Oklahoma

Sydney in West Virginia 

Love my basket!

Emily in New York

Katy sent me this awesome basket with a plethora of awesome chocolate and a sweet charm for a necklace and even a reusable shopping bag for a basket.  It was great to participate again--thanks for organizing it!

Vanessa in Virginia

What fun the Easter basket exchange was!   I am in for next year.

And here's me, with my "SPRING BLING"-themed package (notice my rings and earrings, all part of the BLING.)

And since I can, here are some more detailed pics of my Easter basket contents.  Truly astounding and fabulous!

What is Speculoos, you ask?  She put a note about it saying she has no idea, but she bought it on a trip to New York and thought I would know what to do with it.  Then, at the next Dessert Club meeting, someone showed up with a Speculoos crust cheesecake!  It's a caramelized gingergread cookie spread, in the same family as peanut butter and Nutella. Belgian. Amazing.

And two homemade CD's - I had mentioned how badly I need new music - one is a mix of music that makes her happy, and one is Adele - I must be the only person on earth who still didn't have her CD.

I love getting music in my Easter basket - I request a homemade mix almost every year and usually get it.  I love hearing what other people like.

I also love every freaking thing I got in my package this year.  Those bar towels are awesome.  I got called "bling-y" at church at least three times, sporting my new rings, earrings and Vera Wang spring flips, a compliment I badly needed after a long drab winter.  I am carefully pacing (= hoarding) my chocolate, and some fancy sandals was JUST what the Easter bunny ordered.  I did think it was strange to get a text asking my shoe size, but I didn't question.  You don't question the EBX.  You just surrender to it.

6th Annual Easter Basket Exchange

 

OK, ladies!  It is already that time again.  I guess it has been a whole year, but I'm still enjoying some of the fun things from my basket (the bling!), so it doesn't actually seem that long ago.  But Easter is in March this year, so we need to get on this!

The Short:  If you know how it all works, everything is the same.  Deadline to enter the exchange is Saturday, March 2 at midnight.  I will send out assignments that Sunday or Monday.  Enter by leaving comment here with your email address (if I don't have it), or email me directly at kyounc[at]yahoo[dot]com.

The Long:  If you are new to my blog, or the Easter Basket Exchange (EBX), this is something we've been doing for many years.  It began with women who put a lot of love into Easter baskets for their families, but never quite got the same treatment themselves.  The EBX is for anyone who wants to both create and receive something extra special for Easter.

Who Can Participate

1. You do not have to be a mother, married, female or Christian. You can fit pretty much any demographic as long as you qualify under #2 and #3. You can even be one of the poor unfortunates who knew about the exchange in past years and chose not to participate.

2. But you do have to live in the continental U.S. or have an APO address.

3.  I don't have to know you personally, but if I don't, please just email me a little about yourself so I can feel like you're a real person who won't flake out.  If I do know you already, all the better.

How It Works

1. Leave a comment to this post or email me directly (kyounc at yahoo dot com) to say you want to participate. Make sure I have your email address!!! The deadline to sign up is Saturday, March 2, which gives you almost two weeks to sign up (but don't wait!), three weeks to put your basket together, and a week to get it mailed.

2. I'll email you a questionnaire to fill out; this will be forwarded to your giver to give her a little info and direction. Around March 3 I will make the assignments and you can get started on your basket!

3. Based on your person's questionnaire answers, and your own awesomeness, put together the funnest, coolest, most amazing Easter basket ever for her. Make it her (or your) dream basket. Spending guideline is $30, not including shipping. The one requirement for everyone is that you must include quality chocolate, and I mean good quality chocolate. Other than that, run with it.

4. Put your basket/package together and mail it to your person so s/he will receive it by Easter. Please ship Priority Mail - this will insure it arriving within a week. I usually like to use a flat rate box, available in various sizes from the post office, so I'm not limited by weight.

5. Wake up Easter morning and have an awesome time opening your package! Email me a picture for the blog, and send your sender a thank you card.

That's it! Post a comment (with your email address) or shoot me an email to get started!

Check out our baskets from past years!
2012
2010
2009
2008

The Great Exchange

What can I say? The Easter Basket Exchange was a rip-roaring success. My basket arrived on Monday but I was very disciplined and waited until this morning for the great satisfaction of getting an awesome Easter basket I didn't make, and opening it in my pajamas.

Mine came from my friend Melanie who I roomed with in the BYU Spanish House and traveled to Mexico and cross country with, but we haven't seen each other in many years. Nonetheless I know her to be fabulous and I was not disappointed. My basket included several kinds of awesome chocolate, a springy shade of nail polish, Mel's favorite lip gloss, a cool make-up case, handmade card set, an Easter dish towel, an actual basket, and an amazing handmade apron! Here are some of the other baskets that got passed around:

(I am still receiving pictures by email and will put them in the slide show as I get them.)

But it was equally about the baskets we gave as the baskets we got, wasn't it? I was collecting things for mine long before the names were assigned, and even before I wrote the original blog post announcing the exchange. At one point I had way over $25 worth of things I wanted to include (and I know I'm not the only one!), and worked very hard to pare it down, often laying things out, admiring, rearranging, etc...and I know I'm not the only one who did that, either! I did end up making small Easter baskets for my family, but my basket for the exchange was by far more fun and satisfying, making the whole experience more than worth it to me.

As the exchange "administrator" I had all the fun of hearing the cool and funny stories everyone had in the process. There was Tamara in NY who went to Enrichment one night where a girl in her ward came up and said, "My sister-in-law (Mia) in Tennessee has you for an Easter Basket Exchange!" There was Cherry in my ward who chased me down the hall at church to breathlessly gush over her new friend Jen in Colorado and how much they have in common, including the same birthday. There were several who emailed their giftee detailed surveys in order to perfectly personalize a dream basket. Everyone's emails to me seemed to carry a slightly giddy tone. And there was me, who excitedly unearthed my beading supplies to make Katy several pairs of earrings, only to discover she happens to have "crazy mad healing powers" and her pierced ears have closed up...thrice.

I hope everyone who participated will leave a note here, mentioning something about the experience and maybe the favorite things she got or gave. I hope everyone got as much enjoyment out of this as I did.

And I hope to see you all, and maybe more, back here next year for:

EBX '09!

4th Annual Easter Basket Exchange

It's that time again. I know it usually seems like the year has flown by, but this time, at least for me, it has been a looong year. And I'm ready for a great EBX.

A brief history: The last three years on DMTotW we did an Easter basket exchange because the truth is most husbands (or other loved ones) cannot be relied upon to do justice to the best candy holiday of the year. Not only do they stink at making, or remembering, or caring about, baskets; they also don't always appreciate the painstaking measures we go to to put together something awesome for them. So here we have the chance for a satisfying get-and-give basket experience

Who Can Participate

1. As with last year, you do not have to be a mother, married, female or Christian. You can fit pretty much any demographic as long as you qualify under #2 and #3. You can even be one of the poor unfortunates who knew about the exchange in past years and chose not to participate.

2. But you do have to live in the continental U.S. or have an APO address.

3. And I do have to know you personally or be connected to you through someone, somehow (like you are a friend/relative of my friend/relative. Or you know my kid's preschool teacher's neighbor's realtor. Or you love Johnny Depp. Or Mark Wahlberg.) Just include in your comment or email how I'm supposed to know you.

How It Works

Things will go similar to last year, with a few changes.

1. Leave a comment to this post or email me directly (kyounc at yahoo dot com) to say you want to participate. Make sure I have your email address!!! The deadline to sign up is Wednesday, March 30, which gives you plenty of time to sign up, two and a half weeks to put your basket together, and a week to get it to the recipient.

2. I'll email you a questionnaire to fill out; this will be forwarded to your giver to give her a little info and direction. On March 31 I will make the assignments and you can get started on your basket!

3. Based on your person's questionnaire answers, and your own awesomeness, put together the funnest, coolest, most amazing Easter basket ever for her. Make it her (or your) dream basket. Spending cap is $30, not including shipping. The one requirement for everyone is that you must include quality chocolate, and I mean good quality chocolate. Other than that, run with it.

4. Put your basket/package together and mail it to your person so s/he will receive it by Easter. Please ship Priority Mail - this will insure it arriving within a week. I usually like to use a flat rate box, available in various sizes from the post office, so I'm not limited by weight.

5. Wake up Easter morning and have an awesome time opening your package! Email me a picture for the blog, and send your sender a thank you card.

That's it! Post a comment (with your email address) or shoot me an email to get started!

Nesting

I've been frantically coming up with, and starting, projects. The closer the due date gets, the more projects I think of. Gotta do this, oh I should do that. As if my life is going to come to a complete halt for at least a year starting April 23. Which may not be exactly true, but not far from it, either.

My cousin Aaron has been staying with us temporarily, and when he got home the other night he was kind enough to sit and listen to me rant and rattle off all the stuff I "need to get done," as I worked on one of the new quilts for the girls' room. As the oldest of eleven children, and a father of one, he smiled and said, "Yeah, I didn't use to believe that nesting was a real phenomenon, until I saw it firsthand when Katy (his wife) was pregnant. She did so much sorting, cleaning out and reorganizing - there was no other explanation." I stared at him. Nesting. I never even thought of that.

Sure, I know about it. I'm sure I've done it before. But when I had Hazel we moved 3 months before, and 3 months after, she was born, so I never noticed the difference between nesting and packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking. With Ginger, it's hard to remember. Everything from that time is hard to remember. Plus we moved during that pregnancy, too, to have room for her. More packing and unpacking.

But since I am happy to blame as much as possible on pregnancy (weight gain, heartburn, swollen ankles, poor sleep, cravings, forgetfulness, exhaustion, confusion, stuffy nose, etc.), I much prefer "nesting" to "totally unnecessary and unrealistic frantic mania," which is what I thought I had. What a relief.

So here's to nesting. That makes it OK to have a million things to do, mostly self-imposed. Here are just a few on the list this week:

• Finish quilts for girls' room (we got them bunk beds and fixed up the room a little - it will get its own post when everything is done)
  
• Finish Hazel's skirt I started sewing weeks ago
  
• Make 3 pairs of summer capris for Hazel (I have the fabric and pattern - now that she is in big girl sizes I hate almost all the clothes in stores)
  
• Make Ginger's baby book (if I don't do it now, will she ever get one?)
  
• Have my friend Julia come over and show me how to make her awesome peanut butter rice krispy treats since I can't get them right on my own
  
• Get way ahead on VGP posts
  
• Gather things for girls' Easter baskets, EBX basket, and surprise bags for while I'm in the hospital
  
• Finish consulting with Mom on the new baby's quilt
  
• Clean: all the bathrooms, master bedroom, stairs, doors, walls, all the floors
  
• Find and buy a great changing table/dresser from Craigslist
  
• Do all of Ginger's preschool paperwork
  
• Do all of Hazel's kindergarten paperwork
  
• Sign girls up for summer swimming lessons
  
• Plan and send invitations for Hazel's birthday party
  
• Attack pile of mending on my sewing table
  
• Write that children's book I've been thinking about
  
• Go through a huge stack of magazines I want to read before recycling
  
• Continue to harass the county about zoning our block for parking
  
• Make my 2008 and 2009 blog books
  
• Make a "Crazy Box" (an idea I've been working on - will tell more in a post someday)
• Make freezer meals and collect super-fast 20-minute recipes
  

And of course blog about at least half of the above.

A few things I've already done:

• Sort baby 0-6 month clothes
• Make one skirt for Hazel
  
• Sign the girls up for 1 week of summer camp
  
• Made - and devoured - a bunch of chocolate milkshakes
  
• Cleaned the office
  
• Got the girls' bunk beds set up, and a new rug for their room
  
• Finished VGP 2009 cookbook
• Pre-registered at the hospital
  

And then there's the regular stuff that must be done every day, like cooking, cleaning, FHE, seizing teaching moments, modeling perfect patience, limiting kids' TV time, reading stories, teaching Hazel to read, giving baths, doctor appointments, watching what I eat, visiting teaching, mailing the tax forms, teaching Peewees, reading parenting books, and keeping everyone happy.

I'm not overwhlemed. I'm nesting.

5th Annual Easter Basket Exchange

 Hot dog!  It is already time for EBX!

Deadline to sign up is Saturday, March 10.  I will get the assignments out as soon as possible after that so you have almost a month to put them together and mail them.  Easter is April 8.  Leave a comment here or email me to get in on the action.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about - confused, yet...intrigued - see here for all the info.  Pretty much same rules apply.