500th Post GiveAway! $75 worth of Awesome Vinyl Decals

I've made it to my 500th Post! Wow! I knew I was a "jabber jaws" LOL..but anyhow..now you all know it too. (ha)

Anyhow..to celebrate... I am giving away $75 worth of awesome vinyl decals that you can use to decorate your walls with, you can use them for art projects, or whatever suits your fancy.

------------------ To enter to win you'll need to visit http://www.wilsongraphics.etsy.com/ and come back here and leave me a comment letting me know which vinyl decals you would choose if you were to win the $75 worth of decals.

That will get your name in the hat once.

To have 3 entries in the hat leave me a comment and choose one of the images here to display on your blog with a link back here to the contest.

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Pretty easy really.

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So..take a peek over at

http://www.wilsongraphics.etsy.com/

and then stop back by here and let me know what you like.

The Winner will be announced here on July 16th.

So you have until July 15th to get your name in the hat.

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And thanks so much for having visited my blog.

~The Garden Goose!~

Awesome Apron Give Away..and more...

Wanted to let you all know about this super sweet give away over at my friend Susan's blog. http://www.notquitejunecleaver.com/

Susan will be giving away not one, but 2 darling aprons!...and as we all know by now..Aprons are IN! ...so get thyself hence over to my friend's blog...pronto..and join the fun..

..o.k., o.k...at least after you finish reading my ramblings..but..do get your name in the pot for the drawing though, and let her know Tina sent ya.:0)

Also..why not join in on Susan's "Friday Baking" event?

Or at least enjoy the wonderful recipes that she shares quite often..and let me tell you folks..her recent post wherein she shared a recipe for blueberry pie..oh be still my beating heart..that pie was so awesomely delish! You will definitely be missing out if you don't at least try that recipe. It was a winner here at our house, and in fact I have a hankering for some more of that pie soon too.

So..do stop by and visit with Susan and let her know that I sent you on over.:0)

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O.k. now..I am fast approaching my 500th post..and I will have something fun to offer in the way of a drawing soon.So..you'll want to stop back by real soon for that.

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I also have had a little bit of excitement going on here...

I have had one of my photos published in a national magazine!

Yes! ...I am really excited about that!

You will find a photo created by moi..on page 64 of the August/September 2009 issue of "Mary Jane's Farm"! The magazines are available at Books A Million, Barnes and Noble and also at some Tractor Supply stores.

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Also... I have had another one of my articles published in the July-August 2009 issue of "The Country Register" for the Nebraska region.

The article is about collecting vintage photos...

The newspaper type paper is available at specialty country and antique stores around the state...

"The Country Register" itself is a newspaper that is distributed across the U.s. and Canada and typically carried by antique specialty shops and country themed stores and specialty boutiques.

So it is rather exciting to see more of my work getting "out there".

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And....I have something else in the works....but..am busy working on it, and doing my research...when I have more of it completed I of course may let a bit more of the "cat out of the bag"...but suffice it to say..I'm having quite a lot of fun lately.

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That's the news from my little corner of the world.

I hope that you all are having a wonderful evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

~The Garden Goose!~

oh wow! Look at this Give Away! What fun!

O.k...without a doubt I would SOOOO love to win this! (see my left hand side bar/the link to the super cool bike) Madsen Cycles http://www.madsencycles.com/contest/
You can enter the contest too which is open until July 15th..to win one of these super cool cycles.
Oooh la-la! So..what are you waiting for? Get thyself hence over to the website pronto and sign up.
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Some flower seeds I have collected/For new gardens

Those who have been reading my blog for some time now know that I am a plant/flower nut..and..if you didn't know..you do now..ha.


Anyhow..I wanted to share with you some lovely flower/fruit seeds that I have in my personal seed bank that I hope to grow at a new home.You might find that these varieties are something you too may want to try in your gardens..now... I will admit not everything I will be growing will be heirloom varieties, but most will be...


I must admit that there are some hybrid varieties that I do have a hard time resisting, as they are just so very pretty too.So, yes sometimes I will be growing a few hybrids in my flower gardens, but for the most part I do try to find heirlooms, but listed below are some hybrid varieties with the exception of the fruit producers.(the passion vine and the pomegranate)


The really nice thing about seeds is that many varieties can be stored and saved for several years and they will still be viable. Things like melons, peppers and so forth can maintain their viability for up to 5 years or more. But anyhow..back to pretty flowers..here are some pretty flower seeds that are a part of my seed collection and that I am hoping, hoping, hoping that I will be able to start growing real soon.
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If you'd like some flower seeds like this stop by the online shop of ebay seller 55hoffman. That is where I found all of these varieties.
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I was able to find a unique("rare") passion flower vine seed called "Banana Passion Vine"
Aren't the flowers beautiful! And the great thing about this variety is that it produces fruit. I have a maypop/purple variety of passion vine that produces lots of flowers and lots of "volunteer" plants but I have yet to see any fruit on the vines..so I am excited to hopefully try growing something that has the potential to produce an edible fruit.
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Then I found seed for this real pretty sunflower called "Ruby Eclipse Sunflower"
These will grow up to 6 ft. tall .
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I had been wanting to find seeds for Pomegranate for a while and found seed for those.They are supposed to be relatively easy to grow..I hope so.

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And then I love cosmos..they come in so many colors and are such a cheery flower in the garden.I found this variety called "Summer Dreams Cosmos". Oh I think they are so very pretty.---------------

I like scabiosa(pincushion flowers) ..I find them rather fascinating in that they look like little ..well.. little pincushions full of pins..they are rather cute little flowers.I have grown the pale lavender variety before, but found these ones called "Summer Berries".
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And lastly..I found this cute variety of nasturtiums called "Papaya Cream"..now nasturtiums are an edible flower and can add a slight peppery taste to salads, or be used merely to add as a garnish to a plate.But..don't you think these would look so pretty tossed into a salad though? I do.
So...there you have it..some really pretty flower varieties..have I managed to get you to thinking about adding something new to your flower gardens?...ha.:0)
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Have a lovely day!
Thanks for stopping by!
~The Garden Goose~

Firework Photos and..coming up to my 500th post and a fantastic giveaway

Shhh..don't tell but erm, umm..one of my neighbors had some awesomely huge fireworks this year that they set off in the neighborhood...actually.. umm... a bit uhh ...."illegal" to do fireworks of that caliber around here without a permit, but...a great photo oppurtunity..only thing is ..fireworks are rather difficult to photograph... as you never know when they are going to light the fuse, and just how high up in the air you actually will need to focus, and more...so it is rather a challenge...at least for me..but I did manage to get a few decent photos tonight, and have posted them here for you all to enjoy also.
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Also..I am nearing my 500th post on here..wow! and with that of course I will "Have" to do an awesome giveaway!As I get closer to the 500th post I will announce the giveaway...you won't want to miss it.I think I have 5 or 6 more posts to do to get to 500...so not too much longer before we have a bit of Fun!, Fun!, Fun! here.

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Oh, and I am pleased to announce that..you will find some of my photography work on page 64 of the August/September 2009 issue of "Mary Jane's Farm" magazine. It is a photo of a girl in a pink floral apron holding an ear of corn..only the hands and apron and corn show. I'm excited to have my photo in a national magazine.:0)

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O.k. that's all for this evening. I hope that you all had a lovely day/evening today and have been enjoying a lovely weekend.Thanks for stopping by!

~The Garden Goose~

Happy 4th of July!

Wishing you all a lovely Holiday weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

~The Garden Goose~

Some more of my collectibles..and a recipe for you..

Sometimes I just can't stand myself..haha..because I just have this knack for finding some awesomely cool/fun and ..o.k. just really super cool things to decorate with...wow!

Guess I can trace that knack way back to when my mom used to drag us kids around to garage sales galore from as far back as I can remember(thanks Mom ..smiles)...now though I must admit etsy.com is my "online garage sale" site..and where I tend to find some of my coolest treasures at really inexpensive prices. Grant it though I still like to go to garage sales too..haven't given up on that....but...

I cannot wait until we have our new home..I have so many super cool things saved back...I mean really fun/cool things to decorate with.

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Here are some more of my cool and fun things:

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This is a super cute and fun glass.

It is to advertise the Automatic dishwasher!

-------this little cup reads: "Beware- Cold Germs

Germs Away With An Automatic Dishwasher"

The back of the glass has where you can write the name of the person that has a cold. How cute is that little bug with the hanky and thermometer??

Then I have this really cool wire peacock sculpture that is a foot tall by about 13 1/2 inches wide.

I think it is really pretty.

Ok..there you have a few "show and tell" items.:0)

Thanks for taking a "look-see" :0)

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Now for a fun recipe!

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Super Strawberry-Banana Shake

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2 cups sliced, frozen strawberries

2 large ripe bananas sliced and frozen

1 pint strawberry icecream

2 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

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Blend all together in a blender until smooth.

Makes 8 /1 cup servings. Yummy!

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... and yes..those strawberries were in a basket on my kitchen counter...they now are all in my freezer for days when I'd like a berry shake like the one above:0)

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Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by!

~The Garden Goose~