The Bears and *katie's spring giveaway* winner

well, i learned a new word this weekend. i was leaving a tweet which said:

needing a sunshine fix, a surf fix, a sandy fix, a sunshine mountain fix. beautiful friends are staying the weekend - a kid count of 14 here

and my friend Laura (who's about ten years older than i am and about, oh, thirty years wiser; and uses words i've never heard before like "passel" and i use small uncompliKATEd words like, "How about lunch?" and "Help yourself, Pooh!" - guess the movie line) asked:

Kid count of 14! Wow! What are you feeding that passel of kids?

at which point i realised *HOMESKOOLING MOTHER ALERT!* cos 4 + 8 = 12 *duh*...

that is truly a passel of kids.

and these are our dear friends affectionately known as Mama and Fada Bear, (um... don't bother, we've all heard ALL the "*snort* Don't ya have a television?" etc jokes) and they are all off on a global trip. together. for a year. here. i'll say that again: Ten Bears plus Grandpa are off on a world trip. here.

so this was our last weekend together. we climbed mountains, saw a newborn sheep, ate a lot of food, played, chatted, sang and danced (well i did), watched a movie, read books aloud to each other (yeah, we're eccentric eduKATEd), and thoroughly enjoyed that passel of kiddos...

and wouldn't ya know it>>> a couple of that passel of kids got a rush of blood to their heads and CLEANED OUT OUR GARAGE... AND THE LINEN CUPBOARD!!!!!!!!! wowza. i *love* you girls.

which means that katie's *intriKATE spring giveaway* is finally announced:
courtesy of a very mathsy random number generator:
*blow me down with a feather*
#19 the rather talented Mrs. G.
(i know, i have stage fright. i wanted to re-randomise the draw, but my conscience elbowed me in the ribs)
please email me and Woozie's sewing machine shall work some magic and make a tote for your very own self. or maybe Mrs. G. needs some of her own apron strings? X