SOV 2011 - Where Should We Go?

Oh, yea!!  After no sister trip last year, we are in the very beginning stage of planning where to go next year. 
We'll, we've had 1 suggestion - New Orleans.

Have you been?
What did you think?
When is a good time of year to go?
What should we not miss?
What should we not see?

Ning?

So, my sisters and I usually use Yahoo Instant Messenger to chat. As I mentioned a few posts back, we've been having problems using that. It seems that at least one of us either can't log on or can't see everyone else that is logged in. Frustrating!

So, one of my Etsy teams is trying out Ning...and I thought to myself "I wonder if this will work for my sisters?"

What do you think?

Do you have an experience with Ning?

Do you find it to be easy for the techno-challenged to use?

Can you make it private so only certain people can see it?

This was taken on our first ever SOV (Sisters On Vacation) vacation...and that's my nephew, who was an honorary "SOV-er!

the things I do for my sisters...

So, in a previous post, I'm sure I mentioned that my 2 sisters who lived in Michigan have now moved to Texas. It's at this time of the year I really miss them. We would always do a couple of craft shows together - that's so much more fun than either going alone or dragging my 5 year old son with me!

One of those sisters had a Christmas tradition of making handmade chocolates...turtles, chocolate covered cherries, peanut butter snowballs (my recipe for this one actually!), and many many others. Well, there's a local shop she get her top quality chocolate from. Guess what? She cannot find a supplier in her new hometown in Texas! So, who does she email for help? yup...me!

So, I ran out on my lunch hour, picked up 12 pounds of chocolate (8 for her & 4 for me). The next day I stopped by the post office to pick up one of those flat rate shipping boxes. Took it back to work to pack up. Stopped again after work to mail it. Was told the shipping would be over $17! Seems I picked up the wrong box. Remember, this is at the post office. I ask the guy, this isn't a flat rate box? He was great - he pointed out where they were...he peeled of the address label with tearing it and then put it on the next box...he opened up the wrong box and helped me slide everything (including shredded paper for packing) into the new box...and then he wrote "perishable" in it and put tape around it. He was great!

So sis...your chocolate in on the way!

Yahoo Instant Messenger

can be our best friend...or a most frustrating friend. As I've said, we're 5 sisters who are now spread out over 3 states. Yes, I'm the neglected one who is all along in the state we all grew up in...there are 2 sisters in Florida and the last 2 sisters now live in Texas (quite close to each other). So, one thing we've done since that last of us broke down and bought a home computer is to get online once in a while and all chat together. It does get confusing...

For example, we picked last night to chat. These days we have to be specific - and not only say the time but the time zone! Anyway...we are currently using Yahoo Messenger. But it seems lately that every time we try to chat, at least one of us has a problem! Last night, we were not able to invite sister #2...she kept signing in & out. We could see that. When we would try to invite her, she'd be unavailable. She finally had her son help her update Messenger. And that worked - we could invite her. However, her & I could not see each other's posts. So, we started over. Then, she would have these great long delays where she sees nothing...and then get everything at once. Weird...

So, please... we need some suggestions! Do any of you do private chatting? We need to try something new, but it need to be simple as um, some of us are more tech challenged than others.

Please share suggestions in your comments!

Many many thanks from all of us sisters.

Sisters...

I love mine!

and it's the time of year to make them some presents...of course, I can't tell you all here what I'm making this year as they could see it and it would spoil the surprise!
I will hint...I'm taking something we all had made a few years ago...and reformatting it.

Confused? I sure hope so.

This just made me laugh!

So, I'm out today doing a bit of shopping at Toys R Us. I got a $10 off coupons to use so why not? So, I've got a few things but need some more to reach that $100 purchase before the coupon kicks in. So, I pull out my cell phone and give my sister Jodie a call to see what my niece would like for Christmas. Well, the phone is answered so I say "hi Jodie". The voice on the other end tells me "Jodie is gone and this is her sister". So I say, "oh, this is her sister too". And the voice says "Hi Letty". And I laugh and say, "No, it's not Letty" and she finally knows the voice.

Do you think we all sound alike?