GIVE AWAY ENDING SUNDAY NIGHT & MY LEXMARK PRINTER

Since I am not getting a lot of intrest in this give away I will be ending it Sunday night and will draw a name from the ones that left a comment.
The other news is about my Lexmark printer that I just loved.
My printer (Lexmark) that I really loved quit when we lived in AL.....I took it up North when I went up in Oct (along with my computer) and my son finally got around to checking it out and why it quit.
He said he tried to put a piece of copy paper in it and it wouldn't go throough and when he pulled it out it was full of red dirt which tells me I was right about why it quit working. Same thing happened to our 2 T V's...took the back off and they were thick with dust. I have never had that problem anywhere I lived before and it also means I was right about the registers in the house there & they were blowing dirt out. I am still trying to get that dirt off a lot of my items I had on shelves and in bookcase.
I replaced it with a Kodak printer and I do not like it at all..I can't find a Lexmark any where and my son said he thinks Dell bought them out.
We could have gone on 2 cruises with the money we spent to move down there plus the cost of the printer and 2 T V's..
I now have the best landlord ever. He sprayed all around the house to make sure we don't have any bugs coming in plus he had the septic pumped and had a furnace man come and clean out all the duct work from furnace. ( they are already starting working on putting city water in this area.
He also has a spot plowed for us that he plowed up in October and will Plow , cultivate and spread fertalizer again right when it is time for us to plant a garden.
I am really looking forward to planting a garden here and know it won't all get eaten by rats.
(We lost over $400.00 on a garden last year and ended up with a few bags of peas and some radishes)
I may have to think of a way to keep the deer and bunnies out of it but maybe having 4 dogs will help.
We also need to get a fence put up for the 2 big huge pups so they can have a little more freedom. We decided that it will definately have to be 6 ft high.
The House is really a little smaller than we would like but we just keep rearranging furniture to get it the way we like it
I am still busy cutting squares to make quilts for the kids and grandkids next winter. It is a good pass time now when it is to cold to go out and work in the yard.
Guess I better get back to my cutting and sewing.

3 LITTLE KITTENS AND A GIVE AWAY

Go to Progresso soup on face book for a chance to win a trip to NY for a complete makeover

http://www.facebook.com/Progresso?v=app_

I am hosting a give away sponsered by Progresso Soup through My Blogspark...The winner will receive a VIP coupon for a free can of Progresso soup, as well as a yoga mat, water bottle, set of aerobic bands, sport headband and two sport wristbandsTo enter you must leave a comment about what you like about Progresso soup and how you have used it in a recipe. You must be a follower of my blog and post a link to my give away if you have a blog

I will pick a winner as soon as I have reached 100 followers so spread the word and I will have my husband pick a name when 100 followers are reached A dear friend Gina from catnap inn http://catnapinnprimitives.blogspot.com/ embroidered some names for me at Christmas so I could add them on 3 Cat beds I made for my Daughter...we have been very patient waiting for her stubborn kitty "Daisy" to lay on her bed but she refuses but Mia was a good kitty and laid on hers so Nellie could take a picture (and those of you that have been following the reports on Mia ...she is hanging in there and Nellie has to give her a shot every night (is actually a drip bag)...she is a fighter :)

Lucky was a good kitty and laid on her bed so Nellie could take a picture
This is Mia's bed before she laid on it for a picture..I made hers Green /Grey in a plush type fabric so you could see her laying on it

This is Lucky's and it is a dark green soft plush fabric and I was told she likes it a lot

This is Daisys and it is a bright yellow fleece since she is mostly black..she uses whichever bed she chooses ...I guess she can't read LOL

And this is naughty little Daisy laying on her Moms fleece blanket. Maybe some day she will lay on her own bed long enough for Nellie to take a picture

Thank you Gina for making the names for me to make Nellies gift extra special.. Maybe some day Nellie can teach them which bed belongs to each of them

COVERED BRIDGE AND OTHER INTERESTING SITES

This is the "THOMPSON MILL COVERED BRIDGE IN COWDEN,IL We decided to take a different route home from Shelbyville today and saw the sign we had seen many times saying "Covered Bridge" so we just kept following the signs and HORRAY..we finally found it. It is one of the local attractions in our area so we were happy to finally get to see it

The Thompson Mill Covered Bridge was built in 1868 to span the Kaskaskia river. The road the Bridge is located on was an important route between Effingham and Springfiels,IL

The 157 foot Bridge is one of only five covered bridges remaining in Illinois. It is the narrowest out of those bridges, with a width of only 10 feet and 7 inches.

Although traffic is no longer allowed on the Bridge you can still drive up to see how the bridge was built and admire the natural setting. It is located 4 miles East of Cowden. You will see signs on rt 128 in Cowden

Then we cut through the very small town of Fancher which is about 2 miles up the road from us.

This building just caught our intrest so we decided to stop and take a few pictures. The owner of the building just happened to ride by and stopped and while chatting he invited us to see the inside

I just Loved this old Howdy Doody Doll and there was so much to see that it was hard to take it all in

This knife he showed us was hand made and a real treasure for any knife collector

A little hard to see this OLD car and it wasn't just made from metal...he said it was made from tin.a really neat car for any collector of OLD cars

These cars on a shelf near the back aren't just cars...They are empty Whiskey bottles and we all know how collectible they are.

This building is for sale and really has Billys wheels churning..what a great deal this would be for 2 retired seniors that love all the OLD STUFF

I just couldn't help but take a picture of this sign in someones yard since all my Son's are "FORD" lovers

MY VACATION IN CHICAGO WITH DAUGHTER

This is a rather long post with lots of Pictures from my trip to Chicago in Oct. Nellie uploaded them but I couldn't find them until yesterday so I thought I would just go ahead and share tonight. This was inside the HUGE Hershey store..For $10.00 you could buy a bucket and then candy would come out and you could fill your bucket with Hershey candy.
Somehow this first picture jumped to the top and I don't know how to fix it so maybe you can figure it out and know it should be by the comment about the garden :) Sorry about that...blogging can be very aggrivating sometimes
This was taken when we were going to cross the street in downtown Chicago...you couldn't pay me to drive in this traffic

This is a Huge Leggo thing just on one of the sidewalks..I thought it was pretty cool and different

Just some of the buildings lit up at night..what an awesome sight

This is the sign in the window of Garrett popcorn store

This is the line waiting to get in and buy some popcorn. Nellie said sometimes it is even longer. They have every kind of popcorn you could think of.

This is Michigan avenue at night...Chicago's Magnificent Mile

This is the Looking Glass Theatre..Lots of good shows here..a very busy theatre
This is just one of the MANY Buses we rode..Seemed like we were constantly getting on a bus to go see or do something

Check out the OLD style drinking fountain

This is a Candy Store called "Margies" They also serve Ice Cream and food. The original one opened in 1919..this was one of the new branches close to where Nellie lives.

We each ordered an egg salad sandwich (and it was on huge sourdough bread) plus a cup of soup and some chips

Then for dessert we ordered a Hot Fudge Sunday and asked for 2 spoons so we could split it...even had a little pitcher of the hot fudge that you could pour on it yourself

The 2 of us couldn't even eat it all plus I took 1/2 of my sandwich home to eat later :)

We took this picture from down by Lake Michigan looking back at the city :)

We walked through this tunnel to get to the lake...no crossing busy roads

There was a lady sitting on a park bench reading a book and had her little dog with her and had just taken her dog for a swim at the beach

This is a special part of the beach where only dogs are allowed..they can go swimming or play ball and have a fun day with other dogs they meet.

I don't know why but I did feel a little sorry for the horses that pulled the buggys and carriages with people wanting to go sight seeing

They did have a variety of carriages..This is just 1 of them

It would take you on a 1/2 mile trip and the cost was $40.00 for 1/2 hour.just a bit to expensive I think but not bad if there is 4 or more in your group and you split the fee. I wanted to save my money to go to a lot of the thrift stores they had everywhere

The last day I was there I finally found a thrift store that did have a lot of neat things I just had to have and of course we had to take a cab back to Nellies apt.

I don't think I will be driving back up North by myself again...took me 5 hrs and 20 minutes to drive to my sons house...then I went to my sisters and spent the night and took the train for a quick trip from the suburbs to Chicago. I had a lot of fun with Nellie and spent 3 days with her and then back to the suburbs and visited some of my other kids and a friend...then there was the long ride back home by myself..another 5+ hours. When I go again I will take the Amtrack and just enjoy the 3 or 4 hour ride with a book or a nap or just look out the window at the scenery.

Thank you for visiting my blog and it does make me happy to know you stopped by so I would love having a comment from you. I see where my visitors come from and even know who some of you are and wonder why you don't leave a comment and let me know what you think..Maybe my posts are just to boaring...Till next time..Have a great 2011

Opps..almost forgot to show you one of the nice planters on the sidewalk..Looked so pretty..especially near the end of October

Busy Busy Busy

I have started on some gifts for Christmas 2011 but decided that first I am going to make the quilt for our Master BR...I have put it off for about 2 years and just decided it was time..I have cut 360 squares and they will be in stack of 3 and will be raggy style quilt..I was short about 1 yard of fabric for the middles and as soon as I get to town I will be working on it some more...I will show pictures of it when I have it finished. I have 2 gifts ready so far for next year and a long way to go. I got behind last year because of moving in Oct and will be doing better this year. I need to get as much done as I can because I am sure I won't be staying in the house as much when weather is better and time to start the garden...These are the squares I have cut ready and waiting :) Nellie got to use her slippers when she took a shower but I will be making her another pair since the pattern runs a little on the small size. I hope to make quite a few for gifts for the grandkids next year too.

Here is Nellie Christmas morning and she pulled the hood up on her hoodie so no one could see her hair,,It was fun to get to see her open her gifts and not have to see her with Skype on my computer screen when we lived 670 miles south of here......we just hung out and didn't do much for the 5 days she was home. She mostly enjoyed just catching up on sleep and eating since her Dad made such good breakfasts for her :)

Fatty has lived with us now for over 4 years but he still remembers Nellie I think since she was his Mom before he came to live with us

One of the gifts we got for Nellie was a $25.00 gift card for starbucks and I had it in a mini stocking hanging on the tree....what was I thinking...Maggie thinks all small cloth things are her dog toys and she chewed the card. I was Lucky they had a super nice understanding Manager at the WM here in Shelbyville and he figured out a way to replace it for me....That was our one big gift to her this year....wouldn't have been good if it was not useable :)

My GD and her husband are Chicago Cubs fans and I made them Cubs print nice snuggly fleece Cat beds...she said her kitties love them and I know our kitties love the fleece beds I have made for them.

I also made 3 cat beds for Nellies 3 Cats and Gina from Catnap Inn Primitives (link on my left side bar) made the kitties names for me with her emb machine for each one..I will show pictures with the kitties on them as soon as Nellie sends them to me. Thank you Gina for helping me make Nellies Christmas a little more special

I will be posting a give away as soon as I reach 100 followers..shouldn't take to long...maybe in time for something cute for Easter.

I love reading comments so please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what your plans are for the winter months :)

AWESOME DISPLAY & PUPS ARE WAITING & NEW T V

This is the T V we had to use for a while when our older one (under the tiny one) quit from getting so much dirt in it from house we lived in down south...It is a 13" T V but at least it was a T V We had to leave yesterday anf a friend sent us something through Fed X and we knew it would come while we were gone so we left a note for them to put pkg in garage..and when we opened the garage door there was a big box and in it was this 32" new T V and not as heavy as our big old one..Billy had no problem carrying it in and getting it set up. He will need help though carrying the old one out of here...good thing Nellie is here to help him...Isn't it awesome? :)

We got to the train station way early and then her train was over an hour late

She was getting a little Grumpy (and hungry) by the time she got here

Pups were glad to see Nellie and they are behaving..Calli wanted to stay close while she took a nap and she liked it when I covered her with my robe LOL

They are getting anxious for Santa to come and keep looking out the window for him (and they will get a few goodies from Santa) all 4 of them :)

There is a park in town near here and they decorate the whole park with lights in all shapes and a lot of them are antimated..was an awesome sight and this is only a few that I am sharing pictures of. I wish I could go back with my video camera and take movies of them

This is rows of Candy Canes all lit up when we got near the end of our tour

This is wrapped up gifts (I think) and the pictures are not as awesome as it was seeing them in person

This is a HUGE house like a Castle

Then a Hot air balloon

A Gingerbread House with Gingerbread men..

And this guy fishing in the boat caught fish and they lit up and flashed but couldn't get a pic of it all

There was 2 huge swans and their wings moved but doesn't do that in the picture...That is it for now..Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and wishing everyone good health and stay safe :)