Giveaways!!!

K, folks here's some pictures of the items you can win on May's HARTS Wing Ding Chicken Fling.

Rules for Humble Arts Giveaways

Happy Monday all!!

Let me clarify the rules of our giveaways so everyone knows exactly what has to be done in order to qualify to win!

FIRST AND FOREMOST...you MUST visit HARTS (HUMBLE ARTS) HERE to be eligible to win.

Here are the ways you can get entries:

First, you can get one entry in the drawing for one of these goodies by putting our fun little banner on your blog. Grab one from earlier post.

Secondly, you can get yet another entry in by promoting our Wing Ding Chicken Fling on your own blog.

Lastly, you can find a feather on each of the participating member's(THAT INCLUDES ME!) blogs - find the feather,(hint hint: Who is Lisa Bongean?)
email me with WHERE you found the feather.

On May 1, we will also have a few feathers flying around The Humble Arts. Find those and you will get YET ANOTHER entry! Wee Dawgies!

NOW, DOES THIS SOUND LIKE FUN? YEEEHAWWW!!

Good old fashioned fun!! So make sure you get those peepers to start searching on May 1st. Cuz before you know it it'll be over and you won't have won (NO FUN).
Here's some of our offerings for sale on May 1st edition of Humble Arts:

Fun, Fun, Fun and FREEBIES!!!

As some of you already know, we are celebrating "chickens" on Humble Arts (HARTS) site for the month of May. You will be in for some fun!!

Here's the rules:
Here is the first rule of the Humble Arts Wing Ding Chicken Fling giveaways.
Take either picture below and post it to your blog. Leave a comment here, letting me know that you have done so. That is one automatic name in the pot for the drawings.
I will be posting some pics of the giveaways later.CLICK HERE

NOW..I KNOW ALL OF YOU LOVE GIVEAWAYS!! So get busy and tell your friends..c'mon don't be stingy..shame on you! Believe me, I have seen some of the giveaways an they are awesome! You won't want to miss out.

AMERICANA IN MAY

Just wanted to letcha know that we gals at TDIPT Mercantile are having an Americana in May this month.
TDIPT Mercantile will be chock full of your favorite Patriotic subjects...whether it's Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty or anything in between.....we'll have Red White and Blue galore, and just in time for all of the
fun summer American Holidays!

Be sure to stop by on May 1st

Website Sale

If your a primitive doll lover, you are in for a treat!! I am having a website clearance sale. Be sure to grab your snacks to keep you while you browse.Click Here Not every item is lowered but alot are and at great sales prices.

Also..be sure to check out our May edition of Humble Arts. We are having a chicken challenge. Be prepared to be blown away if you like chickens. However, if you don't, there will be plenty of other designs available for you too!

Here in Southern California it has warmed up. Nice to have our windows open and fans going. Wish it would stay like this yearround but it is better than snow.

Got the inspection and appraisal on our property in Avondale. It's supposed to close escrow on May 15th. My oldest daughter, Kim, and her family will be residing it in for about 2 years till we move over there to Arizona, or earlier depending on if dh gets a job over there.

If your a pattern person and like to make your own projects or items for sale, watch for an announcement of my release of new patterns on my website. I will have at least 3 new designs in the next month to be offered on my website. I also advertise in Create and Decorate magazine and Country Sampler. Let me know what kind of patterns you'd like to see.

Well I gotta get to the design room so that's it for today. Hope you have a sunshiny day.

Some Good News

We received some great news today...our offer was accepted for a house in Avondale, Arizona. Here's a picture of what's in the backyard

Nice huh? We told ourselves (after having a pool at the home we currently reside in California) that we would never have a pool again, but this one was so pretty and inviting we couldn't turn it down. Plus having a pool in Arizona is certainly different from having one in the desert with all the wild winds and high temps in the daytime and low at night which never allow the water to get warm. Don't think we'll have that problem there. Plus I know our 12 grandchildren will love it. I'm just as excited about the above ground spa too. Just love those. We had one several years ago and for my fibro it'll be great.

I didn't mention in my earlier post that I was having alot of pain from the stress of everything. I was totally miserable. My holistic doctor called me in some strong painkillers which really helped. So now it's subsided.

My sister kept me abreast as to how the private viewing went and it seems everything was smooth as creamy pb. She sent me some pictures of the family and a few of my brother. He looks so peaceful and just the way I remember him. Odd but true.

So back to the home in Arizona, unless the Lord has other ideas, we will be renting out the home till we retire from California (which today isn't soon enough hehe) and head over there. Never know what the Lord has planned. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Mike (dh) was offered a job out of the blue, the way everything is falling into place. That's just the way the Lord's plans work.

On another note, if you haven't visited my website lately, take some time next week to stop by as I am updating it with more items at low prices.

CALLING ALL CHICKEN LOVERS~~us gals at Humble Arts are having a "Wing Ding Chicken Fling" challenge in May. So watch for great chicken creations and maybe even some door prizes! Don't miss out!

Also there will be a brand new selling site called "Early Work Mercantile" that I will be a part of. I know, another site! YIKES, I just couldn't resist. Be sure to watch for some great primitive designs from top artists in the primitive world.

I also will be starting a selling blog and will have some giveaways there too. AND...I will be offering more patterns soon on my website. I guess I have my work cut out for me. Be sure to stop by Pfatt Marketplace ..the April issue came yesterday. Remember also to check out The Primitive Gathering for April on the 15th. Some great designs will be up for purchase there too.

K, that's it for today. Hope everyone has a good Easter tomorrow. Gotta go color eggs with my grandson. Later

A Sad Sunday in April

Just walked in the door on Sunday evening after a 6 hour drive from Arizona to the phone ringing off the hook. Come to find out I had 10 messages, most from my sister that one of my younger brothers, Kerry, had passed away.

It really wasn't much of a shock to me, even at his young age of 52. Reason being is that he was ill for the past 10 years..or probably longer and wasn't aware. He had developed Scilosis which is Silica Sand poisoning. The company he had worked for, was unaware that the sand was lethal and used it regularly in the line of work my brother performed. There were actually 4 individuals that did this same job. 3 of them already died, and my brother was the last of the 4, and he knew this. Wow..what a fate to hear.

He had one daughter, Nicole, 23 years old and 2 grandchildren. He resided in WV but was originally from PA. He was a twin to my brother, Kevin, who is taking if very hard as they were best friends through life.

Now on another note..I come from one of the most dysfunctional families around. My parents divorced after I left home, but before that, there was discord in our family constantly. My mother did not accept losing my father, so she turned to the bottle. This was over 33years ago. She is now 78. To be honest, I am surprise she has lasted this long. She also smokes like 2-3 packs a day and has ever since I can remember.

So as you can imagine, I am glad I don't live near her in WV. Unfortunately my brother, Kerry, was paying the rent on the home that they lived in (my brother and mother). So now my mother has nowhere to live.

Kerry recieved a settlement from the union for getting the poisoning. You'd think he would have put away money to take care of his funeral expenses..NO..so now this expense falls on people who have no money.

There were 6 kids in my family, me being the oldest, four brothers, and then my sister. I left PA (home) in 1972, when my first husband entered the Air Force, so I have been away for a long time, except little visits every so many years. The last time I saw my brother was in 1991 when I returned home for a class reunion.

Tomorrow all my immediate family from PA will be having a private viewing of my brother in WV and then he will be cremated and spread over his favorite fishing hole. He loved to fish, every weekend he was fishing and camping until he couldn't do it anymore due to the illness.

My thoughts are with everyone there. Plane tickets were so high and with times the way they are I just didn't have flying $$ so when they have the memorial service later in PA, I will be skyping it. This is the next best thing. Plus I won't have to deal with all the dysfunction over the "body" as is going on. So and so wanting this, and so and so wanting something else. PLEASE~If you do anything, get a trust so that folks won't be fighting over you or your belongings! How childish! But typical for my family. If there are any children of alcoholics or family of alcoholics you can relate, I'm sure.

Please call your family today and tell them you love them..Kerry knew I loved him and I knew he loved me ...and the Lord. So it is well with my soul....

Making Progress

Just thought that I'd post about how our home search is going here in Arizona. OMG there are so many homes to choose from...so so sad..this means others have had to lose their homes which is sooo sad.
On another note, it is unbelieveable how some folks live! Gosh, some of the homes with carpet looks like if a pop was dropped they just let it soak in with no evidence there was any attempt to wipe it up!! And the walls...OMG alot of the walls are filthy..it's hard to believe people lived in these homes in the filth.
Among the 12 homes we viewed today there were only 2 that we somewhat liked. Some of the floor plans make you scratch your head and think...what was the builder thinking? hehe probably evidence that the builder WAS NOT a woman hehe
I'm sure we'll find one, if not this trip then perhaps another one. We do really love it over here, and it's so nice to be near a military installation once again.
Now we have to really think about when we might want to retire...to wait out the 2 years (hubby will be 60 then) or just retire from California, and then move over here and get a job nearby. Either way, he will never totally retire anyways.
That's where we are now.
I can't believe how much better the food is at the restaurants here as well! It actually tastes like real food, not plastic with generous portions too! So if you're thinking of moving to California, my suggestion would be FORGET it!! Too liberal and expensive. Oh and don't even try to do anything to harm those tiny little smelt fish or you could be behind bars! Till later...our search continues tomorrow.

Happy April's Fool

Where is the year going? My goodness it was just January, it seems. I have been wanting to write some but have been so darn busy lately, but then again, busy is a good thing.

Can't believe it's almost Easter, and some days Spring is around, others, it still feels like winter, even here in Southern California. I love the warm days, especially if there's no wind. Here in the desert there's lots of wind.

Hubby and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon to drive over to Arizona in search of a home to purchase for our retirement. We are looking to settle in Avondale, Arizona, which is on the outskirts of Phoenix, and near Luke AFB. We are retired Air Force and want to live near a base to be able to use the commissary frequently. They've closed all the bases around us here in Southern California, so this will be a treat.

We have a very aggressive realtor and have a loan company set up to help us expedite it quickly. I'm sure we'll find something we like. Matter of fact, our agent has been sending us houses via www to view that we might be interested in. There are some great buys out there. Now's the time to purchase.

We can't move to Arizona fast enough! We (California) just got our sales tax increased 1% to help cover the budget. We are also looking at paying double DMV registrations as well on our vehicles. Supposedly, this is all temporary...yeah right...another country heard from.

With the first of the month upon us, don't forget to check out The Humble Arts . This month we were challenged to participate in a Storybook Character Theme. I created "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Pinocchio". I am soo proud of my Pinocchio! He is so vintage looking! Be sure to take time to browse that site for some great eye candy.

Also TDIPT Mercantile has 3 new bunnies I designed with my signature petal bonnets four your purchase and Simply Primitives is also home to several more of my Spring designs in addition to my newest "Wee Bunnies" collection..they are only a wee 13" tall. Still lots of great items for purchase.

Well that's about it for tonight. I'll post when I get back on Monday from Arizona. Wish us luck.