Announcing the Winner

Wow, I had close to two hundred entrants. That's just way to fun.

The winner of my earring and necklace set is

Laurel Wreath over at laurelwreathsreflections

I will be trying to contact you soon to figure out the details of shipping it to you.

Thanks to the rest of you for playing.

Photo Hunters

This weeks theme is classic.

The first thing that came to my mind was our friend Janne who came to the US from Finland and wanted to buy himself an old Cadillac. He would be able to restore this classic car and then take it back to Finland where he would be able to enter it in the American Classic Cars Competition over there. He found one while he was here and he spent many hours restoring his "classic baby". Here is an old Buick that belonged to another friend of ours.



During our time we lived there we went to a couple of car shows. For my husband and I, it was just cool to see the old cars. But for the Finns that we saw at the car shows, it was more than just cool. They were really impressed by them. This is because it's harder for them to get them over there anymore due to regulations required of a classic car. Here are a couple of pictures of the "classic" cars we saw while we were living in Finland.





We even saw some classic foreign model cars (these were of more interest to my husband and I then the American ones).



We also saw some classic tractors (who knew people actually cared enough about tractors to put them in a car show).


And some classic steam engines.


So there you have it, many examples of classic machinery. Hope you liked it.

For other views on this week's theme visit TNCHICK.com or PhotoHunt

Wordless Wednesday

Warning: Sitting to close to the TV may cause your eyes to bulge out.

For other WW click here or else you can click here .

Fall Y'all Giveaway

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. I WILL PICK A WINNER LATER ON TODAY AND POST IT. THANKS FOR PLAYING.


Like I've mentioned the Fall Giveaway is in full swing. I've entered lots of them so far and have been thinking of what I can add to the list.

I have finally decided on a necklace and pierced earring set. This set has some pretty lavender stones in a silver setting and chain. So if you like it then let me know.


I will leave this giveaway open until Nov. 2 and will chose a winner after that. This giveaway is open to anyone. I feel bad that so many of the international people are being left out, so enter away. Just leave me a comment (one per person) and be sure to leave me a way to get in touch with you either through your blog or email.

Head on over here to see what other giveaways are going on.

Planting time

It's that time again. Time to get ready to plant the flowers for fall and winter. And while the Vinca is still full and pretty, it was starting to show some signs of yellowing around the leaves. They just don't do as well once the cooler weather starts. So yesterday I had my sweet husband do the dirty work of pulling them up. He was very opposed to this since he thinks along the lines of "leave them in until they die completely". But he did it anyway. So this afternoon I had the help of K. and Hoss and we just finished planting two flats of pansies. They were also way to much help with it came to watering them. This is their favorite part of helping mommy's flowers. They are now in the ground and will have plenty of time to get established before the first real frost comes to our area.

Now all I have to do is replant two flats of my pinks (or dianthus) that my husband so kindly killed with weed poison at the end of the summer. I'm still not sure how he confused these pretty flowers for weeds but that's another story I guess. These are in the back yard so it's easier to plant them. The kids tend to wander off and play in the back, instead of helping me plant. These too should have plenty of time to get established before they die off for the winter. They will come back in early spring and surprise me with their pretty colors once again.

I'm still considering planting some bulbs also but haven't decided on which ones. It will probably be the daffodils since they do really well in this area. I always love seeing them in other yards and think it's time I enjoyed them in my own.

Fall Y'all Giveaways

The Fall Y'all giveaway is in full swing. So head on over here to see all the free goodies people are giving away. It looks like a long week for the fingers.

Fall Into Reading- Code Talkers

I decided that I would go ahead participate in Katrina's Fall into Reading over at Callapidder Days. I don't have an actual list created of what books I'm working on yet but thought I'd at least review the ones I finish.

I just finished Code Talkers by Joseph Bruchac. It is a novel about the Navajo Indians during WWII and how they created an unbreakable code. Since I've always been interested in history, this topic caught my attention. I had heard about them before but didn't really know much about them. While it is a work of fiction, the historical facts in the book are completely true. The details were not so great that I actually got bogged down, which is quite possible when your talking about war battles.

The story begins with a man telling his grandchildren about what his war medal is and what it took to earn it. The main protagonist is sixteen year old Ned Begay who was forced to go to a boarding school as a young child in order to learn how to become more "Americanized". He and the other Navajo children are forced to speak English only and not speak their native Navajo language. They are constantly reminded about how worthless it is to just be an Indian during this time.

When the war breaks out Ned is able to lie about his age in order to join the Marines and thus become part of a select group of Navajos who are fluent in both English and their native language Navajo. These men create their own code to be used during the war out of common words that are assigned to military terms. They then go on to train new men and add to this unbreakable code every few months. These men had to commit to memory everything they were learning and were sworn to secrecy. They were never aloud to speak of this code existence until 1969, almost twenty five years after the war ended.

The Code Talkers were vital to the many battles that were fought in the South Pacific and saved countless lives in the process. They helped to take back the islands of Guam, Okinawa and of course Iwo Jima. They were highly valued because of their ability to pass on information so quickly. Their fellow Marines and soldiers held them in very high esteem because of this fact until the war ended.

This story ends as Ned returns back to reservation after the war only to realize that he is once again considered a second class citizen because he is an Indian. All the pride that these code talkers had at being able to use their native language to help serve their country was sworn to secrecy. No one had any idea of the service they had performed.

While there are alot of details in this novel about war, you are primarily drawn to Ned's character and his emotions he felt during his life. He is a very likable character and you can't help but share his pain and joy. This is truly a story about hope and tolerance and how we should learn to just accept people and their differences instead of trying to wipe them out.