HERMON — Tammy L. Degroat hopes her luck continues.

She is on a short list of 211 Publishers Clearing House $1,000 prizewinners who will learn today which of them will come away with a $1 million prize.

"My mother has been trying for years. I've been trying for years," Mrs. Degroat said. "Now, it's for real. I'm kind of excited."

The Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol will surprise the winner this morning with their name on an oversized check.

Mrs. Degroat enters the sweepstakes whenever an offer shows up on her e-mail but she doesn't order the magazines that are also available from Publishers Clearing House.

"I look through them, but there's nothing I fancy," she said.

The money would come in handy.

"I have this 1800s farmhouse and I'm going to fix it up," she said.

Mrs. Degroat isn't certain how else she would use the money.

"We'll take it step by step once my house is done," she said. "That's my dream."

Mrs. Degroat has already earmarked how she'll spend the guaranteed $1,000.

"I'm going to stock my shelves with food," she said. "I've got four grandchildren."

Publishers Clearing House has awarded nearly $200 million since the inception of its sweepstakes program in 1967.