Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Jesus Calling Enjoying Peace in His Presence

The front cover~




The inside pages with bookmark~





Devotions for Every Day of the Year~
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence written by Sarah Young

This very nice small devotional book was written by Sarah Young. I am very impressed with the quality of the book. When I first seen the book online I didn’t realize how well it was made or that it was a hard back book.
I received this book almost a month ago but was hesitant about writing a review about it until I used it on a daily basis. This is a Daily Devotional and in order to write a proper review I wanted to use it as it was intended. The day I got it I started reading from that day on. I also went back when I had extra time and read some of the previous days. After reading this Daily Devotional for the past 3 weeks I have come to the conclusion that it is a wonderful book.
One of the most important things I like about it is the fact that different Bible versions were referenced throughout the entire devotional. Other things I liked about this book was the obvious quality, great for a gift. Small enough to carry with you if you wanted to.The actual readings for the day were just the right length, not too long and boring and most days seemed to touch on just that right subject. I felt as though The Lord Himself was right here,conversing with me.
What a wonderful book that I will always treasure.
Blessings,Joann

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Time with Jennifer and the grandkids...

What a wonderful time Roger and I had today. We met Jennifer, Dylan and Katie at the mall in Tracy (that's about the halfway point for us both to meet). We wanted to get a few things for Dylan since he starts Kindergarten on Tuesday of this coming week. Since he is just starting Kindergarten he really didn't NEED any school supplies but we thought it would be nice to at least get him a few things. I remember when my children were little and I was very poor, being a single mom, my sister always took my kids and got them lots of things for school that I knew I just couldn't afford to do. Now it is my turn to do that for my daughter and her kids, she isn't a single mom but even with her husband working it's hard to make ends meet so we like to help out when we can.



We started in the shoe department where Dylan found a pair with spiderman on them that light up when you stomp them (he will be doing lots of stomping !!)~




Katie was very good and waited very paitently while we looked at the shoes~




Then it was on to the backpack area, there were lots to choose from and he had some help from his Grandpa~







Katie also found a backpack she liked, but I kind of talked her out of it since she really didn't need one anyway~




We also found some pants for him which is kind of hard to do, he is 5 years old and can wear a 4T for the waist but needs the length of a 5T so we usually buy the pants that have the adjustable waist and get the 4T's . Sorry I didn't take a picture of the clothing section! He got one pair of Blue jeans and one pair of gray colored jeans and a shirt that he really liked that says "Rock and Roll" on it, he was very happy that I let him get that shirt....

Here we are up at the register, Dylan said he was going to pay but Grandpa paid instead :)~



The bag we got was almost as big as Dylan~




Here is Dylan and Katie being silly in the back of their van~





Another picture of them sitting very nicely (well kind of!!!)



This picture is of Jennifer's new van (new to her) it's real nice and will come in handy with the kids and all there stuff. It's the same type of van as ours but ours is a 2002.

1998 Dodge grand caravan~



We had another stop to make to make to find a necklace for Katie, a princess necklace~




Then our last stop was at Wendy's for lunch~

The kids getting in the van ready to go home~

Katie all buckled up and ready to go...oh she's showing that she got gum on the bottom of her shoe, silly girl isn't she???

What a blessed day we had, everyone had fun and even Roger on the way home remarked about how good it was to see Jennifer and the kids. Since they moved we don't see them as often and especially Roger since he works so many long hard days. I feel so blessed to have my wonderful children and grandchildren they mean everything to me.

Hope everyone's weekend is going as beautifully as mine.

Blessings,Joann

Friday, July 24, 2009

Fragrant Memories

I know this little bottle of body splash may seem like an unusual picture to put on a blog but I have a wonderful story that goes along with it so just bear with me....




Most of the people who have read my blog for any length of time know that I have had a friend in the past who ended up not being as good a friend as I thought she was. Well lately I have been thinking of her. In the past year when I have thought about our friendship it has always been very negative, and then comes in this body splash fragrance.
When I first me this nice lady online it was through a message board called Organized Home, lots of friendly people there. There is still a message board with most of the original people but it is at a new location as Organized Home dismantled their message boards. Anyway...when I first started "talking" with this lady through posts and e-mail I found out that she just loved a fragrance from Bath and Body Works called Brown sugar and fig, when I first heard the name I thought ~what a horrible name for a fragrance and I bet it smells gross!! Her birthday which is in June was coming and I thought I would buy her some of her favorite fragrance from Bath and Body Works. I went to the store and found all kinds of things, body wash, lotions, splashes, etc... all in this fragrance. I even decided to smell it to see what it smelled like. Wow I actually liked it, not too flowery, just right. I also decided to get myself some :) So fast forward a few years and we get to the part where she decided to end our friendship and I for so long have had such a problem with this...why because I still think of our friendship everyday!! I stopped posting on the message board thinking that way I won't think about her or our friendship, but that hasn't helped. The other day when I got out of the shower and I spayed the body splash on like I do daily it hit me!!!! This wonderful lady that I got to know online and through e-mail and through many phone calls I also got to meet in person once when we had made a trip to Missouri (she lives right across the river in Illinois). When she pulled up in her silver van same make and model as my own, and got out she gave me a very huge hug and she smelled just like that brown sugar and fig fragrance...so now when I go to spray that on every day,sometimes more than once a day I find that my mind wanders back to that exact moment, that wonderful hug. That's when I realized that even though our friendship is over I will not forget the wonderful moments we had, the funny phone calls, the many many e-mails and I will NEVER forget that HUG!! Even though I know she doesn't ever come to my blog I just want this put in writing somewhere to be remembered. Jackie~ I enjoyed our friendship while it lasted and am very sorry for whatever happened between us....I pray for Joy, Peace and happiness for you and your entire family.
Thank you my blogging friends for letting me express my feelings and having to endure reading all my problems and goings on in my life.
Blessings,Joann

A Week of feminine dress day #7

Today is my last day for the week of feminine dress. I know my dress doesn't change that much but I don't have many clothes right now that fit me. This is a good thing, since I have lost weight my clothing size has changed 2-3 sizes and I have only a few items I have purchased latetly that fit, I don't want to buy anymore until I can buy a smaller size.

Also check out this ladies nice blog ( thanks to Bren for pointing this blog out to me) , Feminine Friday~







So here is today's feminine dress, yes I am wearing my jean skirt again!!!! At least I am getting my money's worth out of this skirt :) Also wearing a blue cotton top~






Saturday morning we are going to take Dylan shopping for some school things. He will Be starting Kindergarten this coming week, I think on Tuesday. We told him we would buy him a new backpack and some clothing. We will also be getting something for Katie, even though she isn't in school yet we don't want to leave her out.

I hope everyone out there has a wonderful weekend,
Blessings,Joann

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tonight's dinner

I am feeling very tired tonight and have started to get one of my headaches. Roger suggested having pizza and salad for dinner and that was fine with me.


I just got done making the salad, so just need to pop the pizza's in the oven in a couple of hours and dinner is done :) And only 7 Weight Watchers points for one of the french bread pizzas and salad is zero points gotta love that!!


A week in Feminine dress day #6

Today's outfit is just my jean skirt (yes again, I love this skirt..it's very comfortable!!) and a bright pink top with little sparkly things on the front :)



Tomorrow (Friday) will be the last day of my week in feminine dress. Hope everyone has enjoyed it so far.
Blessings,Joann

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Weigh in Wednesday

Today was also my weigh in day and was I happy to get my 50 pounds lost reward. I have worked so hard for it! My total lost so far is 50.2 pounds :)



Reward from Weight watchers ~




I also picked up this cookbook the other day at Costco~
looks like lots of good recipes in it and I like the fact that they have the points listed.
Blessings,Joann

A week of feminine dress day 5

Today I am wearing my jean skirt with a bright green shirt~



I know my last post said I was going to be taking a break, I really felt the need for it. Didn't want to stop in the middle of the feminine dress thing so will continue to post that for the rest of this week. I will see where I will go from there.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Blog break...

I will be taking a short blogging break.

Blessings to you all, Joann


I have been forgetting to take a picture of the garden window after I put it all back together. So I took one the other day and then forgot to post it. Boy am I getting forgetful.
Here is the garden window~




I went shopping the other day to buy some things for the F-R-I-E-N-D-S swap I am doing and of course had to get myself some things too :) I purchased these 4 pillows and I just love them. They go so nicely with the colors in the living room and I love the sheep and the prim look of them.


Pillows on the sofas in our living room~






Then of course I have to show you what I find most days when I go in to make the bed~



Yes that is our little princess, she thinks that, that great big king sized bed is all for her. Do you see how much room she takes up for a little dog???
On Monday I was so happy to find a letter from Matthew in my mailbox. Haven't heard from him in a while so was starting to get a little worried about him. He sent his new address for Basic Training so I of course wrote him a letter and sent it about 2 hours later :), can you tell that I miss him??? This is his 2nd week of Basic training and I would like to ask for any prayers for him, I would be so ever grateful.
Hope everyone is having a very blessed Tuesday....
Blessings,Joann

A week in Feminine dress day 4

Today is Tuesday and is day 4 in my week in feminine dress.

Here is today's picture, I am wearing a black skirt and pink top~


Blessings,Joann

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Week of Feminine dress, day 3

Here is today's feminine dress outfit~










Someone left a comment asking where I bought the skirt. Being a large woman it is very hard to find large sizes. I remember a few years ago a fellow blogger did a week of the way she dressed and I left her a comment telling her I loved to wear skirts and such but couldn't find things in my size (very large). She was trying to help and pointed me in the direction of a modest dress website. I loved their clothes but what this lady didn't understand when I say that I am a large woman I mean it, there clothing went up to an x-large. I guess when you wear like a size 2 maybe you don't realize there are larger sizes out there. The sizes I wear have two numbers in them and they aren't little numbers they start with a 2? and go up, yes people there are sizes like this out there you just have to find them. That particular skirt and the one from today actually I purchased at a place called Woman within, they have what I call normal sizes :) I found most things in their clearance section. The blue skirt that I am wearing today I also bought in black and a coral color because they were clearanced to $4.88 each. Can't even make one for that price. The jean skirt was $7.88. All good deals.
Hope that helps anyone out there who isn't a small size, and from what I have seen on the web, at blogs and just in the public most people aren't small in size. They are more like me!!
Blessings,Joann

Sunday, July 19, 2009

A week of Feminine Dress

I decided to do a week in Feminine dress, I have seen this done on other people's blogs and thought it was a nice idea. I am not a dresses/skirts only person but I do prefer to wear something very feminine. I like to look nice for my husband, and I do feel more feminine when I wear a dress or skirt. For me it has been very hard to find things that look nice since I am a big sized woman. I bought this jean skirt about 2 years ago and wear it quite often. I used to buy only t-shirts with a regular round neck and when I recently went shopping for some new things I tried to find things that were more girl looking. NO more round neck t-shirts for me, I want things with cute little sleeves, cute colors, and some sort of cute neckline. I also am making more of an effort to look nicer on a daily basis for my husband. Sometimes there are days when he leaves for work and I am still in my pajamas (as it is VERY early in the morning) and since he gets home so late I have already put my pajamas back on. He doesn't even see what I actually wore that day. This week I plan on making the effort to be dressed very pretty and feminine looking for him.



Since I had Roger take a picture of me yesterday at my sisters house I am using that day as my day one so my week actually started on Saturday and will go until Friday.




Saturday~ Day one of a Week in feminine dress~








Sunday~ Day two of a week in feminine dress~




Yes, Just so you know I do know that I am a large woman and probably don't look all that great in a skirt but as long as my husband thinks I am beautiful that's all that really matters to me.
Blessings,Joann

Our weekend

This weekend was kind of busy! On Saturday as we had a birthday party to go to for my Nephew~He turned 18!!

We also got to see Katie and Jennifer, Chris was working and Dylan was at his Dad's. We had a nice time and I of course got some cute pictures of Katie!!

Here she is on the floor next to the curio cabinet, she was fascinated by the things inside~




Here she is with Roger and Jennifer~





And of course here she is with me~






This is what I wore to the party, I love this jean skirt and wear it most times when I wear a skirt~




Here is Roger and Me~





Sunday was a much more laid back day, I decided that I was taking the weekend off from any cleaning so I will have lots of work to do come Monday morning. I will start the dishwasher tonight since I didn't run it last night. Roger and I watched some old movies and just enjoyed being together. The weekends seem to go by so quickly and the weeks so slowly. Roger is out BBQ~ing chicken for our dinner tonight and I am making some mashed potatoes and green beans.
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and remember to watch for the first post for the 30-day husband encouragement challenge bright and early Monday morning.
Blessings,Joann

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

It's a little toasty here today!!


This is what my car thermometer had for the temperature today around 3PM!!! I know we don't get the humidity like some areas of the country but still when it's 109' it's just plain HOT!!!

Weigh in day!

I was very happy to see some weight loss this week, 3.4 pounds lost bringing my grand total to 49.6 pounds...almost to 50 pounds!! I can't believe it.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tuesday's activities at the Allen home...

I finally got some things put back in the garden window, those two quilted mats are from my good friend Vickie from Humpty Doo Australlia..I have them turned over from the way they were just for a change. Still trying to figure out what will go back in the window and what won't. I kind of like it all open right now, so will have to see what I think will look nice

Garden window almost back together~





I picked up these two fabrics to make some valances for the grand kids bedroom windows, the princess of course is for Kaitlyn and the transformers is for Dylan. I also picked up a little extra of both fabrics so I can make them each a pillow out of the same fabric.


Kaitlyn's and Dylan's window fabric~






I did a couple of things in the kitchen today one was to cut up three Vidalia onions and put in ziploc bags, Roger uses them in his tuna that he has for lunch everyday. I didn't think to take a picture of the onions or the salad I made but I did take pictures of the cantaloupe I cut up..oh it is so sweet and yummy


Cantaloupe ready to cut up~




Here is the process, I take them and cut them into strips, then take them off the rind and then cut them up into little chunks~






The finished product with the counter all cleaned up~



I also got the hallway vacuum cleaner closet done the way I wanted it, it's not much different than the last picture of it. I put a basket up on the top shelf to hold all the vacuum accessories, and I labeled everything with my handy dandy label maker~








I got all of my cleaning chores done and also worked on my Wednesday cleaning chores as I am going to go visit my Mom on Wednesday so don't have to worry about getting behind. Please keep me in your prayers as my Mom and I don't have the best relationship so visiting is kind of stressful for me.
Blessings,Joann



My good friend is celebrating their anniversary today

My very good friend DeNiece is celebrating her Wedding Anniversary today July 14th. Please stop by her blog and wish her and her husband Cedric a very happy and Blessed Anniversary.


DeNiece~ I pray that you and your hubby have many more wonderful years together. Enjoy your day....


Monday, July 13, 2009

Garden window cleaning and a little blessing from Matthew!!

Today I finally got so tired of looking at the dust that had been accumulating in my garden window that I decided that cabinets and drawers would have to wait so I can get this window area cleaned...
When you see the before window you will probably be wondering why I have a snowman sitting on the ledge in July and Thanksgiving candle holders sitting there too. Well the candle holders just have not been put away after I bought them at the thrifts store and washed them. The snowman is very close to my heart, a dear friend sent it to me last Christmas and I treasure it, it holds hot cocoa mix and even though I don't drink hot cocoa in the summer time I like to look at it when I am in the kitchen, it reminds me of her and her blessing of friendship.
Here is a closer picture of it, isn't it just the cutest~~
Here is the garden window before~




See the dust in this picture~

In this photo you can see the dust much more clearly~

This is about halfway done, I have the shelf out to clean and it makes it much easier to clean with the shelf not in it's place. This window is the absolute hardest window to clean, I can barely stretch my arm in to clean the bottom so when it comes time to clean the actual glass part I use a sponge mop with hot water and vinegar, works great!

Now the shelf is back in and I have also taken my hot water and vinegar and sponge mop and cleaned the outside~
Now onto my sweet little blessing from my Son. He is starting Boot camp this week, he knows that I am worried about him and he has been sending me little letters every week. Today in the mail I got this postcard~
This is the front~



And this is the back~ My son certainly isn't much for words :) but I am so glad to hear from him, at least I know he is okay and that he is missing me :) :)
You probably will have to click on the picture to be able to read it..







I certainly hope everyone has had a wonderful Monday, I am done cleaning for the day and it's already after 4PM been a long day. Going to go rest for a while before I start some dinner~ BBQ chicken (Roger BBQ'd it this weekend) mashed potatoes and corn on the cob..YUMMO!!