The backyard !

My husband is such a wonderful hard working man I just love him so much. We put grass seed in our back yard a few months ago. There were a few spots that just wouldn't grow the grass, we don't know why. One side of the lawn looked great and then the other side was just really splotchy, with 2 real big areas that were just bare. Roger decided to just order some sod in the same type of grass as what we seeded. It arrived here on Saturday morning around 7AM on August 22 and by 3PM my hard worker had put it all in, all by himself. This was a big job, around 400 Square feet of sod. First he had to rent a sod cutter to take all the old part out and then he had to cut a lot of the rolls to fit. He worked so hard and diligently until it was done. We now have a beautiful lawn all thanks to my very wonderful husband.

Here are some pictures of it where he had cut it out ~

I waited a couple of days for it to get settled before I took the after pictures~

Here it is all done~

It is so nice to have our backyard finally done, now what to do with my ugly snapdragons.. I put them around our tree and I am thinking of just pulling them out and replacing them, I wanted some color for around the tree but they only bloomed a little bit and now they are just an ugly green. I will be planting bulbs this fall but still want something in there for now. Will have to do some looking when I am out running errands tomorrow.

Blessings,Joann

Some pictures and stories of the past few weeks...

The weekend of August 15th we had a small get together for our son in laws birthday. It is so nice to have the back patio usable now and we enjoyed a very simple meal of hot dogs, chips, potato salad (made by my Mom) and of course cake for dessert.

Here is part of the back patio and some of the guests~

Chris, Jennifer and Katie with his cake~

Katie has a fascination for our fountain, can you tell~(she took her little chair out there so she could sit by it!!)

She wanted the purple balloon on the cake~(she only ate a small amount of the frosting)

We all had a great time and Roger and I feel so blessed to have our family so close that we can enjoy these types of gatherings. Katie has a birthday coming up in October and she wants it to be a princess party (well honestly I want to do a princess party too :) don't know if it will be here or at their apartment. Her favorite princess is Snow white so I am already on the lookout for anything with Snow white on it :)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I am currently working on the purse for my Fantastic Fall giveaway. I am really hoping to have it finished by Friday September 4th but don't want to hurry too much on it and have it turn out horrible. I would rather spend some time and have it look very snazzy!!

Blessings,Joann

New fall purse...

Today I finished my fall purse, I have been working on it for quite a while. I posted some of what the embroidery part looked like a while back. I worked very hard on it the past few days and got all that embroidery done. My fingers are just numb from doing it all but I think it turned out real nice. I just love the colors and it fits everything just perfect.

This is what the embroidery part looked like a few days ago~

New fall purse~

Inside lining ~

With all my things inside~(I wanted to make sure my planner and my small Bible fit in nicely)

Close up of the top part of the front of the purse~

Close up of the embroidery~

I have 4 new purses I am working on, some for friends and one for the fall giveaway I am having in September. I decided that I won't be doing such detailed embroidery on the ones I am working on because it just took so long to get done. They will still have embroidery just not as detailed as mine. I got quite a few purses and linings cut out the other day with this fabric I picked up the other day...lots of nice fall colors~

I pray that everyone has a very blessed weekend,

Blessings,Joann

A couple of changes around our home

In one of my last posts I mentioned and showed pictures of our old elliptical machine. Well out with the old and in with the new. The Friday after we sold the elliptical we bought a new Nordic Track bicycle. It fits so much better than the large elliptical machine and Roger likes it a whole lot better.

New Bicycle~

This is what the fireplace area looks like with the new bike in the same place as the elliptical used to be~

I also that same week made some new curtains for the living room, I have always just wanted to have a valance so I could get in as much light as possible. That has changed so I bought 6 twin sized sheets at Walmart made a casing on the top (they are already hemmed) and slid them on the curtain rod....so easy and it looks so nice, very comfy and cozy..

Here are the new curtains~

I have been in the process of changing our hallway bathroom form beige and green to dark blue and black, I am looking for some crow things for some decorations but haven't found anything yet. I did get some black carpets, and that shelf is now painted black

Hallway bathroom~

I also made a shower curtain also out of two sheets that I sewed together and then I sewed a topper on it, The curtain is dark blue, and will eventually have some applique's on it of some crows and some stars made from the same fabric as the topper part..

Here it is so far~

Well I guess that's all for now wanted to get this up as I have many posts to put up but just not lots of time..my days just don't seem to have enough hours in them right now.

Blessings,Joann

Gift from a wonderful friend

Yesterday the postman left a little package in my mailbox and it was a gift from a very nice friend of mine, DeNiece . I had e-mailed her a while back when she was doing her kitchen videos and had asked her about her smock that she was wearing and where she got it. I thought the idea of a smock was for me a better idea than an apron. Most of the time if I get anything on me while cleaning or cooking it's on my top part not my bottom part so this made sense to me.
Anyway I opened the package and look what was inside~





Yes it is a very pretty pink smock, sorry I look so horrible but I had been cleaning the kitchen and had Roger take a quick picture so I wouldn't forget. She also included a card with a Bible verse she wrote in it
"For if they fall, one will lift up his companion (friend) but pity the person who falls down and has no one to help him up...." Ecclesiasties 4:10

Both the smock and the card I will treasure always. It just made me cry when I opened the package to see what was in there. I am truly blessed to have her friendship.


Since my experience with online friendship was so bad with that one person (I posted about her before)I have really slowed down getting close to anyone. DeNiece is such a true Christian woman with a heart for God and I have already told her on the phone that if I ever do or say anything she doesn't like then she is to call me and say "Joann~ What the heck are you doing~ so we can solve any problems we might have. Though I can't see having that problem with DeNiece or the other friends I have made through this blog. Because of one thing, they are all true and genuine people. Not afraid to show their mistakes along with their triumphs. They invite you into their homes and lives through their blogs and you feel welcome.

Now I have lots of things I want to post about but I will be posting them over the next few days so they will all have their own post, not just one big long one.

Blessings, Joann

I will be back....

I did not purposely take a blogging break. I have just not been feeling like posting anything. Felt a little down in the dumps the past couple of weeks. Things are starting to look brighter for me everyday so look forward to some wonderful post in the next few days. I have taken lots of pictures of the goings on at our home and will share them with you when I have the time to write about them and time to upload them all. Nothing too exciting going on just day to day activity. I will also be posting about a wonderful gift I received in the mail today from a very, very good friend...

Blessings,Joann

Cleaning the fireplace area...

I know not too exciting of a title :)

We for the past few years have had a gigantic eliptical machine in our living room. It took up so much room! Finally we decided to try and sell it, I posted it on Craigslist on Monday evening and Tuesday it was SOLD!! I was so happy just to have the room back, it used to be next to our fireplace. That area now is all open and so nice to see it that way again. I figured it would be a good time to do some major cleaning of the fireplace area. This means that I took everything down, vacuumed the entire fireplace, scrubbed all the brick and then put things back, different things. I wanted to display the folk dolls that I received in the FRIENDS swap from Debbie.

Here are some before pictures~
When we had the eliptical machine~See how much room it took up!

Here is the whole fireplace area~

Here is a close up of the mantle~

This is mid progress~

This doily was made by my grandmother, isn't is just so pretty~

This tea kettle we put water in when we use the fireplace (we take the doily off) and it heats up and lets a small amount of steam into the room, very nice when it is so dry in the winter

This little bench has special meaning to me, it was made by my older brother the same year that I was born. He was in middle school. It means a lot to me since my brother was killed in a head on collision by a drunk driver in March of 2002. It is something I treasure very much.

This is a train lantern and I think it is just too cute~

Here it is all done~

This is a close up of the mantle ~



I was just reading over at DeNiece's blog she was talking about not being a perfect wife or mother and I left a comment about how I was just the other day feeling like such a failure as a homekeeper and that I plan a post about it this week all the feelings that I had on the subject and the things I did to try to get back on the right track.

Blessings,Joann

Backyard pictures and the new purse I am working on

Here are some updated pictures of the back yard, it seems to be coming along nicely. We still have a few spots that needed to be reseeded but they will come in time. Most everything is blooming and looking nice and healthy.

Snapdragons around the tree~





This is the butterfly bush in the planter on the East side of the yard~



These are the Photinias along the back planter ~






This is a new plant that Roger just planted last weekend, it's called purple fountain grass and I really like the way it drops over the fountain~







This picture is of a new purse that I am working on, basically doing the same thing as I did on the last purse following the details of the fabric. I found this fabric at Walmart and thought it was so pretty~





Blessings,Joann

friends swap arrived today!!!!

Today I got my package from my swap partner Debbie . What wonderful things she sent

First thing I seen when I opened the box was this wonderful little card...isn't the quote so true?




Next thing I see after taking the tissue paper off is all these cute little gifts so pretty and so many of them!!




Here they are all lined up~





Look at all of these beautiful gifts~





F~ Folk Dolls (three of them)
R~ Rubber stamp ( Psalm 37:4)
I~ Ink
E~ Englebert mug
N~ Notebook
D~ Dishcloths (2 hand knitted!! WOW)
S~Santas (2 Santa pins)

She will probably be disapointed when she sees my box, I forgot to add a note and the gifts aren't wrapped very well, took all I had just to get the box shut!!!

Thanks so much Debbie, I will treasure everthing you sent but your friendship so much more..

Blessings, Joann

Look what came in the mail today!!!

It's kitchen scrubbies!!!!

I had ordered these a few days back and am so happy they got here. I am going to be giving them with hand crocheted dishcloths and some embroidered dishtowels for birthday presents for some of my friends.

I got my purse cut out, well actually I had enough fabric to cut out two purses and I will start the embroidery tonight. When I have the second purse all done I will be having a Fall Giveaway so be looking for that probably the first part of September, remember I am real slow at embroidery :)

I got another letter from Matthew today...it said and I quote "Can't wait to see you on family day 46 days left." Just what this Mom needed to hear. I think my stress level has gone down from RED to maybe Red/orange....Trying to keep myself busy and not think about him but so far it hasn't worked...I think about him every minute!

I thank any and all who have left comments and or sent e-mails that are praying for Matthew, it means a lot to me. It is so nice to have true friends.

Blessings,Joann

Finished purse!!

I finally finished a purse that I had been working on!! It actually turned out pretty nice, not really great but nice. I have been trying new patterns for purses to find one that I could use for making purses to sell. This one is very easy to do only a few pieces and simple to put together. I also liked my idea that I came up with of just following the fabric for an embroidery pattern.

Front of purse~

Inside of purse~

close up of the embroidery~

I had the time today to cut out a purse for me in this same purse pattern, different fabric for the bottom but I will be using the same fabric for the top. I really like the vines and leaves and it was so simple to embroider. When I get it all done I will post a picture of it.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. I have not been feeling so well lately, don't know if it is just stress or coming down with something. I had a terrible headache last night but it seemed to get better today, now I just feel yucky :(

Blessings,Joann

What a wonderful song...

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I just recently started listening to this group called the Crabb family, I seen them on a Gaither show and just really enjoyed them. I especially liked this song as it came at just the right time. I had gotten a letter from Matthew and he was talking about how hard basic training is on him and he was starting to sound so discouraged. I seen the performance of this song and sat right down and wrote Matthew a letter with the lyrics to the song, especially the chorus part and reminded him that the Lord will never forsake him and that he is there through all circumstances.
The chorus part that I sent Matthew~

"He never promised that the cross would not get heavy, and the hill would not be hard to climb. He never offered our victories without fighting but He said help would always come in time.
Just remember when your standing in the valley of decision and the adversary says give in, just hold on our LORD will show up and take you through the fire again."

I hope everyone enjoys listening to this group, they have such energy and such a love for the Lord.

I sure would appreciate any prayers for my son right now, I am so proud of him but am now so worried about him. He is starting his 3rd week of basic training and still has 6 more to go :(

Blessings,Joann

Family reunion and the fair...

Friday was a busy day for me, it's my grocery shopping day so I am out of the house for quite a while. I went by our favorite fruit stand and got some white peaches, nectarines, cantaloupes, a watermelon and a honeydew melon. The fruit is so sweet tasting.

I have also been working on some sewing projects, this is a purse I am working on, this is the top part before I did any stitching on it~

And in this picture you can see where I added some embroidery to the top section. I just used the fabric itself for a pattern and followed some of the branches and then added some leaves~

Saturday was Roger's family reunion, they have one every year and this years was real fun. Here are some pictures from the day~

Roger's Mom, Roger, Me holding Molly, Jennifer, Dylan in front of Jennifer, Chris holding Katie~

Dylan and some of the kids in the raft on the river~

Dylan and Katie down by the river, Dylan just fell on his behind and Katie thought it was so funny~

Katie in her snazzy sunglasses~

Katie and Roger sitting together~

Katie with Roger and Molly down by the river~

Chris and Dylan in the water~

Chris and Katie in the water~

Jennifer, Dylan and Katie by the river~

Katie swinging~

Dylan and Katie on the teeter totter~

Dylan and Katie eating their lunch~

Katie going down the BIG slide~

Everyone had a wonderful time and it was nice to see all of his relatives that we don't see very often. We went home from the reunion around 6PM and then decided to go to the fair for the evening just Roger and I. At the fair one of my favorite things other than a gigantic corn dog is to see all the pretty quilts. I took some pictures of the ones I liked the best. Mostly I liked the beautiful stitching on the quilts. We got back home after the fair at around 10PM it was a very filled day, but we had lots of fun.

Sunday, we slept in and took it pretty easy, Roger did all the outdoor work and I did do a load or two of laundry but that was about it. This has been a very enjoyable weekend. Fun with family and friends.

Here are the quilt pictures~

I hope everyone has a very blessed week.

Blessings,Joann