Happy New Year everyone

I would like you all to know that my daughter has started her own blog so if you have time please stop by and say hi to her Jennifer's blog

I hope and pray that she enjoys blogging and that she will meet some real good Godly friends.

Also tomorrow January 1, 2011 will be the start of the stitching challenge I have decided to join. Basically you start a new project every day for 15 days and then finish them throughout the year. I am very happy to start and have most of the items I want to get done picked out. Most of the patterns I use will be from cross stitch magazines, they will also be very small that way I won't get tired out from doing it, haven't done it in a while.

Another thing I have been working on are my goals for the coming year, I have a list already planned out but that will be in another post, another day.
I am thinking my theme for 2011 will be management~in all areas of my life~~ More on this later also.


I want to wish everyone~ Family, friends and anyone I happen to know a very blessed and joyful New Years.


Blessings,Joann

I went shopping today and had a blast!!!

Today being 3 days after christmas I thought it was time for me to go out and spend some of my Christmas money. Armed with my coupons for Joann's I set out on my venture.
First I went to Beverley's fabrics, they are usually a little more pricey than Joann's but they have good sales.

There I came across something I hadn't seen yet....Kona cotton fat quarters $2 each, they had every color you could think of but since I use them for embroidery I usually stick to the lighter colors so I can transfer patterns easier.

These are the colors I chose~






I also came across this package of buttons called Bag-O-Buttons and I really liked the colors. I don't have lots of buttons but these were just so pretty, I also purchased a smaller bag of some different colors~







I only spent $23 at Beverley's. So onto Joann's this is where I like to spend my time, I love to look at all the pretty fabrics all lined up by color.

These were my purchases at Joann's~


Sidewinder~ I had been wanting one of these for a while now and had a 40% off coupon plus 20% off entire order, so it was a great deal~






Some aida cloth for cross stitching~





I also picked up this thread box with 26 spools of gutterman thread for 19.99(minus the 20% off)





I of course have to show you this cute little bobbin holder I bought, never seen such a small holder, it was on sale for $4.19 (minus 20%) Isn't it just the cutest thing??~




Here is a shot of everything I got today, I am so happy with everything.


I ended up spending a little over $50 at Joann's but with my coupons saved $36 so that would have been $86 dollars if I didn't have any coupons. I love it when they send out coupons!!



I am trying to go through all of my counted cross stitch books, and magazines to pick out 15 things for that challenge that starts on January first. I am mainly going to do small things and maybe one medium sized project. I almost always buy 14 count aida cloth for cross stitching, I know lots of people use different types of fabric and linens but I am most comfortable with the type I bought today. I am kind of excited about starting some cross stitch, as I had said in my last post I haven't done counted cross stitch in many years (I think I left out the part about many years and made it sound like I had never done it, but I have just many many years ago)I am also going to sit down and make a list of items I would like to make for friends and relatives for this coming year. I can't believe it is almost 2011.

Blessings,Joann

I have decided to join in this challenge called Crazy January 2011 challenge. I am so bad at never finishing things, thougth this may motivate me and since their are lots of women joining in it will be encouraging. I have not done counted cross stitch but I have tons of patterns. I am working on my list for the past few days of things I want to start...If any of you are interested follow the link below and include your name and blog at that site. This is not a challenge I started it was started by the person at the link below. Many thanks go out to her.


The part under the link is what I copied from her blog, just didn't feel like re-typing it all.

I will be back in the near future with a list of things I plan on doing, they will be small just to make sure I will finish them. I am also working and praying on what I want to be my goals for 2011. I ordered a few Bible studies from CBD this evening and can't wait till they get here. One of them is a study of Ecclesiasties(don't know if I spelled that right and am too lazy to go check )I am very interested in that one.

So if all goes well I might actually finish some projects , 15 of them!! It is almost scary just thinking about it.Luckily my hand will have some rest time before I start using it again, have been having to wear my brace quite a bit of the day and always at night!

Enjoy your Tuesday, I am planning a trip to Joann's making sure I have all the items needed to start January first.

I have also not spent all of my money yet. I did order those books from CBD and a magazine subscription to Cross country stitching..


Crazy January 2011 challenge


We have so many charts in our stashes, so let's start stitching them!
The rules are simple:

1. Start stitching a new design every day, from January 1st to January 15th. So by January 15th you have 15 new WIPs to stitch!

2. Try and finish everything you started stitching during the year 2011 :)

3. Show photos in your blog if you have one, in January and during the whole year while you stitch, as we all love to see photos!

4. If you wish to join, leave a comment with your blog address into this post and I will add your name to the list.

5. Have fun stitching!


Blessings,Joann

Christmas 2010

I purchased these two Yankee candles to try and lighten my mood and make our home smell wonderful, I now know why these candles are so expensive. They fill your entire home with wonderful fragrances. They cost quite a bit but worth every penny!



I also Did some Bible reading starting at the first of December~




I worked as hard as I could and was able to get both Dylan's and Katie's scarves finished late Christmas eve.

Grandkids Scarves, obviously Katies is the light blue/pink/purple one and Dylan's is the one with his favorite colors orange and green~



Sadly with trying to get everything together to go over to Jennifer's Christmas morning the two scarf presents were accidently left at home. Really made me kind of mad after working so hard to get them finished on time. Oh well they are done and they turned out pretty cute even if I do say so myself : )

I also made up two dishcloths for Molly and Mandy's groomer, her name is Pam and she is just wonderful with them. I didn't wrap them in Christmas wrap just wrapped a ribbon around them~



Our Fireplace with all the stockings~



Our Christmas tree with all the presents underneath~




Our Christmas 2010 will be one we will always remember as the Christmas without Mattie and Oreo. We do need to remember those that were here and we had a wonderful time at Jennifer's house with the grandkids. There is nothing better than seeing children open presents. When we first got there Dylan asked "Did you bring any presents" and of course we did, we had 2 large garbage bags full and 3 smaller bags. We had got a bunch of things from the 99 cent store you know the kind of stuff that you are lucky will last a day or so but they really seemed to like those things. Mainly we bought board games, they like to sit as a family and play games.


Grandkids opening presents boy were they fast~





Jennifer and the kids made a birthday cake for Jesus and they sang Happy Birthday Thougth it was so cute...The cake tasted so good. Jennifer knows how to make a good tasting cake!!!





We gave Jennifer her special gift of a Bible~





This is a closer look at the front of the box~




Here is the cover, it's purple her favorite color. We also had her name put on it.~




This is the inside, it's a study Bible, something she had been wanting~



Here are some of the gifts Roger gave me~


Gaither DVD's~



Money~



web cam~




These are the gifts I gave him, don't exactly know what they are for but he does :)




I pray that everyone had a great Christmas and will have a very blessed and peace filled New Year.

Blessings,Joann

Merry Christmas to one and all

Just wanted to put this post up today as I won't be using the computer tomorrow.
Our wish for each and everyone is to have a fun,wonderful, blessed day Christmas day and for you to not loose sight of what we are celebrating. Yes getting together with family and friends is fun and will make your day more enjoyable, but please remember that the Reason for the Season is Jesus Christ!! I was reading this morning from Morning and Evening by Charles Sprurgeon and the Bible quote for this morning is "For your sake he became poor" so please keep Christmas as it should be rejoicing in our saviors birth and really think on the whole reason he was born.It was not so people could run around and be all stressed out trying to buy presents, the ultimate gift was from God "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son , that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemm,but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17

Have a truly Blessed Christmas day and New Year.

Blessings,Roger, Joann, Molly and Mandy

This is for my son Matthew....

I have many Christmas songs that I would call my favorites this is one of the most favorite ones.

This song is for my son Mattie, I pray that he sees it. His name isn't Zachary but I still have "my gift for him that peace on earth fills up his time, brotherhood surrounds him and that he may know the warmth of love and wrap it all around him."

Ecclesiastes 4:10

This particular Bible verse has been on my heart lately along with a few "friends". These "friends" I speak of are ones from a few years ago that I lost when I had the problems with one particular person who was at one time my friend. Okay now that you are all up to speed and totally understand what I am saying :) I will continue.....

For the past two weeks or so I have been having this continuall conversation with the Lord, he keeps telling me to do something and I keep coming up with excuses not to do it, I debate very good let me tell you!!

So Ecclesiastes 4:10 "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!" In this particular verse I am not the one who has no one because I have many true treasured friends and they know who they are. I started thinking about these past "friends" and I got out two Christmas cards and addressed them to my friends from another year and also wrote a short note inside them. I don't really know what they will do when they arrive at their homes, they may just throw them away, they may get mad and call the police and say I am stalking them or they may be the sisters in Christ they have always claimed to be and open the card and read my sincere words and say to themselves~ Wow, how nice of Joann to send a card. I have kept my end of the bargain with my Lord, he pressed upon my heart to send these ladies Christmas cards and I did so even if they do just throw them away I will be fine with that I have done my part. What do I want in return from these ladies?? Nothing at all, no contact, no nothing. I feel good about doing my part and that is all I am thinking about. It would be wonderful if one or both of them would get a hold of me through email or however and say something like the past is the past and we now live in the present and pray for the future. I know they won't but I have come to terms with that and remember that wise quote from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" written in the book given to George Baily by his guardian angel Clarence at the end of the movie
"Remember, No man is a failure who has friends"

I am not a failure, I have many kindred and treasured true friends and that is all that matters. I just felt a need to write this post. The two women I am talking about do not read my blog and even if they did, I have said nothing about them that is bad.


I will get off my soapbox now :) :)

Have a wonderful Thursday, thank you for stopping by
Blessings,Joann

The joys of having a dysfunctional family at Christmas!!

Have you ever just wanted to take one of your family members and smack them upside the head??? Well I have and many times. Did I mention that I have the most dysfunctional family I have ever known!!!

Christmas has always as long as I can remember been at my sister Marie's house because basically she was the only one with a large enough place. My other sisters house is too small and me and the kids always lived in small apartments. Well when I married Roger I made the decision one year to have Christmas at our home, oh my you would have thought that I commited a crime. Marie was all upset because she always has Christmas at her house...I guess we aren't supposed to ever do anything different. So in November of that year I announced that I was having Christmas, Since Marie was so upset and crying about it (she cries about most anything that isn't her way) I asked her did I need your permission to have Christmas at my own home and her answer was no but you should have asked??? Now isn't that getting permission?? Did I mention I have a disfunctional family????
Okay speed ahead to this year. Marie made and "Official announcement at Katie's birthday party that she is having Christmas at her house and my comment to her was oh okay. I have decided to just not worry about what she plans for Christmas and Roger and I and Jennifer and the kids do Christmas morning here at our home and then we sometimes will go over to Maries later in the day. Everything is going very well and then Chris has his knee surgery.......since they were coming over to our home for Christmas morning we decided to just plan on going over to Jennifer's house for Christmas morning since they live upstairs and it isn't too fun for Chris to go up and down the stairs. So I called my mom and asked if she would like to go over with us for the morning and we could drop her off at Marie's after. She said she would have to think about it which really means I have to call Marie and see if it's okay!! I also told her that everyone was welcomed to go to Jennifer's if they wanted, oh they can't do that because Brandon is coming home...what that has to do with it I do not know, remember that disfunctional part??Then she found out I did not plan on going to Maries, basically because we do not get along, she is a selfish, self centered person and she doesn't like me or Roger so why would we go somewhere we aren't wanted.Anyway then my mom said something that I have to say really bothered me. She is worried because they (meaning my mom and two sisters) have told everyone(all of our relatives) in Minnesota that we were all going to be together this Christmas!!!!WHAT THE HELL I guess my mom forgot about her other grandson who is in Iraq this Christmas...so now I am in trouble because according to Marie (and she is never wrong) I said I was coming way back at Katie's birthday party. No I did not say that and then when we had went to Tahoe and some unpleasant things went on I can't believe she would expect me to come anyway..Did I mention that I have a dysfunctional family. So I am very sorry to all of our relatives in Minnesota who thougth we were all going to be together for Christmas, it is just going to be the regular disfunctional get together that we usually have. Marie over at her house pretending she is living the perfect life with the perfect children and perfect marriage. Me and Roger and our family at Jennifer's celebrating the birth of our Savior and missing Mattie. Marie and her family could not be put out having to go over to Jennifer's to accomodate Chris. I am so happy to have the family I have~ Roger, Jennifer, Matthew, Chris, Dylan Katie , Molly and Mandy. I plan on having a very joyus Christmas and even my sister Marie can not take that away from me!!I do feel like going over to Marie's and smacking her upside the head but I will not, it is the Christmas season after all : ) : )

Thank you to all who took the time to read my rambling, but sometimes you just have to get things off your chest. I seriously would love someone like hallmark to come out with cards for disfunctional families....I have a hard time finding cards on days like Mother's day, sister's birthdays etc...

Bren This post is for you!!!

Recently I ordered a couple of skirts and some new long sleeved shirts and my friend Bren told me I should do a fashion show. Well I am not doing a fashion show but I did take a picture of my recent clothes that I got. My original order was for 3 skirts and 4 shirts and Roger said I could order some more. I was wanting enough skirts so I would have one for every day. So I ordered 4 more skirts and 6 more shirts. The picture above is my order. From left to right the skirts on the bottom of the picture are Charcoal grey, kahki, navy blue and black, they are all the same skirt just different colors. This skirt is the most comfortable skirt I have ever owned. The shirts that are sitting on top of the skirts are either mock turtlenecks or regular turtlenecks. From left to right Oatmeal, Wisteria,Pink,brown and navy blue, I know that is only 5, the red one I wore yesterday and is in the laundry. Today I am still in my jammies so haven't decided what I will wear today. :) I ordered all of this from a place called Woman Within, the skirts are called sport knit and they cost regular price $21.99, I got them for $15.99 each, the shirts regular price is $13.99 and I got htem for $11.99 and also buy two get one free so I got two of them for free.

Now on to the subject of dresses/skirts only, this will be short and not a long drawn out explaination.

I am NOT dresses/skirts only and I do not believe you have to wear only dresses/skirts for salvation. I wear skirts and dresses because I like to, I feel more feminine, I feel more modest and I just feel more like me when I wear them. I know there are lots of blogs out there where the woman feels she has to wear a dress or skirt out of conviction for her faith. That is fine and I am not saying they are wrong. What I post on my blog is my opinion, some may agree with me and some may not and that is their choice. I like to wear a skirt and do so most of the time, but I also wear sweats and jeans some times too. Basically I like to be comfortable and wearing a skirt to me is very comfortable. I feel that God is more interested in our heart than what we are wearing. I also feel that modesty is way more important that the whole dresses/skirt thing. There was one blog that I used to read who was a dresses/skirts only person and some of the dresses she showed that she wore were very un modest. I wear long skirts or dresses almost everyday and my relationship with the Lord is wonderful. If and when I wear a pair of jeans or put on my sweats My realtionship with the Lord is the same. I would love to hear from anyone who has an opinion on this subject even if you don't agree with me. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you feel.

Thank you for stopping by and may your day be blessed.

Blessings,Joann

I have been working hard...

Remember that Homespun yarn I showed in my last post?? I was using it to make a gift for someone for Christmas. I started it a while ago and boy have I been having fun!!! It has to be one of the most difficult yarns to work with, but when it is made into something it turns out to be so soft and pretty. I started it and pulled all the stitches out at least 6 times. It is hard to see the stitches so I was ending up with either too many stitches on a row or not enough. I can understand missing one or two but one of my rows was missing 4 stitches. That is a lot of stitches. Anyway I finished up two things I was working on and now they are ready to go to there new homes. The red colored one was done in regular yarn and was so much easier to make. I am just hoping that everyone likes what I have made them.I am currently working on a blue one and hope to have it finished by the end of this weekend.

Blue/green homespun scarf and red regular yarn scarf finished 12/17/10

I went over to Jennifer's house I think it was last weekend and they had made a gingerbread house, Katie told me she did the candies on top. I thought it turned out pretty cute looking

Jenn and familie's gingerbread house.

I also went over to Jennifer's house this past Wednesday to babysit the kids. Chris, Jennifer's husband was having knee surgery. He seemed to be doing okay when I left and I have heard that Katie is being his nurse.

This is Jennifer's christmas tree~

I have done no more decorating and that is fine with me. I really don't have that usual Christmas spirit that I normally have. Christmas is my favorite holiday but this year with and Mattie not being here and having to have my beloved cat Oreo put to sleep I am just not the same as I usually am. It's almost like I can't allow myself to have a happy time knowing my son is so far away and he is not having fun so why should I right?? Having a child gone at Christmas is just so hard. I know that all children grow up and leave home but I just am very sad about it.

I have tried to keep myself busy with making gifts and trying to decorate but everything reminds me that Mattie is not going to be here. I even hung his stocking up on the fireplace mantel knowing he won't be here, that sounds kind of stupid doesn't it?? I keep thinking I hear Oreo down the hallway, making his very loud meows but I think it is just my mind playing tricks on me.

Have a very lovely weekend.Thank you very much for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment.

A rainy Wednesday..

Today it rained most of the day. I turned on the Christmas tree lights and since it was kind of dark and gloomy outside it made our home just glow. I sat in one of the new chairs with my feet up two dogs on my ottoman and crocheted while I listened to the rain coming down. What a joy it is to be home and not out and about today. I had plans on going to Target but after talking with my husband and him telling me about all the accidents he had seen on his way to work, he thougth it would be best for me to stay home and not be out in the rain. Now my family would look at what I just wrote and take it that Roger was not allowing me to go somewhere and my take on him saying that is that he is concerned with my safety. Does anyone else out there have any problems with their families not understanding that your husband is the head of your household and you are submissive (I almost hate to even use that word) those of you who live by the Bible know what I am talking about. Anyway I had a very enjoyable day even cleaning the bathrooms....just knowing that I am blessed to be able to stay home ,where I believe any Mom or wife should be (just my opinion)and take care of my home and my husband.

Roger is on his way home from work right now, I have potatoes on the stove and I have had pork chops in the crock pot all day. Just need to finish up with the potatoes and warm up some veggie and dinner will be done. I also made a big salad. A wonderful home cooked meal... Pork chops mashed potatoes w/ gravy salad and a veggie (I am thinking of peas) Yum Yum!!!

I think I may finish up the item I am working on this evening after dinner time and kitchen clean up. I had purchased the movie Avatar for Roger for his birthday and we haven't watched it yet..we are real big movie people but we watch at home not at the theatre. I love sitting in my own home with my husband, our pets and watch a movie. I haven't been to a theatre for probably over a year maybe even two years. Someone gave us movie passes one Christmas and we didn't use them until the following Christmas. We are just homebodies. We love our home and the love you feel in it when you walk in.

Got to get working on dinner, Thanks for stopping by I really appreciate it.

I plan on doing a post this week about a question someone asked me recently They asked me if I was dresses/skirts only and if so was it for salvation. I will explain my thoughts on the subject.


Blessings,Joann

Tuesday evening

This is the yarn I bought earlier today, I didn't have any blue yarn and I needed some. I really like the color of this blue, it looks nothing like the picture it isn't bright at all

Blue yarn~

This is how overstuffed my yarn basket for Crocheting is right now~

This is one of my favorite yarns for colors and for it's softness but it has to be one of the hardest yarns to work with. This is going to be turned into a gift for a special person in my life, just a regular person would not be worth the time it takes : )

I really wanted to learn how to knit but that will have to wait till after Christmas.

Have a blessed Wednesday everyone and thank you for stopping by.

Blessings,Joann

A busy Tuesday so far

The day is almost over as far as homekeeping in concerned. I still have laundry going and am waiting right now for the washer to get done so I can change it over to the dryer. Since our laundry area is located in the garage and when the truck is in the garage I can't get to the machines, every day I do laundry I have to move out the truck to the driveway and it has to be back in the garage by the time Roger gets home so he can park in the driveway with the blazer. Some days this being one of them I got a late start on laundry so I am now trying to squeeze in as much as I can get done before 6pm. I think it will end up being 3 loads. It takes 50 minutes for the washing part and I have been using my timer today...it keeps me from forgetting all about laundry which I have been know to do many times.

I picked up some new yarn today for a couple more projects for Christmas, so now my list is 10 things instead of 8. I am very excited about the gift I ordered online for my daughter. I won't mention what it is because I think she reads my blog sometimes. But I will certainly take a picture of it when Christmas is over and it will no longer be a suprise. I think she will be happy with it.

Today has been a day of catch up....that is one problem with taking a day off :) things I should have got done yesterday had to be done today with todays things. Tuesday is bedroom day and Monday is living room day. So I had to do monday's room today. Tomorrow is wednesday and that is bathrooms day I really hate cleaning the bathrooms but really they don't take as long as I think they do.

When I was out today I also picked up some wonderful gifts for a good friend, Need to get them packed up to ship out on Friday. These days of December seem to be going so fast. I keep thinking I have plenty of time to get everything made and shipped out but in reality I need to get my behind in gear and get working on things.

I pray anyone who comes to my blog and reads my post has a wonderful Tuesday and rest of the week.
Blessings,Joann

What a wonderful Monday...

I made an executive decision to take today off. I did absolutely nothing!! This past weekend I did a lot of crocheting and fearing having to wear my brace let my hand have a resting period. I worked approximately 8 hours on Sunday on a Christmas present for a good friend and I am pleased with my progress but was I hurting by the end of the day...I am making some scarves for the grandkids and with my other crochet projects that makes about 8 more items that need to get done as soon as I can. The kids scarves go pretty quickly but the other things take much more time.

Today I also re-signed up for Weight Watchers, it is a great program and I had quit going thinking I could do it on my own, but I have gained over half of what I lost back again I was so dissapointed...not only had I fallen off the weight loss wagon I was being dragged behind it for a long time!!! I will start going to the meetings again on Wednesday mornings and I will try and curb my cravings for foods that I know are bad for me.

I have all of the Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree, I even have the stocking stuffers bought. I am still waiting for one gift that I had to order on line but it should be here pretty soon. So I guess I was wrong they are not ALL wrapped and under the tree.

I don't have any pictures to post tonight and I usually do, so it feels kind of strange to post without pictures. Tomorrow I am making a trip to Joann's to look for a gift for a friend that I need to get in the mail pretty soon, would like to get it sent out by Friday. Mattie called the other day and said his packages that I had sent made it and he really liked the blanket we sent him,he had wanted a down comforter wich was a little out of our price range. I did find a reasonably priced alternative down blanket and sent it to him. I am praying it keeps him warm.

Our Christmas tree is still not finished and no other decorating has been done, just not in the Christmas mood yet I guess. I keep trying to make myself more Christmassy but so far no luck : (

Blessings to all who have stopped to visit my blog may your week be greatly blessed. I appreciate one and all who visit.

Blessings,Joann

Look what came to our home today...

I posted a while ago about our new recliners that we purchased, well we had nothing but problems with them from the very beginning and after a lot of complaining and such we were allowed to have them returned and we picked out somethin else.

This is what we had picked up today~

And this is what was delivered today~

These chairs should have no problems, there isn' t really much that can break or not work. We really like the fabric and coloring. They are also very comfy to sit in and the dogs love the ottomans it is like their own personal sitting spot : )

I also am going to include just one picture of a new outfit just for that one friend who wanted to see what I got....This is the most comfortable skirt I have ever worn, even more comfortable than my jean skirt!! I also got 2 more skirts in a black and also a kahki colored one, plus 4 more long sleeved shirts.

Have a very blessed weekend and thanks so much for stopping by...

Blessings,Joann