Taking a break

We all need a break now and then and right now I am feeling like I need one for my own sanity. I really have nothing to even write about right now so will be gone for some time. I hope to be back blogging at the first of the year. I will still be reading my favorite blogs so I won't be gone completely just not posting for a while.
Blessings,Joann

Katie's 5th birthday party~

We went over to Brentwood today to celebrate Katie's 5th birthday. She had a bowling party and everyone seemed to have lots of fun. Before going over Roger and I stopped at the jewelry store where he bought my wedding rings and I needed to have both my wedding rings and my emerald ring resized, while we were there we seen they were having a sale on loose diamonds so we decided to change my diamond with one that is quite larger and much more sparkly :) This new diamond makes my rings look even more beautiful than they already were.


Here are some pictures from Katie's special day


Katie's cake~







Katie with her cake~


Roger and I at Katie's birthday party at the bowling alley in Brentwood~






The bowling party~






We even got back in town with enough time to pick up my rings, so here it is~






I pray everyone has a very blessed Sunday tomorrow.
Blessings,Joann

Look at what is coming to our city.....

I couldn't believe it when I seen some signs up in front of an empty store a few blocks from my home. The signs said "Hobby Lobby coming soon". I have never been to a hobby lobby before but from all of my midwest friends I hear that they are a great store. I can't wait, two weeks from today October 7th is the grand opening and I am already to go to see what it is they have that I cannot live without:)


The other day I stopped in the parking lot and snapped a few photos, it really is coming, they put a real sign up ~






This is the front of the store, it will be quite large which I think will be great~






I have always loved going to Joann's for most of my crafting needs but this store is actually closer to my home than Joann's of course I always joke about loving Joann's because it has the same name as me but if Hobby lobby is closer and about the same price I will be shopping there. I love to go and just look at all of the fabrics all lines up either by color or seasonal things.

Please have a wonderful blessed weekend. Blessings,Joann

Pantry cleaning...

This past weekend I finally had the time and energy to clean our pantry.

this is the before picture~












Now it's all inventoried and clean~





I have been sick for the past few days, don't know with what but I seem to be feeling a little better today. Please if anyone feels like they would want to please keep my son Mattie in your prayers, he is just very lost right now...very far from God:( Thanks, Blessings,Joann

the top 5 blogs that I love to read...

Just a random post, needed something more uplifting than my last post. I apologize for my last post it was just babbling nonesense that comes late at night when I have a real bad headache.

I wanted to share with you all what my favorite blogs are to read and the women who have them, most are my friends and when I say friend I mean I may have never met them in person but I enjoy a friendship through the internet.


#1 and please remember these blogs are in no particular order, though I do have two that I would say are the top two.

DeNiece over at organizedhomemakingforChrist is a very very wonderful and Godly woman, she is as sweet as can be and I have done both emailed with her for years and have spoke with her on the phone for quite a while. Her blog is very honest and is just a joy to read. She has made some video tours of her home and days in her kitchen they are just so much fun to watch and I love her North carolina accent. She doesn't put on a show for people she is just who she is. She loves The Lord with all her heart and it shows in the things she says and the things she does, she is very honest and open about most anything. She also has a great love for both her husband and her children, she homeschools her children and she is a stay at home mom who loves her job.I feel honored DeNiece to call you my friend:)


#2 Katy over at The country blossom is another lady that I love reading her blog. She is also a stay at home Mom and homeschooling Mom and she loves her job too. She does many things everyday and when reading her blog you can just feel how much joy she finds in doing the everyday things. She also love the Lord with all her heart and her husband and children. I do also want to mention that a while back I had left a comment on her blog, a not very nice comment and she emailed me and said that I had really hurt her in what I had said and so of course I apologized for what I had said and asked her to forgive me and her and I have still been friends, she is a wonderful friend to have and I figure those who actually have a real life friendship with her are truly blessed. She makes amazing meals for her family and her home though very simple is absolutey beautiful. I am happy and feel lucky to count her among my friends.



#3 Winona over at catloverandquiltmaker

Now Winona is different than the other two I listed in the fact that she is more like me(I hope that isn't an insult to her) she and her husband are empty nesters like we are and she loves to craft. Her blog has the most beautiful creations that she has put together and she is so fast and dilligent about getting things done, OKay on that she is nothing like me:) I remember reading her blog one morning talking about a pieced rooster pattern that she wanted to try, she hadn't done it before and I went to her blog either that afternoon or evening and there was a picture of the rooster all done, well it wasn't quitlted yet but the top was done. That is what I mean, for me I would have sat down and thought about how to do it and what colors to use ect... probably for hours even days and here she already had it done and it was beautiful. Anything she metions about working on or wanting to work on she will have either done or a major part of it done in just hours. She makes the prettiest purses and small wall hangings. I love being able to call her my friend.


#4 Khris over at sewprimkhris Khris is someone I met through a swap, she was hosting the FRIENDS Swap a few years ago and I joined. She is a lovely lady and always seems to know how I am feeling and almost always has to say to me things I am just needing to hear. She is a wonderful uplifter of people around her and she has made an impact on my life that I have no words to say how much she has helped me to get out of my funk and start enjoying life again. Khris I do so appreciate your friendship. She also does many types of crafts and loves prim things as I do but she is much better at crafting than I am.
Khris I treasure our friendship.





#5 Linda over at all-stitched-up


Last but not least, Linda is a very high class stitcher, she embroiders so well and it just seems to come naturally to her. She has made some beautiful patterns and quilts. Her stitches are so small and uniform that it is amazing when you see it. I have embroidered for years now and I don't even come close to doing as good a job as she does. I purchased one of her patterns a while back and of course it is still in the package it came in :0 her blog is a joy to read and I learn all kinds of new things always. I do consider Linda a friend but other than leaving comments on her posts and maybe an email here and there we are not real great friends. But I still list her as my friend because I enjoy her blog and I enjoy her.Thanks for being my friend Linda.


Well there you have it, my list of blogs that I love to read and a little about the blog owners. I read many blogs but only a few do I feel that I have an actual relationship with the owner.Now this is only my side of the friendship there may be a different feeling on their side if there is I am not aware of it.I love to meet new people on blogs, I love to make friends but as always I am very leary of getting too close. Too many times burned by someone who I thought to be my friend. I love it when you have a friend who is a true sister in Christ, and even if you do something wrong or you don't agree about something you work it out and move on I remember a while back when I was just having a busy time in my life and DeNiece had emailed me and I didn't get back to her for quite a while, the next thing she did was email and ask me "did I do something?" and I just loved her for that. I have had many differences with friends in the past and some are true sisters in Christ and we get through it and some are not, they talk the talk but they don't truly walk the walk, those are the ones to watch out for.

Please have a very blessed Day in the Lord and may your week ahead bring you nothing but joy and happiness.
Blessings,Joann

Remembering September 11, 2001

I seen this song on K-Love.com one of my favorite music stations to listen to and I just loved it.

Please remember to keep in your prayers those who lost loved ones in New York, The Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

Enjoy the video


Michael W. Smith, There she stands~

I am back!!

Yes once again I have returned to this blog. I love this blog , especially the title of it. I had made a new blog and I have to say a big ThankYou to all of those wonderful people who followed me over there, but in the end I always seem to come back to this blog. My life lately has been a bit chaotic, made of course by my own doing. I will not go into any details because it is in the past, I don't live in the past, today is a gift that is why it is called the "present".


Last Friday Roger took off from work and I had imagined it a little different than it turned out. I thought maybe we would sleep in and just lounge around all day, boy I could not have been so wrong.


Friday morning Roger had an appointment to get our 2005 dodge trucks transmission worked on so he took it to the shop at around 9AM, I took Molly to the groomers at the same time and then stopped by and picked Roger up...next we had to get a new catalytic converter put on the Blazer so Roger took that to the other shop and I followed him and picked him up from there we went grocery shopping and when we were done Roger called and the dodge was ready to be picked up so I took him by and dropped him off. Went home had a message on our machine that Molly was ready, so I went to pick her up, I took Roger with me and I dropped him off to pick up the Blazer. Roger still had to take the Blazer to get smogged and while he did that I finished up putting groceries away. Basically our day was over.We both also had Doctor appointments in the afternoon. we just this month got our insurance after not having any for the past 3-4 years, my appointment was at 2:30 and Roger's was at 3:50, I went out to my appointment and it was so nice to be making a $20 copay on the dr. visit instead of the $117. for our last dr. Now I have had my doctor for the past 15 or so years and I wasnt' all thrilled about having to change but change we did. We were lucky enough to find a White english speaking doctor who went to school in the United States. After my appointment I had to go pick up my prescriptions and then I came home. I didn't get home until 4:45 and Roger got home around 5:30. We ended up not really even seeing each other all day. We didn't even eat an actual dinner, I got myself a cheeseburger and coke from mcDonald's and Roger just heated up some soup. We were sitting there in the living room around 8pm just watching some tv and we talked about how we were needing to go look at a new BBQ as ours which we had had for about 10 years wasn't working right anymore. We decided to go out to Lowes and see what they had on sale.

We came home with this~


BBQ in a box :)








AFter the many many hours Roger worked on it putting it together~








Sunday evenings dinner, first use of the new grill~








The food was so good, Roger BBQ'd some chicken and some fish and it all turned out wonderfully. The doggies were waiting for him to drop something, they sat on the grass and were very dissapointed when he didn't drop any food for them


Molly and Mandy, Mandy had gone to the groomers on thursday, Molly on Friday~




Thanks to my friend DeNiece for letting me know that Walmart had their fall febreeze effects air freshners out, I found this double pack and oh they smell so nice.

Fall Febreeze~



I have learned so many things over these past few weeks, lots of things about myself some good but mostly not so good.

I have been trying to memorize the Bible verse~

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Phillipians 2:3-4


Thanks to everyone for visiting, I pray that each and every one of you have a very wonderful week.

Blessings,Joann

The time has come for a break....

My friend Winona over at http://catloverandquiltmaker.blogspot.com/">>
is taking a computer break for a few weeks and I told her I may steal her idea and do the same thing. This morning I made the decision to also take a break for a few weeks from blogging and I also took down my facebook page, for those who are my friends on facebook I am really sorry but it is just getting to be too much drama associated with having my page.

While I am gone I plan on working on some craft projects especially the winter wonderland one, also do something with some redwork I have done already. I will also be working on menu planning and grocery shopping budgeting. And as always trying to get my home organized and clean.

Will be back in the fall, my favorite time of year.

Blessings,Joann

What a glorious Wednesday :)

This morning the doggies and I spent some time out in our chairs on the back patio.




This is what I mean about us sitting in "Our" chairs, Molly has her own chair out there~



I like early morning, everything is pretty quiet. Mainly you can hear the birds singing and of course my doggies barking at people passing by our back gate.

This is the view from the back patio, so nice the sun was just coming up and there is a cool breeze out there. Today the temp. will rise to about the mid 90's but this morning it's nice and cool with a light breeze.




Have to add this video to my post today because it asks the question~ Which Jesus do you follow, Which Jesus do you serve??



Have a wonderful day in the Lord, thank you for stopping by,
Blessings,Joann

A picture post..

Wow the weekend sure does always go by so fast...and the weekdays sooooo sloooooww.

This morning I woke up and was so tired and my back was already hurting. This is not a good way to start the first day of the week :(

I got Roger off to work after making him breakfast of toast and a banana, yep that was it :) I sent him off to work with his lunch of a lowfat yogurt, a honey ham sandwich, pretzel braids and some coke zero's. He is so good about not eating a bunch of junk..unlike me:)

Last week I was going to post pictures of my new bathroom carpets and I just never did get around to taking and posting the pictures. I also made cinnamon rolls and the same thing, I did take the pictures but never got them posted. So I decided to put them all in one post to get you all updated on everything.
I have to start first with a cute little picture of my baby Mandy, this picture makes her look so big when in reality she is only about 4-5 pounds :)



So here are the cinnamon rolls in all their glory~

Getting ready to go into the oven~



Here they are all baked up~


I had no milk in the house when I made the rolls so when I went out to get pizza for dinner I went through the drive thru at McDonalds to get a small thing of milk. That was so much easier than going to the store to get it. So the rolls weren't frosted until later that night, sorry no pictures of them.

Friday was grocery shopping day and as usual I spent way too much for just 2 people, I spent over $150 and that is just for a week. I HAVE TO get a handle on my grocery spending. I need to start working on menus like I used to do and only buy what we need. Any suggestions from anyone about how they do it Please leave a comment or email me. I desperately need HELP!!!!


Last week I also worked on a few dishcloths, the color was picked because the person who will be getting them said their kitchen was purple. I didn't really like the colors but after seeing it crocheted up it was actually very pretty~




Here they are all wrapped with ribbon ready to make their journey to their new home~






The pictures of the bathroom with the pretty new carpets in it, I am very pleased with how everything turned out.

Hallway bathroom~




Now everyone out there knows what a wonderful husband I have and I just had to show you all how that is so true.....On Saturday we spent the good part of his day off looking for ceiling fans for the kitchen and dining room, we had white box flourescent lights for the longest time and I have been nagging him about a ceiling fan in the kitchen because I am hot all the time. We found the ceiling fans and he went to put them up on Sunday morning(also using a day off) but of course he never does anything halfway so he had to take the old lighting fixture down fill in some holes and repaint the area, then start putting in the new fixture.



This is the fan we picked out~




Here it is all put up~






Here is a picture of the new ceiling fan today with the lights on and the fan going~



Have a wonderful week everyone and bless you very much, thanks for stopping by :)

Blessings,Joann

Summer cleaning projects...

"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness."



I have been working on a list of things I want to get deep cleaned this summer and now since it is August guess I better get working on some of them.
We are having a small get together for our son-in-laws birthday this coming Saturday. This week I want to work on the hallway bathroom. I finally got all the new rugs and such for in there but don't want to put anything new in until I get all the dirt out :). No it isnt' that dirty but I do want to give the bathroom a good cleaning before Saturday. I love the color of the new carpets and will certainly take a picture after it is all done.

Yesterday was a not so good day for me and today hasn't been that much better. I just dont' feel well. all I did yesterday was vacuum and mop the entire living room, moved all the furniture and also cleaned the blinds and windows, so it was a busy day even though I wasn't feeling that great. I also for some reason was really missing my dad and then pile on top of that the fact that Mattie is home in Texas but still has not called nor has Sara called to let me know he/they are doing okay. I look at it this way if it were the other way around wouldn't Sara want me to have Mattie call her and tell her he is okay. They don't seem to think of much but themselves and that is very hard on a Mom.

I did manage to crochet 4 dishcloths yesterday as most of the day I was just sitting around. I plan on making some cinnamon rolls tomorrow, I find if I get everything ready the night before and set out on the counter it makes me think of doing it better.

Roger is working late tonight as he did last night so he won't be home until around 8pm wich is lousy! He basically gets home, eats something sits down and relaxes for a few minutes then it's bedtime...I don't know how he does it everyday.

THis weeks cleaning projects~

Hallway Bathroom~

()()()Clean out drawers
()Clean under sink
()Wash medicine cabinet and organize things inside
()Wash light fixture
()()Clean sink/counter
()Clean toilet
()Windex window
()Vacuum
()Mop
()Put new carpets down
()Replace hand towel with new one
()Take out Garbage

Thanks so much for visiting, please come again. Have a wonderful week ahead.
Blessings,Joann

A fun weekend..

A week ago Saturday Roger's mom told him that 6 years before he was born, that she had, had a baby a little girl and gave her up for adoption. This adopted girl hired a private detective to find her mom and she did. Last week this adopted girl got to meet Larry, one of Roger's brothers and this week we drove up to Sacramento to meet her too. Me Roger's mom and Roger were all very excited to meet this lady, and a little nervous too. When we got there we had to wait just a few minutes as we had got there a little early :). Anyway Roger's mom and the daughter she had given up for adoption were reunited for the first time in almost 58 years. It was almost surreal. They hugged and I was able to get this picture of them just touching. I thought it was such a special moment.~






Here is a picture of Roger and his new sister Connie~





This next picture is of Roger, Connie, Esther(Mom) and Larry~



The waiter at the place we had lunch took this next picture for us, so that way we all were in it, I am sure he didn't mind as he ended up with something like a $60 tip from all of us :)

People in this picture are from front - back on the left side~ Roger, Me, James (connie's husband)from back -front on the right side~ Candy (larry's wife), Larry, Esther(Mom) and Connie (The new sister)~




As you can tell I didn't go into many particulars as obviously this is something very private and this not my story to tell. I just wanted to share a little about what happened. Roger is so excited to have a sister, he had told me about a month ago about an unusual dream he had and it included him having a sister. I know everything comes in God's time and not our own and he sure waited quite a while on this one but well worth the wait. We now have new members of our family and we are quite happy with both the new sister and her husband. I have to mention her husband because he is a very special tender/warmhearted person and I am very happy to call both of them family now. I can't wait to meet more of their family and for them to meet ours.


Now on to things that are certainly not as important but still things going on this weekend, I finished up crocheting the two dishcloths I was working on and they are ready to be put into the mail on Monday. I know most things I make are not always perfect but they are always made with lots of love and prayers. I am currently working on some new dishcloths with purple in them and will be hopefully hand delivering these to a wonderful person.

The two red/white dishcloths waiting for their ride through the mail~





One more thing, I had told Sara, Matt's wife that I had seen these so cute twinkie holders at the grocery store but hadn't taken a picture of them. I went grocery shopping on Friday and picked up two of them, one for Sara and one for Matt. I think they are so cute The hat on the top opens up and you put a twinkie in. Aren't they just the cutest. Sara if you read this please note they will not fit in the box so will have to make the journey to Texas in another box at another time.:)




I pray that everyone had a blessed weekend, I know that we did for sure:)
May your week ahead be filled with blessings. Thank you for visiting, hope you come back.

Blessings,Joann

Penny this post is especially for you :)

Okay I will try and explain as best as I can about this vacuum with both words and pictures. Though I can't take a picture of myself holding it so you will have to use your imagination a little bit.


The lift away part comes off and leaves the actual floor part on the floor, the dirt cup part comes with the lift away part.

Here it is sitting on the floor next to the floor part that I lifted it away from...you still with me??




This is the little power brush which goes on the end of the wand part~




That is real good on furniture or even cars.

this is the wand which also has a 24" extension for it if you want to use it for high things~





the whole reason I wanted this particular vacuum was that it did what no other vacuum did, it separated with the cord so when you lift it away you have 25' of electrical cord that goes with you. Even on my very wonderful Dyson when I used the hose part it was always attached to the vacuum and almost always would tip over if you went too far. This doesn't' happen with this vacuum because the hose the dirt cup the motor and the electrical cord go with you. I think this is the coolest thing.

You mentioned the shark that was discounted at Walmart, I really don't know much about the one you mentioned I only did research on this one. I have to say if you want a hand held one and don't have a lot to do then the Dyson hand held would probably be my choice but doing research on that one I found out it is cordless which is great but it only has power for about 10 minutes and it takes up to 3 hours to charge and they don't sell a back up battery for it yet. I love Dyson products and even though they are a bit pricey I do feel they are worth it. The cordless Dyson sells for about $350 and this shark that I bought was $169. at Target, my big Dyson I paid $550 for and have never regretted it one bit. This time I was just needing something different than what they had.

Hope this help understand it better. Now I have two vacuums that I love :)

Library books I got today...

A few months ago when I learned a new Duggar book came out I got online to reserve it at the library, I had to put my name on the long list....I was 11 in line. Today I went to the library to pick up that book and I have already read the first 26 pages. So far it is real good though it goes over a lot of what I have already seen on their show, but in more detail.

The newest Duggar book~




I also picked up a couple of cook books, one just on bread and one on baking in general. some of the recepies look really good.






this is a gooseberry patch cookbook that I own and use all the time, it has great meals in it and I love gooseberry patch cookbooks~







`

dinner is in the crockpot, crockpot pork chops, I will make some mashed potatoes later and heat up some green beans, and then dinner will be done. tommorow is going to be pizza night so will have all day for goofing off :)

I found out when my Little Mattie is coming home, well he isn't coming home to CA but to Ft. Hood. I can't say when for Army security reasons but it is coming soon...His wife called me yesterday and I told her to take lots of pictures since I can't be there just so I can see for myself that he is safely on United States soil.


My friend Penny left a comment about my new vacuum and it being a lift off one, I will take pictures in a little while of what it looks like and will post later tonight or tomorrow so you can see what it does and how it works and one of the attachments is a mini power brush just for pet hair.

Please visit again and have a wonderful day,
Blessings,Joann

A new servant in our home and grandkids first day of school..

Yesterday August 1st was the grandkids first day of school, I can't believe they are so old and I have no idea where the time has gone.

This is a picture of Katie getting on the bus this morning, just loved her smile and her eyes~


If anyone is my friend on facebook you can see the rest of the pictures of both Dylan and Katie on the first day of school. Dylan started 2nd grade and Katie Kindergarten.


Yesterday was also a very happy day for me, as anyone who has read my blog for any time now you know that I struggle with many things, homekeeping probably the main one and I am always on the lookout for things to make it easier to do. I seen this item on a TV commrcial and just had to get one. Oh am I glad I did :)


My new servant~



Look at all of these pieces~





Yes I was smart enough to put it together :)




"
I hate to even show anyone this next picture, but trying to always be a real truthful blog, here it is, yes it's the dirt cup full of well dirt! I used the new vacuum in the kitchen, pantry area and dining area and this is what got sucked up. Disgusting in one way but it makes me happy in another that I now have this much less dirt on the floors


The best part of the whole vacuum is that it weighs 12 pounds and when you do the lift away part it is only 7 pounds, now my husband was asking questions about it and wondering will it magically make me a wonderful keeper of our home, yes and no, no it's not magical but on days when my back is hurting it will be much easier to lug this little vacuum out instead of our Dyson. I am not sure when I boughtour Dyson, it's the pretty purple and silver DC17 Absolute for pet hair we bought it when we had carpet everywhere, now with our new pergo floors only the bedrooms have carpet. Our Dyson is still working just fine and I do love it it's just a little bit big and heavy for me to manuver around so this will just make things for me a little easier.

Roger's tomato crop for this year if doing very well and has produced some beautiful tomatoes, he only has 4 plants but they are huge!

Aren't these yummy looking??



Here is a picture of the back yard with our fountain corner~



And of course my baby Mandy, after she got home from the groomers~

Another winter wonderland update...

Today we went over to the mall in Tracy to meet up with Jennifer and the kids for school shopping. Jennifer and Katie were waiting in front of Target when we got there but Dylan wasn't there. Dylan was at home because he wasn't feeling good.So we went shopping for both of them even though Dylan wasn't there. We started with shoes, each kid got a new pair of shoes, a new package of both socks and underwear. Then on to the fun stuff....the clothes, I love looking at little girls clothes they are always so cute.

We got Katie a real cute dress with the Disney princesses on it, then a few skirts adn some leggings for underneath and a few tops to go with the skirts, then on to things for Dylan. Dylan's favorite colors are green and orange and guess what we were able to find both colors in nice polo shirts. I like nice looking collared with buttons shirts so was happy to find them on clearance for $4.49 each. We ended up with like 6 or so shrits of different colors. Target sells the perfect pants for both Dylan and Katie they have adjustable waists in them. Dylan is going into the second grade but he is still so small, he wears a size 6 in boys for length but the waist is way too big :) He could actually wear a 5 toddler but they would be too short. Katie is the same way so we got her adjustable waist pants too. I don't know the exact amount of things they got but it ended up costing a little under $250 for both of them, of course that isn't counting the backpacks and lunch boxes we got a few weeks ago and the little dresses I got Katie at Walmart the other day. I thought we did pretty good. I did forget however to take any pictures of the shopping expedition :(


When we got home I started working on the winter wonderland project and accomplished quite a bit on it. I have the best light when working in daylight so have put it away for the night.

Here are a few pictures of the ww project~~

All that I have gotten done on it so far~





This is what I have to do next~




This is what I finished today~



Just another picture of it, sorry it hasn't been ironed yet~




Roger and I just got back from dinner out and he is out walking the doggies. Plan on having a nice relaxing evening.

An update on Sara (my daughter-in-love) and her getting the house for her and Mattie, she posted pictures on Facebook and it is just the cutest little place, I guess it is close to the base (Ft. Hood) in Killeen, Texas. I know she is feeling kind of lonely since Mattie isn't home yet and she had to leave her family and friends to move there so please keep her in your prayers. She seemes to be very busy with getting the place put together, she is doing her kitchen in Red and it's so cute. Before all the problems with the getting married and me not knowing about it part Roger and I had planned on getting them a BBQ for a wedding gift, but now I don't think that will be happening, but we will see.


Thanks so much for visiting, hope your weekend is going well.

Blessings,Joann