so it has been awhile

So it has been over a year since I last blogged and man has it been a busy year.. both of the kids had birthdays... my dad remains cancer free.. Nathan became perminant at his job .. hunter started kindergarten.. I started teaching at early arts... the list can go on .. so I will be spending some time updating on a lot of things hopefully .. I have decided after much thought that I am no longer doing my crafting business... I love it don't get me wrong but I have strayed from the reasons why I started sewing and making bows.. I started it for my lil girl .. to make things for her and I lost sight of that .. so I am putting everything up and if I do something it will be for a friend or my lil girl only .. no more selling items.. also between the frustrations of the post office losing packages I just don't want to deal with the hassels anymore.. so with that lets hope this year will be a lot less stressful and more fun with my kiddos... Hunter is now 6 and ava is 4 ... I just don't see where the time has gone... Hunter is enjoying kindergarten after a ruff start at the beginning ... he also has a girl friend who is very sweet and much like hunter... ava is still at early arts and now I am teaching with the early 2s class and LOVE IT .. cant say enough how much I enjoy being there and around those kiddos.. so this will be short .. just a sweet sum up to all the millions of things that have been going on .. hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the new year!

Josephine Joyce Boggs

Baby Josephine Joyce Boggs passed away July 6, 2012.

The funeral service will be held on Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the Eckard Baldwin Sanctuary Chapel, 760 E. Market St., with Rev. Jason Boggs officiating for his daughter. The family will receive friends at the funeral home for one hour prior to the service, from 9 - 10 a.m.


born: 7/6/2012 died: 7/6/2012 parents: Brandy and Jason Boggs


Please keep our family and Jason and Brandy in your prayers.. thanks so much

Angel

So i havent written in awhile things have been pretty busy here... but tonite i write because my heart is heavy and hurting for my cousin in law and her husband... today at her normal appointment she found out her lil girl had no heart beat ... Josie would have been born sometime next week but now she is in Jesus's arms ... I am sitting here like everyone does questioning .. asking the whys .. and especially why them? I find myself asking why do Christians that are the ones that give their life wholely to Jesus are the ones that have their faith tested the most. Jason is a preacher... he married me and my husband right after he had just married Brandy. He works with Thrive Church in Ohio planting churches and is the preacher of that church. So why them? Why does God test them the most it seems .. why not test someone who is laking in their path to God? I know i will never have the answers to this but I just hurt so bad for them.
When we had gotten the news earlier that there was something wrong I remember asking God that no matter what the outcome was that we give all Glory to Him... I hope in the days to come we are able to do that and continue to do that.. Even though our hearts are heavy and we had so hoped to live an earthly life with Josie we must press on .. As I told Mama Lou .. we dont need to worry ... Mama Anne is rocking her right now and Woody is singing to her (these are lou's parents) ... I even hope to think my mother is up there loving on her too until the day we and Brandy and Jason are able to finally hold her whole and complete. 

I thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. 
I thought about you yesterday and the day before that too. 
I think of you in silence.  I often say your name. 
But all I have are memories and your picture in a frame.
Your memory is my keepsake, with which I'll never part. 
God has you in His keeping.  I have you in my heart.
I shed tears for what might have been.  A million times I've cried. 
If love alone could have saved you, you never would have died.
In life I loved you dearly.  In death I love you still. 
In my heart you hold a place no one can ever fill. 
It broke my heart to lose you but you didn't go alone 
for part of me went with you, the day God took you home.

my lil business part 2

So I wanted to share some more pics of kids modeling my items ... so this is just a post of pics ... well ok i can tell about my first ever craft show i attended.. it was at my old church mount view baptist and they had their first annual bazaar to raise funds for their mission trip this year.. it was great.. got to meet alot of new ppl and got to also see some friends from highschool.. also i didnt do too bad either .. sold quiet a few of my bows.. sorry didnt get pics i know i know but my phone was dead due to it trying to find a signal and also my kids were with me so i had to keep up with them and such.. but anywho here are some more pics 

One Year Ago

One year ago everyone's lives in alabama was changed... I remember the day like yesterday.. we had been told all week to be prepared for bad weather but we never thought it was going to be like it was... i remember waking up at 4am to the tornado warnings... luckily it was north of us ... then at 9am we went back under another tornado warning .. at that time in the shoals we had a funnel cloud over our town.. it caused trees to fall down and alot of small damaged happened in our area... i remember all of a sudden grabbing my kids and huddling in the corner of our house and the house was shaking ... mins later my friend crystal called me crying and panicking .. she said trees were down everywhere 5 mins down the road from my house and that she couldnt get to her house .. she and her two kids came over ... i was calling nathan who at that time was at the ferry working letting him know we were ok and begging him to hurry home when there was a break in the storms.. lil did we know we were in for much worse... nathan got home around 1pm ... me, him, crystal, and the four kids were steadily watching the weather .. around 230 we went under a tornado warning again.. we again huddled in the corner ( to let you know we have NO SAFE spot in our house really ... i remember nathan going outside to look around and all of a sudden it got really dark .. hunter asked me why it was nite time during the day and i suggested we sing songs.. the house started shaking a lil again and i looked around the corner to see nathan saying take cover.. lil did we know at that moment a funnel cloud was over our house trying to touch down.. moments later the darkness lifted but many were not safe... an ef5 tornado had touched down in hackleburg and lvled the town .. it then moved onto phil campbell and destroyed half of that town... as that tornado was going into lawrence county we were watching a tornado (another ef5) on the tv hitting cullman county , when all of a sudden they said another tornado was on the ground in tusculoosa (ef4 which hit birmingham also).. as we were listening nathan said you got to call your dad now.. i called my father and screamed at him to take cover now ... i remembering hanging up with him worried sick and scared not knowing what was going to happen... the ef5 tornado that hit hackleburg and phil campbell tore thru lawrence county and destroyed many of my friends homes .. it came within less then a quarter mile of my fathers house and if he wasnt taking cover he could have watched it from his front porch go across the field in front of his house... shortly after 4 our power went off and we didnt know who was safe and who wasnt... i finally got ahold of my father and found out he was safe.. i told him about where it had hit .. after it left lawrence county the tornado continued on to tanner and then madison county.. this one tornado tracked for over 120 miles ... it left many ppl without power for weeks due to it tearing up the major power lines belonging to the ferry.. nathan and many others rushed to the ferry that nite to work on getting generators hooked up to keep the stacks cool since there was no power at all... the next day me and my kids went to take clothes and help my dad get his food to our house so it wouldnt get bad.. i drove down the road and i was in tears immediatly..everything was gone.. Hunter just kept saying mommy what happened .. so i explained to a 3 yr old the best i could... we both cried and cried .. i took some pics which i will share but at one point i just couldnt take anymore because so much had been destroyed... In total that day we lost over 200 lives from the tornado outbreak... please remember these families as they are still recovering today from these storms.. here is a video of the damage in lawrence county and some pics i took 

 this is the field in front of my dads house where the tornado tracked through

 this used to be sunny's bbq .. it is completely gone and still is =(

Here is also a video i took myself of the damage pls excuse the jumping around i was driving at the time i believe this is on 157 going towards moulton as it crossed the hwy going towards langtown

And here is a video of when the tornado first started and the damage in hackleburg 

 

Update......

So it has been busy since i had my surgery... I am doing really good from the surgery still no pain.. i got released on april 3rd so now i am back to doing normal things yay lol. I did have a problem 2 weeks after surgery where the antibotics during surgery killed too much bacteria in my colon .. so i had to be on meds for that .. and then 2 weeks later i got the dreaded stomach virus not once but twice!!! So now i am much better after that ... I have been busy working on my lil business... I have my first craft show this weekend and I am totally excited about it... I will take lots of pics and post a blog about it later on in the week. So I have been busy working on orders and getting stuff done for the craft show and i feel like i am very behind. So it seems i will have some late nites in my future this week. Another thing that is happening is my husband is prolly going to get laid off. ... the job he was on has finished and i am very thankful that he had a job this long... two years is a good time to be at one place in the electrician trade. So we are looking at all our options. He can now travel since he is a journeyman so that is one thing we are looking at and also he is trying to get a permanent position at a company ... so it is whatever god wants us to do .. we shall see. I am also starting to look for a job ... i am going to look openly everywhere and see what i can find.. so i dont know what will happen with my lil business it may get put on hold for a bit .. i dunno .. that is something i will see .. only god knows ... i have learned over the years to just go with it ... god will work it out some how and he does... i am so thankful now for the year we lived off of unemployment .. it taught us a lot of things .. yes it was hard and i sometimes thought we wouldnt make it but here we are today... so anything is possibly .. just gotta have faith... well i cant think of anything else to update on except miss zoe grace will be a year old tomorrow .. we will be having her bday party tonite... i am so thankful god put her in lora and justins life... i cant believe it is a year already that she has come into the family ... so this party is more then just a birthday but a big celebration... so i hope everyone has a good week and i hope to post some more stuff this week .

Cancer sucks part 13

Sorry I havent posted an update lately .. been really busy... My dad is supposed to have a PET scan in two weeks I believe... he has finished his radiation four weeks ago. He has been really tired lately.. I am a lil worried cause he seems to not be eating enough and losing some weight. I keep telling him five small meals .. just a snack nothing too big but he is so stubborn and just doesnt listen. He still also has the tickle in his throat and also now he says if he takes too big of a bite it seems to hang up in his throat so now he takes even smaller bites while eating. This doesnt comfort me any either. I am trying to think positive. I am just waiting for the scan to happen. He also had to take a series of B12 shots and his iron has been low too. But otherwise he is doing good. My dad is still active and doing things so that is great. Will update when we have results from the PET scan. Thanks again for all the prays.

update from my surgery

So when i went back after a week from having surgery ( it has been 3 weeks now) i got my staples out and found out i had adenomyosis which is a type of endometreosis in the muscle wall of the uterus. Since having my surgery i did have some colon problems. I had an overkill of bacteria from my antibotics during surgery so I had to take some meds for a few days to get that straightened out. But since then I have felt great. I am finally getting my energy back. I have days when I still get tired easily. I really cant wait till April 3rd when I am finally released from not being able to pick up anything heavy then 10 pounds (ie a gallon of milk) .. I know my daughter will be very happy also. So that is it. I am finally pain free!!! Thank you for all the prayers.

My lil business

So I started up a page on fb for my bow and tutu making business... thanks to my friends Christina, Renee, and Maggie who have been my best customers have started my launch of a lil smalll business. Ever since I helped my dad with the video store that we owned I have always wanted to have my own business.. my real dream was opening a british pub but that so far hasnt even moved at all lol. I partnered with IMAQT models and have made some items for some of the models. Here are some pics of them modeling... 

 

New me

So on Monday i had my partial hysterectomy. It went good. When i went in i had the pelvic and back pain and when i came out i felt great minus the discomfort of just having surgery. I mean it is amazing the difference... i am so happy i had this done and since the surgery i have felt better each and every day. The gas pains have been a lil painful but that was only the first and second day. Otherwise the pain from being cut felt like nothing to me ... i guess being in pain for over 2 years and having surgery to fix it does make a difference. I have also not taken my paxil in a week. For one the toradal i am on for swelling and gas cramps states i shouldnt take muscle relaxers or paxil while on it. So those two meds i havent taken. And I have felt great surprisingly ... ya i have had some moodyness but i think that is from having surgery and what not but otherwise i think with the main pain gone it has really changed my mood and feeling 100%... i just thank god that i was able to do this and this was the outcome of it. it is great... i feel wonderful and so blessed that i can finally enjoy life again without the pain.

shephard's pie

Shephard's pie
1 lb ground beef 

2 to 3 oxo boullion beef cubes or just beef boullion cubes

4 good size potatoes

salt

pepper

1/2 teaspoon of garlic

butter

Make sure meat is thawed and put it in good size pot .. tear it apart and add water to cover up the meat. then crumble the 2 to 3 boullion cubes. Add 1/2 tsp of pepper. Let this come to a boil then cut back to mid low temp with lid slightly cracked. Let this cook for a cook 5 to 6 hours. After it is done stewing then let it cool. After it has cooled put in fridge over nite. The next day bring out pot and clean off the solid fat on top of the meat. If need be add some more liquid to the meat and warm it up. What you want to do next is make mashed potatoes. Add butter, garlic, and milk. Put meat in bottom of glass dish make sure you drain off almost all the liquid you will use this to make a gravy. Then add the mashed potatoes on top. Put in oven at 325 until potatoes on top become a nice light golden crust. Take the liquid and bring it to a boil and then turn down heat as you add a mixture of cornstarch and water to thicken up the gravy to your desired taste. This is an awesome dish. Done by my mom for years!!

Cancer sucks part 12

So my dad started treatment last week on thursday.. as of today he has had three treatments and he is doing pretty good. The session is only 20 mins long. he will have to do these treatments for 30 days and then i guess they will redo all the xrays and see if more treatments are necessary. this is all i have for now. Will post if anything comes up new. thanks again for all the prayers.

Team M auction

Starting Feb 11th .. Team M will be auctioning off items to raise money for SIDS research. I am donating some items this year and if anyone that reads this blog has any items pls donate if you can. All the money raised goes to an excellant cause. SIDS is unexplainable and no one knows what causes SIDS... we need to help fund this research so we can stop this from happening to anyones child. Here is a blog post from Another Day Stronger which has the link to their fb page. It also has the email listed to sign up to participate in this auction. Hope everyone has a great day and ty!

We need your help!

SIDS. UGH. I hate typing that word. They should really call it, "We have no clue why your baby died"...or that's how I feel.

It hurts knowing that no one REALLY knows why SIDS happens. Yes, there are some theories. But, none of them have been proven correct yet.

Being told ..."She just stopped breathing...", "We really aren't sure what happened.." really rubs me the wrong way.

As a mom all we want to do is help our children. But, as of now I can't do that. We don't know what causes SIDS. So all I can do is worry that Jackson will not be taken from us to.

Some girlfriends and I are trying to raise money for SIDS research. We did this last year and we had OVER 200 items up for auction. This year we only have 25. PLEASE is you have anything you are willing to donate to our auction for SIDS research can you please e-mail us at:

teammdonations at gmail dot com

No donation is to small. Thank you so very much from the bottom of my very broken heart.

Here is our facebook page please go like it!

2 weeks

So it is now feb.. wow where did january go ?? Of course down here in the south we havent had much of a winter at all.. we keep bouncing back and forth with temps.. and having rain with tornados back earlier this month.. ya tornados in jan?? right now i am fighting a sinus infection with ear infection.. gotta get cleared up before surgery on the 20th so got my dr to call me in some antibotics if there is anything that i can take. So 2 weeks.... in two weeks i will be having surgery .. it will be a partial hysterectomy and depending on what they see .. maybe more to do ... i am hoping this will solve the pain problems and that maybe they can see why i am having the issues with cysts on my ovaries. So here is hoping!! Will update on this when I have more info or blog about it after the surgery. Hope everyone is having a great day.. even though im under the weather and it is freezing outside today after temps in the 70's... i am bound and determined to have a good day.

blueberry pancakes

Ok so ya this is corny .. very easy recipe .. but hey call me crazy but this is the first time i have ever had blueberry pancakes... i used to hate them after having them plain for so many years as a kid but after making them today for something different for my kids... omg they are awesome!!!


Blueberry Pancakes

2 cups of Bisquick

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/2 of blueberries (or any kind of fruit you want

Mix everything together and then add in the fruit last. Cook on stove top in pan. Flip over once you see bubbles forming. And what I do while cooking is i heat the oven to warm with a plate in there and add the pancakes to plate as they are cooked and they stay warm.

Spring for SIDS

 I posted this last year and posting again... sharing the blog post from another day stronger.... please go like the page on fb the link is below and if you want to help them raise money for team m i believe you can donate items to auction or u can make a small donation by clicking on the spring for SIDS link!!! hope everyone has a wonderful day.

 

Spring for SIDS 2012

It's almost been a year. Can you believe it?

It's time for Spring for SIDS!

We are using "Team M" as our name again this year. We have our Facebook page back up and running! (Please go "like" it)

Right now we are taking donation. If you would like to donate an item for the auction please e-mail: teammdonations at gmail dot com.


Thanks SO much.

Cancer sucks part 11

So it has been a bit since I have updated on my dad.... he is doing really good and has gotten back to swimming every day.. he is already back up to his normal workout routine which makes him very happy. He went and saw the surgeon on Jan 5th... he stated that there was nothing else to do but that he suggested radiation treatments to shrink the tumors (none cancerous now). So my dad also saw I believe the week before the oncologist who also suggested radiation to shrink the tumors since chemo only works on live tumors the best. So my dad meet with the radiational therapist and they are going to start treatments first week in feb... i believe he will do six weeks of treatments five days a week for about 20 mins... he went this week to get his tattoos of where they will be concentrating the treatment at. My dad's hair has also grown in very good. I think it is a lil darker then before. My dad has been a lil tired since getting off chemo.. but with the exercise it is making him feel almost back to his normal self. I would like everyone to pray for my friends family. She lost her grandmother at the beginning of the month to cancer. Will update when we have more news. And thank you again for all the prayers.

what a great day

Today was a pretty great day... we took off to decatur to meet with my sissy for her birthday.. she turned 30 and she is like an aunt to the kids and a mommy to ava since she babysat her when she was itty bitty. So we got to decatur about elevan and picked up jessie and went to the mall... first thing we did was get jessie a birthday crown. she has gotten one on every birthday. while we were at clair's i decided it was finally time to get ava's ears pierced. so we did that also. Ava did pretty good the worst part was holding her still and that was what she hated the most. She only cried for like 30 secs after it was done and then she acted like nothing happened. She looks so cute too with them. I will have to get a pic of her on here soon. After it was done she got a sucker and then the kiddos rode on the merry go round.. they had a blast. After that they threw some pennies into the water fountain and then we ate lunch at the mexican resterant. At that point we had meet up with Britney one of jessie's friends. She got them to sing happen birthday to her and put the sumbero on her head. It was pretty fun. After that me and the kiddos came home. Ava hasnt fussed at all about the piercings. We cleaned them twice so far and she only fussed a lil bit. I am hoping it will be pretty easy to keep them clean and she wont mess with them a whole lot. Well hope everyone is having a great week so far. ttyl =)

Herb-baked chicken

So this is a pretty easy and really good recipe... my husband is a very picky eater ( he is a meat and potatoe guy LOL) and he even loved it ! Hope yall enjoy it I will definitly be making this again.

Herb-baked chicken

chicken no skin
3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger ( i used dried and did 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 lemon, sliced thin ( about half a lemon will do and use half slices)


preheat oven to 350. Coat chicken with olive oil and place in baking dish. Sprinkle with teriyaki sauce. Combine oregano, rosemary, ginger, salt and pepper; and sprinkle over chicken. Top chicken with lemon (i used half a slice not whole). Bake 1 hr.




Like i said this is really good. my husband walked thru the door that nite and said man what smells so good and then he ate two pieces of the chicken.. which since he is such a picky eater it really surprised me. Trying two new recipes this week, will post the recipes and how they were after we have them. Have a great week!

Dumpling soup

Dumpling Soup:
3 potatoes cut into small cubes
1 carrot chopped
1 celery chopped finely
slice of onion chopped finely
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 cup peas or purple halls or even lima beans
1 cup of chicken chopped in small cubes
2 chicken bullion cubes
salt and pepper
2 cups of bisquick
2/3 cups of milk 


Take a good size pot with a lid that fits.... add 3 cups of water ( may have to add more after all veggies are added) and crush boulin cubes up into the water. Bring to a boil add chicken cubes. Add salt, pepper, and onion. Cook for about 15 mins. Add carrots chopped, potatoes chopped into cubes, celery chopped, and peas. Add chopped cilantro. If need be add 1/2 to 1 cup of water so everything is covered. Turn down to midlow heat. Cook for about 30 mins till carrots and potatoes  are almost fully cooked. While you are waiting for this go ahead and mix up dumplings. Take 2 cups of bisquick and 2/3 of milk and mix in a bowl. Take small spoon and add a heaping size ontop of the soup. Should make about 7-9 dumplings. You do not want to make the dumplings very big just a good size. After you add the dumplings you cook the soup uncovered for 10 mins. After 10 mins you add the lid for 10 more mins. Serves 5-6 ppl. Add a dumpling into bowl and then add soup on top to serve. 


This is a totally yummy soup!! Courtesy of my dad.