After The Storm....

WHEW.......the storm is over. Isaac has FINALLY left us. I've never been so happy to be rid of a man!!!

I'm thinking he was the slowest moving storm I've ever seen. Started on Tuesday afternoon (we lost power at 1am Wed) and lasted easily till Thursday night. Very high winds and heavy rains.......well isn't that what a hurricane is? Duh

My awesome nursey nurse, nurse daughter, Danica went to work on Tuesday and didn't get to leave until Thursday afternoon. Shout out to all of you who pulled double, even triple shifts during/after the storm

We are fortunate that this is about all we are dealing with. Lots of branches and debris. Lost most of my pecans in my pecan tree and it was damaged somewhat :0(

I don't know if the pool can be cleaned up without spending a ton of money. I mean it is Aug 31. May just be shutting it down for the fall/winter :0(

This is the Entergy grid map and guess who is still on it listed as not having power? Yep one of those blue triangles is me :0/ I'm not complaining mind you. I have a generator, a window unit and plenty of food. 

So lemme tell you what I got! Cabin fever in a major way!!!! Stir crazy is what I am! Boredom rules and rains here! Funny how we long for days that we can just to nothing....and when that day comes we can't even enjoy it. So what's a girl to do to overcome the cabin fever? Other then eat her way through the pantry? Sleep, drink plenty of coffee (shhhhh don't tell my massage therapist) and play games. Ok so after I wore that and Pinterest out......don't fall in the floor......I went to the gym :0)

We did have cable and internet so we have TV and FB....yah!!!!

This is what happens when you stay trapped together for to long

I washed a few loads of laundry

Kept the mop in my hand

cooked

did dishes

all normal things, right? yeah no power. Have to be innovative.....

No funnel? No problem.....milk jug serves as funnel

Generator, best thing ever invented, next to electricity

Got sidetracked..............WE HAVE POWER!!!!!!

And looked what arrived just in time for the celebration!!!!!!!

And now that the power is my house is all nice and clean and I'm just relaxing and socking up the A/C

All in all we made it through with no real problems. Folks in other areas of this parish and other parish however are facing real problems with flooding. Even heard of a couple drowning in their home. So I won't complain, rather be thankful that all is well at my little piece of heaven.....

Take care of you

Karen

There's a hurricane a comin.....

It has been simply CRAZY here. In case you haven't heard.....a hurricane's a comin. 

Hurricane Isaac that was originally predicted to hit Florida is headed directly to NOLA on the 7th anniversary of Katrina. Needless to say folks in NOLA are a little nervous. (For those that don't know, I'm about 60 miles from NOLA, just outside of Baton Rouge). Of course Isaac isn't as big as Katrina but we will see lots of wind, rain and more then likely loose power for a few days.

Hubby and I were out and about on Saturday night when the update came that Isaac had veered more westward, toward us, so we made decided to make a pit stop and get some supplies just in case. Store had a few customers. Shelves were well stocked and we got all we went for and got out in less then 30 mins. 

Of course we gotta have water.....plus I've got a huge pool to dip in and from if needed

Got my can goods AND the much sought after bread

This is an absolute necessity that most people don't think about, and we almost forgot :0/

And can't forget the pets. They have been pretty wild today. They sense something....

This will be Binx first hurricane and he's already hiding (sorry the pic is blurry)

Then of course you must have a generator. I mean living in hurricane alley without one is CRAzee

$100 dollars for gas to run the generator for MAYBE 2 days........ouch!!!

And we all gotta have that little treat to get us through the torture of having no A/C and living like we on a camping trip, of which I am not to fond. 

It's been a flurry of activity at the fire station across the street from my house. Sandbags

I was suppose to work today but my awesome boss said stay home and take care of your family :0) Kandace and I woke up and jumped on the housework (after coffee) Washed, folded and put away all the laundry. Mopped floors, scrubbed bathrooms, washed dishes and vacuumed. Took a break for lunch then ran a few things to the hospital where my daughter works. She has to stay at work till the storm is over :0( So no Danica or Recey :0((((( After coming back home we hit the yard and picked up patio sets, swimming pool stuff and etc. We are pooped.

Once inside I had another coffee and then put on a pot of gumbo and potato salad. That should last us a few days and make everybody happy. 

It's gotten pretty windy here and the rain has started to fall.

For the most part I think we have everything we need, ready to go, or ready to wait. Hubby finally made it home so we are going to fix a big bowl of gumbo and crowd around the TV  and overload on TWC and Jim Cantorrie. If you're in the path of the storm, be safe. If you're not, be thankful. Till the next time....

Take care of you

Karen

Wild and Wacky Wednesday.....

Wednesday was jammed packed.....morning coffee date at 9:30 in Baton Rouge, back to my house for noon for lunch date with B, bake cakes for the weekend, back to BR for 3:30 for my therapy appt, back home to shower and head to church for praise team, back home for a few hours and then to NOLA to pick up Rachel from the airport. I was tired before I got started. Was gonna be a long day and I was gonna be cranky before the day was over, this was obvious. However it all came to a screeching halt when I got a text from Kandygirl, on her way to school that said I10 was closed to the 10/12 split. Ok, well may not be able to make coffee day. This has happened to me so many times I can't even count. My friend calls, we discuss, we rethink, we reschedule. Well now I can put cakes in oven, clean house and shower before B gets here. However..........I got sidetracked by a phone call. Another friend, Susie. Uh I just looked at my calendar. Today was our date!!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG.....I kept telling B I'm forgetting something. I have something planned but I can't remember. I didn't put it in my calendar and request an alert. I totally forgot. So sorry Ms. Susie :0( We would've had to reschedule anyway. Traffic is gridlocked on the interstate and all side roads. What happened you ask? I'll get to that in a sec. Susie and I laughed and talked for a good while and in the process solved 2 problems! My blogger comments and what to get some hard to buy for people for Christmas. Our minds together= dangerous...lol

 Ok what happened on the interstate: At 3:40 am a car lost control, flipped hitting a retainer wall in construction. An tanker, fully loaded stopped quickly to avoid the car, another 18 wheeler behind him tried and failed to do the same. Hitting tanker, damaging valves, causing leaks of a dangerous chemical thus shutting down 10/12 until around 6 on Thursday morning. Might I just throw this out there....if you pull out in front of a loaded tanker and expect him to be able to stop quickly, YOU COULD BE SADLY MISTAKEN!!!! There are thousands of gallons of pressure pushing that truck. You should never pull out in front of any 18 wheeler for that matter, but especially a tanker. My hubby drives one, I've ridden with him, I know, I've felt it. That's my rant for today....lol. So cakes got baked, laundry got done, floors got mopped, dinner got cooked. B and I had a nice visit. While we are chatting my therapist calls (2pm) and says Karen I'm wondering if you're gonna be able to make it here? I was just wondering the same thing. Well let's reschedule till Friday if that's ok? Sure, that's perfect. 2nd appt rescheduled. B and I finish off our visit with a nice cup of coffee.

 After B left I started thinking about church and the interstate still being closed(everybody travels the back road by my house when I12 is closed) my hubby thought it would be a good idea to just stay home. I mean I had to be in Nola for 11:30 and I had a horrible headache so I needed to rest. 3rd appt.....cancelled. So I take meds and lay down. Hubby comes home and says I bet if you paid your son he's go get Rachel from the airport!!!! Well call him up and ask him. So basically a day that should have been slammed, turned into a very good day. I only got worked up once yesterday....lol. And it had nothing to do with all the things I was suppose to do, the things that got cancelled etc. So my girl is home for a few days and we have a birthday party for our Maddie Grace this weekend. Hoping for minimal or no rain so we can swim In case I don't get a chance to post again....hope you have a great 

weekend

BTW....9 days till kickoff of Tiger football!!!! Are you ready????

Take care of you,

Karen

Worry and Stress.....Stress and Worry

So after having spent a horrible, restless night....up at 2:30 tossing and turning and flipping and flopping and fretting, worrying, wondering. I finally took something at 4am to help me fall back asleep only to sit bolt upright at 8am. Uggghhhhh is this ever gonna end? Guess you're wondering what I'm talking about. Well as I stated in my very first post, but in case you missed it, I am the victim of child abuse. Approx 3 years ago 2 young girls came forward to say that this same man had abused them. I have never in all these years said anything, except to my husband,and that had only been in recent years, decided I needed to come forward. Let me say that one of the toughest things I have ever done, after years of denial was to sit my kids down and tell them what had happened and what would happen. You see the predator(that's how I'll refer to him), was married to my mother, although not my father. Once the can of worms is opened there is no going back....period. They had been in our lives, because all of that was buried deep, denial was my biggest friend. But several years before things had grown tense and I had started distancing myself....maybe I knew what was coming? I'm unclear of the reasons but visitation had stopped, calls, cards. The predator was arrested and charged with several counts. He hires a big time high powered attorney (scum) Sorry if you're an attorney but if you defend child predators you are worthless in my book. Needless to say he made bond by putting his house up. Then went before a grand jury and needless to say I was horrified he'd get off there. I will never forget the day. With family in TN at the Hard Rock Cafe the DA called and said we have an indictment. I laid my head over on the table and cried, tears of relief. Somebody believed us!!! You see my mother had called me a liar....how can this be? The natural instinct of a mother is to protect child. What happened? Granted I was 45 years old at the time, but darn, I'm still her flesh and blood. The case moves painfully slow through the system.....almost grinding. Oh God please make it go faster. Then new charges are brought and he is re-arrested. Must re-bond out.....somewhere, somehow he comes up with it and is out on the streets again!!!! And I might add that he still is to this day. I suspect his older daughter who denies he ever touched her is the one who has put out lots of money and property. So 3 years have passed in 6 month intervals. It's always just on the surface of my mind...but not enough to interfere with my life. However this week was bad. A new victim was found, completely by accident. A family member, someone dear to my heart. Her mother called me in a panic. What to do, what to say. So I guided her as best I could. Saying all the right things. You can't make her talk, reassure her, you can't make her come forward, reassure her, you can't make her testify....all the time, in my mind she was going to testify. Who in their right mind wouldn't? And before you judge my feelings, know that I know, they were wrong.....but who can help ones feelings. They just are. And so her mother calls me back the next day in tears again.....the child will not testify (she is now an adult) WHAT!!!!!!!! I can feel this rage building in me. The more the mom talks the angrier I become. What do you mean you've forgiven him? What do you mean you don't want him to suffer in jail? What are you thinking? Who are you? I managed to get off of the phone and my whole world fell apart, crumbled before me. After managing to finish a cake that was being picked up at 3 and getting hubby out the door for a funeral, I laid in a fetal position for hours, sobbing. The painful memories of the past welling up inside of me. Anger over someone forgiving this man. My dearest friends called, texted, emailed, inboxed.....TY! My support system is strong, my husband whom I give much grief to when I'm in these horrible moods, my kids, how awesome are they? My cousins who are incredible! My friends who are like a huge circle surrounding me. My church family...no words for them. And then there's God. With him, all things are possible. He is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect. His grace is sufficient for me and his strength is made perfect in my weakness. I started therapy in June of this year for the first time ever. My therapist is an incredible woman guiding me through my emotional battle. Over the scars and onto healing. I also started a new job mid June and it has been wonderful for me. I only hope that somehow they know what a blessing they are to me. There are a lot of things I don't understand, but this I do know, All things work together for good to them that love him....

Take care of you,

Karen

Friends

     Proverb 18:24 "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly:

  and there is a friend that sticketh closer then a brother." 

While trying to set up a coffee date with some friends we bantered back and forth via 3 way text, I was and continue to be completely amazed and thankful for my friends. I've been blessed in my life to have an abundance. My first and dearest friends are my two cousins, Rhonda and Kelly. We were raised as sisters and although we had years in between where we were raising our kids that we didn't really stay in touch, we have reconnected and picked up right where we left off. Through thick and thin I'm blessed to have them to lean on.

                  Us as kids back in the day and then in 2010 at what has become an annual cousins reunion

 I have childhood friends that I've been able to reconnect with on FB. My very first BFF Rhoda and her sister Michelle. School mates, Colleen and Karen. I was very fortunate to have a friend back home that taught me the bulk of what I know about cake decorating. To Gayle, I will forever be grateful. We still talk from time to time. Then there was sweet Lynn. Our husbands had grown up together and were hauling grain together and can I say we pulled some cRAZy stunts. We also use to drink Blue Nun together, remember Lynn? We recently were able to spend a few hours together and it was great. FB allows us to stay close and share our grand kids pics.

Here in the city of Gonzales, where I now call home, there are countless that have come, gone and remain. From the trailer park where our life here began to the subdivision where we raised our kids. My friend Pam who was a huge help to me during the time I was expecting Kandace and was put to bed for 3 months, and in the midst of almost loosing Kandace when she was 2 weeks old. Having two young kids herself, she gave selflessly to help me. My friend Gwenda who was, and still is an awesome inspiration to me spiritually. My dearest friends Susan and Joany, with whom I spent countless hours. We raised our babies together, crafted together, trashed our husbands together, solved each others problems, cooked, laughed and cried together. It was a most awesome time of my life that I still to this day look back upon with the fondest of memories and sometimes want to go back.....

My amazing friend Kristy. What can I tell you about her? One of the strongest women I know, and wisest. She's always, always been my confidant. The person I tell all my secrets to. She has always listened intently and given advice where needed, not condoning but also not judging. What kind of value can you place on a friend such as she? To this day the bond that we share is unbreakable. We don't talk everyday, but when we do we pick up where we left off. Having gone through many difficult things herself, she has always given of herself freely (after I forced her to be my friend lol) and for this I am ever grateful to her. Theresa, my daughter Danica's best friends mom. Got that? We became friends through our kids. Our girls were involved in band and we met at an honor band back in the mid 90's and have been friends since. Praying our kids through school, life and into Tigerband at LSU. I might add that we are still friends, confidants, baring our souls to one another, praying for each other, laughing and crying together. A friend in need is a friend indeed

 My friend Donna who I looked at like she was my rock. Our relationship was so incredible that I can't even put into words...I miss her. And then Michelle, who I wasn't to keen on when I first met her. Sometimes these turn into the best of friends. We spent more time together then the average friends because we worked together, churched together and partied together.....we were together A LOT. We were more like sisters. I was the bossy one and she was the creative mind.

 I have an amazing friend named Penny. We met through WW. She was my leader and then I eventually worked with her. We just easily fell into the roll of friends. She was the wildest, craziest, funniest woman. She could lift my spirits with a smile and one of her amazing hugs. She has since moved to another state and I miss her terribly. And the lady I call boss, Angela. It's hard to call her boss, I rather call her friend. She is a breath of fresh air from Florida. Imagine that? I'm friends with a gator fan. B did always say I fratted with the enemy. Well if you have the privilege to meet her you'll understand. An overworked, over tired mommy of a new baby who tosses her head back and laughs the most heart warming sound I've heard in a long time . You gotta love a person that hugs you on your first meeting, right? My cousin Lynette...well she is married to my cousin but she is like blood to me. In the last 3 years we've formed a bond and on this very day it was sealed and will never be broken  And how about the friends I've met through blogging and caking? Well I haven't actually met them, but we are friends. My dearest Meme.....what an impact you've made on my life, and we've never met. We certainly have a strong bond. 

My newest friend Lizzy who has a little cake shop in Arizona and we've been talking cakes. And then there are the people I go to church with....my Alicia, my Rachel, my Kimmie, Kristy, Christina, Tiffany, and my newest buddy, Stacy and on and on and on.....my church is huge and so many of those ladies, and men, have impacted my life, made me feel loved, wanted, needed, important...in the end isn't that what friendship is about? I came from a church of less then 100 and was usually the last to leave, to a church of near 1000 and I'm still close to being last leaving. I love people. My thoughts are that you can never have enough friends. For you see in the journey we call life, time doesn't stand still. Things change. People come and go. There are forever friends and then there are those that just drift through your life just to add something to it. I'm appreciative of all of them...of what they've added, great or small. For you see they are the ones that have help mold me into me. 

Take care of you

Karen

Manic Monday.....Welcome To My Life

Me and My Hooligans......Abby, Recey, Maddie and Zachary

My name is Karen. I'm a wife, mom, mawmaw, Mimi, Nanny, baker, friend, victim of child abuse. I'm 47 years old and about 3 years ago I had the opportunity to face the predator who changed my life forever. This blog/journal is my journey on paper. Perhaps to help someone else who has/is struggling with this. So if you'll be reading my blog on a regular basis you'll be hearing about the case (it's not over) but mostly about those I love, my love of baking and decorating cakes and of course my love of all things LSU. You see I bleed purple and gold. A lover of LSU football., and baseball and that time of the year is upon us. In just a few days we will gather at Tiger stadium, better known as Death Valley for some Saturday night college football....here in the south it's a religion. We take it pretty serious. At this time of the year I'm not a fan of anybody/anything else. It's all football. We tailgate and just have good clean, safe fun. We've had the opportunity to travel to Alabama twice to see the Tigers beat the Tide...with great Tiger pride I might add. I've been married to the same wonderful man for 32 years and if you're good at math you figured real quick that I married him when I was 15. More on that later. We have 4 beautiful children, 4 gorgeous grand kids and blessed with a wonderful daughter in law. Travis my only son is married to Cherie and they have one son and two daughters. His son Zachary was the first born boy in both our families since his dad 23 years earlier. Abigail whom we refer to as Abby or Sheila (thats another story for another day) and Madelyn Grace who is affectionately known as Maddie Grace. My oldest daughter Danica is mom to Rece Alexander who we affectionately call Recey after my favorite candy. Danica is an RN at a local hospital. We are extremely proud of her. She graduated from her high school 34 of her class of 410. She then attended LSU where she proceeded to play for Tigerband for 4 wonderful years...good times. She works very hard and is considered by her family, and some others to be the best RN around. Rachel, whom you'll hear plenty about later is my middle daughter. She is troubled at this time and I'll reserve her story for later. Would like to say we love and believe in her. Kandace is our baby....and baby she truly is. She is in college right now seeking a nursing degree. We are also very blessed to have a beautiful redhead as our "adopted" daughter. And I use that word loosely. Bridget, or as we call her, "B" has been apart of our family so long I don't know where she started. B and Danica were friends and she just grew on us. She is married to Matt and they have Parker, or as he is known to us, Parker Parker. There is a story behind that too. Well that rounds out my little family whom I love dearly. I suppose that sometimes this blog will get deep and painful hopefully will be a cleansing for me and anyone that reads. I'll use this phrase often.......

Take Care Of You