Much reprieve...

Ok, so once again, I am claiming to be back. And I am.



I apologize to myself and others for the long pause. I was just...well...uninspired. But not because there isn't any inspiration out there, it is just hard to get the fireworks when personal life takes over and you have to be a mom first.



Do you really want to hear my story?



Short version (again)....



Married in 2002 because God had blessed me with a pregnancy and a shot gun wedding soon followed. Are you all catching me here? Yes, I was pregnant on my wedding day after only dating only 3 months. So, YES, I was easy. But, ready, nonetheless, to be a mommy and took it on like a professional. I had a wonderful intimate wedding, with a sweet little blessing growing inside of me. The only problem was, unbeknownst to me, was that I was marrying someone completely different than what I was led to believe. So, I kept on eating the right foods...completed grad school....helped my husband at the time renovate "our" house...and then my precious son came along. SKID MARK SOUND HERE.

My husband changed. Were there red flags? Of course there were. Did I choose see them? Of course not. I was going to make this work dammit!!! I had a baby.

Things got worse. The verbal abuse persisted. I was depressed. But I poured everything into my son. And maybe my ex resented me for it. Was I perfect...God no. However, I was working full time with an infant...he chose to call his sweet manager a name I would never repeat here and was fired from a wonderfully paying job. So I had the weight of the world on my shoulders and was continuing the path of a teacher, mommy, and...wife? Fast forward a few years. I had decided that I was done. I had prayed. I had asked for God to lead me in the right direction and it kept coming to having to leave my husband at the time. We decided to take a trip to try and see what happened. Well......I got pregnant again. This time with my precious daughter.
He did not want to be at her birth and left the hospital soon after she was born. I should have left since a series of events followed. But, understand this....I.could.NOT.leave.my.babies. every other weekend. That is the usual visitation schedule and to have them with him. Alone. For a long period of time horrified me. So the protectors us mothers are...I stayed.
On a beautiful fall day in late September of 2006, something happened that I won't repeat here, and I had to leave. A divorce finally snuck itself into the life I had not carved as a dreamy 28 year old I once was. Reality and God chose a different plan again.

Now move forward to November 2008. An angel came into my life. He was in the form of my NOW husband. He SAVED my dream. He was my dream. It was him I had always dreamed of. Sincere. Romantic. Father. Provider. And he loved me for everything I am and was. He taught me to sleep at night in peace. He taught me the love in which you look at him with your children and have to choke back the tears.
However, he has his ex, who to me is a beautiful woman to look at, but can be a bit...um....so anyway. She has not made the right choices for her children and it makes me very sad. She is currently living with her 22 year old, rapper, boyfriend. But who am I to judge? I wouldn't if the lifestyle didn't effect my step-children. But it does. So not only are we in court with his ex, we are taking my ex for non-payment of child support. LOVELY.
Thank GOD we love one another so much.

SOOOOO...that is why I took a break. To try and "find" me and what makes me happy. To focus on my family. And I am sure the long pauses will creep in now and again. I will still be "trolling" other blogs and observing in amazement as I always do.
I will be fine. All southern girls find their way...and with hair done and nails manicured. Right? Uh not this southern girl, but I will try my best.

Have a wonderful week everyone1
Much love,

Melissa

I'm BaaaAAAccck!

Hi all! I took a little time to recoop from my surgery. The hip replacement went well and I am feeling much better. Thank you to all of the sweet notes of encouragement I received. :) They were so sweet. As far as creativitiy?
Nah.
I may be going to Blogger-prison soon since my creative streak has slowed down.

Has this ever happened to any of you?

I am so ready to get back into the swing of things. I am so ready to be back! So, I am off to look at everyone's beautiful blogs that I could never even compare to...but they are amazing and get my motivatin' going!

If this has happened to you...the lull in motivation....what have you done to get it going again?

Off to La-La land....

Well ladies (I haven't received a male follower yet, so I think I am allowed to say that)....I am having my surgery in the morning! I am so excited to have a new hip! I mean, who wouldn't? I get to delve into the narcotics...legally. I get to use a handicapped sticker for a while. I get to go to Physical Therapy for a few weeks and one of the Physical Therapists is a cute little number. AND.... I get to set the alarm off at the airports every time I walk through the metal detectors. Seriously. My doctor has to provide me with a card when I travel. But the thing I am most excited about? Is to FINALLY have an excuse to ride in one of those "Hoveround" things at the store!

All jokes aside. My surgery should be just fine and I know that there are people battling a lot worse. I feel like I should joke at least a teensy weensy bit, since I am only 38 and getting a hip replacement. I have bragging rights way ahead of everyone else.

I hope everyone is having a nice summer and I will be back again soon! Until then I will be in La-La land. :)

It is the most wonderful time...

...of the YEAR! For teachers, that is! It has been a crazy past few weeks. I am exhausted and as much as I love to visit my friend's blogs, I have to admit a bout of laziness paired with lack of creativity, has kept me from keeping tuned in. All of the business at work has kept my mind off of my lingering surgery. Yes, it is in 2 weeks, so I will not be online for at least a week. I have to have a TOTAL hip replacement. I had a tumor in the ball of my hip and now it is time to finally bite the bullet and get the damn thing taken care of. Thank GOD for my wonderful husband and my parents. The 'rents will be taking the kids to the beach. And my husband, bless his heart, will be here in Georgia with me on narcotics! Could be interesting..Maybe I should blog then? Give everyone some entertainment. Until then, I will post some inspiring things that have kept me spinning my wheels.

This one from "Just a Girl" is amazing:

s.l.o.w.l.y.

I am slowly getting things done. One.step.at.a.time. Because of time and money...and life. However, I did get more of the pictures hung...wanna see?

You may have seen my previous post here. But, the sad little wall, went from this...

To this.....

It looks sooooooo much better now! I used some repurposed frames spray painted with my buddy...ORB, I framed a monogrammed napkin with our last name initial, and used ORB again, to spray paint some dollar store birdies. All of the photos were just printed off of my computer.

And I was up to other mischief. I recovered an old velvet chair...that you don't want to see. I was in denial on this one. I thought "WOW....looks good for a first timer". So I happily took a pic to post.

UH...wrong.

I was really, really in denial. You know the "new mom" kinda denial. Where your newborn "just has to be the cutest child ever...no, really...modeling agencies should be knockin' down my door" That kind. And my chair was the cutest-stapled and glue gunned-slipcovered-with-a-drop-cloth-chair .....EVER. And then I saw the pic.

Enough said.

Maybe I will post a picture of the chair as a joke...one day.

Have a great week everyone!

Melissa

I am linking to...

and here...

The weekend is almost here...

and I plan to post, post, post....lots of projects I have worked on this past week. I am excited to finally have my camera back from "it's" vacation. :) Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again this weekend!

Looking back and moving on...

This week marks a sad time for my family. 2 years ago tomorrow, my uncle, who was only 43, passed away. He left behind my cousin, who by the way, did not have a mom (that is another story), and was only 12. I am not going to go into detail of his death out of respect for "little girl", but it was devastating to say the least. "Little girl" now lives with my parents since my mom was the closest thing to a mother she had. She spent every weekend with my parents, since she was born. I just wanted to reflect and think about that a bit.
Since his death, I have been through a lot. I have gotten a divorce...the process was over a year...and it was and continues to be abusive. However, now that I have remarried, it does not phase me one bit.
My life has a bright future now and I am moving on.
Since meeting my dreamboat husband, we decided to stay in the house he owned. We could use a lot more room...yes, but we are choosing to stay on a smart financial path for the time being. At the same time, I am extremely proud of the home we have created for our children in such a short time. This house marks the beginning for both my husband and I. It is the house he bought right before he and I met right after his divorce was final. Here are some pics I have taken through the past year. Thanks for hearing my story for the day. :) It helps to "talk" it out.