Life around these parts...(in pics)

This is where I was today.  Hell, living (mostly) hell.

All of the houses have a spray painted X on the front door.  If there is no door (which there is not on most) it is on a tree or a piece of wood.

 See the X in the pic above?  It has a number on top, that is the number of people said to be living in the house.  The right and left are to notify if they have been given water or if they are in need of oxygen.  The bottom is the number of dead found.  I saw too many that didn't say 0.  If a person has been found there is a red flag staked out front.  I saw too many of those.

 Look at the trees, if they aren't snapped they are bent at a permanent 90 degree angle

 That red flag is proof, proof that there is a body under that orange sleeping bag.  A body that was pulled from the tree a few feet away.

I don't want to overload you, I just want you to know that I could hardly hold my stomach acid in.  I want you to know that there are bodies covered by sleeping bags and speared by tree limbs, still in the trees.  I want you to know that there are dogs, dogs trained to find bodies, "cadaver dogs" roaming the streets.  Along with all of these people, just smelling the smells, looking for their belongings, realizing how bad it is.  

 Can you imagine a force strong enough to do this to STEEL POWER POLES?  It is air, it is what we breath, it is ridiculous.  (sorry i had to tag all the photos cause they have been stolen all over twitter)

 Seen too many times today were the empty baby strollers, cribs, and abandoned children's toys scattered about.  Yeah, that is a double stroller below...I want to know those babies are o.k.

 You see a house undamaged on one street, and this on the next.  You can see for miles in a neighborhood that was totally covered by trees.

Please guys, please.  Donate what you can.  Money, food, your time.  Get with an organization and help.  The National Guard is restricting ANY access areas to these places as they HAVE to run the dogs through without distractions so PLEASE don't just try to go here to see these things.  Go here with certified people to help.  We physically had to have a police escort in today.  That is not the good "VIP" feeling either.  Take care folks, hug your babies a little tighter, kiss your husbands a little longer (& momma's & daddy's.)  Cause after all, it is not about "how lucky we are"  it is about how saddening it is to see this.  I know I am lucky, I knew that last week, now I know how quickly things can change.  In an instant ya'll, literally an instant.  

American Red Cross

Pleasant Grove Relief Facebook Page

Toomers for Tuscaloosa

Prayers Needed

For those of you that aren't aware, we had some killer weather here in Alabama the past couple of days.  We made it out just fine but the entire road that comes to our neighborhood is pretty bad.  Trees and power lines cover the roads and many houses are completely demolished from the winds that came through.  We tried to take my parents a bag of ice yesterday before the next round of storms hit and it took us 2.5hrs to get about 2 miles.  My parents had to walk about a mile out of their neighborhood to meet us because of all the power lines.  They are shredded and snapped.  It looks like someone came through with chainsaws and cut them.  Literally just snapped.  Directly across highway 280 (from our house) is impassable.  It looks like a war zone.  We didn't even have a tornado, it was all from wind.  As for the places that had tornadoes, they are WRECKED.  So many people need your prayers right now.  All of our family (that we know of) in Tuscaloosa is safe.  We don't know anything about the damage yet because John's parents were in Birmingham when the mile wide tornado passed through.  (Thank God!)  Please just take a few minutes and lift up all of the people hurt, killed, lost, scared, and harmed by these storms.  The pics with the trees broken are about a mile from our house.  The ones that look like a war zone are from my friend in Pleasant Grove.

Happy Easter

So yeah we have been MIA but we have been having such a time it is worth it!  We had the WHOLE fam here for Easter.  A beautiful day with the focus on our 2 beautiful girls.  My sweet niece and little Scarlet had so much fun.  Scarlet is obsessed with Emma and wants to do everything she does (although she can't quite walk!)  So it made for a great time.  Scarlet had a blast on her new "car" as she calls it.  It is a Disney ride on toy that her sweet "Hunny" brought her.  She learned how to mount this thing ALONE within a day, yikes.  Here are a few pics of her and Hunny, Emma hijacking the Car, me trying to open some books for Scarlet, and Her POUNDING a peep!  A blue peep.  Yeah she may have ruined her Easter dress!

That precious girl in pink is my niece.  Yes I am well aware she is adorable.  Ya'll my baby girl looks up to her so much it is hilarious.  When she leaves, Scarlet does EVERYTHING Emma did while she was here!  (with the exception of walk)  She has been collecting eggs, hugging the teddy bear, and riding the car.  Just like Emma.  I love it!  I love this cousin love.  Anyhow we have a huge couple weeks coming up.  Cinco de Mayo is the biggest day at the restaurant for us but even bigger (and before) that would be that our baby is turning ONE!  Damn how did that happen?  May 3rd we will have a 1 year old?  Party deets to come :)  Hope you all had a Happy Easter!

We are still here

Omg I have not blogged in so long. We have been busy busy! For whatever reason we are hosting Easter dinner, then my childs 1st birthday party, then my sisters "baby sprinkle" all within 2 weeks. Yikes y'all! And by hosting I mean AT MY HOUSE! My old, unfinished, dog peed floors, creaky house! I am excited though really. I have been waiting on my turn to host things and well, my turn is here! Baby girl is doing great. I seriously can't believe she will be one in 2 weeks. Girls if you are a new mom, believe me! It goes by fast! (more on that later:)) work has been crazy busy with caters as well as in store business which is awesome! I have a post coming about babes Easter basket (cause I made it!) and about our Easter deco so stay tuned :) happy Thursday y'all and here's a couple sillys!



She loves her old tub!


Yes that is a rib bone in each hand...

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