Recovery
The first pic is me during my addiction and the other 2 pics are me now, big difference 
Clean, Sober, and living my dream
It is amazing to me how much can be accomplished when you have a clear head and arent chasing after your next high. Four years ago i was a drug addict, alcoholic nobody about to lose my family, so if someone had told me where I would be now, I would have called them a liar.
I am no longer addicted to anything but life, God, my family, and maybe my love for riding and our motorcycles, lol. I have been so blessed, much more so then I deserve, of that i am sure!
My life is everything i always wished for when I was a little girl, I have an amazing husband (without which none of this would be possible) great kids, and im healthy. For me there is just no way things could be any better! Im so unbelievably happy. Here are some pics of my family and our motorcycles.
Overcome
Everyone at some point in their life will have to overcome obstacles, and i am no exception. The 2 biggest things in my life that i have had to overcome are the death of my daughter and alcohol and drug addiction. When my daughter passed away i was in so much pain i wanted to give up on everything, and if it wasnt for my son needing me i would have. To lose a child is the most soul crushing experience there is, and my heart gos out to anyone else who has ever had to suffer through it. The only thing that brings me comfort is knowing that i will see my daughters beautiful face again when my time is up. I have a very deep appreciation for my children and i am very emotional when it comes to a child or baby being mistreated, meaning if i see someone doing it i will go off on there head. (not kidding)
The second hardest thing i had to overcome was my addiction to alcohol and prescription pain killers. I have had a problem with alcohol since i was very young, i was 12 when my parents started to notice, but they didnt care enough to try to stop me, so by the time i was 15 i had legally died twice , i was then put in AA and graduated even though i was drinking the whole time . When I was about 21 i developed an addiction to pain killers after having several ovarian cysts rupture, the only time i was clean was when i was pregnant, if i wasnt pregnant i had something in my system. My rock bottom was in june of 2011. i weighed about 100 pounds, i would eat a mini bag of chips every few days, and i was drinking a half gallon of liquor plus a 12 pack every single day, and my tolerance to pills was so high that it wasnt worth buying them, i was away from my family, and about to lose them forever when Darrell asked me to come up while the kids were at his mothers, he said we would have fun so He bought a bunch of alcohol just so i would come up. The next morning we talked about everything and he made me take a huge first step to getting clean, he made me pour all of the leftover alcohol down the sink, and i cried when i did it. After that i relapsed on july 26th of 2011, darrell married me 3 days later and i have been clean and sober ever since. so now i try to help people who have lost children or are dealing with addiction, i want everyone to know that no matter how bad things are they can always get better and there is hope.
What obstacles have you had to overcome in your life? If you feel like sharing you can do so in the comments, or if you want you can write a post about it and i will reblog it, as long as its clean.
My Heart
Darrell
For those of you who dont know, this gorgeous man is my husband and he is an amazing person.
This picture was taken about 3 1/2 years ago, we had just done a 30 mile hike and camped in a tent that was broke. I took this picture at 6:30 in the morning when we were on our way home. We were so tired, our feet hurt so bad, and he still looked amazing, while i on the other hand looked like a raccoon had slept in my hair and i had been beaten with an ugly stick, lol.
This man works 13 hours a day 4 days a week, night shift. His days off are not really days off at all, on those days he works the business that we started, and he still manages to run back and fourth to stores for me whenever i need something, and continues to put up with my zombie obsession.
Not to mention the fact that he was the only person who believed in me and loved me enough to help me get clean and sober. This man is my heart and in the past when i was using i put him through so much, anyone else would have given up and moved on, but he wouldnt quit. I know he still has fears about me going back to drugs or drinking, anybody would. I just wish there was a magical word i could say to let him know just how much i love him and that i would never ever hurt him again, but theres not so time will just have to show it.
That is one of the hardest things about recovery, its knowing with every fiber of your being that you will never go back to using, but seeing the fear and worry on your loved ones faces, because even though you know you wont do it again they dont.
But I am rambling, I just wanted to write a little something today to let my amazing husband know just how much he means to me and how much I love him.
I love you Darrell with all my heart and soul, Thankyou for being such a wonderful man .
An Addicts plea
Me a couple years ago.
But retain my memories i would, so i remember what not to do and what i should.
I wish i had always been the person that i am now, but i couldnt back then i didnt know how.
The lies i told i can not count, i wonder will my loved ones always doubt?
So i ask of you this, see me as i am, really see, im not the same as i used to be.
Lost childhood
me
I am Thankful
I have so much to be thankful for in my life, and looking back on some of the things i did in the past, i have no idea what i did to deserve the life that i have now but i am so grateful for it.
I am thankful to have one very special man, the man who literally made all of my dreams come true, the man who saved me from myself, and the man who makes me complete, the man who makes me a better me, i am thankful for my husband Darrell.![P07-07-11_07-39[1] (1)](https://mommyx4boys.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/p07-07-11_07-391-1.jpg)
I love you babe and i cant express with words how thankful i am that you are the one i get to spend the rest of my life with.
I am thankful for my children, Dustin,
Dj,
Dominik,
Dominik
, they are the best kids that a parent could ever ask for, each one of them so special and wonderful in their own way.I am thankful for my sobriety, i have been clean and sober for 3 years, 3 months, and 21 days, without my sobriety i would have nothing, i would not even have myself.
I am thankful that my father who i thought i had lost to alcohol, has stopped drinking and he has been sober for 1 week and 3 days, i am so very proud of him.
my dad and me
I cant imagine a life that is any better than the one i have right now. I am thankful.
Special
I know that to most people my life would not be considered special, I dont have a high paying job, i dont save lives, im not a wonderful artist, and i have only visited three other states in my whole life. But every day i wake up to my family who needs me, that is something i have never felt before, to be needed. It is a great feeling.
In the past few years i have completely devoted myself to my family, and the satisfaction i feel every night when i go to sleep is amazing.
Back when i was doing drugs i still did some of the stuff i do now. I fed my children, and straightened up the house some, but my heart wasn’t in it, and everyone paid the price. I think that is why i appreciate everything so much more now, there is a huge differance in the way i think about things now and the way i thought about things then. I am invested now, with my whole heart and all my time and energy.
My son knows that when he comes home from school i will be here cooking dinner and cleaning the house, that makes me feel good.
When i was young i didnt have that feeling of comfort coming home from school, i was always scared to go through my front door, because my mother left my father for an alcoholic who beat her. I was so scared that one day i would come home and instead of finding her beat up she would dead, either by his hands or her own , as she had sliced her wrists down to the bone just a couple years prior. I dont even talk to my mother anymore, but i still have nightmares about that. And knowing that my children will never go through that, that they will never feel that sense of dread coming home, makes me very happy. And this is a kind of happiness i have never experienced until now, its happiness that comes from a good place not a pill bottle or a twelve pack.
I know i dont have a huge house, or a lot of money, and i doubt i will ever be able to go to Ireland like i want to, But their are 5 people whos lives i change positively every day. Its funny you hear so many people say dont tell me im a bad parent, i would die for my kids. which is fine but can you do the harder job and live for them. To die for someone you love is easy, but can you devote yourself to them and really love them more than you love yourself, I can and I do, and I now realize that everything i have is a blessing. my children, my husband, my home, and my sobriety. so today i will not change the world, but what i do keeps four children, and one great man happy and knowing that they are loved. And guess what that makes me pretty special.
Clean and Sober
Hey everybody,
I am so Happy today, because on this day ( July 27th ) three years ago i drank my last beer, woot woot so awesome.I cant believe it has been three years, I never thought i could go longer than 9 months for a pregnancy.
On this day 3 years ago Darrell was considering not marrying me, because he came home and i was drunk and our kids were with me. Everyone told him to leave me alone, they said she will never change, and our wedding was supposed to be in three days. Thank God he didnt listen to everyone else cause i did change, BAMM WHAT Lol.
I wish i could get the word out to every addict and alcoholic in the world, that life is so much better when you’re clean. It has been 3 years since i drank any alcohol, and it has been more than 3 years since i abused pills. The last time i took any medication was right after my c-section 2 1/2 years ago, and even then i had my husband hold them and give them to me as prescribed, i was new in recovery and worried i wouldnt be able to take them like i was supposed to. I owe so much to my wonderful husband for helping to get me clean and in the beginning helping me to stay clean. Now there is nothing in this world that could ever make me wanna pick up that bottle again, i love that i finally know who i am. I never did before, alcohol was the very definition of me thats what others saw and its what i thought of myself, but now i really have a self. Its like spending more than half of your life without a soul and then you get clean and discover that it was there all along but it was being covered by your addictions. I am so thankful for my sobriety, my husband, my children, my life. I know that most of you all dont really know how bad i use to be but i was bad, at my worst point i weighed about 100 pounds, i never ate, and i could drink a couple bottles of liquor plus a 12 pack and walk just fine, pill wise it was to the point where i could take or snort 5 or 6 and not feel a thing except nautious. Doctors said my liver was in bad shape, and i didnt care.
But now i am in great health, my family is doing better than ever, and i truly love and enjoy everything about my life. Thanks to all of my wonderful new friends here on wordpress, you have helped me a lot on my journey, and i really appreciate all the support and love you have sent my way.
This post is dedicated To my wonderful husband, thank you so much babe i wouldnt be here without you, i love you so much and i am so very blessed to have you in my life, there isnt a man on this earth that could ever compare to you in my eyes.
Poem from a recovering addict
I write of my life in hopes it may,
help someone, somehow, somewhere, some day,.
The truth sometimes hard to tell,
but to see the way, you must lift the vail.
So i tell my stories and let you in,
so you’ll know who i am and where i’ve been.
Read my words and learn from my error’s,
addiction is powerful, and creates many terrors.
Life is hard, of this there is no doubt,
but alcohol and drugs lead down the wrong route.
This is my message, take from it what you will,
but i speak the truth, i’ve lived it, i am the real deal.
Drop The Excuses, From an Addict
Let me start by saying that i know a lot of people will not like this post,but oh well it really needs to be said. anyone who has read much of my blog, knows that i am a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, you would also know that i do not say things like well i had a disease so its not my fault. But i have seen more and more people here lately, who dont take responsibility for their own actions because addiction has been labeled a disease, which is not something i agree with.
A disease in my mind is not something that you have the power to control, for example cancer. you can not wake up and say i dont want to have cancer any more, i am sick of this disease and then poof you dont have cancer anymore, but you can do that with addiction. people seldom do, but it can be done. people (especially addicts) use anything they can as an excuse. and because people call addiction a disease that gives the addict a (its not my fault card). I remember when i had just gotten sober, i had 28 days clean, that night i went to an aa meeting which went well, until i heard someone say if you relapse its okay, it happens to all of us. BOOM there it was my excuse to use, the next day i was drunk. it devastated my husband and family, and as if that wasnt bad enough i did this 3 days before my wedding day. I thank God every day that my husband didnt listen to all the people who said i would never change, and that he had the courage to marry me. and i think it is safe to say that anyone who had their doubts about me at that time is now very glad that darrell and i got married. anyway my point is i saw an excuse and i used it. I think that all of the labels we put on things now really does more harm than good, because once something has a name it is considered wrong to say anything bad about the person behind the label. So if i were to tell another addict they are selfish, inconsiderate, and that they are the one to blame for their problems, people would come from every direction to tell me how i dont know what im talking about, and that it is not their fault it is the disease. Sometimes in life you have to admit that you are the one to blame and that you are the only one who can fix the problems that you created. I will leave you with one of the best pieces of advice i have ever received, when i quit using my husband looked at me and said always be true to yourself, because if you are true to yourself, let go of the excuses, and stop trying to put the blame somewhere else it makes messing up a lot harder.
Drug addicts want Drugs!
It has recently came to my attention that Pulaski va which is where i live, has allowed a methadone clinic to move in. I was really saddened to learn this, because methadone is a very dangerous drug. Methadone is a synthetic opioid that is most commonly used in the so called treatment of opioid dependancy, which if it did cure drug addiction that would be great, but it doesnt you merely trade in one drug for another. I myself am a recovering drug addict, I have been clean for two years and six months, and I use to know a lot of people that went to the methadone clinic in Galax va, all of them went for pill addiction and none of them had any interest in getting clean. Now even when i was using drugs i thought the concept of this was crazy. These people supposedly stopped using pills and started using methadone, and this is an improvement how? methadone has many of the same effects as heroin and morphin and it is even more deadly. Methadone alone kills at least 10 people every single day and in a years time will claim the lives of 5,000 people. That is more than any other presciption drug out there. So this supposed treatment is more dangerous than the drugs it claims to save you from. If you take someone who is addicted to pills and give them a drug that is much more addictive, much stronger, and much more dangerous where is the intelligence in that? Any good rehab will tell you that you can not trade one drug for another, its not just the drug use you have to change, but your whole way of thinking, that is if you want to be successful in freeing yourself from addiction. The only thing that works is dedication and seperating yourself from the people, places, and things that you associate with drugs. Drug addicts want drugs, so as long as the clinics are dishing it out, there will be people accepting it. But at what cost? Now my question is why, why is the government allowing these deadly drugs to be given to drug addicts? and why are we the people not doing anything to stop it?
Life through the lens – What i see when i hear the word pain
This weeks Life through the lens challenge is pain, so i chose the two things that have been responsible for 90 percent of the pain i have had in my life, whether that be me using these items, me trying not to use these items or other loved ones and family members who do. They come with a promise of peace and bring nothing but pain for the user and the surrounding people. 
https://mommyx4boys.wordpress.com/2014/09/02/life-through-the-lens-challenge-3/
Update on my life
Me, Dominik, and Donnie
Me
But that is just one of the many great things about how my life is going now, we have been trying to get a house for a while now and we are expected to close on it in october, woot woot.
The kids are all doing great, Dustin who is 19 is in college ( so proud of him ), Dj (10) is in 5th grade this year and is such a good kid, Dominik just turned 5 and had a great birthday party, and my little Donnie (2) is starting to talk like crazy and just growing so fast.
In edition to everything else i just shared we have started our own business on the side which is going really good, and Darrell got a promotion at his regular job to, Life is great. I still need that nose job lol, but other than that everything is perfect. I hope all of your lives are going just as wonderfully as mine is and if not, dont lose hope things will get better, im living proof of that. Oh and i havent had a smoke in like 3 weeks, just sayin.
One Lovely Blog Award
Hey everybody,
I was just nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award by one of my absolute best blogging buddies, April at http://diapersandtutus.wordpress.com/ she is an amazing person who has been a big inspiration to me and a great friend as well, if you dont already follow her i highly recommend you do so now.
There are a few guidlines that come With accepting this award
1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
2. Display the One Lovely Blog Award on your blog.
3. Share 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 bloggers you admire, and let them know by commenting on their blog.
Seven things about me…
1. Im still kinda afraid of the dark, dont laugh at me i said Kinda.
2. I would have 4 more babies if my body would let me, well and my husband, lol.
3. On July 27th i will have been clean and sober for 3 years.
4. All i ever want to be is a good woman, a great wife, and a better mom.
5. I would rather be punched in the eye than have someone i love mad at me.
6. I go crazy over Halloween, everything gets decorated and i love every second of it, in fact i would be happy if i could keep it that way all year long.
7. I think one of the most important things i can teach my children is to be happy with the simple things in life.
And now for my nominees
1. http://idiotwriting.wordpress.com/
2. http://lorriebowden.wordpress.com/
3. http://insanitybytes2.wordpress.com/
4. http://lensgirl53.wordpress.com/
5. http://frillthrills.wordpress.com/
6. http://lawsonandy.wordpress.com/
7. http://newmommylessons.com/
8. http://kindnessblog.com/
9. http://monimorphism.wordpress.com/
10. http://wereallmadheretheblog.wordpress.com/
11. http://whyiamnotafeminist.com/
12. http://threekidsandi.wordpress.com/
13. http://bluehazel77.wordpress.com/
14. http://ahillbillyblogger.wordpress.com/
15. http://machinegunmama.wordpress.com/
16. http://lindaghill.wordpress.com/
Thanks again for nominating me April, you are such a sweetie.
And if you guys dont know all these amazing bloggers then make sure you go check em out and click that follow button you wont be disappointed.
trying to make things right 
Recent Comments