Merry Christmas to all!

What a difference a year can make. Am feeling so good and so blessed. The old saying that you have everything when you have your health surely make sense to me now! That, plus a loving family is all I need. Am counting my blessings and thanking the good Lord for all he has given me. Christmas was wonderful and we got to spend time with all out kids last night! New traditions are taking shape as our family grows with married children and grandkids! We attended church together last night and then gathered at our house for a quiet, but very enjoyable evening. I loved sitting and watching the two little munchkins experience their very first Christmas! What a treasure for me! Life is so full and changes happen every day! But I am committed to embracing all the good stuff and am so grateful for my sweet family!

Bryan and Kristin will be moving to San Antonio in January, much to our surprise!!! Bryan was offered a job he couldn't pass up that begins effective in January! He was so dedicated to building a reputable, thriving practice in Lafayette and it was unfolding quite nicely, but this job offer will jump him into the type of work and income he was patiently building here, but much more quickly. I am saddened by the fact that they will be so far away from us but am so delighted that they are happy about their move and are excited about their new adventure. I wish them all the best and know it will be a good thing! But Mimi will be so lonesome for Evie! That's the thing about life, there is always compromise, it is never PERFECT, but there is always something good to smile about! Soooo, the new year will certainly bring change again, will try to stay in gratitude for all that is good and look out SEA WORLD here we come. Guess the Boudreaux's will travel to SanAntonio for vacation this year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

love the holidays!!!!!! please send recipes

We will have our Faulk Family Christmas on Saturday at our house!! YEAH!!! I can't wait. It is so wonderful to feel so good right now!!! Am looking forward to great fun and food!! Will have to scrap the healthy eating on Saturday... I can't pass up all the tempting treats!

Please send me your favorite holiday party recipes... am gathering recipes for a potential cookbook. Send the kind of recipe you would prepare for your favorite family or friends party... the kind that always makes people ask for the recipe, ... Am trying to create a party cookbook, as a result of my fun time I always have at my friend Melba's house for her market! Send to my email at artandsoul8@hotmail.com.

Please keep Tootsie, my mother in law, in your prayers! She was just recently placed in a local nursing home as a result of some long term health issues. It has been heartbreaking for all of her family, but especially her. We pray that she can make progress in her rehab and eventually return home. May God bless all of you during this holiday season especially with good health!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a busy week it has been... last weekend we went to New Orleans for my nephew, Billy's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and it was great to see relatives. Then on Tuesday, we had gumbo for my visiting aunts and uncles. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit and as usual Uncle Hu kept us laughing. He's been doing that since I was a little girl.

Today we were looking forward to spending time with all of Ricky's family for Thanksgiving dinner over here, but Tootsie (Ricky's mom) wasn't feeling up to it and ended up in the hospital. She has been very sick for a very long time and we had so hoped to be able to gather with her today. Please keep her in your prayers. She is getting weaker each and every day.

As I look back over this past year, I find myself amazed at the changes that can take place in a year! Last year at this time I had just begun my chemo and I remember how I was getting acquainted with the misery of the treatments, I had already said farewell to my hair and I was having difficulty finding foods that made me feel good! As I counted my blessings today, certainly at the top of the list are our two new little blessings, Evie and Audrey! They can make us smile all the time! So precious! I am grateful for my health and the love of my family! Particularly my husband and children.

Today we also celebrated Jackson's (One of Matt's boys) 6th birthday! It is fun getting to know the future members of Blanche's new family! Was a challenge today to stay committed to "the healthy diet plan" with all the Thanksgiving food, but we all indulged and can re-commit tomorrow! Tonight we all went over to Bryan and Kristin's to watch ELF! We just chilled out with popcorn and laughed at the goofy show! Now I am enjoying the Paul McCartney Concert on tv! He has been my boyfriend since I was 6 years old! We go back a long way. The best gift I ever got from Ricky was tickets to a Paul Mc Cartney concert in New Orleans a few years ago! It was so awesome!!!

Am hoping all of you had a great day and our good Lord blesses you all abundantly throughout the holiday season! I have so much to be grateful for!

Happy Birthday Layni

Today we celebrated Layni's Birthday with her friends and our family! Cupcakes (thanks Blair) and Banana Splits! (Thanks Cheryl) You know your child is growing up when they go outside to have a cheerleading contest! Was so glad to see the sweet grandbabies today. They always brighten my day! Next week we'll be heading to New Orleans for my nephew, Billy's wedding! Looking forward to seeing the whole family!

Best cookies I ever made!

Healthy for ya Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

3/4 cup raw sugar (turbinado)

1/4 cup regular brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1 egg 1 tsp vanilla

1 TBL milk

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (whole wheat pastry flour or just plain whole wheat flour)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1 1/2 cup uncooked oats

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- Combine the sugars in an electric mixer.

- Cream the sugars with the softened butter.

- Add in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Cream until smooth.

- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. Add slowly to the wet mixture until incorporated.

- Once smooth, stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

- Using a teaspoon or a small ice cream/cookie scoop, drop rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Makes around 2 dozen.

Happy Halloween!!

OCTOMOM!

My mom is okay!

Today I brought mom for her alleged breast biopsy, but when the doctor examined her he said there was NOTHING there to biopsy! SO whatever bump she had, be it an inflamed milk duct or whatever was gone... could've been all the prayers, huh? We were so relieved! Meanwhile I mentioned to the nurse practitioner that since my biopsy 2 1/2 weeks ago, I have a really big knot in my breast and she says, "Oh thats probably just a little hematoma." And then she take a look at it and says, "Oh no, that's a really BIG hematoma, I'll have to get Dr. Breaux to take a look at this!" So he does and agrees that it is pretty big! So on the spot, they hook me up to an ultrasound machine and he numbs me up and sticks yet another needle in my breast, (which I will now call the PIN CUSHION!) and he proceeds to try to draw some fluid out of it, unsuccessfully! He only got a tiny bit of blood out, the blood was too thick, so the remedy now is just time, as time passes it should all get absorbed! Oh the drama.... I told them that I was THE DESIGNATED driver today, not the patient! But it wasn't too bad. I survived once more, a little procedure on my breast! And thank you God, my mom's boob is okay! My boob on the other hand is begging for a break!

Am ready to change it up a bit!

Just as I was ready to refresh the concept of my blog and make it a Food/Entertaining blog, I am emotionally on hold again as we await a doctor's appointment for my mom with a surgeon for a breast biopsy on Wednesday! It was my intention to refocus and not dwell on cancer anymore, and so here we are faced with yet one more possibility! Such is life! We are of course praying for a good result and I will keep you posted on the outcome, meanwhile I will dabble in presenting my new found love of testing out healthy recipes that are delicious! We are trying to keep away from all white processed foods, mainly refined sugar, white bread, pasta etc. Today I made these Mini Whole Wheat Biscuit French Onion Soup Bowls!! I searched high and low for whole wheat refrigerated biscuits... of course Rayne and Crowley had none! So I made my own whole wheat biscuits from scratch!

So here is the recipe: (does not include the biscuit recipe)

Take a muffin pan and spray the back side of it with non stick spray, and then mold a biscuit onto each cup and bake at 400 degrees until set!

Slice up one Jumbo Sweet Vidalia Onion and cook in two tablespoons olive oil with salt and pepper until carmelized, about 15 minutes.

Then melt 3 Tablespoons butter and stir in about 4 tablespoons flour and add 1/2 pint heavy cream, whisking as you add it. As it thickens, whisk in 1 cup grated swiss (the recipe called for gruyere, NOT IN THE BOUDREAUX BUDGET this week) Stir until smooth.

Fill each cup with the onions, cheese sauce, and more grated cheese. Top with paprika and one small leaf of fresh basil. (I always have a pot of fresh basil on my patio).

Bake for 5 minutes until cheese is melted. Yummy and pretty!!!

Hope you enjoy! I will continue to post about my family's activities, as well as keeping you updated on my health and now my mom's too! And I will always, of course, post lots of cute grandbaby pictures!! :)

Paws for PInk Day at Rayne Catholic

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Evie and Audrey at the Pumpkin Patch!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Back to Holy Toledo!

This past weekend my girlfriends and I went back to Toledo Bend to the lakehouse for a luxuriously relaxing weekend! It was exactly a year ago that we had gone after my two breast surgeries and lymph node disection. At that time I was in a lot of pain, both physical and emotional. I was so relieved this year after my biopsy results, that I went ready to celebrate life and have lots of fun. And I did, as we were also celebrating another friends ABSCENCE of cancer! As life goes, when you gather 8 beautiful souls together, there is always some healing to be done. One could not even imagine the profound sense of love in our circle! When women gather with open hearts and trust, miracles happen that we can never plan for. We lift each other in pain and joy and sometimes there is only a moment between the two, so we stay on our spiritual toes when dare pray in a circle! I was surrounded by the beauty of nature, a wonderful lakehouse and friends with hearts of gold. I long for my children to gather friendships like these made of solid gold!

We had the best weekend ever... I treated them to a surprise performance of my own "BEYONCE' BOUDREAUX" rendition of SINGLE LADIES!!!! I love when people laugh, even when it is at me! And oh, uh uh, did they LAUGH!

Had a cancer scare!

When I went for my mammogram 3 weeks ago, the radiology doctor said there was "an area of concern" on my xrays. After numerous more xrays, he sent me on to my surgeon for a biopsy. It took a little while to get in and I finally had the biopsy last Friday morning. I must admit that for those 15 days of waiting I became more and more anxious as each day would pass! I was told that if the cancer would have reoccurred in the same breast it would have meant that I would've needed a mastectomy. I spent very much time and energy trying to prepare myself for the worst! (Where is the old optimistic Madelene?) Yesterday morning I got the call from Dr. Breaux's office, and when I saw his name on the caller ID I was petrified to answer the phone! When I finally answered, how exciting it was to find out that the specks on my mammogram were fibrocystic calcifications. I am determined to eliminate anything in my diet that would contribute to the formation of these deposits! And also supplement with things that would help get rid of them!

I was instructed to have mammograms every 6 months as opposed to once a year, now that this has happened, to keep a close watch on this situation! It was a very emotionally draining experience and I need a vacation! Which is what I will get this weekend when some of my girlfriends and I head out to the lakehouse at Toledo Bend!!

Am so looking forward to some relaxation and laughter!

Homecoming Dance for the twins!

For a long time it felt like I would FOREVER have small babies to look after! Probably because I kept giving birth to very many babies! And then we blinked and tonight we sent our beautiful twin "babies" off to a homecoming dance! Wow! Unbelievable! Suddenly time is quickly moving forward and my children are growing up right before my eyes! Although preparing teenage girls for their first homecoming dance can be somewhat challenging, when I got home after we went to take their pictures I was convinced they would have a good night! Hope they did!

Evie encouraging mimi to enjoy our local culture!

Today I met Bryan and Kristin and Evie for lunch at the park. It was the Bach lunch where local musicians play during the lunch hour and people just chill out and enjoy our local culture. Today was really "chank a chank" day. Bryan picked us up some sushi from Tsunami. I enjoyed it. I got the vegetable sushi, it was good! Evie will be much like her Pasquier cousins, very culturally educated, with an appreciation for many things!

A nice outing in New Orleans!

Sunday night after we celebrated Ben's 18th birthday, Ricky and I headed out for an overnite date to new Orleans. I wanted to go shopping at "the bank architectural antiques" for an old cypress door that we could make into a headboard for our new king size bed. So we made it an eating extravaganza for 2 days, starting with Ben's birthday meal here, then dinner at Mr. B's Bistro, breakfast at Mother's Restaurant and lunch at Copelands Cheesecake Bistro!

We lucked out and found a great old door for a great price and our friend, Father Buddy will actually make it for us! Will post a pic when it is finished.

Tomorrow I will have my mammogram and that will wrap up all my check ups until December! Am experiencing some serious joint pain, a nasty side effect of the daily medication that I take, but try to continue to exercise daily! The nurse practitioner told me today the pain may slack off after a while. Am hoping she is right!

September seems to have slipped away so quickly, but all in all, things are good right now. Looking forward to my "friends" trip to Toledo Bend in October, then Billy, my nephew's wedding in November.

Am feeling more and more normal everyday, have even embraced my funky new hairdo!

Had Three great checkups!

So far this month I had 3 great checkups with 3 different doctors! All my physical exams (breast and lymph nodes and pap smears) all checked out great! Will have a mammogram at the end of the month! Then looking forward to getting back on track. I have started a regimen of walking/running about 3 miles a day and have really cleaned up my diet, except of course, for those Sunday family gatherings and all those bon bons and birthday cakes!

The kids are beginning to get settled in school and the twins love going to Notre Dame! Sunday is Ben's 18th birthday and after his birthday lunch, Ricky and I are going on an overnight trip to New Orleans to hunt down an antique door to make a king size head board out of! We will go to the restoration architectural places and one called the Green Project ( a recycle store) A nice getaway for the two of us!!!

I guess I can quit celebrating my birthday now.

Supper was great at Blair's tonight. Good Gumbo! And yummy cake and bon bons! Was surrounded by my family. (except for Bryan who was in Houston for a class.) When we got to Blair's, Audrey was "styling" in her high heel zebra shoes! Then of course Happy got crazy and put the shoes on his ears.

Evie will have her first PLANE ride tomorrow to go visit Kristin's parents. Hope all goes well with their trip!

So now I'm 52!

Yesterday was my birthday and I am so grateful to embrace whatever this new year of life has to bring! We will celebrate tonight at Blair's with gumbo and I hope CAKE!!!

This month is filled with doctor's appointments for checkups, mammograms etc. Am praying all is well with my health. My doctors say that keeping a close check with breast exams and a yearly mammogram is the only way to monitor keeping a close eye on any reoccurring cancer. All the while having the faith that there will be NONE!!

emotional...

Last night I had my dear girlfriends over for our monthly supper club! It is always a good , solid evening filled with laughter and wisdom. Last night was almost like a mini retreat. We always have prizes each time we gather. I had found these wonderful little journals, each one with a unique quote that "magically" fit each one of my guests. I added a personal note to each friend on the inside cover of the journals. I had prayed about what to write in each journal, asking God to work through me, to speak to my friends! It is strange for me, but what I've noticed is that since my diagnosis, the Lord gently converses with me, especially about my friends. So when I pray for them, I know if there is something I need to communicate to them, Jesus will tell me. As I wrote in their journals I was sure the words that showed up were not mine! As we went around the table, wiping many a tear, I was certain the Holy Spirit moved gently in the circle! I love it when the Spirit shows up like that and we sit in awe, with all the How did you knows, and the Wow this is crazy's! But what He manifested last night was so healing in so many ways for each of us in many different areas! I listened closely to their willingness to be open with their experiences and I bravely came forward with the acknowledging of my fears. It was freeing in a sense to speak openly about having fear of the obvious (breast cancer) but freeing to be vulnerable enough to face the fear and trust in a God that protects. The "old" Madelene didn't have many, if any fears. Yet she had a hard outer shell, never even daring to come close to such intimacy! So actually admitting my fears, allows me a much freer spirit. I am not INVINCIBLE after all and that's okay. I also acknowledged my gratefulness for being lifted to know I am worthy of treating myself to many pleasures that God is ready to bless me with! I was able to declare my willingness to explore regions of my heart that needed nurturing. My desire for grace is very strong. God is certainly calling me! I have a hunch we really pissed off the devil with our prayerful supper!...

Which leads me to my story of my lessons from God today. I love the Miles Perret Center and try to take advantage of the things they offer that interest me. Last month I was scheduled to receive a REIKI session at the Miles Perret Center. Everything offered at the center is free of charge done with many volunteers that work really hard to see that the cancer patients are well taken care of. So last month they called me the day of my appointment to say that I would have to reschedule because the girl who does the Reiki wasn't able to be there and although I was disappointed, I certainly understood. I was then rescheduled for another appointment for today. I blocked out my afternoon on my book and thought, what a great treat this would be because my birthday is tomorrow! A gift to myself! When I showed up at my appointment I found out that "my" appointment wasn't mine! And as the sweet little, innocent receptionist tried to explain that I wasn't down on the books, I found myself acting like my own clients who show up as a result of a mixup and they just stand there waiting for you to be able to do 2 people at one time!!!! I felt so disappointed! Like, ridiculously, disappointed! I thought to myself come on, geeze, the other lady had cancer too! She deserves this just as much as you. So I sulkingly walked away and went to my car and as I opened the door to the car I burst into tears, uncontrollable tears, stupid, crazy tears and asked God, "Why the hell are you so good at sending messages for my fricking friends, yet I am sitting in my car CRYING over a "weird massage" that I'm not gonna get?" ( HOW STUPID CAN ONE GIRL BE?) I think it is the lack of Estrogen! lol! (guess what, it was not about the massage!) And he didn't answer me! SO I thought to myself, I'm gonna go shopping instead, so I traveled down Kaliste Saloom, crying that stupid ugly cry, wiping my tears all the way and then I pulled into the CLOTHES MENTOR parking lot (a new consignment shop with nice inexpensive upscale clothes.) As I walked in the door, the cheerful young clerk says, "Good afternoon ma'am, we are presently accepting clothes on consignment but will not be SELLING any clothes till Sept. 26th!" I looked at her like I look at my DOG when he messes up my flower bed. She said you are certainly welcome to look around. So for 30 minutes I looked at clothes that I liked, that I could afford, that I COULD NOT BUY! After enough of that torture I decided to come home and blog about it so I could start to feel better. I new today 's experience was going to be a lesson about matters of my soul, not about appointments.

My first thought, certainly not from God, was "you see, I am really not worthy of being treated special, I really don't deserve that complimentary massage thingy, the other lady deserved it more than me!!!""" blah blah blahblah!!! What I realized was how difficult it was to even make the appointment, to set aside time just for me! And it's not that I didn't get it. Its that I had ventured out of my comfort zone to be kind to myself and then felt cheated of my good intent of treating myself! But in my heart I know that Jesus wants me to relax, he wants to shower me with love and wonderful experiences, and he does. He thinks I am special and he loves giving to others through me, He says thanks to me for being a vessel of his love and when I least expect it I will be abundantly blessed with the ability to relax and breathe and trust in His plan. I will never be able to completely quit sharing spaces and pleasures with others in this lifetime, not with 8 kids and a husband anyway! It is what we are called to do everyday. Everyday we must adjust and bend for the benefit of others, especially if we are wives and mothers. But, today, my brother Jesus, tells me not to give up, to continue to claim joy and peace to be in my life, and even when it doesn't work out like I think it should, somewhere around the corner is another opportunity to treat myself to something nurturing and special! Come to think of it I have a gift certificate for a massage sitting on my desk that I will cash in very soon. For today I pray that the other cancer lady enjoyed her reiki appointment and benefitted fully from the experience. And I mean that with all my heart! Because she deserves it too! We all deserve all the blessings possible, and they come in little bits and pieces, through new baby's giggles and sharing good wine and food with the best of friends, being held close at night by a husband who loves me unconditionally, watching two teenagers grow up right before my eyes, and oh yes, this is a big one, turning another year older! Why was all of this so emotional for me, I do not know...Meanwhile i just want a damn massage! Wow, now that feels better!!

To all my friends at the Miles Perret Center, I love all that you have done for me and am grateful for the many benefits you have given me.

I have had many a mix ups in my own scheduling appointments for my hair clients....it just happens sometimes! I am just an emotional crazy lady! And God had to find a way to speak to me today and to humble me! Good job, God!

Mom had a great party!

Yesterday everyone came to celebrate mom's 80th birthday. She doesn't typically like a whole lot of commotion, but she managed to enjoy her party very much. There was plenty commotion! The family continues to multiply, and the noise level rises each time we gather! We all piled in my bedroom to watch momo's birthday video that Kristen Pasquier and Monique put together. We all had fun and I believe mom truly had fun!

Happy Birthday Momo!

Today is my mom's 80th birthday and we gave her a new kitty cat. She had one that disappeared and never came back. She was so excited to open the bag and find a new little kitten. She will count on him to keep the mice population down this winter! She looked like a kid who had just received the best present ever and then began to have immediate sinus issues. Good thing he will be an outside cat! Hope we can keep him safe from Bosco and Drake! Everyone pray that he lives a long, long time and keeps her company! Twas good to see her smile! Next Saturday the whole gang will come in to officially celebrate her birthday!