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Viewing 10 - 15 out of 15 Blogs.
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When we go to the grocery store tomorrow I'm going to have a talk with our friend, John. He told me after our last snow we weren't getting any more and if we ddid I could give him a good "talking to." It rained this evening and now the snow is coming down pretty hard and fast! Are we ever going to see spring? We had spring-like temps for three days and now it's winter again. We had a quiet day at home. Instead of the traditional Easter dinner I fixed some short ribs with my special sauce. I don't use regular BBQ sauce as it's too spicy for us now. The sauce I make is a bit sweeter and I use it for a lot of different meats; very versatile. And I made some Baked Mac and Cheese. I've been wanting to do that for a very long time. I usually just fix it in a pan on top of the range and let it go at that. Baking it is sooo much better! Fixed Brussels Spouts with butter. That's the way Papa likes them. And I made a small Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, as well. Even though, I made half-batches of everything we still have plenty of let-overs! Papa is still feeling pretty tough. Actually we both have been feeling that way. We going through a lot of pain, probably from our Fibromyalgia, and Papa has a cold from laying on the ground the other day., too. It doesn't take much for him to catch cold. Will need to keep a close eye on him since he's susceptible to pneumonia. (Hey, I spelled that right according to my spell-checker!) Papa's been doing a lot of resting. Papa's waiting for me to watch TV with him again so I'd better get out of here. Hope y'all had a wonderful Easter. Take care and have a good night. Much Love, Junie & Papa Allen
Looks like I need to get out to clean some garden spaces; the Naked Ladies (Spider Lilies) are coming up already! They've come up right through the snow and ice. They don't usually start showing up until latter April. The last 2 days have been pretty nice but there's still a chill in the air. It's been in the lower 50's; tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer them the temps will plummet yet again and expecting a small amount of snow. Papa is out working on our pickup. He went out to change the oil and found the carburetor was loose in 3 different places. Whoopi! Always something!! That probably why I've had trouble starting it last couple of months; it's sucking air. He'll get it fixed okay but his chest will hurt him for a few days from leaning over into the engine compartment. And he has a van, of a friends, to work on tomorrow. Our son called a little while ago and I spoke with him. He's been in Oklahoma for the last month and will be home only until Tuesday and will head to Houston, I believe. He'll probably be there for a month, too. He's an apprentice for an electric company. He's hoping that when he gets through his apprenticeship he'll be able to find a job locally. It's been especially hard hard on his youngest son (5). He called his Daddy a couple of nights ago and begged him "to please come home." That is so hard on him but he's doing what's necessary to earn a living and be able to stay at home later. I tried to call our granddaughter today. She's moving to Georgia April 6th. and I was unable to reach her. The phone has already been disconnected. I'll try to find another way to get ahold of her. Her husband is taking Special Forces training in the Army right now. Until she can join him she and the 2 children will live with her parents and she'll work for her Dad detailing cars. That will give her some extra money to work with. Just got back from O'Rielly's; had to get another air filter for the truck. Still would like to replace the rotor, etc. But that will wait until a little later; it will be another $45 or $50. Replace that and another exhaust system and that old (1985 Ford LTD pickup) will be in tip-top shape! I've been off my weight-loss program the last 2 days; been sleeping too late (staying up too late at night watching movies). When I don't stay on schedule I really mess up. Started out right today. And I feel better! Every time I eat the same things Allen does I start feeling terrible. I wonder just how many times I need to go through that before it hits me? Stay away from Allen's food!!!! It's getting time for me to thaw out some chicken breasts for my dinner. Hope you had a good day and have a wonderful evening. Until next time: Much Love, Junie & Papa Allen
Papa Allen is still very sore from 2 days of lifting sheeting for the roof and 2 days of pushing snow. He took the day off yesterday and right now he's putting a new water pump in the pick-up. That's very difficult, too, because he needs to lean over for some time with the wrenches. And the one we have takes a special wrench that we rented for $74.00; get that back tomorrow morning when we return. We've been running it about 3 months this way because the weather has been so bad. I know it isn't a good idea but we kept a close watch on the heat age and never went out of town with it. I'm feeling much better today! I took the bull by the horns and have started my Diabetic Weight Loss Program again. I was feeling so sluggish and tired all the time! In just 3 days I'm feeling so much better!! This is a need-to-do thing with me. I'd lost 116 lbs. 2 years THEN our son died and through all the 1.5 years of dealing with his estate and life insurance issues I put 58 lbs. back on! Steve was so proud of me. He's never seen me as slender as I'd gotten. Of course, it had taken me 26 years to lose that with on and off dieting after being put on very high doses of Prednisone for 2 years for a lung disease I had acquired. I just woke up one morning and told myself "this is the day" and started. Of course, I'd started out good every day at breakfast but it didn't last through the day. But that heavy food was making me sick and I was having problems keeping my blood sugar down. I've mentioned to Papa that all that heavy eating could be what's making him so tired, too. He isn't able to work as hard as he used to burn it off. Amazingly, though, he hasn't gained weight! I don't understand how some people can do that; eat all they want until they could bust and never gain a pound! But our doctor does want him to lose 5 lbs. because both his parents are Diabetic and at 57 he's at the age where Type 2 can start. We were up very early this morning; another night of going to bed at 7:30 P.M. I believe it's harder on me to do that because Pepper Dog needs to go out about every 2 hours until about 11:00 P.M. Then she and I can settle in for the night. We'll see what happens tonight. My son and daughter-in-law are heading back this way April 5th. to load up their daughter and her 2 children to move to Georgia. Her husband re-upted for the Army and she's joining him out there. Of course, or son , Gerry, and Sami live out there. They all haven't seen each other for 2 years so that will be exciting! We don't know, as yet, if they'll come up our way or not. Mark and Stacy will be back this way to visit his family from time-to-time, though. We had a visit from our daughter this last week-end. She got a huge tattoo on her side saying "Mommie's Baby." I'm not the mommie. Even if I was I wouldn't like it! Papa and I don't believe in all that tattooing. We know that some do and that's their decision. Not on our bodies! My youngest son always pleaded with me never to do that when he saw other older women doing it. I can just imagine how it will looks when they start sagging with age. Sometimes, I'm not very nice am I? Time to get this posted. Everyone, please take care and have a good evening. Much Love, Junie & Papa Allen
This is our deck this morning! 
We were supposed to get anywhere between 3 to 6" of snow over the weekend; not sure just how much we did get. Saturday Papa measured it at a little over 9" but we got much more after that with winds that caused drifting. He is saying we got, at least, 10 ". Some areas received up to 14". Our granddaughter was supposed to take her husband to the airport, in Omaha, yesterday and was unable to because the interstate was closed. With the terrible weather people still felt they had to be out on the roads even after they were told not to be. In their area alone 7 semis and 4 cars were involved in accidents causing the road to be closed. All the rest areas were full with the Red Cross opening up more shelters for the people and many just staying in their cars. The whiteouts were so bad we couldn't see across the street from our house. Papa had to go out Sunday to do some clearing, at different places, knowing he's need to go back out this morning which he did; just left about half-an-hour ago. It's going to be tougher today because of all the drifting. I have no idea when he'll be back. Sounds like they are going to take the Bob Cat out this morning, as well as, the 4-wheeler w/blade. Poor little Pepper Dog! The snow was so deep last night and so cold it took her several tries to get the job done. She's a little Chihuahua and it's hard to do her "jobbie" when snow is up over her butt! I kept letting her out until she she was finished and when was able to stay in she snuggled down with us and slept the rest of the night. For those who wonder: Pepper refuses to potty in the house no matter how much we encourage her. We have pads for our 24 year-old kitty but Pepper just won't use them. She's been that way since she was trained as a baby. Hope the weather is better where you're all at! If not, please be careful moving that wet, heavy stuff. Have a wonderful day! Much Love, Junie & Papa Allen
I wasn't able to go to sleep last night; finally managed to do so around 5:00 A.M. I couldn't get my mind off my son, Steve, back when he was a little boy. I kept seeing him in the little bib shorts I made for him. I made several in colorful prints in light-weight fabrics for summer. I also made them for my former husband's 2 grandsons. They were so cute! I was going to post a picture of Steve wearing a pair but I have so many albums to go through and just didn't feel up to it. I miss him so much, at times! He was the best baby out of the three. Some might believe me to be partial but that isn't the care. It was probably due to the fact that I was one month short of being 28 years old. My other sons, Tommie and Gerry, were born while I was in my teens. By-the-time Steve came around, I believe, I had acquired more patience. As a result, I didn't have nearly the problems with his growing up years. That's not to say I had a lot of problems with the other two boys for I didn't really. I was just simply too young and and didn't have that patience and expected everything to happen "right now." I'd since learned children need to have their own way of doing things in their own time. I guess this came from a mother who was that way. Don't get me wrong. My mother was wonderful but everything had to be done the exactly the way she said. An example of that was when I was in my teens I couldn't and didn't dust mop a floor as well as she because I didn't hold the mop the same. Well, in my opinion I did as well. It was one of those times I over-looked. It was the same with my babies "schedule." Everything had to be "on time." I didn't have that problem by the time Steve arrived because, I believe, I arrived. I had started using my own mind on things and found I wasn't too bad, after all. When I say my mother was wonderful it was, although she never spoke the words, I knew how much she loved me. She was always fixing my hair, sewing me little dresses, etc. In fact, when I went to junior high school she'd go to the city and buy women's clothing and alter them for me so I was as well dressed as the wealthier children in town. I didn't realize for many years, not until I was about 30 years old, that I had grown up "poor." Mom and Daddy never let my brother, Roger and I know that. As a result of my mother's care I grew up taking good care of myself and wore very nice clothes, even if, they came from the goodwill. I could always find so much better clothes and shoes there than in regular stores and save money, too. Mom passed on always being well dressed on to me and I passed it on to Steve. Seldom did I ever see in dirty, ragged clothes. He did his share of dirty work work but he had a way to do it that left him still looking good. When Steve started school he had to wear a tie! Hid father dug out his old Army tie and I altered for him. That's the way he always dressed. When he went to school for a few months her in my hometown the other high school kids called him a "fag." They even went so far as to break the lights out of his car! That's when he returned back home and school in Council Bluffs. His father would just have to deal with it! Because Steve did things his way the two of them often butted heads. It took many years before his father would respect him for his strength in character. Steve spent his entire life working and living try to make his father proud of him for when he was just getting into his teens his father did one of the worst things a father can do to a child; called him a "loser"; not once but many times. I really believe it was stemmed from jealousy because he couldn't and didn't have the the accomplishment that Steve had. He didn't want to apply himself to anything whereas Steve always did and that's what made in successful in life and work. It all comes down to seeing a fine young man that I raised and losing him far too soon. I will always feel the loss and the emptiness, even though, I have other children, grandchildren and most especially my very loving and caring husband, Papa Allen. I often think how sad it was that Allen wasn't the one who raised Steve but, then again, he may not have been as driven due to being accepted for himself. I miss my son terribly! But I've also gone on with my life just the way I know he wanted me to. He'd be as proud of me as I was and am of him. Have a great weekend, Friends! Much Love, Junie & Papa Allen
We're sharing a picture of our son, Travis, and his father taken earlier this month.  A little over four (4) months ago I had an accident; don't remember if I mentioned before or not. I was starting to sit down on my office chair, which has wheels, and it rolled away from me and I landed on the floor. My knees were caught and twisted inside the center of my desk and I hit the left side of my face and had a little cut from that. It took awhile for my knees to get settled down. I really didn't think I'd done anything to much to my back but the pain kept getting worse over the course of the four (4) months until I finally made it into our doctor. The pain was absolutely excruciating! Most times just stepping on my left foot caused such pain that I couldn't walk very well. I told Papa Allen that it felt like a terribly pinched nerve or something dislocated. We told our doctor what was happening and he, of course, sent me to ex-ray. Laying flat on my back on that steel table was more than excruciating! But about a week later the pain was gone. It was like when I laid on that table something popped into place. The good news is I did have have a compound fracture as our doctor thought. The bad news is my arthritis, in the lumbar region, is getting worse. As long as I know what it is I can start doing my exercises again to strengthen the surrounding muscles. I'd stopped because I was afraid of making a bad situation worse until I knew, for sure, what was wrong. Hopefully, I can also resume my early morning walks when it gets warmer. In-the-meantime, our doctor put me on a narcotic for the pain. He told me I might get sick, etc. What he didn't tell me is that I would feel like I was at death's door after taking three (3) of those things! I was so afraid that night that I asked Papa to sit with me until I felt better which took me several hours. I got sick to my stomach and everything. I was terrified of closing my eyes for fear that I would open them again. I've been close to death a couple of times before and this is what it felt like. Anyway, I'm finally feeling much better. Oh, last week I got the flu, of course! Papa had it, got better and got it again. We've really been having our problems. But Papa has been out in the garage straightening it up; getting rid of a lot of things we no longer want to keep so we can have room for the new things Papa got last summer like new tool chests, etc. It was such a beautiful day that Papa was going to replace the water pump on our truck but the toilet went goofy and he had to replace parts in it instead. He's hoping for tomorrow. So with what time was left we went grocery shopping. We needed just a few things but, I'm sure, you know how that goes. We came out with more than what was on our list! We're hoping tomorrow will be another beautiful day; got to 57 today. That's very uncharacteristic of WC Iowa in February. I would have loved to been able to go outside and clean up a small garden we have between the deck and house. It's only about two (2) feet wide and the length of the deck; about 12 or 13 feet. It's hard to get into but the ground is wet from the snow and following Perfect for pulling up things we don't want. With all the traveling we had to do last summer and working on our kitchen in the fall we didn't have much time for yard work. Wishing everyone a very good night! Much Love, Junie and Papa Allen
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