An "almost" Heart Attack!

I have been neglecting my blog again, but this time it's for good reason. You see, Tuesday before last David had a doctor's appointment. It was just supposed to be a diabetes check-up. But when we got there, his blood pressure was up...WAAAAY up. Dr. Earl asked him if he'd been feeling ok lately, and when he mentioned he'd had a little trouble breathing, a little tightness in his chest, and his doctor then gave us the option of calling an ambulance, or driving ourselves straight to the emergency room! I can't even begin to describe my thoughts and emotions as we drove to the hospital. I was gripped by fear. So even though we were told that he would just have a stress test, and be out of there by early afternoon....we spent the next FOUR DAYS in the hospital! And 2 stress tests & a heart cath later, he is home. They found 10-20% blockage, but said that for his age & all his risk factors, that was pretty good, and they would treat it with medicine. We were however ordered to quit smoking, exercise & lose some weight. So on Monday, we will be starting Chantix. Pray for both of us please! I know that if I don't quit with him, he will never be able to quit on his own. It's just too much temptation.

They released David at 3pm on that Friday....his dad had been going crazy with worry, so about lunchtime, he headed this way. I had exactly one hour to get my house in "company shape"...and let me tell you, if I had the energy to speed clean my house all the time, that's the only way to go! You'd be amazed what all I can get done when it's down to the wire! We had a good weekend with them, but David was sent home to rest, and he didn't do any of that til late Sunday morning when his dad left to go back home. And that is what we did - both of us-REST! There's another excuse as to why I've not been blogging. So that's a little glimpse into the Allen's World...til next time - me

Awwwwwww........

The Football Contest

What a crazy crazy stupid day. We are in the middle of a contest at work. The theme is "football"....each contract you get in represents x number of yards (depending on how much you sold it for). Once you've hit 100 yards you've made a touchdown & score. The first touchdown...$500. Second $1000. 3rd $2000. Plus you get a little side bonus for every "down", (still don't know what that means) but 1-10 First Downs are $10 11-15 First downs are $25 each & so on..

My POINT to all of this is that somehow, I've managed to be 2.5 yards SHORT OF A FREAKING TOUCHDOWN!!! Today at 3pm is the cut-off to the next paycheck. And I am SO f.r.e.a.k.i.n.g. out right now trying to pull something in.

The good news is I have 4 for the week, so I get to go home early with pay, wear jeans next week, hit my incentive plus some extra. And...that 4 got me down the "field"...but 2.5 yards????

Seriously???

gotta go chase some agreements.......me

Catching Up...and some funny pics!

Wow - what a week, or day, or month, or year, or whatever! It feels like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off! (That may be an Arkansas saying, but bear with me here!). Lots of stuff is going on in The Allen's World. Nothing really of much significance, just a lot of running. For instance, Eddy & Hunter came up Friday evening, about a 1/2 hour before David had to leave for work. In that half hour, they found a pair of waders on Craigslist for Eddy (waders are necessary for duck hunting & Eddy didn't have a pair yet-David had promised to buy him some and they are about $300-$400 new). These came with yet another bag of duck decoys for the low low price of $115. So Eddy & I drove down to Fayetteville & picked them up. Then we went by his new apartment so I could see it & he could try out the waders in his swimming pool at midnight! Good thing it's a college town & nobody thought he was too crazy(I'll be posting pics too). So it was well after midnite when he got me back home & I got in bed. Saturday evening I went down to my grandma's & Aunt Bev's & visited a little bit, and vacuumed & stuff. I didn't feel like I got much done for them, but grandma & Bev both appreciate anything I do, no matter how small it seems to me. Plus, I like the excuse to go down & help - cuz I get to spend time with them both. Grandma's surgery is still on for Monday, so please keep her & Bev in your prayers. It's a miracle that she's getting to have this done. Just a few months ago, they sent her home on hospice, and things didn't look good. After I left there I went by Eddy & Dez's to play with Hunter man. I ended up getting to take him home with me & he spent his very first night all alone with me. I have GOT to get a few baby things at the house, the kids took their stuff with them, so I have NOTHING but a few toys. Des offered to let me take the playpen home for the night but nooooo, I didn't think I would need it - WRONG. Anyway, lesson learned & I will be better prepared next time. Sunday Eddy came up & spent the afternoon with us & Brittni came over to borrow the Rainbow. She has to shampoo her carpets & get her apartment ready cuz they are moving out in October & MOVING IN WITH US for a little while! I'm SO excited. She turned in her resignation at Subway - they were NOT treating her right. She's got an application in at Transplace where David works. She can work two 12 hour shifts on the weekend & make almost as much as she did working a full week at Subway, and she won't be on call & have all that extra stress of being a manager. Who knows, maybe she'll love it so much at our house she won't leave until after she graduates college. I know she could focus so much more if she didn't have so much to worry about, but I have to leave that to her. Monday morning David & I woke up at 5 & spent the morning together having our coffee & just hanging out before I had to go to work. That evening we had dinner at Eddy & Des's & it was so nice. We stopped by Academy on the way down & David bought ANOTHER duck call. He has it BAD this year, and the season hasn't even started yet! Yesterday we woke up early again & he brought me to work. He picked me up for lunch & we went to the Orient Express II - I don't recommend it. It is not nearly as good as Mama Fu's. Then after work we made a trip to Macadoodles for cigarettes & Knob Hill. Seeing as how fall is in full swing, we had to make the switch from Corona's & lime juice (our summer time occasional treat) to Knob Hill whiskey & coke. Again, we are NOT heavy drinkers. It is more of a once or twice a month thing. And just one drink each. I am too old to be a drinker. We also bought our weekly Powerball tickets. The jackpot is up to $94 million & um, well, I think I could find something to do with it if we happen to win ha! Then we stopped by the grocery store & picked up a couple steaks & went to Redbox & got movies. We went home & I cooked the steaks on my new George Foreman Grill I got at the yard sale & we had baked potatoes, Texas toast & steak while we watched The Duck Commander & then our movies. Today is already crazy. Woke up & fixed David steak & eggs for breakfast...came to work, stopped at Fred's & picked up lunch (It is "meatloaf Wednesday and won't do that again, it was NOT good today), stopped & got gas on the way home, ate lunch, called & ordered some choke tubes or something duck related for David at lunch, dropped movies back off & now I am back at work. After work & have more errands to run & hopefully will have time to stop & get my hair cut. Whew! I am tired all over again just writing this stuff!

Oh - and one more thing. We found out today that Hunter is highly allergic to cow's milk & eggs, and has a slight allergy to peanuts! Really? What IS the baby going to eat? Well, I imagine we'll figure something out, but no more vanilla wafers, ice cream, biscuits & gravy - wait, WHO would feed a baby that? Me that's who!

Enjoy the pics.....

Recap of the past few days.......

Hello Blog! It feels like it's been a long time since I last visited here! Seems I have some catching up to do. I'll start with this past weekend. Eddy, Des & Hunter came & picked me up early Saturday morning to go with them to some yard sales! So after I fixed David breakfast & he went to bed, we took off. We actually had a pretty good time & I found a few deals I just couldn't live without. Like a little red wagon for Hunter & a brand new George Foreman grill! Saturday night after David left, was spent packing everything up & getting ready to go down to Big David's. Brittni & Jerimiah came over late & spent the night & we all got up about 6 and loaded up the truck & headed to pick David up from work. David bought everybody breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We got down to Big David's around noon & had a great time. Brittni & Jerimiah drove our Chevy & we took the little Mitsubishi, and guess what? I am actually IN LOVE with that little truck! It drove like a Mercedes, used VERY LITTLE gas, and was extremely comfortable. I told David if he'd just fix the windshield & paint it some other color than maroon - (and not camo) I'd drive it every day. We'll see how that goes. Anyway, we all had a good time. I actually got to spend some time with Jerimiah, and guess what? He's not such a bad kid after all. I really saw him take care of Britt this weekend, and saw for myself that he DOES care for her. So that was nice. We headed back home Monday afternoon late, and didn't get back until around 10:30 or so. We were exhausted. Then it was back to work on Tuesday. I had a dentist appt. that afternoon, I have a sliver of bone that is breaking thru the skin & driving me CRAZY. He just took his little hook thing, broke it off & tried to file it down - all without ANY anesthesia~ouch. He said if it's not better in a couple of weeks, he'll have to go back in & do minor surgery to take care of it. Look, it's not bothering me THAT much!
The rest of the week's been spent pretty much working. I'm planning on going to my Aunt Bev & Grandma's on Saturday night. She is having surgery a week from this Monday & I know they probably need some things done. And I STILL need to get down & see the kids new apartment. Maybe I can roll all that up in one big trip Saturday night - or maybe they'd like to go to Grandma's with me...who knows? Well, once again, I need to get back to work...will try post some pictures later of the Stuttgart trip. me

It is ALL done!

Finally, finally finally! It is ALL done! My house is spotless! Everything! ALL my laundry is done - unless you count the clothes I just threw in the hamper after my jacuzzi bath! And I feel so settled. So on top of it. So in CONTROL of my home! HA! But, it was a loooong battle.
See, the kids came & got the rest of their things today. Of course I'm finding little things here & there & making a pile in the 2nd guest room. Did you hear that? I said SECOND GUEST ROOM! The first thing I did when David left for work was head for the kids old bedroom & started cleaning. Dusting, changing the sheets, vacuuming. Putting stuff back where it was. There's a few reminders that they were here, like the baby swing & some of Eddy's Army clothes & boots in the closet. But I knew if I didn't just bite the bullet & get it over with, I'd find myself in & out of their room, missing them. I figure the best way to handle it is to turn it back into our other guest room & make it like it was before they moved in (and out) - again! So that's that.

We are planning a trip to Stuttgart for Labor Day. Actually, it's not much of a trip. I'm going to take David to work Saturday evening, them come back home & pack everything up, then I'm going to get up at 6 a.m., load the dogs in the kennel & pick David up from work. He's going to sleep while I drive us down there. He gets off at seven, so that should put us there around noon. We'll have the rest of Sunday, then most of Monday. We'll leave Monday night & head back, and David will drive while I sleep because I have to be back at work on Tuesday. I asked Terri today if I could take the day off because we were going to David's dads. This is one of the only times she's ever told me no. At least I know why. See I've had a bad two weeks at work - zero sales last week & only one this week. That puts just one on my paycheck next Friday-so sad. Plus we've just started a new contest. A CASH contest. So I need to get on the ball! I was out all day Monday too. My sister called me around 6:30 that morning & said she was taking my mom to the emergency room. Her heart rate was 3 times what it should be. They put her on some I.V. meds & got it back down, then they got it too slow. So we spent the entire day in Trauma Room 10 at Washington Regional. They finally let her go home that afternoon late, and she has to follow up with a cardiologist. This is something she's had since she was in her early twenties, my sister has it too evidently, but Mom hasn't had an episode in eight or nine years. The bad news is the doctor said at her age, once it starts messing up again, it usually just continues to do so. So they mentioned medicine to keep it from beating too fast, and possibly a pacemaker to keep the medicine from dropping it too low. She did not like the sound of that, but if it comes down to it, my sister & I will convince her she needs to have it done. Just keep her in your prayers please.
Anyhoo....that's it for tonight. Since everything is done I am off to bed! me

What's Happening

I know the title to this post is the same as a TV sitcom from many years ago, but ya know what? Sometimes my LIFE feels like a TV sitcom from many years ago! Ha!
This is "what's happening" in our little corner of the world:
Eddy & Des got an apartment today in Fayetteville! Yes, they are moving out! And as sad and emotional as I am about it all, I know it is for the best. You can't have 2 Kings & 2 Queens living in one castle, right? Or...no house is big enough for two families...man I am just full of neat little sayings today, aren't I? All in all, it is a good thing. They got used to living on their own when they were in Kansas, and I think they are missing that now that they are home. And honestly, Fayetteville isn't too far away. David & I both just wish them the best of luck and of course, will be here if they need us. I think I'm going to miss Hunter the most of course. I have to keep reminding myself that this is what married couples do, they strike out on their own. And that was the plan all along. I can't help it that I secretly prayed they'd just live with us FOREVER!
Brittni is settling back in to college life just fine. She came over Saturday night & we ordered all (most) of her books. I asked her on the phone the other day if she was back in the swing of being a college student yet. Know what she said? "Mama, I am a MUCH better college student than I am a Subway manager!" Ahhhh, now THAT'S what I like to hear!
David, Eddy, Hunter & I made a trek out to Elkins last night & David purchased another truck. I say another, because I don't think I posted about the '97 Dodge he bought last week for $1500, and turned around & sold it 2 days later for $4000! I LOVE CRAIGSLIST! The vehicle he bought last night is a funky looking little thing. It's a 4WD Mitsubishi that used to be a Montero SUV but is now a pickup truck! Yup, that's what I said. He got it for $900, and he can't wait to camo it out & head down to Stuttgart with it. You'll be able to recognize me sitting in the passenger side by....well, you'll recognize me no matter what, cuz of all the camo, and not to mention there is no such thing as a Mitsubishi Montero pickup! David of course is still on the look out for a little car for Brittni for school. She is getting pretty impatient sitting back watching David go buy all these "toys" as she calls them, while she's driving the blazer back & forth to Fayetteville & the Highlands. I just have to keep reminding her that it's not so bad. Her daddy is furnishing her a vehicle to get back & forth to school & work, no payments, he pays the insurance, buys her books, and furnishes her with some extra gas money every week....poor girl, she's really got it hard ;-)!
As for me, well, I feel like I am in a total state of chaos. Work is the same. Too much noise, can't concentrate, my head is NOT in it right now (obviously, I am blogging instead of making calls), and I can't seem to reel myself in. I know the answer is simple - let it all go & pray. I've got the praying part down, it's the "letting it all go" that is my hurdle. AND, I somehow got behind on the laundry & housekeeping so it's a total disaster, and everyone who knows me knows I'm not "settled" and in order, if my house is unsettled & out of order. Tonight is David's late night to leave - 10:30. It's hard on me if I stay up at that point to get it all done. Tomorrow night might be easier. Hmmmm....procrastination....you are my friend! me